BCSG, LLC - Business Coaching Services

Please Stand By … Our Agents Are Currently Helping Other Customers

Steve — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:07:03 +0000

If you’ve ever called the 800-number for a telecommunications company, you know the rigmarole. You sit through minute after excruciating minute of easy-listening music, interrupted periodically by a recorded message affirming the importance of your call. You enter your phone number when prompted, but know it’s a pointless exercise because the customer-service agent will always ask you to repeat it. And then—if you’re lucky—the second or third person with whom you speak can actually respond to your request.

A major business enterprise spends a fortune on advertising and outbound marketing. How much of that budget would they have to allocate/invest in order to turn their customer service into a discussion-worthy best in the world?

As well as addressing the aforementioned issues, think about improvements like:

Staying open 24 hours a day. Routing calls to a different time zone shouldn’t be a problem, especially for a global company.
Implementing dead-end safeguards. If a customer has been on hold for a certain period of time, escalate the call’s priority to a more senior person who can take action.

The Point: You don’t have to be a multinational corporation—or even facing these specific issues—to learn a lesson from these thoughts. Simply put, a huge marketing budget might all be for naught if it doesn’t come with a great customer service experience.

Steven J. Beaman is the founder & principal owner of BCSG, LLC, a general business consultancy and coaching organization whose primary focus is independent professionals and small businesses. Steven helps businesses to determine the constraints that are causing them to become stagnant or unproductive. He also assists start-up businesses to determine the roadblocks or obstacles that they may not have perceived. He also guides organizations through the start-up process, rapid business growth, or a turnaround situation. He does this using his wealth of management experience gathered during his over 35 year career of managing a variety of business functions in both small and medium businesses. He has expertise in numerous types of businesses (for profit and non-profit).

10 Ways to Grow Your Business

Steve — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:38:45 +0000

When the status quo just won’t do anymore, these 10 ideas will help you take your small business to a new level.

Small is beautiful.
Slow and steady wins the race.
Inch by inch, row by row, that’s the way my garden grows.

While such homespun wisdom might be fine for the common folk, it can be awfully frustrating for an ambitious small business owner determined to take the business to the next level of growth and profitability. Sure, a thriving one or two person service business with no inventory, rent, or employees can seem like an easy way to make money at first, but when the phone starts ringing off the hook and customers keep coming back for more, business owners who fail to plan often fall victim to their own success. Either they burn out trying to juggle everything themselves or they spend so much time and money hiring people to help them that their profits decrease considerably.

Fortunately, there are some ways to take your business to new heights without sacrificing your profitability or losing your peace of mind.

Follow these 10 steps to grow your business into the personal and professional success it was meant to be:

Focus on a single product or service
Focus on a single product or service, and then market it, sell it, promote it do everything you can to increase sales of that one product or service. While it is tempting to swing for the fences and try to be all things to all people, it is often less risky and more profitable to pick a product or two that you can execute really well and just try to get on base.

A landscaper started a dog waste removal business called Dr. Pooper Scooper when he got tired of picking up the dog poop from his customers’ lawns. Instead of splurging on a retail storefront or an expensive Yellow Pages ad, Roy decided to use his truck as his primary advertising vehicle. He decorated the truck as a Dalmatian, used full signage, and put magnetic business cards on it. By using the truck as my moving billboard, by joining community groups, and through word of mouth, he turned what was once a nightmare into a thriving business serving 100 customers and making 1,100 pickups a week. He did it 12 months a year and never had to fix or replace equipment. It is also three times easier than landscaping, and he can do it until he can’t walk anymore.

Expand your product line
Expand your product line to offer complementary products or services. Once you have hit on a product or service that customers really like, don’t miss the opportunity to bring out related items to diversify your product line. Not only does that give your customers a wider selection, but it also makes your products more appealing to retailers who typically like to stock a line of products as opposed to a single item.

Find ways to increase sales to existing customers
Find ways to increase sales to your existing customers. It is much cheaper than finding new ones. Even if you can’t expand your product line, you can boost revenues by selling more of your existing product or services to the clients you already have. One easy way to do this is through volume discounts. Especially if your products cost little to produce, offering your customers the chance to buy, say, two T-shirts for the price of one lets you ring up additional sales without sacrificing much profit. Another common practice is to reward loyal customers by giving them a punch card that entitles them to a free product or service for every 10 items they buy. This technique is common at hair salons, car washes, and arts and crafts stores, but other businesses can use it, too.

Hire someone to help you out
Hire someone to help you out, an employee, a freelancer, an intern, an independent contractor, even your kids. Not only does this free up cash flow by adjusting your expenses to the level of work you bring in, but it also enables you to cultivate a large network of talented people you probably couldn’t afford to hire full time.
A neighborhood directory publisher, may employ 50 to 75 writers, all of whom are freelancers to develop the directory’s content. This way, the publisher saves on payroll taxes, medical benefits, employer liability insurance and all the other costs of hiring full time employees. There are other benefits, too. Bringing in outside help gives you someone else to bounce ideas and strategies off of and it prevents you from feeling you are going it alone.

