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Day: January 21, 2019

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Leadership Marketing Personal Development

Is This the Best a Brand Can Get?

Gillette has caused quite a stir this week with the web ad they released to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their slogan “the Best A Man Can Get.”

The new “The Best Men Can Be,” campaign is intended to address such negative behavior as bullying, sexism, and “male toxicity,” and to encourage men in this #MeToo era to practice more positive behavior in order to be their best. The campaign includes $1 million a year donations to organizations like the Boys & Girls Clubs of America for the next three years.

The initial ad, called “We Believe,” focuses on negative behavior among men, and then says, “ We believe in the best in men: To say the right thing, to act the right way” because “the boys watching today will be the men of tomorrow.” Razors and blades are barely mentioned.

It’s a daring move. Some people think it’s great. Others hate it. Still others think it’s a nice try but poorly executed. Some are comparing it to the ads Nike ran featuring former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick for the 30th anniversary of the Nike slogan, Just Do It. Those ads led to some customers boycotting Nike products, but also resulted in a 30%+ year over year increase in online sales for Nike.

It’s too soon to know whether or not this campaign will pump up Gillette’s sales. But one thing is certain: People who haven’t thought about Gillette for years (or ever) are now talking about the brand.

In this industry, the razor is usually given away to sell the blades. Once a customer has Gillette’s razor, they’re hooked—switching costs are high. But today, there are more interesting and lower-cost offerings, like Dollar Shave Club and Harry’s, aimed at younger men. Millennials likely aren’t hooked on Gillette products and probably think about Gillette as the name on that stadium in Foxboro, MA where the New England Patriots play. Until now.

One way to be heard above the noise is to do something different and a bit outrageous. Yes, you run the risk of getting cut when you shave too close. But is it better to slip away into obscurity because you’re afraid to sharpen the blade?

Linda Popky is an award-winning Silicon Valley-based strategic marketing consultant who helps organizations get heard above the noise and the author of Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters. She is also the Executive Director of the Society for the Advancement of Consulting.

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Best Practices Leadership Personal Development Sales

Boundy’s Bookshelf: The Silo Effect. Are Your Sellers Siloed?

I just finished reading The Silo Effect.  The Peril of Expertise and the Promise of Breaking Down Barriers, a 2015 Book by Gillian Tett of The Financial Times.  I recommend it to anyone in a business leadership position.  For my own work with clients, I found Ms. Tett’s observations helped me clarify how important and valuable a company-wide focus on customer valuewill be to any company.

Most business people know that the word silo refers to “a system, process, department etc. which operates in isolation from others”.  Organizations establish specialty sub-organizations while pursuing efficiency, manageability, and other worthwhile goals.  The term silo tends to be used when dysfunctions arise: information hoarding, parochialism, competition for resources.

Silos sometimes contribute to more than mere aggravating dysfunction.  According to the book, regulators over-compartmentalized in the early 2000s, causing them to fail to connect all the contributors to the 2008 financial meltdown.

Siloed Sellers.

For me, a seller is anyone who touches the customer.  In many companies, this can include a wide variety of specialty roles:

  • New customer sales
  • Existing customer account management
  • Sales engineering, technical sales
  • Demonstration specialists
  • Inside sales
  • Bid/RFP services
  • Customer service
  • Technical Support
  • Implementation/customer success
  • Finance/accounts receivable/billing/credit
  • Key account managers
  • Channel management
  • Marketing
  • ..and more.

Forget all of the non-seller functions in your company: there are a lot of potential silos just among the roles that interact with customers.   And that’s a problem.

Your customers hate your silos

We’ve all had frustrating experiences when each new person we talk to needs us to explain a full backstory…often made more frustrating when they don’t believe what their last co-worker told us. All of these experiences tell us why we shouldn’t inflict negative experiences on our customers.

Worse, avoiding negative experiences is setting the bar far too low.  I advise that every seller (anyone who touches a customer) be equipped to talk to customers about their needs, problems, and aspirations.  Better, your people should be able to uncover and develop value with a customer.  Further, every seller role probably looks into your customer from a different angle; combining value insights into a single de-siloed view is something few great companies achieve.

