All in Sales
Forecasts and projections come with the territory, regardless of whether we’re speaking to business, social or political subjects. From new industries to climate change to our own companies, we’re desperate to know what the future holds.
What’s the potential? How long do we have? How serious is this?
This month's podcasts focus on the art of communication - a critical skill no matter what we do for a living.
In today's episode, I discuss how no amount of clever language and word smithing can make up for a poor message or offering. That sometimes, the problem isn't in the message but with us.
When Amazon launched Prime back in 2005, Jeff Bezos’ central premise was that it should be “such a good value that you’d be irresponsible not to be a member”. This was when it offered 2 day free shipping.
Now, of course, it offers a whole lot more and there are more than 200 million Prime members today. There are two takeaways from this.
I think we get so caught up in the goals that we’re after that we lose sight of the need to focus on the process. Especially when the goals are big, audacious.
This makes sense, intuitively, of course. The bigger the goals, the higher the stakes, the more invested we are in their achievement. It’s natural then that we takes these goals seriously, and that they occupy our thought processes.
Those who’ve worked with me for any length of time will inevitably have heard me say some variant of the following words: “If the customer has to work to understand what we’re offering, we’ve already lost.” I try to live by those words.
There’s enough going on with any client or customer that any of us are dealing with. Just like us, they’re constantly bombarded by emails, news, requests for, and demands of, their time - and, oh yes, their actual work.
The recent hype around Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) has been interesting. A piece of ‘art’ by the artist Beeple sold for almost $60 Million. I put the word ‘art’ in quotation marks because it isn’t art in the conventional sense that most of us might think of. It’s digital and anyone can see and download it (there’s nothing physical at play here). But the NFT provides one person with indisputable proof of ownership, and that person estimated the value of that proof at $69.5 Million.
Authenticity has become a rare commodity.
I mean, at first blush, you’d think it would be abundant in society, personal or professional. Because when what you see is what you get, there are no illusions, no need for personal estimations or second guesses. What you saw would, in fact, be what you got.
But in a world driven by social media, the lure of the instant, ADD-fueled soundbite, and the much-discussed finality (and hence, importance) of the ‘first impression’, most of us are on our toes.
“Success is dangerous. One begins to copy oneself and to copy oneself is more dangerous than to copy others.” Pablo Picasso
When we hit upon a winning formula, it’s tempting to think we’ve got it all figured out. Because we actually do. We’ve understood what the market wants, what customers are seeking, at least at that specific point in time.
Value is in the eye of the beholder. That seems like a straightforward statement, but it’s a hard one to truly grasp.
There are certainly tangible criteria that can be applied to the price of a particular product or service - its material inputs, the resources applied to convert those materials into some sort of finished product, and the related overhead needed to make all of that happen.
This month, I'd like to speak to a few fundamental ideas about how we work and the implications of our behaviors when we work.
Specifically, in today's episode, I speak to the idea of belief, and the fact that it's our belief in ourselves that drives our ability to achieve, excel and become who we truly are.
This month, I'd like to speak to a few fundamental ideas about how we work and the implications of our behaviors when we work.
In today's episode, I talk about our tendency, as we get older, to focus less on what we do well and more on what we don't. It's a curious thing, because it's our strengths that will drive us forward and, therefore, what we need to build on.
It’s often referred to as the “defensive” strategy.
The sports team that emphasizes defense over offense i.e protecting their goal and stopping the other team from scoring.
Or the business that is focused on adding enough features to be able to ward off the competition.
Or the individual contributor who spends his time understanding and developing (i.e. copying) the skills of his nearest competitors.
Strategy matters.
A good strategy differentiates your offering. It galvanizes the right resources to their best effect. It positions your organization for success.
A good strategy, though, is just the starting point. Once you’ve mapped out your path, you still need to run it.
And a badly run race will slow you down, allow your competition to gain on you and overtake you, possibly even prevent you from finishing.
I’ve always wanted to have all of the answers. I’ve always wanted to be that guy who knows what’s happening, has a clear and cogent explanation, and can provide my point of view on the spot.
But that can’t always be the case. Nobody can have all the answers - not me, not you. And, really, there’s no issue with that.
Where the issue does arise, though, is when I try and speak with authority when I have none.
It’s a romantic notion, the idea of silver bullets.
It’s exciting (and oh so promising) to believe that there’s something out there - a solution, a framework, a technology, etc. - that has the potential of solving all of our problems or, at the very least, delivering a material, manifold improvement in our situation immediately.
This month's podcasts focus on war stories, recounting situations and experiences that were unique, intriguing and (always) educational.
In today's episode, I talk about going to see Liam Gallagher perform (or not), but more precisely about what we get when we pay for something, and how we need to set our expectations accordingly.
This month's podcasts focus on war stories, recounting situations and experiences that were unique, intriguing and (always) educational.
In today's episode, I talk about my early experiences traveling - something I originally wasn't happy about, but soon came to realize that it is, actually, a hygiene factor today.
Overnight successes are all the rage. We see or hear a success story and we marvel at how they’ve come out of nowhere. Clearly, they had an idea that resonated, got their message out at the right time and were able to capitalize on the opportunity. I wish I could be as lucky as that!
Of course, overnight successes are almost never that.
If you look at your role and what you do on a day to day basis, the fact is that at least 70% of your time should be focused on doing your core work.
To say it more clearly, there’s typically one thing that is the raison d’etre of our work, and the vast majority of our time should be focused on that specific thing.
I’m not a big fan of the TV show, Shark Tank. It has too much of a contrived, over-the-top vibe to it with an extra helping of meanness served up by a couple of the “sharks”. I also don’t like it when entrepreneurs with good ideas give away too much of their company in return for, at least what I perceive as, too little in return. (You can chalk this off as the grumblings of a fellow, aging entrepreneur…)
