magis Growth

The Selling "Red Zone"

2011-08-04T14:06:00.000-05:00

The “red zone” in American football represents the 20 yard line to the goal line for the offense. Teams with high percentage of scoring when they reach this area are likely among the top teams in the league. In 2010, the Carolina Panthers finished last in the red zone with a 30% scoring conversion and a record of 2 wins, 14 losses. By contrast, the Indianapolis Colts had the highest scoring conversion in the red zone (67%) and finished with a 10-6 record winning their Division. These last 20 yards are considered the toughest in all of football as the field narrows and competition stiffens.

The last 20 yards in selling is no time to relax! Possibly, 80% of the selling effort takes place on this last 20 yards of the sales cycle. Decisions are becoming tougher to finalize as no one person seems to ever make a final decision requiring multiple influencers to nod yes. Close to the goal, naysayers and blockers begin to raise obstacles and sales must overcome them one by one. Negotiating that final agreement highlights pricing, support agreement issues and many other ways that the close can be derailed.

Too often, sales people relax as they feel they’ve done what they need to present their proposal, product demos and value propositions – all requirements of the selling process. But now it’s time to put on that final push, anticipate what can go wrong and react quickly or proactively to overcome any business issues for the final close. If managed properly, multiple positioning points have been established and all involved in the sale hierarchy need to confirm status with their respective organization contacts and keep the sale on track … listening for signals if something is amiss and keeping positive momentum.

Of course if you are winning, tough competitors, now backed in the corner, will come out guns blazing to change the decision. Sometimes, those are actually internal turf protectors. And if you’ve lost, don’t give up. Now is the time to win. Selling isn’t always pretty so getting into the alley with brass knuckles to fight and win often takes place these last 20 yards, just like in the front line trenches of the football “red zone.”

Jack Reich

Orville Wright …

2010-08-16T08:52:00.002-05:00

Orville was the yin to Bill McGowan’s yang building MCI to a powerhouse success in the telecommunications industry. Orville was a wonderful executive and an accomplished leader, capable of calmly defusing impossible situations, finding a solution in complexity, demanding excellence in performance.

Despite all the well deserved acclaim for many remarkable accomplishments, I’ll remember Orville most for a seemingly “minor” interaction with a customer.

My organization had considerable success selling our services (several million $’s) to a large national retail chain. Orville always believed corporate executives had an obligation to “go to the customer” and interact instead of waiting for filtered information from staff. This retailer experienced significant service disruption and was, well, pretty upset. Word of the issues came to Orville and he asked for a meeting with me and the customer’s CEO and CIO at their offices.

After exchanging some pleasantries, Orville, in his highly professional and calm tone, turned the meeting to business and caught everyone’s attention by stating he wanted everyone to know why he was there. Pointing at me, Orville said; “I’m here because of him.” I was shocked and confused. He went on;

“Jack needs to know that when he is in the field making commitments in behalf of his company that he has the full commitment and resource of our entire organization to back him up with his customers. Furthermore, I’m (Orville) here to make sure that I listen first hand as to what’s necessary for Jack to meet your needs and make certain that the organization delivers.”

By the way, he fulfilled that commitment.

The message was loud to the customer. They have a senior executive that stands by his commitments and delivers. We went on to win several more millions of dollars from that client.

More importantly, Orville’s support and message had profound implications. I and my organization wanted to break down brick walls for our company. Of course, the legend grew and the positive energy that came from that powerful support by an executive for his sale organization buoyed our confidence in our organization and encouraged us to compete to win.

Orville died in 2008 and his memory survives.

Jack Reich

Sustained Results

2010-07-06T16:30:00.000-05:00

Effective management of a sales process requires a continuous and focused effort on sustained results. Simply implementing a new process without ongoing measurement, management and accountability can quickly lose the momentum and results the company originally gained from its implementation.

I was working with a company recently which implemented a sound and aligned structure around sales process, including account planning; sales call planning and value proposition development. After a strong sales year the COO was struggling with why the original growth they had achieved was not being sustained. After digging deeper into the sales organization, we found the team falling back into their original approaches to opportunities without following the programs methodology for winning new clients.

Sustained results require management to have a clear vision for sales execution and an obsessive expectation with the sales team to follow the new sales process. Simply implementing a sales process without holding the teams accountable will not deliver sustained results over time. Management must understand the sales process, then inspect and expect the process to be followed. For instance, approving travel for a sales call without a sales call plan being prepared in advance encourages sales representatives to “wing it” when making customer calls. Preparation is critical to effective sales calls and demonstrates to the customer the company’s commitment to their objectives. Management also needs to conduct routine account strategy reviews to assist the team in developing effective acquisition plans.

