Now THIS is Embarrassing!

Almost a year ago someone at a client’s site asked for help with an Excel workbook; date calculations.

I submitted a draft version with 90% complete, asking for confirmation that, as far as I had gone, everything was in order. After which I planned to code the remaining 10%.

The contact never got back to me, so I assumed that the job was dropped.

Yesterday I was asked to update the workbook for the current year, but I had not written the final 10%, the customization, for last year.

Presumably the workbook has been in use for 12 months, operating on only 9 of 10 cylinders.

Should I use this as an opportunity to complete the workbook, or should I gently tell the client that apparently they don’t need the special treatment – that last 10% - which they believed they DID need last year?

Talk to Me !

Prospector – Scanning for Hooks

There are a few contacts (companies) in my data base for which I have as yet no firm “hook” or reason for calling. In some cases I have given up on the contact (Person) and am waiting for a better contact.

Think of me as one of those fish that hide in a cave and dart out whenever food comes swimming by!

Prospector delivers me a slew of links each morning, and I glance, 3 seconds tops, at each release.

Today I realized that I am looking at just the footer to see if there is a name I DON’T recognize with a title other than “Media Relations” or “Communications”.

Any new contact name with a title of President, CEO or CFO represents an opportunity for me to make a better contact with that company.

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Turning Down Work – part 3 of 3

Interesting.

Same client now wants to pay cash!

They have no brick-and-mortar address.

The web site consists of a login screen (no Home, About Us, Contact Us, etc.).

Only a cell-phone number, no land-line.

And the training is to take place off-site.

Payment in bank notes.

I smell something not quite business-like about the whole arrangement.

Years ago my accountant told me about accepting payment in cash: “On the way home, deposit the full amount in a bank machine, and on the paper receipt write the name of the company or person who paid you. When you get home, make out and mail an invoices for the total amount, reversing out the tax”.

In other words, stay on the right side of the law.

Today, of course, I don’t have to carry banknotes around with me.

They can wire the money by direct email transfer from their bank to me, and I can deposit it in my bank account.

Without leaving my office.

In fact, they’d have to make sure I had the email BEFORE I left my office to deliver the training.

Which sounds even better!

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Charles Darwin

I am making my way through the second edition of Charles Darwin’s “The Descent of Man”. A quick search of descriptions in online book stores leads me to believe that mine is an 1874 printing. The book is about 127 years old.

I am also engaged in a spirited discussion of postal mail vs. email in marketing campaigns (Given the nature of my market and business I employ postal, email, phone and face-to-face).

I am struck by the number of personal and technical references given by Darwin, especially the personal references.

In the image above I have circled in red Darwin’s references to humans or human works; 8 references on two pages of about 700 pages in this copy.

Two of the eight references are to books, so imagine Darwin, in his study, flipping through various books from his library to obtain the title, edition, page number and quotation.

Six of the eight references are to his correspondents, and Darwin had many correspondents.

Charles Darwin was a notorious letter-writer and receiver.

6 quotes in 2 pages out of 700 yields as a first approximation 2,100 personal quotations.

Let’s assume that he quotes each correspondent 10 times in this work, that leaves us with 210 people with whom he corresponded, and assume that on average 3 letters passed each way between them, that means that Charles Darwin read 630 letters and wrote 630 letters.

Of course, some of the correspondence contained matters that were used in other books, but none the less, consider this:

Darwin was an experimenter. He spent time outside with a notebook and pencil, a lamp at night time, in his fields, observing, measuring. He spent time deep in thought, we can be sure. He spent time drafting and revising his works. He had a family and a life.

And he wrote, by hand (no typewriters, no email) a staggering number of letters to correspondents around the world.

In a variety of languages.

In his Copious Free Time he read books.

Charles Darwin belongs to a lost age, but consider his impact on our world, and stand in awe of what he achieved by reading, and writing by hand.

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Turning Down Work – Part 2 of 3

It’s tough to do, but it‘s fun.

Here is the fun part: Suppose they go to CTN; chances are strong that any member there will shy away from Mac Excel and say “You should speak to Chris Greaves”; my reputation there is that I do the awkward and difficult stuff.

It sounds like your expertise will be an asset, so I'd like to book you for a half day. Is that 4 hours? To avoid unnecessary costs, I'd like to meet in the common area of my building. It's set up for meetings and has internet access. Does this work for you? Also, is Friday morning an option? If not, tomorrow afternoon works well. I look forward to hearing from you.

Heh heh!

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Web Marketing for Those Who Don’t Believe in Web Marketing

I had a call from Geoff Hewko of iDealVisitor , a very patient guy. He spent an hour on the phone with ME, a die-hard techno-guru who can throw up more obstacles than a …

The gist of his message was this:

Even though I am not selling my services through the web, it is the web that will help me sell my services.

My story: I am embarked on a program of meeting face-to-face with the senior executives in Toronto who tell THEIR subordinates to write the cheques; Presidents, CEOs, CFOs and the like. My target market is members of The Deep Pockets Club in Toronto and Mississauga.

What, I ask, is the point of all this Search Engine Optimization stuff? I am not reaching out to businesses in Tucson or Century City.

• Here is the Answer

I should start to distribute free products (e.g. Indexer ) and free advice (e.g. upbringing ) and people around the world will then rave about me. I become an acknowledged expert. People link into my pages and quote me in their blogs and online newsletters.

GOOGLE thus sees that I am a big player.

Then I take the President of Global Congolbulations out to lunch; we exchange cards. Back in his office he Googles Chris Greaves and waddyaknow! I appear in 20 of the first 25 hits, and each hit is someone telling the world how wonderful I am.

Alternatively, the President of Global Congolbulations needs an executive trainer, so in his office he Googles Executive Trainer and waddyaknow! I appear in 20 of the first 25 hits, and each hit is someone telling the world how wonderful I am.

Starting to make sense?

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Turning Down Work – part 1 of 3

It’s tough to do, but it‘s fun.

I was asked to deliver training in Macintosh Excel; I’m good at Excel and I’ve taught people on Macs before. I returned the call, solicited some details.

The prospect wants to make the spreadsheets “work better”, so I spend time determining what is meant by “work better” and suggest a half-day's training.

No, comes the response, I need only 2 hours.

How does the prospect know that it is only 2 hours training to resolve the issues when they don’t know the magnitude of the issues.

We talk some more, then I fire off a short email suggesting a half-day of training at my standard half-day rates.

Remember, I’m walking into a minefield here, and the client thinks they can just siphon a wealth of information from my brain painlessly in 120 minutes.

Back comes the response: How about three-quarters of my stated fee for three hours? Three hours, in training circles, is a half-day of training – 3 hours before lunch and 3 hours after.

In other words, let’s play the game of Negotiation.

Let’s not.

This is a form which, by the prospects admission, sells $100,000 luxury packages.

This is NOT a fellow-colleague who may well return the favor.

(There’s no way I can book onto a $100,000 package if I chip 25% of my regular fees, is there?).

My response:

I'm sorry I can't do that. I bill out by the full day or 1/2 day only. I deliver quality training based on 20+ years experience in developing spreadsheet applications, all the way from Introduction and basics through to the establishment and use of VBA libraries. You can probably find a cheaper trainer offering an hourly rate through the Computer Trainers Network at http://ctn.cloverpad.org/ Best wishes with your workbooks.

As stated above, it’s a tough decision to say goodbye to revenue, but it feels So Good to know that I have a set of standards.

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Why Not Switch to My Cell Phone?

I have now accumulated about 20 contacts who prove difficult to reach by phone.

I know the difficulty, because the comments or memo field is a series of entries like “2011/02/07 11:19 got vm”.

In some cases my name might be showing up on call display and since we haven’t met, it may be easier just to NOT pick up the phone that to resolve this with an awkward brush-off.

I am contemplating an ambush.

