Dear Corporate Guys. . . 

Open minds open doors!

Sometimes, when people and organizations get too big for their britches, they have a tendency to shut down their receiving antennas. They can become especially resistant to the idea of being taught a lesson by the smaller, younger whippersnappers that they once were. But here’s the deal, Neal (Sorry; been writing rhyming verse today). Any entrepreneur will tell you:

You’re missing major sales 24/7

HA! you say, you have a great salesforce, a top-notch explosive website, and wonderful customer service people. That may be true on all three counts, though not likely. Them’s fightin’ words, you mutter under your breath, behind your glimmering smile. That “them is fightin’ words” may also be true. But here…is reality:

You’re missing major sales 24/7

Pick up the phone right now, before you even read the next paragraph, and call (not a number you know) any number for your company that you can find (IF you can find one) on your company website. Start with your homepage and troll around until you think you have a number that could answer your question about what quantity discounts might be possible for major purchases.

Odds are that if you are not put through a barrage of push-this-to-get that instructions, which are unlikely to offer any bulk purchase information anyway, you will be put on hold listening to some imbecilic message wrapped in static, and maybe escape the telltale buzzing followed by: “If you’d like to make a call, please hang up and try again.”

Okay, you get past all that. So ask. What arrangements are possible to make if I want to purchase 500 or 1,000 or 20,000 units from you? Who is the person I should speak with about quantity discount options? About custom-designed or packaged versions? Delivery timelines? About how staggered purchases can be when market testing is involved?

You’re missing major sales 24/7

Have you any idea how many sales slipped through the cracks this year because your company only talks user-friendly, but doesn’t leave doors open for prospective customers? Take a guess. Are you willing to admit that customers may have questions that simply can’t be accounted for by a program developed by some geek who doesn’t know spit about how and why people buy what they buy?

I wasted nearly two hours this week calling numbers I had to pry out of websites for three of the world’s biggest consumer goods companies. After battling to get past automated messages and static on-hold music from a company that truly should have offered superb listening, I began to feel frustrated. Hmmm, maybe they don’t want to sell stuff!

Then, after getting seven disconnects from one company and four from another, I finally spoke with stupendously pleasant people who –once they managed to slow down the pace of their speech patterns at my request– turned out to know nothing. Although, one did give me the name of a person to call and email. Another promised to “look into it” and would email me; that was two days ago.

Customer service departments should all be deleted anyway. When all employees are trained right, and accessible, there’s no need for separate (and expensive) customer service staff! 

You’re missing major sales 24/7

Oh, the call number I got, by the way (which I double-checked!), was a fax machine. The email address was answered three days later by someone else who said the person I had emailed was long-gone from the company, and how could I have ever gotten that name? (Instead of: “We screwed up, but what can I do to make things right for you?”)

The calls I made, FYI, were legit. I was representing the interests of a client who was actually considering purchasing a couple of hundred thousand dollars worth of merchandise for major promotional use (the purchase of which, alone, may afford another hundred thousand dollars worth of unpurchasable positive publicity for the supplier!), but the client wanted answers now, not days from now.

Did you make that call yet? You might be surprised by what you learn.     

www.TWWsells.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You. God Bless America.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

How you chunk up

daily commute time  

reveals the real you!

Ever wonder what you can learn about others based on how they spend their work commute time?

As unorthodox an HR assessment tool as it may seem, it’s probably as effective as any other. How a person commutes to work (i.e., by what means and process) indicates, after all, a little something of each of the following career attributes:

1. time and stress management skills
2. concentration and organization skills
3. entrepreneurship
4. motivation and prioritizing skills
5. sense of initiative and responsiveness

The first pair of these itemized attributes (time and stress management skills) signals a person’s ability to adhere to a schedule while juggling interferences, interruptions, and delays. It also offers some clue about tolerance levels associated with the daily barrage of pin-pricks and nit-picks (and occasional flair-ups) of fellow-commuters.

