Busy, and Getting Nothing Accomplished - Simple Tip For Sales and Recruiting

(This blog is the temporary landing spot for Advisory and Consulting Services.  If you want to reach us, please contact us at richgrunenwald@columbus.rr.com, or 614-561-3412)

As a sales person or recruiter (or pretty much anything else for that matter!), the most precious resource you have in your quest to compete and win is time.  

It never ceases to amaze me how we all squander time and then complain about how "busy" we are.  Even folks that are strong at time management fall into the trap of distraction. By nature, much of what happens during the day is interrupt driven.  The phone rings.  An urgent email arrives. We get a joke via email from a co-worker.  Accounting says that the invoice is incorrect.  And so on.

While we would all like to live in a world where we can plan our day, I have yet to find a profession or lifestyle that fully enables this, short of entering a monastery. Not that I have personal experience.  Even there, I am sure there are issues.  I have, however, found a few simple rules of thumb that helps guide activity. 

• Identify high value and low value activities.  There are things we do that directly contribute to our business and financial success, such as meeting with prospects and candidates.  There are low value activities such as filling out our expense reports.  Make a list of all regualr tasks activities, and identify the ones that lead directly to success, the ones that contribute to success, and the ones that don't impact success. 
• Plan your days.  Every day, plan the day.  This is beyond keeping a calendar for appointments and meetings.  This is setting aside blocks of time to accomplish high value tasks. For example, if you are a sales person building a territory, you need to have dedicated call time every day.  Block out hours to do so. 
• Schedule high  value tasks when you have the highest energy and productivity.  Direct revenue producing activities need to be done when you are at your best.  For some, it is 8a - 10a every morning.  For others, it is end of day.  Low value tasks like web research or administration can be done during  hours when clients and candidates aren't available.  
• Delegate, offload, or ignore  everything that doesn't help you generate and close deals.   Activities that take us away from client and candidate facing work take us out of our game.  Recognize these items and interruptions, and dispatch with them quickly. Put a "door closed" sign on your cube to keep out your nosy neighbor.  Get an administrative person to do your expense report.  Move unimportant emails to a "Read Later" folder.  UNSUBSCRIBE from as many mailing lists as you can or autoforward them to the "Read Later" folder.  As a matter of fact, autoforward messages from people who can't help you close deals to folders with their name on it so you can read it later.  And, by all means turn off that little preview pane that pops up every time you get a new email! 

I print out my calendar for the current and next week, then schedule time to accomplish my high value activities.  I also keep post-its on my desk, monitor, and portfolio with sayings on them like "If it doesn't pay, it goes away" and "SCTTM" (or "Stay Close To The Money") to help me stay focused on the high value activities. 

Simple, yet effective.  If you are struggling with getting things done and finding your day gone before you've had a chance to get done what you should, then give it a try.  A simple 10% improvement in time management is like getting another 1/2 day a week! 

You Are Just As Talented Today As You Were Yesterday - Maybe Even More Talented

"The new CEO wants his own people in place."

"Your position is being eliminated."

"We are relocating your job.  You have the option to move..."

It is a virtual certainty that all of us will hear one of the phrases above - or some variation - during our careers. Leaving a job on anything but your own terms can impact a person on several levels, whether it be economic or financial, or from an identity and ego perspective.

My observation and experience is the process follows a process similar to losing a loved one. Grief, denial, anger, etc. all play into it.  It can be challenging when we get personal with a job and really buy in to the company or the position, and then get tossed out.  At some point, we come to the realization and acceptance of the new "normal" and make plans for moving ahead.

There is a silver lining in all of this, one that we often fail to see.  The experience of losing a job offers lessons that at a minimum make us wiser, and can even add to our portfolio of talents.  It forces us to be objective or at least recognize the world of work and the realities of business today.  Acknowledging this - while fighting cynicism - guides our future choices on career options and opportunities.

We are in a period of rapid change.  Companies and industries come and go. Organizations search for new ways to meet their objectives, and make decisions that impact us. What was important six months ago in a firm or position can become irrelevant.

Recognize that even when a company no longer values you skills, knowledge, and contributions, that it does not equate to YOU and your value as a person and professional.  The reality is that you are just as smart, talented, and and capable the day after you were released as you were the day before.

Maybe even more so as you are wiser for the experience.

The need for a person to do your job at Company X may have went away, but the need for smart, talented, and adaptable people never does.

