Home care agencies, are your prepared for the onslaught of calls you’ll likely be getting after the holidays? I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that many people don’t realize what condition their elderly parents are in until they go to Grandma’s house for Christmas but this article from today’s Star Tribune serves as a great reminder.

It’s also sad:

Across the nation this holiday season, thousands of families will slam into the reality that life has changed for aging parents — dad is far more frail than relatives thought, mom forgot to prepare the holiday feast, the house is filthy, the refrigerator is bare, or a stack of bills has gone unpaid.

This is known territory for many of the 46 million Americans who help frail, aging relatives and friends — about 900,000 in Minnesota. But for some, it comes as a shock, and they often have little notion of what help is available, or even what is needed.

This type of shock can easily be avoided by a) recognizing that mom and dad are getting old and resolving to keep an eye on their condition and b) planning ahead so that you have a plan in place when the time comes to hire an HHA or PCA or whatever the family decides to do.

Unfortunately most people go with c) wait until there’s a crisis, and panic.

As home health care providers, it’s our job to make sure that a family in crisis mode is able to see us through the fog of confusion and consider home care as an option. One thing we can do is encourage families to find a “trusted advisor” or geriatric care manager, someone who can help steer them through the mist and into the type of care they need.

I’m pleased to see articles like this–it might inspire a few people to plan ahead and therefore avoid hitting the panic button. Home care agencies should take advantage of articles like these; tweet it, facebook it, blog about it, Xerox it with a copy of your company’s information and mail it to household in your county, whatever.

And after January 1st, stay close to the phone.

Although I make my living consulting with businesses about merchant services, I know that business owners don’t like talking about payment processing and I don’t blame them.  Having a trusted advisor for merchant services is like having a good car mechanic, you need someone you can depend on and hope you don’t have to talk with them too often. 

Regardless of who you decide to talk to about your merchant services, you should take the time to find someone that is giving you straight answers.  As in any high value industry, there are professionals in the merchant services industry that can help you ensure that you are paying as little as possible and those that will take advantage of someone if they can.  The question is how to know which one you are dealing with.

Here are some tips to help you choose a quality trusted advisor for your business:

• Patience - This is essential.  A quality consultant is going to take the time to explain things to you and help answer your questions in a way that you can understand.
• Trust – Yes, it is possible to find someone that you trust when it comes to finding a merchant services consultant.  The key is that whether you are looking for a CPA, Doctor, or Consultant, it takes time to develop the relationship necessary to be comfortable trusting them.  Are they telling you want they think you want to hear or giving you a straight answer even when they know it may mean that you won’t end up working with them? 
• Knowledge – Ask what kinds of businesses they currently work with and what experience they have in your industry. 
• Options – Most trusted advisors will give you a short list of recommended options for your specific situation and should be able to give pros and cons for each of them.  If they are only giving you one option, ask about other options and question them as to why they are suggesting one option over the other.
• References – Ask if they would be willing to provide you with a couple of references to speak with.  Don’t hesitate to contact those references and ask questions about their experiences with the consultant.  A quality, experienced consultant should have a handful or more clients willing to vouch for them.  If they aren’t willing to provide a reference either they don’t care enough to win your business or they don’t provide quality enough service that they have anyone willing to speak up for them.
• Relationship – Most people don’t want to buy important services from vending machines, they want to buy from real people.  Find someone that you can have a relationship with on a level that you are comfortable with.  Your consultant should know who you are and be willing to help before and after the sale.  If they don’t know who you are when you call or email, what value are they adding to your relationship?

Whether you are getting your car fixed, looking to buy a house, or need to find or re-visit your merchant services solution, having a dependable, trustworthy consultant is worth its weight in gold.  Not only can you rest assured that your issues and opportunities will be taken care of effectively, you have someone that is looking out for you even when you aren’t on the phone with them.  They are able to create value for your business because of their expertise, attitude, and willingness to help when help is needed.

The sign of a truly good trusted advisor is someone who you would refer and recommend to others even if they never asked you to.  It is someone that you can respect and appreciate because you know that they respect and appreciate you, your time, and  your business.  They don’t take you for granted and are willing to go above and beyond when needed.

Do yourself and your business a favor and if you decide to find a trusted advisor to help your business take the time to find the right one.  Having a relationship rather than a one-minute sales transaction can pay dividends when your business is on the line.

I hope that this information was helpful to you.  If you have any questions or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly at takingcards@gmail.com

Thank you,

Ben Wallace

Much as I use the term ‘empathy selling’, I don’t actually sell anything in terms of the common definition. I do things to try to demonstrate I have expertise in the areas in which I work and I meet new people who I would consider to be prospective clients regularly.

The way I like to arrange to meet new people is on the basis that I have some ideas which might be of benefit to them to know about. In meeting with me, they will get to hear about some new ways of winning work and whether or not they are going to use my business to go forward with these, it should at the very least be valuable to them to hear about the latest approaches that others are taking. At the same time, it is great for me to find out the views of everyone I meet.

There’s something of great reciprocal value in simply meeting with new people and sharing thoughts about a specific subject.

And if the people I meet would like to take my ideas forward, it will be them who has decided to do this because these ways of winning work are right for them. They have bought something which fits with their own business and still, at no point in the process did I sell anything.

And this is exactly the style I encourage the partners, directors and other stakeholders at the clients we work with to adopt when coaching them on approaching a meeting with a prospective client.

Lawyers, accountants and other professionals absolutely MUST demonstrate they are experts in their fields and that they understand their prospective client’s challenges. You MUST find out precisely all the information you need to propose solutions, and in hierarchy. But you must NOT expect you are going to win new business every time you meet someone. This won’t happen. That said, the more people you meet, the more likely you are going to be in a situation where you can demonstrate empathy and expertise. The more new people you meet, the more likely it is that they will make a good buying decision…. And hire you as a trusted advisor…. Without having to sell anything….

Isn’t that a nicer way of winning work?

What to do about your house when you Divorce Part 2 of 2

By Michael Hughes   December 2, 2009

The house as a commodity

Your home is now a commodity.  You must detach from the emotional aspect of it.  Often easier said than done.  This is divorce.  As the Nike logo says “Just Do It.”  What this means is you detach, you listen to your advisors and your realtor about what needs to happen to get it sold.  You don’t want just the lawyers coming out with money in the bank! It means you detach yourself from your house and listen to other people’s advice about what you need to do to sell it.

Do not spend money on anything unless it is deferred maintenance.  Agree up front, in writing if possible, who will pay for what.  Stage the house minimally. In other words clear out the clutter and the family pics.  Neutral, neutral, neutral.   Price it properly.  Price it to move.  Avoid relying on gossip regarding prices in the neighborhood.  Get the facts.  Call me now for an absolute accurate Price Analysis based on todays’ market.