My Virgin Mobile phone was paid for with cash, no name, no address etc. Untraceable, really.

I might spend a morning burning up a few minutes, calling from my cell phone instead of my landline, just to see if out of 20 difficult contacts I can score some hits.

Once they pick up the phone, the meet-for-lunch issue gets resolved one way or another; either they agree to lunch at some future date, or they need to make it clear that they are not interested.

And that means my time and a few dollars will be well spent.

Podcast: WhyNotSwitchtoMyCellPhone.mp3

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Nurturing the Sales Lead

I am still trying to meet Frank for lunch. I have spoken with him directly by phone twice in the past five years, but we have never met. I did some work through the firm, but not through him, about 10 years ago. Yes, it’s one of those neglected Good Contacts.

I called one of my mentors, Rick Shea of Optiv8 and he built up my knowledge.

Remember that I feel I’m good at establishing first-contact by asking strangers out to lunch, but am having problems bridging the gap to clinch a sale.

Rick calls it “Nurturing the sales lead”.

Rick says all the people in the world can be divided into “those who do know you” and “those who do NOT know you”. I am good at moving people from the second group to the first group.

The people who know me, however they know me, are not ready to buy yet, and when they buy it will be on their schedule.

In the meantime I can educate them, increase their knowledge, by sending short emails about a product or service that they may not buy – yet – but that will educate and inform them about what I do, what sort of a guy I am.

In that way I stay in their mind as someone who can benefit them down the road, and down the road when they need help they are more likely to call me than someone else.

I have seen this happen in crude form when I mail out 300 flyers for a training course. No-one subscribes for training, but a couple of recipients phone me and ask me to develop an application for them.

Nurturing the sales lead.

I can improve in that direction.

And of course, Rick Shea is a wonderful guy!

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Pitching the Sale

For some time now I’ve known that my method of establishing contacts is working well; not perfectly, but well. In a single morning I can usually set up three lunch dates with senior executives.

I am weak on bridging the gap between “starting a relationship” and “making a sale”. Once interest in a product or service is shown, I can usually clinch the deal, but the in-between bit defeats me, until now.

This morning one of two contacts at a recruiting firm came up for work; I have a neat bit of program code that might help them. I call the senior of the two and get voice-mail, so I hang up and call the junior of the two and get voice-mail, and I hang up.

If either of them had picked up the phone, I’d be happily pitching by now.

What to do?

I have to realize that I am no longer tied by the don’t-leave-a-voice-mail dictum here. I have taken BOTH executives to lunch and had an extensive chat. We have exchanged emails and phone calls.

It is acceptable now for me to send an unsolicited email describing what I have and asking them (both) who I should speak to.

Let’s see what happens …

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Hooray! Another Canceled Appointment

My daily schedule at the top level is:

Morning: Phone contacts, old and new; Hit The Phones.

Afternoon: Work on emails, locating new contacts, desk work, and allow the phone line to be free for incoming calls.

Occasionally I switch it around and try calling people in the early or late afternoon, and do deskwork in the morning; I’m trying to catch people who are never at their phones in the morning.

Days when I am due to take someone out to lunch, I leave here at around 10;30 for a noon appointment, so on those days I make a few urgent calls, dress and take the ‘bus, returning at around 2:30 pm.

Today I had a luncheon appointment, fired off a confirmation email and received in reply:

“I'm not going to be available today... sorry for the short notice. I have a client issue that needs my attention. Perhaps we could revisit our lunch date next week... Please advise as to an alternate date.”

This is a great gift to me. I had scheduled four or more hours away from my office; I have suddenly been given MORE THAN four hours I was not going to have.

Instead of phoning out from 9 to 10:30, and not being back until 2;30, I can set aside the period from 9:00 to 2:30 to break the back of the work of developing my MailChimp eLetter.

I have already set my phone message (“I’ll be away from my desk until mid-afternoon”), so I don’t feel guilty about unplugging the phone and leaving it unplugged until around 3 p.m.

And so I have almost SIX HOURS to focus without distraction on my eLetter campaign.

What a gift!

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Dress Code

A Robert Half article from last year came to mind last night at a networking function.

My marketing efforts focus on presidents, CEOs, CFOs and CIOs of large organizations, and I always wear a suit, shirt and tie, polished shoes, to the first meeting.

I am old-fashioned and conservative, so I dress the part.

OfficeTeam offers the following interview attire don'ts and do's:

Don’t	Do
Assume you can "dress down," even if a company has a very casual atmosphere	Err on the conservative side and wear a suit or blazer. If you're working with a recruiter or HR representative, ask him or her for insight into the dress code.
Wear anything that is uncomfortable	Test-drive an outfit to ensure it fits well and makes you feel confident; also dress in layers so you can be at ease regardless of the temperature
Show up in clothing that is wrinkled, stained or torn	Pay attention to details and conduct a final head-to-toe assessment before leaving the house to ensure everything – including your hair, nails and shoes – is presentable
Over accessorize	Choose simple jewellery and be subtle with makeup, perfume or cologne

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Answers to the Top 21 Most Frustrating PC Questions

Caution: I do not agree with all of the answers provided in this itbusiness.ca article, but I do agree with the list of questions.

You can read the questions and answers by clicking on the link below; or you can just skim the questions and file this item for future reference.

You can, as always, Talk to Me !

ITBusiness.ca Article

1. Where did my downloaded files go? Why can't I find them?

2. Why doesn't my iPad charge when I connect it to my computer?

3. Why does a video play on my desktop but not my laptop?

4. My printer won't print, and Windows won't allow me to cancel or delete print jobs. What's going on?

5. I hear beeps when I turn on my PC. What do they mean?

6. In a folder full of digital images, I often notice a file called Thumbs.db. What is it, and can I safely delete it?

7. Why does every digital camera--even the one on my smartphone--insist on storing photographs in a folder called DCIM?

8. My Recycle Bin has disappeared. How do I go about restoring it?

9. Why does Windows sometimes reboot without my permission, and how do I prevent that from happening?

10. Where do all these mysterious Web browser toolbars come from, and how do I get rid of them?

11. How did I end up with QuickTime on my PC, and do I need to keep it?

12. I have Microsoft Word installed on my PC. Why can't I open the .docx files my friend sent me?

13. Why won't Windows allow me to delete a certain file?

14. Why do some programs leave files and folders behind even after I've uninstalled them?

15. Why do Adobe Reader and Java update so frequently? Do I have to allow it?

16. Is it absolutely necessary to update Windows?

17. Does it matter whether I 'Safely Remove' devices?

18. Windows asks me if I want to enable Sticky Keys. What are they, and how should I use them?

19. Why can't I send out a particular file attachment through e-mail?

20. How can I determine whether an unknown Website is safe to visit?

21. What are the .dat files I sometimes receive in e-mail messages, and how do I open them?

Yabbut …

I have a long-running non-joke about Canadians, the most polite and non-confrontational people in the World.

Make a statement to a Canadian, and they listen quietly, and then begin their response with “Yabbut”. You can always tell who is a Canadian; they start their sentences with “Yabbut”.

It’s nothing to do with place of birth or of passport. It’s a frame of mind that says “Don’t upset anyone”.

(As an aside, Torontonians are the only people who, when you step backwards in a line-up or queue and inadvertently tread on the toes of the person behind you, that person, if from Toronto, will quickly say “Sorry!”, even though YOU are the one who trod on THEIR toes!)

Rather than disagree with what you have said, Canadians start with “Yes”, they pause, and then continue with “But”; this becomes slurred into “Yabbut”.

I find myself saying it too, which means I have suffered too many cold and bleak winters.

Today I learned two variations on this theme: “I agree with you, but …” and “I agree with you, because …” and I was struck by my reaction to both responses.

My reaction to “Yes, But” was negative; “Let’s fight about it”.

My reaction to “Yes, Because” was positive; “Oh good! We are on the same wavelength, let’s not fight about it”.