Create a Web site to advertise your company
Create a Web site to advertise your company or sell products online. Thanks to the Internet, it is no longer necessary to open a store to reach retail customers. For marketers of specialty products like rare books, collectibles and gourmet foods, a Web based boutique lets you reach millions of shoppers around the world without paying for rent, utilities, or garbage collection. And while creating Web sites once required a big investment and the skills of an experienced Web designer or programmer, do it yourself Web sites are now available for less than $30 a month with no technical knowledge required. Typically, the companies that help you register your domain name (Web address) will provide online templates you can use to build your site, host your Web pages on their server, and provide you with multiple e-mail addresses as well. E-commerce capabilities can often be acquired for an additional charge. You can also set up low cost Web sites through Web hosting companies and search engines.

Join forces with another business
Join forces with another business to promote your company. Partnering with a company in a related industry is one of the cheapest and easiest forms of marketing that you can employ. If you make spa products, for example, you may be able to convince a local health club to carry them in their store by offering a discount to the members. Likewise, you can send a free, one day health club pass to anybody who buys your lotions and scrubs.

Target other markets
Target other markets. If you sell to teens, start marketing to college students. If you sell to working moms, maybe your product will work for stay at home moms with a few modifications. Another strategy is to take a retail oriented product or service and sell it wholesale. For example, a catering business that specializes in cakes, pies, and other tasty desserts can contact local bakeries to sell its goods on a wholesale basis. While the price you get from the bakeries will be lower (because the bakeries need to mark it up to their customers to make a profit), you will sell more products and generate consistent cash flow that you can bank on.

Find new ways to market your business
Find new and different ways to market your business through e-mail newsletters or by doing guest speaking or by teaching a class. Marketing your business doesn’t need to involve spending big money on newspaper ads, Yellow Pages listings, or TV or radio ads. Grassroots marketing techniques cost far less and are often much more effective. Most chambers of commerce and community groups are more than happy to provide a forum to a local business owner who is willing to share his expertise at no charge. Sending out a weekly newsletter is also a great way to get your name out in front of new and potential clients. Thanks to the Internet, you can send out your newsletter via e-mail using online templates and automated delivery systems.

Expand to another location
Expand to another location. That could mean renting “virtual” office space in a business center or by sharing office space with another growing business. A CPA could spend most of his time at home preparing tax returns, developing tax-planning strategies, and revising his clients’ QuickBooks files. When he needs to go to the city for a meeting, he could rent space at a business center that offers temporary office space. For a monthly fee or a la cart, business centers can offer everything from conference rooms and receptionist services to remote access voicemail, high-speed Internet connectivity, and technical support, offering business owners as much or as little outside office services as they need. While still running the business from home, this allows him to pursue new opportunities and network with other professionals.

Turn your business into a franchise
Think about turning your business into a franchise or business opportunity. While most businesses remain small, yours may have the potential to expand through franchising, licensing, or wholesale distribution. The key question to ask yourself is if your business can be converted into a business format that somebody else could operate (a franchise) or if you have a standardized product or service that someone could resell multiple times (a business opportunity). While you may think that expanding your business requires raising capital, hiring employees, buying equipment, and leasing office or warehouse space, it is often more profitable and less risky to license your product to a big corporation with manufacturing capabilities and an existing sales force to do the work for you.

Five Ways To Market Your Business

Steve — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:06:35 +0000

1. Business Cards
Whether you love them, hate them or are simply indifferent, you can’t discount how much business those little 3.5 x 2 inch cards can bring you. But are you aware of all the many things you can do with them? The standard image that comes to mind is passing them out at a networking event while chatting with interested prospects, but don’t stop there! You can include them in correspondence (this includes statements, invoices, thank you cards, etc), leave them at your favorite café/restaurant, have friends/vendors pass them out for you, leave them with tip/payments, throw a party and tie them to helium balloons all around the room, get magnet versions and pass those out, throw a bizcard party, and so much more. Be creative!

2. Postcards
Some people would prefer you to believe that with the internet as the “new” rage — printed media and direct mail are dead. Never! With more and more companies turning to the world wide web, print is even better than ever due to the market becoming less saturated as companies try to save costs by choosing to advertise online. Now, you don’t want you to market en masse. You need to be selective. Break out your contact list and send postcards that are tailored to keeping your current clients, prospects and suppliers interested in you (preferably contacts that you’ve spoken with in the last 6 – 12 months). This will surely get you some business you didn’t know you could get.

3. Newsletter / eNews
Marketing to your current clients is the easiest way to get additional business. You’ve already earned their trust. They like you. They’ve already given you money and they are very likely to do it again. A good way to remind them that they need you and that you are available is to send them a great newsletter filled with your latest work, achievements, promotions and some tips/tricks/faqs/news that your clients would like enough to read your newsletter, because it can’t ALL be about you.