Management holds the key to sustained results for the company. Build a sales process that works for the organization. Then hold the team accountable to follow the plan every day. Make sure the plan includes effective pipeline management, account and opportunity plans, sales call plans and value propositions that speak to the objectives of the targeted customer. You will be amazed at how quickly your results get back on track.

John Leonbruno

No kidding – selling stuff is really, really hard!

2010-06-09T09:04:00.000-05:00

Listen to business to business sales people talk these days. There is no more difficult job in any organization. Interpersonal dynamics in business over the last 30 years have seen considerable change. Competition and price pressures are more intense by a wide margin. Expectation for performance right now has stepped up in every board room and investor conference.

Pressure on buyers is immense too – to lower prices, improve terms, find alternatives … relationships have no value, just get the lowest price. Desperate suppliers react to these pressures, comply, and damage ability to deliver. But the cycle continues to worsen. Global competition with speeds of light flow of communication shrinks differentiation in near every setting. Sure, there are exceptions – usually around unique brand (Toothpaste) or product innovation (Apple).

The answer in most instances – fire your sales manager, or sales people. What investment have you made in them to make them better … better prepared to understand their customers, trained in new skills, better marketing tools, a roadmap of innovation to provide their customers, commitment that’s real to servicing their customers. Answer that honestly.

Don’t forget, your sales people hear NO more times in one day than the rest of the organization hears in a year. Even before the no, sales people aren’t even receiving the courtesy of a call back these days. The front line battering they are taking – for us – is horrific. A job in sales is not for the timid. Yet, try to imagine where your business would be without productive sales people – right, it wouldn’t exist.

The worst thing to watch in this current difficult market; is seeing a once successful and proud sales person’s confidence shattered. If you’re in marketing or finance or operations or whatever … you can hide, but not a sales person, the spotlight is always on … for the next appointment, the next proposal, the next close.

Encourage your sales people. Every sales person feeds off the win … and having their ego reassured by those people around them respecting what they do and hearing they’re loved. They need the motivation to brace for the next no. But, their positive attitude, reinforced by us, will win the day. Please provide them positive encouragement! We need them at their best and their most positive!!

Jack Reich

Measurement that Matters: 4 Key Indicators You Shouldn't Ignore

2010-05-21T15:30:00.000-05:00

Predicting future success is often a crap shoot. Factors can range from assessment of management strength, competitive position, and market size. But mostly, buyers and providers of leverage define value based on the most recent historical financial data of cash flows with some predictive analysis of market trends, comparable values, and management forecasts, using general economic indicators to balance the data.

However these metrics don't dig deep enough. Private Equity owned companies too often camouflage real forecast with their obsession for EBITDA growth defining value based on multiples of cash flow. Of course this is important! But, obsessing about quarterly cash flow growth without any feel for managing an organization's ability to build sustainable growth is shortsighted.

The following may not be generally understood by those handling due diligence, yet they are critical indicators of future growth and, increasing value:

1.     What is really behind customer relationships and the pipeline? Customer mix is important. Understanding contract relationships with terms and volume commitments indicates customer loyalty or vulnerability. Data on churn and retention speaks volumes. Variance reporting on pipeline management that measures changes in timing and amounts indicates the depth of commitment of a company to managing future trends. Assessing ability for expansion in new markets is also a good indicator of growth trends.

2.     What is in the product pipeline? Take a historical view of new product innovation and delivery and compare that to the expectations for new products post the transaction date. Analyze this not just on product delivery, but on innovation and creativity around product packaging and promotion. These trends demonstrate a management team's ability to stay ahead of competition in delivering value to customers.

3.     What have been the pricing trends of products and bundles of service offerings?   Price is a marketing tool. How have companies managed and reported change in pricing and demonstrated creativity with pricing as a competitive weapon? Leveraging price to create longer term commitment in customer relationships demonstrates a company's ability to deliver future value with a deeper understanding of managing product mix in volume and gross margin trends.

4.     Without question, understanding R&D spend (operating and capex $$'s) and investment in marketing/product development is a critical indicator of ability to sustain growth. If EBITDA trends are up, but investment in these areas are in decline or a lower % of revenue, it's a sure fire indicator that future growth trends will not be sustained without a road map for new product or packaging innovation.

In addition to using these measurement tools when assessing a company acquisition, they are critical to long term success of any enterprise. Speed of change is rapid in all markets and competition is fiercer than ever. Understandably, leadership must make tough decisions to conserve cash, improve balance sheets and cut costs in time of survival. But not investing in growth will eventually result in one thing... decline and a loss in value. This is irrefutable.