De-siloing.

In The Silo Effect, Tett describes how data technology is coming of age to share information across silos.  She also maintains (as do I) that such technology is valueless if there is not strong leadership and a vision that busts down silos.  She shares stories of several organizations with strong leaders dedicated to silo-busting business models.  It’s an interesting read (made even more interesting when you imagine what one of those companies learned about its blind spots in 2016, the year after the book was published…unending vigilance and a little healthy paranoia is the lesson, I think).

I love working with clients to unite every seller role around customer-perceived value.  The key is finding the right leadership, and helping them operationalize the tools.  Companies who pursue a corporate “culture of continuous value improvement” use technology and training to translate a customer value focus into a cohesive corporate culture.  It’s probably not the only way to bust seller silos, but you seldom go wrong trying to deliver too much customer value.

If you’d like to discuss a more coordinated approach to your customers – say, the important ones you would hate to lose – reach me at mar@boundyconsulting.com.  You can also comment below.

To your success!

Categories
Best Practices Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Personal Development Women In Business

When Your Toilet is Clogged You Don’t Hire a Chef

No one likes to think about turnover, but it’s a problem that keeps general managers (GM) and business owners up at night. Why? Because deep down you know how critical it is to the bottom line.

Here’s a scenario:

You run a multi-million-dollar dealership and you are hitting the numbers despite margin compression. (Hallelujah) You’re managing to win the volume game. The below-the-line money is essential to keeping the lights on and your team manages to keep their Customer Service Index numbers at passing levels. If you are the GM, the owner stays away for the most part while you continue to help money hit the bank account. If you are a hands-on owner, you cannot stay away because you are steering the ship. This is your legacy.

So, why are you losing sleep?

Could it be the fear of missing your bonus program requirements from the manufacturer and losing the “below the line” money that is vital to your survival? Or is it the fact that you know your toxic sales manager is on the verge of creating a mass exodus on your sales floor and all you can think is, “Hiring is a bitch.” Maybe it is just that you don’t have time to get everything done in a day.

The fact is, you know you have a few core needs that require a shift and you know you need help to make those shifts happen. What you don’t know is where to begin. After speaking with dozens of GMs and owners, it’s become clear to me that, time and again, the place to start is a deep dive into your ethos and an understanding of your level of employee engagement.

When your employees are disengaged, your showroom floor or service drive is a disaster, and your customers turn right back around to the front door to get the hell out of dodge. When you finally get a new employee to start, either they quickly feel the vibe of a lackluster culture and bolt, or they hang on a bit and join the disgruntled masses.

Either way, your managers are tired. They are pushing to hit the numbers to keep you off of their back and their family fed. They don’t have the bandwidth to rein in the culture or to hire right. Frankly, you know this is your responsibility, but, damn it, how can you do it all? The answer is: you can’t and shouldn’t.

When you need your computer fixed, you go to an expert that specializes in technology. When it’s time to replace your air conditioner, you hire an HVAC specialist to do the job. How about your toilet? When it’s clogged, you’re not hiring a chef – or at least I hope not. The reality is that no one person can do everything well, and a successful leader hires the right people to close gaps whether they are environmental or performance-related.

At Shift Awake Group, we specialize in closing the gap on the two critical topics of culture and employee engagement. In order to repair your culture, you have to find out where the bodies are buried and work to mend the cracks in the foundation. Once your culture is repaired, the focus shifts to hiring right the first time while elevating employee engagement and kicking turnover to the curb.

I do not know a single owner or GM that doesn’t want to increase their gross profit margin. Unfortunately, too many believe that focusing on volume will help their income statement and, in turn, everything else will just fix itself. While this can work sometimes, it’s more advantageous to focus on a different, more sustainable metric by increasing your Operating Profit Margins (OPM). When you reduce turnover, costs affecting your overhead are reduced at the same time OPM is increased. When employee engagement improves, simultaneously, there is the perfect storm of opportunity to positively impact gross profit margin with a happier, more fulfilled workforce selling the perfect vehicle to your customer.