It didn’t matter that my partner went on to tear me to shreds. The second lead-in had me seeing their argument from their point of view, rather than from mine.

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Rounding up Stray Sheep

From time to time I deal with a contact that proves a little awkward to meet. Strictly speaking, if they are difficult to get hold of, I don’t want to pursue them as a business partner, but there again, some of them prove irresistible.

A typical comment lodged by me runs “This number has a plain-Jane voice mail. A better strategy might be to drop in to the office, but there again it might be a drop-box”. The firm has issued a press release on Canada News Wire with a contact name, title (President!) and phone number, but when I dial the number the call always drops straight into voice-mail, and a sweet young thing asks me to leave a message.

That makes it difficult to talk with someone.

On the other hand, this might be a nice little boutique firm that could use some dedicated help.

The address is an office suite at 45 St. Clair Avenue West, just a short walk from Yonge Street and the St. Clair subway station.

I am not going to blow two hours and six dollars to go check the place out, but it would be a neat thing to do next time I am visiting someone else in that area.

But how to remember?

Not every boutique firm will hide on a major street such as St. Clair Avenue, and anyway, the known firm I’m visiting may not be right on St. Clair Avenue West, so doing a match-up of street names in the contact data base won’t work.

Postal codes are not much help, since there is a completely different prefix either side of Yonge Street (and either side of St. Clair Avenue West).

I could delve into Google maps or Google earth, but I don’t want to become an expert on Google applets this year; or the next.

My current solution is to pin a transit map to the door and mark these rogue firms with a labeled push pin, so that before I head out the door I can see at a glance if there is an auxiliary errand in the district.

Got a better idea?

(I found one: "Contacts")

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Talk About Issues, Not Your Business

A recent post in the Staples Blog on advertising had a paragraph that’s of great value to solo entrepreneurs who don’t advertise:

• Talk about issues, not your business. The media won’t run a story about your upcoming shoe sale – that’s advertising, not news, so don’t waste their time. You must attach your business to some current and relevant issues that interest the media. For instance, a real estate agent might offer five suggestions to beautify a home in order to achieve a desirable selling price amidst this market of declining home sales.

I find Staples Blog worth reading, because even ‘though I don’t advertise, I write about my services and products.

All too often I find myself writing what a great program I have written or what a great training course it is – writing about features rather than benefits.

So, as of today I will make a conscious effort to say nothing about what’s under-the-hood, and everything about what happens when you press the gasoline pedal.

P.S. We all advertise; a 30-second elevator speech is an advertisement; an introduction at the networking event is an introduction; the first minute of the sit-down lunch is an advertisement; your business card is an advertisement. Even the way you dress is an advertisement.

We just don’t PAY for advertising in the media, is all.

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Apologize Once

Wires got crossed at his end and we didn’t meet. He apologized the next day.

Apology accepted.

I figure that if that was the worst thing to happen to me all day, I’d be OK with that. (It’s a bit like shrugging off high gasoline prices in being grateful to get home without a scratch)

I emailed about something else and got another apology.

I called today to set up another meeting, and was greeted with an apology.

Enough already.

We are business folks; we know that wires get crossed.

I’m looking for open-minded, forward-thinking contacts who, after a stumble, are willing to pick themselves up and carry on.

Who will recognize MY human-ness and be prepared to accept an apology from me, and then turn to face the broad sunlit uplands.

I’d rather not deal with someone who feels that an apology is a never-ending flagellation.

Podcast ApologizeOnce.MP3

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Riding Herd

I phoned a client this morning to see how we were getting on. I am waiting for sign-off on a project we started four months ago, should have been completed in 3 days. Christmas intervened, and before that, time off for Christmas Shopping.

“Has it really been four months?”, incredulous. Yes it has. “I’ll get on to it right away”.

For me it is cash-flow.

For us it is the life of the project, for many small projects die if they are left unattended. I suspect that what seemed urgent months ago doesn’t seem quite so urgent in the light of more recent catastrophes, and so the old project is left to wither on the vine while new plants are nurtured.

I try not to be too pushy, but it is important to get things neatly wrapped up according to our agreed proposal, so that I can get on with the next sale to the client, and the client can get on with learning what I good job I have done!

Podcast: RidingHerd.MP3

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Two Good Meetings

A great day yesterday. I had scheduled a meeting with a contact I’d chatted with by phone for three years but never met; lunch at noon.

A lunch meeting from last month had put me in contact with a charitable street-kids organization which might be able to make use of The Prospector to harvest warm leads to corporate donors. Coffee at 10:30.

Yes, they are impressed and yes please they’d like to try it.

No, there’s no charge; this is a service I wrote for myself, besides, they could think of it as an equivalent cash donation I’ll never be able to afford, but can deliver a service for free. He will, I know, report back to my initial contact.

On to lunch. Waddyaknow? My noontime contact used to be a social worker and yes, in her current position could use some corporate donors.

That made me think of two other street kids organizations I know.

My morning meeting caused that CEO to suggest he would pass my name on to another company.

So no money changing hands, but then these weren’t sales calls.

But to two people I have made an impression that I’m “not just a pretty face”, and my pool of senior officer contacts is increasing day by day. That corporate world is learning what I can do.

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Paid Speaking Engagements (7/5) Breakthrough

So you’ve been gaining publicity and exposure through local papers, radio and TV spots. Comes the Big Day when you are asked to speak for half an hour on Chicago radio.

Woo-Wee!

You’ve done your homework; You gave a great talk, and you think “That’s great! I’ve spoken on radio in California and Illinois”.

Here’s the Good News: You are now an international speaker. (If I’ve praised you, you are “internationally acclaimed” because I hold three passports).

As a speaker of international repute, you can start charging for your engagements.

Up until now you’ve been grateful for the exposure, and rightly so, but that initial exposure has spread the word that you know what you’re talking about, and word gets around.

There’s no Bad News, by the way.

However, there’s no reason to bite the hands that have fed you; the local papers, radio and TV deserve to air you for free.

1) They got you to where you are now. You owe them for your exalted position that has put you in demand as an international speaker.

2) You will, of course, let them know, as they re-request you, that you now charge for speaking, but since they got you to where you are, you want to offer them your services for free. They will appreciate your candor, and the freebie.

3) They will, from time to time, boast of how they can get you on air anytime they want, despite your international presence.

4) Chances are strong that by getting an expensive speaker for free they will increase the frequency of your appearances

5) And in doing so, they’ll be spreading the word for you more than ever before.

Congratulations!

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Connection Between Obesity and Social Networking

Not, I’m afraid, Social Networking as in Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, but Real Social Networking.

Steve Pakin (TVO) interviewing Nicholas Christakis .

What makes this most surprising to me is that I was listening to the podcast on my way to pick up yet-another-copy of River Out Of Eden by Richard Dawkins, genetics, evolution and Darwin, and here I am listening to a podcast covering at least evolution and genetics with a link to my new life in social networking .

It’s a strange world.

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Obtaining FREE Help from your Peer Group

Happens all the time.

There’s one in every group.

I know, because I’m one of them.

The nit-picking guy who can always find fault; the one who is first to cast a comment, and a negative one at that, on your first foray into anything.

I think I’ve stumbled on a fool-proof method of silencing them, or at least dampening their enthusiasm for pedantic conversation.

Ask Them for Help!

Let’s suppose you’ve just built or revamped your LinkedIn site, and you tweet about it, and you get back as a first comment “You need to build up your profile a lot, Chris”, whereas following comments from others take the form “Nice Job! Welcome aboard!” and similar.

We all know it’s a first effort, right? And there are always corrections and things to do as we learn more, so that first comment is uninformative; a waste of bandwidth.

Here’s the Trick

Bury the negative guy or gal in email.

Send them an email asking for a list of 5 things they think you should do, then do those you feel like doing and ignore the rest. Say why, but be BRIEF.

