When Giving-up is a good thing

Over the past year this blog has evolved to become the application of methods that are Repetitive, Powerful, and Gentle to the practice of making money. Simplistic approaches to business issues frequently pass the the Repetitive and Powerful tests; however, truly effective practices must also qualify as Gentle and here is where many, like traditional selling, fail.

The largest consumer of motivational materials and methods is the US Sales and Marketing industry. Care to guess who might be number 2? It's the US military. This leads us to wonder, what is it about our traditional approaches to sales that is like the military? Do Sales Departments require a constant infusion of outside motivation because, like the military, they are organizations built around the acquisition and application of force? For those in sales that are drained by its continual churn, or those being pursued by smiling, manipulative salespeople, it seems the answer seems to be YES.

Poor observers of successful salespeople have concluded that they are master of Persuasion. This isn't really the case; however, it's a business myth that is relentlessly taught. Persuasion is verbal manipulation and not at all what we feel comfortable in calling gentle. This is the connection to motivational methods. When I hear a sales professional using them, I have to leave (at least mentally, if I can't physically).

More accurate observers of successful salespeople have started to realize that they have a talent in Qualification, rather than Persuasion. They have a heart for who really needs their products and services (it's never everyone!); and a sensitivity in understanding their prospects enough to know if there is a basis to beginning a sales process. It's time consuming and complex enough to work with someone qualified to be a customer (that is, they actually need, understand, and can afford the product). The efforts spent "selling" someone not obviously qualified is counter-productive.

Working with sales prospects is no different than traders working with options or gamblers with their games. Over and over again studies in these two areas have shown most traders and gamblers win about the same. The successful ones are those that lose the least. They continually qualify their positions and when it doesn't look like a win, they accept a small loss and simply leave. If a sales prospect doesn't qualify, the successful salesperson leaves them alone. The motivated loser keeps on.

Giving up trying to serve is completely different from giving up trying to sell. The highest use of our lives comes from service and we often can serve those who do not qualify as clients by helping them solve their problems in other ways. This can be anything from a simple expression of empathy to a referral to one of your strategic partners. If your intention is to always finish strong, a way to do that will always appear.

Photo credit: bk2204

An Item of Interest

Networking is popular these days because it's inexpensive and meaningful. Email, the killer app that propelled global acceptance of the internet, was the same way. Today email filtering companies report that over 90% of all email on the internet at any given time is spam. Can networking be headed in the same direction?

Networking advisers universally maintain that the group meetings are just the tip of the networking iceberg. The real work is accomplished at subsequent one-on-one meetings where individuals meet to discuss if the person they are meeting is someone they can refer to others.

We all want to be trusted advisers and the only way to get there is to have a history of delivering results. Even if you do not personally deliver the final solution, if you have started the solution with an on-target referral, you build trust. This means even if your practice cannot solve every problem you encounter in the market, if you can refer to others who do solve them, you build trusted adviser credentials.

As Active Investors meet one-on-one, they seek a knowledge of reliable solutions to problems their business cannot deliver. The size of their referral network will determine how frequently they can help others generate results, and thereby earn trust.

Relationship marketing has also been popularized as a way to build trust. People prefer to to business with those they know. What confuses many in networking is that this is true but incomplete. People prefer to do business with those they know and trust. The objective of the Active Investor's networking activities is not relationship building. It's the sharing of problem solving capabilities.

Salesmen look for items of interest to bring to meetings. These items give the encounter meaning and dramatically increase the chances of a sale. The item of greatest interest that an Active Investor can bring to a networking one-on-one meeting is a credible solution to a problem our networking partner might encounter. Our personal history, scope of practice, family, hobbies, etc. are nice to discuss but they're of little benefit to our partner's ability to build trust.

Preparing for any business meeting, networking or otherwise, could include a simple exercise. Look at both palms and ask yourself a question, "Am I bringing an item of interest, or am I bringing spam?"



(The blog photo was chosen because in a one-on-one meeting with the Texas networking mentor Jeff Weaver I was insisting that items of interest had to be specific to each individual. Jeff told me about successfully using a history of Valentine's Day as an item of interest on a general basis. The picture comments on Flickr also support how interesting many others have found this related image to be. It looks as if love just might be a universal item of interest. John 13:34,25)

Image credit: naama

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Powerful Symbols of Structure

Today's performance is the result of the strategic resources we had available when we woke-up this morning. Toyota will build many more cars today than I will because they have the resources and intent to do so and I don't. On the other hand, Toyota's contribution to this posting will be a mere mention of their name. My contribution will be its creation because I have access to these resources.