Trust

(This blog is the temporary landing spot for Advisory and Consulting Services.  If you want to reach us, please contact us at richgrunenwald@columbus.rr.com, or 614-561-3412)

Last week I had lunch with a business associate.  This small business owner wanted to talk about about "employee engagement", and how to make it happen.  Of course, I started asking questions.

- What did he mean by "employee engagement"?
- What would be the signs to him that it was happening?
- Why does he think that it isn't happening now?

He shared that he generally had talented staff, but people didn't seem to take things through to completion without being specifically told.  He felt that there was a general lack of initiative and that while people did their job adequately, there was little evidence that they strived to excel, to be better than they were yesterday. Nobody was taking any risks, even small ones.  Instead, they were all waiting for instruction on what to do next.

I asked about the vision for the organization. He articulated a vision that sounded plausible given their market, capability, and size.  The vision and direction outlined were truly worthwhile and benefiicial.  I asked what how he communicated and reinforced tht vision, and how he shared progress.  I asked what the markers were that indicated they were realizing the vision (revenue, gross profit, new clients, etc.).

To my surprise, he indicated he didn't share information on progress or milestones. I asked "If you don't share this, how will your staff know they are making progress, that the vision can become a reality?"  After a few more minutes of back and forth, he admitted that he simply didn't want sensitive information about the company's business to get out to the staff.

Pause.

Without coming out of my skin or sounding incredculous, I said "You want people to buy into and emotionally commit to where you want to go, but don't trust them enough to let them be a part of the picture? You expect employee engagement, but won't engage them in the state and progress of the business, and so they simply watch the business from the outside. They might as well be contractors. If that's really the case, you should fire them all and hire people you trust".

Silence.

As noted in numerous business and scholarly sources, trust is a prerequisite for employee engagement.  Without it, your staff is just working for a paycheck.  You are simply buying their backs, not their hearts, and will continue to reap accordinly. As a leader, you  reap the behavior he or she sows.  Create a guarded or secretive environment and you get conservative and cautious actions

Employee engagement issues?  Look at the level of trust you exhibit to your team.  Do they understand where the business is headed?  How they play a part?  What the markers and milestones are on the journey?  Where you are with budget vs. actual?

If you aren't showing trust, particularly in a small business where engagement, flexibility, and creativity are keys to success, you've got work to do.

Using the Tools In Your Toolbox

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My professional background encompasses a variety of roles and disciplines: Sales, Operations, Leadership, Consulting, Delivery, Project Management, etc.  These cross-discipline experiences provide a great foundation to look at situations from multiple perspectives, and come up with approaches that go beyond what is asked to what is needed.

I am not alone in this.  We all have worked and performed in multiple roles and functions, both within our professional lives and our personal worlds. Financial Analyst, Excel guru, college student, Little league coach, parent, finance committee chair for our church, runner, artist, musician,  etc.

Collectively, these experiences bring us a wealth of knowledge and perspective to draw from. But quite often, these experience live in isolation from each other.  We often work and live as if the roles we play are in siloes, and often fail to leverage the value from these experiences.  Talents that can increase our effectiveness lie dormant simply because we don't think of them.

• Make a simple list of all the roles you fill in your life: spouse, athelete, parent, coach, analyst, salesperson, nurse, council member, volunteer, repair person, gardener, painter, friend, confidant, etc. 
• Now, for each role, draw a line to another role where skills, experience, and knowledge can be applied.  For example, as a sales person, your listening and negotiation skills play right into your role as a council member on a civic or charitable organization. Your hobby as a painter lends creativity to difficult problems you face as an analyst. 
• Post this list in a place you regularly see it.
• Pick one or two of these skills or expeiences, and use them specifically in a new role.  For example, your ability to patiently explain and demonstrate something to that little league baseball player might just apply to that team member at work who seems to be struggling with something. 

Simply put, ask yourself  "What talents do I have that I am not leveraging to achieve what I want to achieve?"

By recognizing and bringing forth the talents we already have, we can really make a positive impact on our lives and the lives of those around us.  

Your A-Team Isn't Performing. Duh...

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I recently had lunch with a colleague, a business owner, who commented that his team's productivity and  seems to have dipped in performance. He stated they had become lazy and complacent, and wanted to shake things up, to get their attention.  He wanted to know my thoughts on what do do, should he change the comp plan, should he require overtime till results resumed, etc.

Of course, I launched my "Columbo Routine":

• Really! How so? What do you mean?
• How do you measure performance? 
• What activities lead to good performance? How are these measured?
• Has the workload dropped? What else has changed?
• What's been the impact to them?
• What have you done so far? How has that worked?
• (insert additional  Sandler "pain questions" here!) 

