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Enhancing
Performance Through Electronic Communications |
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Our mission is to provide information and strategies
to business owners and managers for improvement
in the effectiveness of its business management
so that key objectives can be realized.
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Ted Hofmann
- Principal/Senior Consultant
John Morre - Principal/Senior Consultant
Linda Panichelli - Principal/Senior Tax
Consultant
CFO Plus, LLC
1450 Grant Avenue, Suite 102
Novato, CA 94945-3142 |
Home Office |
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415-898-7879 |
Toll
Free |
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866-CFO-PLUS
or 866-236-7587 |
Fax |
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415-456-9382 |
Email |
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thofmann@cfoplus.net
jmorre@cfoplus.net
lpanichelli@cfoplus.net
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Website |
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www.cfoplus.net
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If
you played the "telephone game" when
you were a child, you probably recall the hilarity
when one friend repeated another friend's story
incorrectly until you got to the
end of the line and the story was completely jumbled.
While children may be playing the telephone game
in 2003, they're more than likely online playing
with instant messaging a similar experience,
but one that is much, much more sophisticated
and falls into the electronic communications arena.
Worldwide, it is estimated that there are more
than 605 million online users as of fall 2002,
with 182 million in the United States and Canada.
With these numbers continuing to grow each year,
who would have predicted the revolution that took
place over the last several years with respect
to the way we can instantly communicate across
the globe?
Performance is measured in a number of ways within
today's business environment. Certainly, specific
tools like employee reviews are one way to relate
performance to productivity, while tracking bottom-line
revenue producers is another way. Going on the
theory that communications is king and email is
standard in today's business marketplace, companies
that adopt and use a standardized approach to
enhancing performance through electronic communications
are the ones who will excel.
Why? Although email is a tool, it often is not
thought of as a productivity enhancer, but rather,
a means to ask a question and receive an answer
or at the very basic, a way to communicate.
Two, statistics prove that any time a business
standardizes its processes, it undoubtedly becomes
more efficient because the business now has a
way to measure its processes and evaluate effectiveness.
Just take a look at how productivity increases
once a company ensures all of its computers are
running on the same operating systems and same
platforms.
Here are a few ways you can use electronic communications
to achieve a spike in productivity.
Manage
Email Messaging
It's easy to set your browser or contact management
program to receive email every 10 minutes, but
is that really efficient? You can liken an email
message to a ringing phone or even a knock on
the door … this is an interruption that can be
annoying and frustrating at the same time.
A better idea would be to put some controls on
how often you will read your email. As humans,
we are programmed to respond when someone calls
our name, so when you receive an email, the first
task you think you want to do is answer the message.
Instead, arrange your day so you only read email
two or perhaps three times daily. Although this
might seem preposterous at first, actually carving
out that time will make you more productive to
get the rest of your work done. Providing email
time limitations or parameters also sends a message
to your team - that they should focus on something
else besides email (hopefully, making the company
more money).
If you find it unrealistic to set what you might
think are rigid controls, then do what's best
for you and your own productivity. In addition,
you might be waiting for an all-important email
with a signed contract or something else that
is time sensitive. In these cases, by all means,
check your email more often.
Study
Your Software - Submit Comments
Although we all use standard software suites to
do work, how much do you know about your word
processing, contact management and other programs?
Would it help to know just a bit more to become
truly productive?
Of course, something like this can't be learned
overnight; you could read books, manuals, take
online courses or even attend public seminars.
But who has the time?
One solution is to pool your company resources
by asking your staff to submit one to two time-saving
comments a week, then compile those comments into
a weekly email to the entire staff. Sure, you're
going to get some repetitious advice, but you're
also likely to get handy tips on how to handle
seemingly routine tasks all for a few minutes
of each person's time.
In compiling comments, be sure to include everyone's
advice, even if something might seem too basic
or even too complicated. Be sure you don't want
to leave anyone out that wants to contribute because
you never know how many people may be struggling
with the same challenges.
The person responsible for compiling these gems
of wisdom also might think about using a spreadsheet
approach or some other way to segment ideas into
topics by function or action. For example, all
word processing tasks can be housed on its own
spreadsheet or file, while tasks on how to mail
merge might be found in another file. Ask the
staff for ideas on how to categorize comments
again, you'll get their buy-in and probably
get a volunteer to raise his or her hand to do
the work!
Monitor
Email While Absent
Nothing's worse than being on vacation or out
of the office traveling (without access to email)
only to come back with hundreds of email messages
many more than anyone could possibly handle
in one work day. Instead of coming back to this
debacle, assign someone in your office to check
your email while you're out. Although some might
look at this as an invasion of privacy, think
about how much more productive you will be knowing
you won't come back to an email message that should
be been handled three days ago. Ever notice how
when you take off for two weeks of vacation, you
have much less work to do than if you took a long
weekend with just two days of vacation? The same
principle applies.