4. Link Share
If you read a lot of blogs, you probably have some favorites that are just fantastic and gain a lot of readership, why not see if you can share some traffic with them? Write some articles and ask the blog owner(s), if they are interested in cross-promoting. Some bloggers LOVE to share the wealth of readers, some want it all to themselves. It doesn’t hurt to ask. The worst that can happen is that they either ignore you or say no. Either way, their loss!

5. Themed Promotionals
Do you have a theme to your business? Can you find a way to exploit and promote it? Let’s say you are an architect and you want to drive traffic to your website: you could hire a web developer to build an interactive game that allowed prospects to create their dream home (obviously a rough version) and then be invited to meet with you to see it through. How about if you are a business coach who wants to promote their workshops: you could create a small booklet styled brochure of the top reasons why someone needs a coach that includes a free 30 minute session to test out your services or maybe include some sort of tool that most people need to get through their day ($10 Starbucks card, a nice ballpoint pen, $10 gas card, etc). You will be remembered and TALKED ABOUT for sure!

Steven J. Beaman is the founder & principal owner of BCSG, LLC, a general business consultancy and coaching organization whose primary focus is independent professionals and small businesses. Steven helps businesses to determine the constraints that are causing them to become stagnant or unproductive. He also assists start-up businesses to determine the roadblocks or obstacles that they may not have perceived. He also guides organizations through the start-up process, rapid business growth, or a turnaround situation. He does this using his wealth of management experience gathered during his over 35 year career of managing a variety of business functions in both small and medium businesses. He has expertise in numerous types of businesses (for profit and non-profit).

What is Your Value Proposition?

Steve — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:02:59 +0000

Do you know what your Value Proposition is exactly? You must know it and be able to deliver it each and every day to add VALUE for our clients and customers.

So, what IS your Value Proposition? Many will say something like “Excellent Customer Service”, or “Exceptional Products and Service”. Others will suggest it has something to do with their reputation or their long standing history of excellent performance. I believe it must be stated in terms of a FEELING that they get when they do business with you.

That’s right – it is a FEELING! Have you ever defined your value proposition in terms of a feeling? Think about it. When a customer uses your product or service, how does that make them FEEL? Do they get a sense of confidence? Do they feel refreshed? Does working with you give them a sense of hope and accomplishment? Maybe when they visit your business they are overwhelmed by a sense of calm relaxation. What is it that you want them to FEEL?

This is not a “touchy feely” exercise or activity. This is a critically important assessment of what you are trying to accomplish in your business. We need to realize that most of us do not have a name brand where the satisfaction guarantee is almost certain because of our reputation and brand. Most of us also do not have a product that is so well known, like a Dell or HP computer where our customers don’t need to worry about the quality of what they are buying because our previous products speak for themselves.

Most of us are in a business where it is neither the Brand nor the Product that is the real reason people buy from us. They are buying from us because of the FEELING they get when they do business with us. What is that FEELING that keeps them coming back? That feeling that keeps them from going to the competitor?

If you are scratching your head, then here is a simple exercise for you, ask some of your current customers! That’s right. Ask your customers why they buy from you and not from your competitors. It is unbelievable as to how many business owners don’t take the time to ask their current customers. Maybe it is because they are afraid of the answer. Maybe they are worried that their customer may just say “Gee, I don’t really know why I keep buying from you, maybe I should try someone else!”

Ask them! Ask several of them. Get them to tell you why in terms of a FEELING they get. Then, when you get several who share a similar feeling with you, you will know exactly why they like doing business with you. Think about it, how can you ever know how to replicate what matters if you don’t know what matters? Your customers will tell you what your Value Proposition is or what it should be!

So, a Value Proposition is a difficult stage. It is not an off the wall thought or conclusion. This must be thought about deeply and then researched with some current customers. But once you have your Value Proposition you will be in a position to pick up the pace as you head into the next stages. Hopefully your Value Proposition excites your business and causes enthusiasm to move forward.

Four Ideas You Can Use To Motivate Yourself

Steve — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:10:53 +0000

Do you struggle with meeting deadlines? Do you feel burnt out and tired all of the time? Do you put off tasks? These are some signs of being unmotivated. Below are four key ideas to help you to motivate yourself. When someone is motivated they are more on top of their priorities and in the end feel good about themselves and their work. Try these motivation tips to better yourself and your business.

1. Make time psychology work for you. If you have ever taken a time management course before, you have learned how to pack more into less. But have you ever noticed how difficult it is to leave a project incomplete? You can play on this psychology of completion by writing a to-do list before you go home at the end of the work day. Chances are if you don’t know exactly where to pick up where you left off, you’ll have to start over. Tonight, before you leave the office note the 5 calls you need to make tomorrow morning. Or go home right in the middle of filling out a prospect contact sheet.

