Because of the current economy...

I have to be honest; I’m getting a little tired of hearing “because of the current economy…”  I’ve even heard myself saying it on a few occasions and don’t like the taste of it one bit. Ok, the economy sucks compared to other times in our history. Keep in mind that it’s not so bad compared to others.

This whole economy thing should teach us one very big lesson – in my humble opinion: It’s up to each one of us to turn it around with innovative solutions and hard work. Yes, I said it – hard work. I refuse to believe that Americans are lazy; complacent – maybe. This is my call to myself: I refuse to be comfortable with status-quo and will do whatever it takes to rise above my own limiting thoughts.

Here are three key things I face moving forward in this new economy full of opportunity and how I’m handling them . . .

Sales: For the first time in a very long time I have to be the sales-guy that brings business to my practice. I have one word for how I felt about being that guy – Yuck! That is until I allowed myself to lean on concepts (thanks to a friend and family member) that I learned a long time ago about the kind of sales-guy I can be. I don’t have to use trickery and slick sales techniques. I just need to be me; be honest; and let people know I exist and really frickin’ love what I do!

Conversation Tracking: Since I’m doing most of the leg work myself for my consulting practice I need a really easy way to track the conversations I have, attach related documents, and store customer and potential customer information. That’s were CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software comes into play. The best advice I can give here is – go to the cloud my friend. There are so many products on the market that can do everything you need.  Choose the right one and you can even customize it to meet your specific needs.

Website and Social: KISS. Yup, the old concept spill holds water – Keep It Simple Silly. I have a very simple website that is clean and easy to navigate. No bells and whistles for me; I want people to come to my site; browse around reading just a few quick lines here and there; and get an idea of what I do and who I am. When it comes to social – well, I’m figuring it out with the rest of you. I can tell you that the free resources (some kind of salesy) on many of the LinkedIn marketing groups have given me ideas that I would have never thought of myself.

BTW: There’s nothing wrong with bells and whistles on your website. The question you have to ask is how those bells and whistles will add value to your potential clients visit.

What are you doing in this new market full of opportunity to start or grow your business? 

A few thoughts on online CRM solutions

I have used many CRM solutions and spent many hours researching and testing solutions for some of my customers. I have found that there are a few options that work really well depending on what you're looking for.

Salesforce.com:

The Good: This is an excellent CRM and sales management tool. The level of customization that can be done is more than sufficient and the fact that it's an industry standard means there's plenty of help out there for it. The layout and most of the functionality is straight forward and easy to jump in and start using it right away.

The Ugly: I have two problems with this product. First, the expense - it's probably one of the more expensive products available on a per user bases. Second, is the fact that several of the plug-ins are built for the most expensive model. Sure, you can get the group model which is not so expensive. However, the level of functionality is greatly decreased and makes the product not such a great choice.

Sugar:

The Good: It's open source! You can download it onto your own server and run the whole thing yourself. The level of customizing you can without code knowledge equals - in my opinion - that of Salesforce. Additionally, since you're running it on your own servers you have even greater flexibility. Last time I checked they also have paid plans. However, if you're tech savvy and want a free CRM this is probably the way to go.

The Ugly: It's Open source! The amount of time you'll end up putting into doing all the little technical stuff you need to do in order for it to work the way you want may very well make it more expensive than some of the paid products available. However, if you have a tech team in place to take care of it or you're a tech and love messing with stuff like this it's worth a go.

ZOHO CRM:

The Good: I just started using this one recently and have been pleasantly surprised. I'm able to do many of the customizations that I was able to do with Salesforce. Also, I have access to lots of functionality for only $12.00 a month per user. They also have a free version for 3 users that has some limitations. However, if you just want to give it a go that's the best way to get started.

The Ugly: I haven't found much ugly with this one yet. I will say that the new interface is so much better than the previous. One downfall of the free version is the inability to setup e-mail reminders on tasks. Now that I'm paying though I can do this and have found it to be an excellent tool. I'm still exploring this one and may have more ugly a few months down the road. However, I have been using it for about 4 months now and have really enjoyed its interface and functionality.

Hmm, I know I left it somewhere

For some reason I just can't seem to find it today. I've actually been looking for it over the last few days and have come up lacking each time. If only I could remember where I had it last that might help; then again - maybe not. It's that little thing called inspiration. The World English Dictionary describes it as ". . . special or unusual activity or creativity".

So, today I decided to spend a couple of hours on the tech news sites hoping it might be lurking in an interesting article. Sure, there were some interesting stories out there today.

Probably one of the more disturbing articles concerned a lawsuit against Absolute Software for capturing a couples sexy time via email and IM. It appears that a laptop with Absolute Software's LoJack was purchased by a teacher from a student. Little did she know that it was stolen and all jacked up and capturing her extra special communications. You can read more at http://bit.ly/n9jsUV.

