A few recommendations related to business, networking, connectivity, engagement:
Be the most connected,
Hardest working,
Fastest responding,
Proactively communicating,
Actively networking,
Self learning,
Team oriented,
Client focused,
Innovative,
Most engaged,
person in your space.
That’s it today. Do it. see what happens
Communicate back to me
PS: GIVE IT TIME!
It was the jeans that triggered it.
You see, they were the exact same jeans that I had on as I walked into the store. The same jeans I bought there 6 months ago. And I love these jeans.
So the pair I grabbed off the shelf, the exact same color, size, make, model, when I pulled them on, they didn’t fit over my thighs in the dressing room. What? I double checked the size and shape. No difference.
“Perhaps they aren’t marked correctly, I said to myself.”
So I asked the sales attendant if he can help. I ask if I’ve made a mistake.
“Nope, he says. This happens all the time. You see we recommend you grab 3 or 4 pair at a time when you’re trying them on. They’re made in like, 50 or 60 different countries so you never know what you are going to get.”
Great response. Glad you don’t sell for me.
He’s doing a poor job at customer experience management and selling. Plus, he’s saying that they aren’t making jeans with consistent size patterns based on the country where they are assembled. Either way, both the salesperson and the manufacturer are doing a terrible job of designing experience. No thank you. I don’t expect to have to grab 3 or 4 pair of jeans to see if one or more of them, the exact same size, actually fit. I don’t care what country they are made in or what their supply chain logistics look like. Once I find a pair of jeans that works, I expect they will all be close to the same size EVERY TIME. I don’t want to play “roll-the-jeans-dice.”
This company is providing a negative and inconsistent experience when it comes to sales, and product QA/QC.
I quickly placed the jeans back on the shelf and slipped quietly out of the store. I wasn’t in the mood to manage my shopping experience through trial and error.
So what about your company? What about my company? I know different clients can have different experiences even though they all are “shopping” at our place, in different offices, and different ends of the building. How consistent of an experience am I creating? How am I making it easy on the client? How are my colleagues and people representing our services to buyers, prospective clients, and observers? Do our people know what to say and how to say it? Have they been trained in the “why of our business?” Is our product the same EVERY SINGLE TIME?
Even in professional services it’s not uncommon for clients who’ve had a negative experience to quietly slip away; to place the jeans on the shelf and never return. Do everything possible to prevent this from happening.
Our customer has articulated a goal to us. The mission and problem is clearly defined. So we run off in search of a solution. We work like crazy to make it happen. We can feel it coming together. We’re getting excited to share the solution with the client. Then, indeed, the moment comes. We’ve got it. It’s time to share the victory with our client. Our victory. We can’t wait for the moment. The unveiling. We come back with a presentation showing them that we achieved what they wanted….or so we thought…
But it wasn’t their solution. There’s a fail. What’s the fail? We forsake context and parameters. We never really engaged them in the process. We run with what we THOUGHT we heard. Its like we’re working in a box without communicating. What the solution lacks is context. Maybe they didn’t want those boundary conditions. Maybe they couldn’t install it that way. Maybe they didn’t want those items listed as collateral. Whatever the case may be, if we don’t engage our customer to come up with a solution within a proper context, we have not delivered. It’s like we’re working in a box. This happens way too often. And we’d think with modern communication tools it would be better, but that doesn’t make it a guarantee.
Good Solutions require integration and communication. They require collaboration. Keep the lid off the box while you’re working.
He sent me a LinkedIn request the week before I was heading to Los Angeles. I didn’t know him, but he was a “second” on my LinkedIn network, and connected to the glazing industry. I was happy to connect and accept his request. I thanked him for the connection through the message feature. I told him that I was heading to Los Angeles the next week. What a “coincidence.” I suggested that perhaps we could get together. The product he helped develop and represents was somewhat new to me, but I was curious. I wanted to know more about the company and the product. I was also traveling with my son that week as he had some interviews in LA. If he was available I wanted him to attend some meetings with me just to get more experience.
My new contact’s response was immediate; “You need to connect with two of my colleagues. I’m not available but I’d like them to get together with you. You guys can arrange whatever time that works.”