Yes, there are still carpool goof-balls who jam an unsuspecting neighbor between them in the backseat and proceed to laugh as they spill coffee on the sandwiched lap at every pothole.

Yes, there’s always a sprawling snoring (and probably drooling) sleeper to awaken and/or climb over who’s commandeering two (or three with luggage) rush hour train (or subway or bus) seats — always, of course, when there are no other seats available.

What’s a poor commuter to do? Standing for an hour of jerks (both kinds) and bounces is not usually a great option for starting the day, especially when the time window was planned for laptop or paperwork. And please don’t start with defensive comments from “business class” express trains or some limo drivers union. We’re talking real life here. 

The second pair of attributes (concentration and organization skills) assumes the first pair can be readily met and dispensed with. It’s almost always easier to concentrate and be organized when you’re on schedule and able to fend off anger, annoyance, and upset!

Then there are also some who thrive at concentrating and being organized in chaos and turmoil. (A terrific qualifier for government job applicants!)

Next is, aaah yes, entrepreneurship! First of all, most of these folks only commute a flight or two of stairs in their bathrobes. Hey, there has to be some trade-off with corporatesville, right? And if any of these types are not officially running a basement or garage or kitchen table operation already, they are planning the moment of great escape, and aren’t reading this anyway.

Motivation and priority issues surface as various commuters face the grueling daily ritual of “Commuter Mental Block.”  Not sure about that? Just stand back and watch how many smiles disembark commuter vehicles balanced atop those suits and skirts as they enter work zones and re-enter home zones.

You’ll get volumes of information to match up with Maslow’s Hierarchy theory of motivation and a truckload of clues about those with strong prioritizing interests.

Responsive individuals with a sense of initiative rarely keep commuting . . . except perhaps a bathrobe-clad flight or two. These are the innovators, the catalysts for change, the emerging entrepreneurs who will gladly move to live on the edge of their venturesome ideas. They are the people who happily leap from the daily traffic battles and 9 to 5 status quo monotony to take their chances with their own self control. For the rest: Don’t give up your day job!    

www.TheWriterWorks.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You. God Bless America.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

“HOT-DOGS”

Belong On Buns

Maybe it’s a friend or relative. Someone who tries too hard to be something she or he is not. A show-off, showboat, hot dog. You like the person, but tire of the boasts, antics, and pretenses. Maybe a Post-it note on his or her monitor with this page URL? You know the type. A small business that represents itself as “full-service,” or a guy (who just walked by) who wants to look like a girl.

Monster corporations, it seems, have caught themselves up in the transgender craze, pretending (not unlike the federal government) to be small business experts (you know which ones). Being “small business experts” simply means they want small business owners’ money. They haven’t even a lick of an idea  about how to run or grow a small business. They’re hot dogs!

How many website designers claim to be marketing experts? How many marketing experts are self-anointed copywriters? Optometrists (eyeglass lens and frame specialists) who pretend to be eye surgeons — ophthalmologists — who are medical doctors? How about chiropractors (trying to be specially-trained orthopedic surgeons) who claim to be “sports physicians”? Hot dogs!

Oh, right, while on this subject, there is of course the all-time worst impostor: the dentist who says “Well, I can do that tooth extraction for you.” Uh, sorry, I think if I have to suffer through this event, I’d prefer an oral surgeon. No, this isn’t a disease limited to healthcare. Had any CPAs tell you they could handle your tax attorney chores for you? Or wannabe CPA bookkeepers? Hot dogs! 

“This showroom car is nice, but I wanted a forest green model, not a black one,” says the customer. “Hey Harry,” whispers the salesman behind the customer’s back, “turn on the forest green lights, quick!”   

Americans appear to have an insatiable appetite for getting ripped off. It’s true that green consciousness, quicker/easier access to information through hi-tech tools, and a continuously miserable economy with no end in sight have fed us all bigger portions of more value-careful, more fully-informed, more dollar-conscious consumerism purchasing decision making . . . but nowhere near enough! 

