My letter to the Premier of South Australia.

It was 12 months ago that I wrote the following letter to our new Premier Jay Weatherill in response to his pledge in the media that the South Australian Government would 'reconnect' with the regions.

As Gary Simon, a local businessman and friend from the Mid North, heads-off to Adelaide to give evidence in the Select Committee investigation into regional School Bus Contracts going to a Victorian company; and as the developing situation regarding Country Health SA continues to escalate; I thought it was timely to pull out my old letter and reflect on whether (or not) things have improved for those of us that live and do business in the regions.

Have a read of my letter and let me know what you think about the current situation in regional South Australia - or regional Australia in general.

I would love to hear from people.

Regional Rights

New Premier, Jay Weatherill, is to be commended on his pledge to bring a new focus on regional issues and rid the Government of its city-centric image (Advertiser Monday 5 December 2011).

For too long the Labour State Government has made no attempt to understand the core value and belief systems that drive peoples’ behaviour in our small communities.  This is exampled in a (seemingly) never-ending list of tribulations over the years about such topics as hospitals, ‘centralisation’ of key services, school amalgamations, school bus contracts, increased driving age, speed limits, dangerous quality of roads and the withdrawal of appropriate funding levels to our essential services such as those that save lives and support the development of our main industries such as PIRSA.

The resilience and patience of regional, rural and remote South Australians has been pushed to the limit.  Anxiety is at an unhealthy level. 

Our communities have a strong sense of connection with where they live; because we believe that we are the current custodians of our towns, communities, services and businesses that were passed down to us by previous generations; and that must be passed on to future generations in better condition than when we received them.  That is how small communities build and grow – we add our positive contribution and pass it on.  This process is reliant upon us and it is what we are here for.  It is a privilege to have a positive impact on the future.

However, city-centric Governments have for too long reached into our communities from afar and made decisions that have put the current custodians in danger of having to pass on to future generations communities that are in a worse condition than when they received them. 

Mr Weatherill states that "our regional communities are enormously valuable .... and I want to make sure that their voices are heard by this Government" and that "it is important to understand local issues".

This news will be welcomed by regional communities. 

Mr Weatherill, we accept your challenge to change the attitudes of this current Government toward regional communities and look forward to working with you as you "reconnect with the regions".

Jeremy Lomman

www.thesosgroup.com.au

Balaklava

 

Advisory Panels secret ingredient for regional success.

Running a business is a lonely job. 

 

In a country that is increasingly city-centric, running a regional business is even lonelier.

Regional business is tough business in Australia.

The unofficial source of much trusted advice in the regions is friends, family, industry, accountant, lawyer and other business owners.  This type of ‘buddy’ system has good intentions and is seen as a ‘safe’ environment for getting feedback; but it is very limited in terms of effectiveness.

It is often the case that these people do not understand the business.  Forming an opinion about the direction of the business is difficult, because each piece of advice takes precedence on a different day in the mind of the owner / operator.

As-far-as many other owner / operators are concerned, ‘no one knows the business like we do’ and they are not seeking any help at all.

What are others doing to get ahead of the game?

Some of the best product innovations, business models and marketing initiatives to come out of regional Australia in recent times, are from organisations that have formed Advisory Panels.

An Advisory Panel is a small group of independent mentors that use their complimentary skills and experience to provide advice on the strategic direction of the business.  These people do not have formal authority to make decisions on behalf of the organisation.  The structure is informal and flexible.

Advisory Panels allow owners and operators to step away from day-to-day management issues and focus on the growth and development of the business, using a forum that challenges critical thinking.

Doings things right will always be important.  True value for a regional business is created when the owner / operator has the opportunity to ask if they are in fact doing the right things.  This is the difference between working in the business and working on the business.

The use of Advisory Panels has many benefits that can be tailored to meet the current needs of the business.  Some of these are:

• Ideas and suggestions to grow and develop the business
• Vision and purpose
• Increased productivity
• Increased market insight
• Improved culture
• Increased management capability
• Create new business model
• Technical support
• Increased understanding of compliance and governance requirements
• Practical commercial experience
• Financial knowledge
• Independence

An Advisory Panel is functioning at its best when:

• The business owners and operators are open to receiving input from others
• Input from mentors is strategic, constructive and relevant to the current needs of the business
• Everyone keeps an open mind and actively participates
• Communication is open and honest
• Everyone is being challenged through critical thinking

Advisory Panels are a proven technique that serves as an informal guide to help a business learn, grow and perform better.  In most cases, owners and operators are already talking to some of the right people; it’s just a matter of bringing that feedback into a forum that is more effective for the business.

