John Maxwell says the Law of Mt Everest is “As the challenge escalates, the need for teamwork elevates”. Wouldn’t you agree that succeeding as a small business is a pretty tall challenge? 

We must fully leverage the contributions and strengths of everyone on our team.  No one of us is as good as all of us.  So who’s on your team?

Internally- partner, employees, spouse?

Externally- accountant, lawyer, banker, virtual assistant, vendors, landlord, fellow chamber members, mastermind groups, coach, customers?

Find your genius- stay in areas you’re good at and don’t try to do things that are not your strength.

We all want to save expenses, and most of us have an ego that says we can do more than we really can- that’s part of the entrepreneur’s DNA.  Here are 3 big mistakes to avoid in this area of teamwork.

1.    Nobody can do this job as well as me.

2.    I don’t trust anyone to do this task.

3.    I can’t afford to pay someone else. 

I can speak to these issues with great authority because I’ve made all three of these mistakes on a regular basis.  Only after immense frustration and wasting lots of time and money did I figure out that there are people who could do things better than me, and that I really could trust them, and it was cheaper to pay them than for me to spend my time doing something I wasn’t any good at in the first place. 

I eventually figured out that a virtual assistant, bookkeeper, and graphics artist were well worth the cost.  These areas may be easy for you, but there are no doubt some things that other people are better at than you are.  Rick Warren in his book Purpose Driven Life sums it up well in the opening chapter of the book when he simply says, “It’s not about you”.   We’re in business to realize a particular vision, and if we’re going to succeed, we can’t have the attitude that we’re the only person necessary to make our business work. 

Identify who your critical teammates are, and use them.  You’ll be surprised at how much they really want you to succeed.  They have a stake in your success!

 

 

This is the second in a series of posts about what we have to do to still be in business this time next year.  Times may be tough, but you can survive and thrive if you're willing to take an honest look at yourself and decide to make some changes in the way you think about your business and you life.  Once you do that, you're going to see different behavior, which will give you different results- the ones you've been looking for!

Review Your Plan

If I asked you the following question, what would you say?  "Can you please give me some directions?"  Probably, your first response would be to ask where I want to go.  Without a clear destination in mind, it's hard to know how to get there. 

To put it another way, what's your vision for your future?  Do you know what you want to be one, three, or five years from now?  Surprisingly, I run into a lot of people who really don't know where they want to be.  They just assume if they work hard that good things will happen in their business or their personal life.  Unfortunately, most of those folks never do anything but work hard and wonder why they are not being successful. 

Do you have a strategic plan?  Did you know that businesses with a strategic plan that they follow religiously have a significantly better chance of succeeding?  Most of us would agree that having a strategic plan is important for our business, but most of us also are just a little intimidated by the thought of sitting down and going through the process.  After all, 

• it costs a lot of money
• you have to ask yourself a lot of hard questions
• planning takes a lot of time

Besides that, making a strategic plan involves thinking about things we don't typically think about.  We didn't get into business to make plans and talk about vision and mission and strategies for marketing, and goals; we got into business to do what we love, whether it's making widgets or selling our services. Who wants to fool around with a strategic plan? 

Here's the reality:  If you are running a business or leading an organization, you are probably working really hard to succeed.  New ideas come along all the time that seem like just the thing you should do. Maybe it's the latest advertising idea, or product line, or location, whatever- they all seem like they are working for someone else, so why not try it.  That's where the danger of not having a plan comes in.  If you have a good strategic plan in place, you can measure every decision against what you said matters most to you and where you intend to go.  You will already have a strategy in place to reach your goals and you'll make good decisions about where to spend your resources.  Businesses that succeed know where they are going, they know where they are today, and they know what they have to do to reach their goals.  Do you?

If not, I challenge you today to think about getting a strategic plan in place.  Hire a coach who can guide you through the process- you won't regret it!

That's a question many small businesses and non profits are asking themselves these days. One thing is for sure, the times have changed and it just isn't like it used to be.  In fact, it will probably never be like it used to be, so if we keep doing what we've been doing, we're probably not going to survive. 

Over the next few posts, I'll list several things you can do to make sure you ARE still around, and in fact thriving this time next year.  Here's the first thing we must do:

FACE REALITY. 

This is no time to put your head in the sand and make like an Ostrich.  Sure, we would all like to run away and hide sometimes, but that won't get us anything but out of business.  So, what are your realities?  I'm sure you're thinking of a lot of bad things, like the economy, people aren't spending, sales cycles take  longer than in the past, deals are harder to make, people are slow to pay, and on and on.  But here's another reality-  people ARE still buying stuff, and new businesses ARE still starting up, so somebody IS still selling.  Why can't it be you?

Here are three questions to consider when looking honestly at your realities:

1.  Do you have a viable business proposition?  Do you have something to sell that somebody other than your family and friends will buy?  If not, find a new product or service. 

