High Tech Touches

Once upon a time, it was all about High Tech and High Touch (Alvin Toffler). Today, it’s about High Tech Touches. Once you capture someone’s email or cell number, you have the means to stay in touch with them and add value on a massive scale. Blogs, SMS, FasCas, email (sounds old fashioned), Twitter…you name it; there are dozens of ways to remind your prospects and clients that they are on your mind.

Holding Value

When you buy a new car and drive it off the lot, its value (i.e. what it’s worth) drops almost 20%. And it continues to diminish over time until its worth nothing. Client relations are similar. The moment we start a new client relationship, our value to the client is the highest it will ever be because we are the solution to their immediate pain. As their pain diminishes (we solve the problem) so does our value. There are only two ways to address this. One is to constantly search for new pain that we can address (starting the value clock over again). The second is to lower our price (thus increasing our value relative to cost). There is no third option.

Why Good Clients Leave

We don’t lose clients! That’s totally true. We know where they are…somewhere else! So why does that happen? Why do good clients leave? Feel free to add to the list.

1. They no longer need what we’ve been giving. Last year’s solution is this year’s expense reduction. Client needs have changed radically in the past 6 months. Have our conversations changed? Have our solutions changed? No matter how well you speak of a solution no one wants, you are going to keep that client.
2. Someone else offered more value. This often comes in the form of a lower price and we dismiss it as that. But look deeper. Price is a part of the value equation. No one buys for a lower price unless they feel they are getting value (benefit). Somewhere along the line, our benefit failed to justify the cost. Be realistic. If our benefit has dropped (i.e. we solved their problem) then our cost should also. If ours doesn’t someone else’s will.
3. We got boring. We stopped pursuing our client, dating them, coming up with creative solutions and new ways to make a difference. We went from uncommon to common. It was so gradual we didn’t even notice it. Maybe they didn’t at first either. But over time, our “same ol’, same ol’” opened the door to a new suitor.
4. Management changes. The person our relationship was with is gone and we either haven’t built other relationships in the organization or we haven’t gotten in front of the new decision maker quickly enough. If have gotten there, we’ve probably told them more about what we did than explored what they may need. See #1.
5. We Blew It and Didn’t Know How to Recover. Most companies blow it from time to time and, while not acceptable, it is expected. The real trick is whether or not we can recover—own the problem, solve it, etc. Defensiveness, denial, ignoring it, not apologizing, explaining it…these are the ways to lose a second chance.

Zappos—A Company to Benchmark Against

If you’ve never seen an interview in a bathtub watch this. If you’ve wondered who out there gives incredible service check out Zappos and watch this.

Being Customer Driven

Check out this article from Harvard Business Review on being a customer driven business. http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/merholz/2009/02/becoming-a-customer-experience.html

New Solutions

What’s the point of offering last year’s solutions to this year’s problems? More effort at pushing what doesn’t work or matter any more is a great way to fill out sales activity reports but an even greater way to end up losing your job! Listen to your clients. Throw out preconceived notions of what they need based on what you have. Ask real, piercing business questions. Solve today’s problems!

Lincoln’s Leadership

If ever there was a man who led, and led marvelously well, during times of crisis it was Abraham Lincoln. Secession and Civil War had been fermenting for decades in an increasingly divided country. Finally, with his election in 1860, the Southern states decided they had to withdraw from the Union and war began a few months later in 1861.

Nevertheless, Lincoln led and lived almost long enough (he was assassinated in 1865) to see all hostilities cease and healing begin in the country he loved.

So, what were his leadership traits? What made him the man for the hour?

1. Humility—while he knew what he wanted he could also listen to others, even putting men into his Cabinet that stringently opposed him at every turn.
2. Honesty—there seems to be no “spin” in his speeches or letters.
3. Boldness—he did what was necessary. Suspending habeus corpus, for example, while a highly criticized move, helped keep order during the crazy period.
4. Decision—if a general couldn’t get it done, he replaced him. The times were too dire to worry about feelings. Not until he found U.S. Grant did he believe he had the man to win the war and he went through several generals to get to him.
5. Focus—there was nothing else on his agenda besides reuniting the nation.
6. Passion—aged beyond belief by his time in office, Lincoln gave his energy, his health, and ultimately his life for his cause.

February 12 is his birthday. We need to lead like Lincoln today—in our companies and in our country!

Invaluable

In tough times, people are tempted to discouragement which leads to a kind of hopeless, lethargic approach to work. “What’s the point?" I’m gonna get laid off anyway!” Shake it off. Now is the time to make yourself invaluable to your organization—put in extra time, take on a new project, create a new solution, volunteer to handle the job no one wants. Sitting back with your head low is the surest way to lose. Stand out. It’s worth the risk.

Discouragement

Discouragement—what a word. If you break it down, it’s the opposite of en-couragement and the enemy of courage. Dis-courage. Negative courage. Controlling fear.

Fear is not the enemy. Everyone has moments of fear—even heroes. And courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is the will to act in spite of fear. En-couragement is the help we provide to another to act in spite of their fear. Dis-couragement is the anchor we throw to a drowning man (or to ourselves). So….be strong and of a good courage. Be encouraging. And never be discouraging or discouraged.