Deal-making for business owners

We've been hearing a lot about the art of the deal lately. For many business owners, making deals is less about thinking HUGE and more about getting deals done right, not that the two are mutually exclusive.

So how can you get your deals done, and done right?

-Some people believe that business deals are a zero-sum game, with a winner and a loser. If you will be working with the other party after the deal, or if you may want additional deals with the same party in the future, OR if you may want to make deals with other people in the party's circles of influence, the win-win deal works better. Period. Business expert Stephen Covey agreed.

-You can make deals only with the decision-maker. If the decision–maker isn't at the proverbial table, you are wasting your time.

-Know who has the power in a deal. Who needs this most? If it isn't you, find ways to assure you are not desperate – or at the very least, that you do not appear so. Here's a fun article on the topic.

-Don't bury important issues just to get (an inferior) deal done. Get them out in the open and get your important questions answered.

-Know what issues are negotiable and what ones are not – on both sides.

-Learn to read subtle signals during negotiations. Here's a good Entrepreneur article on that topic.

-If a deal feels bad while you are making it, it's probably even worse than you think. Apply a multiplier to that gut feeling.

-Unless you are getting married, most deals shouldn't have "forever" or even very long-term clauses. Situations change, and escape hatches or exit plans can be valuable when they do.

-Deadlines can be advantageous. Urgency of real need helps get deals done.

-Aside from deadlines, many deals have organic shelf lives. When stale or stuck, they really aren't happening. Know when to stop chasing a deal.

-Also know when to keep lightly in touch, because some good deals come back to life when you least expect it.

-Negotiating, at its best, is the art of coming to an agreement, not conquering an opponent.

-Not good at negotiating? Attend a seminar or webinar (there are many) or read a negotiation book.

As in all matters, model your negotiation skills after people you admire, not only for their ability to make advantageous deals, but for their overall reputations and ethics as well. This article was originally published in Succeeding in Small Business.

Image © 2004 van Schouwen Associates, LLC, by Stephen van Schouwen.

 

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Make one change

As a lifelong sucker for the new year's resolution, it's not surprising that I'm also an advocate for using January 1 as an inspirational start point for business change. However, just as a list of five or ten personal resolutions is hard to remember, let alone to achieve, let's agree that in business too, less may be more.

Start with one important change you want to make. Make it the challenge, concern or irritant that:

A) keeps you awake nights

B) makes Monday mornings tough to face, or

C) drives you to drink... or whatever.

For some business owners, cash flow or profitability rises to the top. For others, it may be the long hours they perpetually work, or an employee that is a perpetual challenge. Maybe you need to write an employee handbook, or promote or reassign a key staff member. Whatever it is, you've been putting it off.

Once you've identified your #1 trigger, the real work begins.

Let's take a complex example first. Cash flow and profitability is a big issue. What is the first and most important step you can take to improve your company's financial situation? Write it down. Write down subsequent or supplemental steps as well. Don't know what the first step is? Do some research, or get some help. This blog and many books on the topic will help. Try Six Steps to Creating Profit for starters. Your accountant may have recommendations for improving your numbers as well. Then, get to work.

In some cases, the change you need to make is less complex but difficult for other reasons. Take the example of working overly long hours. You've probably developed the habit over years. Again, break the problem down. Figure out why you are working too much, and what you can do about it. Do one thing to reduce the hours you work on a regular basis. For example, leave work an hour earlier one or two days every week. Or delegate a few additional tasks to staff members.

When you have addressed your most important single change, or at least have set the desired change in motion, you can move on to a second challenge.

While this approach may sound overly simple, it works well. Business owners have a raft of everyday responsibilities, so big changes tend to get pushed back. By focusing on one important change at a time, you can make it happen faster and more surely than if it remains one item on a long list.

Here's to a happy, productive and successful new year.

Post adapted from Michelle van Schouwen's article in Succeeding in Small Business.

Fine-tuning your management style

Forbes contributor and longtime corporate manager Victor Lipman recently published the book The Type B Manager: Leading Successfully in a Type A World. He contends that, while Type A people have long been regarded as the best managers, many of those hard-driving, competitive characteristics aren’t optimal for directing employees. Type Bs, more reflective, slower to anger and in some ways less competitive, may in fact motivate and manage more effectively.

Of course, for any manager – whether Type A, Type B, collaborative, self-motivated, quick or slow to delegate, with great or so-so social intelligence – supervising people can be a challenge.

As managers, understanding ourselves is the first step to unlocking our best performance. Once we better understand ourselves, we can leverage our management strengths and mitigate our weaknesses. The following examples apply to business owners as well as team managers in large companies.

