Business Mentoring for Entrepreneurs

Bill Warner Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Approximately 26,000 new companies are formed each year in North Carolina. In that same year, over 23,000 companies fail due to poor management and operational mistakes. The statistics are worse in rural and minority populations. This means that good ideas go to waste along with the grant and investor funds that helped get these companies started. As a result, the potential growth of revenue and new jobs is lost also.

 

If we had assistance for entrepreneurs who are struggling to create successful businesses, the failures should decline considerably. Entrepreneurs should be seeking out business mentors that can help them through the early years of their business.

 

EntreDot™ Connects the Dots for Entrepreneurs

 

For the majority of the companies that fail, the missing ingredient that could have ensured their success is basic business-operations “know-how.” This is the void that EntreDot™ fills. At no cost to them, EntreDot™ provides business mentoring to entrepreneurs and helps them make the right decisions as they start and operate new companies.

 

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Managing in an Uncertain Economy

Bill Warner Monday, February 01, 2010

There is no one single thing that will protect your business in this economy. You need an array of actions to maximize your chances of getting through this downturn and pull you through what might be in store for us, whether it’s further depression or looming inflation.

Cash remains king

Have you tried to get a business loan lately? Pretty tough isn’t it? Better take a look at your line of credit and see if you can get a higher limit and a better interest rate over a longer period of time while you can.

Take a really hard and pessimistic look at your cash position. How long will it last in the grimmest of sales forecasts? Establish refreshed limits on your cash reserves and then create the cost and expense budget that would achieve it.

Have you looked at your accounts receivables and their aging? Do it now. If needed, establish new goals for collections and execute them with discipline.

Of course, manage expense

Take a more insightful approach to managing expense. It’s not just a budget cutting exercise, although you may find unnecessary things to eliminate. More importantly, it’s a matter of getting more for your dollar.

This is about working smarter, being more focused and increasing productivity. Consider things like:

  • Taking stock of your knowledge of your market and determine if there are better ways to reach your customer
  • Looking for ways to reach additional customers within your current market, with essentially the same marketing dollars
  • Creating teams of people that look at process improvements in marketing, sales, development, manufacturing and customer support, looking for ways to be more productive. Constantly ask why we do things they way we do them. Give them a reward when they find substantial improvements
  • Analyzing your lines of business, bringing focus on those that are performing poorly. Find out why and fix them or eliminate them entirely

Communicate

Often overlooked, communications is even more important in tough times. When employees are left in the dark about the business situation, they will surely make things up based on any observation they make or rumor they hear. As they make up the situation for themselves, they will take care of communications for you by simply telling others what they believe to be true. Pretty soon, your business picture is painted with a brush you never held.

It’s time to over-communicate. Use whatever means of communication you have to your employees:

  • Frequent all hands meetings
  • Management meetings with stress on getting information to employees
  • Newsletters to all employees
  • Make a point of walking around every day, talking to everyone you meet

Most employees can deal with any news you give them, as long as it is the truth and you are realistic. When employees know the truth and the ramifications of it, they will work hard to achieve the company’s goals.

Get the best from the best

Take the time to realign everybody’s roles and responsibilities with the company’s goals. Everybody needs to understand what they have to do and why they are doing it. This will turn out to be a giant productivity improvement by getting everybody on the same page, and being able to clearly see how everybody’s job fits into the strategic plan for the company. It will help eliminate unnecessary work that is not important to achieving their goals.

It’s also time to put more discipline into managing the performance of people. This means setting realistic expectations, working with employees to meet them, and rigorously assessing their performance. This will bring the best forward as they rise to the challenge and will weed out those that are not been performing.

Just as in most start-up companies, you need all “A” players, because everyone has to be an outstanding performer to get you through the tough times.

Look to the future

In a way, this is all getting you repositioned for the good times. You business will come out of the downturn being stronger, more focused, more productive and with excellent people. Take the time also to look at new business areas you might attack when you are ready to spend some of your cash reserve.

Do the market research that will lead you to new opportunities. You are looking for the next great deal in which to invest your hard earned cash. You may find an acquisition or new partner that you never expected. Your new found strength may be just what they need at a price that is very attractive to you.