Think Productive!
These are just three ways to increase productivity
through electronic communications. Think about
other ways you can help the cause and begin managing
communications before it manages you. Contact
us for other ways we can enhance your company's
performance. Our goal is to make your company
better.
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The Business
Plan That Always Works
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Our mission is to provide information and strategies
to business owners and managers for improvement
in the effectiveness of its business management
so that key objectives can be realized.
|
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Ted Hofmann
- Principal/Senior Consultant
John Morre - Principal/Senior Consultant
Linda Panichelli - Principal/Senior Tax
Consultant
CFO Plus, LLC
1450 Grant Avenue, Suite 102
Novato, CA 94945-3142 |
Home Office |
: |
415-898-7879 |
Toll
Free |
: |
866-CFO-PLUS
or 866-236-7587 |
Fax |
: |
415-456-9382 |
Email |
: |
thofmann@cfoplus.net
jmorre@cfoplus.net
lpanichelli@cfoplus.net
|
Website |
: |
www.cfoplus.net
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By
Michael E. Gerber
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Yes,
believe it or not, there is such a plan.
And
believe it or not, you're going to learn how to
create such a plan, your plan, in the next few
moments.
Now
for those of you who believe deep down in the
recesses of your cynically-disposed hearts that
there can't possibly be anything that always worksespecially
a plan-the following is going to be a bit of a
stretch for you. But hang in with me here. The
Business Plan That Always Works is so devilishly
simple and straightforward, you'll wonder why
you didn't see it before.
You
see, that's the beauty of it, this Business Plan
That Always Works. It's so very simple. And that's
probably the primary reason it always works. The
Business Plan That Always Works is so simple that
anyone who understands it can do it…which is to
say, that if you can't do a plan easily, there's
no point in planning. Despite what you've learned
over the years, planning is only hard when it's
done the wrong way. And to do a plan easily requires
that you approach the whole subject of planning
in a completely different way than you're accustomed
to. But I'm getting ahead of my story.
The
Business Plan That Always Works is built upon
one Fundamental Principle that all the plans that
never work fail to understand.
(When
I say "all the plans that never work,"
I'm referring to the kind of planning you're accustomed
to doing-if you do any planning at all- the kind
of planning that doesn't work, has never worked,
will never work, the kind of planning every single
professional you know who's trying to plan is
attempting to do even as we speak despite the
little-discussed-and-depressing fact that not
one of their best laid plans will ever make one
difference in their lives at all other than to
unnecessarily frustrate, infuriate and intimidate
them, while keeping them busy- uselessly and unproductively-
for hours upon end!) You know the kind of plans
I'm talking about here. The kind of plans that
create gobs of guilt because you don't keep them?
The kind of plans that create enormous bouts of
self-loathing because you never fulfill them?
The kind of plans you make with great effort and
tedium, only to find yourself later on doing something
completely different than you had planned to do
and wondering how you got there from where you
began?
But
let's get back to that one Fundamental Principle
I'm talking about that differentiates The Business
Plan That Always Works from every other plan that
doesn't.
I
call this Fundamental Principle, the Heart-Centered
Principle of Planning.
(Now,
bear with me here. I know this could begin to
test your hidebound impatience. You're an entrepreneur
after all. World-wise and world-weary. You've
seen everything, done everything, been beaten
up by everything. You know with every close-to-cynical
breath you breathe that language used capriciously
can be a dangerous thing. After all, don't you
do that for a living: use language to produce
results? Well, of course you do. Don't we all?
And it can get us all into serious trouble. But
despite that, bear with me anyway. This path I'm
leading us down is a path no one has ever taken
you down before. And it's not capricious. It's
deadly earnest. And because of that it can get
a little sticky in moments. It can test your patience
in moments. It can put me into question in your
mind in moments. Despite all that, and despite
your natural reservations, let's proceed a few
steps further and I believe you'll truly begin
to relish this thing we're going to do together,
this thing I call The Business Plan That Always
Works.)
The
Heart-Centered Plan is so distinctly different
from its opposite, The Head- Centered Plan, that
it's important to define the distinctions carefully.
There
are Seven Essential Rules of Heart-Centered Planning,
of creating The Business Plan That Always Works
for you.
These
seven rules are:
Rule One
The first rule says that Heart-Centered Planning
begins and ends with a feeling, while Head-Centered
Planning begins and ends with a thought. To understand
this rule, it is critical that you know the difference
between a thought and a feeling. Most people don't.
