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The most interesting thing about Tesla — the niche luxury electric car maker — is the role of marketing in selling electric cars that cost $100,000 or more.

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The most interesting thing about Tesla - the niche luxury electric car maker - is the role of marketing in selling electric cars that cost $100,000 or more. Many people have tried to change the auto industry over the last 40 years and none have succeeded. The process of buying a car is essentially the same as it was a generation ago. And the process has remained unpopular for decades: the typical car dealer receives just 2 or 3 stars on Yelp.

Tesla is creatively using marketing to upend the auto industry business model:

There are no Tesla dealers

There are no commissioned sales people

Tesla cars are marketed and not aggressively sold

Tesla transactions are conducted online

The price is the price: no negotiation

There is no inventory: the Tesla Model S is built to order

You can't test drive a Tesla unless you put down a $5,000 deposit

In many parts of the country, you can't see or drive the car before you buy even if you place a deposit

You have to wait in line for months or years to get a car

And the marketing challenges are incredibly difficult:

They are building a new luxury brand from scratch

They are evangelizing a new type of vehicle: an electric car

They are selling a $60,000 - $100,000+ car that can't go on a road trip

They must sell an entirely new model of buying and owning a car

While Tesla is starting with expensive vehicles, they clearly have mainstream ambitions. They are investing to build a big car company. How hard is it to build and sell cars in the USA? Look at it this way: Tesla is the second oldest publicly traded auto company in the United States behind Ford. GM went bankrupt and went public four months after Tesla. Chrysler remains private following its own reorganization.

While Tesla has a long way to go to be profitable, producing cars in volume, and moving towards the mainstream, their first home-built product - the Model S - is a success. They have 10,000 - 20,000 orders and have swept the auto industry awards, winning the most recent round of Motor Trend, Automobile, and Yahoo Autos awards for car of the year. Tesla is the first startup car company, and the Model S is the first electric car, to win these awards.
So what can we learn from Tesla marketing?
(1) Start with a great product - Tesla would be dead today if they didn't build the best car available today. There are too many obstacles - range, lack of road trips, and buyer confusion to name a few. Tesla used electric technology to build a car that can't be reproduced with a combustion engine. It's as fast as a Porsche and gets the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon. It has very few moving parts. It is the most aerodynamic car made and has the most cargo space of any car in its class. It's a sports car that seats seven.

(2) Start high and work your way down - It's a lot easier to build a lust-inducing $100,000 car than a cheaper model. Tesla started with the $100K plus roadster built on a modified Lotus platform. With the Model S, they started with production of $100K vehicles and are working their way towards the $60K entry-luxury models. By starting high, Tesla is letting early adopters fund technology development. As volume increases, prices are coming down. The early super cars are media darlings endlessly discussed in waves of free Tesla publicity.

(3) Turn auto industry strengths into weaknesses - Historically, luxury cars have been sold and justified based on the quality of their engineering. Most luxury automobile companies tout "performance through engineering" as the one thing that makes them special and desirable. Tesla marketing focuses on performance through technology while touting the simplicity of the platform. The Tesla Model S pitch reframes the auto industry strength as a weakness. Through the highly-effective Tesla marketing lens, traditional gas cars are dirty, complex, unreliable, and difficult to maintain. In a bold marketing move, Tesla service centers are designed with white floors to reinforce that electric cars don't have oil and other dirty fluids that leak on the floor.

(4) Create a new multi-channel model: Tesla decided not to build a traditional car dealer network. Nobody likes car dealers: even buying and servicing a high-end car like a Porsche is a dreadful experience. Tesla looked at the car buying process and optimized its sales model to fit the way people buy cars today. Since people start online, Tesla designed their process around online information, commerce, and community. Their site is unusually clear, clean, and effective. For people who want to see the car, they are building kiosk stores in malls with Tesla experts who can't sell cars and who aren't commissioned. When a buyer is ready, they place a refundable deposit online. If they want to drive a car, they can arrange a test drive after they've placed a deposit. Essentially, Tesla is selling cars the same way Apple sells the iPhone.

(5) Build the community & focus on the experience: From the beginning, Tesla has made user forums and user community a key part of the online experience. Tesla marketing highlights the unique Tesla buying and ownership experience and encourages owners to interact with the company and each other in full public view on the Tesla site. This provides a rich base of content - and owner passion - on view for prospective buyers.

