Risk & Business Magazine Cain Insurance Fall 2015

The Fundamentals 2 Second Lean: How to Grow People and Build a Fun Lean Culture BY: PAUL A. AKERS 2 Second Lean will flip your world right-side up. It’s a practical way to improve your life every day by making a simple 2 second improvement. Join author, business expert, radio show host, and international speaker, Paul A. Akers, as he takes you on a LEAN journey that will transform every aspect your life... from your home to the office. their clients to focus on booking the rooms and appointments without having to worry about running out and buying flowers. For companies looking to make the switch to a subscriptionbased model, the best strategic approach is to simply grab a marker and whiteboard and start jotting down what the ideal customer experience would look like. “If you could reach inside the head of your customers and rewire things so that they bought from you exactly the way that you would want them to buy from your company, what would that look like?” says John. “Start plotting that out. That becomes the real raw material, the sketch for your subscription offerings.” When switching to a subscription-based model, it’s important to phase out any existing business model in order for the subscription-based one to work successfully—running a subscription-based model and a “traditional” model at the same time is a mistake John sees far too often. “Companies try to be ‘half-pregnant’ by running two parallel models, but if your customers are used to your original, custom pricing model, that’s the one they’re most likely to pick when given the option,” says John. If you’ve got an existing business model and want to convert your current and prospective clients into a subscription business, it’s necessary to give your customers an ultimatum—force them to change their behavior by saying, “we no longer offer traditional services like we have in the past.” When trying to launch a subscription offering, doing so in a half-hearted way only leaves open the possibility that your customers will pick the non-subscription offering and play it safe with the traditional methods. John Warrillow, the author of The Automatic Customer, is the founder of The Value Builder System™ where advisors help company owners increase the value of their business. Previously, he founded Warrillow & Co., a subscription-based research business dedicated to helping Fortune 500 companies market to small business owners. A sought-after speaker and popular Inc.com columnist, he lives in Toronto. The Automatic Customer Creating a Subscription Business in Any Industry BY: JOHN WARRILLOW The lifeblood of your business is repeat customers. But customers can be fickle, markets shift and competitors are ruthless. So how do you ensure a steady flow of repeat business? The secret – no matter what industry you’re in -- is finding and keeping automatic customers. These days virtually anything you need can be purchased through a subscription, with more convenience than ever before. Far beyond Spotify, Netflix, and New York Times subscriptions, you can sign up for weekly or monthly supplies of everything from groceries (AmazonFresh) to cosmetics (Birchbox) to razor blades (Dollar Shave Club). TM TM RISK RISK & BUSINESS & BUSINESS MAGAZINE MAGAZINE SPRING FALL 2015 15

Risk & Business Magazine Cain Insurance Fall 2015 | Page 15