-George, a young, bright and eager researcher, had recently taken on his first management position. Having excelled as a lone wolf, he soon found himself in conflict with the people he was charged with directing. His staff regarded him as condescending and dismissive. Once George became aware of this, he worked to adjust and manage his attitude. Admitting to himself that he did at times consider himself smarter than other people was an important first step, which he eventually followed by 1) not allowing himself to reveal these feelings (even subtly) when they cropped up, and 2) teaching himself to look for and respect a broader range of personal strengths in others (for example, kindness, energy or dedication). In other words, while George had always valued intelligence above all other characteristics in himself and others, as a manager, he needed to look at people in a broader and more compassionate way.

-Miranda had been a manager for nearly three years when she realized she was exhausted. She asked a more seasoned manager to mentor her. The senior manager advised Miranda that she was allowing perfectionism to rule. If Miranda had any concerns that a staff member might not do an outstanding job on a project, she would either micromanage the project or take it over completely. Miranda’s mentor showed her how to back away enough to allow employees to do their jobs as completely as possible, checking in only at specific intervals.

-Jane directed her team well on projects and mission. However, she learned that her close-knit group regarded her as uncaring. She didn’t join them in social events, forgot their birthdays and failed to ask even the occasional “how is your family” question. Jane found a compromise solution. She admitted to the staff that she had been known to forget even her own mother’s birthday, and asked them to keep a calendar of events they wanted to observe as a group, and to give her a heads-up. Jane also marked her online calendar with regular reminders including a bi-weekly “Today, ask someone how they/their family etc. is doing.” The combination of letting her team know she did indeed care about them, while also admitting to them that reaching out personally wasn’t her greatest strength, healed earlier tensions.

-Diego was conflict averse. As a manager, he hesitated to talk with employees about their performance shortcomings, and thus faced ongoing issues with several staff members. Diego began reading about proactive problem management techniques, and came to recognize the shortfalls of his approach. He then planned how he could summon the nerve to discuss problems with employees. He set aside meeting time with individual employees. To make the meeting easier for everyone, Diego would begin each conversation with a positive. “I’ve appreciated your work on the ABC project, which has helped us keep this customer happy. However, I did want to bring up one aspect of your reporting in this project.” He also asked employees to help him devise solutions to the problems he brought up. His thoughtful and collaborative approach helped Diego with what he considered to be the most difficult part of managing people.

-Rebekah was busy, so much so that managing her equally busy staff was starting to feel like a burden. She found a single tactic that helped. When a staff member approached her with a problem, she asked that person to provide at least one, and possibly two, solutions to the problem. This empowered employees, created more options in dealing with challenges, and freed Rebekah – just a little – to cope with other demands of the day.

All managers tread some common ground, so whatever your area of concern, there are probably great books and articles to reference. In addition, seasoned managers are happy to advise or mentor others. So don’t operate in isolation. There’s help out there!

Originally published in Succeeding in Small Business.

A Short Guide to Smart B2B Marketing Launches

The good news about B2B marketing is its ultimate practical nature. To misquote Chaucer, “Value will out.” In the majority of cases, business-to-business purchasing is driven by practical considerations including but not limited to:

-Clear and understandable value your offering brings to the buyer

-Timing, as B2B purchases are typically made only when needed (sometimes later!)

-Reputation, because business purchasing decision-makers are often risk averse

-The right price, because the bottom line matters and competition, both direct and indirect, can be fierce; but remember, the lowest price on the market may connote “cheap” so play your cards right

-Problem-solving and pain reduction, because business is nearly always tough and your offering should make it easier

The other good news about B2B marketing launches is that, if you do your homework, you can pretty nicely identify and target your prospective buyers.

-Decide if you have one or multiple vertical markets to reach (schools, hospitals and hotels or just one of these)?

-Determine who is likely to make and to influence the buying decision.

-Research the way these people, as a group or singly, like to get their information (websites, trade shows, social media, video, print or online media, word-of-mouth, search engines, inbound marketing)?

-Remember that delivering your message via multiple methods and media will generally give you stronger results than the Monomaniac Approach of one form of outreach forever.

Once you’ve done some homework and you have your B2B product or offering ready to go, leverage your knowledge and tell your story.

-If your offering is “news” (and a new product or service of value typically is news), treat it as such, with media outreach, video how-tos, social media, trade show exhibition, eblasts, advertising, and lots more.

-Follow up with ongoing “drip” marketing, telling stories, creating case studies, continuing to advertise, and offering advice of value.

-Remember that when you are sick and tired of deluging the market with the same old messages, your prospects may just be beginning to notice them.

-Do you have a high-value offering and key prospects? Consider conversion marketing, in which you reach out to these same people multiple times, in a range of different ways.

-Can you become the expert in the solution you are offering? We may be getting tired of hearing the term “thought leadership,” but it still matters. Offering counsel, expertise and value through presentations at trade shows or conferences, writing white papers, blogging, and publishing articles makes your expertise, and if properly done, your offering top-of-mind.