Outcome of setting your price too high

Setting a price that’s too high has a potential of three or more negative effects. First, it will take more time to sell your house,  that extends the time you’re making the mortgage payments. Second, your house will become stale or shop worn and potential buyers will wonder what’s wrong with it.  The price you eventually get will be lower after “chasing the market.”  Third when an offer is made if it is too high and it doesn’t appraise it presents the buyer with a new set of problems and they can walk away from the deal.

Don’t leave it empty

If you and your spouse have both moved out of the house, leave some simple furniture there until the house sells.  Rent furnishings if necessary.  Empty houses are  hard for most   buyers to imagine living in.  Also if just one of you is living there try to leave a few clothes from both parties.  It is a dead giveaway when you walk in and there is one empty walk in closet in the master suite.  Buyers are always looking for the “reason” why sellers are selling.

Contact me today if you or anyone you know needs real estate help
e-Mail michael.hughes@sothebysrealty.com Direct 303-359-6627 Website:www.bolderrealestate.com

Today I realized how much the local “phone company” that owns 90% of market share (not mentioning any names) is taking advantage of small-medium businesses. I am absolutely floored with what I see in reviewing bills for prospects.

It’s no wonder business owners are confused and frankly don’t know what they have or don’t have, when they are in contract or not in contract.

Look out for multiple contracts within a contract. It’s a tactic used by the above mentioned company to handcuff you to them. They are absolutley taking advantage of people who want to save a little money on their phone and internet service. It’s not a win/win typically.

Since it’s hardly ever a co-terminous contract, most don’t ever have the option to leave. Not to mention they convince you they are far superior.

Fact of the matter is, they are order takers and not trusted advisors!! Who’s in your best interest?

Are you or business owners you know frustrated with their phone and internet service provider? I would more than welcome the opportunity to give them a refreshingly honest and ethical evaluation. I know, it sounds to good to be true

Have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving! Trevor

The Trusted Advisor

The term ‘Trusted Advisor’ has as many definitions as does the job title Sales Engineer or Sales Consultant but the big difference is that there is no job called ‘Trusted Advisor’. Yet when it comes down to it, every Sales Engineer is told that they need to be the ‘Trusted Advisor’ to the customer. So just what does that mean and how do you get to become the ‘Trusted Advisor’ for a customer? Because I’m writing this blog I’m going to take a stab at a definition; please don’t stop reading the article because you disagree with the definition, but definitely add a comment to the blog. OK, the definition:

An expert in a given subject that works with a customer/prospect to understand their problems and to help them understand how they can solve their problems, typically within the bounds of the Trusted Advisor’s subject expertise and products.

So now that we have a definition to go by, what are the steps for a Sales Engineer to become a Trusted Advisor. I will start out with a short list of bullets then move to a deeper description of each; I have kept this list short only because I doubt anyone want’s to read a 5 page blog and hopefully comments from other experts and opinionated folks will fill in where needed.

1. Listen before talking
2. Understand your customers challenges
3. Understand your customers competition
4. Be two or three steps ahead of your customers

 Listen before talking:

To me, this could be the first, second and third bullets in my list. When people seek out advice from their friends, the one common theme is that the friend listens to the problem before they try to solve the problem. How can anyone help a customer solve a problem if they don’t even know what those issues are? OK, you may be the expert and already know the issues, but that doesn’t matter. Unless the customer has no idea what their problems are you must let the customers tell you what the problems are that they are facing. Listen to all of them, gently help them quantify how these issues are affecting the team or company. When they get stuck, pull out a few common industry issues out of your pocket and validate them with a good story from another customer that they will connect with. If they agree with these issues you will start to move from being part of a sales team member to someone on their team as an advisor. Please keep in mind that when pulling out issues that are common to a company like the one you are presenting to, that the customer may not connect with that issue or may not be willing to discuss it out in the open. If they disagree; drop that specific issue and move the discussion forward quickly to keep the discussion from going sour.

Understand your customers challenges:

To help someone solve an issue, you need to understand that issue. As a Sales Engineer, this is typically done by learning from previous jobs, other Sales Engineers, or the repetition of helping other customers with the same issue. No matter how you get there, this allows you to be empathetic with the customer and to help them envision a path to a solution. If you don’t understand the problems, a Sales Engineer ends up being just that, a Sales Engineer; someone on the sales team that is simply spewing out features and functions that typically solve a business problem. Customers can quickly notice the difference and will be weary of that person on the sales team verses the Trusted Advisor who is thought of as someone on their team. So if you lack good understanding of your customers problems, spend as much time as possible, with Product Management, Development, Customers, Support, Consulting and other Sales Engineers to get a grasp on the issues and solutions. This foundation will then help you have a better understanding of what your product is doing to solve those customer challenges.

 Understand your customers competition:

To take the next step as a Trusted Advisor you need to think like your customer. What capabilities does their competition have that keeps them up at night, what has stopped them from gaining market share, how did their competitors overcome these challenges, and how can YOU help this customer solve these issues. The best Success Stories are the ones about the competition; almost every company has a competitor that has solved a problem your prospect is facing and if your company helped them solve that problem you increased the value of your product in their minds. One of the most powerful drives in business is that of not being left behind. Use your industry and customer knowledge to your advantage to create that fear of being left behind, then show them the solution using your product(s).

 Be two or three steps ahead of your customers:

Once you have proven that you understand your customers challenges, it’s time to demonstrate that you understand the challenges they have yet to encounter. As a Trusted Advisor you are aiming for a long term relationship with your customers. By talking about challenges that they may likely face in the future, you set up the type of relationship where you are brought in when they start to see those issues crop up. In my experience, most companies don’t want to address these issues to early on, they have more pressing issues dealing with the problems they are talking to you about in the first bullet. But, if they chose you as a vendor and your implementation goes well, they will likely remember your insight and bring you in early which allows you to be column A and to set the requirement.

In summary becoming a Trusted Advisor takes time and patience. Think like the customer, think how you would act if you worked for that company and you will start to see a difference in how customers treat you and in my opinion you will increase closure rates.

Don’t forget, tomorrow at 11:30 am (east coast time) I’ll be presenting material sales people can use this week!  If your marketing department isn’t giving you all the leads you can use (and even if they are), this material will help you accelerate your 2010 sales pipeline.  You’ll get:

• Ways to dramatically change the cold calling process
• A proven strategy for reaching economic buyers
• A way of organizing contacts that will keep you on top of every prospect
• What to say when you get executives on the phone
• A process for moving new contacts to the next level – networking strategies
• 9 Ways to position yourself as a true “Trusted Advisor”, (even though I hate this over-used term).
• And a free copy of my latest book, Data@Risk.