If that perfect storm sounds like it could help you finally get a good night’s sleep, it is time to empower an expert to take control of these two pain points that will not spontaneously heal and, in fact, are likely to get worse the more you say they will “fix themselves.”

How can we serve you?

Jacqueline Jasionowski is the founder of Shift Awake Group. Her “soul” mission is to help others connect with their purpose through a higher level of consciousness that will both drive results and enable innovation along the way. Please contact 614.403.6540 for info.

Categories
Best Practices Entrepreneurship Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

After That, Then What?

“Action without thought is like a squirrel driving a car. It’s nonsensical.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

Why did you do that? Were you aware of what you were doing? Those may be the questions that others ask you when you’ve engaged in senseless behavior. Most of the time the answer to the questions are, I don’t know; I guess I wasn’t thinking. To avoid senseless behavior ask yourself, after that, then what.

Thinking ahead:

Before you engage in activities, do you think of the consequences that might occur as the result of those actions? Most people are aware that there’s a reaction for every action. Some people forget that truism. And, sometimes forgetting it leads to unexpected circumstances. Don’t let that happen to you. Before engaging in a deed, to be more aware of what might happen after it, during the decision-making process, ask yourself, after that, then what.

Understanding your mindset:

At different stages of the day, your decision-making process shifts. That’s because, as things happen throughout the day, the accumulation of the day’s activities causes you to alter your perspective. As an example, if someone has angered or vehemently challenged you about a point, you’ll be more likely to refudiate someone else that attempts to convey the same sentiment. Thus, you should always be aware of the mindset you possess when making decisions and what has occurred to influence your thoughts.

Timing:

When considering, after that, then what, be thoughtful about the timing of your decisions. Sometimes, you’ll have the power to bring your decision to fruition at that moment, other times you won’t. Thus, depending on the importance of the decision, it may behoove you to delay its implementation until a more favorable time.

Remember, decisions have two spectrums, haste makes waste and, he who waits too long loses opportunities. Thus, it may befit you to balance those spectrums on the pendulum of time.

If you want to avoid taking two steps forward and one step back in your life, before engaging in a decision, make sure you engage in, after that, then what thinking. Your decision will lead to an action. That action will lead in one direction versus another. If you don’t want to find yourself in a desolate place tomorrow, be more aware of the decisions you make today … and everything will be right with the world.

What does this have to do with negotiations?

Sometimes, offers and counteroffers flow quickly during a negotiation. Quick responses can lead to unwanted positions and disadvantage your standing. To sustain your negotiation efforts and enhance your chances of having a winning outcome, be mindful of where every concession and offer may lead. If you’re astute, you can use the, ‘answering a question with a question’ tactic to gain information (e.g. what do you mean? what do you think I mean?). That’s also a tactic you can employ to slow the other negotiator’s attacks when he’s bombarding you with questions. To insulate yourself even more from his bombarding, ask yourself, after that, then what.

Suffice it to say, when you’re in the heat of a negotiation, the way to ensure that you don’t act too hastily is to always ask, after that, then what. Doing that will lessen the chances of you wandering into a negotiation minefield. It will also allow you to maintain greater control of the other negotiator, yourself, and the negotiation.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d really like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com

To receive Greg’s free “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Sunday Negotiation Insight” click here http://www.themasternegotiator.com/greg-williams/

#Mind #Success #Emotion #Business #Progress #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #liars #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions

Categories
Growth Leadership Personal Development

9 Insights From Slowing Down in Life…

Recently I had the opportunity to take a vacation with my family.

Vacation is primarily quality time with those who mean the most to me, however, vacation is also time to slow down and go deeper within myself.

These insights are from some of those slower moments I had and what I need to hold on to to be a more effective me.

1. Busyness Doesn’t Equal Effectiveness.

I need to get better with my delete list.

Ask me on almost any given day if I’m busy and my answer will always be yes. However, after doing a deeper review of my time and how I fill it, I realize that I can become comfortably numb to being busy and not being very effective.

My solution is simple. I need to evaluate the return on the things I am most busy with and delete everything that doesn’t take me where I am trying to go.

