Ready, Fire, Aim: Getting Traction FAST
Interviewed by Olivia Wolak

Interview with Bob Dorf, Interim CEO, COO, CMO		 Date Interview: 08/31/2009
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You have founded six start-up companies and invested in 22 more. That is quite a roster. How did you make these start-ups successful?

I think rule number one is there is no substitute for flat out hard work. The start-up life is demanding and exhausting. It requires a lot of ambition and stamina. Rule number two is that it is all about what we call in the direct marketing business “test and iterate”—try this new sales approach, or pricing approach, or product packaging. Test it on customers again and again, ideally in a controlled environment. Be ready to move quickly to kill programs that are not delivering results and accelerate those that do. Customer reaction is paramount. They’re all that matter at the end of the day.

Any more tricks of the trade?

The third rule is that it is all about the people. You have to do everything you can to make the team feel entrepreneurial and take sort of an ownership interest. But you need to have everyone from the bottom of the organization to the top equally bought into the future of the start-up company. They have to see a clear path to the reward for them that comes from giving up nights and weekends and doing whatever it takes to assure the company’s greatest possible chances for success.

You also are founding CEO of Marketing 1to1/Peppers & Rogers Group.

It is a long story, but basically it started as an interim gig. Don Peppers, the sort of guiding light or initial company founder, asked if I wanted to take on a part-time management and consulting role. I agreed to do that on a six-month trial.

And it evolved from there?

Within about two months it was obvious that we had a huge business opportunity. My position evolved into a full-time, 90-hour a week job as the head of consulting, operations and sales, and as we started to add people, as CEO. We grew to about 350 people worldwide. At year nine, we brought in new investors and at that point I decided that I did not want to work for a whole bunch of distant VC people I didn’t know personally.

My sense is the sooner people start to see change and results —though not necessarily all great results—the sooner they get on board and their own ideas start to surface.

So you left?

I decided to retire and start the venture fund. But, in some ways, the kinds of strategic consulting assignments we did at Peppers & Rogers for mostly major corporations gave me satisfaction and a lust for future interim assignments. Typically, as CRM and marketing consultants, we went in early, hit hard, tried to make a lot happen, and then left in three to six months. That sort of culture-of-change agent and business accelerant role suited me quite well.

Ready, Fire, Aim: Getting Traction FAST -- Bob Dorf, Interim CEO, COO, CMO

Bob Dorf is a serial entrepreneur, serial investor, and serial interim CEO/COO/CMO. He is founding CEO/partner of Marketing 1to1/Peppers & Rogers Group, a 300-person global CRM, and founding CEO of Dorf & Stanton Communications, a $15-million communications and public relations firm.

You are a specialist in sales and marketing. What are your particular strengths for these types of assignments?

I think that team building, energizing and coaching are skills of mine that are particularly valuable when we talk about making things happen in days or a very few weeks, not months. Also, my strategy tends to be more one of “lighting lots of small fires” rather than “betting-the-ranch,” because seldom is there one single powerful idea that is strong enough to effect quantum change or fix all problems. Sometimes I get accused of being a little “ready, fire, aim,” but my sense is the sooner people start to see change and results— though not necessarily all great results—the sooner they get on board and their own ideas start to surface.

When did you take this approach?

I was hired as the interim CMO at a major $100-million Internet commerce company. My first day on the job, the creative director called me in to show me a new home page for the e-commerce web site. I didn’t like it at all and I spent 10 minutes debating whether or not to tell her and the team of my concerns since, after all, it was the morning of my first day.

Which side won the debate?

Nobody said “wait a week” before you start making things happen, so I mentioned seven or eight things I would change completely and we basically turned the thing upside down and still brought it live within a day. It was a balance between being assertive and not shutting down opinions or conversations in the process. It turned out that the team was excited about my feedback on their design, agreed with the wisdom of my recommendations, and went back and reworked it. The CEO was equally enthusiastic about my changes and that home page was live for probably two years after I left.

 

Can that ready, fire, aim attitude be a bit unnerving at times?

As long as you’re careful not to fire at the elephants before you’ve shot a couple of small game, you are not really heightening the risk profile for the company. You are getting the sales and marketing efforts out of status quo mode, showing both the person or the board who hired you--and the people who work for you--that you really are going to listen, look for new ways to do things, change the status quo, and improve results.

When people come into my office, more than anything else they want an answer to a question. Black or white? You don’t have to give them the answer they want, but more than anything else they want an answer.

How were you able to successfully go against the grain and shake things up?

People saw: “This guy is not afraid to make decisions. He’s glad to listen and process whatever anyone has to say, but at the end of the day he is in charge.” One really important thing that I’ve learned in my business career as a C-level executive is that when people come into my office, more than anything else they want an answer to a question. Black or white? You don’t have to give them the answer they want, just give them an answer.

What was one of the decisions you made that had the greatest impact on a company?

At a network security company in which I was an investor. As the prices for network security were declining, I pushed for a transformation in the way the company went to market, basically replacing sales people in suits, in rental cars, and on expense accounts with an in-house tele-sales force that was able to have far more conversations at a faster pace, at a far lower cost per conversation. I helped to accelerate the growth rate of the top line while reducing the total cost of sales at the same time.

What makes you a successful leader?

I think it’s the attitude that there’s almost nothing in a company that can’t be improved. My job as a C-level executive is like the painters of the George Washington Bridge: it’s full-time, lifetime employment, because if you start painting on the New York side and you finish on the New Jersey side, it’s time to go back to New York and start again. That sort of relentless pursuit of accelerants is my biggest strength as an interim. And along with that is that I stay very tuned in to what all the members of the team are contributing and never run out of opportunities and ideas to discuss with them about things that can be improved.

What are you passionate about?

It’s about mixing it up with really smart people who are equally passionate about measurable, achievable business results. And in my personal life it’s about mixing it up with smart people on bicycles and spending time with my wife and our daughter, who is almost finished with her PhD. I am more proud of this 28 year-old psychologist than I am of all I’ve accomplished with the 28 businesses combined.