Looking Within to Look Without

In a recent post I discussed building long term client relationships. I started thinking about the people I really liked working with and what their qualities were. I’m a social person. Not everyone else is so I have learned to adapt to the social styles of colleagues and clients alike. The one thing we all have in common is that we are human. And all humans have needs. Often, I will try to put myself in my customer’s shoes and ask myself what are the characteristics of the person(s) with whom I prefer doing business. It boiled down to a few basic traits.

Is there chemistry? Some people we just like and don’t know why. We just sort of click with them. Others, not so easy. I can work with people I don't click with but it's easier there is a good chemistry.

Are they professional? I want them to behave like a business person. I also want them to treat me like a professional too.

Do they seem to care about my needs and concerns? When someone at least acts like they care I am more willing to do business with them. I know they are trying to make a sale but I don’t want to feel like all I am is their next sale. That will sour me instantly.

Are they reliable? The people I do business with must earn my trust. I want know I can count on them to be there if I need them. I also want a good deal for whatever I buy but I am willing to pay a little more if I believe the customer service from one person will be better than another.

It’s kind of like looking in a mirror and seeing what is reflected. Am I being to others what I want them to be to me? Am I giving them a reason, beyond the product or service I’m offering, to want to do business with me?

Ask yourself that question. And be honest with your answer.

We want to hear what you think. Leave a comment and let’s start a discussion.

Copyright © 2014 The Cobalt Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

How Often Should I Be Coaching My People?

As leaders of any type we should all know that our people are out most important asset. They are the ones that really do the work that makes our businesses successful. And we need to groom and develop them so that they are able to succeed in their job. This can be done by effective coaching and mentoring. We’re not just talking about their job performance, we’re also talking about grooming your next generation of leaders. Bench strength is usually discussed in terms of people with skill sets that you might need for work requirements. There is also a bench strength that the vast majority of companies don’t think about – the leadership bench. In addition to coaching your people on their job performance, you should also be coaching and grooming those that are being looked at to move into leadership roles. And the time to do that is not after they have role (although they’ll need it then too), it should be done before they get it. So how often should you be coaching your people? A lot of it depends on what their role is.

How Often Should I Coach? This can depend on the number of people you have. With all the other demands on your plate it may not be able to be done as frequently as some would suggest. My recommendation is to try to get 30 minutes with them once per week. Although, after some time I have found that most meetings usually drop to 15-20 minutes when things are going well. But keep the time open for each person in case you need it. Coaching is more effective if it is timely so having regularly scheduled meetings allows you to be more effective by providing guidance in a more opportune manner. If you have more than about 8 people directly reporting to you then you may want do something more reasonable by meeting with each of them every two weeks. This can be done in person (which is preferable) or over the phone if the situation does not lend itself to a face-to-face meeting. This should work for most people in most roles.

By coaching I do not mean bringing in the Spanish Inquisition. What they need is an honest assessment of their performance, and for you to ascertain what challenges they are facing that may be inhibiting their ability to do their job more effectively and efficiently. The coaching needs to be two-way and it needs to be reinforced. Refer my post on Excellent Listening. Try to apply that to coaching as well. In addition, coaching needs to be supportive and not something that they dread. You are there to lead them. And you are there to make sure that they have what they need to do the job they are doing for you.

I discovered a long time ago that when the people that worked for me felt like they had a valued role in the success of the organization that they would usually go the extra mile to make that organization successful…willingly. Go take care of your people.

So, how often are you coaching your people?

We want to hear what you think. Leave a comment and let’s start a discussion.

Copyright © 2014 The Cobalt Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

To Pursue or Not To Pursue

That is the question. We all want to grow our business to some degree. Regardless of whether we sell a product or a service we are looking for more opportunities to win. The issue then becomes what opportunities should we pursue to do this. Not every deal is a good deal. You may have all the requirements nailed and it can still be a lousy deal for you. So how, then, should we decide which deals To Pursue or Not To Pursue?

