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For example, we might have customers fill out evaluation forms of their experience with our company–but then we have our sales people hand them out–people who have a vested interest in the customer rating them high (and they do say to customers, “Please give me a 10!”). Or we’ll only give them a few options. Or we’ll make it incredibly difficult for them to give feedback. Or we’ll have a strategic initiative to increase our customer service number by x percent, which, translated means, we don’t really want to get feedback that would lower the number.

However, the problem with all of those scenarios above is that they keep us from hearing what we need to hear in order to make the changes we need to make. To make this real, let me share with you an experience I had last week with a company, Power Windows and Siding.

My wife and I live in a neighborhood where the houses are 23 years old and every one of our neighbors has had their roof redone starting about seven years ago. We’ve been the lone holdout. So, this year we decided, let’s not push our luck, let’s get the roof redone. We attended a home show recently and filled out three forms for estimates  (one of which was Power Windows and Siding) to do our due diligence, plus we’ve contacted references from two neighbors.

Three of the companies were all very easy and professional to deal with. Sears was a little annoying with their call center, but their sales person was easy to work with and quickly assessed that I knew a lot and could skip through whole sections of his sales presentation pretty fast and get to the estimate quickly.

But Power Window and Siding was a whole different story. Their call center was the most annoying I’ve ever encountered. They called incessantly to confirm the appointment. I mean daily–which was annoying. I made an appointment. I keep my appointments. If they wanted to call the day before to confirm the appointment (which is a good practice), I wouldn’t have been annoyed. But to have their computer dial my number daily to confirm the same appointment–that was beyond infuriating.

Furthermore, when the computer would leave the phone number, it was always fast with a tagline like, “You know the number, RIng PWS!” Now, let me ask you, do you know what number R is? Or W? Or I? Names aren’t customer friendly. If I’m taking a message, I want someone to give me numbers. I don’t want to have to look at the dial pad and then have to figure out what the numbers are.

So, by the time the sales person came by, he was already in last place. Then as we sat down, he went into “sales mode.” You know what I’m talking about. He was trying to be my best friend. So tell me, where did you grow up? How many kids do you have? What are they doing now? Etc. He kept peppering me with questions, reflecting back my answers, affirming everything I said, etc. So much so that it all felt fake/plastic.

I kept telling him that I just wanted an estimate for my roof. My time is valuable and I didn’t need to bond. Then to get the measurements, he asked me to go out with him. Now, I’ve had four estimates before his and none of them needed me to hold the tape and walk the house with them (asking me more annoying questions).

Then when we came back in, he proceeded to go through the sales presentation which talked all about Power Windows and Siding and how great they are and how they were featured on Extreme Makeover, etc. — none of which dealt with me — or that I cared about. All I wanted was a roofing estimate.

He continued through the stock presentation even though I was telling him that I didn’t need to know all this stuff.  But he kept his head down, affirming, “I understand …” and then continuing to do what I was asking him not to do. Finally, when he got to the actual numbers he pulled out his calculator and showed me numbers that were about two and a half times higher than some of the other estimates we had received. Two and a half times higher! At that point, I said, “Listen, let’s save both of us some time. There’s no way we need to carry this conversation any further unless you’re about to tell me, ”Normally, this is what we’d normally charge, but right now we have a special going on where we’re discounting our normal price by over $10,000.“ He kept trying to move forward but I wouldn’t let him. Life’s too short.

However, to make matters even funnier, we’ve still been receiving calls daily from Power Windows and Siding since then. Finally, this morning I picked up the phone (I clearly recognized the number :-) to say, ”Stop Calling,“ when they guy on the other end informed me he was calling to schedule an appointment for a free estimate. Amazing!

But, here’s the point, I’m guessing that the people at Power Windows and Siding are pretty clueless about the feedback I just gave. In fact, right on the front page of their website, their CEO says

We work tirelessly to satisfy our customers, and our standards of quality, ethics, and integrity are unmatched.

Right! I’m sure, from an internal standpoint, they’re working on their systems to make things better from their standpoint. But if they really talked with customers, they’d find out something different.