The net of it all that the drop in performance stemmed from the following:

• The team is highly competent and well paid
• The business owner had been consumed with other projects the prior few months, and the team was essentially self managing
• There were no metrics or guidepost for them to self manage their daily activity
• There was no reinforcement of the good habits that made them successful
• There was little to no impact on the team as a result of the drop in performance (comp, recognition, etc.)

In most small team environments, the leader is so close to the action that an objective look is difficult.  When I recapped the answers for this business owner, he said "Duh..." and knew exactly what to do. 

As leaders, we are all guilty of being too close to our team and the environment.  We develop personal relationshps and perspectives on the folks we work with - team members, clients, stakeholders - and lose perspective on the  dynamics that impact effectiveness. We are all guilty of "I didn't change. I have a good team. What's going on?". 

This is where we all need people in our professional networks who can help us view our situations objectively.  People we trust that will be direct and objective, and not worried about hurting our feelings.

If you don't have such a person in your network, it's time to get one.

Gen Y Replacing the Boomers - Are You Ready?

(This blog is the temporary landing spot for Advisory and Consulting Services.  If you want to reach us, please contact us at richgrunenwald@columbus.rr.com, or 614-561-3412)

I am working with a client to assist with hiring a new staff professional for her organization.  This particular client is about my age and a "baby boomer" by all measures.  She is specifically looking for talent that can ultimately contribute to the succession of current leaders in the organization, and is specifically looking for entry level and lesser experienced people who can grow and become the leaders of tomorrow.

I asked her, "Are you and your organization ready to accept such a person?"  She was puzzled in my question as she thought it was actually a pretty easy task: find and hire a sharp individual, and all will be well.

Not quite.

After hiring experienced folks for most of my life as a manager, I switched my tactics to hire folks with potential for many of my roles. How hard could it be to hire folks 25 to 30 years my junior?  What I found was that the expectations and conditions needed for success for this type of talent was quite different than what I had become accustomed to by hiring "baby boomers" and "Gen X'rs" for most of my career.

After unsuccessfully screening a number of these candidates commonly referred to as "Gen Y", I realized I needed to better understand what was important to them in a job.  So, I launched a fairly unscientific survey to a group of 25 or so of the brightest young professionals I know.  I asked one simple question:

"What are the things beyond pay and benefits that are important to you in a job?"

The top response was echoed by over 90% of the respondents: "Flexible work hours and schedule". This was followed by "fun work culture" and "working with people I like to hang out with" and similar comments.  When I started in the workforce years ago, this question would have been answered with "career growth opportunities" and "training and development".

The implication is that in order to attract the best and the brightest of this generation, we need to recognize some of these considerations and think about how they mesh with our company environments and cultures.  Early on, I hired a professional that was a good fit for my needs that, much to my dismay, left a year later.  It turns out we were not a good fit for his needs, specifically the needs beyond the basics of pay and benefits, career growth and opportunity.  He was a young person working with a bunch of traditionalists.  In his eyes, we just didn't get what he needed or wanted - which was true.    

Moving from there, I coached my client along the following lines:

• Work life balance is key, and what that means to to a Gen Y is different than to us Boomers. This might mean new or different processes.
• The outdated and cumbersome administrative processes being used that are an annoyance for a Boomer are totally unacceptable for a Gen Y.  We are talking about a group of people who grew up with cell phones and internet.  
• Security means less to them, and the "experience" means more.  Gen Y is a group that has seen elders and parents lose their jobs and houses, and so employers are not viewed as "permanent".  Instead, they are looking for things to add to their resume' and credentials.
• Be ready to look at assumptions and standard practices in order to make your organization the type that can attract the talent that will become leaders in the future.

There is tremendous value in the institutional knowledge and practices we've built into our organizations.  At the same time, there is value in visiting and questioning these assumptions and practices, and evolving them for the needs of today and tomorrow.  Given the volatility of the business world, we all need this type of agility in tactics and practices to prosper.

A lot of this is the benefit that comes from hiring a workforce that is not :"just like us". The real question is, "are you ready?".

The Right Activity Leads To Results

(This blog is the temporary landing spot for Advisory and Consulting Services.  If you want to reach us, please contact us at richgrunenwald@columbus.rr.com, or 614-561-3412)

Like many folks in business today, I am pulled in multiple directions, subject to the whim of others in my personal and professional circles.  When in the midst of...