Jack Reich

Tribute to Strategy and Mentorship

2010-01-11T09:46:00.000-06:00

John Jeuck died peacefully December 18 this past year at the age of 93. For those of you who may not know of him or his accomplishments, the press release provided by the University of Chicago Business School is the best way to learn of the man’s contributions.

Dr. Jeuck’s life is worth remembering. His contributions are well documented in the article. Rarely though does a man of such distinguished accomplishments have a personal legacy that surpasses these same contributions on such a grand scale. Mentorship is friendship.

Jeuck (pronounced yoik), as his friends referred to him, was the ultimate mentor. His mentorship was not official nor was it an assigned task. This good and brilliant man mentored through conversation, encouragement and candor. The likes of great men and women such as Pete Peterson (Blackstone co-founder, Phil Purcell (ex Chairman and CEO of Morgan Stanley), Bill Uhrig (Three Cities Research co-founder) and Peter Handal (Dale Carnegie CEO), were all friends of Jeuck and beneficiaries of his wise counsel. Listening recently to remembrances of these accomplished men reinforces the importance and value of mentorship. The life of Jeuck underscores the value of mentoring and of seeking counsel from those who can provide us strong guidance.

The contributions of Dr. Jeuck should also be valued in the context of business strategy. As a Dean and Professor of the Chicago School, Jeuck was immersed in the style of the institution’s propensity for intense intellectual creativity and debate in the context of its famed economics insights and financial discipline. Jeuck, however, always brought reason and balance to the debate with emphasis on importance of people, markets and business strategy influencing the outcomes of business success or failure. The legacy of these contributions is currently in the capable hands of Dr. Harry Davis, managing the Distinguished Fellows Program at Chicago. As a colleague of Jeuck, Dr. Davis shares his passion for business strategy and mentorship.

Finally, John Jeuck’s life emphasizes the importance of values and ethics in business and in one’s personal life. He was a man of faith and a devout Catholic. Keeping alive John’s legacy of mentorship, dedication to the importance of business strategy and his personal commitment to values and friendship are a welcome assignment to one who also benefited personally from this man’s gentle touch.

Create Jobs - Energize Momentum

2010-01-04T09:15:00.000-06:00

Increasing profits and building value is the goal of every business enterprise. But, since when did we begin using “cut heads” as a measuring stick of success? No doubt, we all must take action in challenging times to correctly size our labor forces to the realistic projections of our business – it’s suicidal not to.

Yet, growth will ensue from the productivity of an energized organization fixated on goals for growth, not employees looking over their shoulder for the next shoe to drop. Operating executives, especially CEO’s and Boards, must take greater responsibility to create responsible and meaningful jobs in the next decade. Instead of focusing board discussion only on financial metrics, spend time talking about and taking action improving energy amongst the work force.

Consider discussing, taking action and energizing your organization in any of the following areas:

Hire young interns and encourage their participation. These talented young people are eager for meaningful work; make sure they have a voice that’s heard. And pay them – stop the free approach, it’s harming our culture and devaluing their input.
Hold town meetings and gain input on 3 very specific topics – how can we grow, improve client relationships and support employees’ ability to produce more effectively. Take action from input.
Hire people late in their careers who want to contribute and mentor young people. They want to work; make certain they have high energy.
Spend money on development – train people (sales!). Once you stop investing in your people or expect to only hire experienced people, you’ve lost. Pace of change is too dramatic; we have to expect to improve our skills everywhere. Insufficient budget is not an excuse; take it out of something else, invest in your people and let them know it.
Start a fresh initiative – innovate. Use members of your team to create a focused idea and execute action that impacts market focused growth or a customer satisfaction improvement. Take on something small – not a world hunger cure initiative.

Love your employees – they are the reason for all your current and future successes! Let’s build a plan this year in all of our budgets to create meaningful new jobs and excite our current employees – it will translate to profit growth.

Becoming Web Integrated: More Than Just a Website

2009-08-25T11:31:00.003-05:00

According to Barlow Research, over 70% of companies with revenues greater than $5M now have a website. That’s the good news. The bad news is that a scary large portion of those website equipped companies believe they have addressed the Internet challenge - got their website up and running, and then returned to focus on the blocking & tackling that has been the historical basis for their success.