Each company will have their own qualification and bid/no bid guidelines to help make that decision. But the basic questions that I feel need to be answered are:

Is the opportunity real? Not every opportunity you come across is a real opportunity. Liken it to job boards. I had a recruiter once tell me that 80% of job postings are not real. I don’t think that this is the case with business opportunities but everything we come across is not a real deal. That is what the qualification process is about. Is there a real need? Is there a budget? Is it truly a competitive deal?

Are we competitive? Just because we have some relevant quals and experience doesn’t mean we are competitive. Do we have a viable solution? Can we differentiate our solution? Can we afford to compete?

Are we aligned to win? Assume we are competitive. Do we know the customer? Do we have any relationships with the customer? Are we credible to the customer? Do we have customer confirmation that our solution would be acceptable? Just having quals and experience doesn’t necessarily mean we are positioned well to win.

Is it worth winning? To my statement above, not every opportunity is worth winning. There are risks involved with any business. Are they mitigated and are they acceptable? What is the ROI/profit? Can we make money doing this work? Is there a strategic value? I have pursued deals in the past that our group knew would not be as profitable as we wanted, if at all, because there was a strategic value in pursuing it. I have also walked away from opportunities that were right up our swim lane because we determined, for a variety of reasons, that it just wasn’t right for us. It’s not always a simple thing to decide.

Now these are just high level, basic categories of thoughts and questions. Each of these categories has a dozen or more other questions to help qualify the opportunity and decide on whether or not to pursue it. And as basic as it may sound, whatever your company uses to for this bid/no bid process is useless unless it is objectively applied. Not following your qualification guidelines usually results in wasting resources (time, material and money) that could have been better used on an opportunity that you had a better probability of winning. Or, it would have led you to walk away from what looked like a good deal but could have ended up being a nightmare.

Just like customers are looking for the right provider of a good or service, providers should be looking for the customers that are a fit for them. Not all customers are necessarily good customers for you. So the question is…To Pursue or Not To Pursue? What are some of the things you use to make that decision?

We want to hear what you think. Leave a comment and let’s start a discussion.

Copyright © 2014 The Cobalt Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Ask Excellent Questions

Following up on last week’s post on how to Be an Excellent Listener, I thought I might address how to Ask Excellent Questions. 

Time is valuable for both you and your customers  . So when you are able to get in front of them make sure you don’t waste it. 

Being an Excellent Listener works best when you Ask Excellent Questions. 

All questions are not created equal. 

If you want to get more useful information from your customer, you have to ask the right questions.

Here are some ideas on how to elicit that information so that you and your customer get the most out of your valuable meeting time.

Ask Excellent Questions that:

• Show that you've done you homework. Before your call, make sure you do some research. Most people appreciate it when they believe you have an interest in them.
• Are asked one at a time. Don’t ask a barrage of questions in one breathe. Ask them individually. It’s easier for a customer to respond to a single question than it is to a set of sequential questions.
• Are to the point. Avoid the long preambles. Get to the question so that your customer doesn’t have to try to discern what you’re really trying to ask.
• Are customer-focused. Ask your questions in a way the makes them feel you are not there for your own benefit, but to help them. Questions that start with “I” are probably not customer-focused.
• Are not leading. Ask overhead question when able. Try to get them to talk openly. Avoid leading question to get a desired response.
• Elicit useful information. You want to probe for the information that helps identify their issues and needs. You also want to understand the issues and needs behind them.

In the sales training courses I have taken we are taught that every answer should lead to another question. 

It’s not true for every question but the real point is to follow up answers with additional questions to seek clarification or to probe deeper into that issue. 

And when you aren't sure you have a complete answer to your question, keep probing.

Now go Ask Excellent Questions.

For more information about how The Cobalt Group can help you with any business or leadership challenges you are facing, Contact us.

We want to hear what you think. Leave a comment and let’s start a discussion.

Copyright © 2014 The Cobalt Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Be an Excellent Listener

We live in a world where there are many demands on our time. That is true not only for you, but for your customers and colleagues, too. 

These time demands mean that it can be harder to get meetings with customers. 

So when you do get in front of your customers (or colleagues) it is important not to waste their time, or yours. There is a reason for the meeting so have a plan on how to accomplish those objectives. 

In any meeting there is ideally an information exchange. And hopefully that goes both ways. 