2. Give yourself daily and hourly goals. Very few of us have the ability to stay disciplined all the time. Yet studies have shown that a big difference between those who succeed and those who fail is constant and concentrated activity. Big hitters report such behaviors as not taking lunch until they make a pre-set number of phone calls. They don’t allow themselves to play golf until they sell a certain number of products or services. Sure they make sacrifices. But in the meantime they also make contacts. Most who practice this method of self denial say that when they do earn a lunch or a golf game, the taste is very sweet when it is linked to a successfully accomplished activity.

3. Make it a game. When you take your work too seriously, it becomes drudgery instead of enjoyment. Most top producers mention that their income takes a back seat to how much fun they have on the job. Interestingly, many poor producers look at their paycheck as being the biggest motivator. The problem is that your production will fluctuate. You may go from a “who’s who” to a “who’s he/she” in the space of a year. For example, ‘play’ more often with your best customers. Send out birthday cards to prospects or customers you care about. See how many phone calls you can make in an hour or a day without caring particularly about the result. What can you give of value to others without expecting anything in return?

4. Burn out is a key factor in maintaining motivation. A great way to avoid the symptoms of burn out is to link rewards to activity instead of success. One way to kill motivation is to increase your frustration and isolation. You have probably at one time or another already done this by withdrawing from the people in your life you love. But a great way to create motivation is to give your self a reinforcement gift that comes as a result of superior effort. Effort always results in success if it is maintained.

Steven J. Beaman is the founder & principal owner of BCSG, LLC, a general business consultancy and coaching organization whose primary focus is independent professionals and small businesses. Steven helps businesses to determine the constraints that are causing them to become stagnant or unproductive. He also assists start-up businesses to determine the roadblocks or obstacles that they may not have perceived. He also guides organizations through the start-up process, rapid business growth, or a turnaround situation. He does this using his wealth of management experience gathered during his over 35 year career of managing a variety of business functions in both small and medium businesses. He has expertise in numerous types of businesses (for profit and non-profit).

What have you learned in your business?

Steve — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:14:07 +0000

I have been doing a lot of evaluating what I have learned over the years, both the personal and the professional level, some are unique to me and others are universal.

While it would have been nice to know all this when I started running a business, I feel like most of it had to be experienced precisely as it has happened.

See if you recognize yourself anywhere in here.

Here are some key lessons that I have learned:

The flight attendants are right. You have to put your own oxygen mask on before taking care of anyone else. If you pass out, you’re useless to everyone relying on you, and they’re doomed too. So, put yourself first: You are your most important client, so do your marketing first. Pay yourself first. Prioritize for yourself.
I can’t help everyone. Some colleagues don’t get this. Have you had a client who desperately wanted your help? Their business concept was revolutionary in their mind but seemed like a commodity to everyone else. They are dumping money into it and driving people away because they don’t want to listen to reason. You spend months trying to help, even though they don’t feel the advice fits them. A friend finally said to me, “Maybe they will succeed doing it their way. Or, maybe the plane will crash into the mountain. Either way, you can’t help.” It was painful for me to believe I could prevent the crash. I’ve since learned that I can only help those who want it and I can’t force help on those who don’t, even when they appear to be asking for it.
Not everyone wants to grow their business. Sometimes they’re ready to retire; other times, they’re doing it all themselves and growth means more pressure. I found this so hard to believe in the beginning, but even though I don’t identify with them, I do understand now.
Only work with perfect clients. It’s not a value judgment. Instead, it is knowing that exactly who you work with needs exactly what you do AND (no, that’s not enough) resonates with you on a mind and spirit level. Like many of the biggest lessons, I got this one the hard way. There was a little trio of dysfunction that taught me, over the span of a few years, just what I’m susceptible to: the person, whom I’d call “Help, Help, but Don’t Help Me!” There was there was “Mr. Personal Problems” and his close cousin, “The Boundary Violator.” The gift they all gave me was an indelible experience so that, when someone shows up and even smells a little bit like one of them, I can say, “I don’t think I’m the one to help you.” So for that I’m grateful!
Team up for more success. Strategic alliances, collaborations, employees, virtual assistants, and other partners, together everyone achieves more!
Just about everything you do can be done better, faster, or cheaper by someone else. Therefore, you must strive to only do what only you can do. In my business I’m the Vision Holder, designing the future of our business and reminding us all why we’re here; the Rainmaker, offering what we do to those who need it; and the Thought Leader, designing and delivering products and services that effectively help our clients attract more clients and become more joyful business owners. Everything else, I can delegate.
It is not the destiny of every business to succeed. I once thought that if you felt called to do something and put your heart and soul into marketing it, you were meant to succeed. But now, I’ve seen too many good businesses go down to believe this anymore. I don’t know what the Big Plan is. Sometimes you crash into the side of the mountain. Sometimes Walmart moves to town and eats your lunch.
The biggest ideas come to me when I’m away from my business.I was at a coffee shop when I received and started to create the bigger vision for the business. Although I’d had bad experiences with virtual assistants earlier in the business, I realized it was time to update my views. I’m older and wiser, and my impact was limited by trying to go it alone. Once that light bulb went on, I saw that I needed someone to do some of tasks so that I could focus on what I do best. I got a higher perspective and several powerful strategies that affirmed my new direction. That rarely happens when you’re sitting at your desk with your thinking cap on.
Effective small businesses attract clients with compelling content. When I first started, there was more focus on networking with personal connections. But now, everyone’s a publisher. You don’t have to write, but you do have to generate ideas that can be put into articles, videos, reports, etc. Content is the glue that gets clients to stick with you.
There is really not a competitor. If we all do exactly what we’re supposed to for exactly those who want it most, there will be plenty for everyone. I used to worry about competition.
Self employment is more about finding clients than doing what you’re in business to do. If you don’t learn to love the process of attracting clients, you’ll spend most of your life suffering. It terrified me in the beginning, looking for clients and feeling like I was unemployed, but I did learn to love it, especially generating and sharing compelling content.
(a) The best investment you can make in your business is learning what are, and how to do, the things that keep you from success. (b) You already know everything you need to know to be successful. Yes, these statements contradict each other, and yet they are both true.
Get used to being an enigma to people with “real” jobs. Why do you work so much? How do you get any work done from home? Why are you answering emails after hours? One of the best things you can do is to get into a community, virtual or in person, with people like you.
Everyone has an conscience whose job it is to protect us from change which, whether good or bad, it perceives to be dangerous. It shows up frequently but always is present when you’re ready for the next big leap. The confusion is my sign that I’m at the edge of my comfort zone.
If you pay attention, your business will teach you a lot about yourself. Mine is communicating with me all the time, reflecting which beliefs are holding me back as well as where my growth opportunities are.

