Brian Groth's Life at Microsoft : Management

Measuring Your Marketing

bgroth — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 12:38:00 GMT

How do you know where to invest your marketing dollars, how much to invest, and if you are getting a good return for that investment? I just read "Marketing and the Bottom Line" which covers these topics and stresses the importance of measuring the impact of your marketing. Among other things, it has a great list of questions to get you thinking about what to measure. These include, in my own language:

Do you research your customer motives and behaviours?
Have you aligned your marketing metrics with your marketing strategy?
Have you quantified what success means and how to measure it?
Are you connecting marketing activities with your performance in-market and your financial performance?
Does your top management pay close attention to those connections and metrics?
Do you compare actual performance to forecasted performance of those metrics?
Do you compare your performance of those metrics to the performance of your competitors?
How does brand equity enter into the evaluation of marketing activities?

In my opinion, if you are good at marketing, then you can answer yes to all of these questions.

Organizational Change Management

bgroth — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 11:00:45 GMT

For the last month or two I have been working on a project that has started to see the light of day, at least within Microsoft. It's all about reorganizing part of the company to give more control an ownership to subsidiary managers while creating some global consistency.

This has gotten me to learn more about "change management" so I have used Windows Live Search to find some good information on the topic. Check out these different searches for the phrase "Corporate Organizational Change Management":

The Future of Marketing (is here now)

bgroth — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 05:42:00 GMT

I just read three interesting marketing-related articles at www.strategy-business.com:

The Future of Advertising Is Now: http://www.strategy-business.com/press/article/06204
Beyond Brand Management: http://www.strategy-business.com/press/article/06205
Growth Champions: http://www.strategy-business.com/press/article/06206

The interesting thing that I got out of these articles was how aligning marketing activities to the agenda of driving growth for a company seems to have been a foreign concept to marketers in the past. However, now that online advertising makes it easier to see the relationship between advertising (costs) and sales (revenue), it is becoming easier to track Return on Investment (ROI) per marketing activity.

In addition to the above ROI comment, some of the suggestions the articles gives to be a great leader in marketing are:

Use technology (think Service Oriented Architecture to integrate systems and data) to merge disparate systems/data and apply analytical skills to help determine new product positioning, channel strategy, pricing, and communications for your products
Get some cross-functional expertise so sales and financial efforts in your company can benefit from the insight gained
Provide strategic leadership for the business based on where products or a marketspace can go
Bring customer awareness to the rest of the company, which is enhanced by all of the data gathered online
Merge "above the line" advertising (TV, Radio, Print, and Online) with "below the line" marketing (promotions, sponsorships, events, public relations)
Leverage the digital world (web, mobile, podcasting, etc.) and merge it with customer preferences already tracked in your CRM system to create entertaining and branded experiences or information for your customers.
Use this personal relationship via your branded entertainment/information to create loyal customers.
Continue to merge commercial entrepreneurship, technological competence, strategy skills, and consumer sensitivity and become an architect of your company's growth agenda (hopefully your company has one!).

Sun-Tzu and the Art of Business

bgroth — Thu, 11 May 2006 07:07:00 GMT

I just did quick read of Sun-Tzu and the Art of Business and got some great points to keep in mind regarding competitors in business:

Know yourself, know your competitors, and know your market
Think clearly and act decisively, giving clear guidance and ownership
Lead with character and examples, not just words
Attack competitors where they are weak, but don’t destroy the market in the process
Form strategic and powerful alliances and use them well, somewhat to keep your competitors from dominating all the good partners
Move quickly, or at least quicker than your competitors

Business Acumen

bgroth — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 19:10:00 GMT

I just read a good article at Strategy-Business.com called Sharpening Your Business Acumen.

It gives examples of GE, BP, Apple, and others and talks about "linking an insightful assessment of the external business landscape with the keen awareness of how money can be made — and then executing the strategy to deliver the desired results."

Of course, being able to assess the external business landscape means that "leaders have to be comfortable making decisions with unknown factors; survival depends on those choices producing viable outcomes whatever may happen."

The article focuses on six questions to get you thinking about the future of your market space and what your business should do about it. These are:

What is happening in the world today?
What does it mean for others?
What does it mean for us?
What would have to happen first (for the results we want to occur)?
What do we have to do to play a role?
What do we do next?

Your challenge as a leader after answering these questions is to link the market opportunties to your corporation's strategies, decide on a set of specific actions, and execute the plan.

I've got a new job: Leaving the MTC, joining Windows Live!

bgroth — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 04:14:00 GMT

I am moving to the MSN / Windows Live team! I have been working with the Microsoft Technology Centers for a few years now, and have been focused on the "enterprise" customer space for my entire 12 years here at Microsoft. So, it's time to move.