1. No one likes being called to death by call centers reminding them of appointments, day after day.
2. No one likes alphabetical phone numbers (or, if one must, at least give a numbers option and repeat it twice).
3. No one likes being sold or a salesman trying too hard. (fake bonding is bad)
4. No one likes a salesperson who can’t read their customers’ verbals and non-verbals and then doesn’t adjust their sales presentation to what they’re seeing and hearing.
5. And no one likes an outrageous estimate (after all, we’re talking about a roof here. No one says to their friends, ”Hey, come look at my roof! I paid two and a half times what I should have. Isn’t it grand?“)

So, how are you doing? Are you really searching for honest feedback from your customers and prospects? Are you making it easy? Are you getting feedback that isn’t filtering into some metric that makes you look good? Are you asking enough tough questions? Are you following up with lost sales?

Remember, sometimes the feedback from the sales you lose can be the key to making a whole lot more money in the future!

To your accelerated success!

P.S. Note: this is not to say that all feedback is valuable or true or that it should change what you do. However, if you don’t aggressively pursue honest feedback, then you just might miss out on those insights which are accurate and which you should take some action on!

However, just adding the word, “strategic,” in front of the word, “plan” does not make a plan strategic any more than throwing the word “friendly” in front of the word “service” makes your local cable company’s customer service friendly. It just doesn’t work that way.

In order for a plan to be strategic, it needs to answer strategic questions, not tactical ones. So, what’s the difference between the two? Here are four key distinctions to keep in mind as you work on your strategic plan for next year.

1. Strategy is about direction, whereas tactics are about action. Strategy seeks to answer the question, “What do we want to be?” Whereas tactics answer the question of, “How are we going to get there?” The first two words of those questions offer a good guideline for you to use in order to remember the difference between a strategy question and a tactical one. If someone uses the word, “How?” it’s probably a tactical question (e.g. “How will we generate more leads?”). Whereas if they use the word, “What?” it’s probably a strategy question (e.g. “What do we want to be different about our company by 12/31 of next year?”).

In other words, strategy points out a direction for an organization. It tells everyone, this is where we’re headed and here are the boundaries in which we’re going to play on our way there. However real strategic work doesn’t tell anyone, “Here’s what we need to do next week.”

2. Strategy focuses on the future, whereas tactics focus on the present. Strategy always looks at the future, and then looks back to the present, whereas tactics always look at where we are (the present) and then project into the future–which is a huge difference. For example, a strategic decision might be to completely cut off a line of business, not because it’s failing, but because it’s not where the company wants to go.

Whereas a tactical plan will always start with the current lines of business and figure out how to make each one of them incrementally better.  In other words, tactical plans usually only lead to incremental improvement, whereas real strategic formulations can/should radically change and accelerate the growth of a business or  organization because they’re not hindered by current “realities.”

3. Strategy is an executive function, whereas tactics are an operational function. In other words, strategy formulation is the big picture work that top level executives must be involved in. This is the work that determines the nature and direction of an organization. However, planning and tactics are operational responsibilities and therefore should be developed by those who are actually responsible for implementing them.

Or to put it another way, strategy is best done “top down,” whereas tactics are best done from the “bottom up.” Once the executive team has developed a business or organization’s strategy, then those who are most closely responsible for the results ought to be involved in selecting the tactics necessary for achieving the strategy that the executives set (i.e. authority and responsibility should always go hand in hand). Note: Boards should not create strategic plans, only refine and improve them.

4. Strategy is about perception, whereas tactics are about execution. Strategy is about defining how an organization wants to be perceived in the marketplace (as the organization that best provides the products and/or services that its market needs/wants/desires). Tactics are about figuring out how to best execute that strategy (i.e. how are we going to get there). Or to put it another way, strategic work is about developing and gaining clarity about an organization’s competitive advantages so that it can communicate those differences to its market. Whereas tactics are focused on the steps to ensure that those differences do exist.