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You Sell To More People Than You Think

Bill Warner Tuesday, January 26, 2010

“Let’s get some good sales people. We need those hungry ones that know a lot of customers. That’s all we have to do. Right?” These are famous beginning and last words. You are selling your product to almost everyone you meet as your business matures. And, everybody in the company sells in one form or another; it’s not just the sales team’s role. You certainly have to identify and sell to potential customers. But, there are many other interested parties that you have to sell to as your company evolves. The sales process begins on day one and lasts for the life of your company.

Selling in the market research phase

Even before you have a product, you have to sell your ideas to contacts you make while doing your market research. This phase is not just filled with reading and finding numbers that support your business strategy. You will have to sell your idea to industry analysts, market consultants, companies providing similar products and potential customers in your chosen markets. Seeking out the opinions of analysts and consultants makes a lot of sense. They know your markets in detail. You present your product or service idea, supported by your business rationale, looking for further insight that they can provide. In a way, you are selling by trying out what you think the value proposition is and how you will take it to market. Understanding that you may not have it quite right, they will provide you feedback that helps you to further refine your business plan.

Contacting companies that are within your market segment is also smart. If they are a potential competitor, you may have to get information from a third party, but you are essentially trying to figure out how your product fits into the market. You are prepared to sell your ideas, but also have questions like:

  • Are you complementary?
  • Will you need their help?
  • Do you add value to their products?
  • Are they a competitor?
  • How will we fit?
  • Why are they succeeding or failing?

Of course, the best piece of research is to approach a potential customer and get their feedback. You sell your product or service, but really want to know:

  • Do they really have the need you think they have?
  • Will your product solve their problem?
  • Do they see the value of your product or service?
  • How do they become aware of and buy products?
  • Are they in a position to buy?

Getting funded

Once you have a well formed business plan, your next sales call will be on an investor or potential strategic partner from whom you need money to get your business started. This is a critical sales call which has to be successful. In this case you are selling a lot more than your product or service. You are selling the value of your company, and trying to create a long lasting partnership that will give the funds to launch your company and your vision. The business plan story has to:

  • Be complete
  • Represent a compelling business idea
  • Be attractive in a large market of needy buyers
  • Reflect a rich financial model
  • Have a truly competitive and differentiated product
  • Be managed by a superior management team
  • Provide strong financial performance

This sales call is made by the top executives of the company, who have to be very well prepared to explain all aspects of the business and create excitement with the potential partner.

Selling to your channel partners

If you are going to use indirect channels, you will need to have a sophisticated process to sell to the channel partners through which your product will reach the ultimate buyer. The value proposition has to be specifically tailored for this audience to show them how they are going to make money in a relationship with your company. The partnerships could be with wholesalers, distributors, integrators, value added resellers and dealers. All of these partnerships have to established, and in addition to your product or service, will require you to sell some combination of:

  • Training
  • Product information
  • Sales support
  • Problem support
  • Warranty management
  • Inventory
  • Discounts that make them profitable

Your sales efforts are to close a channel partner agreement that will result in financial success for them and an increase in revenue for your company.

What about alliance partners? If your product requires that you have to go to market jointly with another company, you have to make sales calls to them too. For example, if your product is integrated with another company’s product, then you may have to have an agreement where you are jointly marketing and selling. You may be integrating some other company’s product into your solution, so an agreement is needed for you to market and sell their product along with yours. The value proposition here has to bring a share of the overall revenue to the partner to recover the expense that they incurred plus a reasonable profit.

Sell to the influencers

When your product is ready to be taken to market, it is important to make sure all of those that influence your customer are aware of it. Industry consultants, partners and early customers need to know of your plans to launch your product. During the time when the product is first being introduced, you want potential customers to be able to call their outside consultant and get advice on your product. You also want your customers to be able to contact your early customers as a reference for your product. So, you need to make sales calls on all these influencers and make sure they have the most important facts and messages about your product or service. You will look very smart if a potential customer contacts one of them and learns the truth about your product. That is, the truth that you taught them.

Oh, the media too

Who would ever give up on some free visibility? Another important influencer is the media. They represent trade magazines, local newspapers, business press, television specials and radio news programs. When you launch your product, they too will need to know about your product or service. You want your customers to read the right messages, and from the media source that makes them aware of new products and services. The media will want to get quotes from consultants, analysts, customers and partners. They make the story come to life with the reality that it’s not just your company talking about the new product or service. Always make the media aware of positive news and use them as a way to get effective marketing information to customers.

So, selling is a process that involves much more than sending the hungry sales people after potential customers. Selling involves approaching the whole set of stakeholders in your market segments. You need to make sure that your company properly fits and that your customers know all the right things about your product or service.

