Well folks: I had abandoned this blog for a while – a very busy first half of 2010.

But it dawned on me, that I have an awful lot of “windshield time” ahead of me in the second half of 2010, so I’ve decided to dedicate some of this windshield time to the blog.

What’s new in B-to-B?

Lots going on in business-to-business right now. 

The chief marketing officers of ISBM including those at GE, Kennametal, Parker Hannifin, Dresser, and others, are working together to forge a maturity model moving toward the “gold standard” of business marketing.  As of now, these folks are sharing this work among themselves, but it promises to help us with a blueprint for what excellence in our practice — especially looking forward to this new “new normal” decade” should be of great interest. 

Social Media and B-to-B — lots of buzz going on now about Social Media and B-to-B but it seems to me that reflecting on our Members Meeting it boils down to a few key principles:

• Social Media of all sorts in the simplest view are just additional channels by which we can reach, chat with, and enter into dialogue with our customers, influential’s, and the market.  Really that’s it — it’s just another channel, with some key differences
• One way it’s NOT different is that without a concrete objective in mind –just “getting into social media” is a good way to waste your most precious asset right now –the time of your best people.
• This channel is essentially out of our control.  As marketers we can choose to participate in this channel several ways:
  • We can observe — tune into conversations that are going on and listen
  • We can participate — enter into the chat, and the rules of the road state that we be very honest about who we are, who we represent, and straightforward communication
  • We can mediate – if there’s a discussion going on, we can choose to enter as mediator, bringing in other points of view
  • We can moderate/instigate — nothing is preventing us from setting up dialogues of our own, but if the audience we’re trying to reach doesn’t find these of value don’t expect much to happen.
  • We can learn –which means the scientific method: develop a hypothesis on some effect you’re looking for and test to learn.

A bunch of real insight on this is coming from Rick Short at Indium, who seems way ahead of all of us in terms of experimentation.  Beyond that, there are insights from Cisco, and DuPont, who have a variety of experiments underway. 

Marketing Sales Interface

This tricky place continues to be an ongoing conundrum.  For some firms this seems to work really well — they have a well-defined demand generation process, with frameworks for thinking through how to resolve issues, and have marketing genuinely be a lever for a more efficient and effective sales force.

For others, it remains a war zone — or worse than that an area of complete and utter disregard of one for the other.

The next ISBM Members Meeting coming up September 15 and 16, we endeavor to shed light on this area.  We are genuinely blessed to have Mr. Marketing — Dr. Philip Kotler of Kellogg and The “Professor of Professional Selling”, Mr. Neil Rackham, together on the agenda to kick off the proceedings.  Cases, research, more — we hope to dig into this area and shed some real light for ISBM members.

BMA Meeting – engage

Before that, business marketers have a chance to listen and learn at the upcoming BMA conference, June 2-4 in Chicago.  This promises to be an excellent conference. Gary Slack and his team have done a tremendous job of presenting a first rate slot of speakers, with plenty of ways to “engage” across the practice.

Keeping things going. 

I’ve discover that as I’ve tried to service this blog that although the media is really quite inexpensive, it takes the thing I have the least — time.

So… as we move forward, I’m going to be gathering sources from many other areas, and stop having me be the gating item on his blog.  I’ll have my students, speakers, researchers, and others on as “guest bloggers”, so I invite you to tune back into this blog and see if you can jump on in, add value, post questions, and revitalize things.

Sorry for the long pause.

Ralph Oliva

Tweets coming:

Ralph Oliva has rejuvenated his blog, and is working on a process to keep it going.  Tune in at http://isbm.peachnewmedia.com

Great new article from Jim Anderson in MIT Sloan Management Review on Pricing

Keep tuned in to ISBM Knowledge Community for fresh content – coming your way via the ISBM “MBA on call” program.

At ISBM we’re looking forward to:

Our New Offering realization Consotium Meeting February 11 at Kellogg — see :

 http://isbm.smeal.psu.edu/professional-development/isbm-new-offering-realization-consortium

and our Members Meeting on Social Medai and B-to-B coming up March 2-3, see:

http://isbm.smeal.psu.edu/professional-development/isbm-winter-members-meeting

The ISBM Trends 2012 study is just out of the field –be looking for  results soon!

Keep on pulling for the economy — and spenmt a moment today reflecting on the many Contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King…

 We’re at work right now finalizing the ISBM “trends 2012″ study, which is pointing to some very interesting ideas on challenges will face and capabilities we will need to build as we move on into a new decade.  First results indicate that the primary thing we as business marketers must focus on is redirecting our role to be seen clearly as the drivers of organic growth: spotting opportunities, assessing them, and bringing them to our firm aggressively.  And tying the results of our marketing efforts and emphatically to cash flow and asset value – in language that our CFOs and CEO’s understand, and appreciate.