(Don't laugh, they really don't.) Most people
often confuse their thoughts with their feelings
and their feelings with their thoughts. How do
you know the difference between a thought and
a feeling? A feeling resides inside your body;
a thought resides inside your head. Let me say
that again so that it sinks in. A feeling resides
inside your body, while a thought resides inside
your head. Most of what you're doing right now
as you read this article is a thought which is
going to turn into a feeling, rather than a feeling
which is going to turn into a thought. Heart-Centered
Planning starts with a feeling, turns into a thought,
and ends with a feeling. Head-Centered Planning
begins with a thought, turns into a feeling, and
ends with a thought. The rule here is that any
plan that ends up in your head is a thought, and,
because of that, won't work. The Business Plan
That Always Works is dominated by your feelings,
not by your thoughts. And because of that, it
is propelled forward because you want it to work,
as the expression says, with all your heart. The
point I'm making here is that despite everything
you've been taught to the contrary, cerebral motivation
has no momentum of its own. Thoughts die cold
and lonely. A plan which describes the future,
with no heart, is a plan destined to fail. The
Business Plan That Always Works therefore, is
a plan which begins and ends in your heart…which
means it's a living plan, not a dead one. Which
means that it possesses an enormous amount of
energy, which people describe as passion. And
we all know what passion can do when it's poured
into a personal cause. That's what The Business
Plan That Always Works is, after all, a personal
cause filled with passion.
Rule Two
Because Heart-Centered Planning begins and ends
in your heart, rule number two says that The Business
Plan That Always Works must be your plan and no
one else's. It must begin with you and end with
you. It must be your plan. Any plan created by
someone else on your behalf will absolutely never
work because it simply isn't your plan. And no
matter how hard you try to implement someone else's
plan, no matter how hard you work at it, even
if you succeed at fulfilling its objectives, you
will ultimately feel like you failed. Winning
with someone else's plan is always "felt"
as losing. In short, The Business Plan That Always
Works is always the product of the person who
is following the plan, original to him or her,
personal to the max, born in the heart, and because
of that, very, very private. Rule Number Two says,
"Don't go outside of yourself for your plan
because you can't find it there."
Rule Three
The way to know what your heart wants is stop
thinking about it. To discover your plan, stop
thinking about it. Pursue something else. Spend
a day, two days, a week, it doesn't matter how
long, only that it accomplishes this objective,
that you spend free time doing something you truly
love to do, that you don't ordinarily do because
you can't afford the time or the money to do it.
Skiing. Boating. Fishing. Dreaming. Hiking. Running.
It doesn't matter what it is; for every one of
us it's different, but it does matter that you
know what it is. The truth is we, all of us, spend
very little time truly loving what we do or doing
what we love. We spend most of our time instead
wishing that what we are doing could be more fulfilling.
The reason for this is that we are mostly disconnected
from our hearts, and spend the preponderance of
our time instead actively pursuing thoughts about
what we would be doing if we were happy, than
experiencing what it means to be joyful in our
hearts in the moment. So, to create The Business
Plan That Always Works calls for us to experience,
as fully as possible, the end product of an exciting
plan which is the experience of joy which your
plan must create for you in order for it to work
for you. And to experience that joy requires that
we spend more time before we create our plan,
tasting the emotional fruits of it.
Rule Four
Most people think of a business plan as a series
of benchmarks, or objectives. There is that kind
of plan, but that's not what I'm talking about
here. A series of benchmarks or objectives delineate
actions to be taken in a progressively completed
process, but they fail to provide the inner motivation
essential for a plan to become a realization.
While the steps must be identified before anything
can be done purposively, the essence of The Business
Plan That Always Works is always able to be summarized
in a brief, declarative statement which always
beings with "I Want…," and always ends
with an experience of having moved forward from
where you are…and can be demonstrated by your
new ability to do something you love to do more
often than you're able to do it now. For example,
"I want to be able to spend eight days white
water rafting in Montana on the…, etc., etc."
Note that the objective here is not something
to have, but something to experience. To feel
yourself experiencing something you love before
you actually experience it is tantamount to experiencing
it. Experiencing the experience is core to the
successful realization of The Business Plan That
Always Works because it distracts you from your
head where thoughts reside and puts you squarely
in your body where feelings reside. Put another
way, the experience at the beginning of the plan,
tied to the experience at the end of the plan
creates an emotional bridge for you to cross.
Without that emotional bridge, most of us find
ourselves sweating around among the stones, boulders
and mud beneath the bridge, completely oblivious
to the fact that the bridge even exists!