-Learn as you go. You may later realize that the benefit you ranked as third in importance when you launched turns out to be #1. Revise and leverage. You may find out that schools really want the product you thought was ideal for hospitals. You may discover that your best customers buy one or two right away, and that the biggest prospects take two years to get you a purchase order. Smart B2B marketers are ready and able to adapt to realities and changes in plans.

-Repeat. Keep improving your offering, your messaging, your targeting, and your sales. Once you have the hang of this, you’ll want to keep at it.

Before you launch: Imagine your product has failed. Conduct a pre-mortem.

Positive thinking is great. Blind spots... not so much.

“What could possibly go wrong?” is certainly a question that merits asking during any product or project’s development. However, a managerial technique known as the pre-mortem takes the process a critical step farther.

The pre-mortem process in three easy steps:


“We haven’t launched this product yet. But let’s imagine that it’s a year after the scheduled launch – and the product has failed. Okay, everybody, what went wrong?”

To give your team the opportunity to answer this question as thoroughly, as thoughtfully, and in as many ways as it merits, you’ll want to follow a process that encourages prospective hindsight, a method of thinking as if something has already happened.

First of all, set aside two hours. Sure, you are busy developing the product. Make no mistake (yes, that’s a play on words) you are NOT too busy to perform a pre-mortem, which is far less painful and expensive than the potential post-mortem you will perform when and if the product fails. Start with a two-hour meeting. Select a facilitator.

Second, have everyone in the room begin by independently writing down all the possible reasons for the product’s failure. Have each participant read one reason from his or her list, and repeat the process until all potential reasons for failure have been vocalized. Meantime, the facilitator writes down every reason.

Third, discuss.

And, finally, post-meeting, plan and make changes to accommodate what you’ve learned through exercising prospective hindsight via the pre-mortem. This may require additional team meetings. Again, it’s time well spent.

The research on pre-mortem effectiveness:

Harvard Business Review reported that “Research conducted in 1989 by Deborah J. Mitchell, of the Wharton School; Jay Russo, of Cornell; and Nancy Pennington, of the University of Colorado, found that prospective hindsight — imagining that an event has already occurred—increases the ability to correctly identify reasons for future outcomes by 30%.” Using prospective hindsight allows team members to think out some of the lurking problems that haven’t been brought into the light of day in ordinary planning meetings. It slows the rush toward completion to allow more balanced perceptions to arise.

******

“Why did our product and its launch fail?”
Participants' sample answers


We failed to market aggressively and one of our competitors then seized the market advantage as if we hadn’t been first.

We didn’t ask the market if it was interested in this product – and no one was.

 We didn’t make sure the technology worked seamlessly. Early fails damaged our image.

 Production was too expensive, and we tried to charge more than the market would bear.

 A recession killed demand for “extras” and our product wasn’t a must-have.

Consumers slammed it in reviews.

 Our CEO cut the budget just as we launched and we didn’t get to trade shows.

 We didn’t train the sales team to sell this complex offering, so they kept selling the old stuff instead.

 

 

 

Worst practices in business: Who DOES that?

You’ve heard of business best practices, of course. They are the subject of books, articles and seminars nearly every day.

Far less often do people talk about the all-too-common everyday worst practices that can annoy your customers and vendors, slow your progress, squander your opportunities, and eventually, lead to serious harm or failure for your small business. You may have experienced many of these either from the customer or vendor side.

But who on earth would routinely behave in ways that could have such a negative impact on their business’ short- and long-term well-being? In fact, these everyday “worst practices” are surprisingly common:

• Fail to provide project or delivery updates when your customer requests them

• Turn in projects late or incomplete

• Over-promise, then under-deliver – and deliver when it’s too late for the customer to request changes

• Cut corners in quality and refuse to make good when requested to do so (or at best make good reluctantly)

• Don’t return phone calls or respond to emails from business associates in a timely manner

• Don’t show up when you say you will; make them wait

• Forget you asked for a meeting at your office, and be out at another meeting when your guests arrive

• Take the attitude that if they want your business, vendors should be available to answer your calls 24/7, holidays, weekends and late nights included

• Argue about price, even if the price you’ve been given seems fair (you can always save a little more, right?)

• Demand that vendors rush to do your work – every time

• Then, don’t pay the vendors for a long time – and make them inquire repeatedly about payment

• Lose your vendors’ invoices – every time, if possible

• Refuse to track your time, expenses, sales, and work product, and then blame everyone around you for poor profits

• Insist that you’ve “always done it this way”

• Think of business as a “zero-sum-game” – one person wins and the other must lose

• Assume that everybody else does business just the way that you do, and that you can go on this way indefinitely

In fact, you can get away with some of this for some period of time. One day, however, your customers may wander away, your vendors fail to jump to attention, your employees bail, and your profits vanish.