And so there still are legions of businesses out there masquerading as bigger and better than they really are. And professional services are on top of the phony baloney heap! SAVE IT FOR HALLOWEEN! It really doesn’t matter what you’re selling (and EVERY one is selling SOME thing!):

Credibility is king!

Credibility comes from reputation.

Reputation is built on authenticity.

“Hot dogs” belong in buns, not in the office on on

the work site, except maybe at lunch, with mustard.

www.TheWriterWorks.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You. God Bless America.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Window-Shoppers

and Tire-Kickers

Do Not Make For Productivity 

FAR beyond the vast sea of incompetency that floats the government boat, and WAY past the time-wasting frivolity of corporate giant muckity-mucks, America’s 30 million small business owners–together with countless millions of managers and sales professionals–live with the day-to-day reality that TIME is money!

Time (yes, it’s worth repeating) is money!

Why the big lead-in? Because time is not money for the politicians who pretend to be running the business of managing the country (unless it’s electiontime!). And because big business CEOs, CFOs, CITs, CMOs, COOs, and all the other Cs out there are preoccupied with how to justify their 9-5 existences, instead of how to make the most of all available time — including nights and weekends! 

Now that that’s settled, lets’ move to those who invest themselves in wasting other people’s time. Retailers are used to them and happily accommodate them because the tire-kickers and window-shoppers will almost certainly return some time to make an actual purchase if their non-purchase trip is a rewarding enough, pleasant experience.

BUT B to B services can die long, slow, painful deaths by dealing for too prolonged a time with this mentality.

In other words, customer service begins at the front door of a retail business and it really doesn’t matter if the individual coming in, is there to ask for driving directions or is going to be walking out  with a $1,000 purchase. “Kill ’em with kindness and bend-over-backwards service” is the rule.

When you’re selling services to other businesses, however, customer service begins AFTER the sale is made, so the qualifying-of-the-prospect need is to be courteous and expedient. Prospects need to be qualified and then dealt with accordingly. To let someone who sends an email inquiry or who calls in a telephone request for a customized proposal (a particularly common occurrence in consulting) — especially when fees and rates are asked for — jerk you around for an hour or two is a bit masochistic on your part.

People who pull this stunt are usually looking for free . . . free ideas, free outlines, free plans, free approaches, free advice, free services. Many of them will call half a dozen sources and combine responses to set a budget for themselves and use the input for criteria in setting the stage for another competitor to do the job. 

Giving away what you make a living 

 at does not make for productivity

under any circumstances . . . .

except perhaps for charity

— when it’s affordable.

The solution is to quickly qualify prospects to determine the seriousness of their intents by promptly informing them that you will be happy to do as requested the minute you can get an advance of $500 or $1000 to cover your costs, and that that amount will be credited against any work you end up doing for them.  

Your job is to make sure the “inquiring minds that want to know” are serious and committed to doing what they claim to be interested in doing, and that they’re willing to pay for your time to help them figure out how to get started. Without this, you’ll end up with enough ankle bites to drop an elephant (which, in case you never noticed, have really fat ankles!)

And it’s hard for business owners and managers

  and sales pros with bitten ankles to run full speed.

 # # #

www.TheWriterWorks.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

God Bless America and Our Troops.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

“Even though

we ain’t got money,

I’m so in love

with you, Honey…”

WHAT MUSIC IS YOUR BUSINESS?

Is your business: Classic Rock, Smooth Jazz, Hip-Hop, Easy Listening, Country, Operatic, Heavy Metal, Rhythm and Blues, Punk, Big Band, Classical, March, Reggae, Folk, Broadway, Acid Rock, Acoustic, Ballroom, Boogie-Woogie, Choral, Dixieland, Doo-Wop, Grunge, Latin, Spiritual, Scat, Gospel, Honky-Tonk, Salsa, Soul, Pop, Rap, Bluegrass, Calypso, Fusion, Disco . . . or what?

Not sure? Ask around. See what employees say. Suppliers? Customers? Your family? You might be surprised at the answers you get.