Rule Five
Having created an emotionally exciting picture
of what you want, it is critical that you create
a series of Frames of Reference within which you
achieve it over a specific amount of time. A Frame
of Reference is like a landing reached on your
way up a mountain. It enables you to taste the
climb, while resting with a look back and a look
forward. Anyone who has ever done this (and we
all have to some degree or another) knows the
personal inner joy that comes from resting on
the way forward, while getting a clear sense of
where we've come from and a new picture of where
we're going. As a boy, I used to go to Yosemite
with my parents, and we would climb for a few
hours at a time up the long, sloping trail of
one mountain or another, where we would stop from
time to time and sit on granite boulders by the
side of the trail, look out over the valley, taste
the cool fresh air, and listen to the waterfalls
off in the distance. There has been very little
I've experienced in my life that is permeated
by such sweetness as those experiences…those climbs
and stops. Those moments of looking back and looking
forward. Those sweet, lazy moments in which our
plan was in the process of being realized while
being realized, all at the very same moment. The
Business Plan That Always Works must allow for
those precious, sweet moments, those continuous
Frames of Reference, because without them there
is just the incessant climbing, the reaching for
the top, the obsession that comes from an impatient
thought, the drive to reach a conclusion. Most
plans are like that. They drive us, but they don't
renew us. They compel us, but they don't reward
us. Such plans may move us forward, but every
part of our body ends up resisting the movement
even while obeying its dictate. This is the planning
of "you should," and "you'd better,"
rather than the planning which comes from an inner
desire, a taste of freedom, a wish for renewal.
Rule Six
Rule number six says that the plans we create
reflect the life we live rather than the life
we want to live. This may seem like the opposite
of everything I've been saying up to now, but
in fact it is not. The truth is that one cannot
plan to be someone one isn't. One cannot create
a plan one is unable to implement. One cannot
imagine becoming someone one isn't. One cannot
love what one cannot experience loving. And so
rule number six states that in order to create
The Business Plan That Always Works, we must be
passionately interested in who we really are and
what it is that really moves us. To do this then,
we must every day ask ourselves this question,
"Who am I?-and then answer it! The fascinating
thing about creating The Business Plan That Always
Works is that it calls for us to go inside more
deeply than outside as we would imagine. This
planning has to do more with who we are than who
we are going to become. The fact is that anyone
who has done this work, that is, pursued their
inner reality with a passion, has discovered that
in the process of becoming more who we truly are,
we discover what we want. And in that discovery,
our plan becomes self-evident. "Oh, so that's
what I want," this experience says. Or, put
another way, "Oh, so that's who I really
am." Rule number six says that we must do
this thing over and over and over again until
it's a permanent fixture in our lives. Only then
will the Business Plan That Always Works become
self-evident.
Rule Seven
Rule number seven says that until we are able
to do rules number one through six with ease,
anything we do which closely resembles them is
better than anything which doesn't. In short,
rule number seven is a mantra which says, "Follow
your heart, or your head will destroy you."
The most productive business planning is not thinking
about ends; it's about experiencing means. It's
not about the objective; it's about the process.
It's not about getting things; it's about becoming
more human. It's not about winning or losing;
it's about sitting on the edge of the mountain
on the way up, neither going forward nor going
backward, to savor the intensely sweet joy of
the moment. It's not about pushing yourself, but
about experiencing yourself. And, as a business
owner, this is as true for your clients as it
is for you. Which is to say that if you are unable
to understand this truth I'm sharing with you,
you will be equally unable to differentiate yourself
in the heart of your clients from all those other
pushing, striving, dying-to-get-there competitors
all around you. And isn't that what The Business
Plan That Always Works for an entrepreneur is
essentially all about? To put you into a truer,
more meaningful relationship with your clients?
And to do that, can you see that you must first
be in a true relationship with yourself? The Business
Plan That Always Works will put you there every
single time. Who could ask for anything else?
Michael
Gerber is chairman and founder of E-Myth Worldwide.
He reminds you that the opportunity is to go to
work ON your life not IN it, and in the process
to experience the sweet, radiant, extraordinary
joy of the fully-lived moment. His Web site is
www.emyth.com.
