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How To Stick To A Plan for “For One Day Straight”

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Making and sticking to a new habit has to be one of the hardest things on earth, isn’t it?  I have something that just might help.

I enjoy the site and the app Don’t Break The Chain ; you track your performance on a new habit against your goal and the app keeps track for you, with reminders and encouragement along the way.  When I did miles on the treadmill for several days, the app said, “You’ve done the right thing for 4 days straight.”   I love that.

Then I Missed A Day

I missed a day, but went back to the treadmill the next day.  When I was done, the app said, “You have done the right thing for one day straight.”  I didn’t like that as much; I liked “4 days straight” better.

Still, the phrase “one day straight” made me smile.  You can see why this site works.

“For One Day Straight”

There is a lot to be said for performing better at your new habit “for one day straight”.  One whole day.  Straight.  Here’s to you and to me for doing the right thing “for one day straight.”  Let’s try for that again tomorrow.

I love this app.  How do you make and stick with better habits?

 

Is This Fear, or Is It Only Caution?

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Words and labels have power over us.  Everywhere we read about overcoming fear.  People take quizzes to see if it’s fear of failure or fear of success they suffer from.

What If It’s Not Fear At All?

What if it’s not fear?  What if you’re not anxious, not even nervous, about the big opportunity or the big sale?  What if you are merely cautious?

It’s OK to Have a Doubt

What if you simply have doubts?  Do we even remember – in these days of “fear of failure” – what it feels like to have an honest doubt?  A doubt that we could take time to examine.

What If…?

What if you simply doubt that you’re ready for the major presentation?  Doubt that you have the information you need to go ahead with the meeting?  Put like that, could it be that doubt is alerting you that you have more work to do?  Maybe your doubt is alerting you that you’re short of information and about to get caught with your pants down.

I Like Friends Who Alert Me To Danger

Doubt is a good thing.  By discovering more information and making better plans we “put our doubts to rest”.  That’s a good thing.  Examine your doubt and start to fill in what’s lacking.

Don’t Stay There Too Long

Don’t take forever getting the missing information and making a better plan.  Taking too long is going to kill your forward motion and drain the energy right out of you.  Take just long enough to “put your doubts to rest.”

Here’s The Plan

When you’re tempted to read another article about “fear of …”, spend the time instead examining whether you have doubts about the data, the objective, the plan, the people involved.  Pinpoint whether something is in doubt, and exactly what about it is in doubt.

You’re Not Afraid

Maybe your plan, not your ability, was in doubt.  It’s not your ability that’s in doubt, and you’re not afraid.  Your plan’s just weak.  How shall you make your plan stronger?

I hope this new idea gives you insight.  Please click “comment” and describe where you might use it to beat out the fears you thought you had.

 

 

 

The Easiest Way To Get To Know Your Client Better

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Do you know the surest way to get to know your client better?  It’s not as hard as it sounds.

Years ago, when I had just been promoted to Program Manager/Client Account Manager, I ran into Rick the Boss in the hall.  He said, “You’re in sales.  What are you doing in the office?”  He said his boss Bob had said the same to him years before.  (Rick, if you’re reading this, I know you don’t remember saying it.)

It Changed My Career

But Rick did say it, and it changed my career.  My new client was a Navy base, five hours away.  A 10-hour round-trip drive would stretch to a 13- or 14-hour day if I actually got a meeting with anyone, and I didn’t want to make the drive.  Not unless I could guarantee some sale or revenue out of it!   I had a few ideas for projects but not enough, so I didn’t think I was ready for meetings at the base.

Excuses, But No Sales

I had reasons and excuses but I also didn’t have any sales.  When Rick said, “What are you doing here?”, it shook me.  I didn’t want to lose his confidence or support.  Within the hour I’d made appointments for meetings and rented a car.  I drove to the base the next day, using the five-hour commute to get my thoughts together, assemble what I knew about the client, and assemble the questions I’d ask to get to know my clients and their needs.

I Sold A Project That Day

I practiced what I’d been taught:  I asked a question and shut up.  I sold a project that day, because I did make the drive, because I had good questions, and because I shut up.