Structure determines behavior. In our past we have intended certain results which has caused the accumulation of necessary resources to accomplish them. These resources for an Active Investor might include things like cash, reputation, customer base, staff, inventory, equipment, technology, supplier relationships, and so forth. What happens in the present is the unfolding result of the levels and structures of our current resources. This is why accounting and business valuations work in the present. We can accurately know our resources as they exist now. Forecasting future performance is another matter.

Financial methodologies are scalable to almost any level of detail complexity; however, they are often not well suited to deal with dynamic complexity. As we move out of the known present and into an unknowable future, resource levels will be dynamically affected. Things will generally not happen in a linear fashion like we tend to imagine. Understanding the dynamics of how we arrived at the present is far more valuable in forecasting than understanding the details. Unfortunately, the study of system dynamics is somewhat challenging (although if it's possible, an Active Investor will greatly benefit from taking a formal system dynamics course).

The rest of us take an intuitive shortcut. We look for symbols that indicate the underlying structure and use that to get clues about dynamics.

Experience in audit and business brokering have helped me develop a sense of symbols. Walking into a business the cars in the parking lot may be symbols that the owner (and therefore the business) is doing well. The maintenance is a symbol of their attention to detail. The decor may become symbolic of their perceived customer preferences.

For all the time and effort spent on marketing assets, it's often our symbols that communicate the most about us to others. They are most powerful communicators that indicate our structure and will be used by others to predict our future behaviors.

Our symbols are both advantageous and dangerous because they communicate instantly. And yet, we frequently are not even aware of what symbols we currently display. The Active Investor benefits from paying attention to them. It takes an examination of our structures to best see our symbols. By being alert to symbols in our markets, we learn both about others and how to better present ourselves.

Image credit: avixyz

Our Invitations

Invitations take many forms, from the formal printed style seen here to the subtle courting signals every society develops. They are powerful tools that open the doors of significant relationships and because of that we handle them with great respect.

Every piece of marketing material should be considered an invitation. We invite the market to experience our product or service; however it's often done in a strange manner. We use a cost benefit analysis approach. There is no doubt that before an invitation to do business is accepted, a prospect will consider costs and benefits; but to base the invitation on this design dehumanizes the prospect and commoditizes the business.

Imagine being an Event Planner rather than an Active Investor developing a marketing strategy. Successful events always have a feeling that is forever kept in the attendees memories. We often forget the details about exactly what happened at an event; but we will continue to remember how it made us feel. Business transactions are similar social events, especially those of an introductory nature. As we are invited to potential business opportunities feelings are remembered as much as any transactional benefits.

Since advertising and networking have become facts of life in American business, we're all continually exposed to them. They are forms of invitations. What will be remembered is how they make us feel. No matter how timely or creative it might be, unsolicited email feels like spam - disrespect and nothing else. On the other hand, even the coldest of calls that includes a sincere request for advise feels like appreciation. Invitations invoke our feelings.

In response to our rhetorical question, "Do you need a written invitation?" the answer is generally "It certainly wouldn't hurt."

Image Credit: Matt Biddulph

Our Highest Calling

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Business is tough these days and the temptation is to become all things to all buyers so that you might sell something to some. That's another self-defeating behavior arranged by an Ego whose focus is on its own well being. We simply can't be successful at the business of everything. Our market message becomes confused and we're now known for nothing. Would you remember "Widgets, Gadgets, and More Stuff" or would you more inclined to remember and try "Widgets Are Us" the next time you need to satisfy a widget craving? While we can't be everything, we can be something. The question is "what?"

People associate known good or bad qualities in one area to other areas. They think that because someone is attractive they are also resourceful and honest. They will be suspicious of another if they simply know nothing other than they are poor. This is the halo effect. If you have a positive image in one area, a halo will create a positive image elsewhere.

Being exceptional in one area calls for a focus on it. The fear is that a narrow focus will limit business and cripple profitability. Not always. People's tendency to associate can continue to work to the Active Investor's advantage. If a business demonstrates competence in a complex or unusual area, customers will assume their competence in simpler and more common aspects of the business. The art of profitable focus (halo building) is to choose to build your reputation of excellence in the most complex or unusual area where you can still prove your excellence. Without your drawing attention to any other aspects of the business, prospects will simply assume they have been handled with the same degree of professionalism.

When traveling Interstate 35 through Texas, stop in the town of West. Along the east service road are 3 gas stations, each with a large marque sign competing for your business with major oil company brand recognition and current pricing. At this level they seem similar; however, one of them has so many cars parked there, they have purchased the lot next to them to handle the frequent overflow. This business also sells kolaches. They've created so many delicious varieties the crowds of travelers come without a thought of a major brand or the current pricing. Any travelers new to kolaches see those crowds and assume if they're that popular, these have to be worth buying.