Websites are an excellent cheerleader for your company and they show up right where you need to be - in the web marketplace. They provide a place for you to inform your web savvy customers about your products and how to purchase them. But they can’t go it alone. If buying a domain name and creating a website is all you’ve done to engage the Internet marketplace then you may be forfeiting customers to the competition. “Website equipped” is good, but “Web Integrated” is better.

Of the many functions in your business, there are six that face the market:

• Informing – you must responsively provide the pre-sales information that prospective buyers might seek in support of their decision process.
• Marketing – you must proactively educate the marketplace about problems that need solved, advantages of your solutions, and why they should choose your solution now.
• Selling – you must turn a prospect that understands their problem and your solution into a customer that purchases your solution for their problem.
• Payment – you must document the purchase agreement and collect payment from the customer or a third party financing company.
• Fulfillment – you must deliver your solution to the customer.
• Support – you must provide all of the post-sales information and follow-up that will maximize the success of your solution for the customer

These six functions must be considered as you move your business down the path to becoming web integrated. There are state of the art methods and technologies for each one of them to implement automated Internet systems where manual systems were previously the sole approach.

A web integrated business is optimally using automated Internet systems to address the growing web-accessible marketplace.

If your business is not web integrated then you are over relying on manual offline systems and only addressing a declining subset of your market. That’s a sobering situation you should not let stand.

Some businesses are not optimally web integrated until all six of the market facing functions are implemented with automated Internet systems. Other businesses are optimal with two of them. You should determine the point that is optimal for your business and move towards web integration. Pay special attention to your Marketing function. The emerging systems and technologies for web based marketing are nothing short of revolutionary, and it’s likely one of the functions that is key to your web integration strategy.

There’s really good news in all of this. The web-accessible marketplace is growing rapidly. And while everything about manual systems is getting more costly, everything about Internet based systems is on a declining cost curve. When you web integrate your business you’ll find new ways to achieve competitive advantage, new ways to gain efficiency, and more customers within reach as each new day arrives.

Bill

The magis group focuses on helping companies achieve their growth objectives and web integration is a key growth strategy that we can help you with. Please check us out at www.themagisgroup.com for more information.

"Manifest Destiny" Renewal

2009-02-17T09:19:00.002-06:00

Optimism prevails. Our future remains bright. Understanding of the past and gaining historical perspective is the beacon that lights the path for our future. Our great system as a democratic republic coupled with the spirit of our American drive for prosperity will continue if we remain faithful to our desire to grow. That growth is measured in economic terms, but is realized in a better life for the majority and not just the few.

Nineteenth century America was a century of expansion. Our land and natural resources gave us seemingly limitless opportunity to muscle through any obstacles. Save for the Civil War and human injustices of prejudice that marred parts of that century, we could overcome all economic challenges. Anyone struggling could seek a better life by moving westward and realizing a dream. Land was open and free - new businesses and lives were created by those that sought ways to improve their future for themselves and their children.

Government played an important role in that expansion. From the Louisiana Purchase (Jefferson) to the Annexation of the Texas territory (Jackson and Polk) to rising statehood; the partnership of federal and local government, private enterprise, and the drive of individuals to create greater opportunity drove expansion.

Manifest Destiny continued into the 20th century, but in new forms. Certainly, land continued to be a large part of that growth. America had yet to develop itself and our natural resources which created great new opportunities. In addition, arguably, we see that seven (7) other macro trends and events created unquestionable high tides of opportunity in the past century:

1. The Industrial revolution that began in the late 19th Century took hold and drove the first half of the most recent greatest century, the 20th Century. The great industries of transportation, steel, textiles and others created jobs and things we wanted. Our infrastructure and cities developed. Our businesses and our people were provided more options to grow and improve. The automobile is the easiest example of our 1st half industrial revolution creation that built industries and made lives better while employing masses and building profits. Along the way, we protected the ability for everyone to contribute by preventing the large from preying on the small (TR and trust busting)
2. Just as the Civil War disrupted the previous century’s growth, the Great Depression provided a challenge that could have crippled our destiny. We didn’t let that happen. Financial markets, then as now, leaped in importance ahead of the builders of our dreams and became the driver of business. We overcame their unchecked greed and again put the interest of building and growing and furthering the interests of the many led by the “Looking Forward” spirit of the New Deal (FDR). The revitalized spirit of the New Deal’s intervention to build America drove a renewed prosperity.
3. Two great wars impacted America’s 20th Century success. WW I established the United States as a world power for the first time and demonstrated our responsibility to protect the globe (Wilson). Overcoming fanaticism that threatened the world and our freedoms was forced on our leaders and our people, leading us into WW II. The response of our country was remarkable and led to creation of the next great economic trend of the 20th Century – Defense. The industry of defense (Eisenhower and Reagan), that also spawned the Space industry (Kennedy) and technical innovation and investment, served to boost our growth in GDP and jobs. While perhaps unintended and driven by external factors, it is indisputable that the Great Wars fueled America’s 20th Century drive to protect ours and the world’s freedoms.
4. When our soldiers came home from WW II, their desires to build family and renew the American dream unwittingly created the next great macro trend of the last Century – owning your own home in a nice neighborhood. All sorts of business emerged and jobs created from this simple, but dramatic shift in our culture. Building materials, consumer goods, mortgage industries all were created in response to this great demand. The ancillary opportunities, innovations and new businesses created to support this are countless if one only stops to reflect on the things that are in your home today that your grandparents never dreamed about from a window screen to a lawn mower to a fold out couch to the television to countless kitchen gadgets.
5. Technology and Telecommunications drove the last ½ of our 20th century growth. The single biggest macro impact on economic growth is improvement of productivity. The computer, no, the personal computer and related software enhancements, have had immeasurable impact on productivity gains. Lest we forget, the 1st phone was invented in the 1860’s and the computer in the 1930’s, but our management of pro competition, incentives for innovation and balance of regulation fostered enormous improvements. The internet is only in its infancy with immeasurable applications and values yet to come. Global communication is ubiquitous, information instantaneous and the declining cost curves only enhancing further deployment.
6. While not traditionally factored as an economic trend, Social Reform played an important role in our development in the 20th Century. The improvement of work environments and the balance of ownership and employee responsibility to work have had significant impact on the growth of profits and individual pride of work. Union bashing is in vogue today, but the great organizers in our largest industries protected the individual and made way for advances for the many. Child labor laws, fair wages, safe working conditions, restrictions of work day hours all helped create enormous improvement to our forefather’s desire for a “pursuit of happiness.” Of course, social reform that grew from the revolution of the 60’s in civil rights demanded that equality of every race and creed and color was more than words on our Constitution, but a living practice of our every day life (Kennedy and Johnson and King).
7. There’s nothing wrong with a little entertainment! Perhaps, our greatest export today is American entertainment. Not in absolute dollars, but in sheer momentum of creating new trends, our fields of entertainment personify the American passions. Development of the arts achieved never before seen advances as was realized in the last century. From musical theatre to movies to architectural leadership to revolutionary fine art to all the various stages and genres of music, our culture is better off for the devotion that we have to entertainment and the arts. Sports achieved incredible popularity and served to boost our economy. Every American should take pride in our advances of the arts and never diminish the importance we assign to the arts for the heart and soul of our culture.

Even more amazing opportunities lie ahead of us. The next great generation will lead us there. We all witness that the youth of our country have capability like no other before it. They are bright and ambitious and innovative and caring. We can build on the past for even greater opportunity if we remain faithful to our ideals and values of justice and the principles of our forefathers while leveraging their talent and creativity for the future.

It’s been previously chronicled from our past comments that we believe in the need to regain our balance of values in society and to again cherish the drive to innovate and build. Finance mechanisms are tools for development. Over-rewarding financial engineering creates inappropriate behavior. Banks and our great financial institutions are built to serve growth and business and individuals. We certainly need them to thrive to drive development. But, our best and brightest people need to innovate and build. We need to drive job creation – jobs that bring satisfaction in work and improved conditions for living. We must reward the right behavior and encourage the right personal development if we are to continue earning America’s place of leadership.

In our business, we meet wonderful people and see exciting opportunities ahead. We have the benefit of working with these amazing people and helping them achieve their goals. Our commitment to growth execution is biased toward creating jobs and sustained profitable growth with our clients. The nature of our business is to participate in and help create elements of the next great trends that will make up the next greatest century ahead

We have the good fortune of witnessing first hand new trends. While none of these are unknown to any one who reads this, understanding them and determining how to participate has value. I personally benefited by participating in the telecommunications and technology revolution of the past. While unintentional, having had the opportunity to be a part of that great growth and innovation was thrilling. We seek client partners who want to make a difference in the trends of the next century, helping them achieve significant impacts and profitable growth. Understanding these trends is helping us shape the services and capabilities we need to achieve our goal to be a world class business execution firm.