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Outlook for 2010

Bill Warner Sunday, January 03, 2010

Boy, I want to be optimistic, but I have too many doubts. It’s not just me either. The subject of a lot of holiday party talk has been about the economy. Much of that is centered on the subject of job growth and the state of the US dollar.

At the heart of it all

Job growth now is stagnant at best. Unemployment is actually increasing when you discount the growth in short term government jobs that produce no economic growth and count the people who are no longer on the unemployment ledger. There are a lot of moving parts that are needed to put velocity back into the small business engine.

  • Banks have to start loaning money again; companies need working capital
  • Government has to reduce regulation on small businesses; too much is spent on responding to new regulations and it stifles businesses
  • Removing the capital gains tax will fuel investment in small businesses; bringing more private equity to entrepreneurs
  • Lowering the income tax on businesses will accelerate investment in company growth; increasing profitability
  • State and local government resources are needed to support entrepreneurship; creating a community in support of entrepreneurship
  • Reduction of the individual income tax will put more money back into people’s pockets; firing up affordable spending

Until we get legislators in place that understand what we need, entrepreneurs will be fighting an uphill battle again in 2010.

The unknown about our dollar

I am no expert on monetary policy, but what I do see still frightens me.

  • The debt is higher than ever in our history
  • The growth our debt has never been higher in our history
  • Other nations are visibly looking to move off of the dollar
  • We are getting a lot of pushback on purchasing any further government securities

If we were to have a balance sheet for the United States Company, it would show that we are bankrupt and have negative cash flow. These are all signs that lead me to continue to worry about a coming inflation, especially if we really put the TARP money into circulation.

So what do entrepreneurs do?

The growth of our economy will come from the small business arena getting back on track. For 2010, entrepreneurs are going to have to continue to fight through the lack of effective legislative and administration support. Staying with the basics of survival is first and foremost:

  • Execute well thought out marketing and sales plans; the fewest mistakes as possible
  • Keep nearly a year’s worth of cash burn in place as a buffer on further economic decline
  • Hire only what will be needed in the long term; outsource the rest of your personnel needs
  • Invest in cost cutting measures that pay back in a few months
  • Continue to establish and nurture a lasting credit line

The pros will tell you that this is the time to look for great investments at low prices. That is still true, but I suggest that you don’t go too far out on that limb with so much uncertainty and volatility in the economy.

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Managers Make Good Choices

Bill Warner Monday, August 31, 2009

We are often told that we just need to say no to a few things so that we don’t get ourselves over committed. After all, we cannot do everything our customers ask us, and we cannot go after every possible market. Some folks will ask if you are going to teach the team how to say no. Because if you don’t say no, you just keep adding more work to an already overloaded plan. Well, we just say no to that question. No, we are not going to teach people how to say no. We don’t think that is the question. Instead, we see the need to learn how to make choices.

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The Need For Seasoned Executives

Bill Warner Thursday, August 20, 2009

If there is one issue that companies deal with frequently it is poorly constituted executive teams. As a result they are suffering from the lack of business and operational know-how. Here are some examples.

Bad marketing and channel choices

The primary way this issue reveals itself is lack of sales; resulting in tremendous cash flow pressure. We recently worked with an emerging commercial hardware tool company that is being run by its founder. The product is unique and patented, and is ready for the market. It has been ready for two years, while the founder tried to sell the product through direct channels to large manufacturing companies. The company has burned over $1M in marketing programs and sales personnel. The problem has been that the founder has no sales experience, has taken the product through the wrong sales channel, and has hired sales people who do not have the knowledge or experience to sell to distributors. If the founder and the company’s board would have insured that the right marketing and sales executives were brought into the company at the time the product was ready, they would be in a very positive position today. In addition, a new CEO with successful business operations experience should have been brought into the company. Unfortunately, the company is nearly out of money, and may fail.

Marketing failure

Without effective marketing programs, there won’t be enough leads to generate the correct number of sales. One of our clients has a very effective software product for managing high inventory turnover situations and reporting quantifiable results. It is sold through direct channels by knowledgeable manufacturing process sales people. The product has been on the market for eighteen months, but only four sales have been made. We discovered that the founder doesn’t really believe in marketing, and has been cold-calling prospects and getting very poor results. Going deeper, we found that the marketing message he was delivering was not effective in convincing a buyer who is solely interested in return on investment. If the founder had brought in a seasoned marketing executive who knows how to put a comprehensive sales lead generation program, there would have been the necessary number of qualified leads to generate sales.

