Picking up Steam

I really enjoyed hearing Scott Zimmerman speak earlier this week. He provided some really useful tips that involved getting an understanding of where our clients were coming from, how they processed information and made decisions that I know will be helpful to anyone, especially me, that attended.
All too often in sales and business in general we are trying to push things along and expecting the customer, the prospect and the market to respond as we would - in reality however not everyone is like us at all and this means that our pushing - regardless of how it manifests itself - will be like fingernails on a blackboard.
My friend Rick and I were discussing how we could both apply some of what Scott shared and there is no doubt that it will be difficult, but the idea of trying something new and watching it work or fail always excites the true entrepreneur.
when James Watts invented the steam engine it started with him making a cup of tea and watching the pressure exerted as the kettle boiled - a new way of doing things was born! If your business or sales needs some improvement - try changing something and start by looking at things differently to discover what to change. You never know how or what it will take to cause you to pick up steam.

A tale of Two Cities

As I was watching the news yesterday I noticed someone being interviewed and realized I knew the person. It was Michael Coughlin - now the town manager in a town called Westport here in Massachusetts. I knew Mike many years ago when he was the town manager in Southbridge - another town in Massachusetts.
Mike was being interviewed because once again his progressive policies and leadership are helping both the town of Westport as well the people living there. It seems as if everyone there appreciates his work and what he has done for the town over the years.
When Mike was in Southbridge things were far different - he had created some huge changes and the town was looking better than ever, he had cleaned things up and the town was moving in the right direction. For myself he was a breath of fresh air and I even found myself thinking that this might be a town I could live in - but that didn't last. All the other town selectmen were determined to get Mike out - he was making too much (not true) he was turning the town into Wellesley (not possible) and he was not the right man for the job (not from the evidence) But they squawked and complained and grumbled and fought and bellyached until Mike had finally had enough and moved on to a town where his talents would be appreciated - and they were!
Pericles tried to bring change to Athens thousands of years ago and faced similar challenges. Although the Athenians realized the changes were for the better they resisted. Human nature I guess. In their case Pericles was successful and ushered in the golden age of Athens - not so for Southbridge.
I drove through Southbridge the other day (and I visit a lot of towns in the state) what a mess. The town just looks dirty and old, depressed and gloomy - hopeless. All the decent people I know have been trying to move away. I cant blame them. All of the "cool" and "trendy" places that were opening when Mike was there have closed and been replaced by more of the same. The schools are rated very low, the taxes are very high, the roads are bad etc etc. I feel bad that the leadership and people of Southbridge couldn't handle the change and were so jealous and resistant to it. I hope they feel some responsibility for the sorry state of things now but my guess is when they read this they will say "not true" or "things aren't bad" or "he doesn't know what he is talking about" -My response is this - but they are, your right things are probably worse than this and I most certainly do!

Make your own Map.

I was speaking with a business owner last week and like many these days he was discouraged by the state of the economy. In the course of conversation he made a statement that baffled me " I just think gas prices need to come down so that my business can take off again" - Gas Prices? Now I admit that some business people have been harder hit by the increase in fuel than others but be assured that this gentleman's company is not in that category. Even if it were in that category the great business leader, rather than blame some intangible, finds a way to work around or even turns that into an advantage if possible.
When a President or CEO, Business Owner or Entrepreneur directs his company based on an idea that is not accurate, just a false premise or figment of his imagination where will he end up. If the road map is wrong how can anyone follow it successfully?
In the heydays of Exploration when the "new world" had been discovered - there were hundreds of maps floating around based quite often purely on someone else's imagination. Many explorers went off in search of these fictional locations, countries and riches only to perish. Others realized that they couldn't be trusted and decided to make their own maps that they could trust and felt safer relying on their instincts than on some unverifiable map. Francis Drake circled the globe successfully using this principle. Often as a business leader you are better off making your own map and relying on your instincts as well!

Eurika, I've found it.