So we connected. We set up a meeting. It would be over coffee at a location we could both reach within an hour. I hesitated and second-guessed myself thinking that LA traffic would make it a mess, but decided that I’d just “play it by ear.”
The day prior, I had a meeting with another new client prospect. A large meeting was set with the CEO, Marketing VP, Director of Operations, Engineering Manager, and others. We met in the conference room. During that meeting the question came to me, “So do you have any other meetings this week?”
“Yes, I have them daily, including one tomorrow with some folks I met through LinkedIn. They have a specialty product I’d like to hear more about.”
“Oh we know them. In fact, we’ve used their product, says the CEO. Let us know if you find out anything pertinent that might be helpful to us as well.” (World gets smaller…)
The day came. My son was available. Traffic showed a clear, 1 hr, LA drive. We loaded up Google Maps and headed to the meeting. We arrived right on time. After navigating through the parking lot, then the coffee shop, we found our LinkedIn friends. They were sitting outside. It was warm. The air smelled fresh. A light breeze was blowing. The atmosphere was inviting. My new friends were very welcoming and engaging. The discussion started. It moved quickly to common points of reference and insights. Shortly into the discussion, it became obvious to me that there was a potential opportunity to leverage our friend’s product with people and companies that I knew (dots to connect as I say.) To connect them to people and products that had influence and application. Discussion became deeper. I asked questions. My son asked questions. We were all deeply engaged. We were looking at product samples. I asked them to tell me more about their story. I asked them about their goals and plans within the space that I was familiar. They stated them within A Five-Year Plan.
” 5-years, I asked? You don’t have 5 years. What about two to three years?”
“What do you have in mind, they asked?”
“I tell you what I have in mind related to speed to Market. There’s no reason for you to wait 5 years. There’s front-end application for this now if the value proposition is clear. Buyers downstream need to understand the economics. This is an investment to facilitate a reduced life cycle cost downstream. There are events and groups where you need to connect. There’s Sales managers, business developers and marketers that you need to meet. You need to get in front of the right people. How about if I provide you with a proposal. I’ll help you evaluate the market channels and client prospects.”
“I think we would be very interested, they said. We’ll talk to the CEO and COO and ask them what they think.”
Much more transpired. We adjourned on time, shared business cards, created follow-up plans, and then headed our separate ways (My way was to the nearest In-and-Out Burger for lunch.)
The next week I got a message from my contact saying that the CEO and COO wanted a proposal. They were interested in what I had to offer. I asked for email addresses. They were provided. I set up a new job number. I started a proposal in draft form. It’ll be in their hands soon. There is an opportunity to help them get deeper into one of their market segments, to potentially increase their market share, their top-line revenue, and profitability. All from one simple LinkedIn connection request. From intention and interest. From a simple 1-hour connection point with people who care about their product and who want to improve their lives. All around a cup of coffee, at a table outside, on a sunny day in Southern California.
Related to LinkedIn as an example of a social media platform for business; we can simply accept connections and be done, or we can respond, be invitational, and start a conversation. When we create conversation, we may drive to a deeper level. If someone doesn’t want to engage back, they simply won’t respond. But if they do want to engage, it can quickly lead to more; and we don’t know what “more” may be. This is just one instance for me where a simple social media connection request turned into an opportunity to create and express value for both parties.
How are you doing in social media and relationship-building? Are you disregarding the potential value and connections with people, and with building relationships? Are you simply requesting and accepting connections without taking it any further?Are you posting things about yourself and your company without ever attempting to create value to others?
Everything has a context. Social media itself doesn’t build a personal relationship. It provides a connection point through a platform. Don’t simply accept a connection and sit idly without any further conversation. There’s a person on the other end, not a digital entity. There’s a person that works for a company who wants to continue improving their life, and the lives of those around them. Look for common interests or common spaces and places to connect. You’ll be surprised at the dots that can be connected over time. And even if nothing transpires from it related to business, the time invested in a relationship is worth it. People have value. People are looking to connect and build community. People have a story to tell. It’s enough to simply meet someone and share coffee together.
