I’m compelled to comment on something I’m noticing with an increasing and alarming regularity.
It’s a variation on the biological imperative to choose, when faced with a serious threat to your life, between ‘flight’ or ‘fight’.
As we’re now well into the second half of 2012, I’m observing that a number of smaller business owners are making a decision (intentionally or not) on how they’re responding to the challenge of our rather challenging economy.
Basically, there are two (2) camps of thinking that seem to be emerging:
1. owners who are ‘doing nothing new’ to build their business, and
2. owners who are choosing to ‘do something’ to build their business in this economy
If you’re choosing to ‘hunker down’ and ‘stay the course’ in the hope that you’ll ‘survive the storm’ you are making a risky choice between action and in-action. If you have a lot of money in savings, you may be able to afford to exercise that choice. But not all of us have that option. Even worse, many owners are exercising the ‘do nothing new’ option — whether they can afford to or not.
Other owners who decide, as Hamlet once said, “To take arms against a sea of troubles and, by opposing, end them . . .” regardless of their resources, are far more likely to not only survive the economic conditions we’re in at the moment but thrive better than most when it ends, as well.
Quick diversion . . . when I was a pilot-in-training
there were certain times (during instrument flight training) that you learn you must ‘trust the instruments, NOT your body’. Why? Absent visual cues (like the horizon) when you’re ‘in the clouds’, your equilibrium becomes unreliable very quickly.
You ‘feel’ like you’re leaning to your right side so you ‘correct’ to the left. That ‘feels’ correct — to your body. In fact, you ‘feel’ you’re flying ‘straight’. But you’re not. You’re actually in a left bank and turning to the left rather than proceeding on a straight course.
Eventually, relying on your ‘feelings’ rather than your instruments, you’ll find yourself in what is known to pilots as the ‘graveyard spiral’. Your shallow turn to the left actually reduces your aircraft’s lift factor (it’s aerodynamic stuff and I won’t bore you with that!) and, as a result, you begin to lose altitude.
Whether you can read your instruments for instrument flight conditions or not, even beginning pilots learn to watch their altitude / altimeter.
When you notice you’re losing altitude, the ‘obvious’ response is to “pull back’ on the stick or yoke. When you’re in level flight, that raises your plane’s nose and makes your aircraft climb. Hence, you gain altitude.
But once you’re in a turn, however slight, pulling back on the stick only tightens your turn. Ironically, that ‘feels’ the same (to your body) as when you’re climbing — you feel yourself being pushed down into your seat. But it’s not gravity making you ‘feel’ that sensation; it’s centrifugal force (you’re in a turn, remember?).
At this point, non-instrument trained, inexperienced pilots notice that they’re losing altitude more rapidly. So they ‘pull back’ on the stick (again!) hoping to re-gain valuable altitude. But it seems to work in exactly the opposite manner. The more they ‘correct’ for their altitude loss, the more altitude they’re actually losing!
Eventually, this becomes a viscious cycle that makes the aircraft (and, the hapless pilot and any unfortunate passengers) enter such a tight turn that either the aircraft suffers structural damage and is lost or, the plane is flown all the way down into the ground (or, the sea as happened to John F. Kennedy, Jr off Martha’s Vineyard, MA a few years ago).
OK, back to 2012’s ‘interesting’ economy . . .
If you, like most of us in entrepreneur-land, find this economy isn’t the same as it was a few years ago (AKA ‘The Good Old Days’), your response to it may not be all that different than the pilot who doesn’t understand the ‘best’ course of action under deteriorating flight conditions.
Today, while the ‘natural’ inclination of many business owners and solopreneurs is to ‘do nothing’ different than you have done in the past, I submit that may be just as deadly as pilots who do the wrong thing at the wrong time in flight.
What is called for now is action, not IN-action. But appropriate action. And that would be . . . to proactively market your business in a manner that reflects:
1. a candid, honest understanding of your business — strengths AND weaknesses,
2. the marketplace you seek to attract and serve, and
3. a proven and systematic plan for taking coordinated actions to build your business or practice services . . . effectively
Doing ‘no thing’ IS a decision. And, it may be the best decision you can make. At times. But it’s usually not a deliberate decision as much as it’s a default decision because many of us are simply not being proactive about the ‘sea of troubles’ on the horizon that are waiting for anyone who’s in business in 2012.
