Extreme Leadership: The Need for Speed

Brian Kelly

Photo credit: Maridav www.fotosearch.com

In this era of extreme digital marketing, leading an organization isn’t too different from competitive mountain biking.  Here are a few key tips to keep in mind to help you make it over the finish line successfully without getting bashed up on the way down:

• Start out with the right equipment. You wouldn’t set out on a hardcore cross-country trail without a capable bike, strong helmet, tuned suspension, and of course, nice disc brakes – so why would you even attempt to run a web-based organization without being armed with the data and insights you need to achieve top performance?  Set up the systems you need to clearly monitor and measure your business. You don’t need to just buy either the top or bottom shelf to put off your uncertainties. Think about what complexities you’re facing in your business. What problems do you really need to solve? How is your website set up to serve your customers? We’ve seen several clients over purchase or opt for “free” and not have the best solution in place to see and fix their business challenges.
  
• Be prepared to go fast and win. With speed on your side, all you really need to do is steer with confidence and you’ll come through clean.  But if your organization isn’t prepared to go fast with confidence, the bumps and roots are going to hit harder, slow you down and even take you off track. In fact, you’ll probably find yourself in granny-gear trying to haul yourself uphill while others pass you by. Plus, you won’t have the momentum required to hit the banks and ramps, and you’re likely not enjoy the ride to its fullest potential. Make sure that you have the information you need to quickly and easily monitor your business performance, presented in a format that won’t require you to take your entire organization offline in order to figure out how to make the raw data actionable.  Business is faster than ever and you need to be ready to make quick decisions, and adjustments, so you can enjoy the ride.
  
• See where you want to go.  When you’re burning down the trail you need to see your path clearly, focus on where you want to go and be ready to react. You can’t possibly navigate successfully if you’re looking off trail or questioning your decisions. You’ll go down, hard. The beauty of the web is that our customers leave digital data trails that help us understand their behavior and show us the right path. In order to lead effectively, C-suite executives need to start taking a more active role in aligning the entire business with the journey of their customers.  This data can illuminate the path to better performance across the entire company by providing an understanding of the customer journey from beginning to end by showing the actual flow of the audience and identifying potential bottlenecks along the way.
  
• It’s all about confidence.  In this fast paced business climate, decisions need to be made sooner, rather than later, because the meter is running.  You simply can’t afford to base decisions solely on instinct or “art”. Data is the key to everything that is happening within your prospect and customer base. If you have the right data and the correct insight into the customer experience, you can make decisions with speed, precision and confidence. Executives who take an active role in building a data business have a more in-tune view of their businesses and are able to compete more effectively. Those who aren’t taking an active role in mapping and understanding the customer journey are at huge disadvantage, and will soon be left in the dust.

To run a competitive organization, implementing the right systems and delivering the right data will enable you to meet the expectations of your customers and pull away from the competition. And Kissmetrics would love to help – request a personal demo, if you’d like to learn how.

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