Don’t miss it, sign up at http://www.stelzl.us/business_strategy_TeleS.asp (and select the October option at the bottom).  Also check out the upcoming sessions for November, December, and January.

Business owners face a difficult task juggling the many roles and responsibilities that come along with “being the boss”.  Many start out with a great business idea and a great deal of skill and expertise at ONE or TWO key aspects of turning thier great idea into a successful business.  More often than not, smart business owners will start to ask questions early on about how to cover their skill base shortages by engaging outside assistance.  But how do you go about evaluating the multitude of so-called “business improvement experts” and find someone who can be a trusted advisor to you, instead of what I like to call a “Value Add Illusionist”?

For the record, my definition of a “Value Add Illusionist” is someone who poses as an expert, selling expensive ideas that will supposedly make your business more successful; but when all the smoke and mirrors disappear (usually a few weeks after their flashy seminars have ended) you’re left with nothing but a hole in your cash flow and some empty promises but definitely no value add.

Essentially, there are three things you should be looking for in a trusted advisor before you go out and spend your hard-earned on engaging their services.  Let me say up front that I firmly believe that you’ve got to get some trusted advisors working for you as part of a successful business strategy.  As I have said before, no one can be an expert at everything – so if you’re weak in a particular area, it actually pays to have someone reliable that you can turn to in that area when you need to.  So now to the big question – what are the three things you should expect from your trusted advisors?  Read on…

Advice

That’s right, it might sound ridiculous, but the first thing you need to get from a trusted advisor is actual advice.  To explain, let’s look at the dictionary definition of advice:

• a practical opinion or recommendation about what could or should be done (action or conduct) about a situation or problem, usually given after careful deliberation; counsel

This definition covers all the keys to what makes for good advice. 

Good advice is practical, not theoretical.  Good advice is action based, not idea based.  Good advice is well thougt out and based on the particulars of your situation, not based on the advisor’s “one size fits all” program. 

Many of the value add illusionists out there don’t offer you anything in the way of practical.  It’s all about some theory they’ve come up with, or a catch phrase that they throw around repeatedly like some demented mantra.  Most of them never get around to telling you the action they recommend you take to improve your business.  Why not?  Typically because they have no idea what you should do in your particular situation.  Because they don’t know anything about your particular situation.  And they haven’t really even thought about it.  They don’t know you or your business, so they are reduced to selling their generic, touchy-feely nonsense that will not meet the needs of your business.  But the money you pay will sure meet the needs of their business.

That’s why you should always ask yourself what exactly you’re paying for when it comes to shelling out for an expert.  If they are not providing you with some real advice that will be of real value to you and your business, then what are they doing for you?  Real advice leads to the second thing you should expect from your trusted advisors…

Solutions 

Again, I’ll refer you to the good old dictionary for a definition of the word solutions, because this word is thrown around like a beach ball at the cricket nowadays (usually by the value add illusionists).

• particular methods of solving a problem, explanations, answers

As I said before, advice has to be about action.  The kind of actions you’re going to want to pay an expert for will be of the solutions kind.  A trusted advisor will give you advice about what actions you can take to solve your problems.  Notice too that I am keeping it plural – solutions, actions.  Beware the advisor that tries to tell you there is only one solution to your problem.  Especially if he’s the only one selling that particular solution.  In business, most problems have more than one solution.  If you come across an advisor that can’t think up multiple solutions based on his knowledge of your business, you’d be well advised to seek help elsewhere.  It comes down to whether or not they can give you options.  Then you can be the judge of what solutions will work best for you.  After all, you’re the one footing the bill.  So how do you judge the various solutions offered up by your expert of choice?  The answer to that question is also the third thing you should expect from your trusted advisors…

Results

Ok, so this won’t always be apparent the first time you talk to a particular expert, but there are ways to check out whether or not an individual or their company are known for getting results.  Because I already have it out on my desk, let’s go to the dictionary to get some insight into what I mean by results.

• desirable or beneficial consequences of a particular action, operation or course, outcome, effect; to “get results” is to obtain a notable or successful result or response, to be effective

This is the only real measure of how good any advice and solutions you have been provided are.  Did the advice and the subsequent solutions end up giving your business the results you desired?  If not, it doesn’t always mean that you have to sever your ties with the advisor in question.  What you should do is go back to that advisor to tell them that you did not get results from taking their advice and implementing their solutions.  And they should then be willing to help you measure what the outcomes were, analyse what went wrong and adapt a new set of solutions to fix the problem.  Sometimes, giving good advice is more about asking the right questions than getting all the right answers straight away.  Some problems are complex, especially the ones you’ve had to call in the troops for.  And remember that there is some benefit to be had in working together over a period of time with the same individual or group of individuals that can become more and more familiar with your business through experience.

Ask yourself these three questions about your current collection of experts to determine if they’re worthy of being called Trusted Advisors:

1. Are they giving me good advice (based on the definition above)?
2. Do they provide me with solutions (plural) to my problems?
3. Do their solutions deliver results that are helping me make my business better?

If not, you might just have yourself a “value add illusionist”.  Time to make them disappear.

MasikaTech, LLC solution offering for Non-profit organizations’ allows Non-profits the freedom to devote more time to what they do best:  delivering societal responsibilities.  We are committed to delivering innovation.  We collaborate with our clients to help them realize their vision and create tangible value.  We deliver passionate, detailed and proactive customer care.  We efficiently mobilize the right people, skills, alliances and technologies.  Our core offerings include the following:

Strategic Planning: Our Strategic Planning offering helps organizations to clearly define technology focus, operational intent, fiscal impact and an understanding of how technology can help meet its core business objectives.  Our goals are to help your organization leverage appropriate technologies to lower costs, develop collective accountability and to accelerate/improve the quality of technology investments.

Resource on Demand: When partnering with MasikaTech organizations gain access to proven On Demand technology resources, satisfaction guaranteed!

Document Management & Team Collaboration: MasikaTech designs a central document management and team collaboration platform to allow internal staff, donors, volunteers, beneficiaries and partner organizations to collaborate.

Intranet and Extranet Portals:  MasikaTech can design and implement a comprehensive portal for internal staff and external partners.

Customer Relationship Management: Investing in a comprehensive technology platform to manage donor, volunteer and partner relationships is essential for non-profits to thrive in today’s environment.  MasikaTech can address these challenges through the robust functionality of Salesforce.com or MS Dynamics in a cost effective hosted CRM platform.