Once you narrow down your field of sounds, ask yourself if you really want your business associated with McCartney’s “Money Machine” or Jimmy Buffet’s “Wastin’ Away Again In Margaritaville” . . . or whatever image seems to rise to the surface.

People are much more

                                  

receptive to abstract

                                   

questions than serious

                                

ones, and their answers

                                

are likely to be truer.

The value of this exercise is that people are much more receptive to abstract questions than serious ones, and their answers are likely to be truer. In the end, if you’re intent on making your business succeed, or continuing to succeed, then you need also to be alert to the values of taking ongoing inventory of the impressions people have of what you do. Remember it changes.

Like everything else, the only permanency in business and life is change. Perspectives change daily (hourly in many cases) and the entrepreneurs who are most successful are those who constantly keep tabs on the impressions others have of their business enterprises . . . and make adjustments accordingly.

Business is, after all, about serving the customer. When your market perceives (correctly or not) that what your business has to offer no longer satisfies the benefits your customers seek, it doesn’t matter what you think. It matters only how you adjust to provide what’s being sought. It doesn’t matter how great your music is, it’s whether it’s appropriate or not. Is it in sync with your customers?

Baseball’s greatest hitters are those who continuously (in the middle of the game and even, and especially, in the middle of an at-bat) adjust their attitudes, stance, and plans they bring with them to the plate as they see how the pitcher they face is faring. The world’s greatest entrepreneurs have the same kind of track-record and approach. They are continually assessing the market, and their role.

If you are playing rock and roll in your head and your business is playing elevator music, it’s like swinging for a fastball and getting a change up — you are way out in front. And you’re undoubtedly feeling frustrated at every turn with your organization’s snail pace. If you are trying to dance the waltz to a limbo, you are bound to trip yourself up.

So get out your old kazoo and hum your way back into reality. Start checking other peoples’ perspectives about something that has to do with your business as a matter of daily routine. It’s the only way to keep on top of the reason you’re in business in the first place . . . and that ain’t to be singin’ no lullabies (unless of course you’re in the baby products business!)

www.TheWriterWorks.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Female Business Owners

Excel Over Men

 in All But Logic

and Hardsell!

(Yes, this is an “opinion piece,”

but it’s based on 35 years of experience!)

Let’s face up to it, guys! Women are better at almost every part of owning and running a business than we are. They are generally more creative, better money managers, and more personable and charming.

These last two attributes of course give them — if you’ll pardon the expression — a leg up on us with respect to customer service and employee relations . . . not to mention investor solicitations!

Bottom line is that, unlike men (thankfully), women business owners don’t typically put their egos on the line with every decision they make. Every business deal does not have life-threatening implications and repercussions.

Female business owners and managers (as opposed to probably 99% of their male counterparts) don’t analyze issues to death.

They take things in stride. They may cry more. And perhaps they can’t lift as many heavy cartons as some men, but they are more inclined to take action than talk about it.

 Men: If you’re married more than 20 years,

you know what it’s like to work for a woman.

And some of us have actually had female employers. I’ve had a few. One was the shining star of the New York Madison Avenue advertising agency world, and she commandeered respect with every workday breath. Her self-discipline, creative spirit, and enthusiasm were contagious.

Do women make better salespeople? I think that depends on the products or services being sold. Women, it seems to me, have a tendency to not go for the jugular in making whatever might constitute a hard-nosed sales approach. Is that a plus? I guess it depends on how hard your nose is. Q. Are women sometimes illogical? A. Does a bear…? 

Okay, so yes, they might have a couple of faults . . . uh, compared maybe with a few dozen faults chalked up on the macho side of the scale? Right. I do in fact know about the Men are from Mars stuff, but I’ve learned that while women may cross up other women on occasion, they tend to be much more authentic human beings than men most of the time.

If the way one man treats another is consistently honest and straightforward, there’s a good chance at some point the the good guy will get screwed in some business deal.

If that same Boy Scout-type dude treats a woman in business with honesty and straightforwardness, he’s likely to be treated with consistent respect in return.

