Have you ever utilized the online photo storage, printing, and creative website Shutterfly? I have used Shutterfly a lot and really enjoyed reading more about their company in Jim Champy’s Compete by Changing. This book takes an in depth look at how Shutterfly competes in the midst of many other web based photography services. Below I have pasted some thoughts that I highlighted while reading…
- Housenbold had found one of the prime secrets of business growth: changing his business’s frame of reference to expand its identity and compete on a new and much larger field.
- This metamorphosis greatly enhanced the customers’ enjoyment and sharply differentiated the company from its competitors. Housenbold saw Shutterfly through a wider lens that took in new trends in the photo industry and society at large.
- Americans have never been hungrier for individual expression, new ways of saying, “Here I am.”
- “There’s a shared belief that focusing on three to five ideas that will allow us to truly differentiate is the right approach to winning in the marketplace.”
- It also means that Housenbold has to build flexibility into his budget, allocating 10 to 15 percent for “trying things,” such as a new go-to-market strategy or a new partnership. A certain number of failures are to be expected, he says, but “it’s the portfolio of those experiences that hopefully will lead us to learn and grow.”
- A certain number of failures are to be expected, he says, but “it’s the portfolio of those experiences that hopefully will lead us to learn and grow.”
- Look at the bigger picture.
- Build a community, but tend to business.
- Widen your lens, but narrow your focus.
- Organize for ideas.
- Persist in your quest. It takes courage to move out of your familiar boundaries and play a bigger game on a new field.