That said, there is a strong natural tendency for executive teams (and boards) to jump right into tactical work. Why? Because they want action. They want to focus on what they can do tomorrow. It feels better. However, the problem with that kind of thinking is, “It doesn’t matter how fast you’re going, if you’re going in the wrong direction.” In other words, if the strategy isn’t right, tactics are irrelevant!

So, as you review the four differences between strategy and tactics that I’ve listed above, is your “strategic plan” really strategic? Or is it simply a long-range plan dressed up with a fancier title? If you want to accelerate your business or organization’s growth, then you’ll want to take the time to create a real strategic plan. Why? Because when everyone is clear on where you’re headed, the “how to get there’s” become obvious and you end up getting where you want to go faster, with less friction and more joy.

To your accelerated success!

Note: If you ever need help developing a  strategic plan that can accelerate the growth of your business or organization, make sure you contact me at bruce@acceleratedgrowth.org (or call me at 301-602-0448). This is what we do!

It doesn’t have to be that way. Henry Ford was absolutely right when he said, “Whether you think you can or you can’t you’re right.” It’s all about what goes on in your head. So, if you think the year is over, then it’s over–not because it is, but because you won’t do what’s necessary to create a great year end finish. However, if on the other hand, you believe that you can finish the year well, then you’ll do what’s necessary to finish well–and you will. It’s all about what you believe first, then what you do.

So, if you want to finish this year well, here’s what I’d encourage you to do over the next three days, Create a 100 Day Plan (or if you’re reading this later than September 24th–create a X number of days plan–a 90 Day Plan or 87 Day Plan or 65 Day Plan, etc. to reach the end of the year).

Now, to create this plan, there are a couple of guidelines worth remembering.

1. Focus on your growth accelerators. In other words, what are the three to five most important things you need to get done before the end of the year that would have the greatest impact on your business. You can’t get everything done by 12/31, so what are the three to five most important projects/initiatives/tasks etc. that need to be completed by the end of the year if you want to finish well.

2. Focus on what can drive additional revenue and profits by year end. This is it. You’re now on the 20 yard line. You’re within striking distance. The 2:00 minute warning has been sounded. So get focused. Where can you quickly drive additional revenue and profits before the whistle blows on 12/31? Don’t let other items get in the way. The end of the year is too close.

3. Focus on a few projects that have been dragging along that “never” seem to get done. There are few more enjoyable moments then checking something off a to do list that has been hanging on there forever. For example, that website redo that was supposed to happen back in March–wouldn’t it feel great if you knocked it off before the end of the year?

4. Focus on what will set you up for a great next year. In other words, you not only want to set yourself up for a great year end finish, you also want to set yourself up for a great start to next year as well. Or to put it another way, you don’t want to be so short-term focused, that you hurt your first quarter of next year. So, what needs to happen this quarter to set you up for a great first quarter of next year?

Then, once you have your 100 Day Plan, you’ll need to push yourself and your team to make sure it gets done. Put your plan up someplace where everyone can see it. Create some key metrics. Keep them visible. Report on them daily or weekly. Put some incentives into your plan for your people. And keep talking about your 100 Day Plan ad nauseum.

You only have a few days left in this year to make it remarkable. So, don’t waste any of them. Create a 100 Day plan. Work your plan. Evaluate the results you’re getting. Then keep adjusting your plan until you get the results you want. Remember: January 1st is not that far away.

To your accelerated success!

P.S. This is a great exercise to do with your executive team!

Once you remember what your profit drivers are, you can then refocus your efforts on figuring out how to increase the percentages or numbers for each of these profit points. And once you do that, you’ll see the multiplying effect they have on one another and how they can rapidly accelerate your profits.

That said, here they are.

1. The Size of Your Funnel. In other words, how many total leads do you have. Business is a game of numbers so if you have a small top to your funnel, everything below it will limited by that number–which means that finding a strategic and systematic lead generation system that can predictably deliver an ever-increasing number of leads is critical to any profit growing initiative.

