Archive for July, 2009

I know someone who spent a good deal of his summer lounging by a pool, vacationing with friends, and overall just kicking back and enjoying life.  Oh yeah, he was a manager, too.  How did he have time to manage his employees and amass so much leisure time, too, you may ask.  He didn’t.  He chose hanging out over working hard, but he had a good reason.

As he explained to his superior, a regional manager for the firm, the “economy” was bad in the area.  He was even generous enough with his time to take the regional manager, who was unfamiliar with the ins and outs of this particular city, on a joy ride through its worst slum…boarded up windows and gang-sign graffiti offered “proof” that the man with a tan couldn’t be blamed for his office’s poor sales.

The vast majority of the beautiful city was running quite smoothly, but the regional manager didn’t get that tour.  He was shuffled straight to the airport before he got a sniff of the truth that his local subordinate opted to darken his tan rather than increase his office’s sales.

Yes, I realize the economy has hit most of us in one way or another.  Some of us have gotten pummeled worse than others, too.  And while sales have taken a hit in many industries, I hope that you’re able to separate reality from perception.

Be careful not to discount your ability to perform on the job because the economy is suffering. There have always been and will always be those who bend with the times and create opportunity.

Also, be fair with yourself. The same assets you brought to your job are those that can help you now.  Don’t forget that you have those strengths and you might just need to change your perception of reality to begin to utilize those strengths today.

Companies like ebay and Amazon.com have to adjust to the economy and the current market conditions to continue to realize healthy profits; and adjust is what they do.  So where are you adjusting what you do to continue to thrive in today’s business environment?

It’s not just about persistence it’s about changing tactics to bring in new business.

On the program Hell’s Kitchen, the restaurant undergoing a business makeover gave away food as a way to announce the reopening of the restaurant. Their marketing tactic was successful, and the next day the restaurant was full.

If you suspect that the economy has become your crutch, toss it aside and take responsibility to walk on your own two feet again.  Adjust strategy and tactics, get creative with marketing and sales, and find ways to revive assets that have been nearly dormant since the downturn started.

Someone’s always doing well…it might as well be you.

When thinking about disaster recovery, you want to develop a plan so that in the event that everything goes haywire, your organization can be back up and running as soon as possible…that is, if there are no more disasters.

The management team of a company executed a practice run of disaster recovery plan.  But the process ran into a couple of snags. First, the assistant to the man who was supposed to execute the practice run was informed on his way to the office that his brother-in-law died. Then the two back-up personnel, leaving from two different airports, each ran into 3-hour delays.

In essence, the key people running the disaster-recovery plan ran into disasters of their own.

Consider how during the last big disasters, 9-11 and New Orleans, transportation and telecommunications shut down. Those obstacles were tough enough to work around. Now add in the human element including that some team members will not wait around to save your company’s neck. They might want to be home taking care of family or heading for the hills.

This means that you want to automate the process as much as possible and not leave the success of the program in human hands; human interaction should be reduced, even eliminated  so that what needs to be done can be done with the greatest probability of success.

It’s not nice to think of disasters occuring on such grand scale, but during the execution of most true disaster plans, the ripple effect of a flaw in the design can prove to be more challenging to deal with than those designing the backups are capable of solving.

Last year after knee surgery my orthopedic surgeon suggested I try biking as a recovery exercise.  I reluctantly tried a short ride around my home and after a few weeks I found I was hooked.  I valued the time I had alone riding out doors on some back country roads.  The entire experience was something I looked forward to doing so much, that I was riding an off-road bike, on the road, on some very very hilly roads, over 20 miles per day.

At one point, my wife and business partner, Lorrie, suggested I pick up a “real road bike”.  After reviewing some bikes online, I ended up falling in love with one bike after another, until I ended up “making a commitment to” a hand-made bike created out of Spain called an Orbea Orca.  It has a carbon fiber frame that suits winners of the Tour de France.

My “Love” carried a hefty sticker price for a casual biker like myself.  I would need to find a handsome discount to justify the purchase.

As the season was winding to an end, I started to look online and I found retailers selling the bike on ebay, some used, some new.  Since I’m around 6’2″, I needed a bike around 57 cm, the limiting factor for me, and I searched for the bike I thought would give me a great ride.

I looked for weeks knowing that deals on previously-owned bikes would be pretty good, and thought I might even score a great deal on a new bike since a 2008 would still be a 2008 to a retailer in 2009.

Then I found the bike in the color and the shape I wanted from a racer that had fallen on a bike partially through the season and only used his new bike for about 2 months.  His asking price was less than half the price and with every single component I wanted.

