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Is the opportunity real?

Published on February 4, 2008 in Client Magnet Archives, business and strategy. 3 Comments

We’ve all been in that sales situation where you think you have it wrapped up and at the last minute it stalls. They stop returning your calls and emails, all correspondences are very short and to the point, the RFP is hanging out there, it seems like your prospect has simply fallen off the face of the earth.

So what happened? Were they not an ideal client or part of your target audience? Was there secretly a competitor with an inside track or existing relationship (hint: there usually is, but that’s a different ezine topic)? Were they simply shopping to see what’s available in the marketplace?

It could’ve been any of those, and more, so today I want to introduce a framework to help you evaluate each opportunity – before you commit to chasing it. I can’t claim this model as my own, though I’ve adopted it in my daily client interactions.

When I got serious about understanding consultative sales, multiple colleagues recommended I pick up Mahan Khalsa’s book, “Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play.” And I recommend you read it as well. The short version of the story is that Mahan is responsible for sales performance at FranklinCovey, the Seven Habits folks, and this book shed more light on how modern sales work than anything I’ve read. When I read a recent ezine from Mahan, I knew I needed to share some of his wisdom with a little bit of “Nick Rice practicality” thrown in for good measure.

When you are presented with an opportunity for a new project or new business, you need to uncover as much as possible to gauge how successful you will be with this project. If you try to fix every problem that presents itself, you will never be seen as a specialist, and as such, you will never command high fees. Generalists stay busy with small projects, but when the client wakes up and decides to fix the big problem, who are they going to call?

So, how do you uncover such details? At a high level, you have to ensure that three things are present before you can properly evaluate an opportunity. Here is the Opportunity Framework:

Opportunity Framework

First off, you have to know that there truly is a problem to solve or a result to achieve. You cannot help someone that doesn’t admit or realize that something needs to change. It doesn’t matter if you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there’s an issue; if you cannot get your prospect to see it and admit it, you’re wasting your time. On the flip side of this, it has to be a problem worth fixing or a result worth achieving. Organizations live in a constant state of brokenness – and that’s okay as long as they are still profitably functional. Some problems are worth fixing, some are not. Realize that as soon as possible and move on.

The second item to uncover is the prospect’s ability to make and act upon a decision. There’s nothing worse than someone who cannot make a decision and move on it. If you’re running into this, chances are you’re not talking to the real decision maker or you’re not helping them paint a picture of what life could be like after fixing the situation. If you work with large organizations, know that junior level managers and staff love to keep consultants and sales people busy. They like the power trip. And it makes them look productive to their bosses. You need assurance that the person you’re working with can say yes to your proposed solution before you invest a lot of time and energy.

The third leg of this stool is ensuring that appropriate resources are available to address the issue. Resources can take the shape of budget dollars, staff availability, executive oversight, equipment – anything required to make the solution a reality. If there’s not enough budget or internal staff resources, the project will never get off the ground. If you cannot get commitment from a certain executive for support, you’re on thin ice. How can you be successful without appropriate resources?

If any one of these three items is left unknown, you put the project and your success at risk. Chances are you’re going to waste a lot of time when this initiative stalls at some point in the future.

We’ve all seen good opportunities with no budget. We’ve all seen executives than cannot make a decision. We’ve all walked into a client’s office and almost tripped over the problems in the organization. If you are someone that wants to be recognized as an expert in their field; someone that wants to truly provide the best solution to the client’s problem; you owe it to yourself to slow down enough to uncover all three parts of an opportunity. And don’t be afraid to walk away if the opportunity isn’t ideal. You should only work in an environment where you are set up to succeed. If the project isn’t right, it isn’t right and now it’s time to move on.

You cannot expect the client to simply lay all of this out on the table for you. You have to dig. You have to ask the right questions to bring these issues to the forefront – and in doing so you will separate yourself from 98% of the other sales people out there. Too many people simply jump at what’s presented in an RFP or what’s said a meetings as gospel without digging any deeper. Clients want and expect you to ask tough questions. They want to know that you fully understand their issue inside and out before presenting a solution.

When you approach each opportunity as a chance to find the perfect solution for your client – whether it involves you or not – you’re doing the right thing. And Carma has a way of rewarding those that do the right thing. In order to understand the problem and propose the perfect solution, you need to know all three parts of an opportunity.

Excellence versus Perfection

Published on January 9, 2008 in Client Magnet Archives, marketing and strategy. 3 Comments

Michael J. Fox once said, “I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God’s business.” Those words rang true as soon as I read them.