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Our mission is to provide information and strategies
to business owners and managers for improvement
in the effectiveness of its business management
so that key objectives can be realized.
|
|
Ted Hofmann
- Principal/Senior Consultant
John Morre - Principal/Senior Consultant
Linda Panichelli - Principal/Senior Tax Consultant
CFO Plus, LLC
1450 Grant Avenue, Suite 102
Novato, CA 94945-3142 |
Home Office |
: |
415-898-7879 |
Toll
Free |
: |
866-CFO-PLUS
or 866-236-7587 |
Fax |
: |
415-456-9382 |
Email |
: |
thofmann@cfoplus.net
jmorre@cfoplus.net
lpanichelli@cfoplus.net
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Website |
: |
www.cfoplus.net
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Identity
Theft Not What You Expect
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Not
too long ago, I traded in my carefree apartment
living lifestyle for a mortgage in the burbs.
Just as the United States Post Office recommends,
my husband and I filled out our change of address
cards and promptly put them in the mail two weeks
before our move. After all, we had almost 30 days
between residences to ensure all the mail flowed
in the right direction. With all the free credit
card offers we receive on almost a daily basis,
we wanted to be sure all our mail safely reached
our new home.
So,
after doing everything by the book, imagine our
surprise when our account was drained by thousands
of dollars. We didn't realize it until we received
our first bank statement no signs
of forced entry were abound to alert us otherwise.
Shortly thereafter, we learned that the bank's
automated system, which we were told updates our
new address for our checks, sent 400 checks to
our old address. Apparently, the new occupants
were having a field day with our checks.
That
was more than a year and a half ago and the culprits
are still writing on the account. The irony of
this story is we meticulously shred documents,
we cancel credit cards on a schedule, we've even
written about identity theft. How could this happen
to us?
As
they say, it's the little things that count. Simple
items like double checking with the check printing
company to ensure they have the correct address.
And other things like not including personal information,
such as driver's license numbers or social security
numbers, on checks. Since then, the thieves have
obtained fake IDs in both our names
luckily we didn't have our real numbers imprinted
on the checks! The police officer assigned to
our case told us that, most likely, once these
individuals blow through our checks, they will
start counterfeiting check stock with our information.
Great.
Meanwhile,
we continue to send affidavits of fraud to every
check security company that notifies us of yet
another one of these gems. The attorneys for these
companies tell us we may be doing this for years.
Don't
be a victim of identity theft this
is a billion dollar industry for criminals and
it robs you of much more than productivity and
performance on the job. Follow these 10 guidelines
to keep an eye on what belongs to you.
- Guard your name and identification like
they are gold. Everyone from estranged spouses
to roommates can use your good credit and identity
by having just a few pieces of relevant information,
such as a driver's license number, social security
number or credit card accounts. They use tactics
such as stealing wallets, digging through your
trash and stealing your mail to obtain access
to your information. These shrewd criminals
commonly change your address to a post office
box so they can intercept mail.
- Know where your information is and manage
it. Identity thieves can gain access to
your vital credit information legally at the
local courthouse if you are recently divorced
and your filings contained credit card or social
security numbers or other personal information.
Take care to keep your information out of easy-access
areas.
- Guard company data. Many credit card
offenders steal identities by securing a position
within a company where he or she has access
to employee databases. One recent case proved
that identify theft was as simple as saving
a company's employee roster, including social
security numbers, to a disk and walking away.
Put security systems in place to guard employee
identities in your company. Fine-tuned internal
controls can greatly reduce the chance of this
happening.
- Put up your guard. Use your work phone
number or cell phone number on your checks instead
of your home phone. If you have a post office
box, use that instead of your home address,
if you do not have a post office box, use your
work address, if permitted. Never imprint your
social security or driver's license number on
your checks - you can add it if it is necessary,
but know that in many retail situations, it
is your right to deny this information.
- Plan for the worst. Place the contents
of your wallet on a photocopy machine; include
both sides of each license, credit card, etc.
This provides a record of what is in your wallet
in the case of theft or loss. You will have
all account numbers and phone numbers to call
and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place.
- Leave home without it. Unless you are
going for your first day of employment or need
to get a duplicate birth certificate, the chances
of actually needing your social security card
are slim to none. Better to leave this at home
in a safe place until you really need it. This
is one card you don't want to fall in the wrong
hands.
- Fax anyone? The health industry is
making it easier to steal a social security
number. Often, the primary card holder's social
security number is the member number. While
it doesn't make sense to forgo carrying your
card, you can fax your new doctor ahead of time
and carry a photocopy of your card with the
number blacked out - just in case of emergency.
The real card can stay at home with your social
security card.
- Check in often. The best strategy is
a proactive one. Many options are available
to check your credit report often to ensure
there isn't any fraudulent activity on your
account. One gentleman found that thieves opened
more than 40 accounts before he found out about
it.
- Just say no. If you have great credit,
chances are you get a LOT of those preapproved
credit card offers in the mail. To stop these
from filling your mailbox, simply contact the
company and ask that they not contact you through
the mail. Many companies contact current clients
through email or phone calls. You always have
a choice, so feel free to say, "no!"