Since that time, when I look for any item on ebay, my drop-down menu lists the Orbea Orca 57 cm, and I often just take a scan of the product that’s being sold.  Since I’ve purchased my bike, I’ve seen only two bikes that were starting at $3500, and all others that were being sold near list price.  I felt like I was lucky and smart to purchase when I did.

This same situation is happening for businesses in need of newer technologies.

If you’ve laid off employees this past year, you’re going to be hard pressed to rehire before you offer your current employees overtime or you look for ways to improve productivity through processes or technology.

This means you’ve got to start looking at firms that are either discounting their products or better yet, companies going out of business.  A sustainable furniture company that purchases furniture from businesses to resell just purchased the furniture once belonging to a lobbying company in Washington DC, and picked up 150 Herman Miller $1400 chairs for mostly likely pennies on the dollar.

One suggestion I have to firms is to start looking for bankruptcies or firms that need to unload some of their equipment or hardware. They may need to dump what you may need to acquire to increase productivity.  With cheap airfare and hotels rates, you can do this relatively inexpensively.

If you’re looking to wait, and it’s a balancing act, remember that at some point if the firm is still in business they’d feel that selling their items is not worth the price just as I believe as the economy eroded bikers said, “I’ll just keep my bike a few more years.” That decision ultimately halts supply.

Don’t wait too long or at least don’t stop looking, because if you could pick up $500,000 worth of tools for 10 cents on the dollar or $50,000. Then you’ll be prepared now and as business booms once again.

Don’t assume your company has super powers, too?

If you’ve ever done any weightlifting, you know that the typical progression flows like this…your endurance and strength improves as you continue to lift more and more weight week after week. Your first week’s 10-pound weights are replaced by your second week’s 15-pounders, and by week five, you’re pumping 25 pounds or more. If the progression continued, you’d eventually lift 700 pounds, but of course, that doesn’t happen. At some point, your ability to increase the pounds you lift maxes out.

If your goal is to get in shape and improve health, that’s no problem. But if you’re working out hoping to transport appliances or tow vehicles, you realize pretty darn quickly that you’re going to need some outside assistance, such as a lever, lift, crane or hydraulics, if you’re going to achieve substantial gains.

The same holds true in business and organizations.

Before you get all gung ho about  new initiatives, run a common sense assessment of your organization’s assets to see if everyone has what they need to reach those lofty goals.

Arm your staff with the tools employees need to be successful.

Groups often make the mistake of believing that just by working together (and especially if they have a successful track record of having worked together in the past), they can solve challenges, take advantage of opportunities, and achieve success. However, just as the well-intentioned and disciplined weight lifter eventually hits a ceiling, your team might need some fresh supplies to soar to new heights.

The areas I’m talking about are new knowledge. new technologies, fresh sets of eyes, new approaches to strategy and tactics, and reformulated group dynamics. Without them, you can still grow and possibly do quite well. But if you want to make significant jumps or differences, you have to consider some upgrades.

Upgrades are not just for computers. People need upgrades, too.

You’ll find some answers by asking yourself and then your staff questions along these lines:

1. What technological upgrades, such as software programs, do you think would make your job easier, would enable you to make fewer mistakes, would empower you to do your job more independently, and would assist you in providing superior customer service?
2. What common problems seem to continually appear that you think a new system, standard procedure, piece of equipment, etc. would prevent, solve, or eliminate altogether?
3. What relationships–with vendors, customers, complementary businesses/organizations–could be strengthened or developed to make our organization more competitive in the marketplace?

You can also uncover weaknesses that hinder growth and development by surveying the customers you service, the vendors you buy from, the partnerships you’ve developed, and the staff you employ from the top management team to the front line.

Your role is to maximize the potential of your organization’s assets.

When leading your team, be on the lookout for weaknesses and keep filling the gaps in order to maximize potential and enable your people to make significant gains.

If you know me, you know that I’m all about developing the right strategy up front before doing anything else. What you might not know is that I’m also realistic about opportunity, and it’s important for any decision maker to understand that good things come from calculated strategy and sometimes also randomly. However, the random part of the equation is still controllable. If you’re in management, you need to put yourself in environments and situations that enable you to develop opportunities to grow and develop your organization.

I’m going to show you how to get in front of the right people, but first let’s quickly learn the three scenarios that often hinder business growth.

1. The management team has become so focused on internal roles that they’ve forgotten that a major function of management is to be out in the field creating partnerships, looking for opportunities, developing new products/services and selling the business.

2. The management team is in the field too much, and they forget the business causing the business to have trouble getting business done. It may be that too much golf or too much selling steers the “ship” off course.