How To Get To Know Your Client

Months later it dawned on me that making a sales call only requires spending time with your client, having good questions, and being interested in the answers.  Your questions are no good without their answers.

My sales career took off.  Thanks, Rick.  Thanks, Bob.

Who knew??  They did.  And now, so do you.

What do you think?  Does this way of looking at it, “be interested in the answers”, make your sales job easier?  Please click “Comment” and join in.

 

How Can I Enjoy My Business Development Job?

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When you’re fortunate enough to be marketing or selling something you believe in to a client or industry that truly interests you, your marketing or selling day can be enjoyable; it can be a lot of fun.   I had days of real enjoyment selling needed engineering projects to the U.S. Air Force.  They needed the projects, I believed in our team’s good work, and I actually had fun learning more about how the Air Force does business.

It Felt Like Fun

As a beginning Air Force “Seller-Do-er”, I had a lot of reading and information-gathering to do to learn my craft.  I spent hours and hours studying Air Force contracting and the art of Large Account Management.  It felt like fun.  Info junkies like me call it fun.  But I didn’t control the amount of time I spent nor hold myself accountable for results in proportion to the amount of time I spent gathering information.

Hours of Fake Fun

The excess hours spent in “hunter-gatherer” mode didn’t being me any closer to “shipping product“, as Seth Godin says.  The excess hours didn’t scale into extra product.  They were fake fun.

Real Fun

Real fun would have been to strengthen my emotional intelligence enough to put the reading aside, go out and get to know my client, and begin a relationship.  Seeing results and building on those results.  Learning how to do it more and more.  Now that would have been fun.  I was having fake fun when I could have been having real fun.

Are you sometimes an information junkie when you could be actually doing something to help the client and advance a sale?  Do you think, like me, that it’s possible to have fun in the business of selling?  Please click “comment” and tell me what you think!

 

I Blew It – I Omitted Two important “P’s”

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I blew it in my recent post The 16 P’s of Becoming a Leader in Marketing and Selling.  I defined the 16 essential tasks in the job description of a Large Account Manager or Client Account Manager.  It’s a good list.  The list made me successful.  But it’s incomplete.  I omitted the two most important “P’s”.

I Took It For Granted

My excuse is that these two “P’s” are so intrinsic and crucial to our success as Marketers, Sellers, or Account Managers and have been accepted as crucial for so long, they’re so much at the core of what we do and must do as Seller-Doers and as leaders, that I took it for granted that I didn’t have to put them in the list.  A client corrected me.

“Personal Relationship” Is New #7 On The List

Most Client Account Managers in professional services firms practice Relationship Selling.  Relationship Selling begins with and can’t succeed without relationship building.  The first “P” I omitted was to have a Personal relationship with your client.  Get to know your client personally, as much as is appropriate.  Make it clear that you want to be of service to the client and her firm, that you want to be useful over a very long term, and that you want to build a relationship.   Ask earnest questions.

Earn The Client’s Trust

Earn credibility and the client’s trust by asking earnest questions about their company and their situation, not for the purposes of making a sale but for relationship building.  Asking questions, earnestly inquiring of the other person, makes anyone feel valued and valid.  Inquiring of the client and her firm makes you seem friendlier, more knowledgeable, more understanding.  As Stephen Covey told us, “Seek first to understand.”

The Most Important Part Of Your Questions

The most important part of your questions?  Leave lots of time for the client’s answers.  When she’s done speaking, let a couple of beats go by before you speak.  Maybe she will enlarge on her answers.  Your questions are no good without her answers.

My Journey

I recently wrote about my journey to building a client’s trust.  Never forget that the client has loaned you the time to meet with her.  You must use it to prove your genuine desire to help her personally.

 “Pain” Is New #8 On The List

Now that you know your client and her situation better, we come to the most important “P”:  you must discover – and deliver the cure for – the client’s Pain.  There is the slimmest chance that the only problem or pain the client wants a solution for is the common problem occurring in her industry right now, or the current problem that brought you together at that convention.   But if that is the only pain she’s telling you about, then one of these is true:

  1. All the other salespeople know her problem too, so you’re in a large crowd of competitors with nothing special to offer; i.e., you’re wasting your time, or
  2. You haven’t looked hard enough, your questions aren’t phrased well enough, or you’re not listening well enough to the answers.

