Welcome to the Shirlaws Live Conference Blog! 

Last updated: 5.35pm (Sydney) (Final update - Comments are still live) (Day 2)

For background on this event, see Sharing the Client Conference.
If you're new to blogging, you might be interested in Spark, my Introduction Blog - basically a blog is just a website that asks you to be involved.

I know most people are readers - welcome. If you want to be actively involved, please feel free to register and ask questions, leave comments, or email me.

9.45 am - It begins! Welcome again to Shirlaws' first Live Blog, from our Australian Client Conference in Sydney. I'll be here, participating in the conference for the next three days, keeping you informed of what's happening and key lessons, and hopefully giving you the chance to be involved through questions or comments.

That's right - if you want to say something, you have that opportunity. And if you have any questions/comments, where possible I will raise those live here in the conference room!

I will introduce the speakers during the day; if you'd like a better introduction to me check out my Shirlaws profile or Facebook page.

In a few minutes, we will kick off with the MC Welcome. In the meantime, I will be considering my personal agenda - what would I like to achieve over the next three days. If there's anything in particular you would like to learn from the conference (on Distribution and Channels to Market) or the blogging experience, please let me know.

10.18am - Agenda. We're getting underway a little late - Ak Sabbagh informed me the appropriate maxim is "Never work with children, animals, or technology".

So what's my agenda for this conference? Clearly, it's two-fold. On the Conference front - Distribution is a key topic in which I would like to build some more depth of knowledge. I also have some clients with specific procerns that I hope to address this week.

On the Blog front, I know for many Shirlaws coaches and clients this is one of the first 'real' blog events they have participated in, and I want to give an educational and entertaining experience. I also hope to connect with you in 'real time'. 

Can I help you with anything? A clear answer to "What is Distribution?", perhaps?

MC, and Australian CEO Andrew McKenzie has just started to welcome us.

10.33 - Filters. Marc Johnstone will be our Presenter for the next three days - he's certainly well-prepared as Australia completes a hat trick that started two weeks ago in San Francisco and involved our UK teams just last week. Word on the street is that those conferences creating some powerful shifts for businesses who attended, particularly those who stayed in the Strategic space and didn't dive into operational content too early.

Perhaps some of that may come through for you. Marc suggests 3 Filters to help everyone here and you at home apply Distribution strategies in your business:

Are we building more relationships?
Is that transferring into more customers?
Is that increasing the value of my business?

11.05 - What is Distribution? OK - brief background. Businesses have a Product that they sell through their Distribution channel (think Coke selling through 7-11). Most great business specialise in either Product (expect big RND investment) or Distribution (big Relationship investment). Some own both - think Microsoft.

Product extension makes sense - add new products to your line, keeping within your brand where possible (think Harley Davidson perfume).

Distribution extension is not as obvious - it's taking your product/s into new markets, unrelated to existing markets. This isn't just ‘Go to China'; think How do I get my Credit Card into Airlines? 

Distribution is harder, especially to do well. Big point: This means it makes your business more valuable.

(And think like a house - you want to add value, even if you never plan to sell).

11.25 - Question. Using GE as a great example of building product and distribution. The question for coach Joe Porteus is 'When did Edison invent the light bulb?'. His guess is 1882. 

11.35 - Guest speaker time, and Shirlaws welcomes our Keynote speaker Craig Mowll from Credit Suisse.

Craig is Head of Distribution for Credit Suisse Asset Management, and is also a Masters of Business Coaching student. He is sharing his experience implementing distribution strategies across a number of national finance businesses.

Key point: It's tough to implement only 1 Framework (eg, Distribution). It's more beneficial to apply several related frameworks (eg, Distribution, Six Steps, and Standards and Extras).

Point #2: What if your product is not as ‘product-like' as, say, Coke? Well, Distribution remains your channel to market. In professional services distribution channels are those relationships that refer them clients - this means Distribution is key to pipeline management.

#3 - When implemented, Distribution also allows you to track the depth of your key relationships. Craig talks about aiming to be their ‘Trusted Business Advisor', where they appreciate that they need you as much as you need them as a client. This is where you can add maximum value, and it takes time to develop. Good tip - ‘No Sales material in the first meeting'.

Craig's was a powerful case study on implementing Distribution into a business. Spend time planning, Build Structure, Keep it simple, Don't take Shortcuts and you will "kill the budget". Better still..."the results speak for themselves".

12.12pm Lunch. Kudos to the Swissotel.

1.08pm - 4 Degrees of Separation.  A great way to bring everybody back into the room - Andrew McKenzie has asked everybody to list 3 businesses they want to get in contact with, and he's currently going around the room (1 name per table) and seeing if others in the room can make the connection. Proof that Sydney is bigger than Brisbane...but only just!

1.21pm - Table exercise. Marc has put in play an exercise looking at your Key Business Asset, and I'm going to join a table to participate. 

1.59pm - The exercise is a lengthy one (we're still doing a case study), but clearly powerful. We're being asked to explore (broadly and strategically) the 'Product', 'Packaging', and then 'Key Asset' for a company (in this case study it's Mars). Identifying the 'Key Asset' (more on that at the end, because I don't think the language is quite right) allows you to focus strategic efforts and then leverage / extend based on your strengths.

2.45pm - Exercise Lessons. As the individual clients and their coaches take the time to work this exercise for their own business, let me share my learning with you. When your business looks for extension strategies (product or distribution) you need to know what it is that you are leveraging - that's the Key Business Asset (or Core Capability, Strategic Point of Difference).