I might add here that most men in business impress me as not knowing how to express empathy (or care much about it) because they are consumed with acting strong and tough and making sales and making operations work. “Your 15 year-old dog died this morning? Sorry about that. Would you please be sure to get that report on my desk by noon?”

Women, on the other hand, I believe, unhesitatingly put themselves in other’s shoes, and aren’t afraid to interrupt plans and schedules to offer counsel as needed. (I’m not talking about holding hands and spending the day with a troubled employee, watching TV and eating bonbons).  I’m talking here about taking some time out to help make a difference for someone.

Does empathy make women better businesspeople? Probably, because it undoubtedly makes them better leaders. And:

 Business success is all about successful leadership,

regardless of how you’re packaged!

302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Businesses balanced on

the brink of  bankruptcy

have only truth to sell! 

Regardless of how you explain it or how you think you got there, businesses that teeter-totter, balanced on the brink of bankruptcy got there through poor management.

Not enough capital, not enough sales, the wrong personnel, the underestimated expenses, the increased cost of raw materials, the lack of bank loan support, weak operational planning, bad press . . . it’s ALL poor management!

But no need to bury your head about that. 

• First: You have company. 9 out of 11 new businesses reportedly fail within the first five years, and a best guess is that probably half that many fail after the first five years.
• Second: Every (Right, “Every”) highly successful venture of the many thousands I am keenly aware of has its success roots traced back to major failure. Forest fires create new and stronger trees.

Not unlike cutting and running on the battlefield or in the sports arena, the choice to fold up the tent is of course always available and, for some, it can gallop into position rather abruptly and become a choice that is no longer a choice.

For many, however, the moment of truth can breed heroics! It has a lot to do with courage, gumption, spunk, resilience, stick-to-it-iveness, passion, and drive.

It also has more to do with common sense and authenticity than most who face the threatening storm typically would care to admit. But facing the consequences with your business on the line — especially where the increasingly common issue of bad press is involved –requires more of one ingredient applied thoroughly and consistently than any other: truth.

Recent bad examples abound on the big business side of the coin with brokerages, mortgage companies, automakers, and scores of big-name corporate product recalls, with the over-exaggerated media hyperbole in oil leak containment effort reports.

Many see the same kinds of mismanaged and basically DIShonest accountings of activities surrounding sinking hospitals, banks, the post office and, sadly, many small business ventures.

There lies deep within these complex business failings a desire to save face at all costs, to cover one’s butt — a desire that is actually stronger than the desire to succeed. 

A sizeable hospital has disavowed it’s attachment to an affiliated and approved and endorsed physician who is alleged to have literally destroyed a community that the hospital has thrived in and nurtured its whole life.

Instead of going to the great lengths and expense and repeated hand-wringing it did to deny a relationship with the person in question (a tragically mentally sick doctor is the only way to describe what the evidence appears to point to), the hospital needed only to:  

• Step up

• Own up

• Tell all

• Admit past screw-ups and negligence

• Ask forgiveness, and

• Act immediately to bring the public to the truth of it.

Resistance to speak the truth in trying circumstances because the consequences are imagined to be humiliating, inevitably ends up making the dynamics and repercussions of the act itself far worse than when it started out.

Toyota’s response to failure was to smother it with marketing dollars. But peoples’ memories can’t be bought off! The hospital referenced will likely fold or be bought out for a monumental financial loss – all because the administration lacks backbone!

When the going gets tough, speak the truth. Sweeping the mess under the carpet only makes cleaning harder.       

www.TheWriterWorks.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You. God Bless America and Our Troops.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

When did you last deliver

more than you promised?

…and threw in a “Thank You For The Opportunity!”?

This is indeed customer service coming in the back door and, hopefully, your answers to the questions above are: “Yes.” “Today!” and “Yes.” 

Like the family that prays and plays together stays together, the business with a consistent gratitude attitude wins a multitude of latitude from customers, prospects and the industries, professions and communities it serves.