My Respectful Recommendation . . . Do Something . . . By Design, Not Accident
As tempting as it is to ‘do nothing’ and ‘hope this economic storm blows over’ that strategy is just as deadly to your business as a ‘graveyard spiral’ is to an inexperienced pilot.
As difficult . . . scary . . . unsettling . . . makes-me-feel-like-throwing-up . . . as it may ‘feel’ to you . . . DO SOMETHING to make your business what you want it to be . . . by design, not accident.
Staying the course, given the current economy, is probably not the best course of action you can take these days. Remember the old saying, “Doing what you’ve always done isn’t going to get you anything different”. Today, that can also get you killed. Times have changed. We must change, too. Or, suffer the consequences.
Doing what you did to build your business in the past may need some adjustments to make your business remain successful in these turbulent days.
Yes, you risk making a mistake when you do something new. And none of us want to make mistakes. But remember that doing nothing is still a decision to do something — ‘nothing’. And doing ‘nothing’ has it’s own consequences — positive and negative. But they’re not consequences you’re creating. They’re consequences you’re being forced to accept because you’re abdicating your personal responsibility to make decisions and take actions critical to your own success.
No one has ‘all the answers’ to this economy or the best ways to respond to it for your business. But please . . . don’t do no-thing because you didn’t already consider doing some-thing else. At least make doing no-thing a deliberate and thoughtfully considered decision. It might be the correct course of action for you and your business. But for many, like Hamlet said, “taking arms against a sea of troubles . . .” will be far more likely to end them.
So . . . do your homework . . . seek the counsel of your trusted advisors . . . then do some-thing to market your business or practice. Yes, even if it is no-thing. But do it deliberately. You and your business will come through these challenging times and yes, you WILL be better for it when (not if) the economy eventually improves.
KEY POINT:
Life is what YOU make it. Choose wisely. Act decisively. And, enjoy success . . . because you’re worth it!
BILL DOERR, CCO
“Dealing With Turbulence in 2012”
Management, MarketingI’m compelled to comment on something I’m noticing with an increasing and alarming regularity.
It’s a variation on the biological imperative to choose, when faced with a serious threat to your life, between ‘flight’ or ‘fight’.
As we’re now well into the second half of 2012, I’m observing that a number of smaller business owners are making a decision (intentionally or not) on how they’re responding to the challenge of our rather challenging economy.
Basically, there are two (2) camps of thinking that seem to be emerging:
1. owners who are ‘doing nothing new’ to build their business, and
2. owners who are choosing to ‘do something’ to build their business in this economy
If you’re choosing to ‘hunker down’ and ‘stay the course’ in the hope that you’ll ‘survive the storm’ you are making a risky choice between action and in-action. If you have a lot of money in savings, you may be able to afford to exercise that choice. But not all of us have that option. Even worse, many owners are exercising the ‘do nothing new’ option — whether they can afford to or not.
Other owners who decide, as Hamlet once said, “To take arms against a sea of troubles and, by opposing, end them . . .” regardless of their resources, are far more likely to not only survive the economic conditions we’re in at the moment but thrive better than most when it ends, as well.
Quick diversion . . . when I was a pilot-in-training
there were certain times (during instrument flight training) that you learn you must ‘trust the instruments, NOT your body’. Why? Absent visual cues (like the horizon) when you’re ‘in the clouds’, your equilibrium becomes unreliable very quickly.
You ‘feel’ like you’re leaning to your right side so you ‘correct’ to the left. That ‘feels’ correct — to your body. In fact, you ‘feel’ you’re flying ‘straight’. But you’re not. You’re actually in a left bank and turning to the left rather than proceeding on a straight course.
Eventually, relying on your ‘feelings’ rather than your instruments, you’ll find yourself in what is known to pilots as the ‘graveyard spiral’. Your shallow turn to the left actually reduces your aircraft’s lift factor (it’s aerodynamic stuff and I won’t bore you with that!) and, as a result, you begin to lose altitude.