Disfunctional executive team

It is terribly important that the executive team of any company work well together and is on the same business agenda. We recently worked with a financial services firm whose partners were tied in knots by their lack of mutual commitment to the company’s business objectives and private personal goals. Their lack of business maturity and experience to take the company beyond where they were was causing significant sales failures and personnel disruption, as their lack of cohesiveness showed through to the entire firm. Quite frankly, nobody was in charge, and their strong personalities continue to clash and undermine their decisions making. The firm is frozen in place, and won’t progress until the partnership organization is reconstituted.

CEO failure

When a company is launching a new product and is meeting new customer prospects, potential investors, industry analysts and representatives from the media, it is very important that their story is told concisely, completely and with humble excitement. If the company’s leadership cannot do this, accomplishing their goals will be almost impossible. Recent experience with a company that supplies software to associations to manage donations, brings this issue home. The CEO and founder had a major case of arrogance and selective listening. She angered investors, talked down to analysts, overstated to the media, and bored everyone with unnecessary technical detail, never getting their value proposition across to anyone. If the board of directors had hired an experienced CEO, they would have had a chance of survival. Now, the bridges are burned.

Missed commitments

Making well thought out commitments is necessary to maintain credibility with investors and customers. It takes experience to recognize when a commitment is needed, properly establish and manage expectations, and rationally make the commitment. We discussed this with a potential client last month. The software company had a very complex product, with several enhancements to make based on customer needs. The customer demanded rapid delivery. They committed a very aggressive delivery date, and missed it by a month. This was the straw that broke their back. This was the ninth commitment made and missed over the last year, so the customer discontinued the relationship. The development leader and CEO were very junior people, and were working with a Fortune 500 company. If this company had seasoned executives who knew how to handle these tough situations, they would still have the customer.

Having seasoned executives leading your company, who have the wisdom and experience that is needed to accomplish your objectives, will maximize your chances for success.

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Picking The Right Executive Team

Bill Warner Monday, August 17, 2009

Picking the right executive team is critical to a company’s ongoing success, and should be done with regular discipline. To make it even harder, the requirements for the executive team changes as the company matures. The team that started the company may not be the one that raises the first institutional round of funding, or leads the company to its first million in sales, or merges the company with another in an exit event. If you hear any of the following, beware:

  • “Products and services are everything, the business and management stuff is easy.”
  • “I will be the CEO for the long haul.”
  • “I just want people that can do the job. I don’t care about their personality.”
  • “I have some close friends and associates that will help me run the company.”
  • “Let’s fill out our management team right away so we have the experience we need.”

The mature executive team

What you would rather hear is a mature assessment of the needs of the business, and then determine what executive team is needed in order to accomplish the near term objectives of the company. If you hear people saying the following, you have a supportive and mature team:

  • “I need people that have business and management experience.”
  • “I probably will not be the CEO after our first round of funding.”
  • “Personality and ethics are very important. We have to be a cohesive team.”
  • “The best way to end a friendship is to hire them into a risky business.”
  • “I will hire the right management when I need it.”

Assessing your management team needs

In order to determine what you need for your executive team, three assessments are needed:

  • The current executive team
  • The status of the company
  • The company’s two year objectives

With this assessment and these needs understood, you can determine if the current management team has the experience and capability to accomplish the objectives that lay ahead. The management organization can be changed to realign roles and responsibilities. When additional management experience is needed, a job description can be easily written for the position that has to be filled. This description is then used to identify candidates through whatever recruiting channels are used.

As companies mature, new challenges are faced that the current management team may or may not be able to handle. As a company grows, so must its management team in order to deal with the demands of the business. The worst thing that can happen is to be led by a management team that is not experienced enough to manage the day to day issues it faces. Investors know that if such a condition continues too long, the company will lose momentum as too many mistakes will waste resources and time performing recovery actions.

The message here is that entrepreneurs must know what kinds of managers they need, and when they need them. Investors are looking for foresight of the upcoming business transitions and whether or not the entrepreneur knows the steps necessary to hire the right managers ahead of time. Unsaid has been that entrepreneurs need to pick people that will fit into the company’s culture and who are “A” players. Particularly in early stage companies, only the best talent should be employed to insure success. If you are rigorous about picking the right management team ahead of the crisis, you will have the right people to manage through the next transition.