What needs to be on your delete list?

2 – A Significant Conversation is Worth More than Many Shallow Talk

On vacation I intentionally had 3 very significant conversations with men I trust at very high levels. The 3 talks totaled about 3 hours and to say that each of them, and the cumulative of them, had a significant impact on me would not be an exaggeration.

What made them significant? 

It was a cumulative of the following:

My willingness to be vulnerable, candid and inquisitive and their willingness to do the same.

The height and depth of the conversations. We were able to not dumb-down the conversation and we also were able to keep it deep where it needed to be. It’s not unusual to talk with others who either can’t allow the conversation to remain high altitude or who aren’t comfortable with the seriousness of it. These men each were able to do both.

The lack of petty questions or small talk. I can talk with the best about almost anything in life. However, there comes a time when pettiness is only a distraction from the need of the moment.

They all were fire lighters not firefighters. When you’re sharing your dreams, you need someone who can elevate your flame instead of putting it out. We all need more firelighters in life.

My willingness to reach out and ask for their input. It’s too easy to go alone. However, we all need someone in our corner.

Who do you need to reach out to? When will you reach out to them? What do you need to talk to them about? What do you need to ask them?

3 – Fear Lives in the Illogical Space of My Mind

This actually came from one of those talks. When I was asked to answer a couple questions and I couldn’t, the revelation of how fear was abiding in that space became very clear. The insight was, “vagueness creates uncertainty”. I’ll never forget that moment and how it all made sense. Once we filled the same space with logic and a plan, the fear was 99% negated. It was incredible!

What role is fear playing in your life? What information do you need to negate it?

4 – Nothing Replaces Action

Well intended thoughts or plans are a dime a dozen. Until we act on our dream, absolutely nothing is happening.

If you and I will just stick with something long enough, the stats are in our favor. Most people either never start or their ability to endure is lacking and they bail when things become “too difficult.”

What’s one dream you’re not moving on? Determine now that you will take the first step.

5 – There’s a Balance Between Getting Help & Getting Started

It’s too easy to blame others for not helping you, or for not being there when you thought they should be. And while you sit and sulk, the vision is slowly fading away.

I can get lost in analysis paralysis and want everything to be perfect before I even start. I can blame others for not helping…for not showing up…for not doing what I assumed they’d do…and more.

When I get caught in that mentality, I become frustrated and angry and nothing happens.

There comes a time when you have to start. Period.

Who may have let you down? It’s time to let it go and move on.

6 – I am Addicted to Information

That’s not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself. However, when reading one more book, one more article, watching one more video is the next step…information has gotten out of control.

The truth for me is that I have enough information on most things that I keep learning about. I need to apply what I know and move into transformation. I can be more worried about failing than I am about winning. I have learned to move on and learn.

What do you know enough about already?

7 – Life is Too Short

I love the quote that says, “it’s never too late to start, but it’s always too late to wait.”

It’s go time. When everything in me wants to wait, I have to make myself do the one thing that makes all the future things easier.

Enough said on this one.

What are you putting off that you need to get started doing?

8 – I Have to Have Better Boundaries 

It’s not an ongoing challenge, it’s a moment to moment challenge for me.

For example, when one of my kids wants to talk, I need to do a better job at stopping what I am doing and talk. I mean, I need to give them my greatest attention, not my divided attention.

I have learned to set better boundaries on things I’ll not wish I had more of in the future. I’ve learned to give greater attention to those who mean the most to me. It’s paying off.

Where do you need to do a better job with boundaries?

9 – Sometimes People See Things in You That You May Need Help Seeing

When you have the right people in your life, they don’t help make excuses for you. They will challenge you to rise to your full potential.

My core/tribe/group has evolved in the last year and the impact of this cannot be overstated. It’s said that those closest to you determine your level of success. They also say that you are the average of the 5 people you’re closest to. Again, the 3 conversations I’ve had this past week prove the truth of both of these statements.

I’ve intentionally worked on my tribe and the handful of those I am closest to.

Who’s in your circle? Does it need to change?

Have a great day – it’s the only one you have!