“yeah, yeah, yeah!” you already know all that, and “so what?” you reply. Here’s what: succeeding in business today reduces itself to the simplest –and probably oldest– positive practice on Earth: GRATITUDE.

If you think otherwise, you are not a realist. If you and your people are so tangled up in CRM hardware, software, and underwear that you are missing the daily, hourly, opportunities to build and boost genuine customer service bases of operation, you are taking two steps backward to go one step forward. That isn’t going to cut the mustard in this economy.

Thanking people is not a complicated practice. Oh, and it’s free!

“Yeah, well my staff and I always say thank you to customers and it doesn’t do squat!” 

Hey, that’s a good start, but if you’re not seeing increased loyalty, repeat sales, and steady increases in revenues, you might want to take a closer look at HOW you and your people are saying thank you.

I walked into a failing grocery store this week and had checkers, baggers, shelf stockers, front door greeters and department managers falling all over themselves trying to make my celery purchase be the most memorable experience of my life. They did everything but drool with trying to make sure my celery was spectacular and that I truly had everything I wanted and needed from their store.

Yucht! Finger down my throat. A quick trip for the missing chicken salad ingredient and you’d have thought I was Justin Bieber’s father, or the inventor of Silly Bands. Here’s the deal. The overkill was obnoxious. It was insincere, and I didn’t appreciate being the target of some mismanaged customer service training program.

A pleasant smile and genuine thank you at the cash register would have been more than sufficient. Instead, I was ogled, called “Darlin'” got a 20-cent discount at checkout for having not bothered to bring my little marketing research discount tag, “awarded” a scratch-off ticket to win $1, and had someone actually offer to carry my celery to the car! 

Okay, they got me laughing, but I’m not going back there. 

Next, give a little thought to the idea that since anybody can be connected to anybody these days, it is essential that small businesses act neighborly but think globally.

Anyone is capable of giving or sending you business. That certainly includes your inner circles of family and friends, but it also extends outward to employees, suppliers and vendors, geographic and industry neighbors, service professionals you engage, and all the communities you serve.

In other words, do you say thank you every day to customers, but not employees? Do you thank sales reps for visiting you? Do you thank delivery people and public service people who visit or make regular or special calls on you? Do you thank people for complaining? (“Thank you for calling this issue to our attention. What can we do to make it right for you?” goes a very long way!)

302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

God Bless America and God Bless America’s Troops.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

 The bigger they are,

the harder YOU fall

 …but the little guys

can cripple you too!

Here’s the inside scoop on “outside” marketing experts . . . 35 years’ worth of experience and considered judgment for you to chew and digest:

WEBSITE DESIGNERS who claim to have the gift of marketing genius have nada. If they’re older than 14 to start with — even 30-something — they are still probably 14 mentally; and odds are they haven’t a clue about marketing, but have learned to sound convincing about it. Exceptions? Sure. Check my blogroll.

AD AGENCIES know less than website designers. They are heavily invested in winning themselves awards and cornering clients into excessive payments. They have no down-in-the-trenches sense of how to make sales, nor do they particularly care as long as the next big client stands ready on the horizon.

•      They are particularly skilled at song and dance “dog and pony shows” that tell clients how great it’s going to be but that accomplish nothing to write home about, as long as the next big client stands ready on the horizon.
•      If you’re looking for artsy or funny or insulting or dramatic ads and commercials that have high impact but make no sales, go to an ad agency. And the bigger the agency, the more it will cost you and the least likely you’ll get the results you seek.

PR FIRMS do have a pretty good camaraderie with numerous media people and can be effective — depending on whether you pay them $10,000 a month or $15,000 a month — at wining and dining and schmoozing editors, writers, and sometimes publishers into considering coverage for the news releases they write and submit for you.

•      And they certainly know how to play the news release format game, but they rarely if ever are able to capture the essence of your business message and bring about action because they almost universally seem to think they know more about your business than you do. So what comes out is mundane, meaningless babble.
•      Make them write three test releases and explain why the words in them are the best words and who and when they would submit them to and why.