3. Management has just forgotten how the business was first built and the power they have over making business growth and transformation work.

Often you can make a great impact by taking small steps that build your business…even without much effort.

One of the most common comments made to me in our consulting work is that is that if “I” just got out “there,” “I” could grow this firm at a phenomenal pace. So do it. Getting out, getting visible, and making contact with others doesn’t have to be a monumental drain of energy.

Let me show you how easy it is if you just become active.

I think I slept most of the flight down to Florida as the gentleman next to me worked diligently on a set of presentation slides and confidential papers. I knew this because as I rolled side to side every so often I’d open my eyes and see him continually turning page after page and scanning pieces of materials.

About two hours into the flight, I had about enough rest. I asked the flight attendant for some water and then turned to the gentleman next to me as if to offer USAir’s services.

Immediately after the attendant walked away, I asked him what he did for a living, and we struck up as small conversation about the management of nuclear reactors and how safe and efficient they are as a utility.

We discussed how his firm was one of the largest management firms in the world and how long it would take for the US to convert to new facilities and catch up with the rest of the world.

The man I met quite randomly was Michael Wallace, President of the Constellation Generation Group, part of Constellation Energy.

Its website defined Constellation as management company that, “Owns and operates a national fleet of generating plants and fuel processing facilities diversified by fuel, geographic location, and technology. [Their] balanced portfolio includes nuclear, coal, natural gas, oil, and renewable and alternative fuels that include solar, geothermal, hydro and biomass.”

Now the name may not be familiar to you; I know it wasn’t to me at the time. We talked for some time and near the end of the flight, Michael and I exchanged cards and agreed to talk at a future date.

This part of the story alone is an example of opportunities all around you if you open your eyes. Yet there’s more…

The next day I opened up the newspaper and was stunned by its lead article. FPL Group a Florida company plans to acquire Constellation Energy for $11 Billion US. Constellation is the owner of Nine Mile Point and and this deal would generate the United States’ largest power-generating company and the third largest nuclear operator company.

My meeting with Michael on the plane happened in January 2006, and the deal was expected to be closed in the fourth quarter of that same year after approvals by state and federal agencies along with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Michael Wallace is my target market. Should I need to interview an executive for a book or article, should he need a consultant to help with a project or challenge, a contact like this could become a win/win for both parties.

Lorrie has joked that if ever business started going down hill, she’d put me on a series of planes so I’d come back with business.

For the executive, getting out and meeting people is mandatory for the way we do business today.

Here are 3 points to remember.

1. Executives that get out in the field can open up doors faster than any other person in the firm. Bill Marriott closed a deal worth several million per year for the long beach facilities after he heard that Jeff Neeleman from Jet Blue was looking to use a competitor. He made the call and the deal was closed.

2. Executives that work the room and work the business can offer solutions that others in the firm may not have the knowledge on hand to do. I once worked with an executive that turned to a prospect and said, “It’s under wraps right now that we are expanding our facility in the coming year. We will be ready to take on your business and would be willing to work a deal to bring you on board early.”

3. Executives have history that others don’t have. Let’s say a big volume prospect is teetering. Those with history can tell stories of how there were successful in the past that others in the firm may not know. While working with a Texas firm on strategy, the key management team was amazed to hear how often the two founders, who saw the “whole picture” more often than anybody else, had one success story after another that no one else knew.

4. Executives have power just in their title. Picture meeting the CEO of any company and you already see a decision maker. On the flip side, when an executive is out working with clients, prospects and employees transform business change more rapidly just because of the role the executive plays in the organization.

When all is said and done, business growth AND development happens both strategically and randomly. You need to be ready to seize opportunities in both ways to insure that your goals are met. Seldom do I hear from successful company executives, “I need to spend more time behind my desk and less time developing business.” I do hear the opposite almost every time a business is in the decline.

If you want to read more about Constellation Generation Group http://www.constellation.com/generation/index.asp

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Don’t read this until you’ve made a selection.

Arepo eht fo Motnahp is the answer…spelled backwards. Thought I would make it a little tougher to figure out what is the answer just in case you looked.

The reason for the test is to see what you’re perception is of reality and how often without data, decisions that appear to be winners are not. Just because intuition or outside references such as media impact what you think, there’s still something said about knowing the truth.

What’s the truth about your finances; are you really doing well? Do you get stats weekly, monthly, or yearly that insure you’re on target, or are you slightly behind the information curve? Do you have a digital dashboard that gives you specific information that can guide your next decision or are you winging it? BTW a digital dashboard is a quick summary of what’s going on in your organization. It might be revenue, profits, inventory turns, number of new accounts, number of sales calls, leads, production numbers, etc. It includes anything that is relevant to you getting a snapshot of reality.