2. The Number of Conversations or Presentations Per Month. In other words, regardless of how big the funnel is, there is always a smaller number of legitimate viable prospects who will buy that month. So figuring out how to increase the number of actual conversations or presentations you make per month is another critical profit driver. Even if your conversion rate is 100%, your total amount of profit is limited by the number of actual conversations or presentations made per month.

3. The Percentage of Prospects You Convert. All things being equal, if you can increase your conversion rate from, let’s say 30% to 40%, you have just grown your profits by 33%.

4. Your Average Transactional Value. This is the MacDonald’s approach to up-selling, cross-selling, and packaging. Yet, most companies and businesses miss out on this profit driver because they don’t take advantage of intentionally increasing the average transactional value per customer–which could easily bring about a 20-30% increase in their profits.

5. Your Profit Margin. Either by increasing the perceived value or price of what you’re selling, or by reducing the cost of goods sold or overhead, you could make substantially more profit every time you sell what you sell.

6. The Percentage of Customers You Retain. Since it costs about six times more to acquire a new customer than to sell to a current one, it just makes sense that you’d want to develop a series of strategies and tactics to ensure that you keep an ever increasing percentage of your new customers.

7. The Frequency of Customer Repurchase. In other words, if you can get your customers to buy more often, everything else being equal, your profits will soar. For example, if a men’s hair salon can get their customers to go from getting their hair cut once every five weeks to once every four weeks, that’s the difference between 10 cuts and 13 cuts–or an increase of 30% in profits.

8. The Number of Years They Continue to Buy From You. Again, if you can increase the longevity of your customers (since they have no cost of client acquisition any more–and they tend to buy more frequently), you will automatically increase the amount of your profits.

9. The Number of Referrals Your Customers Provide. Since warm leads tend to convert at a higher rate than cold leads, if you can increase the number of referrals your current customers provide, you could radically increase both your conversion rate and your profits.

So, there you have it–the Nine Profit Drivers for your business. If you’d like a pdf of these 9 Key Profit Drivers, click on this link and you can put up this graphic in front of you some place to remember that when it’s all said and done, if you focus a fair amount of your time and effort on figuring out how to systematically increase the percentages and/or raw numbers of each of these nine drivers, you could end up making a whole lot more money.

Note: Figuring out how to systematically increase those 9 Drivers isn’t necessarily easy (choosing which strategies and tactics to use, test, adjust, systemize, etc.) but the framework is. So don’t make it too difficult. Just stay focused and work on increasing each of these by a little bit and your profits will begin to soar!.

To your accelerated success!

P.S. If you need help with this, feel free to contact me. It would be an honor to help you!

Yet, what do most owners and CEOs (and their companies) focus their marketing (and strategy) on? Exactly! Being better than their competitors. “Our technology is 10% faster than theirs.” “We have the best pizza in town.” “Our bank has the best customer service in our city.” “Our music rocks more than your church’s music.” “Our paper towels are the better picker uppers.” Etc. Etc. Etc. And yawn, yawn, yawn.

I don’t know if you read “Blue Ocean Strategy” or not, but the metaphor that Kim and Mauborgne laid out in that book is perfect for this point. Their main idea was/is that most companies attempt to compete in a red ocean (an ocean filled with competitors where each is extracting blood from the other) which leads to commoditization and low margins/profits. Instead, they argue, you want to create a blue ocean where you’re the only one who does what you do–which also leads to uniqueness and higher margins/profits.

In essence, it’s the same point I’m making here about marketing (and strategy). Whenever you’re focusing your attention on being better than someone else, you’ve automatically defaulted to a red ocean marketing strategy. Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with that strategy. Being able to claim that your product or service is better by some quantifiable measure (Zyrtex works two hours faster than Claritin) is not a terrible marketing strategy. But it doesn’t get the same attraction and attention that something new does (a la Apple).