MARKETING GROUPS will tell you they’ve got you covered, yet only a minuscule number actually realize that marketing is the umbrella and that the functions under that umbrella include sales, advertising, promotion, packaging, pricing, merchandising, PR (public relations), industry and investor relations, customer service, CRM (Customer Relationship Management), website design and development, email and social media promotional activities, employee alumni associations, buzz (word-of-mouth) marketing, and on and on.

•      Ask them HOW they “cover” you and see how many of these avenues are mentioned.  

MEDIA. Would you have a guy from the slaughterhouse prepare your meals?

SBA SCORE COUNSELORS. SCORE is Senior Corps of Retired Executives. A lot of the world’s nicest, most well-intentioned people in this organization that provides FREE consulting.

•      Unfortunately, like the federal government they represent, they are completely out of touch with the realities of day-to-day business management, and may as well be on Jupiter for the marketing guidance they provide. Time is money. Don’t waste your time.

     What’s left? Independent consultants and project managers. Probably these folks represent your best choice, but only if you’re careful in your selection. Some of them are just as crooked as many of the others.

     ASK QUESTIONS. Ask for explanations about HOW a candidate thinks about what she or he claims to have accomplished. Ask for examples. Ask why something that worked well worked well and why something that didn’t, didn’t. How confidentially do they offer information? Who are a couple of client types they can suggest for you to contact to confirm.

     Beware of self-proclaimed “experts”

with cookie-cutter solutions!

# # #  

302.933.0116  Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

“Out of the mouths of babes

oft times come gems.”

–A present day reality from the Bible

When did you last ask a child in your life— your own or someone else’s — for an opinion on, observation of, or response to your three longest-standing business problems?

Why do you imagine business owners and managers rush to the judgment that children are incapable of contributing meaningful business solution thinking to chronic business problems? “Because,” you might offer, “children lack experience.” Well, this is certainly true. It’s more likely than not, however, that the solutions to nagging problems will not come from having been there and done that.

You don’t need an MBA or to be on the cusp of retirement in order to render a (generally most productive) simplistic approach to business problem-solving.

Like most things in life that adults tend to over-complicate, common sense typically dictates the best approach.

Children are literal fountains of uninhibited common sense.

I heard a radio commercial this week for a home-building company owned by a gentleman named Robert Pittie. The 12 year-old with me who heard the same message started laughing hysterically. It took me a few seconds to catch up because I was preoccupied driving, but when calm finally prevailed, I too near busted a gut as I figured out the lamebrain message (delivered of course with total sincerity):

“When you want a home that lasts,

call Pittie Full Construction Services.”

(Uh, I don’t think so.)

Mr. Pittie might have spared himself the embarrassment had he first tried the words on a child. Most of us, in fact, could probably benefit by the kinds of regular booster shots of childlike innocence, simplicity, and authenticity that routinely roll off the tongues of 4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 and 13 year-olds. They don’t pull punches. They tell it like it is.

Kids are not controlled by paychecks, promotions and compensation plans (though a little ice cream or some Silly Bands can make for worthy incentives). They are free-thinkers. They are joyful. The more you show them active listening by asking questions and withholding judgments — even taking notes — the more likely they are to spark a new idea or ignite a productive old one you forgot. 

Besides, when you force yourself to take the time out to spend these minutes together, you are reinforcing not only the relationship with this child (or group of children . . .  assuming you think you can handle a focus group discussion!), and you are building self-esteem.

And nothing in the universe bears the fruits of self-confidence and a successful life’s journey like helping a younster to feel good about him or herself. How to start: “Gweneth, can you help me out with something? My company is trying to figure out how to make better jewelry (vacuum cleaners/dogbones/bookkeeping services/customer relations . . . whatever), and you seem to have good ideas.”

To top it all off, you’ll find that just the exercise of having to explain what you do in simple terms and examples, can bring you the answers you’re looking for all by itself. Some small business owners who make presentations like this to neighborhood schools report they get as much value from the experience as the students.    

www.TheWriterWorks.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

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