Ever been let down by a business idea you thought had so much potential?
The only thing worse than a poorly developed business idea is investing in a poorly developed business idea. Nobody wants to spend time, energy and resources on a product or service that doesn’t fly. So how do you ensure your new business idea is poised to win when it enters the market?
Ashton Bishop

Recent Posts
Invest with Confidence: 6 Questions to Unlock Business Opportunities
Business Strategy, Innovation, Business Growth, Challenger Brands, Customer Centricity, Brand Positioning, Business OpportunitiesUPDATED: As of 30 March 2023
How do you prepare for the unpredictable?
While some businesses have managed to leverage disruption to their advantage — many companies are falling behind.
Where others have emerged with better workforces, efficient operations, and improved customer experiences, some continue to struggle at the back foot of change.
The difference? Strategy. Most organisations don’t have a game plan to navigate the evolving business landscape. So how do you prepare your business for disruption?
6 Ways to Identify Unmet Customer Needs
Customer Journey, Business Strategy, Standing Out, Innovation, Disruption, Customer Centricity, Lean PrinciplesUPDATED: As of 21 July 2022
Finding a product, a service, or a niche that delivers results largely depends on understanding exactly what your customer needs. And in a time when the competition is manic and ruthless, it is all the more essential to deliver a high-quality product and service that gets the right traction.
What ChatGPT Doesn’t Know About Brand Salience
Business Strategy, Sales, Ashton Bishop, Artificial Intelligence, Branding, Marketing Strategy, Creativity, Challenger Brands, Brand Building, Differentiation, Distinctive Brand, Brand Positioning, Brand SaliencyUPDATED: As of 23 February 2023
Are you even really running a business if you don’t know what it’s like to fight for recognition in today’s market? Getting attention is one thing. Being unforgettable is another.
Pay attention to the first brand in your head in a particular situation. Chances are, it’s one with higher brand salience than the rest of its competitors. The good news is you can have that for your brand, too.
A quick ChatGPT conversation will say brand salience is about awareness, consistency, repetition, relevance, differentiation, emotional connection, and user experience. If you’re a challenger business, AI will mainly tell you that you just have to strive for awareness and consistency. But what does that even mean? And how can you begin to incorporate those elements into your long-term and short-term goals?
It’s no lie — AI does have a pretty good grasp on ‘what’ you need to be more brand salient. But if you’re looking to get your hands dirty with the ‘hows’ and more importantly, get results, you’ve come to the right place.
3 Ways to Transform Board Meetings with Measures That Matter
Business Strategy, Ashton Bishop, Marketing Strategy, Decision Making, Business Growth, Board, Strategy Frameworks, Measures That Matter, Tracking, Strategic Planning, ReportingUPDATED: As of 25th January 2023
Ever been to a board meeting that left you feeling unproductive and confused?
In an increasingly data-led world and with the rise of artificial intelligence, businesses are able to track more than ever before. But it’s easy to get caught up in tracking and forget to drive results altogether.
As a board member, it’s critical that you’re able to look beyond the documentation and into the priceless insight that lies between the lines. Question is, how?
Funnel Metrics: 5 Steps to Link Your Marketing and Sales
Customer Journey, Business Strategy, Marketing Strategy, Business Growth, Alignment, Conversion, Sales Strategy, Marketing FunnelIt’s easy to think that marketing and sales are completely different functions of a business. But both share a common denominator of engaging customers and integrating the value you offer into their lives.
That said, every business needs customers. Not just any customer, though — but ones you can serve and who can get behind your product or service offering. When done right, sales-informed marketing can be a catalyst in delivering more qualified customers and optimising a customer journey that makes them stay and buy more. But with the nuances of sales and marketing, how do you know which aspects are relevant to the other? This is where the Funnel Metrics tool comes in.
Insight: When marketing and sales come together, they deliver the right customers suitable for businesses to thrive.
Data: Organisations with a service level agreement (SLA) between marketing and sales are three times as likely to be effective. (Hubspot)
Key Action Point: Utilise the Funnel Metrics to master the key pieces of information needed to align marketing with sales efforts and deliver more qualified customers.
WATCH: Let Step Change CEO Ashton Bishop walk you through the Funnel Metrics tool.
Shitting Diamonds: Expensive Lessons Forged Under Extreme Pressure Preview
Success Principles, Personal Growth, Ashton Bishop, Transformation, LeadershipBrand Strategy: 5 Steps To Unlock Powerful Business Opportunities
Predatory Marketing, Customer Journey, Ashton Bishop, Step Change, Branding, Customer Centricity, Differentiation, Distinctive Brand, Brand PositioningUPDATED: As of 3 November 2022
Let’s face it— we’re in a marketing battleground. Your business is only one of the hundreds or even thousands competing for your customer’s attention. If your goal is to win the war for attention, you need to differentiate yourself in a way that actually matters to your customers.
While this sounds obvious, it’s not. All too often, businesses assume they understand what is important for their customers.
Insight Hunters: 6 Critical Questions Every CEO Must Answer
Business Strategy, Ashton Bishop, Marketing Strategy, Disruption, Culture & Leadership, Better Questions, Norman Chorn, Better Insights, Thinking Routines, High Performing Teams, AgileMassive change and disruption have transformed the way we work and live. The old ways are no longer working and innovative and more creative solutions are called for by the day.
Insight Hunters EP5: What’s the One Mistake Leaders Make the Most?
Ashton Bishop, Culture & Leadership, Leadership, Better Questions, Norman Chorn, Better InsightsWelcome to a new episode of the Insight Hunters with Dr Norman and Detective Flash! Ready to ask better questions to get better insights?
