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Leveraging Existing Customers in Contract Negotiations

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Rabbit vs. penguin. Who do you think would win in a negotiation? Image by Daniel Voyager3.

Rabbit vs. penguin. Who do you think would win in a negotiation? Image by Daniel Voyager3.

Contract negotiations and re-negotiations can be risky business. Both parties go into it with the assumption of the potential for conflict. If you are the provider, you do have a secret weapon: your existing customers and their contracts.

These existing contracts give you precedent that you can use in the negotiations. This is especially true if you do business with a government entity. As my colleague Sandra Stenzel, founder of the Bid Resource Centers in Texas that became the model throughout the US has often said to clients, “the government wants the lowest responsive, responsible bid”. That translates in contract negotation to “we want the best deal” — unspoken is “than you give anyone else”.

In our case, our client was faced with a customer who wanted the same terms as the government got and not an increase in price from the last contract. Reasonable, but not in line with the contracts of their other clients. Our client’s goal was to provide parity with his other non-government contracts for the same work. Also reasonable and necessary for his growth in order to simplify his pricing structure which was definitely not standardized. [Read more…]

Feeling Driven to Marketing is Not Being Market-Driven

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Are you driven to marketing to fear, money, or making things better.

Are you driven to marketing out of fear, money, or making things better?

Are you driven to marketing? This is not the same as being market-driven.

Do you hate marketing your products and company? If you feel that you’d rather have all your teeth extracted than do anything with marketing, you could hate being “marketing driven”. You’re not alone. Most of our clients (except the advertising and marketing companies) don’t say “Whoopee, I get to come up with and implement my inbound or outbound marketing”.  [Read more…]

Bosses Who Blab Can Kill Their Business

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Do you know a boss who talks too much? Artwork by Matt Devicious.

Do you know a boss who talks too much? Artwork by Matt Devicious.

Bosses who talk too much or blab can hurt their businesses more than any cyber security leak ever could. The results can be disruptive enough to kill sales, drive away staff, prevent being granted a patent, or potentially kill the company.

They can also be harder to stop because frequently the boss doesn’t realize they’re doing it.

Big Mouth Examples

Here are eight of the worst blabbermouths and what happened (or could have happened) to their businesses. See if you recognize these or maybe you are guilty yourself.

• Sharing Secrets

The food manufacturer responded to a simple question from someone she just met by revealing her secret way to solve a major production problem. She was too proud of what the company had done to keep quiet about it. Good product but the idea of protecting trade secrets was foreign to her. [Read more…]

Measure Sales Value 4 Ways

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CEO Jan Triplett talks to owners about sales value.

There are good, better and best sales. You may have thought all sales are equal.They’re not if you are trying to build a successful business that is sustainable, profitable and transferable.

 Focus on Sales Value

Sales people (even if it’s the owner) need to concentrate on finding and getting sales that add the most value to the business. This requires a sales process that doesn’t just look at the dollars coming in from this sale.  It also can’t include only the costs — money going out, time to get and manage the sale, profit level, and any “hassle” factors.

4 Ways to Measure Sales Value

The value of each sale must also be measured by:

  1. Its ability to add to the reputation of the business and the product or service
  2. How it affects company image,
  3. Its ability to attract customers of the same or higher value to the business,
  4. How well it supports brand and company positioning.

Sales commission, bonus, and career advancement should be based on the salesperson’s ability to bring in good sales and to prevent spending time and effort on bad sales.

Use Sales Value to Prioritize

I have seen it written that 50% of all sales leads are not followed up. That sounds bad. What I don’t know, because they don’t say, is how many weren’t followed up on purpose. Maybe they were right!

Choose sales opportunities at your own risk. Choose wisely and succeed. Choose poorly and there are long term consequences.

Use Sales Value to Allocate Resources

Don’t go after every sale equally. Evaluate and prioritize those new leads, upselling opportunities, or repeat sales in terms of those with the highest value.

Also, make sure your sales process gives you and your salespeople a way to quickly identify bad sales opportunities that should not be pursued or only under restricted circumstances.

The less the sales value, the more likely it’s a bad deal or at least should not be given the same time, effort and resources.

In  the end, it’s the quality of each sale, not the quantity of sales that matter.

Here’s to your success!

Moving Thanksgiving

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Screen Shot 2014-10-30 at 10.35.39 PMI love Thanksgiving but it’s got to go. Growing up, it was my favorite time of year —  even better than Christmas because it was all about friends.  My mother would invite the family but also anyone who was alone and had been granted titles of “uncle” or “aunt”. We dressed up ourselves, the table and the house. There were special dishes I got to make at first with her, then by myself. Conversation was the order of the day and sharing and being thankful for what we have. How wonderful!