You don’t want to spend too much time on stuff that’s not profitable; but you want to benefit and learn from things you did not know.

There’s no need to say Please or Thank You in this exchange either; you were prodded into it, remember?

Be consistent. Fire off three emails – spaced an hour or so apart – for each negative comment or response.

If your correspondent has as much brain-power as my cat, they’ll hesitate before casting any sort of comment in future, and you’ll be rid of them.

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Marketing in Paris

We drove from Toronto, Ontario, planning to spend the day in Paris, Ontario, but decided to stop for a coffee in Ayr, Ontario – population about 3,500.

At the little family café we upgraded to a small breakfast of eggs and toast.

The manager of the café recommended the gift store next door.

While we were making some purchases there, the manager of that store recommended a ladies outfitter across from the post office.

We did business with the ladies outfitters, and they suggested San Francisco’s for lunch.

We were too full for lunch, but caught a young lady on her way out of the restaurant clutching two pizza boxes.

“Any good?” we asked. She nodded. “They are the best!”

We drove to Paris, walked around, and returned for an early-evening supper in Ayr.

The small community of Ayr converted about $3 of coffee into about $150 of business, and should be congratulated for its effective marketing.

Podcast: MarketingInParis.MP3

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Two Good Luncheons

Two good luncheons last week, Thursday and Friday.

One with a VP Communications of a major insurance company, one with the CFO of a very profitable and large financial house.

I confess to a frisson of excitement going in to these lunches, but as noon draws near I realize that I am an exceptionally brilliant person who can help the executives once we get to know each other, once I understand their problems, and once they realize that I am not a regular run-of-the-mill consultant.

Apparently suggesting lunch in the first sentence of the first phone call as the first contact means something.

One executive discussed new application software and suggested that he’d keep me in mind if the issue of training came up; the other perked up at mention of The Prospector , thinking it might be a good data mining tool for donors for a foundation of which he is a director.

Say what you like.

Two meetings, two opening doors.

A good week!

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Startling Brilliant New Developments

Toronto is battening down for a major winter storm , schools closed etc. as if it’s the first time anyone has seen snow. GO trains will use the weather as an excuse for the traditional daily delays.

Innisfail in Queensland is being hit, dead centre by Cyclone Yasi . My sister and her husband live in Innisfail.

And on Monday Night I listened with rapture (I just looked it up, it’s the correct term here) to Promod Sharma at the AIC , talking about Marketing.

Tuesday I was busy all day.

This morning I rose at 5 a.m. and decided to

• Get Rid of My Old Web Site
• Build 3 New Ones
• Start a New Blog
• Start a Professional eLetter
• Open a Twitter Account (I’ve Tweeted Once, Just to See If My Hair Would Fall Out – it has – see my photo)
• Fill Out 20+ Pages of Notes on My New Direction.

It feels good to be alive!

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For this You’ll Need a Peer Mentor

The Biz-launch blog hands out advice to companies who are considering hiring YOU!

Here’s what you do:

• Pass the questionnaire along to your partner-in-crime, your buddy in entrepreneurship.
• Ask them to visit your home page and to rate your home page on the five questions.
• Then make changes.
• Then ask you peer to re-rate the home page.
• Then take them out to lunch.

They’ve earned it.

P.S. No barter here; if they ask you to rate their home page, you each take each other out to lunch.

Two lunches.

You’ve earned them.

Talk to Me !

Bundle up – It’s Profitable Out There!

Here is The Toronto Star giving out free advice to entrepreneurs.

“If you give people a choice of a bundle (a set meal combo) or à la carte choices, they will consistently pick the bundle,” Sharpe says.

“People still chose the bundle even if it wasn’t cheaper. Price is not the driver here. They said they wouldn’t have purchased fries at all, or chosen small fries, but they ate what they got in the bundle.”

The article is worth reading, the more so if you replace the fat-food items with your products and services.

People love a bundle.

Look! Even McDonalds has been setting up your clients for you for the past 40 years or so:

Bundling gets ingrained in consumers as children, Sharpe says. A McDonald’s Happy Meal is a bundle aimed at “assigning emotions to food.”

And for the clincher, can you remember what happened the last time you purchased a computer?

Even computer companies will bundle a package of hardware and software as the ideal choice, she says, relieving consumers of the anxiety of making their own choices.

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Six Career Resolutions and Tips for Keeping Them

I was struck by this Canada News Wire press release which came out on December 15th, and yes, everyone clipped it and decided to make it their New Year’s Resolution List.

For my view on New Year’s Resolution …

The actions in the list are those we mouth off at every opportunity. I have abbreviated and paraphrased them here:

(1) Schedule Time each week

(2) Build your profile

(3) Research new opportunities

(4) Setup meetings

(5) Reassess your goals each month

(6) Reward yourself

(7) Join at least one professional association

(8) Attend meetings regularly

(9) Pursue a certification

(10) Learn a new software application

(11) Volunteer with a non-profit group

(12) Identify areas for improvement

(13) Establish objectives

(14) Take on a project outside your skill set

(15) Look for opportunities to help colleagues

How many of these actions appeared in your New Year’s Resolutions?

Why so few?

From this list, which one action do you think is the most important to you?

Talk to Me !

There’s No Such Thing As a Cold Call

Whoever dreamed up the paralyzing phrase “Cold Call” should be shot. Or at least Fired.

“Cold Call” strikes more fear and outright reticence into entrepreneurs than any other phrase I know of.

And that fear is irrational.

I know it is irrational because I keep asking people who use the phrase, “So, tell me please, what IS a Cold Call?”.

No common definition emerges, instead I get a range of responses all the way from “Somebody I have to call” (that is, Everybody!) to “Somebody I’ve never spoken to”, and everything in between.

Let’s analyze those two extremes:

Somebody I Have to Call

You have to call everyone anyway. Postponing the call doesn’t do you any good.

Somebody I’ve Never Spoken to

All the people you currently speak with were, at one time, people you’d never spoken with.

Get used to it.

What to do?

Consider doing what I do – I don’t classify calls as either Cold or Hot. I have learned that my “warm” is someone else’s “cold”, and my “hot” is someone else’s “warm”.

If nothing else that makes it impossible to have a sensible conversation with anyone about cold/warm/hot calls.

Consider instead using a one-hundred degree scale of closeness in a relationship, a bit like the familiar centigrade temperature scale, but geared instead to the relationship you have with someone:

Degrees	Means
0	Never spoken with them before
10	Have had at least one telephone dialogue
25	Have exchanged (not “sent”, but reciprocated) at least two emails on any topic
50	Have met face to face
75	Have had serious discussions about a project for which you will be paid, if it comes off.
90	You have submitted a proposal
100	You have received the 50% deposit cheque

You don’t have to adopt my meanings, but you do have to have meanings with numeric quantifiers that are rational against the scale of 0, 10, 25, 50, 75, 90, 100.

Now you aren’t making cold calls, never again!

You are trying to set up a short dialogue (to move from 0 to 10 degrees), or you are setting up a luncheon meeting (to move from 25 to 50).

Talk to Me !

Quantifiers in December?

Yes, I know it’s not December now; but it was when I saw this article in Canada News Wire .

Note that the subject line has a quantifier as its first word-string.

Note that the subject line of each of the 20 items has a quantifier as its first word-string.

And you wonder why these guys are rich!