The areas we think about that will drive our country’s next great century currently are:

 Energy and Earth: The “tipping point” is here. Our decisions to serve “green” requirements and protect our planet are necessary from a social and environmental perspective. We must protect all of our natural resources from conservation of limited capacity of fossil fuels to the beauty of our land and animals. As a result, new businesses and innovation and trends will evolve. We have already established relationships in helping improve clean air and large commercial environments with terrific clients. Their innovation and commitment are testimony to the future opportunities ahead.
 Education: Information and gaining access to education is economically smart. We must remain dedicated to promote further education for all; privileged and middle class and poor, all races and color, for immigrants, for everyone. Our development requires workers who are the best educated and who seek continuous improvement. Education never rests either, long after we enter the work world. Certain of our clients are dedicated to bringing new information, content and learning to businesses and individuals. It’s exciting to be part of companies whose dedication is to educate and to build their businesses profitably by helping others achieve personal and professional work satisfaction.
 Technology and Software: Anyone who believes we’ve invented everything worth inventing is sadly mistaken. We see amazing advances in technology and use of software to improve productivity, innovate and revolutionize. In particular, companies need improved execution techniques to deploy more rapidly and broadly these advances through better distribution, cost management, pricing, manufacturing, etc. Services businesses are essential to the deployment and optimization of these technologies to maximize value. Our exposure to some of the innovation that is taking place in these fields makes us conscious of the exciting opportunities ahead. The practical applications that improve all facets of life are thrilling. This ranges from necessities such as improvements of first responders communication in protecting us against terrorism to ability to wirelessly book a restaurant reservation or purchase a concert ticket.
 Communication: The fields of the telecommunications and practical advances on the Internet are boundless with opportunity. Specific applications that leverage the internet and that defines application specific social and business networks to access information, manage our lives and improve productivity is untapped. We have clients with emerging capabilities leveraging content and expertise to build these capabilities and profitable growth. Creating blueprints to bring these to market, facilitating deployment and gaining customers all will accelerate positive macro trends for business growth that has global touch and global consequences.
 Infratructure: There are significant opportunities to rebuild our infrastructure. Certainly, traditional requirements to improve decaying roads, bridges and buildings are basic requirements that will serve to build a robust economy and create meaningful jobs. In addition, innovation will create new opportunities. The confluence of need for “green”, preservation of natural resources and city congestion must have enormous consequences on basic industries such as transportation. Trains and other new forms of public transportation need to be revolutionized. Understanding market trends and distribution are elements of our clients’ needs that we can impact in these areas.
 Other areas of significance will fuel our next great century’s growth:
• Space and Defense: In an unstable world with countries and organizations serving their self interests that may be incompatible with our preservation of our freedoms, defense remains important. Space exploration and yet to be defined opportunities will drive new pursuits in these areas.
• Health Care: While our firm is involved with clients in delivery, distribution and execution in health care related technology and services, true innovation will continue to evolve in areas of research and medicine with wonderful consequences for our ability to live longer and healthier.
• Arts and Entertainment: Our business boundaries are stretched through our passion and creativity and dedication and support of the arts.
• Unknown: We’ll keep our eyes wide open. The next great trend isn’t even known to us today. As President William McKinley met with his cabinet at the turn of the century in 1900, there was unlikely discussion about terrorism prevention on the Internet. What great unknown to us now opportunity lies ahead for us and our grandchildren – that’s exciting.

Certainly, macro trends discussed from the 20th century will also continue. Entertainment and social reform will continue to dictate changes in our future.

As stated here often, we must remain vigilant to support those who build and innovate and operate and execute and work. We need to ensure balance of rewards for all those in the chain of impacting growth and not overweigh the values of various self interest groups as we have in our recent past.

Great opportunity lies ahead as we boldly continue the journey of building the next greatest century. Thanks for joining us.

Jack

Hall Of Fame Personnel

2009-01-28T14:27:00.001-06:00

What makes a championship team?

I was thinking about my two favorite teams the other day and their poor recent performance and something struck me that was missing. Take a look at the roster of your favorite team and judge. Project on that team how many future hall of fame players are on “your” roster. Is the talent and drive of the very best in any field necessary to build champions and raise the performance of those around them?

The thought caused me to do some random research. Studying the professional championship teams in football and baseball in the period from 1950 thru 2000 highlighted some interesting facts. We took a less than statistically perfect sample and only researched teams that won in years ending with 0 and 5 during that period – that translates to 20 championship teams studied, 10 in each sport. Of those teams, only two have no current hall of fame players. But, it’s highly likely that the 1995 Atlanta Braves (Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz) will induct at least one member. The only outlier is the 1990 Reds that don’t have an obvious hall of fame player.