Your Client’s Deepest Need

“Discovering the Pain” is what I call knowing your client’s deepest need.  You’ll see it called that in my Relationship Selling posts.  It appears all over those posts, so intrinsic to what we do that I didn’t put it on the “P’s” list initially.  Discover your client’s pain through your presence and your patient earnest questions.

Skillful Questions to Discover the Deepest Need

  • Make sure your questions don’t sound self-seeking.
  • Stop short of wearing your client out with your questions; if you don’t stop early enough, she’ll feel manipulated.
  • To keep her from feeling like she’s under a microscope, offer some insights and possible solutions along the way.  Offer them graciously and make them brief.
  • If you don’t know any solutions, say so, and ask her if she’d like to brainstorm.  Try to make this a real conversation.
  • Just make sure that you’re not just parroting the solutions you came there to “sell”.

So that’s new “P” #8 – discover and develop the cure for your client’s Personal Pain.  Thank you to my client for asking me for this new post.

That brings the list to 18 P’s.  Sounds long, but you can do it because it’s systematized.  And you can teach the system to others too.  Just stick with me, stick with us here.  You can do this.

Please click “Comment” and join in the discussion.

 

 

The 16 P’s of Being a Leader in Marketing or Selling

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When I first became a Program Manager and Client Account Manager (CAM) years ago, I was daunted by how much work there was, and how many facets there are to the work.

What If You’re Not In Marketing or in Sales?

If you’re not in Marketing or in Sales, but you would like to be a strong leader in your company, then you should study these tasks, help out or lead an effort every single time you can, and become a valued contributor in one or more of these areas.  The absolute quickest way to the top in most professional services firms is to be a strong contributor in these areas.

I Thought Someone Was Kidding Me

Frankly, I thought someone was spoofing me that I was expected to perform well at all the tasks and duties.  But the CAMs at engineering companies – and at other professional services firms – are usually “Seller-Do-ers” and these are their tasks.  I made the list so I wouldn’t forget anything, and I regularly monitored my performance against the list.

I Didn’t Do It All Myself

I didn’t do all the work myself; I was a small part of an extremely smooth-running and cooperative team (you know who you are).  But on my client account, I was responsible for our results.  The amount of work was daunting.  The enormous effort required caused me to break out in nervous laughter.  I loved it.

The Customer Journey

To be a leader in marketing or selling, everything we do must be absolutely centered on the customer’s needs, the customer’s point-of-view, the quality of the customer’s journey with us.  This list gives the CAM’s duties, but above all, the experience the customer is having with us that day comes first.

The 16 P’s of Being a Leader in Marketing or Selling

These are not all the tasks of a Client Account Manager (CAM); I’m sure I’ve forgotten some from my original list long ago.  Here they are in no particular order.  Please tell me what “P’s” you would add.

1.  Product – the CAM’s job is to be thoroughly knowledgeable about her firm’s products/services/offerings, to understand how they can be tailored to fulfill her client’s needs and desires, and how the offerings can be improved to please the client and can best be delivered.

2.  Positioning – the CAM’s understands her firm’s position in the field of competitors, her firm’s strengths and weaknesses in that field of competitors; she understands and knows how to improve her firm’s position as a provider and a competitor in her client’s eyes.

3.  Promoting – the CAM stays aware of how the firm is promoting itself in the marketplace, what special skills and benefits are being touted, aligning her efforts with those efforts, and contributing data about marketplace and client needs and trends.

4.  Pitching – this “P” is about speaking in a public setting.  From networking events to convention crowds to business lunches to one-on-one meetings, the CAM’s job is to speak in an attractive, intriguing way about her firm and its services, positioning the firm well in the minds of listeners and prospective clients.  But the CAM is always gracious, brief, and concise when speaking publicly.  She leaves lots of time for the second and equally important part of this task:  listening to the clients.

5.  Prospecting – the CAM’s job is to prospect for clients, that is, to search out and discover potential clients for her firm’s services and products, either within industry sectors targeted by her firm, or by suggesting and supporting why new sectors and new types of clients should be pursued.

