2011 December | Sales Aerobics for Engineers ® Blog

The Road We Traveled in 2011

December 20, 2011 By Babette Ten Haken 2 Comments

The two weeks of the Holiday Season leading up to the New Year are a time of reflection for many of us, although it sometimes doesn’t seem like it. We are lining up our road maps for 2012: identifying the referral network for our prospecting (because we’ve finally learned that cold calling and churning and burning through leads lists doesn’t work). We are trying to get projects completed and invoiced by the end of the year to insure cash flow. We are deciding whether the roads we travel on are leading us somewhere productive and relevant, let alone profitable.

It can become chaotic and overwhelming. Unless you take a step back to gain a greater perspective of what’s going on. And keep stepping back until you get a 10,000 foot eagle’s eye view of the situation.

What roads will we travel on, together, in 2012? We’ve certainly traversed some interesting technical and non-technical geography in 2011.

As I tee up for 2012 blogging about some great topics, including customer experience, sales and the technical professional, liberating yourself from your professional status-quo, and some tools for smarter selling, I’ve revisited the roads we’ve traveled on, together, this year.

It’s because of our collaborative dialogues, your feedback, and the professional inspiration you’ve given me that I have a book coming out in February! I’ve made some major pivots in the direction of my business this year as well. I am a life-long learner. And I learn from the folks I work with as well as work for. I am always expanding my sandbox, and this year was no exception.

In mentoring and coaching entrepreneurs (both start-ups and and mid-level funding companies), I have the same dialogue I’ve always had when working with manufacturers and engineering-intensive service companies. The venture capital venue provides some very provocative discussions with companies who recognize it’s time to move beyond “the way we’ve always done things” towards “the way we need to do things.” And since they are already “there,” these businesses are open to dialogue and collaboration. Which are very gratifying discussions to have since so many companies are resistant to moving one millimeter outside of their status-quo comfort levels.

In reflecting the roads more, as well as less, traveled together this year, I’d like you to take a look at the page on my blog called Top Blog Posts . I keep it updated based on your comments, re-Tweets, Shares on LinkedIn and relevance to the professional communities and target markets in which I work.

When you get some down time this week or next, or even for a quick momentum-boost, take a look at these blogs which your colleagues found the most intriguing and provocative in 2011.

Your Best Sales Partner May Be An Engineer

Think You Have All The Answers? Did You Ask The Right Questions?

Being Relevant To Your Customers

Do YOU Mean Business?

Are You Chasing Around Customers and Prospects Who Are In Crisis Mode?

Lessons Learned from Spinner Dolphins

Did You Write Your Own Instruction Manual?

So Has It Turned Out The Way You Thought It Would?

Are You Drinking Your Own Kool-Aid?

The Power of Your Personal Brand in Space-Time

Understanding Why You Work for Other People

Your Financial Plan is Your Business Pulse

Take a read and let me know what you think, as you move forward into the new business year. These posts range from business planning to career development to website design to core personal values. There’s a lot of good food for thought.

Thank you for your readership this year.

Most importantly, thank you for your collective and collaborative inspiration.

Looking forward to continuing our dialogue!

BTH

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Entrepreneurs and StartUps, Sales, Pitching & Business Development Tagged With: business development, core personal values, Do You Mean Business, engineers, entrepreneurs, professional development

4 Ways NO Defines the Status Quo

December 14, 2011 By Babette Ten Haken Leave a Comment

The Status Quo, or The Way Things Are, is rampant. Status-quo mindset pervades people, perceptions and systems. The Status Quo craves stasis and stability.

One of the most pervasive ways in which the status quo is manifested in organizations is by the word NO!

NO is a very powerful word. It is controlling. It is the mantra of a traditional, siloed infrastructure. It is used to keep things in place. And you can’t move forward beyond NO until you know why that powerful word is holding you and your organization back.

By taking a 5,000 foot eagle’s eye view of our situation, we can understand why systems promote stasis by encouraging a NO mindset instead of YES.

1. It’s easier to say NO than YES

The status quo seeks stability and homogeneity. NO is an effortless response because YES – and the act of making that decision – are viewed as disruptive to the status quo. YES requires homework, analysis and consensus. Decision-makers in status-quo, siloed infrastructures can bet that you haven’t done your homework when you want them to make a decision. Are you making it easy for them to tell you NO?

2. NO is the easy answer when you haven’t provided CONTEXT

NO means you haven’t provided that decision-maker adequate context for your request. Of course you have rationalized why your request should be approved. But have you taken a look at the situation from the context of the decision-maker? Are you aware of all of the factors impacting his or her ability to make that decision? What is the history of this decision-maker’s decision-making? Are they a naysayer, historically? Are you only thinking from the context of YOU when you are making your request? Perhaps you should be thinking within the context of that decision-maker.