Having multiple players achieve this status contributes to building a dynasty of success and is especially evident from teams early in the analysis group. The Cleveland Browns of ’50 and ‘55 (9), the Green Bay Packers of ‘60 and ’65 (11) and the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers of ’55 and ‘65’ (8) emphasize the point.

Maybe even more profound is the preponderance of hall of fame coaches and managers from this study group. Of the 20 teams, 13 had current hall of fame inductees. That list of recognized leaders includes Vince Lombardi, Paul Brown, Chuck Noll from football and Casey Stengel, Walter Alston, Earl Weaver and Sparky Anderson from baseball. Two additional coaches seem to be locks to make their respective halls some day, Bill Parcells and Bobby Cox. That will make a total of 70% hall of fame led teams. We included Barry Switzer as a hall of fame coach who is inducted in the college football hall of fame having spent most of his career at that level.

Studying the player group generated a rush of nostalgia from the likes of Dimaggio, Clemente, Koufax, Graham, Starr, Bradshaw, Schmidt, Payton, Unitas, both Robinsons, Groza, Taylor, Bench and so many more. More than 100 current and future hall of fame inductees are from the rosters of these 20 teams.

Other outliers exist. The horrible Chicago Cubs of the ‘50’s and 60’s won nothing yet produced Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ferguson Jenkins and more to come as hall of fame members. However, check your favorite teams, I did. You can see those teams that failed on the field had nothing close to a hall of fame player, let alone the multiple players that many championship teams include.

What can we learn?

As we stare into our own organizations, what is the talent level and the characteristics of a hall of fame type that is necessary for our own teams to be championship caliber? How many true hall of fame personnel do we have on our team? No, there isn’t a hall of fame for the likes of our organizations, but what if there was? Would we have anyone to lead all of us to an extra level of success? Every one of these individuals demanded more of themselves and of their teammates – to win. Do we nurture these people or suffocate their personality, creativity, drive and independence?

It’s worth thinking about and acting upon!

Jack

Future Optimism

2008-12-11T15:12:00.001-06:00

“You say you want a revolution
Well you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be alright
Alright Alright”

By John Lennon, Paul McCartney

The past two decades are a blur. We knew better and let this happen. Greed is the bane of our Capitalistic society. The combination of our Democracy and Free Market capitalism is the right balance but requires the checks and balances our government and constitution protects. It also requires that our souls and deep convictions guide our priorities.

Innovation and execution thru hard work is the back bone of our country the past 3 centuries and must be again. Our best and brightest men and women need to be encouraged and rewarded for building stuff, innovating, helping others and doing the right thing. There was a time when creating jobs gained managers and business owners’ respect.

The latest “market correction” is overdue. We need to lead. We need to demonstrate to our youth that “pursuit of happiness” doesn’t mean joining the latest hedge fund, being a consultant or investment banker or joining a big Wall Street firm to make the most money the fastest. The greatest rewards in career are being part of growth and organizations that build and succeed – great product, wonderful services, customer satisfaction – nurturing teams to succeed. We need strong financiers; it’s a noble profession, but not the only profession that creates growth.

This is not idealistic blabber. Competition is tough and should be. Winning in the market place counts – not by ruthless means, but by being the best and most innovative.

Let’s start by not letting Wall Street pay those obscene bonuses to every person part of the bail out. In commercial enterprises, when companies don’t succeed, no one receives a bonus and employees lose jobs. Don’t reward the mistakes. There is NO way that the banker or trader working a deal for a company should be allowed to make tens of millions when his client’s line worker can’t properly educate her children. That does not require government intervention, it requires common sense.

To the generation of “baby boomers,” encourage a young person to work to realize the merits of building things – over the long haul. This country is great. Our people are creative and fun loving and generous. Fight the “drug dealers” – those that feed us that the “narcotics” of greed and pleasure are more important than the merits of decency and doing the right thing.

Optimism for our future should be off the charts positive. This correction is great news as long as good and decent people that value “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” unite and take back our country. We need to do it everyday.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”

Jack

Only Real Men Are Salesmen

2008-11-25T16:27:00.003-06:00

My Microsoft buddy has had an interesting work career. He has worked in Pharma, sold videos for Disney during the VHS heyday, and had a stop at Yahoo before joining Microsoft’s XBOX team. He is a life-long “sales” guy. The fascinating aspect (and he shares this often) of this sales guy’s career is he has always represented products in high demand, to the point, that he had to tell potential customers that they couldn’t have them. Our mutual friend, who sells investment funds and other money products, feigns disgust that “XBOX” calls himself a sales guy. How could anyone who tells prospective buyers “no” be a sales person? We should all be so lucky! For most of us, the sales game is a tough one, a very tough one. A vast array of competitors, fickle customers, and our own discipline make life difficult for most sales people. And while there are many factors to running a business that make it successful, it all comes down to getting in front of a prospect with a compelling value proposition and asking for an order.

