I am seeing two things in the marketplace now: some marketplaces have changed what they want/need so dramatically that businesses who previously supplied them are struggling to find any prospects at all. Other marketplaces are depressed right now because people are not buying. They still need the goods and services, but they are not buying at present.

This pilgrim spent most of his day in the office meeting with people to talk about where small businesses are today and what they will need as we move into the next pahse of what is proving to be a remarkable transformation of the marketplace.

One of the people in the conversation was Hilda Kennedy, a partner in AmPac TriState CDC, an economic development group. She will be speaking at the Orange County economic stimulus workshop I am hosting on Wednesday, January 20. We talked about what business owners are looking for. Many of them are saddened by the layoffs they have made in the past year. Most are not willing to spend the money they have, and others, while they believe the economy is reviving, are wondering if they will be able to sell in the new marketplace. Hilda said, "Some of the business owners are wondering if they will survive."

Save the date: Wednesday, January 20, 2010, 7:30-9:30am. Economic Stimulus Workshop for Business Owners in OC.

To Your Success in the New Economy!

Earlier this week I was coming down the trail from the top of the hill I climb several mornings a week. It was a beautiful walk. These days I usually get to the top of the hill just as the sun is coming up over the top of the world in Laguna. It is often cold but invigorating.

On my way down, I met a man and a woman who greeted me. They had two dogs with them. On the gate to the wilderness area at the end of Dartmoor Street there are two or three signs saying "No Dogs." There is a large sign with five reasons to keep dogs out of the wilderness area. These were not the first people who had dogs with them. I wondered what they thought when they read the signs at the trail head so I asked them: "I'm curious, when you saw the signs that said 'No dogs' what did you think?"

The man said: "It is early. I don't think anyone will catch me."

I said thanks and went on down the hill.

That was an interesting answer. He didn't think anyone would catch him. I guess I am just as guilty as the next guy hoping no State Trooper will see me using my cell phone when I am driving. There are lots of rules and expectations I just hope no one catches me breaking. I wonder what that might mean if we only observed rules when we thought we might get caught.

This attitude is very self-centered. The first question is: "What do I want to do?" After that the question seems to be: "If there are barriers between me and what I want how can I get around those barriers without getting caught?" This sequence of questions led us to where we are today. Without any restraints on getting what I want, when I want it, as long as I don't get caught, we all wind up in a very isolated individual world. And we have wound up in a world that is broken.

Everyone cannot get what they want without considering the consequences of their actions forever. The rules catch up with us. Eventually we get caught. Maybe not by the "dog police" at 7am in the morning, but our actions eventually have consequences we will find uncomfortable. It won't be getting caught. It will be our actions catching up with us.

Isn't that what happened in our economy? We broke it by bending, stretching and then breaking the rules because we thought we wouldn't get caught.

It is time to rediscover how to make choices about what we do based on the highest good of all concerned. And maybe we should include the environment and other creatures in our the "all concerned" part. if managers used this in making decisions about how to treat their people, the satisfaction of the employees would increase. If sales people were looking out for the greater good of their customers rather than just more sales, their sales would actually increase.

The greatest good of all concerned. Who do you include in that list when you are making decisions?

As I make my daily pilgrimage up and down the 405, I wonder what business owners are thinking on this particular day. How many of them are preoccupied with finding the money to pay back taxes, reduce the credit lines, or to make next week's payroll.

The new normal in the economy requires a lot less selling and a lot more attention paid to other people. And if we do that, won't we rediscover some of the best parts of being human? We might find lots of opportunities to do things together because we like doing them. We might find more trust. My challenge for this week is to recover the art of being human and paying attention to other people. My daily initiative will be to find out from the people I am talking to what sort of offer they would find worthy of acceptance. I am stopping selling and seeking to find out what they are looking for. I invite you to join me. Try it. It's lots more fun.

As I was walking up from the hill in Laguna Beach I climb most days, I was in the fog. At the bottom of the hill it was almost as if the sun had not come up. I was walking in the dark. The closer I came to the top of the hill, the thinner was the cloud cover. I could see the moon, and the sun was just coming up over the top of the world above Laguna. At the top of the hill, I was above the fog, the sun was bright, and I could see out to sea. The other hills popped out of the fog here and there. What a beautiful way to begin the day.