1. 475%: annual increase in number of corporate IPOs on the TSX in 2010.
2. 119%: annual increase in equity capital raised year to date in 2010 by TSX-V listed companies.
3. 2,813: number announced M&A deals in 2010 involving a Canadian entity. 2,937: number of announced Canadian deals at all-time peak in 2007.
4. $67.1 billion: Aggregate year to date value of corporate debt new issues; $64.4 billion: aggregate value in 2009; $38.5 billion: aggregate value in 2000.
5. 13%: appreciation of the TSX since December 9, 2009. 9%: appreciation of the S&P 500 during the same period.
6. $76 billion: estimated size of assets under management by Canadian PE and VC players.
7. 28%: annual increase in venture capital dollars invested in Canada in 2010. 10.5%: three year net return on first quartile Canadian VC investments; -2.7%: three year return on the NASDAQ.
8. 27%: year to date appreciation in price of gold. 12%: year to date appreciation in WTI crude.
9. 48.6%: proportion of TSX (by market cap) represented by the energy and mining sectors in 2010; 27%: proportion of TSX (by market cap) represented by the energy and mining sectors in 2002.
10. $5 billion: Amount paid by Onex & Canada Pension Plan to acquire British manufacturer Tomkins; #1 rank of deal on North American PE league tables (by size).
11. $1.5 billion: high yield debt issued in Canada year to date 2010; 86: number of high yield issuers in Canada; non-existent: Canadian high yield market in 2000.
12. 1st: global rank of TSX for number of mining and energy companies publicly traded.
13. 80%: percentage of global equity financings in the mining sector completed in Canada.
14. 72%: proportion of cross border activity involving a Canadian entity taking control of a foreign entity.
15. $660 million: size of Smart Technologies IPO, the largest Canadian tech IPO in a decade.
16. $1,156: Q3 2010 cash flow per share publicly traded Canadian companies; $633: cash flow per share, comparable quarter, 2002.
17. $4.65 billion: amount paid by China's state-owned Sinopec to acquire a 9.03% interest in Syncrude Canada; #1: deal rank in league table of acquisitions in North America by China (by size).
18. 27,000: number of times "Saskatchewan" mentioned in the global media year to date 2010. 2,750, number of times Saskatchewan mentioned in 2000.
19. $1,156: Q3 2010 cash flow per share publicly traded Canadian companies, $633: cash flow per share, comparable quarter, 2002.
20. 2x: EBITDA multiple expansion for North American middle market M&A deals ($100 - $500 million).

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Fame and Fortune in Submitting an Article

Well, fame at any rate, and the prime reason for my submitting an article is to be recognized as a consulting expert and hence get more business.

I picked up a printed copy of Waste Management World at the fish-and-chip shop last night and was so struck by one article that I asked if I could bring the magazine home, which I did.

The three page article is close to my heart and I have identified FOURTEEN chunks of text that deserve comment.

My response to the editor is going to be much longer than “Well Done. Good Article!”. The more so because Waste Management World is based in the UK and the article in question mentions Toronto’s GTA exclusively.

I love the spotlight and can’t wait to make an impression on the editor, so I began composing an email asking if I might submit an article, and if so how long – and then trashed the email.

Tucked away in my mind is a memory of Guidelines which I received way back in the days when I contributed to Computing Canada. One of the guidelines was “Don’t Waste the Editor’s Time”.

It dawned on me this morning that with 10 articles spanning pages 16 through 55 I had enough resources to estimate the maximum, minimum and average length of articles in words, and that should serve as my guideline.

That coupled with my stature as a keen SUFE of 38 years standing and as a keen vermicomposting guy of 15 years standing ought to qualify me as a contributor, and if it doesn’t then why worry?

So, it’s down to work this weekend writing an article on Anaerobic Digestion as I see it from my kitchen window.

And in writing that, From My Kitchen Window seems like a pretty good title for a blog, with the imagery it conjures.

Talk to Me !

There’s Always the Other Way …

I lend VCR tapes of movies to a friend; last night we met for supper and as we walked back to the subway one tape slipped out of the open-ended case in my hand, and crashed to the footpath, shattering the ½ inch wide flap that opens when the tape is slid into the VCR.

Neither of us exclaimed the obvious “Oh dear! What a shame! That’s MY fault for not putting them in a bag”.

Friends.

Being a fixer, I scooped up the two pieces and dropped them in my coat pocket. Arriving home I put them on the desk and started at them. Super-glue, obviously, but a very careful gluing, because this flap will be in the hands of an automated machine process in my VCR player – and in any other VCR player that entertains “Casablanca” in color!

I’m glad I waited.

This morning “Ta-Da!” a brainwave. I will cannibalize one of the cassettes that holds a 60-minute promotional video (now erased and standing by for a use that hasn’t come in 5 years) and use that container for my tape.

No glue, no potential problems down the road.

Fast, easy, and I’m on my way.

The same is true in Windows. One of The Golden Rules of Windows is “ There Are At Least Four Ways of Doing it ”.

What is stalling you in your business venture TODAY?

Look for an alternate solution.

Once you have two solutions (more is better) in hand, you can evaluate them and pick the one that is best.

It will always be other than the one you’ve fixed in your mind these past few weeks.

Talk to Me !

Pronouncement on Pronouns

I stumbled today.

My contact database has a memo field where I type comments.

A new contact.

I phone Allan Adler and make a comment in the memo area. Allan suggested I talk with Bill Bailey, which I did, and made a comment in my memo field.

I have continued in this way, essentially building up a monologue of events, and yet today I find that I have made a note “He suggested …”, and another one (in another record) “We decided …”, and for the life of me I can’t work out, from my notes, who “He” is and who “We” are.

I am resolved from today onwards to type my correspondent’s name in full and avoid use of pronouns. They leave me dangling, not knowing who said what to me.

Talk to Me !

Less is Even More

Alison Silbert’s latest book “ Boost your Revenues by Turning People Away ” gives a nudge to the generic idea that you want people flocking by the millions to do business with you.

It is most consultant’s dream to have the phone ringing off the hook so that we can pick and choose our clients while simultaneously increasing our fees.

The Rossendale Free Press announces a couple of shopkeepers in a village YOU’VE never heard of striving, currently in an amicable manner, to be entered into The Guinness Book of World records to be named the “Smallest Shop in the World”.

One owner says “"You can only get four people into this shop at most, and then you have to move to one side to get everyone out. But although it’s small the room is quite high so it gives an air of being bigger than it is."” (so although you get only 4 customers, they can be very tall customers), while the other owner says “I knew immediately mine was smaller. Hers has an upstairs and a toilet, mine doesn’t.”.

Presumably making people leave your shop if they want to pee sees its benefits in permitting a higher rollover of customers.

Both owners appear to be united in an accompanying issue: “Bacup used to have the shortest street in the world, Elgin Street, but it lost the title amidst some controversy in 2006 to a new street, Ebenezer Place in Wick, Scotland.”.

And you thought the Scots were mean and frugal!

Talk to Me !

Two Market, Two Market, …

My marketing strategy seems quite different from his. I phone Presidents and CEOs directly and point-blank invite them to lunch; many of them accept. His strategy is to join the Toronto Board of Trade and attend networking functions.

Of course, we have different target markets, but only slightly so; we neither of us is in the business of repaving driveways, and we are conscious of our time and money budgets.

But on balance we are closer than we seem to be:

My Marketing Strategy

Each morning The Prospector winnows through about 400 press releases and filters out half a dozen of interest to me; the process is automatic and takes about 3 minutes. I review the found press releases and copy the details of two or three of them into my contact database.

Days that Chris The Market is supposed to hit the phones, I start with the earliest (most urgent now) records in my contact database; these will be the ones I have just entered. I’ll call the President directly and invite her out for lunch. If there’s no answer I’ll not leave a voice-mail, but will roll the record over to tomorrow.

Once those calls are made I’m into records from previous attempts, and so I work through my “rolodex” trying to touch people once every two months.

I seem to average about 5 phone conversations each week, by the time I get through to the CEO. That’s about 20 per month.

When I score a lunch I drop $6 in transit fares and about $40 on the lunch, and burn up about four hours in the middle of my day (dress, get downtown with time to spare, lunch, come home).