• Launching a new business venture and setting up the proper legal and operational structures
• Prospecting for new clients 
• Delivering to existing clients
• Helping elderly parents
• Working out to improve health 
• Advising the children 
• Doing taxes 
• Nurturing relationships with the important people in my life
• Spending time on hobbies to help stay sane
• Eating, breathing, and sleeping

...and hundreds of other things, there is never enough time to get to it all.  If not watched, I  end up feeling frustrated  by not being able to do all the things I  think I need to do. 

Feeling bad about one's own efforts is not the "secret sauce" in the recipe for success!

In  a previous post, I discussed ways to focus on activities that will get the results we want to achieve. Recent observations tell me we still struggle with "what should I do today" and managing our schedule. I find this particularly acute with established professionals.

Many of us achieved success in our professions through our abilities to multi-task and quickly produce deliverables and responses.  We were  rewarded for this behavior, through promotions, formal recognition, and increased compensation, and thus conditioned ourselves to continually "do more" and "work harder". We pride ourselves in our ability and effectiveness in serving others.

Then, when we can no longer perform at or raise our personal maximum capacity, we start to skip steps, or take risks we shouldn't. Perhaps self doubt creeps in. Maybe we start to ignore some things we shouldn't, like personal health and family relationships and activities.  We become disenchanted with our personal effectiveness, and the inability to do all of what seemed so easy in the past.

As a "one man show" with my business, I  rapidly realized that to be a viable, ongoing entity, I needed to spend as much time as possible in revenue generating activities.  If I spend an hour in email  hell or in research on operational issue, that is an hour I am not putting my smiling face in front of a client. My chances of surviving the first year decrease proportionately.  

To this end, I look at everything I do every day, sometimes a couple times a day I print my electronic calendar out and carry it with me, adjusting on the fly.  From  day to day perspective, I start the day by planning the day almost hour by hour and sometimes in 15 minute blocks. I purposely pull myself away from my PC, and check email during schedule gaps. I block out time for prospecting, client follow up, and whatever else leads directly to revenue generation.  

Similarly, from a macro sense, I look to outsource or get others to do that which takes my time away from revenue generation.  For example, I've recently found a firm that has comprehensive services for handling my "back office" functions (payrolling, invoicing, W2 employee administration, etc.).  I've found solutions to handle all sorts of operational issues that are very cost effective manner, even for an organically financed start-up like mine.

It is a very simple "rule of thumb": if it doesn't produce revenue, don't do it, do it later, or get somebody else to do it.

Do I stick to a rigid, outlined schedule every day? No. Stuff happens that can't be ignored. But, these "crises" can be managed so as to minimize impact on the right activities that will lead to success. And, you'll find most of these interruptions don't require an immediate response.

By planning my day to a detail level, it reinforces my true priorities, and gets me focused on what I should be doing, and not simply what others of demanding of me.

Identify the "revenue" in your professional and personal life, and plan accordingly. If you don't plan your schedule, somebody will plan it for you.

Consulting for Consulting Firms

(This blog is the temporary landing spot for Advisory and Consulting Services.  If you want to reach us, please contact us at richgrunenwald@columbus.rr.com, or 614-561-3412)

I am launching my own firm that, among other things, provides advisory and consulting services to professional staffing and consulting firms.  Sounds odd doesn't it: consulting services for consulting firms.

Taking a closer look shows that it's not so odd.  Consulting firms face the same challenges that all businesses face: growth, profitability, a volatile market and economy, sustainability, competition in a global economy, threats from  smaller, nimble competitors, etc. The same challenges that the proprietor of the neighborhood cafe faces when an Applebee's open up down the street, or the local businessman has when his taxes or utility costs go up.

The tactical and often high transaction nature of the business within staffing and consulting makes it tough at times look objectively and strategically at the business.  It is in the truest sense a people business. People working with people to provide people to do things.  Given the normal variability of human behavior, should we be surprised we are consumed with just the maintenance of day to day business?

This tactical nature of the business pulls one away from the more strategic and long term aspects of the business.  What is happening to profitability?  Why has revenue been flat during a growth cycle? What are the risks and threats to my business?  How will next year's economy impact my top three clients and how will that affect my business?  Why do I have staff turnover?

This is where a person in the role of a coach, a consultant, a mentor, or an advisor can provide real value. A person who understands the business and can look at your situation with objectivity and clarity, who can see  causes and effects, and  help assess a path to resolution.  The best ones are those can get close to the situation and  understand it yet have little to no emotional stake in the outcome. The ones who sometimes tell us what is obvious but yet we don't always like to hear.