(6) Leverage the media and traditional press: While much is new about the Tesla Model S and the accompanying sales and marketing model, one thing is not: the dependence on traditional media. Tesla has been a master at driving press coverage, reviews, and awards for its cars. It's clear that the company has worked hard to position the brand with the media and to make sure the right messages come through. The company's #1 message is that they are trying to build the best car ever made and not just the best electric car. This message is frequently repeated by the press.
Tesla Marketing: Likely more lessons to come
While it's early and many many risks remain, Tesla is the first company to have the potential to become the Apple computer of the car industry. Like Apple, they are selling a product that is very different than what has come before. Both companies focus on great products and innovation. They are both building their own ecosystem (Tesla's super charger network is akin to Apple's build-out of iTunes and the Apple Store) and both are challenging traditional sales models with their own direct distribution system. In fact, Tesla hired Apple's previous retail chief to build out the new distribution model.

Whatever does happen with Tesla, the marketing lessons to come are certain to fascinate.

Tags: Automobile Marketing, Marketing Electric Cars, Tesla Marketing, Tesla Marketing Strategy

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The most interesting thing about Tesla - the niche luxury electric car maker - is the role of marketing in selling electric cars that cost $100,000 or more. Many people have tried to change the auto industry over the last 40 years and none have succeeded.

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What should you do to prevent global warming?

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On the Getz Ice Shelf in western Antarctica, photographed on Nov. 5, 2017, ice is in the process of calving from the front of the shelf, soon to become an iceberg.

Credit: NASA/Jeremy Harbeck

Antarctica has lost 3 trillion tons of ice in the past 25 years, and that ice loss has accelerated rapidly over the last five years.

In a new study, the most comprehensive to date of the continent's icy status, an international group of 84 researchers analyzed data from multiple satellite surveys, from 1992 to 2017.

They discovered that Antarctica is currently losing ice about three times faster than it did until 2012, climbing to a rate of more than 241 billion tons (219 billion metric tons) per year. Total ice loss during the 25-year period contributed to sea level rise of about 0.3 inches (around 8 millimeters), approximately 40 percent of which - about 0.1 inches (3 mm) - happened in the past five years. [ In Photos: Antarctica's Larsen C Ice Shelf Through Time]

Millimeters of sea level rise may not sound like much, but previous surveys suggested that Antarctica's massive ice sheets likely wouldn't be affected by climate change at all. The new findings hint that the continent's ice cover may not be as resistant to warming as once thought, and present a very different picture of Antarctica's potential contributions to a rising ocean: Consider that if all of Antarctica's ice melted, the resulting water could elevate sea levels by about 190 feet (58 meters), the researchers reported.

Their study, published online today (June 13) in the journal Nature Research, is one of five Antarctica reports released simultaneously. Together, the studies evaluate past and present conditions in Antarctica to determine the impact of climate change and human activity on the continent, and to present strategies for the future of its ecology and geology.

For the new study, the scientists combined data from three types of satellite measurements to track changes in ice over time, study co-author Andrew Shepherd, a professor of Earth observation with the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds in the U.K., told Live Science.

Satellites that scanned Antarctic ice with altimeters gathered evidence about its volume; another type of satellite measurement tracked the speed of glacial flow into the ocean; and a third type of observation calculated the gravity of land masses around the planet, weighing the ice sheets in their entirety.

Crevasses form on Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica, near the part of the glacier where it leaves land and extends over the ocean.

Credit: Ian Joughin, University of Washington

On their own, each of these techniques held uncertainties; certain factors such as variable snowfall on top of the ice or changes in the rock underneath it could affect the satellite measurements. By looking at all these types of measurements together, the study authors could more confidently set aside data that did not represent ice cover, Shepherd explained.

"The satellite measurements tell us that the ice sheet is much more dynamic than we used to think," he said.

"If you take a look at the first IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] assessment report - 30 years ago, before we had satellite measurements of the polar regions - you'll see that the ice sheets were not expected to respond to climate change at all. The general consensus in glaciology was that ice sheets couldn't change rapidly - but that's not the case," Shepherd said.

In 2015, a NASA study warned that Antarctica's Larsen B ice shelf was likely to shatter into hundreds of icebergs before the end of the decade.

Credit: NSIDC/Ted Scambos

In total, an estimated 3 trillion tons of ice vanished from Antarctica during the 25-year survey period. To put that into perspective, the massive iceberg that broke off from Antarctica's Larsen C ice shelf in July 2017 - one of the largest icebergs in recorded history - weighed over 1 trillion tons, and was roughly the size of the state of Delaware. [ In Photos: Antarctica's Larsen C Ice Shelf Through Time]

The greatest change in annual ice loss was in West Antarctica, averaging around 58 billion tons in the years leading up to 2012, then skyrocketing to 175 billion tons per year in the five years since. Meanwhile, in the Antarctic Peninsula, the annual rate of ice loss increased from around 7 billion tons from 1992 to 2012 to 36 billion tons from 2012 to 2017, largely due to collapsing ice shelves.