2.  Do you have a competitive advantage?  If not, don't compete!  This was behind Jack Welch's philosophy at GE when he said he wanted to be number one or number two in every business or he didn't want to be there at all.  Just make sure there is something about what you do or what you sell that is better than your competition.  Otherwise you'll always come in second.

3.  What's working and what's not?  Do more of what is and less of what isn't.  Don't keep doing something just because YOU like it if it's not working.  Remember the first rule of holes- when you're in one, stop digging!

Stay tuned- more steps to take coming right up.

Anyone in the sales game knows it is critical to constantly keep adding good prospects to our sales funnel.  We typically do that through asking for referrals, marketing ourselves to likely prospects, and through various types of networking. 

Today I spoke with a group of small business owners about their networking challenges.  Here are a few of their responses and my advice to them:

• I'ts easy for me to talk to my friends, but hard to talk to strangers.  I think we all suffer a bit from shyness around strangers at times, but we have to remember what our real goal is- to meet new people who might have an interest in our product or service.  If we keep focused on that, and realize we have to get over our shyness, we can "just do it" when it's time to speak to the stranger.  Remember, that stranger is probably just like you- a little anxious about meeting you and wondering what to say.  When we realize we're all in the same boat, it gets a little easier.
• How do I interrupt an ongoing conversation of 2 or 3 people without coming across as rude?  Be sure to show plenty of respect, but also be a little assertive.  I like to come up to a conversation and politely begin listening to what's being said to see if I have something to add to the conversation.  I may even ask a question about what's being discussed which gives the others a reason to talk to me.  Of course, if no one acknowledges me after a little while, perhaps it's time to move onto another group. 
• What do I do after the networking experience to turn my efforts into a deeper relationship?  It is typically easy to get cards and contact information from people. The challenge is what to do next.  I always try to set a goal of getting at least one good meeting with someone I meet for the first time.  I will go through the cards I've received, review the notes I might have made about my conversations, and then start calling to ask for meetings.  I will have set this up by asking the person at the meeting if it is okay for me to call them in a few days to see if we might get together.  This is where the real benefit of the networking effort shows up.  You don't close sales at networking events.  You simply meet people, learn a little about them, and decide if they are someone you should be meeting with to begin growing your relationship. 

The best sales results are usually a product of good relationships you have established with people.  Networking is a great way to start building these relationships.  It can be intimidating in the beginning, but just remember, if you just go into it determined to make a few new friends, you are well on your way to finding your next customer. 

In the New Testament there is a letter written from Paul to Timothy and in this letter Paul is encouraging his young protege to grow in his faith.  He uses the term "fan into flame" when referring to the gifts Timothy has.  In other words, Paul sees much potential in Timothy, and he is encouraging him to make the most of it.  While this passage of Scripture certainly refers to spiritual matters, I got to thinking about how this really can apply to all aspects of our lives, including leadership.

We are told we all have much more potential than we use and we're challenged to push ourselves to make better use of that potential.  The question is, "how do we do this?"  Of course we first must desire a better result from our efforts, but then what are the practical things we can do to fan the flames of our potential?  Here are a few ideas:

• Make sure you have a solid plan to follow.  Figure out where you want to be at some point in the future.  Then take a good look around at where you are right now so that you'll know what you have to do to get to your desired destination.
• Identify your strengths and your weaknesses so you can leverage your strengths and avoid or eliminate your weaknesses.
• Set a series of incremental goals that, if accomplished, will take you toward your ultimate objective of getting where you really want to go.
• Identify and learn any skills necessary to achieve your goals.
• Further invest in yourself by reading about personal growth topics, listening to, and talking with mentors and others you believe in who can coach and motivate you to success.

Once you have a solid plan to follow and you do a few things to chart your course, it is a matter of execution.  I've found that by making a plan, I am able to fan those flames of enthusiasm which gives me what I need to work my plan. 

We all have potential to be better leaders- we just need to fan those embers into flames!   

We've all heard about them- the people or companies who come out of nowhere and seem to instantly find success, fame, and fortune.  I was recently discussing with my coach a business opportunity that I've been working on for close to two years and was lamenting the fact that it is taking so long to even know if our efforts are going to pay off.  He nailed it when he reminded me that it really does take a long time to be an overnight success.  If we look a little closer at these suddenly successful phenoms, we usually find out they have been working hard for a very long time to get to where they are today. 

Isn't this true in just about anything we try to accomplish?  It certainly is the case for me in things I've found some measure of success at in my life.  I ran my first marathon at age 40 and people who found out about it around the time of the race itself were amazed  that a chunky guy like me could do a marathon.  They typically said things like- "I could never do that".  I appreciated the compliment, but the truth is, they probably could run a marathon if they were willing to go through the long weeks and months of training that led up to that one special day.  All they saw was the result- not the work that went into it.  

Isn't it the same in the sales cycle?  The people who are currently having "success" have probably been working very hard for a long time to earn the business of their clients.   Especially these days, it seems to take longer to complete the sales process than in the past.  It's easy to get discouraged by this, but just remember, success is a long term project.  Enjoy the achievement of small goals along the way, and you're being successful, all the while keeping your focus on your ultimate vision.   