Before that happens, if you have an inkling that some of this sounds just a little like you, keep this list handy, and cross off each behavior as you eliminate it from your own everyday practices.

 

After 30 years in business, I'm learning from startups.

We all understand the need for fresh thinking and continuous improvement.

Of course, continuing to generate new ideas and improvements demands that one also seeks sources for inspiration.

I am fortunate in this regard to have found a wellspring of new and original thinking in the principals of entrepreneurial start-ups. In recent years, I’ve become involved in organizations whose mission is to further entrepreneurial success. One great example is Valley Venture Mentors (VVM), a Western Massachusetts organization providing “support to the entrepreneurial ecosystem.”

At VVM and other groups, I have the privilege of hearing early-phase new business plans that entrepreneurs are pitching or submitting for review. Sometimes, I offer counsel on launching ideas, products and brands. Often, I learn at least as much from the process as I impart.

Much of what is true for startups is also important to longer-established businesses. Lessons in “what makes for a successful startup” that have made a lasting impression on me include the following:

Focus is important.

Daniel Goleman, author of Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence, claims that the ability to focus is the primary predictor of both professional and personal excellence and success. The entrepreneurs who most often succeed demonstrate this ability to both see and remain committed to the overarching goals they set.

Flexibility is important, too.

Yes, focus is great, but focus at the expense of the ability to regroup, redirect and (to use an overused phrase) pivot can go beyond persistence to become foolish stubbornness. When do you know a plan is not working? Thomas Edison famously said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” Sure, but more often, 10,000 failures indicate that it’s time to seriously tweak, pivot or discard.

The best entrepreneurs combine the ability to focus with the ability to continue generating ideas.

This is why we see so many serial entrepreneurs, who develop a company, sell it, and then develop another. And if an idea doesn’t quite work, they can often refashion it into one that does.

No entrepreneur should be an island.

During business plan reviews, many a seasoned businessperson will offer advice – on concept, phasing, financials, regulatory and testing matters, competitive scene, and more. Not only does the entrepreneur learn something, the rest of the review participants often do as well. There are a lot of really smart people out there, with a great deal to share if you have the willingness to hear it.

This is still a great world full of wonderful ideas.

Many of the business plans I hear are confidential, so just let me say… world health, the environment, education, communication, and a multitude of other burning needs give us the opportunity to improve the world. If indeed the world does improve, I bet it will be in large part thanks to the efforts of focused, flexible, imaginative, and well-mentored small and growing businesses and, of course, their fearless leaders.

Here's to the long-term relationship

Unless your business model thrives by selling once to a customer and then moving on, never to transact with that customer again, you need relationships. Some of the best of these will be long-term relationships.

A long-term business relationship with a customer or client offers several likely benefits:

-Providing repeatable or likely-to-recur income

-Comprising one part of "a customer base"

-Ideally, because you know the customer, assuring relative ease of meeting its needs

-Providing referrals, references or a good word for you

-Sometimes, offering frank feedback on how you're doing, which is a good thing

What do you provide to this long-term customer in return? Ideally, we suggest:

-Always assuring fairness in service, pricing, product and service; in some cases, the long-term customer merits priority service

-Going the extra mile to understand the customer's business and, as appropriate, to assess needs and make recommendations

-Providing referrals, reference or a good word for your customer

-Extending the occasional olive branch, if there is a conflict

We feel this issue is timely because we so frequently hear that "the business climate has changed." We hear that customers want more for less. They consider doing it in-house, doing it for less... or doing without. They price shop, deadline shop, consider off-shoring, hire their incompetent cousin to do it. They buy it cheaper, buy it used, fix the old one.

All this and more makes the good long-term business relationships you have more valuable than ever. Treasure and nurture them.

 

Become a marketing machine

There's an irony we see regularly - companies that are resistant to taking on marketing ("it's an expense") but who are excited by the idea of "becoming a marketing machine."

Just as an individual is unlikely to get in shape without the day-to-day discipline of a fitness and diet routine, a company must take regular steps if it wants to achieve the considerable long-term benefits the right marketing can impart.

We can continue this comparison. Most of us don't transform from couch potato to marathon runner in a day, or perhaps ever. Both companies and individuals need to set goals they can - and want to - achieve.

Launch marketing is a great place to start: A smart company does not launch a product without marketing. Launch marketing is a great place to start because 1) it's exciting, 2) it's news and 3) it often makes the difference between launch success and failure.

Marketing can be done on the budget you elect: Okay, again, there are limits. Three jumping jacks do not constitute a fitness routine, nor do three posts on your otherwise anemic Facebook page. But you can start with manageable steps. Putting your website in order (get some outside opinions, on the likelihood you aren't seeing your own site through the prospect's eyes!), media relations (especially for product launches) and content/social media marketing (contributing to blogs, joining important conversations online) are excellent first steps.