Let the Prospect Decide To What To Buy...Or Not

(This blog is the temporary landing spot for Advisory and Consulting Services.  If you want to reach us, please contact us at richgrunenwald@columbus.rr.com, or 614-561-3412)

As a sales person, you are in the following situation:

• You are in front of a prospect who, on the surface, seems like an ideal fit for the product or service you provide. 
• You believe you do everything right in this meeting.  You establish rapport, commenting on pictures of the prospect's family or hobby. You connect. You ask a few probing questions, and find out that the prospect has issues or pain around which your product or service can address.
• You begin to ask questions around these issues, and the prospect answers indicate that one of your offerings is the perfect solution for these issues.  You spend more time getting details and suggesting ideas on how to address these issues.
• Towards the end of the meeting, you go to set next steps of maybe a demo or proposal, and you sense a soft commitment, or maybe the prospect is "...busy and will have to follow up next month...". 

What happened? 

Early in my sales career I learned a very hard but valuable lesson, and anyone who has been in sales for any length of time has learned the same lesson, illustrated in the scenario above. 

Like a shark, we smell "blood in the water" and immediately assume that there is prey, ready for us to tear to shreds. So, we start swimming towards it.  We assume that we've found the prospect's challenges, and the prospect has been sitting there waiting for us to solve them.

What we don't realize is sometimes the "blood in the water" is simply that: "blood in the water". 

(Apologies for the rather gruesome analogy. It's all I could think of at the moment!)

Incidents like the one described above are why clients view most sales people as arrogant, money hungry, or worse. We spend time using every trick in the book to connive and persuade the client to move ahead, not realizing that our proposal will be nixed later on because the client does not really care about it.  We don't take the time to really understand what's important to a client.  As a result, we work to sell the client a "hammer" when the client really wants a "screwdriver".

Not only does the sales person loses out on the opportunity at hand, but they also establish a reputation with that client as yet another sales person that doesn't really listen, that is more interested in what they have to offer rather than what the client needs to buy.

What we missed is getting to the issue of most importance to the prospect.  While we may have uncovered something, it may not be at the top of the list for the prospect.  It may be fourth on the prospect's list of top three priorities.  We didn't take the time to ask:

• "How does this fit in to the bigger scheme of things for your group?" 
• "What other things are filling your day?"
• "Should we talk more about this, or are there other things that may be important to cover?"
• "We can talk about a lot today. I'm curious as to what you would really like to get out of our time together..."

Take your time. Ask another question.  See where the issues you've uncovered stack up in the client's eye.

Once you do, you are better equipped to propose the right solution at the right time.

Why We Miss The Simple Things

(This blog is the temporary landing spot for Advisory and Consulting Services.  If you want to reach us, please contact us at richgrunenwald@columbus.rr.com, or 614-561-3412)

In my experience, many of our seemingly complex challenges can be distilled down to basics. We consult trusted advisors and mentors to tell us the obvious.  Chances are the solution recommended will be straightforward, and we ask "Why didn't I see that?" and the answer will be because we were too busy, distracted, too close to the issue, or maybe not fully confident in ourselves.

This is nicely illustrated  by Stephen Covey's Time Management Matrix (shown here by Sid Savara) from his book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People".  The reason we don't see the simple answers is we are often consumed by the "urgent"  items (quadrants 1 & 3) and dawdle on time-wasters or "mental chewing gum" (quadrant 4). Our personal and business worlds are consumed by the day to day activity that steals the quantity of time we have, and we do little to proactively improve the quality of  the time we spend.

Legitimately, there are times when our waking hours are consumed with items that are urgent and important (quadrant 1), such as personal health or health of a loved one, or a struggling business facing great risks and challenges.  We can be consumed with just getting by. These are the times to leverage a consultant or coach, whether informally through those you trust and respect, or formally via an advisor or industry expert.

However, we can proactively circumvent these times by paying attention to the important things as Covey discusses. If we exercise, then we avoid health issues.  If we set up KPI's for our business and manage to them, we identify trends and risks and can take actions that protect our interests and profitability. If we continue to develop skills and knowledge, we avoid becoming irrelevant in the world of work.

The key for us is to make it a priority to identify and act on the activities that will help improve and sustain the quality of our personal and professional lives, the activities that will "build muscle", so to speak. Whether that comes through our own thought processes or through the help of others is not particularly relevant.

The thing to remember is to make it a priority to devote time and energy to the activities that will improve the quality of our lives, our businesses, and our relationships with those around us.