That is what Archimedes shouted upon discovering a new and exiting way to move water from one place to another. He had worked on this problem for some time and yet nothing had come together for him - then out of the blue, inspiration appeared.
There are some great modern examples of people that were inspired - Steve Jobs come to mind. He had an idea and then built a company around the idea and hired his people based on whether or not they accepted and adopted that idea as their own - that creates vision and ownership and not coincidentally one of the best managed, fasting growing, most profitable and innovative companies in the world not just the States.
But Inspiration is not the same as a thought - Vision is not the same as a plan. Unfortunately many business people, executives and entrepreneurs spend much of their time in the world of thought and planning rather than Inspiration and Vision. What is the difference?
Well Archimedes and Steve Jobs had a concept that was in their head, they walked around with it, slept with it, ate with it and talked it over with themselves. Eventually it clicked. From this point on is where most business people can take over - facilitating the concept. But, if there is no concept or clear vision your company will always be part of the pack and never really differentiated from the competition. Worse is the fact that if you are not creating the vision then who is ? Probably a competitor.

A Good Time to Expand the Empire

Last night I attended another EO event where this time a panel of experts tried to help these entrepreneur's re-evaluate the best ways to handle this economy. It was a very interesting Q&A session and some of the experts did a stellar job at pointing these business people in the right direction.
Questions kept getting brought up regarding the "cutting of costs" - something I hear quite often and probably since it resonated I decided to ask a question of the experts - "is it better to cut costs or to grow revenues since they can accomplish the same thing, shouldn't entrepreneurs spend at least as much time thinking about ways to grow their business as they do thinking about ways to shave a few dollars off by cutting expenditures?"
as I expected the panel agreed with the question and proceeded to point out the benefits of growth over stagnation. Now is the time to attack the competition, improve your services, refine your vision, assess your people. re-negotiate leases, even borrow money and take advantage of the economic climate - its a great time to be in business.
The Roman Emperor Trajan is known in history as the man that expanded the Roman empire to become the biggest it had been at a time when others might have - and did decide to sit back and leave things as they were - why. Because even 2000 years ago expansion of an empire resulted in revenue increases that allowed him to resolve the same issues that would have caused others to not expand.
So what is your plan? Good business sense always includes a plan for growth that is not dependent on anything else that is happening in the economy - you are either growing or shrinking your respective portion of the pie regardless of how big the pie is.

A Mothers Love

With so much going on right now - politically, Celtics Winning their first championship in years, gas prices and so much more this post might seem strange. The older my blog gets the greater the amount of feedback, the more feedback I receive the more I realize the diversity of my audience. The interesting thing about this "blog world" is that not everyone leaves comments so you are not always sure whether or not anyone is getting and liking message. That never really bothered me because for me this is simply an exercise that keeps my ear to the ground and makes sure I am not losing touch with the real world.
One person who always provides feedback and help on and off line is Rick. Perhaps you have noticed Ricks comments from time to time or you have probably read his blog upon occasion. He is usually right on the money. The great thing about Rick is not only his willingness to help, share and mentor but his openness - you can push back, disagree and say no and he is OK with that. Most of you - if you don't know him - might thing he is pushy or aggressive or hardheaded all topics he has discussed himself in his blog - but he is not.
Interestingly Rick told me today that his mother enjoys reading my blog and I am flattered - I guess that is where he gets it from and that alone answers many questions - my own mother doesn't even read this blog!

