The Real Problem

I am here to fix a problem; something has gone wrong with the installation of software I wrote, and I’m here to make it work. My goal is to produce the stream of documents, PDF files, emails, envelopes and labels that engulfs my client.

It is no one person’s fault that things aren’t right. It is very much like an airplane crash – one small thing went wrong, and while that was being addressed something else cascaded into being, and now here we are, ten o’clock, staring at a growing list of matters-that-must-be-resolved, some of them mine, some of them the client’s.

Panic sets in, which is a good thing for me, because I am stubborn, tenacious, and I write things down.

I tick off my list three items that indicate serious problems with the host system.

The client has no one to fix these problems.

The client is panicking.

But I see my job clearly.

The first priority is to get the client calmed down, to make them comfortable with the idea that problems will be fixed in a methodical way and 9unspoken) that screaming isn’t going to help.

As usual, it is a people-problem rather than a technical problem.

The Meeting – Handouts

Handouts are essential.

At least two sheets of paper.

The first sheet is handed out at the start of the meeting; it states in tangible form the date, time and place of the meeting and the attendees. Thus it establishes the foundations of the meeting.

The first sheet also holds the agenda, which is at least a stated goal of the meeting.

The second sheet, prepared in advance, contains some aspect of feedback measurement.

It can hold a suggested date/time for a follow-up meeting if one is thought to be useful.

It holds a request for an evaluation of the meeting – what did we learn, what do you see as our next step?

The second sheet is a call to action, even if the action becomes ‘Thanks, but no-thanks”. At least we have some decent and business-like closure to the venture, and the courtesy of asking, and giving feedback leaves to door ajar for either party should they wish to re-open it in the future.

Late, Later, …

I was late, my fault, no doubt about it.

I’d said I’d be there at nine, and arrived at the car rental at 7:30 as planned. I figured half-an-hour for paperwork, and a quiet coffee at the other end, and an hour’s drive.

It was not to be.

I had left my credit-card at home, and no-card-no-car is a reasonable policy.

Enterprise drove me home to pick up my card – bless ‘em – and I was therefore tootling along the highway, right-hand-lane, speed limit, thinking “When in a hurry, obey the speed limits”. Sure enough, minutes later I spot a speedster pulled over by the OPP.

I rolled into the parking lot at 9:04, not to far off my target, but was waylaid by a couple of ladies who wanted to ask ME about parking regulations.

Thus it was 9:10 when I turned the door handle into the client’s suite.

Or tried to.

Locked.

No one had arrived yet.

So I sat down and pecked away at my laptop, glad that I hadn’t panicked, hadn’t speeded, had made two little-old-ladies happy AND was relaxed enough to acknowledge the client’s apology with forgiveness and honesty: “It’s quite alright!”.

The Meeting – Look for Boredom

There must have been signs of boredom in my physiology; I am not such a good actor that I can hide my feelings, no matter how polite I might want to be.

Glazed eyes, head resting on hand, sepulchral absence of response, yawning, glassy eyes, granite face – the list goes on.

By the time you notice them, it may be too late to re-engage the attendee, but it is not too late to try to re-engage the attendee.

Not to try to re-engage the attendee is to fail.

And to lose the attendee forever.

$100 of Discouragement

Yesterday I test-drove a training center which I am considering as a venue for regular scheduled training sessions.

I charged attendees just enough to cover the room rental - $50 each – so it was a good deal for them. $50 got them 6 packed hours of intense accelerators in Windows.

Everybody a coupon worth $100 of the next course that they, or the bearer, took on any course offered by me at the training center.

What a deal!

Some people received two coupons!

What they don’t know is this: if they pass the coupon on to a colleague, I’ll give them a replacement coupon.

Am I giving money away?

No.

The coupon’s main benefit is not to them; it is to me.

I was worried that I’d be tempted to offer a second or even a third day at-cost, $50 each, in which case anyone rolling up with a $100 coupon would expect me to pay them the balance of $100.

The $100 coupon has as its main purpose the stiffening of my spine. From this trial at-cost day forward, every session will be $300 per head.

No exceptions.

I have made sure that I can’t afford to offer another $50 day.

Ever!

Get the Word OUT!

Want to make your emails a little more useful?

Well, you already know about using the signature block to make announcements. Any email you’ve received from me over the past four weeks has announced my $50/day training session.

But each day I receive various digests of online journals, I read online newspapers and read business blogs.

There’s a wealth of useful stuff out there.

This morning I decided to add “How to talk shop with tech suppliers http://www.backbonemag.com/Magazine/2010-04/how-to-talk-shop-with-tech-suppliers.aspx ” to my signature. It’s a canny article and some recipients of my email will click on the link and benefit from reading the article.