Tools that help farmers communicate the value of local food to consumers.

Consumers are under increasing pressure to shop as citizens of the planet; not as consumers.  This has increased the complexity of the choices they have to make about food.  When deciding what to buy, consumers are being asked to keep many issues front-of-mind; such as:

-          - Was this product made:

o   Sustainably?

o   Ethically?

o   Organically?

o   Morally?

o   Humanely?

o   Environmentally friendly?

o   Locally?

o   Safely?

o   With concern for animal welfare?

……to name just a few.   

So what do consumers want?  They need answers to these questions that will point to an easy solution to their problem i.e. how do I know that a product meets the above requirements?  This is the value (help) they are willing to pay for.

When I was doing Maths I & II back in school I discovered that if I knew the answer first, I could work out the correct formula that answered the original question, much faster than if I was given the question first and was asked to process a formula of information to work out the answer.  In the former, I was still learning but I wanted the quickest path to home and was more successful getting the questions right.  Not the conventional way to learn at the time; but a better learning experience.

The key to helping consumers make the right choices we want about the food they buy is to simply GIVE THEM THE ANSWERS.  Never ask a consumer to find the answer.  Give them the immediate experience of making the right choice.

I see a lot of initiatives at the moment providing great information about the agricultural and agribusiness industry that are failing to change behaviour because the consumer is still left to work things out for themselves.

The key message about a product needs to be quick, simple and blatantly obvious.  The solution to their concerns (i.e. the right product) then needs to be readily accessible otherwise the consumer won’t change their buying behaviour.

The advantage farmers have is they are in the best position to help with answers and solutions; and are regarded as a believable and trustworthy source – very good start.  So how can farmers get better at communicating value to consumers?

Here are a couple of tools that farmers can use to strip-down their knowledge and understanding into some effective, bite-size messages for consumers.   As simple as these techniques are; they still demonstrate how hard it is to strip information back to a message that means something to consumers.

The 5-Whys

You may have heard of the 5-Whys as part of Lean Six Sigma.  5-Whys is a questioning technique developed by Toyota and is used to find the root cause of a problem; the idea being that by asking Why? 5-times the problem and the solution will become clear.

-          - Initial problem statement:

o   ‘The printing press broke down’

- Why?

- Why?

- Why?

- Why?

- Why?

The first problem statement is questioned Why?  Each subsequent answer is questioned again Why?  If need be you can continue questioning past 5.

I believe the 5-Whys are a great marketing tool for working out how to effectively communicate the root value of a product.  The 5-Whys are designed to point to the process, to quickly identify the problem in simple terms.  Coincidently, the issues consumers are being asked to consider when buying food are all about the process i.e. consumers need answers about the process in simple terms.  So why not use the same method to point to the food process in simple terms for the consumer?!

Try it for yourself.  Basic example of process:

-          - Initial value statement:

o   ‘Cherries from the Adelaide Hills are the best’

- Why? Because our cherries are plump and rich in flavour.

- Why? They are plump and rich flavour because of the soil and climate.

- Why? The soil and climate means that..................

- Why? ................etc

- Why? ................etc

This technique can be used for individual products or regional marketing.

The Message Map 

The Message Map is a quick and compact process that enables farmers to communicate their story simply, clearly, concisely and quickly; using the messages created through the 5-Whys technique.  It ensures the messages are compelling enough for consumers.

The process looks like this:

-          - Step 1

o   A ‘Twitter-friendly’ headline

- A single over-arching message that you want potential consumers to know about your product

- No more than 140 characters

- Keep asking ‘what is the single most important thing we want consumers to know about our product?

-          - Step 2

o   Support your main message with 3 key benefits

- Specifically outline the 3 most important benefits of your product

-          - Step 3

o   Reinforce your 3 key benefits

- Support the above claims

- Be very specific

- Use stories, statistics and examples

- These are points that will prompt the delivery of the message

In most instances, collaboration is needed with down-stream customers of the food chain to ensure the above messages are positioned in the right place for consumers to see them; and that the solution products are made readily available and can be easily accessed by consumers to complete their purchasing decision; in favour of the products that met their needs.

Alternatively, some farmers are now vertically integrating their marketing and delivering messages of value to consumers farm-direct from a regional base and this is exciting to see.