7 Steps to Local Search Dominance

Steve — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:12:17 +0000

Local shoppers are going online to find products and services in your town, get found when they do!

Right now, in every community in America, increasing numbers of people of all ages are turning to the internet to find products and services right there at home.
This trend, known generically as local search, presents a huge opportunity for small businesses who focus on winning in this arena. Below are 7 steps every local business should explore today in order to gain a competitive advantage in their local markets. (Someone in your market and industry is doing this, why not you?)

1. Register with the primary local and social search engines
Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, Ask, Local.com and TrueLocal are all awaiting your information as they build local search directories. Make sure you are listed. Angie’s List, Craig’s List, and Insider Pages are sites building directories with user generated reviews. Get in those as well and manage your online reputation.

2. Optimize your web site for local search
Put local terms in you page titles – not Home page – Minneapolis Plumbing Contractor
Put local terms in your anchor text – not Kitchens – Bloomington Kitchens
Put local terms in your H1 and H2 tags
Put local terms in your body copy

3. Put a map on your site
The mapping category just keeps getting easier to use. Google Maps, both mapping and local directory, recently added a feature that makes it super easy to embed a map rather than simply copy an image or link to a map. This means that you can use a map with all the functionality right on your web page. Many businesses can benefit from this tool, especially when it comes to local search.
To create a map for your business, simply visit Google Maps, conduct a search for your business (you’ve got to be in the Google Maps directory to show up), hit the “link to this page” link and copy the HTML code for your map. Then create directions in text to your business from various routes and you’ve created some nice local keyword rich content. (This is a good web content strategy even if your clients don’t need to find your office.)

4. Check your InfoUSA listing
InfoUSA compiles lists for direct mail and telemarketing but they also provide a great deal of the directory listing information for many of the smaller search directories. See infousa.com and make sure your listing is correct and up to date. You can also add things like your web site address to the profile.

5. Add local content
You can create several pages of content on your site focused on local issues or noteworthy information. You can report local news, talk about your firm’s history in a town, give an overview of non-profit activities, or even report on the various cities your staff resides in. Don’t forget to put your physical mailing address on every page, as that is local content too.

6. Add a Blog
A blog, not a free blogger one, but one that resides on your domain is one of the most powerful local search tools going. You can simply post about things going on in the community, school events, neighborhood block parties, or the local sports teams. It is helpful if you can do this and post content that is relevant to your primary business, but as long as the towns and neighborhoods you want to score well in the search engines with are in your posts and titles, you will get some serious lift for those terms.

7. Get local inbound links
The search engines give lots of credit for links that are coming back to your site from other sites. Go out there and find some local directories or strategic partners that will link back to your site but don’t have them link back to your business name, like Joe’s Pet Shop. Have them link back to your site with a local search term like Blaine’s Biggest Pet Shop.

How to Turn Frustrations into Systems That Work

Steve — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:02:53 +0000

John’s business was eroding and not growing.

Areas of his business that were previously fertile and profitable were now barely breaking ground.

He was so frustrated and he needed to increase his sales.

If you follow the dictates of systemization, you might quickly arrive at the conclusion that his lead generation and lead conversion systems needed to be fertilized and rejuvenated.

But that is not necessarily the correct answer to the issue.

In fact, leaping straight to a solution can actually do more harm than good.