I want that BACK! With all the troubles, hate, and anger in the world, I think we need to take time for Thanksgiving for sanity’s sake if nothing else.

Thanksgiving Has Had Options Before

It wasn’t President Abraham Lincoln’s fault. How could he know when he established the 4th Thursday in November in 1863 as  Thanksgiving Day and a federal holiday, that we would make All Hallows’ Eve (Halloween) as big as Christmas with lights, costumes and parties, etc. and the day after, Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year? He was just following in George Washington’s footsteps. Washington was the one who encouraged a national celebration of thanks in 1789. Then, of course there were those pilgrims who regularly celebrated thanksgivings (not just the three-day feast in 1621).

My solution suggested by my friend Anne: let’s move Thanksgiving to a different date. If we do something about it now, there is a full year to get organized.

Potential Consequences of Moving Thanksgiving

Here’s why: time is too short and precious. Do you celebrate Christmas (25th), Hanukkah (starts the 6th), Kwanzaa (starts the 26th), Mawlid un Nabil (23rd)  Boxing Day (26th), Winter Solstice (22nd), or other holidays in December? I think there’s not enough time between Thanksgiving, any of the above, and the end of the year. Let’s enjoy Thanksgiving by moving the date; not rush through it to get to some other event.

Moving it may cause retailers some angst or they may rejoice because they can legitimately merchandise and advertise for Christmas. They wouldn’d have to deal with “Nay Sayers” like me who wonder what happened to Thanksgiving. The schools will have to keep kids in class and parents won’t have a couple of days off to shop but they will survive. Football fans can still have their Thanksgiving games, but they will be just Thursday games. Travel should be safer if we don’t have to cram it all in so close together.

Life-Work Choices Owners Make at Thanksgiving

If you’re a business owner, it’s even worse. You have to get ready for everything that’s due this quarter or has to be closed out before or by the end of the year. Do you find yourself agonizing over what to do? What do you do?

  • Get work done for pay or get work done to keep connected to friends and family? Shopping, decorating, and card writing is work, too.
  • Focus on fun, family and friends, giving donations of time or money or both to causes you support or be professional and concentrate on end of the year business stuff – closing out the books, preparing for next year, making final sales quotas, finishing projects or reports?

What do you say? Would you vote to move Thanksgiving? Let’s do something so we won’t  start the new year exhausted, stressed, or burned out.

One Thanksgiving Recommendation You Can Implement Anytime

Look at your city and state. do you know not just its history but those who have made it so special? The Institute of Texan Cultures in San Antonio Texas reminds us to be thankful to all 26 cultures that came before and are still here and vibrant. If you live in Texas, spend a day or two there. If you live elsewhere visit it or visit your own thanksgiving sites and be grateful.

Photo courtesy of ryanjunell.

Pretend Friends in Social Media?

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woman-789146_640I just finished listening to a Wade Harman podcast, his first. His guests were Mark Traphagen and Jay Baer, social media biggies.

I like Wade because despite our age difference there is a resonance which started when I   discovered that he had been a coal miner and lives in  Virginia. No great details but I grew up in Hazard, Kentucky, a coal mining town. Wade escaped his coal miner drudgery by becoming a social media dude. I joined the US Air Force days after graduating from high school and escaped a future with few possibilities.

I liked what Wade had to say. I liked him especially in this first podcast where he acted as moderator with two Internet / Social Media gurus. Their topic was “The Pretend Friends of Social Media”. It makes you reconsider the people that you only know via social media. Are they really friends? Do you know much about them? Would you hang out with them in real life?

Listen to this hour-long podcast. It will be worth your time.

Networking is about Saying “No”

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(Excerpt from The Networker’s Guide to Success by Jan Triplett)

Sometimes, you just need to say "NO"!

Sometimes, you just need to say “NO”!

Not all groups are right for you to join and give your valuable time and effort. Not all people are key to your networking success. It’s not about the numbers. It’s about knowing when to say “Yes” and more importantly, when to say “No”.

There have been times when I just said no. That’s hard for those of us who use networking to do, but it’s vital.

At some point your time, money, and energy run out. Before it gets to be a crisis, back off for a while. Reconsider how you are networking. Remember, you are responsible for helping your current networks as well as helping yourself. In networking, you have to be constantly on the lookout for new additions and people to add to your current networks, or even new networks to join. In addition, other people will invite you to join their network. You are going to have to say “no” or “not right now” to some of them. It’s okay.

In Austin, there are between ten and twenty new networks, Meetup groups, and new formal and informal associations that are formed each month. An equal number fold or change. There may be even more opportunities where you live. You have to decide what’s right for you and what’s not.

Take a minute to consider how much time, effort and money you’re willing to invest and at what rate of return. Make sure you also consider what you can invest. Say “yes” to the people, organizations, meetings, lunches, etc. with the highest value to meet your goals; say “no” to the rest. You can always change your mind if your situation or theirs changes.

