Join Us for the February ITB Partners Meeting featuring Paula Fowler
Whether you are an Entrepreneur, an Employee or in transition, Strategic Planning is important to your success. Get ready for 2020 and learn the fundamentals from Paula Fowler, Six Disciplines Coach, and Predictive Index Certified Partner, offering small business owners tools to align people strategy with business strategy to achieve business results. Paula will present:
“It’s 2020 – What’s Your Plan?”
About Paula Fowler:
Paula Fowler
Paula is a strategic leader with a proven ability to create a company-wide vision and drive business results. Over 20 years of management and consulting experience in small to mid-sized businesses across a broad range of functional areas, including sales, marketing, finance, manufacturing, software development, operations, HR and customer support. Skilled as an internal consultant in analyzing existing operations and implementing strategies, processes, and technology to improve company profitability. Uses Predictive Index talent optimization tools to develop an organizational design, hire, inspire and drive team performance. Linkedin
Are your children ready to take over your business? The answer I usually get is something like “No, she has only been in the business for 10 years, she’s not ready to run a business.” Or, “He will get it eventually, but there is no rush.” Exit planning and succession planning are critical to a smooth sale and transition, but they are too often ignored until it’s too late, especially when it comes to family business situations. Are you burying your head in the sand because you are uncomfortable planning to leave the business?
You don’t have to leave tomorrow. At the same time, starting early will help you think through a variety of options to find a structure that best fits your needs. An early start will also provide enough time to talk through key issues with family, inside and outside of the business. The issues can be thorny ones when dealing with the family business, but time can bring everyone together.
Don’t leave a mess for your spouse, children, and employees. We will ALL exit our business at some point, one way or another. The process of selling is very complicated, and it will take much longer than most owners expect. Family business transfers are especially complex.
Again, you don’t have to rush out the door just because succession planning begins. But your family and employees will be more engaged knowing that you are laying out a game plan. If they are not yet ready, start now and include a plan for them to get ready. You may still think of them like this, but they really may be more ready than you think.
It takes a huge toll on morale when your children lack specifics and any semblance of a timeline. We routinely hear from adult children of business owners who are beyond frustrated at the lack of a real plan as to how they will eventually start taking steps to succeed Mom and Dad. They don’t need it to happen next week, but they need to know how and when. And, yes, what they need to do to show you that they are ready.
They may never be ready. However, getting an early start on talking about these issues will help you determine whether that is the case or not. You may find that they don’t want the family business, even if they would be capable. Either way, you need to know that as early as possible.
Get your family engaged in these complex issues. The right conversations will lead to the engagement that carries on your business legacy for years to come. Another significant benefit to family business succession conversations is that with a plan in mind, business value growth becomes a lot easier.
Let us know if a conversation about your specific succession planning situation would help you move forward.
It’s been a while since I thought much about the process I employ to generate new business. Even though I’ve been managing my business for over twenty years, I don’t think about the processes I use to generate more business. I have an effective system in place which I execute diligently. Building relationships with prospective clients has become second nature, almost intuitive. Recently, I have been thinking a lot about my business development systems and processes, however. Since making a commitment to deliver a presentation on selling consulting services, I’ve been compelled to reconsider the matter. As you would expect, the subject has been on my mind quite a bit lately.
Friday, I discussed my progress on the presentation with my friend Faith. During our discussion, I mentioned that I hadn’t chosen a topic for this week’s blog post. I said that I would like to continue the theme of the last few weeks, building relationships. She suggested that I write about building professional relationships that generate new business. I liked her idea and I’m pleased to continue exploring this subject.
As I think about it, my work is all about building and strengthening relationships. People come to me seeking new jobs and career advice. I like to do what I can for them. Although I may not be able to help them immediately, I believe it’s important to understand their needs and aspirations. At some point, I will learn of an opportunity to provide assistance. By doing so, I am creating a foundation for a long-term relationship.
Mary’s situation is a good example. Mary is in the process of closing the family business and moving her residence to Atlanta. She came to me looking for help transitioning from her position as COO for an industrial company to become an employee for another company. Currently, she is not able to devote 100% of her time to job search, so starting the process has been prolonged. I immediately connected her with two networking groups to begin her transition.
Two weeks ago, we scheduled a call to discuss her situation. I had promised to review her resume and owed her my feedback. After providing my thoughts, she asked if I would take her on as a coaching client. I agreed, of course, and we scheduled a follow-on, face-to-face meeting. Reflecting on our interaction, we developed a relationship that resulted in new business for me. She came to trust me because I demonstrated a sincere interest in her career aspirations. I connected her with others who could be helpful and provided suggestions to improve her resume. Stated another way, I showed a genuine interest in helping her and demonstrated my capabilities. Interestingly, I never pitched her on the idea of becoming a client.
Selling consulting services is about selling an intangible product. One cannot touch, hold, see, smell, or hear the product. It is something that can only be imagined. Those buying consulting services are taking a leap of faith. In many ways, the process is the same as completing a successful series of job interviews. The candidate’s primary objective is to establish rapport with the hiring manager. After all, we want to work with people we like and who like us. To achieve a successful outcome, one must establish a personal connection. So, building rapport requires effective interpersonal skills. Those skills include the following:
Empathy – needs assessment
A Positive Mental Attitude
Appreciation/Gratitude
Mutual Respect
Accountability
Offer something of value – a gift.
Professionalism
Honesty and forthrightness
As with any job interview, you are being evaluated on every step of the selection process including an offer of employment. As you work to gain the prospect’s confidence, your working style and ethics are on display. The prospect is becoming comfortable, or not, with the idea of working with you. A well-executed process is critical! I cannot overemphasize the importance of this phase of the sales cycle.