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Manage Your CEO

Bill Warner Sunday, August 16, 2009

A lot has been written over the years on managing your manager. But, does it all apply to CEOs or business owners and their direct reports? The answer is, “it all depends.” It depends on how much ego is in the executive office and the competency of the CEOs direct staff. It depends on the organization’s view of accountability. It depends on the use of wisdom. It depends on whether or not your CEO is coachable.

How to manage your CEO

The CEO must make decisions that are in the best interest of the company. Members of the organization each play important roles like marketing, sales, development and manufacturing. In these roles, it is important that the CEO hears their best advice. The employee must first provide focused advice from their perspective in the organization. Secondly, the employee should also be able to appreciate and participate in discussions from the CEO’s perspective. The best CEO’s expect solid advice while allowing employees to engage in the CEO decision making process. In carrying out your employee role:

  • Be the expert – don’t give in to the guesses of the CEO. The CEO must be decisive and make timely decisions. But, sometimes the CEO gets caught up in the moment and expediency takes control and advice, research, and experts are ignored. Don’t back down when you know you are right, the success of your company depends on your ability to persuade the CEO to listen and act on your expert advice. Support your advice and actions with solid research.
  • Do sound research – don’t just go with your past experience. Even experts can learn new things. Times change, the market changes, the products and services change, competition changes, and the financial picture changes. Continually build your experience by doing research. Get the latest information to use to make your decisions and advise the CEO. Especially if you know the answer or the right approach, do the research. Always be talking to your clients, competition, and your sales force. Support your expertise with sound judgment and sound research.
  • Use the “experts” who report to you – don’t ignore the experts you hired for their expertise. Just as the CEO should listen to you, you should listen to your staff. The person making judgments and recommendations should always be the person closest to the issue, situation or client. That’s usually your employees. Armed with the best know how and research from your staff, you are better able to help your CEO and your company make better decisions, lead the market, and grow.
  • Stand your ground – don’t give in to the CEO when you know you’re right. That’s a tough one! If a CEO is worth anything, they want to hear your ideas and decisions not an affirmation echo back from you on their ideas and decisions. You will be heard if you provide value or better alternatives. You will be heard when you provide the justification and research support for your alternative. You will be heard after you have built a track record of successful advice or decisions. But, be careful, good creativity and research is not sufficient. Your advice and decisions must also be cost justified, feasible in terms of company resources required, and they must be able to show results in the time frame required by the company.
  • You can differ with the CEOs direction as long as you are right – don’t get it right and you get fired. Sometimes decisions or objectives have been delegated to you by the CEO. Along with the delegation there is often direction from the CEO on how it should be accomplished. If you have a better, faster or cheaper way to get it done, go for it. You can be the hero and earn yourself some big recognition and maybe even a big bonus. But, don’t forget the consequences. If you’re not successful the CEO will probably let you off the hook once or maybe even twice, but after that you may find yourself on the street because you didn’t follow the CEOs direction. You may hear the career killing statement, “You’re not a team player.”

How CEOs Let Themselves be Guided

In order to be the most effective and make sound decisions, you want to enable and empower your employees to be strong advocates in the roles they play in the organization. At the same time, you need to draw them into conversations with you to help you talk through the pros and cons of decisions you are making. To get the best from your employees:

