Wiggs’ Way: Ideas new and old, overseas aspiration and rebrands

By Lance Wiggs, August 2, 2011 @ 9:55 am

Let Lance Wiggs help with your tricky business problems. Email him at advice@idealog.co.nz

Fresh or refurbished?

New idea? Or old idea, better? –Back to the back, North Shore

Best execution is best. Ideas are easy—it’s getting them from an idea to a sustainable, growing business that’s that hard part. While there’s often a mythology about the origin of the idea and business, look for evidence of plenty of hard work by the founders. That’s hard work they did before the company was founded to develop whatever skills they required, hard work during the startup phase doing everything that needed doing, and hard work recruiting and building up a high-performing team to take the company to greatness.

Ideas on their own are worthless, but take whatever you can from them, mix in the old with the new, build the business at the right time and, above all, work hard.

Meet the people

It seems everyone has different advice on the presence you need in an overseas market. Some say you should use local agents, others say you need your own presence with local people, and a third group reckons you need your own presence, but you're best to ship your own people over there. Some even attempt to serve foreign customers entirely from here. They're all strategies that seem bravely brilliant if your expansion works, and clearly wrong-headed if it fails –Right First Time, Devonport

The advice from NZTE, which I heartily agree with, is that nothing beats feet on the ground. Meeting your potential customers and understanding their needs is difficult when you’re not there. Some industries require a firm commitment to a region before the nut is cracked, as building relationships with potential customers, distributors and import agents can take time. Certain countries can be difficult to enter without a local partner, but in China the right partner can unleash massive ongoing growth. The more mature a company is, the more economic benefit they want, and the more likely they are to have a local presence with local staff. However, when you enter a market, you need to be careful not to over-extend your own staff and money; agents can be a good way to get sales, albeit at a lower margin.

It’s the same for overseas suppliers—nothing beats a visit to help understand the people, economics and business processes behind the source of your goods.

The answer to your question is that it depends. It depends on the stage of your business, the size and importance of the market to you, and how good you are at selling. The first step is to go there and meet the full gamut of potential customers, partners and even staff. Set up a staff member offshore and let them discover the best way to gain a sustainable market there. Eventually you’ll form a partnership or two, or you’ll be hiring locals and building the business yourself. This isn’t something that can be solved on a whiteboard. Get travelling!

Fitting image

We're looking at a rebrand—a restatement of what we're about. I've been researching successful rebrands and ... I can't find any. How do we re-present ourselves to a market that is already familiar with us and still sees us as complacent and a bit boring? –Change agent, Wellington

I’d rate a few rebrands as successful, even if they are slammed by customers. We should remember brands are the sum of a customer’s interactions with your firm and products. Telecom had to make some genuine strides before its logo change had an impact, HotChilly had to deliver on the promise to keep you cool, and BNZ had to stop playing with pigs. First, test your assumptions. Are you fusty or cool, trusted or flaky? Ask your customers, your staff and others in the industry. Listen. Has your business really improved its performance? Are you really no longer boring? Does boring even mean bad, or does it mean trusted? What are you missing?

"You will need to answer some deceptively simple questions: Who are you? What do you do? Why does it matter? Who is your audience?"

Next, take a hard look at your product or service lines. Is what you’re offering understood by customers? Is the packaging communicating your product and firm? Are you selling to the ‘right’ customers? Speak to your team, especially the more junior members. How do they feel about working with you? Are the products and services cool? Who is doing great work in the industry? Now it’s time to embark on the branding exercise, starting with a good definition of your mission, all the way to your communications with the market.

The work you’ve done yourself will help when you brief a branding agency. You will need to answer some deceptively simple questions: Who are you? What do you do? Why does it matter? Who is your audience? What is your point of difference? What’s your position in the competitive landscape? What is the scope of work and how much do you want to spend? Get a few different companies in to listen. Look for understanding of your industry, quality of work, how you get along and, of course, price.

There are plenty of ways to run one of these exercises, and it varies depending on how much time, money and energy you have. Bigger companies tend to outsource everything, which is a mistake. Smaller ones tend to try to do it all themselves, which is also foolish. The best approach melds outside expertise with your own company involvement. But avoid a committee, and have one decision-maker and a few others with the right to veto.