Here are a few follow-up thoughts and applications. These things are good to remember.
The next time you request or receive a connection, initiate a conversation. Make it relevant. Be interesting. Keep it succinct. As I stated in my blog post, “Inclusive or Exclusive,” you might be surprised at what happens.
…..is about the smallest one in the joint. When we built our current office about nine years ago, my partner and I wanted our people to have the highest ceilings and the most square footage that we could afford in order to facilitate creativity; facilitate “room to breathe.”
We push hard. We work in a high-stress field; its deadline-driven; time-sensitive. Margins can be tight and decisions are critical. As owners we have a lot of responsibility, but we also have opportunity and options that others can not experience. As an owner, why take the biggest office? What kind of culture does that facilitate? Do we really believe in valuing our people? Do we really care? Are we willing to put our money where our mouth is? Are we willing to build a space and an environment that represents and manifests that we care?
Not to mention that the bigger my office, the more paper I accumulate. I wanted to be forced to delegate; to get stuff off of my desk! I wanted to be able to keep as little in my physical office space as possible. The smaller my space, the less time I need to spend in it.
That means more time being mobile and less paper on my desk. It means more work being put in the hands of others for them to take ownership, and to build a name for themselves within the organization. It means more electronic work and digital files. It forces disciplines in the right areas for me.
I don’t have a parking space with my name on it either. I’ve never been a fan of that scenario. I think its pompous. If anyone should have a parking spot with a name attached, it should be for the “servant of the month,” or maybe the person that has to put up with me the most. I’ve also got a hand-me-down chair for visitors. I have an Ikea wrap-around desk that works just fine. I’ve got a backpack rather than a briefcase, and it’s my mobile office. I do have a triple monitor system and a docking station that I use in order to make things super efficient. It allows me to work as productively at my desk as possible. I prefer to invest in tools and people, not needless perks. Ownership, when done right, has enough built-in perks. Ownership has other privileges. I’ll pass on the bigger offices and parking spaces. How about you?
So are you inclusive or exclusive?
Most of us like to think we’re inclusive. Our opinion, however, doesn’t really matter in this regard. What matters is the opinion of those who are on the other end of the experience with or around us.
Most of us are far less inclusive than we think, and that’s stating it kindly.
Do you know who’s responsible for being inclusive? Everyone. But it needs to be, as a minimum, the person who is, or is becoming, a leader. It’s easy to take the simple route by excluding people. It takes effort and intention to be invitational. Leadership is intentional. Leadership is inclusive.
We’ve all felt the pain of being excluded. When we take that experience and become inclusive with the folks that may not crack into our group, our perceived social structure, our meeting, or our inner circle, we are reversing the pattern.
When we share with other people for their benefit, information we’ve learned at work, that’s being inclusive. When we invite into any space a person that we don’t always understand, don’t know well, or that is different from us, we are being inclusive.
Are you and I being more inclusive or exclusive? Try going outside the comfort zone and extend an invitation. Broaden the circle. When circles get larger, they capture a broader area. Sometimes they overlap with other circles. The overlapping space can lead to something special. We might be surprised at what happens.
Most people expect engineers to engineer, lawyers to lawyer, doctors to doctor, accountants to account, investors to invest, and so on. We expect professionals to do what they advertise. It’s interesting though – all things being equal – and assuming all are true to their brand and ability, we don’t grade the performance of professionals and their enterprises primarily in regards to their technical work product and deliverable. We expect appropriate results regardless. What we typically judge and grade the work by relates to “soft skills” – like listening, communication, fairness, responsiveness, etc. This is why when we purchase a service, it’s not really what we are buying. We are really buying an EXPERIENCE. Look at customer evaluations. They have little to do with the technical work product because that’s what is expected; it’s just one category. We want an interaction that will make our life easier and better; order in the midst of chaos; someone to make life and work as easy as possible as they sort out our problem. That’s value. Bring as much competency to the table as you can as a professional. Be better technically. But all things being equal, it’s the experience that people will remember.
JOHN L WHEATON BLOG 