Grant Writing: Securing funding through Grant Writing is necessary to meet budgetary requirements for most Non-Profit organizations.  MasikaTech can identify funding opportunities, develop successful grant submissions and provide expert reviews.

Technology Managed Services:  MasikaTech combines a best of breed approach to delivering world-class Technology Managed Services.  We provide responsive, experienced and compassionate technology experts to quickly tackle all your technology support needs.

eCFOservices:  Cost-effective comprehensive solutions to help non-profit organizations optimize their potential.  We effectively and efficiently manage finances in a way that allows the organization to maximize impact.

Ecosystem Marketing Services: The competition for gaining organizational visibility is growing at an astounding pace.  Consumers are being influenced by new channels, new technologies and new modes of interaction.  MasikaTech will position your organization to market to individuals within social ecosystems.

Contact sales@masikatech.com to request a complete service offering or additional information.

About MasikaTech, LLC

MasikaTech LLC is a Seattle based management technology consulting firm focused on delivering comprehensive technology services and solutions.  MasikaTech helps clients to achieve measurable, long-term results.  The firm’s three functional areas are:

• Hybrid Resourcing ™

• CIO Services

• Portals and Collaboration

MasikaTech LLC is currently advising, managing, designing and building innovative solutions for Port of Seattle, Microsoft, SVP, Snohomish County PUD, SVPI, and The Woodmark Group, among others.

MasikaTech professionals are passionate technology advisers – experienced professionals who excel in solving complex business and technical problems.  They are strategists, creators, managers, designers, integrators and problem solvers.

Proud of the track record and the reliability that is demonstrated on each client engagement, MasikaTech, LLC thrives on resolving issues, managing risks and delivering technology solutions successfully.  MasikaTech, LLC was founded in 2002.  Additional information can be found at http://masikatech.com

The numerous technology components you rely upon on a daily basis increase your organizational carbon footprint.  While it may not be immediately obvious, there are measures you can take to reduce the environmental impact of your technology platform.  By utilizing the latest technology advancements within our three core service lines (CIO services, Hybrid Resourcing and Portals & Collaboration) our team can identify potential initiatives to help reduce your organizational technology carbon footprint.

Our initial step for addressing these challenges focuses on optimizing your technological productivity.   Our team will examine your existing critical processes to explore opportunities for implementing redesigned or automation enhancements that will reduce energy consumption. When the initial process improvement activities are complete our team then focuses on identifying applications and/or solutions that will provide long term strategic improvements to optimize your organizational productivity, and thus reduce your technology carbon footprint.

How to get started?

• Strategies to take advantage of Software as a Service (SAAS) and Cloud Computing offerings
• Design and develop online document management platform to reduce faxing, emailing and printing
• Design and develop an online collaboration using SharePoint to reduce business travel, client and employee commuting
• Maintain closer relationships with donors and partners via online Customer Relationship Management platform (CRM)
• Develop strategies to take advantage of Ecosystem Marketing Technologies
• Design and develop eForms for your organizational processes to replace paper forms
• Enable collaborative online training and access to organizational information
• Automate processes and workflows to gain end-to-end process visibility

Sample Case Study:

A Local Construction Company was not taking the advantage of opportunities to reduce cost and over head by reducing unessacary business travel.  We discovered that a majority of construction related business travel result from in-efficient collaboration, miscommunication, schedules errors or updates, job on-boarding process issues or errors, change orders and business habit.  MasikaTech’s solution for reducing Construction’s business travel was to implement an easy to use on-line collaboration portal system that reduced project related business travel by more than 20%, guaranteed.

MasikaTech Green Results:   Lower overhead, improved customer service, supplier and sub contractor management, increased efficiencies, higher profit margins, enhanced document management, improved engineer & architect collaboration and reduced carbon footprint.

“make it happen”

Optimizing Organization with MasikaTech’s service lines for Green Results

The first thing that has to be said about backup plans is that there is a definition of a backup plan that your bank uses for its purposes, and a quite different definition of a backup plan that you’ll want to use for your purposes. Trust me – you don’t want to experience the bank’s “backup plan”. When a bank talks backup plans, it usually means (at least as a first step) your banking relationship being transferred to “Credit & Asset Management” or some equally ominous sounding department that is typically interested in only one thing – getting the bank’s money back as quickly as possible and then sending you on your not-so-merry way. That’s the bank’s idea of a backup plan – commonly referred to in the industry as the “secondary exit” when described in credit papers. As you may have already guessed, this secondary exit usually means selling off your assets and placing your business into liquidation.

The first question that the bank asks when considering an application for credit is “Is there an underlying, viable, sustainable business here?” Or, to put it into terms that we have been using throughout this series; “Is this business bankable?” In answering these questions, a great deal of analysis is done and your business is assigned a “PD” or Probability of Default based on the estimated ongoing viability of the business. The PD, expressed as a percentage, is an estimation of the likelihood that you will default on your loans within the next 12 months. If you default, the bank has already calculated what they need to know about what to expect from their “backup plan”. Another measure called the LGD or Loss Given Default would have been calculated for your business and is an estimate of how much the bank stands to lose (also expressed as a percentage) when they move from default to recovery – selling off your assets.

The backup plan I’m talking about here is the one you need to have prepared for your business. Preferably, your backup plan will kick into effect long before you start defaulting on your loan repayments. Otherwise, the bank’s backup plan tends to take precedence over yours.

So how do you go about putting this backup plan together? There are really four “steps” to putting it all together, and the great thing is, the first step is already nearly done for you. That is, it’s already nearly done if you’ve taken my advice from the first few parts of this series and you are now the proud owner of a business plan that includes a sound risk management plan.

Step one is all about measuring the things that you need to measure in order to keep tabs on the key risks you’ve already identified in your risk management plan. Needless to say, it does absolutely no good to identify risks your business might be exposed to and then come up with ways to mitigate those risks if you’re not going to measure key elements of your business (internal factors and external factors) to see whether or not you’re being exposed to those risks on an ongoing basis. So step one is simply to regularly measure how your business is going against the potential risks you’ve identified in your business plan in the “risk management” section.

Step two is the evaluation of the things you’ve been measuring. In other words, you need to be able to critically analyse the data you’ve collected and understand the implications of them for your business. This is the most important step in your backup plan, because without it, you cannot progress to step three and finish the backup plan. Not to mention, you’re left with a load of useless data that you’ve been collecting to mitigate identified risks to your business and you have no clue what it all means. Proper evaluation is required to see how you’re travelling at avoiding or minimising the risks, but it also allows you to do step three, which gives you the practical, “what to do” part of your backup plan.