Whether you can read your instruments for instrument flight conditions or not, even beginning pilots learn to watch their altitude / altimeter.
When you notice you’re losing altitude, the ‘obvious’ response is to “pull back’ on the stick or yoke. When you’re in level flight, that raises your plane’s nose and makes your aircraft climb. Hence, you gain altitude.
But once you’re in a turn, however slight, pulling back on the stick only tightens your turn. Ironically, that ‘feels’ the same (to your body) as when you’re climbing — you feel yourself being pushed down into your seat. But it’s not gravity making you ‘feel’ that sensation; it’s centrifugal force (you’re in a turn, remember?).
At this point, non-instrument trained, inexperienced pilots notice that they’re losing altitude more rapidly. So they ‘pull back’ on the stick (again!) hoping to re-gain valuable altitude. But it seems to work in exactly the opposite manner. The more they ‘correct’ for their altitude loss, the more altitude they’re actually losing!
Eventually, this becomes a viscious cycle that makes the aircraft (and, the hapless pilot and any unfortunate passengers) enter such a tight turn that either the aircraft suffers structural damage and is lost or, the plane is flown all the way down into the ground (or, the sea as happened to John F. Kennedy, Jr off Martha’s Vineyard, MA a few years ago).
OK, back to 2012’s ‘interesting’ economy . . .
If you, like most of us in entrepreneur-land, find this economy isn’t the same as it was a few years ago (AKA ‘The Good Old Days’), your response to it may not be all that different than the pilot who doesn’t understand the ‘best’ course of action under deteriorating flight conditions.
Today, while the ‘natural’ inclination of many business owners and solopreneurs is to ‘do nothing’ different than you have done in the past, I submit that may be just as deadly as pilots who do the wrong thing at the wrong time in flight.
What is called for now is action, not IN-action. But appropriate action. And that would be . . . to proactively market your business in a manner that reflects:
1. a candid, honest understanding of your business — strengths AND weaknesses,
2. the marketplace you seek to attract and serve, and
3. a proven and systematic plan for taking coordinated actions to build your business or practice services . . . effectively
Doing ‘no thing’ IS a decision. And, it may be the best decision you can make. At times. But it’s usually not a deliberate decision as much as it’s a default decision because many of us are simply not being proactive about the ‘sea of troubles’ on the horizon that are waiting for anyone who’s in business in 2012.
My Respectful Recommendation . . . Do Something . . . By Design, Not Accident
As tempting as it is to ‘do nothing’ and ‘hope this economic storm blows over’ that strategy is just as deadly to your business as a ‘graveyard spiral’ is to an inexperienced pilot.
As difficult . . . scary . . . unsettling . . . makes-me-feel-like-throwing-up . . . as it may ‘feel’ to you . . . DO SOMETHING to make your business what you want it to be . . . by design, not accident.
Staying the course, given the current economy, is probably not the best course of action you can take these days. Remember the old saying, “Doing what you’ve always done isn’t going to get you anything different”. Today, that can also get you killed. Times have changed. We must change, too. Or, suffer the consequences.
Doing what you did to build your business in the past may need some adjustments to make your business remain successful in these turbulent days.
Yes, you risk making a mistake when you do something new. And none of us want to make mistakes. But remember that doing nothing is still a decision to do something — ‘nothing’. And doing ‘nothing’ has it’s own consequences — positive and negative. But they’re not consequences you’re creating. They’re consequences you’re being forced to accept because you’re abdicating your personal responsibility to make decisions and take actions critical to your own success.
No one has ‘all the answers’ to this economy or the best ways to respond to it for your business. But please . . . don’t do no-thing because you didn’t already consider doing some-thing else. At least make doing no-thing a deliberate and thoughtfully considered decision. It might be the correct course of action for you and your business. But for many, like Hamlet said, “taking arms against a sea of troubles . . .” will be far more likely to end them.