Then there's the news that Groupon's traffic is down 50% and both Facebook and Yelp have decided to get out of the daily deal market all together. Some say this indicates the death of the daily deal and others think, not so much. Do a Google search on "Death of the daily deal" to find a bunch of articles. Here is one such article: http://cnnmon.ie/n6dRcs

Then there's the news about Windows 8 and how cool it's going to be and the re-launch of the 'Dead' HP tablet. Interesting maybe - inspiring; not really.

I'm still looking for my lost inspiration and am hopefull that I'll find it hiding somewhere nearby. Maybe I left it in my car only to be descovered on the way home. Only one way to find out . . .

Self directed effort is the best kind - by Seth Godin

I spend a little time each day reading posts from other bloggers. Doing this is a great way to get you thinking about things differently or to get you asking yourself questions that will ultimately lead to the brilliant ideas that make you a great entrepreneur. 


Today, I read a great article by Seth that really gets you thinking about self directed effort. So, where does your source of effort come from; is it an internal drive or external? Check out the article and let me know what you think. It's a quick read and a great way to get you thinking . . .


http://bit.ly/m34uvq


Do you have examples of an external motiviation that has become a crutch? Or, do you have an example of when your effort was self directed? I would love to get your feedback on this.

Conflicting Compromise

Sometimes I feel like we've built a world where everyone is telling everyone else what they want to hear. From the political correctness we so desperately hang onto, to the concept that the customer is always right. I want to tell you that the customer is almost always wrong. OK, before your heart jumps out of your chest from dismay – hear me out a little further. There is definitely a right way to treat people; whether they are family, friends, clients or even enemies. However, I think we cross a very dangerous line when everything that comes out of our mouth is exactly what the other person wants to hear.

I think of shows like Hell’s Kitchen or Kitchen Nightmares, both by the very friendly and always cordial Gordon Ramsey – ya right – and wonder how he gets away with being such a great guy all the time. The fact is, when he walks away from one of those business owners they absolutely love him. And, he shows a great deal of compassion for many of them. Now, I know that TV – even reality TV – isn’t necessarily real. And, we as business people could never – and should never – get away with the verbal beating he gives out on his shows. But there is something to be said about a person that is willing to tell it like it is.

I started thinking about all my past bosses or clients and the ones that I had the best relationships with. I remember one boss back when I was selling trees for a living (long time ago in a land far-far away; Florida). One day not long after I started he brought me into his office and started getting upset about a deal that went down. Imagine being a fresh-faced young man getting reamed by an Irish accent standing behind a large wooden desk – the kind that looks like they cut a tree in half and polished it. After several minutes of being berated by his words – some of them harsh – I realized that this was either going to end by me apologizing or arguing with my boss. Having noticed how he treated the other sales people in the office – not bad; just not with great respect – and how they interacted with him: I decided to give him an argument. After forty-five minutes of going back and forth he conceded to a few of my points and I conceded to a few of his.

Had we not had that confrontation there would have been no opportunity for compromise. Don’t get me wrong, while it did get heated at times I always talked to him with respect and any emotion of argument was not in that I had to be right; it was that I wanted to do a great job for this company and my customers. After working there for several years my family moved to a location that did not allow me to continue with the company. I remember him pulling me into his office on my final day to let me know that he held me in very high respect and that I was a great asset to him and the company. This, after several years of heated debates – which I later learned he very much loved.

If you’re going to tell people things they don’t want to hear there are a few very important things to remember . . .

One: Love thy customer; I can’t stress enough how important this is to a successful relationship that involves confrontation. If you don’t truly care about your customer they will sense it and every confrontation you have with them will translate as either you having to be right or getting your way somehow. The point of confrontation is to help them reach the full potential you know they have. When you truly care about your customer – talking to them and treating them with respect also comes more naturally.

Two: Know your audience; you need a clear understanding of how they see the world and how they want the world to interact with them. If they don’t like confrontation it doesn’t mean you don’t confront. It simply means you take it a little slower and find ways to confront that will allow them to hear you.

Three: Pick your battles; you’re not always right and you can always learn from your customers. Additionally, there are some bad habits or areas of disagreement with your customer that are not detrimental to what you’re trying to achieve together. You don’t want to spend a lifetime picking on the little stuff – it just won’t serve you.

Any time I take on a new client I first spend time getting to know them and asking a ton of questions. I don’t judge what they or the business is doing and I don’t pretend to understand why they do things the way they do. Honestly, I normally take a good month or so of just asking questions and listening to my customer before I start offering any kind of advice. Doing this allows me to really understand who they are and where they’re coming from. It also gives me time to build that very important relationship of trust and mutual respect.

Only after we have built that foundation will I start telling them things they don’t want to hear. My favorite clients are the ones that tell me they really didn’t want to hear what I was telling them but that hearing it was what helped them go from ok to great. Keep in mind the purpose of compromise through confrontation – it is to build a win-win situation.

Until next time, focus on what you know and keep doing a better job of what you love to do.

PS: I would love to hear your stories of effective confrontation and how you reached amazing compromises that resulted in win-win situations for you and your customers.

NOTE: I want to thank Seth Godin for his short and yet very inspirational blog post today: http://bit.ly/k51wYQ