The Cost of Goods Sold for a kolcahe is small change; but what has been achieved by a successful focus on the unusual is worth millions. What should be our focus? What is our highest halo? The answer also is our highest professional calling.

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Market Trust

Image by Lorenia via Flickr

Many believe a marketing program is successful if it raises the public's awareness of your product or service. Coach Roland in a May 31,2009 blog posting points out that we all have become saturated with messages trying to raise our awareness. Awareness alone won't lead to sales. He asserts our messages need to communicate what we intend to do to earn the market's trust. We have to do more to really get their attention.

Mature successful firms get most of their business from repeat customers or referrals from satisfied clients. Trust has been earned in prior dealings. Here the driver of continued success is the customer service staff. They are the guardians of market trust and need to be in close contact with the marketing staff. Social networking is providing marketing with a new generation of tools to measure customer service effectiveness and satisfaction. These departments work together to preserve existing trust.

Newer and smaller firms, more likely to be run by an Active Investor, may not have this kind of staff and or large base of past customers. Trust needs to be developed. How can a business reach out to the market in such a way that both trust and awareness are developed? A system dynamics approach is to look at trust as a resource, that is a stock of something that has a level that can go up and down, and then consider what are the drivers that will increase its level. Some rather universal drivers of trust are:

- Credentials: Are there authoritative "seals of approval" we can display to verify quality or competence?
- Appearance: Is our offering presented in such a way it creates an assumption of worth, or do we look mediocre?
- Recommendations: Do we understand and develop a history with those who may not purchase but still be in a position to recommend us?
- Concern: While Active Investors are typically always concerned for their customers, is this expressed in a way they can appreciate it? Do they feel we have really listened?
- Familiarity: Can we be remembered? Familiarity breeds business.
- Integrity: Is trust built into our business and personal decision making? Nothing develops trust more surely than personally being trustworthy.
- Assurances: Is there historical data or performance guarantees to factually support any measure of trust a prospect is considering granting us?

Each business is unique with its own ways to build trust. They are to be found at decision points where there is an opportunity to do the right thing or to be expedient. When you have first convinced yourself you'll always be doing what's best for your customer, you'll know what to do to further develop market trust.

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The Acorn and Divine Intention

the oak sleeps in the acorn
Originally uploaded by Norma Desmond

An acorn will always become an oak tree. It will never grow into a tulip, a WhatABurger, or anything else. There is an inescapable destiny evident in nature, which we'll label Divine Intention.

An unavoidable aspect of Divine Intention is that it cannot be completely known in advance. Look at any number of acorns. You'll never find a tiny oak tree inside. The oak tree "emerges" out of the acorn and a fertile environment.

With or without a religious background, this sense of Divine Intention can be felt. How do we learn to co-operate with it? To carry the metaphor further, our efforts cannot be focused on planning to be a tree. At any point in time we're an acorn without a clear picture of what an oak might be. Our focus has to be on finding the fertile environment where we can grow into our Divine Intention.

The conventional word for environment in business is "market." Active Investors are obsessed with their markets. They are concerned more about them than anything else. Free time isn't spent on process improvement, that's allocated time. It's spent imagining how roots can grow deeper into the environment. There is a simple trust that our "oak" will happen if we can just develop the roots.

This is the primary drive of the successful business owner or professional. There's nothing wrong with a primary passion for your craft instead; however, that's an employee, not an Active Investor.

Identity

Believing having your own business is the best way to have fun and make money misses the most important point. Those are the two excellent reasons to become employed and/or to learn about passive investments (read Rich Dad, Poor Dad). Successful owners are about those - and much more. 

Talk to them about their business. It's all about being able to help people, not just what happens on their financial statements. If owners didn't truly believe they were doing something significant for others, they would be content as employees or investors. 

This makes being a business broker so interesting. Selling a business is not a round peg, round hole kind of transaction. There's more than cash flow and asset worth. A Seller has to believe that a Buyer can offer society the same, or better, service with the business being sold. Without that, it's a poor deal. I feel I'm more part of an adoption agency than a financial services organization. It's very personal and very rewarding.

The very best sales people are often the business owners who communicate their belief in the importance of what they're doing along with the message about their business. It's not polish; but rather a self-knowledge of exactly who they are and why they're here. Communicating identity sells.

There's a saying in Texas that there's no better fertilizer than the farmer's footprint. There's also no better marketing program than the owner's voice.