So . . . do your homework . . . seek the counsel of your trusted advisors . . . then do some-thing to market your business or practice. Yes, even if it is no-thing. But do it deliberately. You and your business will come through these challenging times and yes, you WILL be better for it when (not if) the economy eventually improves.
KEY POINT:
Life is what YOU make it. Choose wisely. Act decisively. And, enjoy success . . . because you’re worth it!
Are You Selling What Clients Think They’re Buying?
Method, Preferred Advisor, RelationshipsWelcome back. My summer sabbatical is over and I’m ready to resume my work here on the blog with a renewed vision and refreshed energy!
In case you’re thinking, “Oh no! He’s going to belabor the old ‘feature vs. benefit’ issue . . . I get it . . . people want ‘holes’ not ‘hand-drills’ . . .” To which I’ll simply say, “PUT A SOCK IN IT!” That’s so basic I’m not going to insult you by seeking to make that point . . . again. Actually, I have something far more subtle and important to share on this.
I’ve been noticing something that’s happening . . . a lot . . . especially over the summer months.
I call it the “It’s Not Really About You” viewpoint that so many people in business and the professions are adopting. And it’s not endearing them to their prospects and clients.
Here’s an example of how this played out:
I was talking with an attorney one of my clients had hired to help him resolve a minor legal matter. Not serious. But it had to be addressed.
At one point, I asked this attorney to explain the basis for the statement that my client just received. I wasn’t challenging his bill, I was truly curious about what it represented.
Long story short, the attorney explained how he had to do this (and charged .5 hours for it) and then he had to do that (and charged 4.2 hours for that), and so on.
At the end, I just asked, “So tell me, after all this work . . . did the client get what he asked you to do for him in the first place?”. “Uh, not yet . . . but I’m working on it!” True. And he was very proud of the effort (and, time-consuming activities) he’d done on behalf of our mutual client. But the client still did not have what he engaged this attorney to do for him in the first place.
In my own world, we’d had some work done on an online service (software) a developer built for us. At one point, it needed some ‘maintenance’. So we hired a firm to correct the ‘bugs’ in the software. At one point, we still had some issues — and a hefty bill from the developer. I asked, “Why?” The reply was essentially, “Look, we had to put in all kinds of time trying to figure out why the software wasn’t working as it should and THAT . . . is why we billed you for X hours of our time”. The fact that my reason for hiring this firm hadn’t been addressed was (apparently) secondary to the primary interest of this firm to be paid for it’s time. This firm had a legal right to be paid. But their focus on their time vs. our outcome . . . was an emotional ‘wrong’ — to us as the clients.
It’s Way Beyond “Holes vs. Drills” . . . It’s About EMOTIONAL FULFILLMENT!
In both these cases, the providers of the service were ‘top shelf’ quality providers of their respective expertise. I never doubted (still don’t!) their expertise. But it seems to me that there is an inherent tendency to focus on WIIFM (M = ‘me’ as a provider) rather than WIIFTC (TC = ‘the Client’).
We can all take a lesson from the ‘contingency’ or ‘PI’ (personal injury) attorneys. They’re a great example of professionals who are converting their expertise into compensation (roughly 33% of any damage award they win for a client). While they do charge for expenses, that is not (or, shouldn’t be) the main basis for their compensation. They are paid, pure and simply, for their . . . PERFORMANCE and RESULTS . . . that follow from their performance.
KEY POINT:
Focus more on what your client wants to receive by hiring you . . . and less on the time or activity their request may require. The Result . . . is what your client wants, the Activity is what you want . . . just be sure you don’t lose sight of why you’re being paid . . . to go into the swamp in the first place!
COI or BOD — Does It Matter, Really?
Preferral Prospecting® SystemThey BOTH must:
The basic difference reflects the degree to which:
A BOD wants to:
COI’s may be willing to help you meet other people via Preferred Introductions but they either:
Because a COI offers you a “one-way and limited” vs a BOD’s “reciprocal and repeatable” prospecting opportunity, you want to get as many BOD’s as you can — 20 – 25 are ideal!
And just a friendly reminder . . . GET 20 – 25 BOD’s . . . NOW!