Step three is to adapt your business plan in whatever way necessary to improve your business, make your business more successful and ensure the long-term survival of the business as a whole. In short, step three is about “reinventing” your business regularly based on the evaluation (step two) of the data you’ve been measuring (step one) to ensure that you NEVER have to revert to the bank’s backup plan, no matter what. The U.S. Marines have a motto that reminds their troops how to perform in any situation, even in the heat of battle – “improvise, adapt, and overcome”. Now, in business, as I imagine would be the case in war, I think it’s always better to do a lot of planning to reduce the amount of improvising necessary. But you get the point – things don’t always go to plan – that’s why you need the backup plan.

These first three steps sound pretty straightforward, pretty simple. But getting it right couldn’t have more profound implications for the survival of your business. And properly thinking out what to measure, how you interpret the data collected, and how to constantly improve how you do business will definitely make your business more bankable. Simple? Maybe. Easy? No way. Even the best business minds in the world know that the first three steps don’t make for a complete backup plan if you don’t include one more step…

Step four is to seek out expert advice. You will not be able to run a lasting, successful business without creating relationships with trusted advisors that can help you out from time to time. In fact, having established relationships with key advisors that you trust and are willing to “share” your business with comes in handy in almost every aspect of what I’ve been talking about in this series – from putting together a business plan to creating and updating your backup plan. A business owner that thinks he knows everything he or she needs to know without the assistance of some expert advice from time to time is fooling himself and no one else. He certainly won’t come away from an encounter with a bank without giving them a reason not to back his business. Connections with and, to an extent, reliance upon key advisors in key areas should never be considered a weakness but an advantage. Competent, trusted advisors can help even the most talented business owners keep a proper sense of perspective on the “forest” and the “trees” simultaneously.

Consider some key areas where a trusted advisor could be helpful:

Accountant – Do you have an accountant that can help you understand the numbers, what they mean, what the key drivers of your business are and how to act to improve the bottom line? Or do you have “some guy” that you talk to once a year when you need your taxes done?

Solicitor – Do you have a lawyer that knows your business, your industry and your individual situation to the extent that he can look out for you and proactively keep you up to date with legal issues that could potentially impact upon you and your business? Or do you have a solicitor (that you only go to when something has become an emergency) that you know only because he did the conveyancing on your last property purchase?

Financial Planner – Is your financial planner creating opportunities for you and growing your investment or retirement portfolio in a manner consistent with your appetite for risk and the plans that you have agreed to in regular consultations? Or is your planner just the guy that helped you set up your self-managed super fund that now consists of a term deposit and the commercial premises you operate your business from?

Business Banker – Do you have a business banker that is like a business coach; that understands how to run a business and understands how you run your business in particular? Is he proactively looking after your needs whether or not it means he’ll sell you another product? How often does he call you? Visit your premises? Do you have a business banker or a glorified bank teller?

Of course, you don’t really need a backup plan if these four steps sound all too hard. Remember, the bank has a backup plan prepared if you don’t already have one.

Let me preface this post by saying I generally LOATHE the bash PR (or marketing or social media) meme. It serves little purpose, mostly because the people doing the bashing don’t offer up the criticism constructively, or with any reasonable alternatives to pursue in its place. Even though I’m not a traditional communications pro, I do work for a communications firm, and work closely with our account executives to provide solutions to client issues. I also read plenty of blogs, engage people on Twitter and meet people at conferences and events so I think I have a pretty good sense for what the industry is generally thinking (though, I’m sure you’ll correct me if I’m misguided here).

What I’ve noticed in my “travels” is that we, as communications pros, often come off the tracks in the same places. This isn’t going to be your typical mud slinging meme because I find that kind of dialogue nauseating. Rather, this is just meant as an outline of my thoughts on where we are as an industry and what we could do better collectively.

1. You don’t represent you – Lauren Fernandez, who I respect very much as a PR pro, had an excellent post yesterday about conforming to social media or the brand that we work for. It really had me thinking as quite often I think we try to conform to the social media community’s standards and not those of our brands. First and foremost, communications pros represent brands. Whether you work for a corporation, association, non-profit organization or an agency, you represent those brands FIRST. Your primary goal should be conforming to whatever makes your “client” look the best. If that means you are an active participant on Twitter, then so be it, but don’t lose sight of who you are supposed to be representing…It isn’t you!
2. High Self-Orientation and Low Trust – Every communications pro should read The Trusted Advisor. In addition to being a quality read, you’ll learn quite a bit about how to demonstrate to your client or boss that you are highly credible, have low self-orientation and by consequence have high levels of trust within that organization. In too many cases, we’re focused on what impacts OUR bottom line and not the bottom line of our stakeholders. Focus on them first and you’ll always come out a winner.
3. Don’t Focus on the Transaction – Getting a hit for your client in their key publications is fantastic, but what does that ultimately mean? Did it contribute it some meaningful way to their business? Did it lead to other hits? Did it portray the key messages you wanted it to portray? Said another way, hits aren’t everything. The relationships you develop with stakeholders will far outweigh that ONE hit you received in the key trade publication.
4. Offer Business Solutions First - We are often fond of saying that we are business people first and communicators second. I’ll say this much, clients/bosses can recognize right away if you are the other way around. Offer to provide communications solutions that solve business problems and you’ll forever be a winner.
5. Don’t forget about the ROI! – Just because there are some who argue that ROI for things like social media are elusive, or that we shouldn’t place as much emphasis on ROI in social media at least right now, doesn’t mean your bosses and clients wont. They want to know how doing what you are purposing to do will contribute to the bottom line. How did it increase sales? How did it lower costs? Did it lead to higher retention rates among employees? All things that have meaningful bottom line impact. Just because calculating ROI is hard (it’s not, but if you need a refresher consult Olivier Blanchard), or you don’t think true ROI can be shown for PR/SM (you are wrong by the way), doesn’t mean your boss is going to give you a pass. You need to be able to answer the ROI question before he/she asks you, especially if you want to continue maintaining the budget you’ve been maintaining.

So these are just a few things I think we, as communications pros could do better. What else is there? Is there something in your experience that would refute any of these notions? Can’t wait to hear your views!

If asked, do your potential clients and existing clients consider you a trusted advisor?

Do your clients seek you out for advice as it relates to other aspects or decisions for their business?

Do you make yourself available to potential clients and existing clients on a unlimited basis?

There are two very effective ways to generate business. One way is to develop and solidify new client relationships, and the other successful path is to generate more business from existing customers. Experience has proven it is far easier to generate additional business through an existing client than it is to continually manage marketing activities and an ever-growing sales funnel. Therefore, how can you ensure the ability to generate more business with existing clients and enrich both their business as well as yours? Establishing a relationship where you are a go-to resource can strengthen every existing client relationship.