A funny thing happens when the numbers are in front of you, and you take them seriously. Low numbers often make people react by thinking about improving the position. Good numbers confirm you’re on target. Great numbers allow you to think beyond expectations and that you can do more. (Of course, your personality factors into the equation, too.)

I know for me the numbers push me at whatever level. I always want to do a better job and each set of numbers makes me think about the future.

A business woman I met named Tiffany told me that her business is doing well despite the economy due to both location and product offering.  The only problem Tiffany has is that  her marketing manager hasn’t for years performed up to expectation.

At one point, Tiffany started looking for a replacement over a year ago when the economy was bustling.  However, she found that hiring some one with the talent she wanted would mean paying anywhere from $80,000 to $120,000 more than she could afford.

Now that the economy has changed, her marketing manager stands out like a sore thumb and Tiffany’s patience has run thin.  Her challenge is how does she make the change without spooking the employee or even others within her organization?

Here’s an approach you might use.

Set up a phone line directly to your home or to a separate cell phone number where you can receive calls without anyone in the organization knowing what you’re doing.  Then set up an email account that’s not connected with the company.  This could be a gmail, yahoo, or earthlink account. Then start marketing in online sites. In 2009, you can expect people of high caliber to be searching all sources for a job.

*You also could act like a head hunter and call someone at a competitor since you really don’t know what’s going on in their business and they might be falling on tough times.

In the ad, forward all information to these private contact points so you have a buffer where you can review resume’s or screen calls without announcing it to your staff.  Once the desired talent is found, do a simple phone interview to start to weed out those marketing more than they really possess and schedule an introductory phone interview.  I always love phone interviews as a start, because you’re less limited by looks and can focus first on qualifications.

Next set up a meeting at a restaurant to  discuss what you’re offering.  The distance allows you to see how the individual works in an open setting.  I personally hate when people don’t say please or thank you to restaurant staff. The way one treats their waiter is often a great indicator of how they’ll treat subordinate staff within your organization.  If they’re not respectful during your restaurant meeting,  take their actions seriously into consideration.

Then finally, when you’ve closed in on your decision to hire, you can introduce the prospective employee to your organization.

This is not unlike how a head hunter might work.  They check out prospects, notify someone discretely, arrange a private meeting, and then announce the recruit.

The upside for people who want to hire new talent during this economy is that there are smart, talented people out there who have been displaced and need work.  They’re more willing to work for a reduced pay just to get the paycheck.  Now’s the time to swap out your non produces in this hirers’ market.

There were two feet of snow on the ground in Syracuse last February, and the last thing I expected was to be visited by a local painter.  This is typically a sale done in the fall or in the spring as home owners inspect their weather-beaten homes.

Not the case for College Pro Painters.  An area supervisor stopped by to ask me if I would like a quote. Really.  A quote in February.  At first I was shocked and then amazed.  So much so that I said sure, give me a price.

As you’d expect he immediately went into the pitch, I’ll send someone out to talk with you.  I cut him off to say, “You guys can come and look at the house from the outside.  You don’t need to see me to put together a quote.  So when you are ready, call me and we’ll set something up.”

He handed me a hang tag and was on his way.  For days after this experience I kept thinking College Pro.  With so many consumers being concerned about just covering their mortgage payments, I would think that painting the exterior of the home is probably not even on the to-do list for many families, this summer.  However, I have to believe that College Pro Painters’ jump on the competition helped them secure extra jobs in a market that offers slimmer pickings than the norm.

The next day, I experienced a similar sales push from someone in the document services industry, Avalon Document Services.  A package arrived at my office.  Along with my completed copy-service order, I received a dozen cookies and a hand-written letter outlining additional services that this regional copy center offers.  The rep, Danielle, took the time to write the letter in her own hand instead of constructing the letter on her computer.  Even if only a handful of customers say, “Huh, I didn’t know they did that,” and purchased additional services, think of how much money Danielle might have earned for her firm by making the extra personalized effort.

Here were two firms pounding the street to stand out and to secure business.

Nice job!

Bonuses must have an upside and a downside.  Do a great job and win big enough to make you stay with the firm.  Do a poor job and the bonus and salary structure should reinforce  either changing jobs or rethinking/retooling your career.  Easier said than done.

In the case of publicly-traded firms in the financial sector, all that was created was an upside.  Sell and makes millions, even if what you sell is detrimental to the firm.