The System of Thinking

Creating effective systems requires systemic thinking.

Now, that statement is not as obvious as it may first seem. Too often, the first response to addressing a frustration is to simply rush to install a system that will eliminate the frustration.

But, that is like taking a pill to stop the pain without identifying its source or origin.

A business is a reflection of the owner. Therefore, it is imperative to look at yourself, as the owner, and first consider what you might be doing to cause the problem and not just leap to a solution. You may using self sabotaging your own business or have a limiting belief.

Systemic thinking is, therefore, the act of thinking systematically. Step by step.

It was time to introduce John to E-Myth?s premier problem solving exercise, the Key Frustration Process.

We need to start from the beginning.

The basic frustration is a lack of revenue, right? This question was asked as a way to get him stop and focus in on the true underlying condition causing the frustration.

He responds with a sigh, “Yes, I thought that was clear.” There was a sense that he felt going over it again or delving deeper did not much appeal to him.

Why is that?

Children are natural systemic thinkers. Their favorite word is Why? Sometimes, the best coaching approach is to model a precocious 5-year-old.

John needed to be both challenged and supported since it was hard for him to look at the actual conditions in the business that might be causing the results that were making him unhappy. John tended to blame the economic situation; and the changing face of his industry. There was a deeper reality going on here and that is exactly what the Key Frustration Process aims to address.

Why has his sales not kept pace year over year?

Like I said, the environment has changed? He insisted.

Why do you believe that it is the environment and not something internal to your business?

John exclaimed, “I just do!”

Why do you believe this?

Because it is all the same people involved, John said with an air of frustration that facing the truth often brings if you are not prepared for the answer.

It’s my job, as John’s coach, to push him further than he would go on his own.

Why would you accept that it is an externally directed issue?

Because I am making that assumption, he replied.

Good, that is exactly it. Now, why would your sales people accept the results they are getting? I asked.

Um-mm? he murmured. Could it be that we really do not have a way to focus them on targets and hold them accountable?

That might be. Why do you think that is?

Well I have to admit, the entire culture around here is kind of lax in that regard. We just expect our folks to do it, and come to me if they can’t.

And how is that working for you? I asked.

Well, I guess the results tell the truth, right? He replied.

They keep the score if that is what you mean. Why haven’t you been able to change those results?

Well I think it must have something to do with the fact that we lack any real accountability in our company. We just kind of stopped when we started to lose clients.

Why don’t you track your sales activity goals and your conversion rates? I asked.

Because we just stopped doing it, John acknowledged.

So you see, I said, you seem to have identified a much deeper condition than simply needing a new lead generation or conversion system. It is certain you may need to innovate these systems, but unless you solve this underlying problem of accountability, it will be like putting on a band-aid before you have stopped the arterial bleeding.”

Graphic, but it made the point.

Yes!? John cried out, you are absolutely right. We have let ourselves believe we were doing all we can, but in truth, we gave up holding people accountable in any real fashion, and now we are suffering the consequence of this.

*How It Works*

John decided, based on our coaching conversation, to create better expectation agreements with goals and measurements that were discussed in regular 1-on-1 accountability meetings with her salespeople.

In just a few weeks of these adjustments, John started to notice a real difference with his staff. They now knew what was expected of them and how they were going to be measured and held accountable.

It is easy to find a system solution. But if in the process you have not addressed the shortcomings of your culture, leadership dysfunctions, or other habits that need shifting, you may stamp down the fire or stop the immediate pain, but you are likely to leave the most critical flammable material still smoldering in the background. You won’t have transformed your business. Which do you want to achieve?

Steven J. Beaman is the founder & principal owner of BCSG, LLC, a general business consultancy and coaching organization whose primary focus is independent professionals and small businesses. Steven helps businesses to determine the constraints that are causing them to become stagnant or unproductive. He also assists start-up businesses to determine the roadblocks or obstacles that they may not have perceived. He also guides organizations through the start-up process, rapid business growth, or a turnaround situation. He does this using his wealth of management experience gathered during his over 35 year career of managing a variety of business functions in both small and medium businesses. He has expertise in numerous types of businesses (for profit and non-profit).

Holding Consultants Accountable

Steve — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:01:33 +0000

Midsize companies increasingly find the need for outside consultants, but how do you find the right people and manage the relationship successfully?

Not every company has the internal resources to pull off every project. Midsize firms are just as needy as larger companies that frequently find themselves understaffed when it comes to developing and implementing sophisticated new systems. The most common solution is to get help in the form of consultants and other IT service partners.

But how do you evaluate, pay and manage these outsiders? With the right partner and a well-planned project, the result can be mutually beneficial for both sides. But bring in the wrong people, and you might experience an extensive—and expensive—bust.

Clients are scared of exorbitant hourly expenses, while consultants are afraid of being locked into endless time commitments.