6.  “Pairing” – the CAM “pairs up” the best potential clients with the elements of her Sales Funnel; that is, she qualifies the prospects, identifies the prospects that meet her requirements for “ideal client” and develops a marketing, sales, and resources plan to turn the qualified prospect into a client.

7.  “Proposaling” – the CAM knows how to write a winning proposal.  Writing entirely from the client’s point-of-view, she re-states the client’s true need as the Problem Definition and states her team’s solution to the problem.  She describes the benefits of the particular solution, the technical team and resources she’s assembled to solve the problem, and states a winning price.  She has taken all the risks of the proposal and the project into consideration, and makes the proposal brief and compelling.

8.  Pricing – the CAM and her team know the intricacies of constructing a winning bid/price for the project.  She has taken into account the client’s true, often unspoken, needs and schedule demands and the team has written a fair price, amply defended by the rest of the proposal.  She has pointed out the savings and advantages built into her team’s solution to the problem.

9.  (Party! – crucial task #9 does not appear on most CAM job descriptions!  After winning the work, the CAM throws a celebration to thank her proposal team and welcome the project team.)

10.  Production –  the CAM and her team swing into action on the project and produce results.  The Project Managers who report to the CAM set up Project Instructions, task leaders, task teams, schedules, task budgets, etc.

11.  Performing and Pleasing – everyone on the team is accountable for performing the project and pleasing the client, but it is the CAM’s responsibility to regularly and honestly ask whether the client is pleased, discover the cause when the client is not pleased and make the necessary changes, while keeping the program on budget and on schedule.

12.  Profit – the CAM approved the price and scope-of-work in the proposal and now it is her job to bring the project in on budget, making the percentage of profit agreed to with her management.  Project monitoring and meetings with project managers are required; changes in staff may be required.  The CAM or Program Manager foresees changes in the project scope or price and, if necessary, takes the requested change order to the client, together with work-around plans and solutions.  All these efforts are directed at pleasing the client while bringing the project in at the agreed-to profit.

13.  Paperwork – each of the tasks has its own, sometimes enormous, “paperwork” requirements, everything from Sales Funnel updates to reviewing job-cost-and-profit reports to authoring sector growth plans. The CAM knows there is no more sure route to failure and loss of support in her company than being late on her paperwork requirements.  Some can be delegated but the CAM is accountable for accuracy and for knowing and meeting her “numbers”.  She knows that accurate, on-time paperwork is her ticket to the show; that her boss can cover her back more easily if her paperwork’s done.

14.  Propagation/Scaling – a successful CAM knows how to repeat her success and propagate the winning formula into more project wins, revenue, and profit.  She knows it saves time, energy, and resources to identify the winning patterns in her prospecting, proposaling, and building client relationships.  She takes it as a challenge to scale those patterns into systems, and scale those systems into methods for her team and other Seller-Do-ers.

15.  People and Appraisals – in addition to the other 15 duties listed here, the CAM has no more important duty than training and developing her team and her people.  Her firm’s product is the imagination and problem-solving of its people; all the proposals and project wins come solely from the initiative and problem-solving of the team.  The CAM takes care to give prompt, brief, encouraging feedback; she looks for opportunities that will let her teammates dare themselves to get better; she welcomes training opportunities for her team and makes sure the overhead time is available; she prepares hard to give fair and balanced appraisals.  She thanks her team, defends her team, keeps her team out of trouble, and goes to bat to see they are recognized and rewarded.

16.  Programs – the CAM contributes her findings, plans, and her creativity to corporate programs for growing the firm, growing its people and teams, growing its customer base, and growing the community.  She knows that the programs and the other 15 P’s add up to all-important employee engagement and customer engagement.

You Seller-Do-ers out there will recognize that “Sales Funnel” management is covered by the first 8 P’s.  Other P’s – priority-setting, productivity, problem-solving – are just as important but they apply to everyone, not just CAMs.

How do you like the list?   What did I leave out?  Please join in the discussion.

If you’re not a Client Account Manager or a leader in your company and you’d like to be, this list is a terrific place to start assessing and growing your skills.  If you need any help, just click “Comment” and ask.