Several years ago, Al Ries and Jack Trout, in their book on the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing brought this to the forefront, when they said,

“Everyone is interested in what‘s new. Few people are interested in what‘s better.” — Al Ries and Jack Trout

I can’t say it any better. In fact, you may want to write that statement on a wall somewhere (like in your conference room). Most marketing campaigns and strategy sessions are focused on being “better,” which isn’t bad–it’s just not great. What you want to focus on is “new, because ”everyone“ pays attention to the ”new“ and ”different“ or ”unique“ thing. Better just gets lost.

So, as you take a look at your company’s products and services, what can you add or change to create something ”new“ and ”different“ this year? What can you do to set your company apart from all the others in your market space? What could possibly create a blue ocean moment for you?

Once you identify that, make sure you make that the focus of your marketing (and strategy). Why? Because, ”Everyone is interested in what’s new. Few people are interested in what’s better.“

To your accelerated success!

P.S. Twenty minutes after (originally) posting this, I received an email from Apple with the following image at the top. Notice the key word.

For example, last evening I was setting up a new DVD player for our downstairs TV (the old one had broken) when I noticed the following words on the back of the DVD remote. If you can’t read the words clearly in the picture, they say, “Caution: Replace with fresh batteries of the same kind, observing polarity.”

Now, think about that for a moment. You’ve probably replaced a few batteries in a few different remotes over the course of your lifetime. Is it really that difficult to figure out which end of a battery goes in which direction? Furthermore, even if you are having a bad day and you can’t remember which end goes in which direction, the good news is that virtually every manufacturer gives you a little picture (in the device) of a battery which clearly shows which end goes in which direction.

So, let me ask the most obvious question that someone should have asked (and caught). “If someone can’t figure out how to follow a picture in the device of which direction a battery should be placed . . . do we really think that person would have a clue what the word ‘Polarity,’ is?”

“Ah yes, I was stumped by the diagram of the battery in the remote. But now that they told me to observe the polarity, I’ve figured it out!” I laughed so hard when I saw this.

But lest we get too hard on Panasonic, we all do the same thing. I don’t know any business that hasn’t sent out a message without having a Panasonic remote moment. We think customers want one thing (what we’re offering), but what they really want is another thing (a specific result). Or we’ll use language that we think “everyone knows.” But they don’t.

So, how can you avoid this Panasonic Remote moment? By asking someone outside of your area (or department or company) to read your copy (website, letter, direct mail piece, white paper, blog post, company email, manual, etc.) to give you some feedback. Frequently, they’ll find mistakes you didn’t see. They’ll tighten up your prose (i.e. make your argument more succinct and compelling). And they’ll ask questions you didn’t think of because what seemed so obvious to you, didn’t to them.

So, who do you know whom you can ask to read your copy . . . and trust that they’ll give you honest feedback? As soon as you think of a name, contact them ASAP. You need them more than you can imagine!

To your accelerated success!

P.S. Don’t just look for people who will affirm you and say, “Good job! Run with it!” You want people who will give you real feedback–that is, people who will challenge you, your thinking, and your writing–and who won’t be afraid to say to you, “That’s stupid!” Don’t you wish Panasonic had someone like that?

Well, this morning I ran into a couple of different stupid systems. The first one was/is a simple, but silly one. Yesterday, we had a major rain and lighting storm here in the DC area and the only thing affected in our home was the router we use with Verizon FiOS. I used the router before the storm and all was fine. But after the lightning strike near our home, it didn’t work. After waiting a half hour and then doing everything I knew I’d be asked to do, the customer support person (after another half hour) agreed and said he’d send out a replacement router that should be to me today. Fine.

So, what do you think happened this morning? Exactly! I got an automated voice message telling me that I can track my package by going to www.ups.com. HELLO! If I could go to www.ups.com I wouldn’t need a new router!!!  Stupid system (Note: I do have an iPhone so I could track it that way but the system–on their end–doesn’t know that. So the PROGRAMMED message on their end should have first of all told me when the package was sent and when it should be arriving and then should have said, “And if you have an alternative way of tracking packages online, you may do so by going to www.ups.com and entering the following tracking code).