Think SEO: Be seen, be found, be a player. Lead with digital.

Get help. It's worth it. Professionals, like the team at vSA, know how to get the biggest impact for your marketing investment. We believe strongly in the value of being a marketing machine, in the ways and at the level you elect.

Quiet day at the office?

Workplace cycles vary, of course, but it is certain that in offices and plants across the US and beyond, the impending holidays impact the pace one way or another.

If by chance you inhabit one of the many workplaces in which the phone rings less and less in the days surrounding Christmas and New Year's Day, and your email yields mostly retail shopping offers and spam, do not become disheartened! (If  you were feeling disheartened, that is.) A faster pace will resume soon enough.

Instead, if you are a part of one of the quiet-for-Christmas offices, take a moment to breathe. Then ponder all the things you wish you had time to do during the year. If you are like many of us, those things may completely escape your mind when you actually have time to do them. (Energy begets energy; slow times can dull the brain.) If business gets quiet in the next couple of weeks, and you are in the office anyway, consider...

-Thinking the big thoughts. Visioning (here's Inc's nice summary of the process). Start by asking yourself about your goals for next year or for the next five years, then listing the steps you may need to take to achieve them.

-Reading. Some of my favorite recent books that are either about business or relevant to business include:

Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work – Chip Heath, Dan Heath
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard – Chip Heath, Dan Heath
Thinking, Fast and Slow – Daniel Kahneman
Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success – Adam M. Grant
To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others – Daniel H. Pink
Leading Change – John P. Kotter

-Getting unstuck. One business consultant whom I admire employs Einstein's quote, "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." Could you benefit from some fresh perspective or support? Consider a business or life coach, CPA, advisory board, or friends who are in business or who understand your goals. You deserve this, even if it costs money or involves seeking a type of support you've never before used. Now may be a good time to start the process, while you have the time and space to think clearly.

-Taking a break. It's too easy to forget to take sufficient time with family or friends, or just to get away from it all.

All of us at vSA wish you refreshing, rejuvenating holidays.

 

Too late to launch? Not necessarily.

More often than you might imagine, customers ask our vSALaunch team if it is too late to launch (or relaunch) a product or service that has been on the market for a year or more - albeit languishing or not reaching its full potential.

Also more often than you might imagine, the answer is a resounding "NO, it is not too late". Here are a few basic questions that will aid in deciding if your offering merits a "the-right-time-is-now" launch:

-Have you promoted the product or service through advertising, media relations, trade show exposure or other broad outreach? For how long, how heavily, and with what reach?

-Is your offering unique, or is it in fact a "me too" product or service?

-Do you believe there is significant upside potential for sales growth?

-Have you reached out to every major market segment you can realistically expect to serve?

If there is untapped potential, consider your "the-right-time-is-now" launch. Your product or service launch can be as broad or as focused as needed, can address the sales messages that haven't yet reached your prospects and can capitalize on whatever degree of success you have built with your offering to date.

Nice to know that for once, time is on your side. Happy launch.

The nimble product launch

Make a plan and work the plan. We've all heard that guidance. Turns out that for today's product launches, what used to be smart is not so wise anymore, or at least not so simple.

Try instead: Learn from experience. Keep your eyes and mind open. Chart a course, then adjust as needed.


Today's best launches are conducted not by know-it-alls, but by savvy marketing advisors who have the wisdom to sail when and where the winds are fair, nudging the wheel where advantageous.

First may be the pre-launch phase in which the team builds a business case for the new product or service. Research, planning, validating that the product accomplishes the necessary goals, and making plans for sales and marketing all happen now.

Next, the soft launch: It's time to take the first steps. The team creates media relations/social media plans and starter materials, ads may be developed, a website readied and perhaps launched quietly, and sales force training and education conducted. The team agrees on how and when success will be measured, and on ways to chart the course once the launch becomes public.

And the main launch begins! Often, public relations leads the way, potentially with publicity, events, speakers, media relations, and more. The website must be up and running to serve as proof of concept and a point of reference. Support materials are available for the sales team. Advertising follows.

And it continues... Smart marketers continue the launch longer than they might emotionally feel is necessary. Remember, the fact that your team has been working on this launch for months or a year does not mean the public has been overexposed. The news is still news to them. Don't make the mistake of getting bored. Keep delivering.

And about nimble? Listen and learn from the response to your public relations, sales efforts and other outreach. Maybe there is an exciting product highlight you have underplayed. Perhaps there are objections you need to counter. Perhaps there are elements of the product that need to change. (Calling Phase 2!)

Through our vSALaunch service, our team has learned that a measured, smart, flexible approach to launch is a strong predictor for success. While we speak about your product or service, we continue to listen and watch for opportunities as well, whether for additional market segments, features that catch on more than anyone expected... and next-phase opportunities to stay steps ahead of the pack of competitors watching your every move.