  • Delegate – don’t think you need to do everything yourself. I have seen CEOs of large companies that believe that they need to make all the decisions. So, I see them choosing the colors on the marketing brochures, auditing travel expenses to see who is traveling too much, wanting to go on the sales call where it is planned to close the sale and the worst, wanting to go to every client meeting. These CEOs have not learned to hire good people and get out of their way. Allow yourself to be guided by hiring good people, delegating to them and getting out of their way.
  • Trust your employees – don’t forget you hired them to do a job because they were the best you could find for the job. Yes, it’s true that many times the CEO makes a mistake and hires a person not quite suited to the job. Yes, it’s true that many times the CEO does not move quickly enough to correct the mistake. But, when you have the right person, after you delegate, you should trust that they can get the job done. Most times they are closer to the action than the CEO, and better positioned to make the best decision and win the best outcome. If the employee gets it wrong, it’s a great learning experience. Adults learn by making mistakes. Let your employees make little mistakes so they can learn how to make the bigger decision. Trust them to get the job done and they will not let you down.
  • Get your staff to do solid research – don’t think you have all the answers. Your employees must be doing solid research to get their jobs done. Sales people need to do research on competition and client needs. Marketing people need to do research on events and now email marketing. Product people need to do research on the latest product advances in the market place. As CEO you don’t have the time nor most likely the skills to do this research. Get your staff to do it. Trust your employees to give you a good summary and the best recommendation possible based on the research. Demand that every decision is supported by sound judgment and sound research.
  • Use your wisdom – don’t use your experience; use the experience of your staff. Then use your good judgment, your wisdom, to use the experience of your staff, tempered by their research. Using your wisdom is not using yesterday’s experience in today’s very different and changing business climate. Using your wisdom is first understanding the new environment you are operating in, and then choosing the right actions based on the current situation. Many times this means doing something new, and usually something different from your past actions.
  • Hold your employees accountable – ask for the results you expect; don’t just give orders, they may be ignored. If you don’t follow-up after you have given out an assignment, you are telling your employee that it is not important. If you tell your employee he is going to be in a lot of trouble if he does not take a certain action and you don’t follow-up, you are telling him he is not going to get into trouble by not doing it. You hold your employees accountable by following-up on what you asked them to do. You hold your staff accountable by following-up to verify that they have in fact achieved an objective you set.
  • Check your ego at the door – don’t let your ego prevent you from hearing the advice of your staff. Make it clear to all employees that you are open to hearing their advice and that it is safe for them to speak their minds, even if they are not in agreement with you. Don’t ever jeopardize their trust in your openness. When your employees tell you what to do or that they are going to take a different approach than you suggest, they are not telling you what to do. They are giving you advice. As above, this assumes you have capable employees in place. As CEO, you don’t have to take the advice, but you sure should listen to it. Some also say you have to hear the advice, which means you need to consider the advice in light of other alternatives. It’s OK if you agree to do what one of your employees says even if it is different than your decision because all that matters is that the company is making the right decision. The CEO will get the credit if the company makes the right decision.

In Summary

The bottom line for employees and the CEO or business owner is the same, communicate ideas, advice and supporting research; listen and hear each other; make the decision or take the action based on the expert in your company, whoever that may be.

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The Job of Management

Bill Warner Thursday, August 06, 2009

One of the very important roles in a company is that of the manager. Management includes group leaders, who sometimes play the role of both manager and individual contributor, to section manager, director, vice president, senior vice president, executive vice president and chief executive officer. Each of these positions has a different scope of responsibility, but they all have several things that they do in common.

The role of management

First and foremost, they are all managers, even if some of them perform individual contributor work. I define a manager as having three fundamental roles. First, a manager is a leader. As a leader, the manager establishes and directs the vision and mission of the team. In this capacity, the manager is the source of visionary strength of the department and keeps the staff on a consistent track to achieving the vision. Second, a manager is a project manager. In this role, the manager is responsible for directing the operational activities of the team by scheduling the utilization of the department’s resources, including people and capital equipment. In this way, the manager gets things done through the efforts of the people on the team. The manager is responsible for establishing and executing the project plan that is necessary to achieve the team’s mission. Third, a manager is a coach, and as such picks the people for the team and improves the performance of people through ongoing counseling. As a coach, the manager works with people to help them become greater contributors by helping them improve their efficiency and effectiveness.

The tasks of management

In these roles, a manager performs several duties that are very important to the successful functioning of any team.