- It happened…now what? File a police
report immediately in the jurisdiction where
it was stolen, this proves to credit providers
you were diligent, and is a first step toward
an investigation (if there ever is one). Call
the three national credit reporting organizations
immediately to place a fraud alert on your name
and Social Security number. The numbers are:
Equifax: 1-800-525-6285 Experian (formerly TRW):
1-888-397-3742 Trans Union: 1-800-680-7289 Social
Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-0271.
While
we hope you never have to endure the agony of
having your identity stolen. This is a growing
crime against our currency-shy country. To learn
more about how to protect your good name, visit
www.consumer.gov/idtheft.
This site offers forms and step-by-step instructions
on how to handle identity theft.
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Our mission is to provide information and strategies
to business owners and managers for improvement
in the effectiveness of its business management
so that key objectives can be realized.
|
|
Ted Hofmann
- Principal/Senior Consultant
John Morre - Principal/Senior Consultant
Linda Panichelli - Principal/Senior Tax Consultant
CFO Plus, LLC
1450 Grant Avenue, Suite 102
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By
Michael E. Duffy |
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There's
a recession going on, at least where I sit, and
my primary concern these days is drumming up new
business. I figure I'm not alone, and so I really
ought to apply my expertise (technology) to the
problem of staying alive in tough times.
General Comment: Accelerate!
If your business is fortunate enough to have entered
the recession (I can use the R-word now, it's
official) with a strong balance sheet, a lean
workforce, and solid sales, now is the best time
to accelerate away from your competition. Right
now, it's dramatically cheaper to make improvements
to your business: the cost of capital is lower,
suppliers are more willing to make price concessions,
and qualified people are looking for work. And
your competition is less able to match your investment
in the future.
Getting Your Customers to Pay Faster
Every smart businessman knows exactly how long
it takes his customers to pay their bills. And
when times are tight, companies "manage their
payables," delaying payments as long as possible.
If you are a QuickBooks user, you can e-mail invoices
directly from QuickBooks, and get paid online,
either by credit card or direct transfer (see
QuickBooks Online Billing at www.quickbooks.com).
And in keeping with my last column, this service
also allows customers instant access to their
invoice and payment history on-line, which may
cut down on the number of calls your bookkeeper
needs to handle.
New Products and Services
Unfortunately, I don't know what business you're
in, making it hard to write down specifics. But,
think about a product or service for which your
current customers would gladly pay, a "point
of pain," if you will. What are the obstacles
to delivering that product or service? Clever
application of technology may allow you to satisfy
your client's previously-impractical needs. Remember,
technology doesn't have to be the product. Think
it can't be done? A small brainstorming group
consisting of you, your sales people, a trusted
client or two, and a technology expert may show
otherwise.
As long as I'm talking about the needs of your
current customers, I strongly encourage technology,
specifically email, as a way to stay in touch.
Do you have an email contact for each CEO or owner
with whom you do business? You should! Existing
customers are the best source of business, and
a monthly email newsletter with truly useful information
(case studies, application notes, new products,
incentives - but please, skip the sales hype)
is an easy, cost-effective way to stay on their
minds.
I would suggest, as a modest goal for this year,
investing in the ability to notify each of your
customers of important news simply by sending
an email. Why? Because communicating with your
customers is the lifeblood of your business, and
presently, it's an expensive proposition (unless
you have only a handful of customers).
Are there still some Luddites on your client list
who don't have email? It's easy enough to add
an email-to-fax "gateway" which causes
email to be automatically translated and sent
to a customer's fax machine. This removes the
aggravation of two separate delivery methods.
New Customers
We'd all like a machine that we could plug into
our phone, which would cause the phone to ring
with orders from new customers (preferably with
a dial on the front, to adjust the rate!).
I don't have such a machine, but I do know that
potential customers need to be able to find you
(and what you have to offer them). More and more,
people research business decisions via the Internet.
Are you visible? And if you are, are you more
visible (and informative) than your competitors?
Ask yourself these questions:
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If
someone knows my company name, can they find
us on-line (even if it's just to get our telephone
number)? |
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If
someone wanted our product/service, but didn't
know our name, what would they be looking
for? |
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If
there's an on-line directory for our industry,
are we listed in it? |
Try it for yourself. Are you happy with the
results?
The Internet can also be a way to identify potential
customers. Try searching for your product on-line
(e.g. "high-density polyethylene wrap").