In addition, the auto attendant quickly gave me a long string of 18 numbers and letters to use to track the package–with no option of repeating the numbers. HELLO! Do they really expect that everyone who answers their phone does so next to a pad of paper with a pen that actually works? Or do they really believe that everyone who writes down 18 numbers and letters, gets them correct the first time they hear them? Buzz! Stupid system.

But the funnier one to me was from Citigroup. Citi called because they thought we had a fraudulent charge made on our card with them last evening (good system). When I confirmed the charge, the fraud specialist asked if I had any other questions, which I did. So I said, “Yes, it’s not a big deal, but I’ve wondered for awhile why Citi raised my interest rate last year. If you look at my account you’ll see I pay off my bill every month so it’s not a big deal, but as a good customer, I thought it was pretty ridiculous to raise my interest rate to 23.9% when I always pay my bills on time.” He said, “Great question. Let me transfer you to customer service.”

When I got on with phone with customer service, it all went downhill. When I asked him my interest rate question he said, “Let me look into that.” When I said, “Well, since I get 7-10 credit card offers a week and everyone–including you at Citi–offers me between 9.99% and 13.24%, it seems that you ought to be able to reduce my rate.” “Yes, Mr. Johnson.” “Okay, so what does that mean?” “We’ll take care of you.” “What does that mean?” “Just trust that we’ll take care of you.” “Okay, but what does that mean….” He said, “Just call us back and we’ll make an adjustment in your rate.”  So, why do I have to call back? Can’t we do that now?” Yada yada yada. Stupid system.

I then went on and said, “Okay, I’m looking at an offer from Citi, your company, right now. You just sent me an offer that if I open up a Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards Card (the same one I currently have) you will give me a $50 gift card, 2 Thank You Points for every $1 I spend for the next twelve months, 0% interest on transfers in, 0% APR on new purchases until 2/11 and a 9.9% APR today. In other words, if I stay faithful I get nothing. But if I open up a new card with Citi (the exact same card that I already have with you) I get all this.” Yes.” “So, why should I remain loyal?” Stupid system.

Now, my point is not to beat up on Verizon and Citi, because, as I said at the beginning, we all have stupid systems. Instead, my point is to remind you (and me) that we all have them. And while neither of these is enough to cause me to leave either company (hey, they just happened in the last hour or so), there are plenty of stupid systems that do cause customers to leave–and that’s both a tragedy and a fiscal nightmare.

In light of that, as you look at your own company, where are your stupid systems? What systems do you have in place that customers don’t like? Or what systems do they complain about that you haven’t fixed? Remember, what you think is irrelevant. It’s all about what customers think.

So, what stupid systems do you need to change?

To your accelerated success!

P.S. This is a great exercise to do with your staff–and with your customers.

It’s understandable because leaders lead through their leaders/direct reports. Between meetings and working with and through their direct reports, there’s often very little time left over. Plus, most leaders feel like they’re undercutting their leaders/direct reports if they “go behind the leader’s back” and talk to employees one or two levels down the org chart.

On the other hand, this is disastrous because what gives leaders power isn’t their position but the will of “the people”. And what drives the will of “the people,” or what causes them to want to give power to a leader, is their belief that the leader understands them, cares for them, feels for them, “gets them.”

One of my favorite studies on this subject is related to who wins the election for President of the United States. In every election over the past sixty years, the person who won the election has been the person with the highest “likeability quotient.” For example, JFK over Nixon. LBJ over Humphrey. Regan over Dukakis. Clinton over Bush I. Bush II over Gore and Kerry. Obama over McCain. In other words, forget politics and policies, most people, when they’re in an election booth and have to make a choice, tend to vote for whomever they “like” the most.

In other words, whenever “the people” feel like someone “gets them,” they willingly give power over to that person. But whenever they feel that someone is elitist or doesn’t get them or understand them and their issues, power leaves. Putting politics aside, this is one of the major issues confronting our current president, Barack Obama.