I'm constantly amazed at the timeliness of things I read or listen to.  Earlier this week I was listening to a John Maxwell CD about leadership.  He was talking about failure and how we can often learn from it.  John used the phrase You Win Some -You Lose Some, and he said successful people change that phrase to You Win Some- You Learn Some.  His point being that we should always look for a lesson to be learned from every defeat or failure, and if we learn something from it, we actually can turn a disappointment into a positive experience. 

This sounded pretty cool to me- I remember thinking I'll use this sometime in my coaching.  Little did I know then that I would get to apply it to myself very soon.  Here's my story.....

I met with a prospect recently about doing some coaching work.  The meeting went very well- I thought I clearly understood what the person wanted and needed so I proposed a solution with a price right on the spot.  I was sure I knew all I needed to know and now all I had to do was wait for them to say let's get started. 

My first clue that I was in trouble was when the person I was meeting with informed me that he didn't make these kinds of decisions- he had to talk to his boss.  I suspected right then that I had failed to get enough facts about who the decision maker really was, but I decided to let the process run its course and maybe I would be okay.  After a week went by and I had not heard from my prospect, I called him to see if he had any questions.  He politely informed me that his boss told him this was far too much money- they just didn't spend this kind of money on developing employees, and he had gone to the local university for a class that was going to be a lot shorter and a lot cheaper.  I then realized I had blown it because I didn't find out all I needed to find out about the prospect's budget.  I had lower priced things I could have offered that would have helped the prospect, but I saw how excited he was in our conversation and I assumed he would go for a larger investment.  WRONG!  Our conversation ended and as I hung up the phone I realized I had lost the business and it was my own fault. 

Then I remembered John Maxwell's line- You Win Some and You Learn Some.  I wanted to feel like I lost, but I decided to think about what I learned.  In this case I learned two things about the sales process:

1.  Make sure you know who your decision makers are when talking with a prospect.  That's who is going to buy from you- not necessarily the end user.

2.  Find out what kind of budget you have to work with.  There's no sense trying to sell something that costs more than your prospect has to spend. 

I knew both of the things- I have been taught these principles before, but obviously I failed to follow them in this case.  I know better now.  Yes, I lost the sale, but I learned that the sales process really does work if you follow it, but if you ignore some part of it, you probably will lose!

This week I learned some!

Success- what does it look like to you?  Money?  Cars? Boats?  Whether we want to admit it or not, many of us think of these things first when we think about what success looks like.  When we see someone who has those things, we probably are not thinking failure!  But let's go a little deeper in our thinking. 

So you have a bunch of stuff (money, cars, boats), now what?  Does it mean you've arrived?  Are you only successful once you have these things, or what ever achievement you've set out to accomplish?  I used to think that reaching a particular goal was my measure of success.  For me, it was a career goal that I worked hard for many years to achieve.  I had a lot of good things happen along the way, but I never let myself feel successful until I reached that one goal. 

Boy did I get a surprise.  When I finally reached that "success" indicator, I found out it wasn't as fulfilling as I thought it would be.  I've since moved on to other things, but I take away two important lessons about success.

First, success is not a destination- it's about the journey.  We have to have a goal to strive for- somehting we want to accomplish, but just the act of working towards the accomplishment is success in itself.  Don't cheat yourself out of enjoying every stop along the way.  If you are making progress toward your ultimate goals, you are being successful.

Second, if all your focus is on the top rung of the ladder, you're probably going to be disappointed once you get there.  It's usually not as great as you thought it would be, and now you have nothing new to shoot for.  You've reached your goal- is that all there is?  I'm all for having a clear vision of where I want to go and goals to guide me toward that vision, but the vision must constantly be reviewed as my perspective on what I want changes. 

Take time to enjoy the small achievements you have every day.  Then, when the big goals are accomplished, you'll realize what a fun ride it has been.  You also won't fall so hard when that one big goal doesn't happen quite like you thought it would.  You still have a lot to be thankful for. 

 

In 1975 Paul Simon had a hit with his catchy tune "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover".  If you're like me, as you read this you can hear the chorus in your head, including the phrase "make a new plan, Stan".

I was thinking of this as I am going through the process of revising my own strategic plan.  Some things have happened in my business and personal life that make my old plan not as relevant to where I'm headed.  My vision for the future has not changed much.  I still want to help people reach their full potential and get what they want, but I'm realizing that the methods I've been using need to change.  Not because they are wrong, but because the landscape around me has changed and I need to change with it. 

Someone recently asked me, "what do you have to do differently to still be in business this next year?"  The answer is I have to do a lot differently.  The market place has changed, my priorities are changing, and the needs of my prospective clients are also changing.  If I want to effectively serve them in the future, I need to change with them. 

What about you?  When is the last time you visited your strategic plan and considered updating it?