You'll see two kinds of results: people who sell
that product (who may have client lists for you
to review), and people who are using that product
(potential customers). Don't forget to search
for problems ("keeping drinks hot")
as well as solutions ("Styrofoam™ cups")
- your customers think in terms of their problem,
not your solution.
Do your customers fall into a well-defined category?
You may be able to reach them by advertising in
targeted on-line media ("ezines"). Surveying
your customers about their on-line reading habits
will help you make this choice. The costs are
low enough that it's a worthwhile experiment.
Think Like The Big Guys
Right now, the big guys are focused on supply-chain
management. In other words, they are trying to
reduce costs at every step in the chain from raw
materials to the product in a customer's hands.
The best-known example is Dell Computer, which
builds computers to order on a grand scale. They
know exactly what parts need to be ordered, and
when (reducing inventory costs). Parts orders
are placed automatically with their suppliers
as finished-goods orders are placed (reducing
purchasing costs). Dell receives payment when
they ship (via credit-card, typically), and pay
their suppliers on terms, which has a dramatic
positive effect on their cash-flow.
Do you have to monitor inventory levels and place
calls to suppliers manually? This takes time,
and (when done incorrectly) ties up your cash.
Technology is available to help deal with this
problem, and better still, your supplier may already
have it. For example, medical and dental supply
houses provide physicians and dentists with automated
management of their supplies.
Don't forget this important fact: chances are,
someone has already encountered the problem you're
facing, and, if technology offers a good solution
to that problem, built the technology you need.
The Internet makes it easier to search out people
who've already solved your problem.
Reduce Costs
Reducing cost is on everyone’s mind. Take a business
magazine faced with the challenge of turning out
their annual Top Companies listing. As
you might imagine, it’s a time-consuming exercise
in data-gathering. Rather than apply brute force,
this magazine made it possible for
companies to update their information via an on-line
form. Moreover, this magazine can target each
company or professional with an email
containing a link to the secure form, pre-filled
with their data. So most people simply receive
an email, click on the link, and are done. The
net
result is more accurate and information from more
companies, and less cost to produce than any previous
list.
The key ingredients here? A time-consuming
repetitive process, a database of information, an
add-on to the database which can send
individualized emails, and a little bit of Web
programming expertise to handle the form. The idea
for you? Look at your business activities to
identify repetitive activities – they are the best
candidates for cost reduction via technology. And
note again the use of email to contact a large
group efficiently.
No Free Lunch
None of the above ideas is without cost, and when
business is slow, it's hard to think about investing
in technology. But prudent choices now will really
pay off as business recovers in the coming months.
Contact your performance measurement specialist
to see how you can improve your company's processes
to improve profitability.
Michael Duffy writes the monthly technology
column, Tech Talk, for North Bay Biz Magazine
(http://www.NorthBayBiz.com). His Web site
URL is www.mikeduffy.com. © 2002 Michael
E. Duffy & Associates. Reprinted with permission.
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Are Your Salespeople
Hunters or Farmers?
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Our mission is to provide information and strategies
to business owners and managers for improvement
in the effectiveness of its business management
so that key objectives can be realized.
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Ted Hofmann
- Principal/Senior Consultant
John Morre - Principal/Senior Consultant
Linda Panichelli - Principal/Senior Tax
Consultant
CFO Plus, LLC
1450 Grant Avenue, Suite 102
Novato, CA 94945-3142 |
Home Office |
: |
415-898-7879 |
Toll
Free |
: |
866-CFO-PLUS
or 866-236-7587 |
Fax |
: |
415-456-9382 |
Email |
: |
thofmann@cfoplus.net
jmorre@cfoplus.net
lpanichelli@cfoplus.net
|
Website |
: |
www.cfoplus.net
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I
recently read a quote from the great salesman
Sid Friedman who stated, "The harder I worked,
the luckier I got." I have never met a top
producer, a hunter, who didn't have this statement
as part of their sales DNA, while the farmers
sit around, hoping to take orders and wonder how
the hunters get so lucky. One word prospecting!
Where
have all the sales gone? is the preeminent question
that reigns in the corporate sales world as well
as with the professional rainmaker. Remember a
time when the phone would ring off the hook? Times
where good, everyone was making money and in full
swing of the longest running economic expansion
in US history where even the average salesperson
looked like a star. Poof! The world's turned upside
down with the collapse of the dotcom's and the
spiraling fall from grace of Enron, Tyco and others.
Ok,
so what does an economic collapse have to do with
sales? I began surveying corporate sales chiefs,
business owners and management committees of professional
service firms in the quest to understand what
their biggest challenge in hitting their revenue
goals for 2003 are. Most answered that their people
had forgotten how to sell, or more to the point,
they had forgotten how to prospect. In short,
they were no longer hunters of new business; they
were farmers. Networking had become a social event
where salespeople and professionals hung-out to
congratulate themselves on landing the big account.