As a result of this article, I am not suggesting that you position your services as the answer to every business need. That is not practical, focused, or effective. However, if you are positioning yourself as a go-to person for thoughts, brainstorming, previous experience, wisdom, or advice you are indeed mastering the role of a trusted advisor. “In a world that is increasingly connected, but also increasingly impersonal, the role of trusted relationships is more critical.” (David H. Maister) Your buyers are typically lonely decision makers searching for relationships that they can trust and find value in. By offering your time to understand every aspect of your client’s business and every challenge they face, you will be able to clearly understand where you can provide assistance.

Never forget that knowledge and information about a client is power. It may not power the sale today, but it will allow you the ability to suggest and provide the right solution at the right time. Trusted advisors also receive more referrals. A company decision maker is more apt to frequently refer someone who is a proven resource in multiple areas, consistently available, and follows through on the details.

A recommendation for your current business plan is to look at all of your existing client relationships and evaluate what you can do to provide more value not in the forms of services per se, but in the form of added value through brain power, ideas, and professional connections. By focusing on your clients entire business, by understanding their needs and concerns, you will see a very positive impact to your sales funnel!

Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in business and management consulting, leadership development, executive coaching and youth leadership. For more information visit www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.

Chris Garlasco, Owner & Managing Partner - Founders Insurance Group

A short while ago, I wrote an entry about getting back in touch with our value proposition here at Founders. Were we, as independent agents, letting our customers know what it is that makes us different in the insurance marketplace? What value do we bring to the table verses those that sell on the internet or through mass marketed “800″ numbers?

During our journey of rediscovery, one of the things that became very clear to me was that we didn’t help to set our customer’s expectations when doing a new business proposal. I found that we were not doing a very good job of it here at Founders, but when we called other independent agents looking for a “quote,” we found the same issues at those agencies as well.

Take a moment and place yourself in the potential customer’s eyes. You have called several agents/companies looking for rates and information. When you called the “800″ number company your rate quote was calculated before you hung up the phone. You then call an independent agent and you are told that someone will get back to you with rate and coverage information in a few hours, the next day and many times, several days. So what’s wrong with this picture? The first reaction is that we are simply just too slow, but is that really the problem?

As independent agents, we are taking a key component of our value proposition and having it work against us rather than for us! Taking a moment to explain to the customer that we are independent agents and what that means. We are analyzing the coverage, the claim service and the rates with many companies, and that takes a bit of time. We are not selling fast food burgers, we are making prime rib!

The fact is that the vast majority of customers don’t mind waiting a little longer, when it has been explained to them why we are not as fast. Generally, they appreciate it as long as it doesn’t go beyond the same day. This is our best opportunity to explain to our potential customer our value proposition and begin the “Trusted Advisor” relationship!

Have a great day!

Chris Garlasco

President Obama and the Clintons relationship may have just changed.  Rumors have circled that Obama has been making efforts to keep Hillary out of the public eye intentionally.  Bill, in an act worthy of an ex-President, managed to secure the release of a couple of US journalists from North Korea.

Leaders do this for many reasons, and not always for the right reasons.  We can say it is for the best in order to show who is the leader, keep the message consistent, but behind each of these are jealousy, ego, and fear.  Leaders are human as well and suffer the same issues.

Yet, this situation is a little different.  Bill in some aspects upstaged both Obama and Hillary.  It appears that Bill would only go if he received White House approval, but then again what were they going to say?  Did the Clintons just take some of the spotlight?  Or will it be forgotten by the end of the week.

Ahh, politics!!!

As leaders and managers, how do limit the impact of personal politics within the work force?  These can often play out in destructive ways.  Inititiaves undermined because managers don’t like each other, or are vying for the same promotion.  While people often talk about using information to battle politicing, it is much more of a cultural issue.

Chris Garlasco, Owner & Managing Partner - Founders Insurance Group

“The book value of my car continues to decrease with age, why aren’t my auto insurance rates heading downward as a result?”

This common misunderstanding often fuels client frustration with auto insurance companies, especially since on the surface that it would be a reasonable assumption. So let’s take a moment to discuss why this is often not an accurate assumption.

Your auto policy is broken down into several parts. Each part has its own price component. In laymen’s terms, one part protects you against a liability suit, whether that is for injury that you have caused to another person(s) or damage to their property. There is also a component to protect you against being injured by an individual without insurance or without enough insurance. Then of course there is coverage for the value of your car. That is broken down into collision or comprehensive coverage. If you have assets to protect, and even if you don’t, a conscientious agent will recommend at least $300,000 or higher of liability and uninsured motorist coverage.

As you might imagine, the bulk of your premium goes to cover the liability and uninsured motorist portion of your policy. In this example, the insurance company is placing $300,000 on the line in both the areas of liability and uninsured motorist. Even though your car may have gone down in value from let’s say $20,000 to $10,000, the company still has the vast majority of exposure in the event of a loss. You can
seriously injure another person with an older vehicle in the same fashion as you can with a newer
vehicle. If you take a close look at the comprehensive and collision coverage portion of your policy, that premium, assuming there hasn’t been an overall rate increase, has most likely gone down. In fact, it may be helping to offset an increase in the liability and uninsured portion of the policy. The car may be getting older, but the cost to defend you and cover injuries and suffering in the event of a liability claim has likely continued to rise.

Remember, the cost of the insurance is a reflection of the cost of the exposure that you are being protected against. The book value of your car often only makes up a fraction of your coverage.

Thank you for taking valuable time out of your day with me!

Chris Garlasco

Chris Garlasco, Owner & Managing Partner - Founders Insurance Group

Many of you know that I like to smoke a good cigar, especially now that its summer time while I am blogging. I find that one of my favorite cigar companies in many ways mirrors our agency. The name of the company is called Bucanero Cigar Company out of Tampa Florida. www.bucanerocigars.com .

The Bucanero Cigar Company is a small family owned company that puts a quality product and great service to its customers as its first priority. They face some of the same challenges as a small business that we face. Like the Founders Group, there are large competitors with lots of money to spend on advertising pushing against them. They battle with government regulation, just like we do. They face the monumental task of being true to the principles that they believe in, just as we do.

Our never ending challenge is delivering our value proposition with the limited resources’ of a small business. We know that we are better than our competition, so how do we prove it? It won’t be with big multi media campaigns. We won’t be naming any new baseball stadiums after our company either. My suggestion to my partners about a Founders blimp also didn’t fly. (Excuse the pun!)