Midsize companies with “reasonable” consulting budgets don’t have to take a back seat to their larger counterparts when it comes to securing top-notch IT service partner talent, says Michael McLaughlin, a principal with Deloitte Consulting inPortland,Oregon. Some people believe that the largest clients with the richest projects get the best talent, but McLaughlin insists that excellent consulting services are available to anybody who is willing to pay for them.

Assuming that’s the case, how do you find the help you need? As founder and principal information security consultant for Atlanta-based Principle Logic LLC, Kevin Beaver has had an insider’s perspective on many consulting engagements. He and others agree that the best way to find IT service partners is through word of mouth and referrals. That process can be expanded to include Internet searches and contacting professional organizations such as the Independent Computer Consultants Association. He also suggests checking out consultants who have written articles or books on various IT topics.

Do Your Homework
When it comes to evaluating consultants, Beaver says the key is to find someone with solid credentials and hands-on experience that you can trust. “IT consultants have their hands in very sensitive areas of your business, so it pays to do your homework early to reduce any liabilities and risks associated with hiring the wrong person,” he says.

Beaver also extols the virtues of service partners that have experience across multiple industries and both technical and business knowledge. These multifaceted individuals with business backgrounds have extra value, he says, because they “understand technical concepts and know how to balance that knowledge with business operations and financial decisions.” He maintains that business know-how enhances their ability to assess and overcome possible political and cultural barriers when integrating technologies within corporate infrastructures.

McLaughlin decries the tendency of some firms to put sales or businesspeople in front of would-be customers, and stresses the importance of meeting the people who will actually be doing the work before you sign any contracts. “That way you can begin to understand more than just their technical capabilities, but whether or not they’re going to be able to work with you,” he says. “Is there going to be a fit? Will there be some chemistry that will work?” He notes that initial references are almost always very positive and recommends asking for additional references to find more realistic information.

Evaluating Fees
Determining fee structures and fees is an inexact science at best. Clients are scared of getting sucked into a bottomless vortex of exorbitant hourly expenses, while consultants are afraid of being locked into a deal that leaves them with no protection against endless time commitments.

McLaughlin maintains that the standard hourly rate structure puts both client and consultant at a disadvantage, and instead espouses fixed pricing to “so you’re not spending time monitoring hours and the financial piece.” This scenario, he says, tends to work out because the consultant typically figures out approximately how many hours the project will take, attaches an hourly rate to that number and suggests an overall fee. The client gets a chance to reverse-engineer the process and determine if the proposed fee is reasonable. But, he adds, when using hourly billing, the smartest move is to check out the going rates in your specific marketplace and negotiate from there.

Buyer Beware
Many companies turn to their vendors to supply consulting services, figuring that’s a safer bet. But that’s not always the case. Jeremy Kahn, assistant vice president of IT at Hartz Mountain Industries, inSecaucus,New Jersey, one of the largest private owners of commercial real estate in theU.S., thought he had covered all the bases early in 2003 when he purchased a storage area network (SAN) and implementation services from a leading systems provider.

Kahn relied on a VAR closely affiliated with the systems provider, and enlisted the services of a reputable storage consultancy to evaluate products and guide him through the acquisition and implementation processes. But problems cropped up with the software, and he found himself watching helplessly while the implementation team brought out one new inadequate version of the software after another. The vendor was reluctant to stick with the process of making sure it worked properly when it became clear that the fixed implementation fee was not going to be profitable. Kahn was determined to persist until the job was done right, which eventually occurred only after a lot of nagging on his part.

Consultants and other third-party IT service providers can be valuable, affordable resources for midsize companies lacking the internal resources to organize and execute their own projects. Let the buyer beware, however: Finding, evaluating, managing and paying consultants is a task worthy of the same effort required for planning engagements once the outside help is in place. Kahn says that if he had the chance to turn back the clock, “I would have negotiated a contract that more specifically said that we were not going to be laying out monies until our end goals had been met,” he says.

9 Tips for Retaining Your Clients

Steve — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:54:36 +0000

The conventional wisdom is that it costs more to get a new client than to keep an old one. And for once, the conventional wisdom is correct.

Yet, many professionals too readily take clients for granted. Or don’t look for opportunities to increase revenues from perfectly satisfied clients. The reality is that for accountants and lawyers it is competitive in ways that go beyond the traditions of practice. Ask your clients how many times they’ve been approached by your competitors and have been aggressively pursued. And then ask yourself if you can continue to be complacent about keeping your clients happy, on a regular basis. Ask yourself again if you can afford not to be aware that other firms are actively pursuing your clients.

Keeping existing clients has always been an abiding concern of professional firms, but in this competitive environment, attention to client retention becomes more urgent. There are two major reasons for this, the freedom to pursue other firms’ clients and the segmentation by specialty of most firms. The growth of specialization means that there are few firms in any profession that can be all things to all clients, and that there is now a danger of losing a client to another firm that entered the client’s awareness through a narrow specialty.

Paying attention to competition for your current clients, then becomes a serious matter. There is the classic story of the client who went to another firm for a particular service. “Why didn’t you come to me for that service?” “Because I didn’t know you did that.” It happens all too often.