Even though Antarctica is covered in ice year-round, its ice sheets retreat and advance in annual cycles, a pattern that has persisted for thousands of years. But clues from the geologic record suggest that the climate change driving ice loss in Antarctica is doing so much faster than during its periods of ice loss in the distant past, Shepherd told Live Science. [ Monster Antarctic Iceberg Gets Its Big Break in First-of-Its-Kind Video]

Ancient ice sheets leave behind signs of their presence in the land they covered, and this evidence is revealed when retreating glaciers expose the ground beneath them. Scientists can also detect markers of where ice sheets once covered Antarctica by looking at the seabed around the western part of the continent, which holds traces of where glaciers were pinned in the past, Shepherd explained.

Those signs help researchers to gauge the pace of ice retreat in Antarctica - estimated in the past to be about 164 feet (50 meters) each year - between glacial cycles, Shepherd said. However, ice retreat today is about more than 20 times that rate - more than 3,200 feet (1 kilometer) per year.

Scientists also looked at traces of organisms that live beneath floating ice shelves of the Antarctic Peninsula, specifically at the balance between organisms that thrive in light and those that excel in darkness. The results revealed that the ice shelves in Antarctica have been in place for about 10,000 years, "so the fact that they're collapsing today is unprecedented, and the pace of retreat and collapse of ice shelves is many times faster than we would expect from the normal glacial cycles," Shepherd said.

Original article on Live Science.

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Antarctica Is Melting Away: More Than 3 Trillion Tons of Ice Vanished Since 1992

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Antarctica has lost 3 trillion tons of ice in the past 25 years, and that ice loss has accelerated rapidly over the last five years. In a new study, the most comprehensive to date of the continent's icy status, an international group of 84 researchers analyzed data from multiple satellite surveys, from 1992 to 2017.

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What should you do to prevent global warming?

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Hi! Welcome to my Padlet page !
Im Linh. Im twenty one years old. Im Vietnamese. Im now studying at Edenz Colleges, Auckland, New Zealand.
My aim at creating this site is to create a place for learning and sharing about Leadership and Management.
Hope you guys enjoy it !

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Top 10 difference between Managers and Leaders !

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Top 10 difference between Managers and Leaders !

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Sometimes, we can not distinguish between management and leadership. This video will answer your questions.

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Top 10 Differences Between Managers and Leaders

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This short video from @ScottWilliams provides 10 clear distinctives to help understand the difference between a manager and a leader. Thanks to Samson Varughese for bringing the video to life. Find Scott: Twitter - @ScottWilliams Facebook - ScottWilliams.tv Blog - BigIsTheNewSmall.com Company - NxtLevelSolutions.com

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Challenges faced by middle-level managers

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Challenges faced by middle-level managers

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A strong middle management also provides organisations with a pipeline of future leaders. Besides, a strong managerial cadre also offers the added benefits of providing much needed continuity and low attrition.

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Middle-level managers are the backbone of organisations, particularly large ones. They are the vital link between an organisation's senior leadership on one hand and the ground personnel on the other. These managers are responsible for the implementation of the organization's strategy on a day-to-day basis and it would be safe to say that a company's success or failure largely depends on the strength of this cadre. A strong middle management also provides organisations with a pipeline of future leaders. Besides, a strong managerial cadre also offers the added benefits of providing much needed continuity and low attrition.

I have seen that middle level managers typically face their own set of challenges. In organisations that I have worked or where I now provide advice, I have always seen that if these challenges are left unidentified or unaddressed they almost always lead to disgruntlement and low motivation which can then, over a period of time, seep in to the front end.
What are the challenges that mid-level managers face?
1. Transition from worker to manager: Most managers take time to settle into their leadership role after being promoted from the ranks. They grapple with the difference between doing things and getting things done. In one instance, it was seen that a star salesperson who was promoted to a sales manager could not manage the transition at all. His micromanaging ways upset his team and despite repeated counseling, he could not outgrow this habit. Privately, some senior leaders admitted to me that they had visualized that this could happen, but were really in no position to deny the promotion as it was a reward for the person having done a superlative job in his previous role! This happens in many organisations as they are not able to think of viable alternatives to a promotion - maybe he could have been 'rewarded' by giving him extra territories to manage or a challenge could be given to him to turnaround territories in which sales were sagging. Designate him as the Man Friday in sales which would give him a sense of challenge and importance. By promoting him, the organization lost a good salesperson and got a poor manager, a bad bargain.