3. NO means you haven’t provided PERSPECTIVE

Who else is impacted by your request? Because that is what that decision-maker is thinking about. Your request for YES catalyzes a lot of other people asking for YES as well. Is your request perceived by that decision-maker as complimentary or disruptive within the workspace, professional discipline, and industry? Is your perspective of your request limited to YOU and your needs and goals rather than the goals of others? Are you creating a situation which causes conflict across departments or divisions and pits your decision-maker against another? Do they have a history of collaboration or competition? History makes people risk averse. Perhaps you should be thinking from the perspective of that decision-maker.

4. NO is the prudent response when there is no RELEVANCE

Just as you are interested in What’s In It For Me, so is that decision-maker. They may have taken a chance making a decision in the past that resulted in a messy situation reflecting poorly on their leadership. How is your request for their decision relevant to their priorities, objectives and goals as a decision-maker? Make sure you know the history and context involved when asking for YES. You just may be walking into a minefield. What you perceive as a simple request from the context and perspective of YOU, may be relevant and significant to you, and only you.

The language of a relevant request for a decision provides a compelling reason to say YES. Are you making that request relevant to that decision-maker? Are you asking for that decision using the language of that decision-maker? Are you making that decision easy to understand from by that decision-maker?

Otherwise there is an equally compelling reason to remain within the boundaries of the status-quo NO.

What does NO look and sound like in your organization?

This morning, I spoke to the Southeastern Michigan Chapter of IEEE – Women in Engineering. This blog post is an excerpt of that talk I gave and the ensuing round-table discussion, based on a full discussion in my book, Do YOU Mean Business? To learn more about the book, click here.

Filed Under: Angels, Venture Capital, Private Equity, Entrepreneurs and StartUps, Professional Development & Social Selling, Sales, Pitching & Business Development Tagged With: cross-functional mindset, professional development, status-quo mindset

Are your customers falling in love with you?

December 5, 2011 By Babette Ten Haken 2 Comments

I know what you’re thinking. This is going to be another blog about client service, jumping through their hoops, the fact that they are always “right”, and how you should always put the customer first. You know all about that, don’t you? I mean, you do know what your company’s client service policy is…

Your company’s customer service credo has been articulated to you, hasn’t it? And you can see it put into play in the workplace every day, right? Your upper and mid- level management walk this talk constantly and consistently, providing a clear-cut example of applied leadership, right?

Of course you will take me over to the framed company mission statement on the lobby wall so I can (and so can you) read something articulate and tangible about their client service ethic that you, personally, can hang your hat on. Correct?

Honestly, what does all that yada-yada-yada really mean in the grand cosmic scheme of things? Most of us operate freestyle when it comes to client service, service quality delivery, customer sacrifice and customer experience (if we even are familiar with those latter two concepts).

Whether you are an owner, sole proprietor or employee, it should be second nature to treat others as we want ourselves to be treated. The Platinum Rule of Tony Alessandra tells us to treat our customers as they wish to be treated. And Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore tell us in The Experience Economy that we should give our clients a rich and compelling reason to do business with us.

It’s hard to put theory into practice if we, as our company’s internal customers, aren’t treated very well in the first place.

A sole proprietor? Client service delivery goes up and down upon the waves of our ability and energy to win business. What a virtual economic and emotional roller coaster: win new business and then drop everything and deliver on the won business – ignoring the need to win more business.

Filling a contractor function? Then you are shape-shifters morphing in and out of whatever is required. We never quite fit into these non-permanent positions. We do busy work and don’t take the time to determine what is required to win a permanent position.

Yet we have customer contact all the time: an amazing incubator in which to learn about customer service delivery, customer experience and customer sacrifice. So aside from a paycheck, what else are you taking the time to learn in order to build your skill sets for your next tour of employment duty?

A different way to think about things in a flat-world business model, huh?

Your attitude towards client service delivery is like your personal beacon on your personal horizon. It basically boils down to defining your core personal values and integrating them into your professional actions, day in and day out.

Your personal core values are what you use to get your bearings, whether you are an owner, sole proprietor or employee. And your personal core values are what your employers and clients can expect, no matter what. And with that type of consistency, you will respect yourself and, yes, here it comes: love yourself. And those are the optimal conditions for your clients to fall in love with you.

And while your clients may love you, they may not like you. Because they can’t jerk your chains or push you around. They love what you stand for. They respect you.
Your self-knowledge and consistency represents real value to your clients, and yourself.
Your clients become loyal to you.

At the end of the day, it’s all about whether your clients feel comfortable doing business with you. And whether or not they trust you. Because you know as well as I do that client relationships can become a real messy affair from time to time.

Base your client relationships on consistent core personal values. Mine are ethics, honesty, integrity and respect. And my clients know this from the git-go. Because I tell them. And they have confidence that I will challenge them to define their core personal values as we collaborate.

Think about how your client relationships – and retention rate – might benefit from their knowing your core personal values. They may just fall in love with you.

I guest blog once a month for CivilEngineeringCentral.com Earlier this year, the original version of this post won in the Favorite Post category of Top Civil Engineering Blogs. And the Civil Engineering Central Blog won top overall honors as rated by CivilEngineeringSchools.org. I realized I hadn’t shared it with all of you. Hope you enjoyed!