President Obama was voted in on a populist platform where people felt like he understood them and their issues. Unfortunately, two years later, his poll ratings are down almost 20 points, with a higher disapproval rating than an approval rating. Why? For a number of reasons, but if you listen to the comments most people make it’s that they feel he’s “out of touch,” he doesn’t “understand them,” he doesn’t “know what matters to them anymore,” he’s “elitist,” etc.

This same thing happens to owners and CEOs of small and medium-sized businesses all the time. As they grow, they spend all their time with senior executives or their top team or with investors or board members, etc. And then they wonder why their people don’t follow them like they used to. Hello?

Great leaders know they have to frequently be among “the people”. This is why Managing by Wandering Around (MBWA) was such a powerful concept. And I’ve watched it literally transform companies and organizations–small and large. There’s something very powerful that happens when the people of a business or organization feel connected to their leader.

In fact, I was just talking to one of my daughters the other day about her former principal, Suzanne Maxey, whom we all loved. She transformed a school. And one of the ways she did it was she was “among the people.” And she didn’t just show up at events, she valued the input of the students she interacted with (as well as faculty). She “got them.”

In fact, one of my daughter’s favorite practices of Suzanne was that she would often get on the intercom and say something like, “Okay, whoever is in the second row, third seat from the front, please report to the auditorium.” The students would file down to the auditorium and then she’d ask them questions and seek their input (i.e. she held randomly selected focus groups). Suzanne led well for a number of reasons, but one of them was that she was “among the people.” Unfortunately, some of the other principals who have come before her and after her, missed this lesson–to the detriment of the school.

At the end of the day, positional power can only get a leader so far (just ask Tony Howard of BP). What makes a great leader great is that they have referential power; that is, power willingly bestowed upon them–not because of position, but because of choice. And what drives that choice? It’s the belief by “the people” that their leader gets them, likes them, cares for them and understands them.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re running a tech company with $15M in revenue or a multi-national consumer products company with $15B in revenue. If you want to lead well, you need to be among your people. And not just physically, they need to feel you value them, hear them, and understand them.

So, how are you doing at this? How much time each week do you spend with people “down the org chart”? How much time do you spend doing MBWA? How much do your people like you? How much do you like them? What are their major concerns right now? How are you addressing them? Do you “get them”? Do they feel the same?

Remember, if you want to lead well, be among the people. You can’t lead well from a distance. If you’re only meeting with your top level people, you’re missing out. You need to be among the people if you really want to enter the ranks of being a great leader.

To your accelerated success!

My first question to him was, “You’ve started this by defining a process/product. But, for a moment, let’s forget about that and go back to the beginning and ask, ‘What’s your objective for this process?’ In other words, what do you want to produce when people are finished going through their experience with you?”

After he told me his answer I said, “Well, if what you want to produce is [X], then it seems to me that you have the wrong model.” In other words, he did what most people do, he created a model of what he thought people needed–and then set out to try to convince those same people that what they needed was what he was offering (which, of course, is the wrong way to do this).

Moreover, the model that he was using, was counterproductive. Because of the way the process was designed, it made it virtually impossible for him to attract the very kinds of people he wanted to attract. So instead of being able to attract the very best possible pool of customers, the reality was he was left with less than his optimal target market.

But he’s not alone. I find this same kind of experience in business after business. We design what we think customers’ need vs. what they want (and passionately want). We try to push marketing out to them in order to convince them that they have a need they don’t know they have. And we create processes that make it difficult for our optimal customers to use us. In other words, his story is often our story.

So, when was the last time you took a good look at your business model? Is it the right model? Does it really produce the results you want? Does it really drive the kind of outcomes you desire? Is it scalable? Is it still the right model moving forward? Remember, the world is constantly changing. The model that worked last year or last decade, may not be the right model for today–and even more importantly–for tomorrow!

If you haven’t done this recently, may I encourage you to take some time this week and evaluate your business model. I don’t know what the end result of your review will be–but I do know that the conversation I mentioned above caused me to go back and look at my own model–and yes, you guessed right–I had to make some changes to my model. My guess is that most of us do. So, when will you sit down and ask yourself the questions in the paragraph above?

To your accelerated success!