2. Grappling with the demands of a new role: The managerial role brings with it Budgeting, P and L management, strategy sessions, making presentations, annual plans and the like. Hardly any organisation that I have dealt with provides formal training to managers in these areas which make these tasks very daunting for some.

3. Team management: People management, conducting appraisals, dealing with teams, their aspirations, motivating them to do well, knowing when to turn the pressure on and when to withdraw are all finer aspects of leading which take people time to learn. Unfortunately, the pressures of day-to-day business mean that managers have to hit the ground running and they do not have the luxury to ease into the role. This means in many instances, they may not get to know their team members well. This problem further gets compounded when one is managing teams across various geographies.

4. Ability to balance both sides: Many a manager has confided in me about this dilemma- If he is too friendly with his staff, he risks being seen as 'one of them' and branded soft by the senior management. If he cozies up to his bosses and senior management, he risks being branded a 'chamcha' by his staff. Ability to walk the fine line and keep both sides happy is a challenge.

5. Specific challenges faced by women managers: Many women have today assumed middle management roles, such as branch managers at leading banks, and have excelled in these roles. However, these roles nowadays also demand socialising post office hours - whether it is having a drink with the team or indulging in sports activities over the weekend. Many good women managers end up having guilt feelings as they are not able to participate in such activities.

How can organisations help?

As we have seen, it is in the interest of the organisation to build a strong middle management cadre. Companies can help these managers in their transition by:

a. Providing coaching and mentoring: Rather than being thrown to the wolves, managers need to be briefed about the expectations and soft skills needed to succeed in their roles. While most organisations have regular training programs for skills updation, a good coach should be employed to spend time with these employees to counsel and prepare them for the softer aspects of the new role. Successful organisations often have a mentorship program where a group of middle managers are tied to a person from the senior management who would regularly 'check-in' with them. I know of one organisation which had put mentorship in the KRA/ KPI of senior leaders so that it was taken seriously.

2. Ensuring consultative approach particularly in decisions that impact managers or their teams: As a senior leader, I once had the unpleasant task of drawing up lists to cut staff from our retail branches across the country. The exercise was largely to be done on the drawing board at the company headquarters (HQ) in consultation with HR and branch managers were not to be consulted! Imagine, you are sitting in some far flung corner of the country and you don't even know that the fate of some of your team members is being decided back in the company HQ. Needless to say, it is important that middle management should be consulted when their team members are being rewarded or reprimanded or transferred.

3. Familiarising managers with regulatory implications: In attainment of day-to-day goals, managers can often lose sight of the big picture. This can have serious compliance and regulatory implications which can do permanent damage to the brand of the organisation. We all know about the controversy created some time back with some bankers allegedly crossing the line while opening new accounts. We are often told that good compliance is good business -this is not a clichÃ© but a reality in current times of intense scrutiny.

4. Regular Communication: In survey after survey, managers have quoted a lack of sense of purpose as one of the topmost reasons for quitting (a bad boss is almost always reason no. 1). While money and status (read job title or a person's relative position in the hierarchy) will always be important, knowing that one's efforts count and the organisation relies on you during good as well as bad times gives a completely different high. In my experience, most good organisations had regular forums for exchange of communication. The importance of town halls, lunch with the senior management, annual days, etc. cannot be overemphasized. The recent difficult times make regular communication even more important.

How can managers help themselves?

Mid-level managers can help their cause too in tackling the challenges that they face.

1. Know that turnaround time is short. In today's day and age, organizations cannot offer you the luxury of time to 'discover' yourself in the new role. Whether we like it or not, expectations start from day one.

2. Update yourself, read regularly. If you are at a social do and find yourself with the CEO of your organisation, what would you say in those two minutes? What is your ability for 'small talk' - global events, politics, sports, whatever....?

3. Prepare for the next role. Start working from day one on what it would take for you to climb up one more rung in the organisation ladder. Ask yourself constantly: "If I was being interviewed for promotion to the senior management role what differentiated strategies am I going to talk about? What does my senior management value and what would they like to hear in the interview? What insights do I have into what competition is doing?" Keep a diary and keep making notes, your chance could come tomorrow.

4. Show willingness to make tough decisions. Nobody likes to lay off people or read out the riot act but if the situation demands so, be prepared to take it on rather than shirk. Senior management is always watching your actions, particularly in tough situations to see how you respond.

5. Lastly, understand politics. There is politics everywhere. You don't have to play it to succeed but you should be able to read situations and prepare your responses accordingly.