Early in my career I was a graphic designer for a local university. I was responsible for creating text books and classroom materials for the International College of Dentistry – super exciting work by the way :) . Like any job I had deadlines to meet with the editors, publishers, printers, etc… One day I caught myself going back to tweak the layout for a certain book. That particular book was printed six months earlier and currently in use in Dental Schools throughout the Middle East. But here I was futzing with margins, font spacing and the like.

Something made me stop and think about what I was doing. Why in the world was I messing with a text book that would never be reprinted? I had other things to work on, but internally I was going nuts because I knew I could do a better job than I had originally. Mind you, there was nothing wrong with the final published book. It was great. Everyone signed off on my designs and loved it. Not to mention that it was a critical component of actually training and producing dentists. It was working.

And in that moment I realized that I was a “tweaker”. My edits had nothing to do with my audience. They were strictly for my own benefit and justification. I wanted better margins simply because it was the right thing to do in my mind. Tweaking was a constant thread in my professional life for years. And to this day I still fight the urge to pull up a logo I designed nine months ago, or a strategic plan that I helped write with a client and make a few tweaks. It’s just a part of who I am.

But a few years ago I realized that tweaking was just for me – not my clients – most of the time they never saw my tweaks anyway. When I did bring my revised files to a client, they would look at me like I just handed them a moon rock. You could see it in their eyes, “What is this? Why are you bringing this to me now?”

After more than a few of those interactions, I decided that perfectionism doesn’t work for me. In fact, it was actually hurting my client relationships. They had moved on. I was obsessing. I was the crazy consultant or designer that couldn’t let go. So today, I actively strive for excellence.

Excellence is something completely different than perfection. And it took me a long time to fully understand how powerful and good simply being excellent was. For me, perfection was the top. It was it. Anything else seemed like failure. I look back now and realize how silly I was to think that being excellent meant failure.

And here’s the funny thing that all perfectionists know – perfection isn’t possible. If it isn’t possible, why keep killing ourselves to reach it? If it isn’t possible, why even think and act like it is? Why assume that nothing else will suffice? Why do we set ourselves up for a letdown?

Being excellent is attainable. It’s not always easy, but it is doable. Excellence doesn’t mean that you’re sacrificing your soul. It doesn’t mean anything other than excellent. And how can that be a bad thing?

When you strive for perfection, you shoot yourself in the foot right from the start. You’ve given yourself a goal that’s unreachable. You will never be satisfied with the end result and that creates a type of myopia. You cannot see past perfection. Perfection holds you back from reaching your true potential. It’s a constrictive way of being. Perfection costs you more than you realize.

And here’s the kicker – no one expects you to be perfect. People expect you to strive for excellence. Excellence is what people pay for. It’s what people really want from you.

Being recognized as excellent in your field is the key to success. So I encourage all of you perfectionist out there to take a few minutes and look at how your never-ending quest for perfection affects your life and relationships. Is it helping or hurting you? Are you getting what you want?

If you’re open to looking at it from another angle, ask yourself these two questions:

  1. If it were impossible to be perfect who would I prefer to be?
  2. If I could be the new way, what would things be like? What would happen?

If you’re like me, you’ll find that the new way of being is much better than the current constrictive way. Once you come to that realization, life and work take on a whole new meaning.

Like I said, I still fight the urge to tweak, but recognizing how it affects me and actively striving for excellence has allowed me to be more productive, more effective and happier. And that’s something that most New Year’s resolutions can’t beat.

BTW, There are probably spelling and/or grammar mistakes in this blog post. And that’s okay. I’ve spell checked it and I’ve re-read it and now I’m sending it. I want it to be right, but I also know that I can spend hours obsessing over every detail and it won’t go out until tomorrow or the next day. Hopefully a few grammatical errors (if you catch them) won’t keep you from thinking about what I’ve said. So here goes…

What’s the Game Plan?

Published on December 7, 2007 in Client Magnet Archives, business, management and marketing. 0 Comments

It’s funny how clearly you see in an emergency. Monday morning, after about four weeks of ear infections, our one year old son was vomiting and had a nasty bout of diarrhea. All of you parents know this can spell trouble for a little kid. We were worried enough to take him to the doctor, who promptly told us that either the antibiotics or a stomach bug had caused him to become dehydrated and that he was sending us to the hospital straight away.

Any time you check into a hospital they run a barrage of tests, they put in an IV (which let me tell you, it is a nightmare holding your infant son down so a nurse can stick him in both arms, both hands and finally a foot to get a vein), and in general people are just running around doing a lot of stuff.

My wife hates it when I do this, but I always ask, “So, what’s the game plan for our kid? What are you looking for and what does he need to do in order to go home.” I just want to know what’s going on. Unfortunately, it’s frightening how many times I was told, “The doctor knows what to do.” That’s great; I fully expect that he/she does, but can someone kindly tell me?!?!