This is a fundamental shift from the ‘Unique Selling Proposition' you may often see. USPs tend to focus on marketing and sales; even in the form of Positioning as we do it (with substance as well as style) it's not necessarily clear what strategic options are created. How do you leverage off ‘Convenience' or ‘Love'?

This exercise asks a big strategic question. It's a tough one to get right. But once you have it, you can clearly see your business' strength and the opportunities that opens up for you.

For the record - it was decided that Mars' key asset was ‘Manufacturing Capability'. My table was prepared to argue it was ‘Family' - a family owned company, understanding families, delivering to families etc - but from a business perspective Mars is able to do all of that and do it better than their competitors because of their manufacturing capability.

(Incidentally, Mars was chosen because it's a particularly well-structured global business that drives its core principles through both strategy and operations. They're not a Shirlaws client, that I know of, but they certainly show the sort of quality and depth we coach our clients towards.)

3.13pm - Afternoon Tea.  One thing I really notice at Shirlaws conferences is that, when a break is called, most of the crowd stay at their tables to further discuss and share what they're doing and learning. No immediate dash for the coffee or biscuits (or rocky road - again, love the Swissotel).

I think that means something. 

3.37pm - Answers. Back from afternoon tea - I'm trying to stay away from coffee, which has not been easy today given the 3.30am start I had to make my flight to be here on time!

Just over 2 hours left today, so I'll take this opportunity to put those Edison fans out of their misery: The Lightbulb was invented in 1879. Joe was pretty close!

3.58pm - Leverage Product. Bundling and Unbundling your Products can create leverage strategies, and increase Distribution of your product to your clients.

McDonalds is a great example of Bundling - they used to be the company that asked ‘Would you like fries with that?'. They don't do this anymore (maybe too many people said ‘No'!) Now they just assume you want the bundled meal, including the fries and the drink that costs them nothing to make, unless you clearly ask otherwise.

Unbundling has been aided by technology. Once were the days when you bought a whole newspaper - News, Finance, World, Classifieds and the Real Estate guide - just to find out whether the Red Sox won. Now you can go online and access only the information you want (...and what affect has that had on newspaper business models?).

How do you learn from this for a competitive advantage? Well, if you want to do something that isn't being done, this is a good analysis to use. If everybody in your industry is offering unbundled products, you can stand out by putting them together; and vice-versa.

Case study: Shirlaws has been offering a Bundled Coaching product since 1999. The rest of the coaching industry has done the same. Maybe we want to be different?

4.25pm - Bundled or Not? Interestingly, most of the industries represented here are Bundled, and there's at least one success story of a Financial Planning business that has gone against the industry and is benefiting from that. They'll be trying to stay ahead (but not too far ahead) of future industry changes. 

It's tempting to automatically go against your industry. I always remember Andrew McKenzie at a workshop in Brisbane reminding the room that 'A Gap in the Market doesn't mean there's a Market in the Gap'. Classic!

Now we're shifting to a mapping of the energetic connection you have with clients.

4.50pm - Mapping the Energy. This is a difficult exercise to explain without a whiteboard and 30 minutes, but the crux of it is that your relationship with your clients moves through energetic peaks and plateaus. When you look at this journey, can you see where you can smooth these out? Plan better for the necessary peaks? Or maybe change your delivery model entirely?

Fantastic hypothetical here in the room from David Addison, whose business Avanti Events plans Conferences. They have a big energy peak with clients at the client's annual conference, and some high energy in the few months of planning, then nothing for 6-9 months. What if they ‘surprised' those annual clients mid-year - say by turning the foyer into a beach and handing out ice-creams for an hour?

Would that lead to more repeat clients? Higher sales? Better margin? 

And what's the equivalent opportunity in your business?

4.55pm - Client Story. Thanks to Matthew Cunneen from Satsuma Solutions, who's currently taking the time to share his Distribution experience. Satsuma Solution are an IT services business based in Sydney who have been working with Shirlaws over the past few years to continually improve their business.

Some of his key points: It's great to have a Distribution (referral) partner who understands your business, but if they're too similar to you why would they refer? 

Many of the best Distribution sources are clients or alumni clients: they understand you, you understand them, and if you delivered (exceeded?) the expectations they had of you they can be very powerful advocates.

Ask yourself what's best for the clients and distribution sources, and own those relationships. Matt once stepped away as the middle man in a large deal because he believed he was 'in the way' and not offering value - both of the other parties then asked him to remain involved because they valued his input and honesty.

Measure activity with your Distribution partners, so you can quantify the success or otherwise. This is powerful. If you're a thinker, I do this in Excel with numbers; Matthew (as could be expected) has a much more visual program that will communicate more information more readily.  

5.30pm - Key Learnings. Just as every Shirlaws day begins with an Agenda check-in, so too the day can't end before we share our Key Learnings. With 68 people in the room I won't repeat them all here, but some I feel are worth sharing with the world:

Key Business Asset - not necessarily what you do best; what you can leverage off the most.
Link Product Extension to brand - no more Harley Davidson perfumes.
Leaving money on the table - your competitors are probably avoiding some of these strategies because they're hard. If you can see them through to Implementation, you'll pick up the money they leave behind.

And with that, the day ends (Well, the conference part ends. The relationships are continuing at the Sky Lounge well into the night. Perhaps we'll see you there.)

Thanks for checking in today. I look forward to sharing Day 2 with you tomorrow from 9am Sydney time. 

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