 Just finished reviewing a very interesting paper from researchers here at Penn State on “Referral Equity and Referral Management: The Supplier Firms Perspective.”  Some powerful insights on the whole business of referrals, their impact, the equity they create, and how to better mobilize them.  I can’t help but triangulate the research results with the unfolding of social media and all things “Web 2.0″.

 And speaking of Web 2.0,  we have been hard at work to setting up the next ISBM members meeting — coming up March 2 – 3 2010 in Houston.  We’ve been very fortunate who’s accepted our invitation to speak, and reflect on the whole business of “Social Media and B-to-B: What’s Working , What Isn’t, And What’s Next.”

 Finally, in all candor to all my friends out there, I’m looking for this year to wind down.  It’s been a busy year, not without a lot of waves in the water, but all in all most of us made it through okay.  Anyone choosing to read this, my very best wishes for a peaceful, restful, and healthy holiday season and a happy and prosperous new year.

Been a while since I’ve updated of the blog — lots going on in business-to-business.

First of all, Gary Slack has shared with me some very exciting stuff about the relaunch of Xiameter.  What a great job he and his team have done, and xiameter still seems to be setting the way on alternative channels to market.

Recently attended a great session at the Gallup organization on customer engagement — and the importance of customer engagement as we move forward into “the new normal” coming our way is 2010 unfolds.

Also had the chance to intend a great symposium on energy sustainability and water sustainability at CSIS in Washington, DC.  A panel of very prestigious speakers.  Unfortunately they presented a future that is sort of dismal — it still seems as if most of our power will be coming from coal as we move on in the near future, primarily because we continue to apply ancient technologies toward the problem.

My own view is that only a tiny fraction of what’s needed is being spent on research to create possible new sources of energy.  It seems as if were throwing spitballs at a huge problem.

Meanwhile getting ready for class tomorrow — starting up on strategic brand management, and essentially finishing my experiment (which sort of failed) having MBA students work together with undergrads on campaign planning.  This didn’t seem to work out at all, and by mutual agreement will probably have a parting of the ways on this.

We’ll try to get into the groove on getting back into the blog as we move toward our “grand opening.”

Don’t miss seeing this.

Hello Piasano,

Happy days in Happy Valley, especially after you kicked the butts off my Orangemen.  Regardless of that transgression, I hope you and ISBM are very well.  I’m working hard up here in CNY.  And speaking of working hard…

I don’t often send around EMA stuff, but this: Charlotte Pipe goes to dogs :: BtoB Magazine  is too neat to not.  It’s not only an example of how to leverage an industry issue, in this case sub-standard, offshore knockoff products, but it’s also exemplary of how to differentiate and build interest in a commodity product – what could be more of a commodity than plumber’s pipe!  Even if you don’t read the case study, click on the video – it’s a hoot and I  thought you’d get a kick out of seeing it.

The video started off viral and is backed up by print, online, social posts and telephone.  It never ceases to draw chuckles from people who see it – great for building connections.  More importantly, 40% of viewers go to Charlotte Pipe’s website – great for building conversations and business.  Lots of people ask me to explain “Talk Human”…in the future maybe I’ll just run this.

Best,

 Some quotable quotes from Gary Lilien from our B2B marketing class.

 One he attributed to Mohan Sawhney particularly struck me:

 ”If you divisions are named for your technologies, it’s hard to be market oriented…”

 Interesting how we see this issue unfolding across member firms, as one reorganization after another is driven by the current economy.

 ”Don’t let a good crisis go to waste…”

 Quite a few ISBM member firms are putting that into action.

 “Segmentation is an investment, whose return is higher efficiency, greater marketing effectiveness, lower marketing costs, better prices.  It’s finding the right customers for your firm — and focusing on them…”

 “Never name your segments.  They become “pets”.  You’ll fall in love with them, and won’t be able to kill or abandon them when you need to…”

 Interesting food for thought.

Quit a few of our Members are in contact with us in discussion of bringing stronger basics of marketing back to the firm with more defined process and skills development…

It could very well be that we’re seeing the beginning of an important trend in seeking topline organic growth in more balance with cutting cost throught the downturn.

We’re ready here at ISBM — Spring or fall.

 For example: it’s not just necessary to learn the business of value-based pricing, and how to communicate through the sales force.  You need to develop the tools, techniques, and approaches together with the sales force.  And — once they’re developed — you need to be able to teach it.  Not just know it, teach it. That requires a whole new set of tools and practice.  Interesting to see the challenge in that reflected through the eyes of our great students.

From the ISBM Members meeting the week before last –this surfaced as “The Competency you most want to have” in navigating a down market…Abbie Griffin’s presentation provided a lot of insight in how to do this better. See www.isbm.org.