  • Strategy – The manager puts the strategy in place to achieve the department’s vision and mission. In this capacity, the manager works with team members to develop a strategy and plan. Then a process is put in place that will be used to execute the strategy. In most cases, this process is an element of the company’s overall development process for purposes of developing and delivering its products.
  • Organization – The manager gets the department organized to implement the process and guides all the project activities using the process. All the schedules are established, laying out the tasks that have to be performed to deliver the department’s product or service and assigning the necessary resources to the people on the team.
  • Priorities – The manager establishes priorities for projects and tasks and makes decisions required when they have to change.
  • People – Making sure that the right people are placed in the right job assignments, and that people get further training to do their jobs.
  • Solutions – The manager facilitates problem solving, as needed, by directing the process of problem solving with team members, lending expertise to the process.
  • Delegate – A very important duty is to delegate responsibility and accountability. In doing this, the manager gives people a clear role and a set of responsibilities, empowers them to act, and holds them accountable for results. This is the art of management. In getting the best out of people, a manager gives people the responsibility they deserve, then coaches them in their work in order to make them the best they can be, and finally holds them accountable for producing the results that are expected.
  • Enable – A manager takes care of peoples’ needs. The manager is an enabler for and ensures that people get what they need in order to do their jobs. This includes equipment, training, assistance, coordination, and time.
  • Communicator – One of the most important duties is that of a communicator. The manager not only communicates important information needed for people to do their jobs, but also information that is necessary for people to understand the context of their jobs. People generally want to know what the company vision and strategy is. They want to know about markets, customers and competitors. They want to know about key company initiatives and how it effects them. The manager’s job is to make sure that people know what is going on and how they are effected.
  • Policy – The manager represents the company and its policies. To the people in the department, their manager is the company. Managers are familiar with company policy, communicate policy to employees, and represent the management of the company.
  • Relationships – Building relationships is a key aspect of the manager’s job. The manager’s job is to establish positive and effective working relationships both inside and outside the company. One of the value-added aspects of a manager’s role is that the manager knows people and can call upon their assistance to help the department get its job done.
  • Environment – The manager establishes and supports working relationship principles by creating an environment where people can count on each other. It is important to know what one can expect from another. The manager’s job is to coach people to help them understand how the team operates and to give them the understanding of each other’s role on the team.
  • Objectives – Establishing goals and objectives for people is a key part of being a coach. As part of the performance management process, the manager establishes performance goals and objectives for people. This is a very formal part of the manager’s job. Establishing the objectives for people and then letting them know how they are performing in meeting the objectives is management’s bread and butter. To get their best performance, people have to understand how they are performing and be given the coaching necessary to improve. Ultimately, the manager has to formally appraise the performance of their people. This formal review becomes the determining factor for compensation changes and promotions.
  • Recognition – People need to be recognized for a job well done. A manager makes sure that people are recognized for their contributions and extraordinary efforts on the job. The recognition should be timely. Recognition can take the form of anything from a sincere thank you to a substantial monetary award. The important thing is that people feel that they are appreciated for their extra effort.
  • Mentor – A manager is a mentor. In this capacity, the manager advises people on their career goals and helps them get the job assignments needed to move their careers forward. Although people are responsible for their own careers, the manager can be a valued advisor in career planning.
  • Manages his/her manager – Finally, a manager manages upward. That is, the manager keeps higher levels of management informed of their department’s progress that effect their commitments. In addition, the manager advises upper management on key issues and helps in the decision making process.

This is not an exhaustive list of management duties, but it represents some of the most important ones. These are the kinds of things that one should regularly expect from management as they play out their three roles of leader, project manager and coach.

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When Was The Last Time You Walked Away From A Sale?

Bill Warner Wednesday, August 05, 2009

The answer for most of us lies somewhere between I can’t remember and never. It is totally counter-intuitive to everything we expect to do. Yet, we all have memories of deals that we wish we had never won or opportunities where we wasted too much time, before finally losing out to a competitor.

The fact of the matter is that there are times when we would be much better off cutting our losses early and moving on to a more attractive opportunity. These situations generally fall into one of two categories: Bad Business and Low Probability of Sale.

Bad Business

The most unfortunate characteristic about this category is that it derives from a conscious thought process, with deliberate and calculated intent to win a business deal. In other words, it almost always happens by choice. But when we review the fruits of our labor, a few billing cycles later, why do they feel so much less rewarding?

The possibilities are numerous:

  • Your costs exceed your revenues, for this project.
  • You are having collection problems.
  • Your resources are now focused on issues that are not your core business.
  • You are under attack by the customer for not providing the contracted items.
  • You have an on-going adversarial relationship with the customer.
  • You are facing liability issues you don’t have with other customers.
  • You have not realized additional sales opportunities your were counting on.