Then for whatever reason I connected the dots between a few unrelated client and prospective clients’ conversations. For most small businesses, marketing is no different than dealing with these medical professionals. Most of the time there is no marketing game plan in a small business. If you have a written marketing plan, chances are it’s collecting dust on the shelf. Not to mention that if there is a plan, most of the time the people responsible for executing and tracking the activities don’t understand how to build individual campaigns or programs that support the grand plan or strategy. But the reality is that most small to medium sized businesses do not even have a marketing plan.

When a business owner begins to feel the pain of an economy slowing down or the referral stream starting to trickle, they always try something. They may send out a direct mail postcard to a group of clients or to a particular zip code. They may pick up the phone and start dialing for projects. They may attend a networking event and try to close everyone for an appointment. They always try something.

But guess what; that’s not a plan. That’s a one-off activity – done in desperation – that results in nothing most of the time. And then a funny thing happens, the owner will look up and say, “Well, it’s obvious that marketing doesn’t work! I tried a postcard and I went to two Chamber networking events and didn’t get a single phone call. I just wasted a few hundred bucks and a couple of evenings with my family that I can never get back.”

It didn’t work because it wasn’t done strategically. It wasn’t done as part of a greater plan to purposefully grow business. And 95% of the time, it doesn’t work because it was half-arsed. There’s no follow up; there’s no call to action; there’s nothing that tells the prospective client how you will solve their problems. It doesn’t work because it’s all about you and the desperation you feel.

Until you totally understand and internalize the principles of marketing, stop wasting your time, energy and money with tactics. There is an entire industry of promotional shops, mailing houses, and ad agencies that love to “get your name in front of your audience.” You might as well throw your money out of the window. I’m not saying that promotional items, direct mail and marketing communications won’t work. They work great when used strategically as part of your overall marketing game plan. But YOU have to own that. You cannot expect an outside agency to give you a plan for your business.

You have to understand who you are, what your strengths are, where you’re going, what your client’s struggle with, what it would be like for them to solve their issues, and how you’re best equipped to do so.

There are thousands, if not millions, of marketing tactics that you can employee to grow your business. But if those tactics are not founded in Seven Marketing Principles AND if they are not aligned with your marketing game plan, you’re putting success at risk.

By the way, you can download the Seven Principles of Marketing article by filling out the form in the right hand sidebar (sorry, all you RSS readers will need to click here).

What do you do?

Published on November 6, 2007 in Client Magnet Archives, branding, entrepreneur and marketing. 3 Comments

No matter where you go – especially in America – one of the first questions out of the mouth of a new connection is, “What do you do”. And if you’re like the vast majority of people you answer with something along the lines of:

  • I’m an engineer
  • I’m an attorney
  • I own a few restaurants
  • I’m a consultant
  • I’m a doctor
  • I’m a graphic designer
  • I’m an architect
  • I work for Acme Company – we make widgets

This response is what I call your “label”. It has very little to do with what you actually do. It’s just the quickest path to make a solid connection – or so we think.

Labels are like stereotypes. Right or wrong, we all have an internal definition of engineer, doctor, lawyer, marketing VP, accountant, attorney, consultant, etc… Think about it for a minute. What do you think of when you hear those labels above. How many of those labels come with built-in negative connotations? Which label am I talking about when I say nerdy, pocket protector, unfashionable, geek? What label am I talking about when I say expensive, elitist, necessary evil?

How many lawyer jokes have you heard? Doctors are commonly referred to as “quacks”. Is this the first impression you want to give?

With initial introductions like this, is it any wonder that most people struggle to see the business benefit in networking? If you lead with your label, you’re not controlling the recipient’s impression. You’re relying on their internal stereotype for where they place you. And how does anyone rank a bunch of attorneys or advertising execs when they all say the same thing?

In order to regain control of the conversation, stop using your label and start using the formula below:

I work with (target audience) who struggle with (issue/challenge).

THEN STOP! DO NOT SAY ANYTHING ELSE!

This short and sweet formula is the beginning of revolutionizing your marketing efforts. In order for this to work, you must have a clear understanding of who your target audience is and their #1 struggle related to your business.

With this answer, you’ll get interest and excitement instead of glazed over eyes. By using this formula it forces the recipient to look at you differently. It forces them to make a decision on what to do next.

Let them make a decision with their response. Now that they have an informed perception of you, they know what to say next. They may need your services personally; or they may know someone that needs your services. But either way, they’re taking the next step with you.

Let’s look a few examples:

In a room full of doctors, “I work with women in their 40’s who struggle getting pregnant.”

Advertising/branding, “I work with Fortune 500 companies that are currently “Challenger Brands” and want to become household names.”