Native advertising: What you need to know for 2013

What is it?

Native advertising is basically advertising that follows the format, style, and voice of the venue in which it appears. On Facebook, perhaps it is a sponsored story rather than a display ad. In a print publication, it is an ad in article format. On Twitter, native advertising could be a promoted tweet.

What are the benefits?

People are sick of intrusive advertising. They get tired of being interrupted, disrupted, delayed, and sold. But businesses still need to reach these people. Advertising that looks and feels less like advertising in many cases does the trick.

What are the downsides?

At the risk of repeating ourselves: People are sick of intrusive advertising. When native advertising isn’t done well, it’s just one more intrusion.

Any words of advice?

Native advertising needs to be good… really good. Think “Super Bowl ad quality” brand videos, articles that answer burning questions, sponsored posts that genuinely interest the viewer. Otherwise, native advertising can be a fly in the soup of non-sponsored content.

Where can I read more about native advertising?

Start here:

Inc’s summary

Insiders' opinions on its value

Contact us for an initial exploration of how and whether native advertising can work for your firm.

 

Inspiration in the workplace

Inc. today featured an inspiring article, Why Everyone at My Company Has One Job Title, which included this email excerpt from a now-deceased co-founder of The Nerdery:

"Our job titles are designed to empower us, not to limit us!" Bucklin wrote. "Put your business card on the desk in front of you...This card does not define you. You are a Co-President. You are bigger than your defined role, and you are much more than your job title. Play your part—transcend your job title, be a hero."

Inspiring employees goes one big step beyond motivating them. And inspiration is of course hard to create, especially in an era when "jobs for a lifetime" seems to many people an antiquated prospect, and when even the assurance of job security is shaky at many firms.

Inspiring employees also demands a lot more than rudimentary job security and longevity. It demands some mix of the following:

-Feeling that the job matters

-Knowing that the company cares about you

-Having challenging, meaningful or exciting work to do

-Wanting to do great work

-Looking forward to what is ahead

-Enjoying the ride - not counting the hours until the next weekend or holiday

For some people, inspiration comes easily. For others, it may never come. From our own experience at vSA, a certain "pride of authorship" comes into play. We genuinely love doing things well. To each vSA associate who... created a great website, built a powerful marketing program for a client, got our internal tracking processes in line, wrote a highly original article, solved an onerous technical problem, brought in a good client, or helped a good client make the world a little better... you have inspired me. I hope in some measure you, too, have been inspired.

Should we be working together?

Ask me that question 26-plus years ago (when we were starting this marketing firm) and I would have said YES! Pretty much no matter what, assuming you could pay your bills, that is.

15 years ago, there would still have been a 89 percent chance of that same resounding YES.

What a change. We're saying 'no thank you' more often, whether to a client or to a project that doesn't fit, and suggesting other resources when we do. We're not going after business where we think we won't click.

Serious competition and a roller-coaster economy have, rather than influencing van Schouwen Associates to go with the "any port in a storm" method of business acquisition, inspired us to hone our focus. I noticed today, for perhaps the six-hundredth time, that we are not alone. A scan of the marketing and advertising firms that made this year's Inc. 5000 fastest growing small companies reveals some pretty amazing discipline in pinpointing and promoting expertise. From companies that serve payday loan clients, to specialists in marketing passion brands (sports and entertainment) to firms that (not surprisingly) focus on SEO, or on outdoor advertising, the best of "Marketing 2012" is a far cry from the 1980s-style ad agency that wanted to secure all-the-clients-in-the-world, including a fashion brand, a car manufacturer, a politician, and an insurance carrier... AND then insisted they could "do it all" for pretty much anyone.

Here in the otherwise peaceful Longmeadow offices of van Schouwen Associates, we've taken a long and piercing look at ourselves and revamped our messaging to say what is real today. Honing a focus is painful at times - sadly, there will be no high-end lipstick samples for us, and few meetings with rock stars (although I hasten to add that we are not ruling that out).

But let's face it -- as difficult as self-knowledge is for a marketing firm, it is no less challenging for our clients to give up cherished but flawed concepts about their own brands to focus on what really works.

Which brings us to our final point for today. If we expect our clients to come to know themselves and market accordingly, don't we owe it to ourselves to do the same?

 

(For those who care, here is an excerpt from the van Schouwen Associates website, telling the world who we are and what we do best.)

We have particularly deep expertise in several key arenas: manufacturing and related business-to-business marketing, financial services, health care and medical manufacturing, non-profits, and specialized technology products and offerings. Drilling still deeper, vSA intimately understands fire and security, facility development and management, architectural and design products and services, power and utility, safety products and services, building products, green marketing for business, products for industrial and hazardous environments, and insurance and banking.