There’s no need to commit to changing my signature every day, but whenever I read an article that can have an impact on my correspondents, I can just update the signature with the latest “goodie”.

The Meeting – Same Height

We entered the host’s office and Robert gestured to the other office chair. I spotted the couch and elected to sit on it.

This set me at a lower height from Robert, who maintained his desire to sit on his office chair.

Now I am a good twelve inches lower than Robert, which means he is in the superior or dominating position (which may explain his monologue), while I am in the submissive or inferior position.

My role is to listen.

I think that Robert’s initial gesture to the other chair was correct; he was correct in his aim to set us at the same physical level.

But when his gesture failed and I opted for the couch, his best tactic was to sit alongside me on the couch.

That is the body language which says “I am prepared to meet you”.

No New Technology!

As a solo-entrepreneur I am acutely conscious of time slipping away (whether you rent an apartment or are buying a home, “time slipping away” means, each month “money slipping away”).

I am guilty of it, as are you: wanting to believe that this new technology will save me time.

Doesn’t matter whether it is a voice-recorder-that-transcribes-into-text or a new software tool that, once installed and mastered will … or a revolutionary stamp-licking-and-envelope-sealing machine.

IT’S A WASTE OF TIME!

If you keep track of the time you spend installing, configuring, and maintaining software, there is very, very little out there that you could truly describe as “saved me a bundle”.

It doesn’t happen.

Whatever new gizmo you are thinking of getting hold of, buying, downloading, etc. today, take ten seconds and ask yourself; Is this just an excuse to divert me from my primary task?

I bet it is.

The Meeting – Snookered By a Long Break

Significantly the interviewer droned on and on with, to me, long-winded explanations of stuff I already knew.

Why is he telling me this?

Twenty minutes passed by without a break.

I sat there thinking that no side of a conversation should last longer than 120 seconds without another party being given an opportunity to chip in.

Otherwise we have a monologue, not a dialogue, and that means only one side is learning, if they haven’t already tuned out.

Try this in the privacy of your boudoir: Talk (monologue) for 120 seconds about something you love, your passion in life.

It is hard to do, isn’t it?

How do you think 1,200 seconds sounds to your audience of one?

The One that Didn’t Get Away …

So there you are, ready to quote for the $3,000 service, and the prospect says that they can get it for a lot less – they are probably thinking of hiring a student straight out of college (“It’s not a big job”).

So, “If you can’t pay $3,000, what do you think the student will charge you?”

About $500.

Of course; the student is still living at home with Mum and Dad, borrowing Mum’s car, eating for free, and so on.

You can’t compete with those prices, nor should you.

But you don’t need to let the prospect off the hook.

If you can’t swing them over to your bank, just cut them a bit of slack:

“I’ll tell you what: If it doesn’t work out for any reason at all, get back in touch with me and I’ll give you the $500 as credit towards the job”.

Neat.

Now either they get badly burned by the student and are glad of a safe haven, or else they decide to call your bluff, forget about the student, wait 4 weeks and then engage you at a lower price than they had been quoted.

What do you care?

You landed the client.

(Thanks to Carl Sarfi of www.MaximumBusinessPerformance.com )

The Meeting – Solicit Feedback

Along with the feeling of being Snookered By a Long Break I had the impression that I was merely an ornament, that I had nothing to contribute – and hence my presence was a waste of time for us all.

The wise interviewer pauses every 120 seconds and asks for feedback.

If nothing else it serves as a check to see if the audience is still awake.

Better still, it lets us measure if we are still on the right track, or if, perhaps, we have strayed a little way from our jointly perceived goal.

Be prepared to wait 3 months for payments.

Apart from the all-too-frequent "We take 90 days to process", bear in mind that large corporations have very strange structures.

One of my clients is based in New Jersey. I chat by email and phone for a month or so, we write down the goal, objectives, I do specifications and issue a proposal for a fixed-price. My contact in the corporation agrees to the proposal, and understands that a 50% deposit is required for me to start work.

So far so good.

Now comes the dance:

To receive payment I must

(1) Issue an invoice (for the full amount) by email (minutes)

(2) Wait for the accounting department to issue me with a Purchase Order number (a week)

(3) Transfer the P.O. number to my invoice (minutes)

(4) Re-issue the invoice in signed hard-copy form by postal mail (this takes a week to skip across the border)

(5) The accounting department in New Jersey checks the invoice, and then mails it (hard copy) to an office in Texas.

(6) The office in Texas does something with it, and then mails it (hard copy) to India.