Occasionally I hire a car for the day and make an out-of-transit area visit. The total cost then is about $80, which includes rental, gasoline, insurance. In off-peak seasons it comes to only $60, but say $80 for now.

I aim to be making one meeting per week, face-to-face, with people I’ve not met before, and the prospect is filtered by The Prospector, filtered by me over the phone (are they open to new ideas and a new approach, willing, interested?).

Out of each face-to-face meeting, some will ask to keep in touch by email, some will not. I’ll pass the names on to Chris The Sales, and it will be his job to build a relationship and probe for pain and problems.

His Marketing Strategy

He joins the Board Of Trade at $600 p.a. and pays about $60 per event to sit at a table with seven other entrepreneurs of executives. Over the meal he is exposed, and exposes himself, to 7 other business people.

Breakfast ended, a game like Musical Chairs starts, excepting that the attendees are shuffled in a programmed manner, so he sits at a second table with 7 more people, then another, then another.

The event therefore exposes him, both directions, to about 30 people.

Of these some are competitors in his field; he’ll politely not bother chatting with them nor they with him.

The event emails a photostat copy of all the business cards of attendees willing to be contacted, so all up he may find 20 people with whom he might explore for a relationship.

He does this once a month.

That works out at about one prospect per business day throughout the month.

Same as me.

At this Point we are in the Same Boat

We have harvested 20 prospects each month, and we move into the sales-conversion mode, or at least the relationship-building mode.

When you do the sums, his costs work out to about $25/week just to meet people, whereas mine work out to about $50 to meet people.

The difference (apart from our product/services/target market) is that when I meet someone face-to-face, it’s a one-hour full-attention meeting.

To get to that stage he is up for $25 per week and then springs for coffee or lunch on top of that.

As I see it there’s not a great deal of difference in the money spent.

I am spending time ONLY with CEOs with whom I feel there is a strong probability of a relationship.

He is spending less money to spend time with those may not be as likely to develop into a good relationship.

In both cases we have a pool of bodies – for me the press releases, for him the membership and guests of the Board Of Trade, most of whom won’t show up at these events.

He runs the risk of meeting the same people again and again after the first few months.

My harvest is always a new face (“Caldwell Partners (TSX: CWL) has appointed Stamford-based Partner Peter Reed to lead its Insurance Practice”). “Hi Peter, and congratulations on your appointment …”.

What do you think?

Talk to Me !

A Slew of Cancellations

I’ve had a slew of cancellations recently, no-shows, postponements, and one rather rude rebuttal (quite distinct from the kindlier “Thanks, but No Thanks”).

What’s going on?

My first thoughts are that new contacts (“leads” or “prospects”) have not or do not see the value in meeting with me.

And why should they?

They don’t know me from Adam; I might be just another pushy salesman trying to muscle into their company.

And they’d be right, mostly. I can see their point of view.

I mentioned Andie Lewandowski‘s post “Define Your Audience and Clarify Your Message”.

So I took 30 minutes off this morning and did just that.

My Audience and My Message

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Remember that Marketing Workbook?

Yes, that’s the one. The 3-ring binder you worked through eighteen months ago. Perhaps you maintain it in machine-readable form.

Do your business a favor and set aside a morning (when you are fresh) to wade through it again.

Remember how bright were your dreams, your ambitions. How easy it seemed back then.

Make it easy again.

After your initial half-day revision, locate one important aspect that you have neglected and get up to speed on it again.

It might be your list of professional associations, whose monthly meetings you planned to attend; it might be your Keep-In-Touch strategies; maybe you planned an electronic or printed newsletter – Get It Out Now!

Then set aside one hour each month to review your Marketing Workbook and choose one nugget to form into a marketing habit.

Your Marketing Workbook started you along the path eighteen months ago; let it keep you company as your guide on the road ahead.

Talk to Me !

Top 10 Tips for Getting Graduate Grants?

In his Webslinger blog , Glen Farrelly listed ten points ( numbered lists are always good !) that we use as a program for getting a Government Grant for Post-Graduate Study.

What’s that you say?

You’re not trying to get a Government Grant for Post-Graduate Study?

OK.

So what’s the difference between asking for money from the government (Government Grant for Post-Graduate Study) and asking for money from a client (Proposal/Quotation)?

I thought so.

You’re welcome ….

Talk to Me !

Statistics Canada

If, like me, you use FireFox’s “Open All In tabs” to bring up a series of daily blogs, you might want to add Statistics Canada to your list.

Weekdays it presents one or two snippets of information that may help you in your marketing.

For example for Tuesday, November 30, 2010 Statistics Canada presented a simple chart that even I can understand:

The message is clear “Over the past two years things have been going downhill”.

Now national or provincial statistics have a habit of telling you what happened some time ago, and all too often what is happening now lags behind awareness. Nonetheless broad statistics can help you formulate a message to your market.

“Look, here is data that shows why we are where we are now, and how we got here; armed with this knowledge let’s dig ourselves out by digging THIS way” (leads client into the light ….)

Talk to Me !

The Joy of the Out-Off-Office Response

I love sending an email that fires back an OOO!

"Thanks for your email, I am out of the country until July 30, 2009, when I will be back at my desk, and phone...; If your matter is urgent you can contact Alpha Beta at Global Conglobulations (ab@gc.com) for admin/finance matters - for other important matters, please contact Gamma Delta (CEO) at gd@gc.com; for Investor Relations matters please contact Epsilon Zeta (ez@gc.com)."

The list of alternate contacts is usually the set of executives and managers closest to my contact.

More knowledge to me!

Talk to Me !

Mini-Mass Mail is Undervalued

Not the large mass-mail where we spit out a Christmas card for every one of our contacts, but a rather small subset.

Early this morning I was reading the latest issue of ITWorld Canada, a trade paper. Great article on The Perils of Social Networking .

Great for me because I can scan it and send a printed copy by mail to half-a-dozen peer contacts (fellow consultants and entrepreneurs) who have some interest in the subject.

But is it Cost-Effective?

I think so.

All-up I spent less than 30 minutes on clipping the article, scanning it, printing 6 copies, snagging 6 addresses from my contact list, printing 6 envelopes, and writing a short note by hand inside a card to accompany the printout.

Factor in about 60 cents per item (postage, paper, toner, envelope).

Now consider what happens when I phone those peer contacts during regular business hours:

1) I’ll be lucky to get away with a 15-minute chat.

2) I may be interrupting them.

3) It won’t have the impact of a nice surprise in their mail box

4) They won’t have something tangible to keep, for a few days at least.

5) I will have burned up 90 minutes of MY precious time during business hours; I could better use that time to focus on contacts in my target market.

Delegate Tasks By Time

We are urged to delegate tasks to other people so that we can focus our energies on our core tasks.

Equally I would encourage you to delegate tasks by time and medium to zones outside the prime contact time, to free yourself up for revenue-enhancing contacts that really need a 1-1 conversation.

Talk to Me !

P.S. Don’t forget to update your “follow-up” date by the standard 2 months, or whatever you use.

1 Easy Step to Creating a Good Habit

Internet Lore says you need three weeks to break or create a habit. I daresay if I had searched for “four weeks break habit” I would have gotten as many hits.

I find myself staring at a three-foot by two-foot whiteboard that has hung unused for eleven months on my office wall.

I find myself thinking of several habits I would like to make or break.

I will mark off the white board in a three-week calendar with permanent marker, space for a start-date and a habit title.

Day one I’ll write the title “Climb stairs to 4th floor rather than take the elevator” and for three weeks, each day, I’ll mark in the day’s cell how many times I used the elevator, with a view to breaking that habit.

Weight Loss

OK, it can be argued that I shouldn’t climb stairs when I’m lugging fifteen pounds of groceries, but I was climbing stairs when I weighed fifteen pounds more than I do now, so what’s the difference?

It can be argued that I should be counting the number of (positive event) times I take the stairs rather than the number of (negative event) times I take the elevator, but many days I just don’t leave the apartment, so those days would show up empty were I recording “stairs” events.