To make sure you get the information you need from the meeting you must learn to be an Excellent Listener.

Some meetings are really product or service presentations. For those meetings you will be talking more than listening. 

In those cases I recommend allowing 25-30% of the allotted time for discussion. 

You want to make sure the customer understands what you’ve presented and be able to address any questions.

Most meetings, however, are about gathering information from a customer or potential customer. You are listening for a customer to express their needs and/or issues. 

For these types of meetings, and for the discussion part of a presentation, here are some recommendations on how to be an Excellent Listener:

•    Be prepared. Not knowing what you want to get or a plan on how to get it will not be helpful, and it will waste everyone’s time. Have a call plan and use it.
•    Remove distractions. Turn off your phones or put them on silent. Give them your full attention. Make them feel like you value their time.
•    Don’t talk too much to make a point. Make the point, look for acknowledgement, and move on. Learn to be comfortable with silence too.
•    Get confirmation on what the customer says. It reinforces your memory and lets them know you’re listening.
•    Unless you’re giving a presentation, you shouldn’t provide more than 60% of the data exchanged. But in most instances I prefer to think of it another way: you have two ears and one mouth so use them in that proportion in the meeting. 
•    The more you let the customer talk, the more you will learn.
•    And lastly, follow up. Whether it is to confirm the meeting outcome or to ask for additional information/clarification, follow up with them.

Being an Excellent Listener makes your customer feel like they are more than just a sale. It makes them feel like there is more of a partnership. 

And being an Excellent Listener may also lead to the following:

•     Better customer satisfaction
•     More effective information sharing
•     Better understanding
•     Better results

For more information about how The Cobalt Group can help you with any business or leadership challenges you are facing, Contact us.

We want to hear what you think. Leave a comment and let’s start a discussion.

Copyright © 2014 The Cobalt Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Build Long Term Client Relationships

It really doesn’t matter if you’re business is more transactional or has a longer opportunity cycle, building a long term relationship with your client is important. Why? Because the relationship is not just about the current deal you’re trying to close, it’s about a lifetime.

All things being equal, most people buy from someone they feel that they like. They buy from someone that makes them feel like more than the next sale. I have seen the sales and business developers that have been interested in the customer only up until the point that they sign on the dotted line, and I have seen the ones that developed and cultivated the long term relationships with their clients. Both can be successful in the short term, but my observation and professional experience has shown me that the business person (owner, sales, BD, etc.) that builds relationships with their customers will do better in the long term. Let me ask you this. When you’re the buyer, do you want to feel as though the only interest in you is getting you to buy? Like most people, I am social. So when someone develops a relationship with me I am way more likely to return to them for the next purchase. And it’s not just about the social aspect. There is the familiarity and the trust that develops too.

A growing client relationship is important. That person you’re doing business with now will not always be in that position. There is often turnover and people move to new jobs within the company, or to new companies. Just like you have a career progression in mind, so do they. Follow them. One day, perhaps, they will be in a role of greater responsibility that will enable you to provide a greater degree of support. They will remember who built a relationship on being a valued partner vice being there only to profit, and it’s always easier to do business with someone you know.

It will take work. And frankly, it won’t apply to everyone with whom you do business. But for those with whom you choose to choose to build a relationship, it will take a dedicated effort to cultivate it and maintain it. The good news is that today’s technologies make it much easier than in the past. There are a lot of social media options like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc., that enable you to follow your clients as you both progress in your careers. Use them. But not exclusively.

And that leads me to a couple of other suggestions. Every now and then pick up the phone and call. Meet them for lunch, coffee, a drink, or whatever. The social media thing makes it easy to have a relationship in short comments and ‘likes’, but that person will value it more if you take the time to personally reach out to them. Personal interaction goes much further than a ‘like’ on a social media site. There is no hard and fast rule because each person is different but my recommendation is to try to have physical contact (voice or in person) with them about 3-4 times a year at a minimum, depending upon your relationship with them. They will appreciate the effort you’re making to stay in touch. Wouldn't you?