I am joining a group within MSN that does product planning and business management for Windows Live Mail, Hotmail, MSN Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, Spaces, OneCare, Safety Center, and a variety of other products. I will be the Regional Business Manager helping each of these products succeed in many of the countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. My wife and I plan to move to Paris so we can be somewhat centrally located, plus just for the adventure of it all (need to learn French).

It should be a fun, educational, entertaining, and adventurous. And what a great time to join this part of the company! There are new and updated products rolling out all the time and they just keep getting better and better, not to mention how Windows Vista will leverage these web services too. I have a ton to learn about that and all of the products I will be focused on.

As I continue to improve my business management skills, I will update my blog. I am now off to learn about all of these products, new strategies, meet new people, take numerous trips around Europe, and eventually move there. Wish me luck!

Executing on your Sales Strategy

bgroth — Sat, 04 Feb 2006 11:38:00 GMT

I just ran across some interesting information that may help someone out there execute on their sales strategy.

The Prime Resource Group lists some common challenges people face, which are:

Our marketing strategy message is poorly executed and becomes highly diluted by the time a customer hears it.
Our customer is missing the connection between our solutions and the impact on their business objectives.
We are facing more and more customers who treat our offerings as commodities and miss the uniqueness of our value proposition.
Our best market opportunities are dismissed by the sales force in favor of the "easy and familiar."
Our sales organization is still trying to be all things to all people and we don't know if it's poor marketing strategy or poor execution.
We're hearing too little, too late - and the competitor is eating away at our best marketing strategy.
Our value proposition is not taken to the executive level and connecting with their business issues.

And the BayGroup has a good article on executing on your sales strategy, which should address the items listed above. They list the following skills for required for executing a sales strategy:

Position your solution advantageously.
Manage the two-way flow of information skillfully.
Set and communicate high targets.
Ask questions that uncover underlying motivations and the true business
and personal needs.
Communicate assertive requests and clear expectations.
Make value for value trades.
Manage tension in the sales process.

Customer-Sensing Capability Systems

bgroth — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 08:42:00 GMT

You may have heard of this as Expert Systems, Decision Support Systems, Customer-Management Systems (CRM), and probably a dozen others.

I just read an interesting article on Strategy+Business about “customer-sensing capability”, which is the “organizational capacity to differentiate customers, detect their needs, tailor information and offers for them, and ultimately develop products and services in real time.” Simply put, think a variety of product, customer, and market data that is analyzed based on your strategies (your complex calculations) to help drive sales. The idea goes by many names and it's a great idea that is very similar to something that Microsoft did with Dell. To quote the case study:

Integrated Dell™ Desktop (IDD), a smart client solution based on Microsoft® software. IDD provides everything that Dell sales representatives need to assist customers and sell the company's products within a single, easy-to-use desktop application—one designed from the ground up to support the sales process and optimize call center operations.

Building tools like this based on your own marketing and sales strategies can be complex, but as the article and the solution at Dell shows, they can have a huge positive impact to your bottom line.

What’s in a good business plan?

bgroth — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 10:21:00 GMT

As I spend Friday night watching The Magnificent Seven, which is based on the Seven Samarai I got to thinking about business plans. OK, they’re not related to business plans, but whatever.

I was recently reading an article at Strategy+Business.com called “Our 10 Most Enduring Ideas” and “Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done” and have some combined notes to share with you:

Five important items to have in your business plan:

It is timely, meaning that it addresses a need that people find important right now
It has explanatory power, meaning that it explains some phenomena that we see in the world
It can be put into practice to produce replicable results
It can be tested with real-world data to test theoretical ideas
People are ready to hear it!

The thing to keep in mind is that even if your business plan is solid and you’ve got a good plan (good strategy), then you still have to figure out how to execute on the plan. This is where the “Execution” book comes into play. After all, to quote the book: “unless your organization addresses how it expects to attain the results called for in its strategy, it will probably fail.” Now the important thing to remember is in another quote from to book: “many executives view execution as a tactical aspect of their business, something they delegate to others, while they make strategic moves on the corporate chessboard. This is a serious error. Execution must be built into a corporation’s culture. This requires a leader show is deeply committed, thoroughly involved and personally engaged.”

Leading & Motivating Others the Dale Caregie Way

bgroth — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 09:37:00 GMT

Tonight on http://www.tailrank.com/, a link to "A Guide to: How to Win Friends & Influence People" came up on and it covers the entire book by Dale Caregie, and specifically also covers Leading and Motivating Others. See the link for details, but the general idea is:

Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly.
Let the other person save face.
Make the fault seem easy to correct. Use encouragement.
Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement.

It's been a few years since I read the book, but I do remember the book is full of all sorts of great tips like this.

Problem Solving, the McKinsey Way

bgroth — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 05:58:00 GMT

The McKinsey Mind explains how McKinsey & Co. use a fact-based method of problem solving based on the following steps. The following is my interpretation of these steps:

What’s the problem? Identifying and isolating the core problem, which is usually based on a competitive, organizational, financial, or operational need.