As I began the walk back down I began to think about a conversation I had with a client a couple of months ago. He is a visionary leader. He is the President of a company going through a major transition from a market that is no longer productive to a whole new endeavor. Over the past year we have been working together to help each of the team members move from what they had been doing previously into new roles. Not all the members of the team had made the transition. The President was frustrated, and even a little angry, that one of his key players was not doing what, in the President's mind, he needed to be doing. We talked about this for awhile.

He said he had clearly articulated his vision. He told everyone in the company what he wanted to do and where he wanted to go. He was frustrated because one of his key players wasn't doing what was necessary.

He said he felt like he had been on the mountaintop and had pointed out the next mountain he wanted to get to. Since he wasn't seeing the progress he wanted he was frustrated. He told his key player what to do, but it wasn't happening.

It seemed to me the real issue was that as a visionary leader, the president had laid out the larger objectives. He told people where he wanted to go. In his mind, he had done everything he needed to do. At least he had given everything he personally would have needed to get to the next objective. Even though he had laid out the strategic objective, he didn't help his partner lay out the tactical steps. He didn't spend time reassuring his partner as he went through the transition from a job where he had been very successful to the new responsibilities.
The president had not realized his role as a manager. He was focused on the the mountain on the other side of the valley that was only visible above the fog. He didn't recognize that, as the manager, his responsibility was to help his partner become the best he could be. The tools managers use are coaching, mentoring, and supervising. If he were to assist his partner in laying out the specific responsibilities he had in helping the company achieve the strategic objectives he would help his partner succeed. By spending 30 minutes or so each week with his partner asking questions about how the journey down the mountain was going he would get clear about progress. Asking whether the commitments made last week were accomplished would help determine if he was on track. By doing these things, the the president would be giving the partner the necessary support to succeed.

Even though I could see the tops of the hills above the fog, I would not have any way of making my way from my hill top to the others without a clear plan, a leader who would support me from time to time by holding me accountable, and regular contact. The role of a leader, even a visionary leader, is to provide management for the people who report to him or her. Without that, it is not surprising that even experienced people are reluctant to get off the well-traveled road in the fog to achieve a new objective.

So  if companies are not buying, as we discovered in the last message (see in the October 15th post below), what can you do?

To Your Success in the New Economy!

I know what it is like to be fired. Even if you see it coming, it still hurts deeply. Words like: "I have replaced you" or "We are terminating you," or “Your position has been eliminated," can take your breath away. When I heard them, I didn't know how I would provide for myself or my family. Worst of all, I knew I would have to tell my wife that I failed. It was like someone sucked all the air out of me, and there was not enough air to breathe. I felt like a diver when someone steps on the air hose.

I felt devastated. My world was consumed by grief and despair. I literally did not know what to do. I had trusted in myself and my job. After being told to leave, I had no job to trust, and I didn't know how to trust in myself. And I didn’t have too many kind words for God either.

It took some time for me to begin to admit to myself I had been fired. At first, I tried to pretend it didn't happen, saying it wasn't my fault, or it wasn't as bad as I thought it was. That didn’t help. I was caught in my own belief that I had failed. My imagination was filled with the horror of no job, no money, homelessness, disease and finally death.  And to some degree I was right.

At first my prayers were pleas that I would not have to go through the pain. When that didn't work, I began to pray for knowledge about how to find a new position, or a new source of money.  When that didn't happen, I was at my wit's end. 

And that is when I began to talk. When I acknowledged to other people that I did not know what to do or where to go, I came out of isolation and back into relationship. As I began to speak, I began to trust: first, other people, and then, myself. It took me a little longer to regain my trust in God.

The more I spoke about my grief, frustration and despair, and the more I listened to others around me, the more I recognized that, even though I had been fired, I still had a great deal to offer. Slowly I began to realize that I had not lost myself, I had only lost the opportunity to serve in that particular project. As I listened to others, I heard the question: "What do you want to do?" and "How do you want to serve?"

At first I had no answer. I was too caught up in my own drama. Slowly, I recognized people were not asking me what I needed or what I wanted to do, they were asking me how I wanted to serve. They believed I had something to offer. If I have something to offer, I have a reason for hope. I have a reason to live. And that is where I realized the mistake I had made. Looking back now, I realize that my fears came from the belief that I, alone, was responsible for my life, and that if I couldn't produce money, I would die. Today I know that is a lie.

I had fallen into the belief that I had to work to get air to live when the reality is that there was plenty of air for everyone. My beliefs were like a tight-fitting deep sea diver's helmet around my head. I thought my job was to find enough places to plug my air tube into to get sufficient oxygen.