Salespeople now commiserate at networking events,
desperately clinging to the ill-fated paradigm
of waiting for the customer to call.
The
economic expansion of the last decade allowed
many hunters to rest on their laurels. These old
hunters became complacent and bad habits took
over where good habits once dominated. These new
habits made farmers of the modern day salesperson.
Now, they wait for the phone to ring and when
they don't hit their numbers they use the economy
as an excuse. I've heard it all from, budgets
are tight to non-existent and the customers don't
have any money to buy our products. What's funny
is that these are internal sales objections from
the sales people we're paying to sell for us.
Guess what? Many of them haven't figured out a
way to overcome their own objections. Isn't that
what sales professionals do, overcome objections
to discover the real needs of the prospect? They
need to be a bit more introspective to discover
the buying motives that will transform them from
farmer to the all-capable hunter who understands
that they must perform or starve.
I
understand that it's tough out there and that
salespeople are mentally expecting revenue shortfalls.
This goes back to goal setting 101, keep your
mind on what you want to appear. Let's face it,
the salesperson of 2003 is a farmer, not a hunter,
and he or she only knows one way to farm. I realize
this comment will stir some emotions, but it's
true. I've talk to hundreds of sales people who
have rolled up their tent and blamed management
for not doing the things necessary to help them
in the tough times. However, there are a few shinning
stars out there. I recently spoke to a sales person
who grew his territory 1200 percent last year
in a highly competitive industry segment, where
the rest of the industry was down and others who
have been able to win new business like him. What's
his secret? The rollout of a new product? Extended
product financing with a discounted interest rate?
Giving the product away - FREE? NO! The secret
is not really a secret at all, they haven't bought
into the thought of doom and gloom, his team is
comprised of hunters who've figured out a way
to do well through successful prospecting.
I
happened to walk into the office of an international
company in a highly competitive industry to visit
one of these top performers and noticed his associates
sitting around and talking, I'm escorted back
to Phil's [not his real name] office, and there
he sat wrapping up a call. The first thing you
notice when you walk in is the absence of pictures
on the walls, he looks up and says, "yea
it's kinda empty in here, I keep it that way to
remind me that I am here to work. I do not want
an office that's too comfortable." Once again,
he reminds me, "I'm here to work." I
smiled.
We
had a great talk, one that I often hear from a
two-percenter, a hunter. I asked him about the
call he just made and he told me that he was in
the process of calling 300 executives that worked
for PROSPECT Corp. I asked, how long will that
take you? "I've planned about four or five
days", he smiled and continues saying that
he really wants to land this account. I smiled
too, you see Phil is a national accounts manager,
he is not some rookie dialing for dollars, he
has the fire in his belly to sell, a hunter who
realizes that if he doesn't hunt, he will starve.
Phil is a dream for every sales manager on the
planet, selling $750,000 in new business in 2002
when everyone else had mentally taken the year
off.
Remember,
the phone won't ring today or tomorrow. There
is no one to blame but yourself if you fail to
meet quota. Today, to be successful in sales,
you must dig down inside and rebuild the hunter
mentality, the instinct for survival. Clients
will not come to you, you as a sales professional,
must make the effort of dialing the phone or knocking
on doors. In the challenge economy it's about
the numbers.
I
remember having dinner with the great Tom Hopkins
(internationally known speaker, sales trainer
and author) a number of years ago, I had just
been awarded "Salesperson of the Year"
and I was feeling pretty invincible. During dinner,
Tom wrote something on a piece of paper and handed
it to me, saying that the secret of all top performers
is written on the paper. It simply read, GOYA.
I glanced back at Tom with a puzzled look, and
asked what did it mean? He smiled and said, "Get
Off You're A…" No matter how effective all
of the other sales models are, all the marketing
your company does, none will help you hit your
revenue goals if you don't apply the GOYA model.
By the way, I still have the note!
Keep
the end in mind, and know your outcome. If you
stay focused on outcomes, you will begin to understand
what it will take to create the win. It could
mean going out and learning a new skill or it
could simply mean applying the GOYA model with
a positive attitude. The decision is yours and
only you have the secret to unlock your success
in 2003!
Joe
Heller, a.k.a. The Sales Samurai, is an accomplished
sales professional and hunter. Contact him at
www.salessamurai.com
or 713.461.0982. If you would like the return
on investment (ROI) metrics for improved prospecting,
send us an email at info@joeheller.com with "Prospecting
Metrics" in the subject line.
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