Insight Hunters EP4: Improving and Integrating Thinking Routines
Ashton Bishop, Better Questions, Norman Chorn, Better Insights, Thinking Models, Thinking Routines, High Performing TeamsWelcome to a new episode of the Insight Hunters with Dr Norman and Detective Flash! Ready to ask better questions to get better insights?
Insight Hunters Special: How Has COVID-19 Changed the Way We Respond?
Ashton Bishop, Disruption, Better Questions, Norman Chorn, Better Insights, COVID-19Welcome to this special episode of the Insight Hunters with Dr Norman and Detective Flash! So let’s start asking better questions to get better insights.
Insight Hunters EP3: What Are the Best Strategy Frameworks?
Business Strategy, Ashton Bishop, Marketing Strategy, Better Questions, Norman Chorn, Better Insights, Strategy FrameworksWelcome to another episode of the Insight Hunters with Dr Norman and Detective Flash! Ready to ask better questions to get better insights?
Insight Hunters EP2: Evaluating Roles and Rewards For Agile Companies
Ashton Bishop, Better Questions, Norman Chorn, Better Insights, High Performing Teams, AgileWelcome back to Insight Hunters with Dr Norman and Detective Flash! It’s time to ask better questions to get better insights.
Insight Hunters EP1: Distinguishing Between Good and Right Ideas
Ashton Bishop, Better Questions, Norman Chorn, Better Insights, Ideation ProcessWelcome to the first episode of Insight Hunters with Dr Norman and Detective Flash! Ready to ask better questions to unlock better insights?
Knowledge Nuggets: How Minds Change
Better World, Ashton Bishop, Marketing Strategy, Decision Making, Productivity, Knowledge Nuggets, Leadership, Team EfficiencyHave you ever tried to change someone’s mind? Have you ever found someone trying to change your mind? And how did these experiences go? Like it or not, many of life’s interactions are but replays of these two scenarios — only with different choices and characters.
Sure, influence and persuasion are must-haves in every leader’s toolbox. But have you ever looked beyond your agenda and asked yourself — wait, how do minds change? And how does this shape the world that we live in today?
That’s exactly what journalist and self-proclaimed psychology nerd David McRaney did in his book “How Minds Change: The Surprising Science of Belief, Opinion, and Persuasion”.
Knowledge Nuggets: Life in Half a Second
Success Principles, Business Strategy, Personal Growth, Ashton Bishop, Knowledge NuggetsWhen it comes to success, there's already so much content based on opinion. But what if there was a proven path to success based on science and research? Join us as we dive deep into Complexica CEO Matthew Michalewicz’s fact-based formula for success in his book, Life in Half a Second.
The 3 Absolute Essentials of Good Strategy
Business Strategy, Marketing Strategy, Knowledge Nuggets3 Essentials of Strategy
Strategy is often hard to define, which makes it all the more difficult to distinguish what actually constitutes a good strategy.
Why Do Strategic Plans Fail? 5 Mistakes And How To Counter Them
Business Strategy, Marketing Strategy6 Things No One Has Told You about Culture
manifesto, Marketing Strategy, Culture & LeadershipUnless you’ve been running your business under a rock, you would know that businesses today are operating in a VUCA environment. In this context, it’s the quick-thinking, action-oriented, and strategic organisations that win. Those that produce strategic documents and leave them in a bottom drawer — well, they come second or simply fail to finish.
An Effective Framework for Strategic Decision-Making
Decision Making, Culture & LeadershipCompanies do not come to faster decisions by osmosis — it is always the result of a better decision-making framework.In agile organisations, the ability to make nimble decisions lead to 2.5x the growth, twice the profit, and a 30% higher ROI on investments.
How can you unlock your ability to make better, smarter decisions?
6 Key Principles for Creating Lightning Strike Moments: Exponential Marketing
Business Strategy, Ashton Bishop, Marketing Strategy, Decision Making, Creativity, exponential marketingLearn about the scenario planning mistakes and how you can prevent them from misfiring your strategy so you can navigate complexity efficiently.
5 of Your Favourite Step Change Articles from 2020
Business Strategy, Ashton Bishop, Step Change, Branding, Marketing Strategy, Bendy Phones, Powerful Presence, Culture & Leadership, Fintech, Marketing AutomationHistory’s Greatest Strategists: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Marketing Strategy, History's Greatest StrategistsThe more specific we can be about our category, the better chance we have to be remembered and related to by our customers. Are you in the right category?
History’s Greatest Strategists: Admiral Horatio Nelson
Marketing Strategy, History's Greatest StrategistsThe more specific we can be about our category, the better chance we have to be remembered and related to by our customers. Are you in the right category?
Addressing the Synergy Problem in Procurement Teams and Marketing Agencies
Business Strategy, Marketing StrategyMany companies today are opting for procurement to manage their marketing spend. But marketers and agencies have always been at odds when it comes to procurement. Understanding the role that procurement plays and how it impacts marketing is crucial to not only save on costs but to pave the way for better alignment in achieving the brand’s vision.
Growing your business sustainably can be a tough egg to crack in our current condition. The slowing economic growth and faltering customer confidence mean business conditions are declining. One wrong move and you could end up wasting your money on initiatives that are bound to fail.
The economic downturn and increasing digital disruption has led to some businesses and industries folding. We use the Step Change strategic lens to explore what businesses in a sunset industry can do to rise above.
What Would Genghis Khan Do During a Recession?
Business Strategy, History's Greatest StrategistsThe latest economic figures released by the Bureau of Statistics show that the Australian economy is slowing down. What can businesses do to thrive in a recession? We turn to one of history’s greatest strategists and a ruthless warrior, Genghis Khan.
Many Australian companies are complacent about the effect of disruption in their industries. But disruption today can displace market leaders, their products, and their services. Responding to disruption means businesses need to think fast and act fast.