When I focused on others, I saw that lots of people were breathing freely without a helmet. When I trusted enough to open my facemask, I found out I could breathe deeply. There was plenty of air freely available for the taking. The challenge was to believe I could trust that God would supply.

Finally, I understood that I was not responsible for providing all the things I needed. When I discovered that God would supply them, I was finally able to ask: "How can I serve?" That became my prayer.

God's hand was in all the new projects that came after that: the martial arts magazine, the Toshiba technical writing project, the Internet CD product . . . all the projects that followed came when I took a deep breath and trusted God to give me what I needed. I learned my job was to find people to serve.

I stopped blaming myself for not having all the answers. Getting fired gave me the opportunity to find out that even though I was not in control, I was going to be all right. The lesson was difficult to learn, but I didn’t give up. When I started asking God to help me find a place where I could serve, I found unexpected opportunities. I discovered there was plenty of air to breathe.

I also discovered that I didn’t have to do it all by myself. By listening to friends and family who cared about me, by asking God to help; and by asking for places to serve rather than to be served, I found I wasn’t alone and never had been.

If you are struggling today, take a deep breath and feel the wind on your face. You are a holy creation, a favorite of God. You have infinite possibilities before you. Accept this truth with confidence and joy. Ask for help from God, from friends and family, from those around you. Embrace the pain that losing a job brings.  Look for new freedom and the chance to serve. Know that all will be well.

I used to think of myself and my services as a fire truck looking for businesses with fires in the basement. My job was to look around, talk to people and find out if they had fires in the basement they wanted to talk about. Often, when they were willing to talk, they were also willing to let me put the fires out. In other words I could help them solve the problems they were facing. My experience was usually that people with fires in the basement were out front looking for the big fire truck to pull up. When they heard the siren, they started pointing to the building.

If I had the answer, I would bottle it and se…ll it…. Oh that's right no one is buying these days. So how will we help businesses out of this dilemma? There will be risks. It will require courage. Those with the most courage will take the first risks. They will have the highest probability of being at the front of the parade when the music starts again.

The economic confusion has not yet been resolved. The numbers from the economic indicators that will make the biggest difference have not started upward. It might feel like we are becalmed in the south seas waiting for a breeze.

In my conversations with business owners and management consultants around the country, I am hearing five things people are doing to prepare for the new wind.

(I just read this in SellingPower Magazine, and I thought you would find this interesting.)

This is the fifth time the United States has been in a recession since 1970, and with each one, top sales leaders have found ways to grow revenue. So which sales strategies have worked best recession after recession? The Forum Corporation recently dug through reams of research on past recessions with the aim of discovering just that – the most effective selling strategies for the most challenging times. The Forum Corporation senior consultant Jeffrey Baker revealed Forum’s findings in his point-of-view paper, "The Downturn’s Upside – Creating a Recession-Proof Sales Strategy." He says there are five strategies that have worked time and again during recessions. Here’s a look at each one:

Expand relationships. Customer relationships have always been key to successful selling. But it’s no longer enough to have just one or two solid relationships at a client organization. With more and more people joining the buying process, salespeople must deepen relationships with customers and prospects, as well as expand their relationships upward and across client organizations. Don’t sit idly by waiting for news of others who have entered the fray. Seek them out now.

Address customers’ risks. Customers are more concerned than ever with risk – just look at your longer sales cycle for proof. Use those concerns to help you build your case. Skilled salespeople will uncover key risk concerns of customers early and address these risks directly and in a way that builds competitive selling advantage.

Remember that risk concerns are always an opportunity. When prospects ask for a lower price, for instance, you can remind them of the risks of supplier failure and that desperation pricing from a supplier is often an indicator of precarious finances. Or maybe you have a product that can mitigate a customer’s risk in a certain area – now’s the time to focus on it.

Be bold and insightful. Customers are so overwhelmed with all the changes happening in their businesses and industries that they don’t have time to listen to yet another generic sales pitch. To be heard today, you must be able to offer innovative insights on the customer’s business. How can you alleviate a specific pain? What fresh ideas do you have regarding the customer’s company? How have other clients solved a problem with which this prospect is grappling? Anything less than a targeted, intelligent, well- researched idea isn’t going to get you in the door.

For a copy of Forum’s full point-of-view paper, visit www.forum.com.

Management is not rocket science, but there are systems, lists, rules, and ideas that can make your job easier, more productive, and make you more successful!