Why? Because that many BOD’s means you can be having 2 Preferral™ Prospecting lunches each week. And, once you’re doing THAT, you’re pretty much guaranteed to generate 39+ Preferrals™ each month! Oooh, won’t that be nice! ‘-)
LIVE Webinar from KC, MO — Noon, May 23rd
Internet-related, MarketingSo what does ROBO stand for?
Research Online to Buy Offline and it’s one of the most important dynamics that local business needs to understand in order to gain a competitive local advantage.
In conjunction with Small Business Week in the United States Duct Tape Marketing Founder, John Jantsch is presenting a live webcast where he’ll present . . .
5 Ways to Use Your Online Presence to Drive People Into Your Stores Meetings Presentations and Offices.
We’ll stream the event from a recording studio with multiple cameras and slides so the experience will be a lot like attending an in person event at a conference.
The event is being held Wednesday, May 23rd at Noon, EST
You can join the thousands of small business marketers that tune in via the web, or . . . you can join a group of CT businesspeople hosted by Farmington Bank and SellMore Marketing — your Duct Tape Marketing Consultant in your area.
Either way, this is must know information for local businesses.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
KEY POINT:
When you enroll you will automatically receive the recorded version after the event — even if you can’t attend in-person!
Recovery Is Next To Godliness!
Alignment, Management, Marketing, Method, RelationshipsYou either make or break it . . . depending on how well you respond to the situation.
Much like our friend here on the right . . .
A Tail of Getting It Right
Recently, we had to take one of our cats to the Veterinarian for a dental cleaning. While we love and trust our Veterinarian, we were a little apprehensive about this procedure because our pet would need to be anesthetized.
As a safety measure, our Vet did need to draw blood to analyze it as a way to make sure our cat could safely undergo the anesthesia and the dental procedure. We expected that.
Surprise! . . . It Isn’t Always a Good Thing
When we picked up our beloved Jake at the end of the day we got a surprise. Actually a couple of them! The bill for the dental cleaning was significantly higher than we expected. Only a few months earlier, his sister Jasmine had her teeth cleaned and the bill was about half of what we were being charged for Jake.
The fee, while a surprise, didn’t concern us as much as the basis for the fee. It seems there was more than one blood test performed. That made us question if something had been ‘discovered’ from the first blood test that suggested a problem with Jake’s health. In addition to that, there was a charge for “ICU services” and ‘hydration with lactated Ringers Solution’ that seemed odd and created a lot of consternation in my wife and I.
After sharing our concerns with our Vet and her practice manager, our fears about Jake’s health were allayed and the billing was adjusted. Why? Because it was the ‘right thing’ to do. As a result, we’re even more pleased with our Veterinarian and her practice manager.
Look, things do happen. That’s life. But remember — it’s what you do AFTER things occur that is most telling about Y-O-U.
When The Bloom Goes BUST!
Also this week, a new garden shop opened in my town.
They managed to get a nice piece written up and published in a local paper. The former owner had passed away. A subsequent buyer tried to rekindle the magic but shut the doors within a year. So now this newest owner seemed to suggest a ‘turnaround’ was about to happen.
Hello? Is Anyone There?
The Garden Center’s ‘Grand Opening’ was last Sunday. On Tuesday, my wife called to find out their operating hours. No one answered the phone. No machine. Nothing. So she went there to buy some products for the garden. Incredibly, there was no one at this ‘brand new’ Garden Center. It was locked. No staff. Nothing.
Joyce then proceeded to go to a nearby competitor and bought what she needed. When she told me what happened, she concluded with, “. . . and if they think they’ll ever see my money, they have another thing coming!”. They lost a customer before they were open a week!
KEY POINT:
Good management is the basis for great marketing. Promoting a firm that makes a customer or client mad, sad or scared is a guaranteed road to ruin!
Communication Improves Performance
Management, Marketing, Method, RelationshipsIf you know me, you know I believe that how you operate your business is as important as how you promote awareness of your business or professional practice.
The Secret of a Great Team? Communication!
I just read a fascinating article in HBR on The New Science of Building Great Teams.