(7) After that, from somewhere in the labyrinth, a real cheque gets issued and is popped in the mail (this takes a week to skip across borders)

(8) If I'm on the ball, or at least, desperate, I deposit the cheque the same day in my bank account.

(9) The banks can transfer money electronically in seconds, but insist on five weeks to clear a U.S. cheque, no matter that I receive several cheques a year from this company, drawn on the same branch, etc.

Now add up those standard delays, toss in the random glitches (my ISP is down, it's a public holiday in NJ, TX or India, Marlene is "off sick" for two days and so on), and you have an extra-long wait before you can pay your rent.

Factor these figures into the cash-flow portion of your business plan.

The Meeting – The Late-Comer

The meeting started with Bob and I. As I thought it would.

Ten minutes into the meeting Michael appeared.

Who is Michael?

I never found out.

No introductions were made about who he was, who I was, why he and I were there.

I knew why Rob and I were there – we had set up the meeting.

If a member arrives late, it’s essential to take a time-out and make sure that everyone (in this case only me) knows who the newcomer is, why they are here.

Otherwise there is a nagging feeling that something secretive is going on.

• Who is this guy?
• Why wasn’t I told about him?
• What is his part in the deal?

How to Write a Stunning Corporate Profile in 2 Minutes

Browse a few press releases. My favorite source is Canada News Wire .

Quickly find a press release whose corporate profile statement (at the foot of most press releases) sounds like something you wish you’d said:

• Jimmy’s Capital Corp. is a Toronto-based public merchant bank specializing in the financing of and investment in mineral resource companies. Jimmy’s manages a merchant banking portfolio of emerging resource stocks.

Make changes to the facts:

• Chris Greaves is a Toronto-based provider specializing in the streamlining of best practices in major companies. Chris Greaves provides a portfolio of more than 140 applications and proof-of-concept models for evaluation.

Or, if you prefer:-

• Chris Greaves is a Toronto-based trainer specializing in measurable improvements in productivity in staff and users in the business environment.

The Meeting – The Web-Cam

I noticed as soon as I sat down that although the monitor screen on the computer went blank – perhaps a screen saver – the web cam still sat top the monitor.

Was this meeting being recorded? I don’t know.

I do know that it left me feeling a bit uneasy that I was sitting in a direct line from the web camera.

A significant portion of the meeting consisted of me alternately trying to align myself almost in line-of-sight with the interviewer so that I could stare at the web cam (“If you are recording this I want you to know that I suspected you were recording this”) and alternately trying to re-seat myself so that the interviewer’s head blocked the line-of-sight from the web cam.

I’m Against Good

Down with “Good”.

“Good” is mediocre.

Good is at best only slightly better than bad.

Take a look at the last five documents you have produced.

Find each occurrence of the word “good”.

Think of a better word, not a synonym, but measurably better, than “good”.

• Is this good advice? Isn’t it, rather, timely?
• Is this good advice? Isn’t it, rather, useful?
• Is this good advice? Isn’t it, rather, high-impact?
• Is this good advice? Isn’t it, rather, cost-reducing?
• Is this good advice? Isn’t it, rather, revenue-generating?

I thought so!

Good.

I’m glad you read this little article.

Your Most Essential Task Today is …

We know that we are not getting sales; prospects; contacts.

We know that several months, almost amounting to a year, have slipped by and we seem to be no closer to our goal of fifty-two new clients than we were a year ago.

Where has the year gone?

It doesn’t matter where the year has gone.

All that really matters is today, and what we do with it. I’m prepared to argue about this for as long as you like, at The Montreal Deli , if you think you can win this one.

Let me give you an example: It is 11:30 p.m. as I type this; this day is as good as gone; writing this blog item is just a get-me-off-to-sleep item.

Tomorrow morning, before I check email, read the online newspapers or even post my daily blog (from my “Coming soon” funnel), and while the first pot of coffee is still brewing, and while the computer is performing its first-boot-of-the-day tasks , I must filter out of a big pile of paper every brown window-envelope; I must open each envelope and lay the contents out on a clear desk.

It’s all about taxes, you see.

By the time I’ve laid them out and worked out what they are, I’ll be in a position to phone the tax department.

They left a voice-mail on the phone three days ago, you see, so I’m sure I owe them a return, or a tax payment.

Whatever it is, it can’t be good.

But if I don’t make sure it gets done (the phone call) tomorrow, whatever-it-is will still be waiting, and it will probably get worse.

And you know that I know that once I hurdle the obstacle, the fear of the unknown won’t be hanging over my head.

And I’ll sleep better, work better, and just have a better life, instead of worrying myself through the valley of stress into an early pit of despair.