Use a mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive (MECE) approach to identify non-overlapping boundaries of the problem.
Break the problem down using logic trees (Visio would be great here) to show relations between components of the problem.

What’s probably the solution? Suggest a hypothesis for a solution to the problem, which will help guide your data gathering and analysis.
Analyze the data behind the problem. Determine what analysis is needed to prove the hypothesis, and just as important, determine what you do not need to do.

Gather the data required for the analysis.
Analyze the data to prove or disprove the hypothesis. If the facts disprove your hypothesis, change your hypothesis. In other words, let the data analysis drive the solution.

Present the solution. If the proposed solution is bought off by whomever you are presenting it to, then the work of implementing the solution starts.

Leadership Practices, Behaviors, and Commitments

bgroth — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 00:15:00 GMT

I have been reading Execution and The Leadership Challenge, which both cover the practices, behaviors, and commitments that a leader should master. The list below is how I merge the topics of these two books into something more logical to me, hopefully for you too.

Leader Commitment #1: Challenge the processes that constrain your organization

Action Item: Seek challenging opportunities to grow, change, innovate, and improve.

Action Item: Know the people in your business, which includes employees, partners (internal and external), customers (internal and external), and competitors.

Leader Commitment #2: Inspire a shared vision that becomes the force that invents the future for your organization.

Action Item: Envision a future that is uplifting and ennobling that improves your co-workers’ lives and prepares your company’s future.

Action Item: Experiment, take risks, and learn from your mistakes.

Action Item: Regularly communicate the vision, and be consistent.

Leader Commitment #3: Enable others to act by giving them a sense of ownership.

Action Item: Appeal to other people’s values, dreams, and hopes to share your common vision.

Action Item: Foster collaboration by promoting cooperative goals and building trust.

Action Item: Think and speak realistically (don’t distort facts) and insist that others do the same

Action Item: Define a manageable set clear goals and prioritize them appropriately.

Action Item: Follow through on commitments and goals and be persistent to keep projects on track.

Leader Commitment #4: Set an example and be willing to be the first to change or take on a new challenge

Action Item: Strengthen others, give away power, assign critical tasks, and offer support.

Action Item: Make your behavior consistent with your shared personal values

Action Item: Achieve small wins that promote consistent progress and build commitment

Action Item: Share your experience and perspectives by coaching colleagues

Action Item: Know your own skills, strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies so you can leverage what you’re good at and improve what you’re bad at

Leader Commitment #5: Encourage the heart and rally the troops to help people persevere through difficult times

Action Item: Recognize individual contributions with rewards that have personal meaning to them

Action Item: Celebrate team achievements

Action Item: Link rewards (compensation, etc.) to performance

All courseware from the MIT Sloan School of Management

bgroth — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 01:26:00 GMT

Did you know that you can get the courseware for a variety of MTC courses online, for free?

I can’t imagine spending the time to go through all of the lectures, readings, assignments, exams, labs, and all other materials for each undergraduate and graduate course available. However, if I want to brush up on a topic, this might be an excellent resource. Check out all of the courseware from the MIT Sloan School of Management at http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Sloan-School-of-Management/index.htm

New approaches to sales and marketing strategies

bgroth — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 02:37:00 GMT

When writing a business plan you of course need to think about your Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy. The Chase Market Velocity blog has an interesting and useful way of looking at traditional approaches for marketing and sales strategies compared to web-based (or more IT centric) approaches. These are:

Traditional Enterprise Sales/Marketing	“Web 2.0” Enterprise Sales & Marketing
Marketing strategy
Product marketing: Focus groups	Have a “conversation” via blogs (book, blog) and aggressively use web usage analytics
Awareness generation: Print advertising, direct mail	Internet media advertising (search, email, blogs, etc.)
Awareness generation: Media tours, Press releases	Influence the influencers
Demand generation: Tradeshows, Seminars	Thought leadership webinars
Sales Strategy
Target Audience: Direct sales to Business/I.T. Decision Makers	End run traditional buying processes to get consumer/end user adoption first building internal credibility and grassroots support
Sales Force: Hire high-powered direct sales force	Tightly integrate a telesales team with web leads to qualify (and close) leads
Segmentation: Target Fortune 500 as first customer	Pursue SMB market before Enterprise
Pipeline Management: traditional tools	Web lead funnel management

The full blog entry is at http://marketvelocity.blogspot.com/2005/12/what-does-vinod-khosla-know-about-web.html

Tips for a good Business Plan

bgroth — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 00:40:00 GMT

I’ve been thinking of turning a couple of ideas into actual business plans and seeing what becomes of them within Microsoft, so I have been refreshing my knowledge of what’s in a business plan. Joe Hadzima has some good tips to keep in mind when writing one.

Thanks to BizzBangBuzz for the link