So, getting sales right is critical for any business. Let’s assume a company’s product is competitive and can be delivered effectively (even though many sales folks will tell you not to confuse selling with installing!), that organization MUST ensure it has the right people, with the right message, with the right processes, with right guidance selling their products. A colleague of mine who has a career in sales recently engaged with a company whose sales had been stagnant at about $14M for years. The company produces a commodity product, has 14 salespeople and sells its product in North and South America. Over the last 8 months, my colleague has modified the message for the salespeople, built new selling tools, focused their efforts in new verticals, implemented an activity tracking and forecasting process and stressed the importance of not only maintaining existing customers, but growing them. Additionally, and probably more importantly, he has stressed the importance of listening for opportunity. It’s all about the customer and his business and, only after you really understand that, can you sell your products and services. The results: the company is tracking to a $20M revenue year in 2008 with an enormous funnel leading to 2009.

This work isn’t easy. And while my friend has always represented products in high demand, he too is a master of the fundamentals I have shared above. He recognizes there is always a competitor lurking with the next hot product and, if you are not ready with a disciplined, focused and energetic sales organization, you will lose in the long run.

Shaun

Apple, Microsoft, and Innovation

2008-08-29T08:00:00.001-05:00

I have a good friend that works at Microsoft and has been involved with the Xbox since its introduction. As lover of all things Apple, I am often engaged in “religious” debate with him about the great Apple products vs. the offerings from Microsoft. Last night, in fact, we were in an email debate about the iPhone (I recently upgraded to 3G). Not surprisingly, he trashed it. While the iPhone has a way to go, what Apple is doing with the device and the new App Store is again changing the paradigm. But the discussion got me thinking about innovation and the impact it has on market leaders. The business landscape is littered with once-dominant companies that have fallen from the pinnacle of their industries. Kodak, GM, and Sony are but a few of many who have been hit hard and are trying to reclaim their commanding position. Sure, innovative companies and products had a hand in impacting these former leaders but with the money, the people and the power, shouldn’t they have been able to overcome those upstarts? In Bob Herbold’s recent book, Seduced by Success, he suggests there are 9 traps good companies can fall into as a result of their success. Herbold’s 9 traps are: Neglect, Pride, Boredom, Complexity, Bloat, Mediocrity, Lethargy, Timidity and Confusion. One or more of these conditions can lead to significant consequences for any successful company. But we can’t assess blame to some amorphous company. It’s about the people who are the caretakers of these companies. The human frailties of arrogance, entitlement, greed and selfishness fuel many large corporate bureaucracies stifling innovation, teamwork and aggressiveness in the marketplace. A condition that unfortunately just doesn’t apply to the aforementioned big boys. Enlightened leaders (or at least those that recognize they have issues) will do all they can to seek counselors and strategies that will help them through tough times and “energize” their organizations and business. Third parties will be valuable in this process because they can be objective in the process of making things right. Clearly, my buddy, is suffering from Pride, Confusion and a little Bloat. I will continue to provide him with my objective counsel.

Shaun

Scared? Don't Be! Time to Grow!

2008-07-17T09:23:00.005-05:00

Remain positive! Your success depends on attitude. Difficult financial times have a way of bringing out the worst in people. Fear sets in … and decisions become focused on cost cutting and timidity. Did you see those lines at the mall this weekend? At the store entrance on 5^th Avenue? Those people were lining up to buy a great product that buyers perceived as a value to them – despite the bleak economic outlook.

The new Apple iPhone isn’t cheap. It’s a more expensive replacement than anyone’s last phone purchase – prices crumble as technology adoption takes place – not in this case. And, by the way, every purchase comes with a 2 year, $70 - $130 monthly commitment for service – a $3,000 decision. I thought everyone was “cutting back.” I counted 129 people in line to get in the store at the local mall – that’s $397,000 in one line, in one mall, at one store.

What are you doing to create positive energy, listen to your customers’ needs, innovate, and create customer value. Are we building brand? Are we selling with confidence?

Don’t fall for the negativity. Don’t ignore the market issues – take advantage of them. Complacency and inactivity sucks. Growth is Fun!

And don’t tell yourself it’s too hard and that it takes time and investment. Do something today that grows your business the very next day and start something that will grow it even more next week. Do it. Deliver clear value precisely – growth will follow!

Jack