 

One Thing to Do When You’re Stuck on a Rollercoaster

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On our last ride on the Expedition Everest rollercoaster in the Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World, half way up, and pointed at a 45 degree angle to the sky, our coaster car stopped.  Dead.  My immediate thoughts were, “we’ll start again soon..real soon..any minute now..wait, we’re not starting..well, the PA will come on and tell us what to do..any minute now..besides, workers will come and help us down..except there’s no sidewalk, just tracks..and we’re practically on our backs, how will we get out of our seats?” Then the biggie: “the other cars aren’t stopped..I can hear them coming!”

All of that took about 2 seconds

I wasn’t scared yet, but I was getting there. The other cars were definitely not stopped, but they didn’t seem to be getting any closer. We didn’t understand it and I was close to scared by now.

The little fella behind me started to cry

He was terrified and his mom couldn’t quiet him. I thought maybe if I spoke to him, he’d be so distracted by the friendly stranger that he’d stop crying.  I looked at his mom for permission and started talking to him, saying that the nice men were going to come get us because the computer told them to. That we’d walk on the track and that he’d have the easiest time of all because he was small and strong.

It worked

He and I both felt better. The nice men did come get us because the computer told them to. I think the lesson is:  when you’re stuck or worried, help someone else. You’ll both feel better.

Where’s the last place you were stuck?  What did you do to get out of it?  Click “comment” and clue us all in.

 

3 Ways You Know You’re a Loser

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The speaker at lunch today spoke on “3 Ways You Know You’re a Loser”. He said these are the stops on the path to failure – tell me which ones you agree with:

  1. Fear the bullies.   – I did this for years. I’m not sure if I was fearful of the power player or just wanted to have my points “perfect” before I spoke up. Turns out they’re  the same thing.
  2. Get your feelings hurt.   – I did this too. I hope the era of this happening mostly to women is over, or that this blog can speed up the time when women aren’t getting their feelings hurt at work.  Men too.
  3. Take “No” for an answer.   – I never took “no” for an answer. I must have been on my way to great things despite my other drawbacks!

Do you agree that these are the stops on the path to failure? Which ones would you add?  Please click “Leave a comment” and join in.

Does This Help You Start?

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Go ahead and start that thing you’ve put off starting.  I mean, what else were you going to do today?  Dillydally around some more, thinking about starting?

Go ahead and start. In baby steps like always.  Like most adults do.  Check on your results as you go; tweak your baby plan to alter your results.

I’m Pulling For You

Go ahead and start.  We’re pulling for you. We’ll be here when you’re done.

Let us know how it went.  Get ready to tell us in brilliant colorful detail all the pains and bumps you went through at the beginning, all the challenges and peaks and valleys of getting it done.  Then click above and describe your victory celebration.  Or the one beer you had, toasting yourself.

Ready?  .  .  .

 

 

 

Watch Out for This Threat To Your Performance

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Your brain is wired to be on the lookout for threats.  That’s good and bad at the same time.  The brain tells you there’s a tiger in the bushes and you react. That’s good.

But Sometimes It’s Bad

If you had a childhood where you had to look out for yourself or protect yourself a lot of the time, then you might see threats at work where other people see nothing.  If your brain is wired to spot threats and your emotions are ingrained to expect threats, you may be seeing threats to your career where there are none.  Except the ones you are manufacturing.

That’s Deadly

For a leader, a program manager, or a business developer, imagined threats can be deadly to your performance.  You might overreact to nothing at all, and miss the chance to really manage something that actually needs you.  All the time and emotion spent reacting to imagined threats can stunt your career just as much as real threats can.  Leaders can’t afford that.

Everything Is Affected

Your career, your emotions, and the people you lead can’t afford the drama that comes from you fighting threats that aren’t there.  You and the people you lead can’t afford the time and emotion you spend wondering why you don’t feel any safer, and going off to fight again, when it turns out you weren’t in danger in the first place.

Except Now You Are

Except maybe now you are in danger because of your overreaction.

Have you ever reacted to a threat that turned out to be nothing?  Please leave a comment and tell us what you’re thinking.

 

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