For ways to look at organizations before you take the plunge, read my post about what’s wrong with many networking meetings. You also might want to check out  Jerry Ussem’s post that discusses various experts opinions on why it pays to be a jerk sometimes. He quotes research from the University of Amsterdam that found that semi-obnoxious behavior not only can make a person seem more powerful, but can make them more powerful. Your goal should be to be ok with being perceived as obnoxious by some if you say “no”.

Network-guide-to-success-coverv42More ideas on networking success are in The Networker’s Guide to Success ebook available from the Business Success Center and online at Apple, Amazon and Nook.

 

My First Use of Fiverr

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In my studies of web development, social media, and online marketing, I have frequently been tempted to outsource things that I cannot do. But until this week, I have never done so.

What’s different about this week? Well, I’ve been following a very interesting guy called Jaime Buckely, a writer, an artist, and all around good guy. I bought a bundle of his writing and as a consequence, I got onto his mailing list.

Decrepit Teddy Bear imageOn Tuesday, I received an email from him telling about how he is doing drawings and other things on Fiverr, a service where you can contract to get certain things done for $5. The first thing I saw was this picture of a decrepit Teddy Bear at http://bit.ly/1HyLiVN

This immediately stirred up my adrenaline.

Years ago, around 1974 or so, my son, Chris had a teddy bear named Georgewell. He carried that teddy for a very long time. Over the years, Georgewell moved with us from Arizona to Texas to Virginia and back to Texas.

Somewhere along the way, one of our dogs worried Georgewell to death and all that remains is his stuffing which we still carry with us when we move.

My son, Chris now has a son, Thomas.

My wife says she’s going to use the Georgewell innards to create a new stuffed animal for ToMas (as I call him) but that has not happened yet.

Recently I started following Jaime Buckley, a man whose work ethic and family orientation appeals to me. He recently started offering some of this work on Fiverr. Of particular interest to me is this image that reminds me so much of the elder Georgewell a while before his canine-induced demise.

I plan on sharing this image with my son and printing a copy of it for ToMas to hang on his wall amid the SuperHero images.

Dang, I think I’m displaying a bit of nostalgia.

My best to Jaime Buckley for helping me stroll down MY memory lane.

My Web Presence – Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Google+

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social-media-423857_1280For the past few years, it has been my custom to create what I call a “web presence.” I would write a post on my website, use http://bit.ly to create a short URL back to that post, use http://twitter.com/xplorenewmedia to notify followers of that post, use the same text with perhaps a few extra descriptive words and post to http://facebook.com/exploringnewmedia.

My “web presence” has not been very productive in terms of getting people to comment on my blog post. I am using a service called Feejit to tell me about each visitor to http://exploringnewmedia.com. You can see how it works if you visit the site and check out the sidebar for “Who’s Looking at Me Now?” The last 10 visitors’ locations are shown. None of those visitors commented.

About a month ago, I became more interested in Google+ as yet another social media platform and I’ve been very excited with it. I’ve been using Facebook primarily to see pictures and comments posted by the parents of my 3-year old grandson. I’m not sure why I’ve continued to tweet. But with Google+, I’ve selectively added people that I want to follow based on their posts and how interesting they appear on their profile pages.

I won’t try to compare Google+ with Facebook or Twitter and I won’t forsake them. I will add Google+ to my social media toolbox as an addition to my web presence.

I’m taking a course on Google+ from PlusYourBusiness. I’m midway through it and will wait until I’m finished before describing what I’ve learned.

Do you have a web presence? How do you use social media? What more would you like to know about Google+ that you can’t or don’t want to Google to find out? Think about that last sentence.

Make Time for Writing

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startup-593322_1280As business people, we need to have good writing skills. One of those skills is the willingness to sit down and write: reports, business plans, requests for proposals, office procedures, emails, tweets, etc.

Scheduling your writing may be difficult. You get to the office and the phone is ringing. UPS is making delivery. Your Internet connection is acting up. Lots of things are vying for your attention.

Try this. Get up a little earlier each morning and free write. Set a goal for yourself and write until you meet it. My goal is 750+ words a day. First thing. Every day. In my home office or at the dining table. Write, write, write. This is a good way to clear your mind as well as to bring important to do items to the forefront of your mind.

I started writing this way in September 2013 and since then I’ve written over 600,000 words which I have posted at 750words.com.

I start my writing by talking about my scheduled appointments for the day and anything of interested associated with them. Then I write about what I’d like to do if I have time. Then I write about anything else that comes to mind as I’m doing this. Usually in 20-30 minutes, I’ve surpassed my goal.

Take a look at today’s post on my Exploring New Media website for more details.

Did you make time to write today?