The fact is it will be with lots of small steps, taking every opportunity with our customers to let them know that we care and we are listening. Taking the time to take a subject like insurance that is boring and confusing to most people and making a bit easier by explaining what they are spending their hard earned money on. When a claim or coverage challenge occurs, making sure we fulfill our promise to be an advocate. Just like my friends at Bucanero, our passion has to show through.

The end result is that our customers are our most important resource, not only as buyers of our products, but as ambassadors’ of our continuing sales to new customers. The giants in each of our industries have often sacrificed the value of the individual customer in favor of the “big picture.” For companies like Founders and Bucanero, each of our customers is the big picture!

Thank you for taking your valuable time with me today!

Chris Garlasco

Doug Grieco - Commercial Accounts Executive, Founders Insurance Group

Now that I have a month under my belt here at Founders I’ve had the chance to settle in and get into the grind. Has the novelty worn off? Not quite! In fact, I am more confident now about how exciting the insurance industry is than I was when I decided to take a dive off the college diving board. Although the water is deep in the working world and there is a lot to learn, being thoroughly exposed to the industry has brought light to the excitement that comes with working in and protecting your own community.

    Despite the rising costs for owners and the slow economy, there are businesses thriving throughout Connecticut. Being a producer has already given me the luxury of learning what different businesses do and how they impact the area. Since joining the Founders Group I have met professionals that stretch from contractors to artists and everything in between. Already the fruits of networking and being active in the community have manifested. I urge every professional, especially the young ones like myself, to get out in the community, volunteer and meet as many people as you can, you never know who you might meet.

    The training I’ve undergone over the past month has opened my eyes to just how prevalent insurance is in our everyday lives. Whether it’s your car, homeowner’s, life, health or commercial insurance, one way or another our work impacts most of your daily life. Between training courses, seminars, self study books and an exciting three day visit with one of our carriers, General Casualty, I have been exposed in great detail just what goes into writing an insurance policy. It is a lengthy but important process that goes into protecting what matters most to you and those around you.

Although many (or even most) may not think talking to your insurance agent is exciting, I am here to educate you and provide trusted advice on what you can do to protect yourselves. When something goes wrong and you are properly taken care of by your insurer, things may begin to get more interesting for you! In the meantime, hopefully a long time, I will be doing everything I can to share the excitement and continuous innovation of the industry.

Thanks for listening!

Doug Grieco

Listening to Sonia Sotomayor retrack her “wise Latina” comments made me think about an old Vince Gill song – Pretty Words.  ”They’re just pretty words” seemed about right.  This is often the role of the politician, to say things that make people feel better.  We have limited manner in which to hold them to their words, so we often judge the words based on if we believed what they were saying.  Think of how we now perceive Roger Clemens, Alex “A-Rod” Rodriguez, and the steroid gang.

One of the problems we have as leaders is an overuse of pretty words.  We are often asked questions that can not be answered at that time, thus forcing us to spin a response:

• Are we having layoffs?
• Are we selling the company?

While these hurt credibility with the front line, they are necessary to keep some level of sanity and productivity.  Yet, what happens when executive communication seems to be only about spin and pretty words.  If the rank and file feel “pretty words is all he is giving you” then we have a problem with communication and trust.  If these are broken, you can bet productivity is no where near optimal levels.

As executives and leaders we can know, or we can think we know if people are listening.  What I have often seen is that the good ones assume they don’t know and find out – thus reinforcing positive communication.

• When was the last time you had an outside, independent team assess “trust” in the organization?
• What would be the value to the organization?
• What if you hear something you don’t like?

“The Trusted Advisor”

By David H. Maister

 The “Trusted Advisor” has had a big impact on my professional and personal life, and has changed that way I approach relationships.

 When you first pick up “The Trusted Advisor” you’ll see that it’s geared towards consultants and those with clients.  While I realize that only applies to some of us , I think the concepts in this book are very useful to those who are also full time employees.  When we have issues with work relationships, it’s usually not just about technical competence.  I would suggest that most of the time there is a diminished level of trust in the relationship. That is why even if the business issue is resolved; the lack of trust remains and working with that person becomes a little more difficult.  While this is critical for outside consultants managing clients, I believe it is also very important for employees, since many of the working relationships are long term.

 That’s the “Trusted” part of the book.  The other part, “Advisor” also applies to many of us.  For outside consultants it’s pretty straight forward, you are hired to provide advice.  For full time employees you often have a specific function to perform.  However, I would suggest that the times you have felt great satisfaction in your work is when your thoughts and ideas are respected, and they make a positive difference.  I other words when people take your advice.  This is also a way for others to recognize your abilities beyond your current role and enable you to expand and advance your career. 

 David Maister explores these concepts in detail and provides both anecdotal examples and different models for how to establish and maintain trust in a relationship. 

An example of a great anecdote involves “Charlie and the Sandpaper”.  I’ll summarize the story so it fits in this newsletter.   Charlie was recently promoted to a managerial position in a consulting firm.  In one of his first sales calls, he is asked by the client, who is a manufacturer of abrasives “What experience does your firm have in doing marketing studies for industrial consumables?”  Charlie didn’t know what industrial consumables were but planned on saying “Not exactly, but we have done many marketing studies, some of them for products quite similar to industrial consumables.”  Instead the senior partner who was with Charlie on the sales call said “None that I can think of.  Given that is there anything else that you think would be helpful to discuss.”  The client looked unconcerned and then asked what similar experience the firm had that might be relevant.

David Maister summarizes the story in the following way:

“Had Charlie given his answer it would have sacrificed his credibility and revealed his own focus on self interest.

The answer the senior partner gave contained quite a different subtext. It says:

‘I will answer your questions, directly and truthfully, even if it means losing a chance at your business’

In that moment Charlie learned two important things about building trust.  First it has to do with keeping one’s self interest in check, and second, trust can be can be won or lost very rapidly. “

David Maister also provides some different ways of looking at being a Trusted Advisor.  In one example, he explores some characteristics of trust and that it:

1)     Grows rather than just appears

2)     Is both rational and emotional

3)     Presumes a two way relationship

4)     Is intrinsically about perceived risk

5)     Is different for the client than it is for the advisor

6)     Is personal

He expands on each of these concepts and provides more depth so we can apply them to our relationships.

“The Trusted Advisor’ offers insight into a critical area of our work relationships that is often a blind spot for us.   This offers a powerful tool to fix relationships that we have given up on, or take relationships that work to the next level.

Chris Garlasco, Owner & Managing Partner - Founders Insurance Group

A few years ago, Robert De Niro was in a comedy film called “Meet the Parents.” One of the running jokes in the film was centered on De Niro’s character talking about the importance of the “Circle of Trust.” I was reminded of the “Circle of Trust” today while spending some time with one of our new young sales people.