Selling consulting services is a process governed by the fact that you are selling an intangible product, the prospect’s desired outcome. As a consultant, your job is to make the product tangible and mitigate the prospect’s doubt. You are the product! The attributes of the product you’re selling are your attributes: competence, professionalism, empathy, and ethics among others. You will demonstrate these attributes by developing a working relationship with the prospect. By developing solid relationships, you will ensure the success of your business.
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The concept that failure can be okay can be so difficult to absorb. Do we really need to experience a failure to learn and succeed? Maybe not, but tried and true success does come with bumps and bruises and lessons learned from the experience of failure. What is the “entrepreneurial mindset?” According to a common misconception, an entrepreneur is a bold, risk-taking, rule-breaking individual with the reputation of a riverboat gambler. Why would you want that in your company culture? But, in reality, an entrepreneur is confident and decisive, understands risk clearly and knows when to challenge the status quo. Above all, an entrepreneur truly believes “Anything is possible.” An entrepreneur is not just an individual associated with a business startup. It’s common to find them scattered throughout any business or organization, thus the term “corporate entrepreneur.”
UNDERSTANDING YOUR COMPANY CULTURE
Can you describe your company culture? Are your employees able to articulate it in simple terms to your customers, prospects and the business community? Culture is the personality of your company, which flows from the work environment, mission and vision, values and goals. Some traits are subtle, beneath the surface, while others are
very prominent. Do you see any traits of the entrepreneurial mindset in your culture? Are you comfortable with risk? Do you minimize failure? Do you make decisions quickly? Above all, do you show extreme optimism when developing a new business model, evaluating a new product or considering change against the status quo? By shifting your culture to reward entrepreneurial thinking, you tend to become more creative and innovative. Employee morale, in general, tends to rise with a more positive outlook toward risk, failure, and difficult situations. Stress levels trend downward when you migrate toward “anything is possible” and a “no fear of failure” mentality.
Some cultures in this industry tend to be steeped in conservative and deep traditions of doing it a certain way and not moving toward change as quickly as other industries. That could be attributed to the unique skill set of the gas and welding business. Knowledge is often home-grown and self-taught. There are no classes in the universities or trade schools on selecting the right gas blend for a welding application, creating solutions to manage cylinder inventory,
understanding a customer’s need to go bulk, troubleshooting a frozen liquid cylinder and on and on.
If you’re looking for reasons or justifications your culture might need an adjustment, consider these:
Are you working harder for smaller efficiency gains? How much more cost-saving can you squeeze from your existing business model?
Is our cost to acquire new customers and market share rising per unit? How much more revenue growth can you get from the same business?
When you compare strategies with your closest competitor, is it getting harder to differentiate? If any of these hit home or you just have the intuition that change is needed, read on.
INTRODUCING THE MINDSET INTO YOUR CULTURE
Depending on how deeply you want to embrace entrepreneurial thinking into your culture, here are ideas and levels
of commitment to consider. The flow is in order of go lightly and start small to go big and be bold.
Basic Knowledge and introduction
Introduce the concept throughout your organization in short training workshop(s) and involve employees in feedback with ideas on how to implement and to what level.
“Homegrown” Champion
Is there someone in the organization who exhibits traits of an entrepreneur? Consider them for a special assignment and/or add duties to their existing position where they teach and/or mentor others on thinking the entrepreneurial way. This could also be an opportunity for career advancement.
Recruiting new talent
Is there a vacant position you’re recruiting for? Add heavy emphasis on entrepreneurial thinking to the skill set in the search. Open it up to any position—sales, admin or operations.
“Celebrate failure”
Find an opportunity to make a point of minimizing a failure someone in the organization has made. Reward them for
trying and missing. And then look for the next opportunity to celebrate another failure. Obviously not trying to fail but releasing the tension of trying something new without fear of retribution if it fails.
Create an “Entrepreneurship” Department
Develop a new department tasked with innovation, ideas and new business model opportunities. This is a big one; you’re all in when you go this route. But, why not. The rewards can be significant innovation and creativity are key to driving success. Everyone stands to benefit by adopting one or more traits of an entrepreneur, and when the mindset works its way into your company culture, positive change will follow. Confident and clear decision making, no fear of failure and the belief that anything is possible are characteristics of a winning team. Throughout the company, no matter the skill or position, learning to think like an entrepreneur is bound to lead to a more enriching work environment and ultimately to more success with your business strategy.
Seeing the positive in failure
We began this article with the concept of tolerance of failure, which is central to the philosophy of entrepreneurship. I’ll leave you with a few quotes on failure from well-known individuals who never let it get in the way of their success:
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
Albert Einstein
“I have not failed; I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Thomas Edison
“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” Tony Robbins
John Tapley
John Tapley is a business management consultant and entrepreneur with expertise in new business startup, innovative business growth, and marketing strategies and digital/social media marketing. He has significant experience in all facets of the industrial gas industry, both domestic and global. He is also a mentor at the Entrepreneur and Innovation Institute, Georgia State University.
John can be reached at: John.Tapley@itbpartners.com and (404) 314-8106
Thank you for visiting our blog.
Jim Weber – Managing Partner, ITB Partners
I hope you enjoyed our point of view and would like to receive regular posts directly to your email inbox. Toward this end, put your contact information on my mailing list.
Your feedback helps me continue to publish articles that you want to read. Your input is very important to me so; please leave a comment.