Typically, persons in middle management would have another 20 years of corporate career ahead of them. It is important for them to understand and enjoy the game, if they are going to play it for so long.

(Suresh Rajagopal, with over 25 years in senior management and leadership roles, is the co-founder and CEO of Mumbai-based Consumerge Wealth Managers that specializes in wealth management, HR consultancy and Coaching)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suresh.rajagopal.71

Twitter:@srconsumerge

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Challenges faced by middle-level managers

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Middle-level managers are the backbone of organisations, particularly large ones. They are the vital link between an organisation's senior leadership on one hand and the ground personnel on the other. These managers are responsible for the implementation of the organization's strategy on a day-to-day basis and it would be safe to say that a company's success or failure largely depends on the strength of this cadre.

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Stanley McChrystal: Listen, learn ... then lead

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Stanley McChrystal: Listen, learn ... then lead

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There are many leadership and management skills . Which is most important ?

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Stanley McChrystal: Listen, learn ... then lead

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There are five level of Leadership

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New York Times Best-Selling Author, Dr. John C. Maxwell teaches the high points of The 5 Levels of Leadership at The Chick-Fil-A Leadercast. For info on attending The 5 Levels of Leadership One-Day Workshop in a city near you, please visit http://www.johnmaxwell.com/events/workshops/the-5-levels-of-leadership

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Almost managers or leaders think that they should be motivate their employees. But, they’re already motivated.  The key is to unleash their motivation.

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Stop Trying to Motivate Your Employees | Kerry Goyette | TEDxCosmoPark

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2018 is off to a bright start for at least one U.S. sector- renewable energy.

The February Infrastructure Update from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) reported that 98 percent of power plants built in the first two months of 2018 were renewable, Popular Mechanics reported Thursday.

During January and February, the U.S. saw an additional 2,173 megawatts of electricity generation constructed. A full 1,568 of those megawatts came from wind power and 565 from solar. The only fossil fuel to add megawatts to the grid was natural gas, with a mere 40.

This isn't an isolated uptick. The update indicates a hopeful trend away from fossil fuels, estimating that 69 percent of new energy sources built over the next three years will be renewable.

The FERC update also suggests that, for all of President Donald Trump's rhetoric about "bring[ing] the coal industry back 100 percent" and "end[ing] the war on beautiful, clean coal," the future is against him. No new coal plants were added at the start of 2018, and the update estimates that 15,000 megawatts of coal power will be removed from the grid due to plant closures by 2021.

This confirms the trajectory outlined in a Climate News Network piece published by EcoWatch in January, which reported that, while coal mine production went up 10 percent in 2017, that was an upward blip in a downward trend due to a 50 percent rise in international coal exports last year. As countries like India, China and Brazil shift towards renewables to combat air pollution and climate change, that blip is likely to disappear. On a longer time-scale, U.S. coal production has decreased by a third over the last five years.

In addition to touting coal, Trump has also thrown a wrench in the renewable energy industry by introducing a new tax on imported solar cells and modules, which went into effect in February, the Union of Concerned Scientists reported. The Union of Concerned Scientists further reported that an estimated 7,600 megawatts of solar power would not be added to the grid because of the tariffs over the next five years, but the news from the FERC suggests that the new taxes won't prevent renewables from growing overall.

The FERC update isn't the only good news for renewable energy this week. Kaiserwetter Energy Asset Management, an industry asset manager based in Germany, wrote in a note to clients that the production costs for renewable energy are lower than the production costs for fossil fuels for the first time in history, Forbes reported Tuesday.

Kaiserwetter used data from Bloomberg, the Frankfurt School, Renewable Cost Database of the International Agency for Renewable Energy (IRENA) and UN Environment and concluded that it cost G20 countries $49 to $174 per megawatt hour to generate energy from fossil fuels in 2017 and only $35 to $54 per megawatt hour to generate energy from renewable sources.

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Renewable Energy Dominates Early 2018 Power Plant Construction

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2018 is off to a bright start for at least one U.S. sector-renewable energy. The February Infrastructure Update from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) reported that 98 percent of power plants built in the first two months of 2018 were renewable, Popular Mechanics reported.

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How ExxonMobil IT Stepped Up Its Game to Become a Model for Innovation

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How ExxonMobil IT Stepped Up Its Game to Become a Model for Innovation

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ExxonMobil’s sheer size makes it difficult for the IT team to supply business stakeholders with the agility they so desperately need to compete in a global marketplace.

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How ExxonMobil IT Stepped Up Its Game to Become a Model for Innovation