If you are reading this first thing in the morning, treat yourself to resolving the most important thing in your life TODAY.

You deserve it!

3 Days Without Stress

60 hours have passed since the bolt of lightning hit our building Friday night around 9 of the clock.

I’d seen the storm coming, through my window and on the weather radar, so my computers were turned off (but not my modem – although it appears to be OK).

I called Bell at 4:30 a.m. Saturday and again at 7:30 a.m. Sunday; a summary of the conversation can be read here. The précis is that BELL has failed miserably as a communication company in not keeping us informed of the situation.

• I can’t fault them for the lightning strike.
• I can fault them for the delay in repairs, and for lack of communication.

What has this done to my business (and my busy-ness)?

Well, for one thing it has made me aware of how often I’ve been popping on to the web for a little light entertainment, a break between tasks. I am now aware of a frisson each time I’ve reached for the mouse thinking “I’ll just check up on the news/weather”, or “I wonder what new postings have been made on Eileen’s Lounge”; “I think I’ll blog that, it won’t take but 5 minutes” all the way to “It really is time I learned the lyrics to the 2nd verse of Neil Diamond’s "Save me a Saturday Night’”.

There was an initial period of withdrawal that lasted about 6 hours.

I have a cell phone (which I rarely use) which has come in handy for picking up voice-mail AND changing my voice-mail greeting: ‘If you know anyone who sells Rogers phone and internet service, please have them call me on my cell-phone”).

It’s 9:30 Monday morning.

Right now I want to phone the editor of a national trade journal and invite him to breakfast, lunch or supper, and I reach for the phone …

Right now I’m wondering how my colleague in Orangeville weathered the weekend …

Right now I should be calling my client in New Jersey to let them know of the progress I made over the weekend …

Right now I should be responding to a small flood of emails that have, no doubt, arrived from the client in the east-end regarding that critical project …

And the 60 hours?

I got a lot of work done on that New Jersey project; head down, thoughts, paper/pencil etc.

I did some superb batches of no-knead bread; sorted out the spare bedroom, and did some gardening.

In short, while I lament loudly that lack of a communication channel, I recognize that I have been driven by the communications channel.

Think you couldn’t survive without it? You can, for short periods.

Try this:

Unplug your internet and phone connections for one hour. It’s as if you’ve been out for coffee for one hour.

Next day try 2 hours. Go on! No-one will know.

Try unplugging at 6 p.m. Friday, and see just how long you can go. If you can make it to 9 a.m. Monday, like me, you’ll have proved that you are your business, regardless of the medium.

More stuff

(1) I have arranged a meeting downtown at The Jersey Giant. My first instinct is to jump on the web and find out exactly where they are; “St Lawrence Market” isn’t good enough for me. I want my internet!

(2) Perversely, now that I don’t have access to fre elocal calls (I get charged for my cell phone), I want to Hit the Phones. I want to get in touch with him, and her. No Time Like The Present!

(3) I’ve become a dab hand at Spider Solitaire.

The Hard-To-Touch Contact

We all have them.

They sit in our little database and we dare not pick up the phone because

1. We have nothing to chat about
2. We haven’t chatted for such a long time
3. We don’t have a clue what their current problem is.

Of course, I see nothing wrong with picking up the phone and voicing those three concerns directly; sometimes a quick “Thinking of you” is all that is needed.

But take a look at this picture:


My hoarding instincts serve me well. You are looking at a collection of magazines, brochures, generally collected by the armful at trade shows, but also scooped up from the laundry room.

Each journal is opened to the Contents page (ah HAH!) so that any hard-to-reach contact can be satisfied with a page carefully cut out of a free journal.

As the collection grows in variety, chances are strong that that awkward contact can be satisfied with a page, and envelope, a 50-cent stamp, and if nothing else, I can call next week and ask how they liked the article.

I Can Change My Mind Only Once

Flexibility is often the key selling point for a solo-entrepreneur. My ability to make snap decisions to accommodate a client is easy, costs me little, and impresses the client.

And gets the job done faster and cheaper.

(That’s why it impresses the client).

By definition I must be more flexible than The World Out There, so by definition the world is relatively inflexible.

I recently announced a training session, at cost (room rental), $50. What a deal!

A great many people couldn’t make it that day.

Not a problem; I’ll make it a week later.

I’m flexible.

I can change.

But a week later is the day after a long weekend.

Should I skip forward yet another week?

No.

Changing my mind once is being flexible.

Changing it twice is indecisive.

And confusing.

And sends a message that perhaps I’m not really serious about this, that it isn’t going to happen after all, that I’m scared or ready to back out.