In it, Alex Pentland, a professor at MIT and the director of MIT’s Human Dynamics Laboratory and the MIT Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program, and the chairman of Sociometric Solutions, shared a fascinating insight — the more team members interact (i.e. communicate) with one another, the more productive and effective they are.
Professor Pentland created a ‘tech-tool’ that, worn by team members, collected data about:
1. who people talked with,
2. how much intensity (energy) they used, and
3. how often they interacted with other members of their team or work-group
Net result:
The more team members actually communicated, the more effective and productive they were.
The ‘Bee’ Among The Flowers is Not Only Busy but Increases Productivity, As Well
Pentland noted (around 3:30 sec into his 6 min video in the article) that some team members are ‘above-average’ at getting to know and share awareness of special skills and abilities of their team with others on a team. They’re the people who are always seeking out people to meet, asking them to ‘Tell me more about how you . . .” and then connecting these people into parts of a project on an ‘as needed’ basis.
The more of these ‘bees’ you have in your ‘hive’ . . . the sweeter the honey . . . the greater the success of the team, overall.
KEY POINT:
Productivity is attractive in marketing your business. Facilitating communication — quality and quantity of it — among your staff or team-members may be one of your best ‘marketing’ secrets.
Take Time To Matter
Alignment, Marketing, RelationshipsSeen your doctor lately? You probably get more ‘face time’ at a speed-networking event than you get with your doctor!
It’s not the doctor’s fault. Today’s M.D. sees, on average, about 60 patients a day. Do the math.
In an eight hour working day, that means the average patient gets about 8 minutes with their doctor. Some get more. Many get less. Not much time to ‘build the physician-patient bond’, is it?
Relationships Matter
In a world where most of us have more to do than time to do it, it’s easy to give clients less time and attention than they’d like. Easy but also deadly.
Because if you do, you do so at our own peril.
A Quality Experience Is a Great Differentiator
To your client, a sincere, authentic, and heart-felt connection with you is . . . priceless. It doesn’t take much. But, it takes time. Time to listen to what is troubling them. Time to communicate you care. Time to let them know you care about what they care about.
I like to say, “Treat your clients like prospects” . . . because they can be stolen away if you neglect them. But I also like to say, ‘Treat your prospects like clients” . . . so they will know what it’s like to be your client.
Take Time to Make a Difference!
Either way, take the time you need to make your prospects, clients and centers-of-influence feel important. It doesn’t take much time. But it does require a commitment to help people see you differently because you make them feel better about their issues after sharing time with you . . . better than any alleged competitor who’s too ‘time-starved’ to care to act better.
KEY POINT:
People want to feel SPECIAL . . . take the time to make them feel that way and they’ll love you for it!
Secret of Growth? Yes, there is!
Management, MethodAt the same time, I bet that merely ‘surviving’ financially is not why you want to be in business. Business is (and, I’ll reveal my own bias here) about growth!
There’s a Secret for Growing Revenues?
YES! Years ago, as a management consultant at a large international trade association, I was mentored by a Gordon A. Kratz, CLU. Gordon developed a process, delivered by myself and other consultants, that significantly increased the rate of growth for companies who used our process — relative to their peers that did not use our process. It’s called The Profit Project™.
Release Strengths by Reducing Limitations
No company is perfect. You have factors going for you (strengths) and factors going against you (limitations). The secret is to leverage your strengths by reducing your limitations.
For example, if you have a great product but an ineffective distribution system, you want to work on your distribution system. Improving your product, while easier, will not do as much to help you increase your revenues or growth.
Or, assume you’re generating leads, but your people aren’t servicing your customers. In this case, training your people to create an ‘exquisite customer experience’ will get customers coming back –– with the higher margins for profit and growth their sales suggest.
Knowing What To Address Is Just The Beginning
Once you’ve isolated the addressable (key word!) ‘limitations’ in your business, you want to set goals to eliminate them. For each goal, you want to build an action plan to make it real. That gives you what every business owner wants — control –– of your future.
KEY POINT:
Growth reflects a process that is best implemented with advice from a consultant outside of the management team that is engaged in the daily operation of your business.