Legal, “I help someone of the verge of divorce ensure that he/she gets her fair share of the assets.

HR consultant, “My company works with executives from the world’s largest hospitals who are pulling their hair out because they cannot keep good nurses.”

Financial consultant, “I help people with six figure incomes put their children through university without paying through the nose in taxes or eating up their savings.”

You can see the difference (and power) in the formula. If you’re at all interested in what that person is offering, you perk right up. Now you’re viewed as a problem solver, not just a label. No one needs another label working with them.

Like I said before, this does require that you have and understand your target audience. For most business owners, this is the hardest part. I just wrote a blog post on Fast Company’s site about the benefits of niche marketing that’s right in line with this.

Wrap Up:

Ultimately, a strong elevator pitch or 30 second commercial is what separates you from the pack. Like all effective marketing touch points, if it’s focused on your client & their issues – instead of you and your offerings – you’ll be in good shape.

Your biggest obstacle

Published on October 2, 2007 in Client Magnet Archives, entrepreneur, management and social media. 0 Comments

Regardless of your role within your firm, you have goals. You may have set them yourself or you may have a boss that walked in and laid them out for you. Either way, there are things that need to be accomplished before year’s end or within a few years.

Reaching some goals is pretty easy so I’m not going to talk about low hanging fruit here. I’m going to talk about the goal that either scares you to death or exhilarates you. Take a moment to think about that big goal and answer these
questions:

  • What would it mean to you if you actually achieved it?
  • How would you act differently after achieving it?
  • What would you take on that you’re not currently?
  • What would you leave behind?
  • Why is the goal truly important to you?
  • What’s standing in your way of achieving it?

Good. Those aren’t always easy questions to answer. It’s always better to think about the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It helps to put everything in perspective.

Now, let’s focus on what’s standing in your way.

Do you have the skills necessary to reach your goal? Do you have the time? Do you have the energy? Think about what’s holding you back. If nothing is standing in your way, I’d contend that your goal isn’t big enough. Think bigger – dream a little. If you have an income goal that seems well within reach, go a little deeper. You want your big goal to be attainable, but just out of reach. More often than not, we have a mental block around what we can achieve. For some people, there’s never enough time. For others, they’ll never be educated enough or experienced enough. The psychological barrier stops them from moving forward. The attainable goal becomes unreachable and they decide to focus on something else like cleaning their office or tweaking their website.

More often than not, we have a mental block around what we can achieve. For some people, there’s never enough time. For others, they’ll never be educated enough or experienced enough. The psychological barrier stops them from moving forward. The attainable goal becomes unreachable and they decide to focus on something else like cleaning their office or tweaking their website.

We’ve all heard the stories of the uneducated kid that went on to be the top salesman. Or the working mother raising four children while making a six figure income from two jobs. For these people, failure is not an option. It’s not in their vocabulary. They don’t let those limiting thoughts enter their mind. They have a vision for their future and nothing is going to hold them back.

For a lot of business owners, they have a goal in mind, but they’re not sure how to get here. One thing is for sure, what got you where you are today probably won’t get you here you need to be to reach your goal. If business growth is your goal, you have to become a better marketer. You know you should promote your services, but there’s always something better to do. There’s always billable work that pops up; and of course, the office could always use a little cleaning. A lot of business owners are mentally blocked then it comes to marketing their own services. And it seems easy to justify. After all, a steady stream of referrals isn’t a bad thing. No, it’s not a bad thing; but let’s go back to your goals – your vision for your business. Is it performing the way you want it to? To quote Michael Gerber, “are you working on your business or in your business?”

The good thing about mental barriers is that they can be broken down. I spend a lot of time with clients determining their barriers to marketing and helping them turn it around. The process isn’t difficult, but it does require you be honest with yourself.

Your goals mean something. They’re the future of your business. They are your hopes and dreams for your firm. And there are consequences for not achieving them. It may come in the form of lost opportunity. It may seem like your goals are unquantifiable. Yet in my experience, you can quantify almost every aspect of your goals; you just have to keep digging. When you start looking at the lost opportunities that result from burying your head in the sand when it’s time to market, you realize that your business could be completely different. You begin to realize that you’re leaving a lot of money on the table by staying in your comfort zone. If you could no longer think those negative thoughts about marketing, you’d generate more opportunities for growth and profit.

If your biggest obstacle is mental, don’t let that slow you down. Whether it’s getting more training to develop the skills you need or simply changing the way you think about marketing, you control your own destiny. The key is to take action now. Just do something. When you dream big about your business and imagine living the life you’ve always wanted, you’re not going to let a little thing like a limiting mindset hold you back.