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

Well my last post certainly created a little "buzz" to say the least. I believe that is a good thing and definitely part of what blogging is all about - creating thought. I heard back from the Owner of the restaurant and he apologized for how he handled things and admitted that he was uncomfortable with people soliciting him and therefore feels compelled to save his clients. Of course I accepted his apology and let him know that he should try and simply embrace those elements of being in business that make him uncomfortable - accept the good, the bad and the ugly.
The minute you hang up a shingle so to speak you open yourself up to the good - money, independence and a certain amount of pride. You also yourself up to the bad - pressure, responsibility and long hours. And the ugly - collections, vendors, expenses, customers and solicitation. All three are part of the package.
There are numerous examples in history of people who tried to accept the good but avoid the bad and ugly of their respective tasks. Kings who wanted power but accepted no responsibility for their peoples needs and generals that wanted the praise for victory but failed to accept the blame for a defeat. Sir Douglas Haig comes to mind for his failure to accept responsibility during the infamous battle of the Somme during world war 1.
It is not just business owners either - I was speaking with a sales person the other day who informed me that he was on the Mass "do not call" list. WHAT! I would never be on that list I told him because you reap what you sow. If you are going call on people and business owners how can you in good conscience forbid others from calling you - I don' get that type of thinking.

Everyone can Drink from the Water Fountain!

So I was approached in a parking lot of all places by a young lady selling make up - door to door & business to business. I was impressed - so impressed that I knew I was going to buy whatever she had even if it was junk - based on principle. As a fellow sales professional I appreciate how much gumption and strength it takes to do that and I respect the small percentage of people that can.
While she was in the middle of selling to me however one of the local business owners from "M____ Restaraunt" in Wayland decided to approach her and give her a piece of advice and his mind at the same time. So this business person started to let her know she was not welcome and that the landlord had a no soliciting policy for the property and that she needed to leave right now!
Mmmmmm? On one hand I respect her and on the opposite end of things this gentleman from M____ Restaruant is irritated by her and decides it is so important that it is worth rudely interrupting her and me to vent - what is the difference.
People like this drive me crazy and I have Blogged about them before. Clearly the "no solicitation" policy he spoke of is discriminatory - after all he solicits for his business on the property, his customers come and go, his prospects come and go, he asks qualifying questions of them both, he has a huge sign. he takes orders and delivers all on a piece of property where according to him there is "no soliciting". I have eaten here numerous times (the Irish Eggs Benedict are great) and this place is thriving and I am sure they do very well financially - so why the attitude, I didn't need to be saved.
So here are some rules that might clear things up.
If products are sold, if services are rendered, if others can come and go freely like the UPS man, the Fed Ex man, your customers and your prospects and you say that only sales people are banished that in my opinion is Discriminatory and a violation of their civil rights!
In this country years ago people would put up signs of their own for a different reason - infamously the "colored" sign over one water fountain and the "whites" over another. These signs did not reflect the dream of the founding fathers and neither were they logical or fair. Just because there was a sign didn't make it the law either - they were a disgusting representation of all that was wrong. So before you hang up that disgusting sign of your own that insulates you from reality and tries to make business a one way street I suggest that while you are at it - hang up a sign banning Negros, Colored, Hispanics and Gays - I mean if you are going to discriminate then go all the way!

Fun Fun Fun!

Last night I attended an event at my daughters middle school. The seventh grade had taken a their annual trip to Cape Cod. They spent three days studying the environment, erosion, history and marine biology - oh and they had a blast doing it.
It was amazing to me how much data these kids had uncovered and collected in just three days. Reading over their individual reports it was amazing how astute some of their observations were and I wondered if and how long those lessons would have taken in the classroom.
I then made a connection between learning and the fun these kids had - In sales it is also important to make this difficult job fun!
Too many business leaders fail to do this and as a result their sales people are not motivated to go above and beyond. Their people are often spending 50% of their time looking for job where like these kids they can accomplish the objectives and still have fun doing so. Training also needs to be fun if the lessons are going to have any affect.
A Roman General by the name of Titus had this down about 2000 years ago. He would offer incentives of R&R when he needed to build a fence or a ditch and make this miserable task a contest - oh and his productivity increased at the same time!
Don't be scared to include fun in your business, your personal learning program or even your activity levels - then even digging a ditch so to speak can become blast.