 

 

Google and go: Information demands innovation

[caption id="attachment_1275" align="alignleft" width="120" caption="Has CERN detected a particle traveling faster than light speed? If so, it could change the world."][/caption]

A client commented wryly the other day that the Web as an informational resource is a mixed blessing. Like many other technologies, light-speed access to information has accelerated the pace of business and, much like the evolution from from courier to FedEx to fax to email and beyond, has created higher expectations all around. Ready access to information has made thorough competitive research easier... in fact, it has also made it imperative. This is how a new opportunity transforms into a baseline expectation. Everyone has the same opportunity and so doing business becomes more demanding than it was in more blissfully ignorant times.

Twenty six long years ago, when van Schouwen Associates opened its doors, competitive research (especially for smaller to mid-sized client firms whose budgets had their limits!) was typically a drawn-out and inefficient affair, depending variously on resources such as customers with opinions, loose-lipped sales reps and slyly procured sales literature and price lists. Information was often scanty and in some cases dated or seriously imprecise. But oddly, life was easier because the bar was set lower. We didn't intend that; we weren't lazy. It was just the way things worked.


The challenge today is that, with the exception of not-yet-released products that have been developed with dedicated attention to secrecy, it is possible to find out a great deal about other peoples' products and services, marketing messages, pricing, and the strengths and weaknesses of any competitor's offerings. It is often easy to reverse-engineer technical products. Why? In part because it's all on the Web.

Well, nearly all of "it" is on the Web. A frequent discussion the van Schouwen Associates team has with its clients involves what to include and what not to include in that very public forum. There are several layers of potential privacy clients can employ, including:

No privacy: Placing material out in the public arena online

Moderate privacy with potential for leakage: Offering material protected by passwords (often permission-based passwords with expiration dates and renewal requirements)... plus additional layers of security

Higher privacy but not perfectly secure, just ask Congress how leaks happen: Material that isn't put online anywhere, period.

Today, companies typically have (or should have) vast information about their competitors and their market opportunities. This is excellent.

Vast knowledge (or access to same) has also made business all the more challenging even as it presents clear new opportunities.

At vSA, we (and of course, our clients) know – more than ever before – exactly how high the bar has been set. So does anyone else who cares to look.

Result 1: Increasingly, products developed with insufficient regard to what is already on the market FAIL where once they might have succeeded. Less competitive services do the same because the customer's process of finding a better deal – the best deal – is pretty easy. Just Google and go.

Result 2: We expect that this universal access to competitive information will continue to yield impressive improvement in business innovation. Innovators and marketers have to work harder... and harder... and smarter.

I hear you want to be a thought leader.

It is easier said than done, of course. But, if you are in a position in business, government or another sphere in which being inspirational or trendsetting is key, it may well be worth the effort. (Plus, some people would rather lead than follow, no matter what.)

A thought leader is somewhat snidely defined by Wikipedia as "business jargon for an entity that is recognized for having innovative ideas." (This link leads, nonetheless, to a good article that is worth a few minutes if you're interested in the topic.)

Being a thought leader goes beyond a few light bulbs of inspiration. It involves having an in-depth understanding of some key aspect (or many key aspects) of your field. These may include the technologies, people, and trends involved, and the direction in which this field may be going. A thought leader also has opinions on which way things should be going, and these are generally (optimistically!) based on more than quick judgments. Typically, a thought leader also knows what others have been saying and feels no compunction to be in lockstep with the other thought leaders, nor to disagree with them. Being a thought leader takes nerve.

There's also (hello? anyone out there??) the issue of being heard over the noise. How can one be a thought leader if one has no followers? If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear... It's pleasant to think that some thought leaders would express their opinions because of a clear intellectual or ethical compunction to do so, even if no one or hardly anyone is listening. Even if there will be no book sales. Or speaker fees. But most leaders want followers. Being a true thought leader eventually demands that you have (although not so formally named) "thought  followers".

There is also the question of forum. A thought leader can start small. She can be the manager of a group. She can give seminars, write articles, give speeches to small groups. She can blog. Being a thought leader demands that you find a medium or multiple media in which to express your insights.

But most of all, the thought leader needs insights. Vision. Education. Breadth. The person most likely to become a thought leader has all these. The thought leader also enjoys a clarity of thought process that, while not an infallible defense against errors in tactics, strategy or advice delivered, allows cool reassessments and logical course changes when required. Generally, that clarity of thought will also inhibit the leader from speaking about an opinion until he is PRETTY SURE that opinion is valid. This is not always the case. Take Pat Robertson's many quotes.

A thought leader need not always be followed. Should not always be followed. That alone is a reason either to become one or to focus on being an independent thinker, sifting the insights of many, swallowing none of them hook, line and sinker.

Three career myths that matter today... and the grains of truth within

With unemployment still high, many professionals set adrift from previously apparently stable jobs and new grads pounding the pavement (or the keyboard) looking for work until their shoes wear thin (or their fingers hurt), contemporary "wisdom" about careers deserves a hard second look.