No Whiteboard?

No problem. Make yourself a corkboard out of a sheet of cardboard; print off a three-week calendar ; pin a copy to your corkboard. In fact, keeping an archival record of your habits might be a Good Thing.

Does it work?

I’ll report back here in three week’s time!

(3 days later)

I decided to log bad habits (“E”levator) and good habits (“3” floors walked up). I noticed this morning that although I headed towards the elevator, my mind swerved me towards the stairs. 3 Days in and it has started to take effect.

(3 weeks later)

It works!

Now on to the next habit ….

Talk to Me !

When You Need a Unique Superlative

A recent Toronto Star article included this memorable phrase:-

“Even Enbridge's solar park in Sarnia, the world's largest facility of its kind …”

My evil mind immediately leapt to the conclusion that the solar park wasn’t the largest facility in the world, nor yet the largest in North America, and judging by what I’ve seen in California, it might have to settle for being the largest facility in Canada, or worse, the largest facility in the Canadian province of Ontario.

In the worst case, it might be the largest facility in Sarnia (population around 70,000).

No. In the worst case it might be the largest facility on the East side of Sarnia.

Whatever.

It is the “of it’s kind” that got to me.

What kind is it?

“The latest installation”? “Made from local materials”? “Made from fully-imported materials”? “Owned by Enbridge”? The list is as endless as the English language.

The way is open for you, if you’d like to boost your image, by describing yourself as the insert-superlative-here of your kind.

I could describe myself as the best trainer of my kind in Toronto. What kind? A transplanted Western Australian.! And if another West Aussie shows up to steal my thunder, I can still be the best trainer of my kind in Toronto, as long as I define myself as a West Aussie who also worked in Singapore. Who also worked in France. Who has driven in every mainland state of the USA. Who purees Ginger.

Go for it!

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Finish Before You Start

Marita Bushell died last year. She was my second boss in terms of being a project leader, and with her and through her I learned essential basics of project management. Not enough, as it turned out in later years.

One of ICL(UK)’s dictums was that one should deal with one’s existing clients before taking on new clients. This tied in with another dictum Never Make a Promise or a Threat You’re Not Prepared to Keep , which I had to learn by painful emotional experience.

The advice is sound. I should always look after any exiting clients before chasing or opening new ones.

There is no illegality in telling a contact “I can’t start on it before December”; rarity makes me look good.

Issuing text such as “I must admit, my single-minded focus is both my strength and my weakness; I was working through a nice size project last week …” is risky at best. . The rest of the phrase is valid, legal and sound, but the message conveyed is “I was busy paying attention to someone more important than you.

I am reminded of all this by staring into my refrigerator this morning.

A good friend is off on a 2-week cruise of the Caribbean, and I am the lucky recipient of scads of frozen and chilled food that she doesn’t want to find in HER refrigerator when she returns.

Great! I get to eat things I’d never dream of buying, and don’t have to cook for at least ten days.

And there’s the problem.

I love cooking.

I will have to steel myself NOT to cook, but to consume what are essentially left-overs for ten days.

It is a sound business practice!

Talk to Me !

Staying in Touch 6

Despite the meltdown over the Christmas period, I managed to begin printing a letter-envelope combination for my contacts, and to date have mailed about 100 envelopes, each stamped, inside a card with a hand-written greeting relevant to the individual, and a letter, signed by me, addressed to the individual.

I am not fooling anyone; this is a mass-mailing.

But each mailing is individually touched by me.

A Fountain-pen with real ink. Occasional tiny smudged where the ink was still wet as I folded the letter (there’s a niche market there for a developer who wants to provide a realistic ink-smudge on mass-printed signatures …)

Most of my contacts can receive a card; a few are people I’ve not yet spoken with, and these contacts are being bubbled, like froth, to “next day”.

Today is the Next Day, Tuesday, January 11, 2011

As I fire up my contact list this morning I see that I have TWO outstanding calls to make, one to someone I’ve never contacted – I’ve met someone in the form but they have since moved to another firm – and one to a person who agreed to do lunch but couldn’t set a time.

From this day on until I finish issuing a letter-card to each contact, I am back phoning people who deserve a phone call from me.

I noticed a great many contacts whose comment field read “Give me a call in November/December/New Year and we’ll set something up”, so the encouraging news is that there are many contacts waiting in the wings, in a manner of speaking.

Talk to Me !

Who Pays?

Yesterday at a client site I delivered and installed an upgraded Access database; to my horror it spewed forth errors. I took screen snapshots and retreated to my lair.

Five minutes research shows that there is a documented bug in Access 2003 (my client’s version) that does not exist in Access 2000 (my development version here in the office).

Who Knew? (Everyone except me, it seems).

The correct support procedure now is quite straightforward:

(1) Install Office 2003 on a machine here (0.5)

(2) Run the database here to prove that the bug is reproducible (0.25)

(3) Implement the fixes to our database recommended by Microsoft (As far as I can see they won’t fix Access 2003, but we all get to implement work-arounds!) (0.5)

(4) Re-test the functions of the database (2)

(5) Re-issue the database to the client by email (0.5)

My estimate (in hours) is parenthesized after each step; I’m looking at a half-day spent on this, at least.

Coupled to this - my client won’t be able to start testing until the bug is covered, and that means a delay in issuing the final cheque.

That is, I have to get cracking on this right away and fix Microsoft’s problems if I want to get a cheque from my client in time for Christmas.

I didn’t budget for an extra 4 hours solving Microsoft’s problems in my proposal.

Who will pay me for my 4 hours time?

Not Microsoft, that’s for sure.

Not my client - they don’t know it but I’ve just taken a load off the shoulders of their IT staff, and reduced the need for them to pay for part of the full-time cost of a resident Office Expert, as well as reducing their need for training to bring their staff up to standard.

Sigh!

What’s the forward-looking solution?

To keep track of all this free-time that is committed to solving unforeseen problems in programming projects, add it up at the end of the year (say 53 hours total), and divide it by the total hours billed on programming projects (say 1,000 hours), so 5.3%, and increase every programming proposal by 5.3% next year to tax every client against unforeseen 3rd-party costs.

Talk to Me !

Recalcitrant Acceptance

I am learning.

Nowadays my proposals carry the stock phrase:

• “Within fourteen calendar days of delivery of the product, acceptance must be decided.”.

Why?

I have seen too many small projects wither on the vine because I deliver the system, the client either has lost interest or shrugs and thinks “Good Enough” and can’t be bothered signing off. In which case two more clauses kick in:

• "If the product is not accepted, then the project is deemed to be ended, all work will cease, and all support will cease."

and

• "Ongoing support of the project starts when the balance of payment is received."

If the proposal says the project will cost $5,000 and 50% is payable in advance, then I have $2,500 in hand before I start work.

At the time I think the system is ready, I want to deliver, fix any niggling issues, and be paid for the balance.

If the second 50% is not forthcoming, I can walk away with a clear conscience, although chances are neither party is a happy as we ought to be.

Note that the client has two weeks to email or phone me; that period covers all sorts of personal medical emergencies at home, or a day of short-staffing at work. I need SOME form of feedback during that 14-day period.

I have refined my approach of dragging a client kicking and screaming into the future:

I now email the package for initial perusal, and say that I will follow that up with an on-site visit if necessary. The on-site visit is factored into my budget (time and money).

Right now I have a client whose meter has been ticking for a week. I will send them an email reminding them of the clause in an effort to shake them loose and set up an on-site meeting.

Otherwise I will hold the emailed delivery as delivery and a week from now I can shred the project notes and focus on stronger clients.

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Eat Before You Dine

You go to networking events? Me too. They serve coffee, juice and snacks, right? There you are with a cup of coffee (or a bottle of juice) in your left hand, a pastry (or a sandwich) in your right hand and absolutely no hands free to exchange business cards or shake hands.