Infusion Confusion

I was speaking with someone this week regarding the latest attempts to "infuse" a "sales culture" into their company - an interesting concept. However as they started to explain their methodology of doing this I noticed two very strong obstacles and I now believe it will never happen. Obstacle one is that the leadership of this organization are accountants and financial people - not salespeople. Therefore they believe - like all bean counters - that the secret to sales success lies in an excel spreadsheet ( their way of solving any issue involves excel ) that monitors the number of calls, contacts and ratios. The second obstacle is this - the people that are actually doing the work are not sales people either - so they struggle with call reluctance, need for approval, emotional involvement and many more weaknesses that sabotage their own success.
I struggle with understanding why an organization of this size would not just accept that this is an area where they could use help - I have someone else do my taxes, my hair, my teeth, fix my car etc....and I don't see it as a personal attack - some people are just better at some things than others.
Looking at history for an answer - the best Generals were always soldiers, men who understood what was involved in fighting, men who didn't second guess their troops, men who didn't believe that the secret to good fighting was in knowing military terminology or polishing some brass bauble. Conversely the worst generals were "theorists" or "part timers" or "bean counters" that had no real transferable skills or knowledge and they couldn't inspire or motivate their men.
During the civil war the forces of the confederacy were plagued by the meddling of Jefferson Davis - not a soldier. Had he been put on a battlefield he probably would have cried or ran away. So although I certainly hope things work out for a non sales leader trying to infuse a sales culture into a non sales minded work force I am 100% confident that they will not!

Business Karma

So I finally heard back from a VP that had been ignoring my calls for a few weeks. He let me know that they had went in another direction that was a "quick fix" for now - he realized that it didn't solve the underlying problems inherent with his sales group. It came down to "price" he said, after all the non solution compared to my solution (his words) was half the price! When did you make the decision? - about 3 weeks ago - and only now was he letting me know!!!
So I asked him if he was listening to himself and if he understood the implications of what he was saying?
Then I summed it up for him this way - If your sales people suffer from price shoppers and people selecting product over solution and if your people are frustrated by prospects ignoring their calls and they find out that they have lost weeks or months after that decision has been made then you deserve it and it is a result of a negative corporate buy cycle that your organization is teaching them - not formally but by its actions!
Karma or you reap what you sow - is as true in business as it is in life. Throughout history some have thought they could remain exempt from the repercussions of their actions but Newtons law of an equal and opposite reaction proved their hopes false. The French Aristocracy of the 18th century - Louis and Marie Antoinette - laughed at the poverty and plight of their own people in a heartless way and sure enough they were treated in like fashion when the revolution turned the tables on them very quickly.
To misquote John Lennon - business karma's gonna get you!

Are you ready for the Playoffs

I wanted to comment on an event I attended today - 500 or so business professionals were gathered and had an opportunity to hear Rich Gotham speak. Sometimes the timing is perfect at these events and since the Boston Celtics are in the playoffs and Rich is the President of that organization everything he said seemed to be even more pertinent.
Obviously Rich is not out on the floor playing with the team - but it was interesting to hear how the internal organization had to be aligned to win; before the players could even begin to string together a season like this one!
Let me share some of the main points that Rich shared and that I thought helpful to any business.
1.In the playoffs everyone brings their game and winning is tougher - in a recession every business is fighting harder for every piece of business and yes winning is tougher!
2.Turn traditional thinking on its head - Rich accomplished this by changing sponsors, redesigning the way tickets could be purchased and bringing the business in before they were winning - if your traditional business or customer is not meeting your targets are you looking for new?
3.Know your market - The Celtics do extensive research to understand what their customers want and who their customers are - this should be an obvious application.

During the civil war Jeb Stuart utilized all of these techniques when his cavalry unit started to operate differently than traditional cavalry. They became the eyes and ears of General Lee and often were instrumental in helping the confederacy "compete".

So Tuesday Night is Game One for the Celtics next challenge. As you get comfortable and sit back in front of the TV tonight it's OK to be impressed with Garnet and Pierce but don't forget that every winning team and every winning player has some type of support system that makes that possible. Don't just focus on your "players" and don't just focus on the "organization". You have to focus on both to have a winning season!