The Zero Defect Mentality

How many of you work in an environment that is not tolerant of any mistake? It’s the one and done culture. Make an error and you’re gone.The Zero Defect Mentality occurs in places where the leadership, the culture, or the prevailing belief is that mistakes will not be tolerated. This can be in the military or in the corporate world. I have been in them and they are not fun places to work.

No one really wants to fail or make a mistake. But the truth is that we do both. Often. Most of us fear failure. That fear often makes us cautious, hesitant, and indecisive, among other things. Those behaviors can lead to no decision being made, or bad decisions being made in the hope of minimizing the risk of failing and looking bad. And it is not just the failure that people fear, it’s also the consequences of it: getting fired, getting demoted, being humiliated, getting passed over for that promotion, and so on.

I believe the good leader will make sure his/her people understand that no one is perfect and mistakes can and will happen. And when those mistakes do occur they will be addressed but not in a Zero Defect Mentality sort of way. In my Navy career in aviation, the price of a mistake could be fatal. That is way less likely to be the case in the corporate world,. So a good leader will foster an environment that lets people know that making a mistake can be turned into a good learning opportunity and hopefully preventing a repeat of that mistake. Don’t get me wrong, there is a difference between and honest mistake and gross negligence, and the latter should have a bigger consequence.

History is full of people that made what would have been career ending mistakes were they in a Zero Defect Mentality organization but went on to do great things. Take a look at Chester Nimitz. As an ensign he ran a destroyer into a sand bar. I am sure he was the butt of a lot of jokes but he later went on to be the Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet in WWII. How might that war have ended if his naval career had been cut short over that mistake?

I leave you with this thought. Failure is always an option. Do all you can to mitigate the risk of failure but don’t make the mistake of NOT addressing the possibility of failure. Even in the things in life where I succeeded I made many mistakes along the way. I am grateful for the leaders that made those mistakes into great lessons learned and didn’t foster the Zero Defect Mentality culture.

Attributes of a Good Leader

What attributes does a good leader have/need? As I was asked that question again recently I started jotting a few things down. This list is not all inclusive but does cover a good portion of the attributes I believe make a good leader. If you’re in a leadership role, and most of you are in some way or another regardless of your title, how many of these describe you? Honestly?

• Knows that he/she cannot do it all by themselves. If so, you would not need people to lead.
• Is honest and trustworthy. If your people can’t/don’t trust you, you’re in trouble.
• Speaks directly. That doesn’t mean to insult or give someone unfiltered opinions, it means that you address the issue head in a direct manner and not try to talk around it.
• Is consistent. One of the worst things a person in a leadership position can be is vacillating. If your people don’t know what to expect from you then they won’t know what to give you.
• Is decisive. Indecision is a terrible thing. Or is it?  Lead, follow, or get out of the way is an expression I heard often in the Navy. It is never a good thing when a leader cannot do the main part of his/her job…make a decision and move forward. Decision paralysis benefits no one.
• Sets clear expectations, and follows through. Your people need to know what is expected of them or, just like in the fourth bullet, they won’t know what to give you. Following through is just as important as the set expectation.
• Seeks input from his/her people. When your people feel like they have a contribution to the goals they will take more ownership in achieving them.
• Doesn’t have all the answers. But he/she does know what questions to ask to get those answers and to lead his/her people to the answers.
• Empowers people. Give your people room, define the boundaries, and give them ownership of their job. You’ll be amazed at how many will rise to, and exceed, the expectations you set for them.
• Supports his/her people. If you want to bring out the best in your people they need to know that you will support them. When they know you have their backs they will do their best to have yours too.
• Praises publically. Disciplines privately. Self-explanatory.
• Focuses on the strengths of his/her people, not their faults. Too often the only time some leaders engage their people is when it is time for a correction. No one wants to only talk with their boss(es) when things are going wrong. And don’t be afraid to move a person into a role that is more suited to their strengths. They will be happier and more productive.
• And lastly for this blog post, a good leader is coachable. A good leader doesn't know everything. They haven’t faced every challenge they are going to meet. But if they are humble enough to be coachable then they will become better at what they are asked to do. LEAD.

So, as I asked at the beginning, how many of these traits describe you? And, since I am coachable too, what traits did I not list here that you think a good leader should possess?