So, let’s examine the harbingers of doom that preceded this fiasco, because at some point we misread the opportunity to stop the sales process and move on. This typically happens when we are so emotionally driven to capture a new customer that we fail to validate the legitimacy and fundamental value of the sale. Here are a few examples of how and when the wheels fall off the sales cart:

  • The deal margin has fallen below your minimum and it is not a strategic customer. Often, the sales team will rationalize this with the explanation that all future sales, which they will assure you will be many, will be at the normal price. Don’t believe it; it rarely happens that a customer orders more and does not demand the same pricing.
  • You do not have the resources to deliver the product or service. This is an immediate red flag that should cause you to evaluate the reasons for booking this business. One-off products/services are not only costly to deliver, but disrupt your normal business process and impact other customers.
  • The terms and conditions of the contract are unfair or unreasonable. Lopsided contract terms not only increase your exposure, but they are also indicators of a potentially flawed customer relationship and unreasonable customer expectations.
  • The risk-reward ratio is too high. There are many variables that can cause this type of imbalance, but none of them can rationalize it. If it appears that you will have to assume unusual risk in order to satisfy a contract, proceed cautiously.
  • Sales team convinces you to make concessions that are too aggressive, because there will be numerous, higher margin orders to follow. Don’t believe this either. It will not happen.
  • The customer has a reputation in the market for being unfair, unreasonable, or no-pay. The amount of time you will spend trying to make things right for this type of customer merely delays the inevitable. A good business relationship should benefit both parties.
  • Minimal due diligence in your sales review process will provide sufficient insight to evaluate and/or prevent this situation from occurring. Avoiding them will allow you to focus your resources on more rewarding opportunities, lower your risk, and improve productivity.

Low Probability of Sale

This category represents one of the most frequently misunderstood elements of the Sales process. It is the root cause of missed Sales forecasts, overstated revenue projections, frustrated executives, irritated boards, and pre-mature celebration by optimistic sales representatives. But, it doesn’t have to be that way.

Think of each situation as a puzzle with ten pieces, but the customer holds all the pieces. Your challenge is to guess the picture created by the completed puzzle. Your annual bonus depends upon how quickly and accurately you guess the picture. If customer A is willing to give you four pieces of the puzzle and customer B is willing to give you eight pieces, where would you spend your time? But, if customer C is also willing to give you eight pieces, in half the time as customer B, then where would you spend your time?

The amazing thing is there is a pattern of reasonably accurate predictors (the puzzle pieces) that can be obtained from most customers and interpreted to determine if and when to move on to the next opportunity. There is a correlation between the number of correct predictors (pieces) your sales representative can gather and the likelihood of a positive outcome. If it appears there are too few correct answers to support an opportunity, maybe it’s not really an opportunity at all. Here are some examples:

  • Who is the sponsor for this project for your product/service? It must be someone with enough credibility and influence (ideally at the executive level) to get a commitment from the decision maker and overcome other obstacles. In a typical technology-based sale, a sales representative is likely to interact with a techie-type, who, although enamored with the product and a great source of encouragement, cannot carry the ball into the end zone.
  • Who is the decision maker? Everyone in the process is going to claim to be the decision maker, until you ask about ownership of the budget to cover the check and/or signature authority to sign the check and/or who else has authority to veto his or her decision. That, ladies and gentleman, will be the real decision maker.
  • Is the project requiring your product/service on the corporate priority list? If it is, where on the list does it appear and do they expect to get to it in the current fiscal year? If the answer to either question is no, move on.
  • Is this project funded in the current budget? If not, you have an uphill battle, depending on the amount of money involved. Occasionally, monies can be reallocated from another part of the budget, but be prepared for a fight, which requires even more executive sponsorship.
  • Your competitor is the brother of the wife of the CEO. Find another opportunity!
  • Is it a must-have or a nice-to-have item? Unless it is a must have item, you will not likely get enough attention from the executive level (CEO, CFO, decision maker, etc.). The worst case will drag your organization through numerous demonstrations and proposals before fading into the sunset.
  • The tangible savings are minimal or non-existent. In today’s climate, it is all about cost containment or, better yet, cost reduction. If your proposal doesn’t contribute to this goal, you are unlikely to succeed, unless it satisfies the next point.
  • Does it add to revenue generation or increase profits? This is the corollary to the previous item and has obvious value. The challenge here is to quantify the value in a credible way.
  • The customer has the ability and inclination to do it themselves. This is especially true for IT projects, primarily due to the perceived threat to job security. You will need strong sponsorship and a top down directive to win this battle. Even then, expect a lot of resistance.

Summary

At the end of the day, this part of the sales process is all about probability, profitability, resource utilization, and risk management. It requires focus and commitment to provide the appropriate training, review steps, and enforcement. However, the benefits are attractive: accurate forecasting, better sales productivity, better customer relations, better margins, less frustration, and lower cost of sales associated with wasted effort.

Can you really afford the alternative?

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