Some firms have full-scale client retention programs. Some firms simply have a philosophy about clients, a point of view that says that new business is terrific, but “our business is built on our existing clients.” Still, some firms do not seem to grasp the dynamic of client service. There is the story about the guy whose wife was suing him for divorce, “Judge, he never tells me that he loves me.” And he answers, “I told you I love you when I married you. It is still good until I tell you differently.”

There are, of course, some things that are clearly necessary in client retention. They are doing good work, obviously, being responsive, being timely in delivering promised reports and material, and being polite to clients. But these are taken for granted and inherent in the meaning of professional. It is what the client is paying for. You get no credit for doing them, but you lose clients for not doing them.

The larger picture of client retention, on the other hand, is predicated upon recognizing the competitive and changing nature of the marketplace. Sophisticated marketers in competitors’ firms have a strong handle on who your client company is, what the company does, what its’ needs are, and how to address those needs in marketing approaches. This means that if you don’t have that same knowledge, and the kind of relationship that means total involvement in the client’s concerns, then you are in danger of losing that client.

Client retention, then, requires more than the obvious factors of doing good work and delivering it on time. And in fact, in a dynamic business world, it’s often more than a personal relationship.

It is at least:

Being immersed in a client’s business and industry. While the professional has a stake in some aspects of arms length relationship, this does not preclude knowing enough about a client’s business to anticipate issues in your professional area, and to seek new ways in which your services can help the client.

Frequent contact, beyond the engagement. You do, of course, what you have been hired to do. But you help both the client and yourself when you send an article on a subject of mutual interest. Or a copy of a clipping in which you have been quoted on a subject the client might care about. It may be a simple newsletter, either your own or one of the excellent packaged ones, covering information of interest or concern to your client. Even a clipping about a subject in the client’s industry, or, if you know the client well enough, a clipping on a subject you know interests the client. The client should know you exist between contracts, between matters, and between consultations.

It is likely that your client has the most up to date equipment. For you not to have the same would be like not having a phone or email, or even a scanner. You need to have email and other communications devices. You should have a smart phone, because it gives you accessibility to both your client and your office when you are not in your office. You should consider, as well, an extranet, in which your computer is tied into the client’s computer at those points that allow rapid exchange of vital information. These are productivity devices that save time and money and substantially enhance client service.

Maintaining personal relationships. Not just socializing to keep the client happy, but establishing and reinforcing a sense of mutual understanding and trust. The degree to which the client calls on you for business advice is as much a matter of personal trust as it is professional trust. Your advice isn’t accepted because you have a professional degree, but because you make a contribution to your client’s business. Most significantly it is because you are trusted.

Visible quality control systems. You may have your internal quality control systems, but if the client doesn’t know that, then the client has no reason to believe they exist. More importantly, the quality control systems should relate to the client’s business, not yours. If the client doesn’t perceive quality in terms of the client’s needs, then your service can be the best there is, but not for that client. It is the peculiar nature of professional services that quality plays little or no role in getting new business, except perhaps in terms of reputation. It plays a crucial role in client retention, on the other hand, if you define quality as giving the client what the client needs, wants, and expects. Most frequently, in order to know what the client needs, wants, and expects, you have to be immersed in the relationship. You have to ask. Quality is not an abstraction, it is a reality.

Client service teams, in which each client is served not just in the traditional partner plus underlings mode, but with a team of partners, each of whom brings a different kind of expertise and experience to serve the client’s needs. A well managed and coordinated team brings the full force of the firm’s intellect into play, rather than the limits of just one partner, no matter how brilliant. The firm that serves clients in an “our-client” mode beats the firm in the “my client your client” mode.

The client-driven, firm is the only safe way to compete in today’s market. Recently a major accounting firm took a highly conservative position on a matter pertaining to a client’s matter. The problem was not the position, but that the position was taken for the law firm’s protection, and not the client’s and the client was made aware of this. What a disaster.

Constant review of the client’s needs. Needs change. Your clients’ businesses change. Your services change. By constantly reviewing the client’s needs, you not only assure that you are giving the client the best service, and that you are maximizing the relationship, but you are also telling the client that you are concerned.

Regular client surveys. Asking people, “How am I doing?” You don’t always like what you hear, but you always know how the clients perceive you. Anybody who doesn’t take active steps to keep aware of client attitudes toward the firm is somebody who likes surprises. A simple one page survey, annually, goes a long way. Successful professionals are those who have learned the difference between client relations and client service. Both are important, but one is not the substitute for the other. To retain clients, you have to have both.

Those who are most successful at client retention are those who actively work at it. They have programs and checklists. Even small firms that are aware of the need for it have programs that focus on paying attention. They listen. They contact. They connect. They understand the economics, and they know what kind of return they are getting on their investment in it.

And they know, first hand, why it’s true that keeping a client is still cheaper than getting a new one.