Worse you keep avoiding eye-contact while you make sure that the creamy salad dressing is dropping onto your shoes.

Silly isn’t it?

Nowadays, of course, you arrive early and grab a sandwich at a coffee shop 45 minutes before the event, or better yet, agree to meet up with a couple of colleagues and swap yarns over a fast light supper before walking to the event.

Today I head downtown for a lunch date with a Vice-President Corporate Communications. Chances are strong we’ll connect and do lunch.

My ploy is to eat a bowl of hot home-made soup before I don my business attire. At noon today I’ll be able to order a light lunch and not be inclined to dive into a cheese burger with spicy fries and onion rings, or its Italian or French equivalent.

And in the off-chance that the lunch date is not on (‘Sorry, I forgot”), I won’t be wandering around downtown cold, wet, miserable, angry and hungry. I’ll have enough in my belly to get me home again in one piece.

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Never Make a Promise or a Threat You’re Not Prepared to Keep

I learned this 40 years ago, and have tried to follow the sage advice ever since; not always with success, but the times that I have followed have kept me out of trouble.

Bluff and lying are all part of the great game of Poker, and while I don’t know how to play it, I know enough to know that bluff, and hence lying, is involved, and that every player knows this before they start playing.

In business or personal issues it’s a killer.

“I’m not going to talk with you until you …” means that you have left control of that part of your life (communication) with the other party, and right now you are not on good terms with that party. You have just made your own position worse. What’s more, if you capitulate and start talking you have branded yourself as untrustworthy. “This will be my last communication with you” is a threat that will hound you to your grave, literally.

“If you do that one more time I shall scream”; again, when it gets done (and with any other party whose current mental state is that of a four-year old it WILL get done) you have to scream, otherwise you have branded yourself as untrustworthy.

“I will have that on your desk by 9 a.m. tomorrow”; again it better be there, and if it is not then you have branded yourself as untrustworthy.

I find it much easier to promise longer terms and deliver shorter terms.

Now I‘m pretty sure I can get it on your desk by 9 a.m. the day AFTER tomorrow, so “I will have that on your desk by 9 a.m. the day after tomorrow” is still a promise and presumably is still within the bounds of acceptance by the prospect/contact/client. Remember that your innermost thoughts are that 9 a.m. tomorrow is doable, and of course you will strive for that and probably succeed.

Look how good you look when you drop it on the desk a day early with “I’m sorry it’s early; I made better progress on OUR project than I had thought”, compared to “I’m sorry it’s late; the dog ate my homework”.

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The Follow-up Roll-up

Here’s another reason for measuring your prospecting activities.

Suppose, like me, you have 224 contacts on your list.

Suppose, like me, your goal is to “touch” them with a one-on-one phone call every two months.

Suppose, like me, you can issue AT MOST ten phone calls per day on days when you make phone calls.

Suppose, like me, you get to make phone calls on only 3 days of the week.

How long will it take you to work through your 224 contacts?

At ten per day, 22.4 days.

At 3 days per week, that’s 7 weeks.

In other words, your target of phone calls is doable, but only JUST doable.

Now, what proportion of those 10 phone calls results in a 1-I conversation or, to be generous, either a conversation OR you get to leave a voice-mail to someone you know?

In my case roughly 50%.

Strictly speaking, I don’t establish 1-1- contact with 10 people each phone-day, only 5.

Strictly speaking it will take me 14 weeks to work my way through my contact list.

And that means I won’t be “touching” someone every two months; every 4 months is more like it.

In other words I will not reach my target counts.

I will have to revise my procedures, either be prepared to leave voice-mails where I was previously not willing to do so, or spend more hours per day phoning, or more days per week, or mail letters or cards or …

But something will have to change.

And I know that is so ONLY because I measure, I count the calls I make, how many get me in touch with a person, and so on.

Without measurement you are adrift without sails or rudder.

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In Praise of Paper - 2

Paper and pencil are good servants, despite the whoo-hah surrounding electronic gadgetry. Paper and Pencil allow me to use my eyes (my fastest input-output device) and my brain (my fastest processing device) to solve the most important problems.

Here’s the scene: I am making marketing calls this morning. My target is to call 20 people and set up lunch dates. Of course, in many cases I’ll get the contact’s voice-mailbox. In some of those cases I will leave a voice-mail asking them to call me back.

Two hours into this, my phone will ring and a voice will say “Hi! It’s John calling you back”.

John?

Who he?

Because I’m smart (!) I write down on my single sheet of paper, the company name, person’s name and phone number, and my “hook” or reason for calling them. When that is done I call them.

If a conversation ensues I jot down the notes immediately under their name; that’s my record of my promise to them to (a) call someone else (b) send an email (c) and so on.

If I leave a voice-mail, I merely draw a line under the contact and start a fresh contact (name, phone etc.).

Two hours into this, my phone will ring and a voice will say “Hi! It’s John calling you back”.

John!

There he is, staring at me from the paper. Together with my Hook. I can launch into the conversation without needing to cradle the phone on my shoulder while I search for his record in the database.

I can focus on John and my hook.

Because I can so very quickly focus on my sheet of paper.

P.S. The sheet also serves as a corroboration of my tally of calls for the morning. If my tally sheet shows 20 calls and my paper sheet shows 20 names, I know I’ve not missed anyone!

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When Delegation Won’t Work

In Marketing 101 – Again I pointed out that I am (at least) four people; that is, I occupy four positions within my little organization.

Over the past 20 years on at least three occasions I have filled a role as salesman for a company; I’ve been asked more times than three. Each time was a disaster. The recipients APPROACHED ME and asked me to sell, they said I’d be great.

I was awful, and I knew it.

Over the past 10 years on at least seven occasions I have approached someone else and asked them to sell for me. In the latest case I offered 50% of the gross revenue from sales, not net, Gross, but no, she wouldn’t take it.

“With your skills you’ll only have to work 3 days a month to sell me; you can spend the remaining 17 days doing whatever you want!”.

Nope.

Probably just as well.

I have come to realize that for a very small business – and especially a solo-entrepreneur, the chance of an external sales person making any sense at all is zero.

Here’s why:-

Until my one-man organization is firing on all 8 cylinders, I am running a day-by-day operation. As pointed out in Marketing 101 – Again , I can and do carry everything in my head. I am privy to stuff that can’t be communicated to a separate individual.

Only when the marketing and sales functions are running as smoothly as clockwork can the task be handed over (and even then only to someone who is half as passionate (1) about my niche as I am).

Not until I have the source of leads lined up and feeding me properly; not until I have the marketing pitch perfected; not until I have proven customers for my products and services will I be able to hand off to a professional sales guy or gal.

Until that time it is my passion that sells; it is my glib tongue that sells; it is my 4-in-one knowledge of everything about my organization that let’s me be nimble and responsive to every response my contact makes.

(1) If they were 100% as passionate, they’d have started their own business, right?

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New Year's Resolutions

This time of year I get asked if I've made any New Year's Resolutions.

I answer no.

I figure that the word “resolution” means a “re-solution”, another look at the solution. That means I already know the solution, but I haven't implemented it.

November is a good time to say "My New Year's Resolution is to eat more fruit (bran, greens, etc,)"; or exercise each day.

Or whatever.

But if eating fruit is going to be good for me next January, why wouldn't it be good for me this November? Likewise a 30-minute walk three times a week? Or quitting smoking? Or talking with new entrepreneurs? Or getting out to more networking meetings?

Or listening to my mentor.

If today I know the solution, today is probably a good time to start putting it into effect. It's not too late in the day to start changing a habit.

A resolution is a convenient way of putting off the action until tomorrow; that's procrastination.

My peers tell me that that's deadly.

What were your New Year's Resolutions, and would your life have been better if you'd implemented them last November?

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