A Fresh Take on Backups

We had finished the training session and Bernie had unplugged his fairly new DELL computer when I asked him “Do you backup your computer?”.

No, he didn’t. There wasn’t much of value on it. “A few emails, a Gilbert And Sullivan Society brochure or two. Some of Corinne’s teacher stuff, that sort of thing”.

Uh Huh.

My comment caught him by surprise: “Here’s a thousand dollars. Go buy yourselves each a brand new netbook, and I’ll keep this computer”.

No way, not without he “first gets to copy some stuff” off his DELL.

No, I insisted. The deal is right now. One thousand dollars and you walk out of here.

Nope.

It seems that the data that is on the machine is worth more than Corinne’s wrath if Bernie turns up with two new computers but without the data from the old one.

And yet that is exactly what will happen when Bernie’s hard drive crashes.

Their data is gone and they have absolutely no choice

The small difference is that today the money would have come out of my pocket, whereas tomorrow it will come out of Bernie’s pocket, making a sad, bad situation even worse!

Don’t Try to Sell

• Not on the first call.
• Not on the second call.
• Not on the third call.

It takes me at least three conversations to get to the point where the contact knows me well enough to even hint at a problem or pain.

We don’t reveal our weaknesses to strangers (unless we are stuck next to them on a bus).

If I can’t sell on the first three calls, what can I do?

I can give: “I’d like to send you a press clipping”; ‘I have a white paper to bring to your attention”; “I’d like to invite you to our next meeting”, and so on.

The gift had better have obvious or at least curiosity value, and it should bring me something in return – an email address, a postal address, or an excuse to call them back in two week’s time.

Here’s the good news: You won’t be doing any cold-call sales calls any time soon.

You’ll be perceived as the bearer of good news.

Make Sense Out of Non-Sense

In I’ve Run Out of Time I introduced the statement offered by many a VP to explain why I should be the one to take up the burden.

The same statement is usually accompanied by a second statement “This is the most important project we have”, and you should anticipate the word “deadline” or “presentation” soon.

The two statements “I’ve Run Out of Time” and “This is the most important project we have” represent a logical conflict.

If this really IS your most important project, how come you are not assigning priority time to it? What is it you are doing that is 2nd- or 3rd-rate in importance instead of getting this life-or-death project off the ground.

Pairing up client statements and examining them for inconsistencies is a useful tool.

These two statements tell me either that my client is lying, or else they are illogical.

Either way trouble lies.

The explanation is most likely that they haven’t run out of time; they are really out-of-their-depth, but as a senior VP they are not allowed to admit that.

I do not ask the client “So are you lying or just plain stupid?”; instead I quietly acknowledge the inconsistency and look for the truth.

If the truth is, as usual, that they are out of their depth, then I know that the project will by now be patched with duct tape and baling wire, there will be deadwood to remove, and a fair amount of tidying up before progress is seen.

I may even have to drag a specification document out of the mess.

But it’s my job to take an insane state of affars and make it sane.

The Position Statement As a Resume

For us the days of the generic resume are gone; generic resumes are good when you leave school, and cease to be good after your first job.

After the first job, you need a resume tailored to a specific position; if you are applying for a job as “COBOL Trainer”, then your resume is geared towards training programmers in COBOL.

The same is true of your position statement or elevator speech; if it is worth delivering, it is worth delivering in fashion tailored to the specific listener.

That means that my elevator speech, no matter how constructed, centers on “training” if I know the other person has an interest in training, “application development” if I know the other person has an interest in application development or “business communications” if I know the other person has an interest in business communications.

That’s why I can’t deliver an elevator speech unless I first know who I’m talking to; that means I must draw them out in conversation BEFORE they get a chance to ask me “So what do you do”.

And that means I have to learn to be a listener and to ask provocative questions.

The Position Statement As a Resume

For us the days of the generic resume are gone; generic resumes are good when you leave school, and cease to be good after your first job.

After the first job, you need a resume tailored to a specific position; if you are applying for a job as “COBOL Trainer”, then your resume is geared towards training programmers in COBOL.

The same is true of your position statement or elevator speech; if it is worth delivering, it is worth delivering in fashion tailored to the specific listener.

That means that my elevator speech, no matter how constructed, centers on “training” if I know the other person has an interest in training, “application development” if I know the other person has an interest in application development or “business communications” if I know the other person has an interest in business communications.

That’s why I can’t deliver an elevator speech unless I first know who I’m talking to; that means I must draw them out in conversation BEFORE they get a chance to ask me “So what do you do”.

And that means I have to learn to be a listener and to ask provocative questions.