Fresh out of a good college, he’s smart and he picks up on new concepts quickly. He, like the vast majority of our clients, has not been exposed to our industry terminology. Before sending him off to a formal insurance training school, we are spending some time exposing him to the basic coverage concepts. He brought in a copy of his auto policy so we could do some role playing.

I found myself in the role of agent and the role of the client. As the agent, I quickly noticed myself using a lot of insurance terminology to describe his current coverage and my recommendations. I noticed this at the very moment that his eyes were beginning to glaze over.

Generally our clients opt for an independent agent because they value the relationship and understand what it is that we do verses the other forms of insurance distribution. Building that relationship over the long term requires a trust that we have their best interests at heart. Communication is the foundation of that relationship.

I have seen a client’s eyes glaze over when we use industry terms that we mistakenly assume to be a part of their every day vocabulary. In their confusion, they often feign understanding and become timid about asking questions. As a result, we may have squandered a valuable moment in building our Circle of Trust.

The value that we bring to the table is a depth of insurance knowledge that exceeds other forms of insurance sales by a country mile. Let’s not lose it in translation!

Thank you for spending your precious time with me!

Chris Garlasco

Recently,  I engaged a friend that works at a Cisco reseller-ship in Orange County California on a new project. I asked him to come on a sales call to discuss a technology that my current company is interested in deployment. This is what we call in the sales world as “a Bluebird” opportunity.  These opportunities less upfront effort and more focus on delivery.

From the moment the call started, everything about the delivery of the message was negative. Every aspect, every element, and element angle. I wasn’t sure I totally understood the logic, but I continued to listen until the call the ended. On our end, our director of engineering commented “I am glad we are not deploying that stuff”.

A little mufted by the call, I reached to my friend that the call was the worst sales call I have listened to in 19 years. He told that he was just trying to keep it “REAL”.

That concept of keeping it “real” is always a fa-lice. Sales is about communicate what you do why your company is than better than anyone else, while masking your shortcomings and over stressing your competitors weak points. If the product worked 100% of the time and was a perfect fit, sales people would be order takers.

Being “real” I guess is some ways helps consultants and sales professionals to establish early on the role of “trusted advisor”. By being real, are you really a trusted advisor or are selling serving your own “ego”?.

If a sales person opens with the negative elements of their product, why sell it then? If your opening line is harsh and gives the clients reasons not to go with something, why brother taking the call?

When I asked my friend to explain in more detail, he stressed that this is similar selling in a personal relationship; be mean to someone and if they come back, then the person will never leave!. Sounds sick, but I guess depending on your social status, that might work for you.

For those of us that have sales quota to retire, being is real is placing a solution that aligns with the clients needs and insures them that they are making the right decision. Through your positive actions, the “trusted advisor” role is earned.

Positive selling gives the proper impression that you believe you what you do, where the negative angle means you have a ton of tire tracks running over your back.

I closed the conversation with the following comment back to my friend, “When you go into a club and tell someone that you have a ton of tire tracks and road wear, do you think someone will find you attractive??”. Guess not!..

I recently watched the 2005 documentary Enron: The smartest guy in the room.  What struck me more this time was the tagline “Ask Why”, yet it appeared more like “Why, Ask Why” in the animation.  

Most organizations promote “yes” men and women.  They want people to just agree and move on.  Part of this is that we lack a mechanism to challenge conventional wisdom or leadership opinion.  While this is dangerous on a few levels, it also stiffles innovation and ultimately performance potential.

• When was the last time you found a new way to value a customer?
• When was the last time you found a way to measure process improvement on a key process?
• When was the last time you specifically assigned a trusted advisor to attack business assumptions?
• What happened to the last really good change agent in the organization?

All to often we answer requests with “yes, we can do that” when we should on occasion ask “why do you want to do that.” We need to break old molds and challenge ourselves to create a culture of action, a culture of 5% better everyday.

I picked up the book The Sticking Point Solution: 9 Ways to Move Your Business From Stagnation to Stunning Growth In Tough Economic Times by Jay Abraham to give me something to read on a flight today. Given the book’s title I wasn’t sure what to expect (’sticking point’ and ’stagnation’ are not words I use very often). However, it didn’t take me long to realize this book has great content for taking yourself and your company to new levels of leadership.

I’ll do a full review when I finish, but for now I want to share Abraham’s fifteen ways to build your position into a strong brand. “These points are personality building blocks that will help you position yourself, your company, and/or your product as a preeminent persona in your marketplace.”

1. Attach the suffix “In your service” to everything you do for your clients. You are their trusted advisor for life.
2. Don’t be afraid to say what your competition won’t. In any transaction, tell your client, “Here’s what you’re not being told.”
3. Don’t hesitate to extol your own achievements and value — but do it in the context of the benefit it brings to the client. Practice at it, do it with humility and humanity, and make it heartfelt and graceful, not overbearing.
4. List your flaws. Your clients are human, and so are you. So acknowledge it. Doing so makes you real and honest in their eyes.
5. Cultivate the habit of looking at each relationship as a long-term investment you’re making in the marketplace. It’s not a one night stand. It’s a total attitude shift.
6. Know your strengths and weaknesses, and play to the former. The task is simple, but most people don’t do it; they get caught up trying to improve their weaknesses. No leverage there.
7. Control your risk. But always point out the overlooked risks and dangers your marketplace is exposed to, and help your clients reduce or eliminate them.
8. Use as much research and data as you can to make your point, prove your advantage, and demonstrate your performance. Just be sure to summarize, compare, interpret, and analyze this information so that people can appreciate and act on it.
9. Challenge status quo thinking with a sharper, fresher perspective, a better strategy, or a clearer game plan for your market to follow.
10. Continually add to your brand equity by doing more, caring more, contributing more.
11. Form alliances and advisory boards.
12. Use endorsements and testimonials properly and often. You can garner these from buyers, community influences, and press articles.
13. Hire the best. Pay them richly. But pay them mostly on performance.
14. If you’re invisible, you can’t become the go-to source. Make yourself, your product, or your company known. Do it impactfully. Do it with the right people. Make the impact worth the effort.
15. Learn to project the image of true success — long before you’ve fully achieved it. It’s only a matter of time before it will occur.

—
The Product Management Perspective: Most of the fifteen points apply nicely to creating great products that people want to buy. Look through the list carefully and pick out three or four points where your products are the weakest. Make an effort in the next few weeks to improve in those areas. Over time, taking these specific steps will make your products preeminent in their marketplace.