The myth: Do what you love and the money will follow. Oh, please. We may all wish it were true. The fact is, you can love doing something a lot, but if there's no demand for your service, your product, art, or ideas, and you can't build that demand... the money, most assuredly, will NOT follow.

The grain of truth: Your enthusiasm for your work likely means you'll work harder and do a better job than you'd do if unenthused. Good performance obviously contributes to success. Plus, your own energy communicates and helps create enthusiasm in others around you. Nonetheless, don't quit your day job to market those handpainted dog bowls... not yet.

The myth: There is no loyalty among employers toward their employees. Especially in businesses in which you are "more than a number," your dedication, abilities and contributions do count. Decisions about promotions and raises are flavored by employers' regard for hard-working staff and their feelings. What's more, many employers do agonize over layoffs and even terminations "for cause".

The grain of truth: It's business. When it comes down to brass tacks, employers and managers have to look at the bottom line, at trends and at your performance. Loyalty will not trump business considerations in most cases. And in some big companies, decisions about your future are made by number crunchers who don't know you from Adam.

The myth: You need to decide early on what you're going to do with your life, career-wise. Really? One of my associates went to medical school in her 40s, another to law school, and both started successful second careers. Another began as a commercial photographer and made a 180 degree turn to a long and rewarding career in public service.

The grain of truth: It's great to head off to college with a major and a career path in mind, or to get a first job that sets you on a ladder to dizzying heights. There are other ways to go, but they can be more difficult. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, career changes today "can entail major costs in retraining and pay cuts – plus, in the current job climate, the risk of not finding employment." While this sounds unappealing, staying in a stultifying career for, oh, 30 to 40 years, could be a lot worse. Bottom line: it's your life, and you want it to be as fulfilling as possible.

Five ways to determine whether customers like your company

For the cynical reader: Yes, it does matter if the customer likes your company, at least in the long run. Companies that are disliked (check out the 10 most disliked companies in America) pay for their unpopularity in a number of ways. There were few lines at BP service stations this spring and summer, even though station owners were far removed from the decisions that precipitated the environmental disaster.

Okay, likability is in many ways separate from business results. Most of us work with a few companies whose names we could use as a curse! Factors including pricing, convenience, product quality, the mass or lack of competition a company faces, and others compete with and sometimes trump the "nice" factor.

Nonetheless... it matters. How is your company doing?

1-Do customers communicate both their satisfaction and their dissatisfaction to your company and its staff? Praise and happy customers are great. Constructive criticism, especially in terms that indicate customers would genuinely like to continue doing business with you, is just as important. Constant angry feedback, on the other hand, must not be construed as a positive.

2-Do customers exit stage right as soon as a viable alternative appears? Not good. If they work with you solely because you're the only provider of certain computer chips or fresh bagels, that's scant protection from new competitors.

3-Do customers who've stopped doing business with you (perhaps because they've retired, moved or changed focus) often keep in touch in some way? Outstanding...

4-What is the daily tone of your customer interactions? Friendly? Curt? Listen carefully.

5-Have you asked or surveyed? "What's our reputation among our markets (or in our community)?" "How are we doing for YOU?" "Would you recommend us?" Make it easy for customers to tell you - online or off, in writing or in person - what they think.

It's good to know.

The onus is on the applicant.

We've been reviewing resumes. If the right person applies, we may have a position available. Admittedly, the bar is high. And we've had a lot of applicants. Over 100 so far for a single job.

But here's the thing. I'll bet van Schouwen Associates is like a lot of companies right now, in that we're not looking for just anybody who can fill a seat and perform some tasks. vSA staff is high-performing. Always, and these days especially, anyone who joins our ranks must bring stellar skills, a certain sparkle and the get-up-and-go to get really challenging work done on really snappy deadlines.

When the cover letter says, "I am looking for a position with a growth-oriented company that allows me to further my career goals," do we jump up and down with excitement? When the resume blats, "achieves marketing goals within budget and exceeds corporate expectations", guess whether an interview will happen?* When the email announces that the applicant seeks a sales position (which this isn't), how does that come across?

Savvy employers want more than ever from employees and applicants because we face a wild business environment. If a company like ours doesn't find the right applicant, it may not hire at all. At vSA, we know full well that some of the resumes we just put aside required a lot of effort on the part of the applicant, and that the cover letters are heartfelt. We've all been there.

The challenge is to get into the head of the employer. We admire an applicant who addresses our real concerns, which may variously include ramping up quickly, being well-versed in up-and-coming industry sectors, writing like a star... etc. We also admire an applicant with a personality.

So that's the input we sometimes wish we could offer in the "no thanks" email we send to many applicants. Because we do mean it when we say, "We wish you well in your career search."

*No.