The planning meeting (2)

The setting for the 2008-2009 planning meeting, a secluded lake chalet. We held this year's meeting at a dining room table at consultant Bill Caswell's Ottawa residence. The result: A strenuous and somewhat tiring day -- but we got (most of) the job done, and began to shape the picture for a much better year in 2010. Planning is essential, even if sometimes it can be painful in hard times.

The planning meeting yesterday proved to be long, tiring, and somewhat strenuous -- and as the clock ticked and our minds started frying with fatigue -- we concluded it without working through a key element of the planning process, the 2010 expense projections. Our consultants, led by Bill Caswell of Caswell Corporate Coaching Company, realizing that we lacked time to do this during the meeting, promised to pull together the numbers and prepare them in the overall report.

Several new employees attended, and two participated remotely. Designer Ray Levielle joined us by video link and Bob Kruhm in North Carolina spent all day on the phone. Unlike previous meetings, while I had a camera with me, I failed to capture a picture of the gathering.

The numbers this year showed the reality, horrendous losses earlier this year, some degree of stability and even gains this summer, and another bout of losses in the months immediately before the meeting (relating in part to the departure of a couple of sales representatives). The year-end looks okay, and -- at least on the revenue side -- the next year appears promising.

We "resolved" several key issues by agreeing to assign employees to co-ordinate ideas/answers. Of course, this reflects the reality that you cannot solve all problems in a single meeting.

Were there flashes of insights, magical answers, and clear resolutions of issues? The answer, I'm afraid, is "no".

In reality, the meeting couldn't achieve its full potential in part because of the necessary restraints. We were trying to force two days of intensive business decision-making into one, and we needed to operate in a setting/environment which, while functional, didn't allow the fullest natural environment for creativity and innovation.

These are the realities of operating in austerity. (Of course, spending the full cost of a complete meeting like we had last year, would have drained our budgets by $10,000 or more -- and I shudder to think about what that type of expense would do to our operating numbers.)

Nevertheless, I'm convinced the planning meeting/process is an essential for any business which wishes to grow beyond the tiny stage. You can, if necessary, hold the costs down, but it is not something to forgo. So, even though I am writing a less-than-enthusiastic review of my own meeting, I still consider it to be a success.

The Mexican Ambassador, rubber stamps, and money: Creative solutions at work

Javier Barrio Terrazas, Mexico's Ambassador to Canada (sitting in front of the whiteboard) addresses Bill Caswell's Discovery Conference in Ottawa yesterday. In case you are wondering what this presentation has to do with Construction Marketing, you should review Chaos Theory.

Yesterday, I attended the first day of Bill Caswell's Discovery 2009 conference. The event, an eclectic gathering of individuals and ideas, has proven to be the perfect environment for creative ideas cross fertilization and generation.

Whenever you put a bunch of bright people from different backgrounds in a room with some structure but much opportunity for individual dialogue and communication, things happen. Trouble is, you don't always know exactly where these "things" lead -- and I may not appreciate the benefits of this conference for months, if not years.

In the midst of the business sessions, Caswell introduced Fracisco Javier Barrio Terrazas, Mexico's ambassador to Canada.

In his presentation, and in the question and answer session that followed,Ambassador Barrrio Terrazas reminded us that the democratic principals and freedoms we take for granted in the U.S. and Canada are not common elsewhere in the world, including Mexico, until recently.

The Mexican envoy said as he grew up and reached adulthood, and in his early years in business, things like freedom of expression, association, the right to belong or not belong to groups, speech, press, and other basics of democracy were things that Mexicans could only dream about.

Then, he said, out of an economic crisis and hyperinflation fuelled by corruption and mismanagement, a popular movement arose to change the Mexican system. Gradually the groundswell built, but how could the opposition party communicate with the public when the Government controlled the media and restrained all dissent?

The surprisingly creative answer: The opposition party devised 20 simple messages and purchased rubber stamps. Then activists to cheques to banks and collected bank notes, and stamped each note with one of the messages.

The opposition leaders redeposited the stamped banknotes and then drew out more money, in a continuing loop.

You can imagine Government's consternation. It couldn't really ban circulating cash. It passed a law banning "money stamping" but how would you enforce this type of legislation? The Opposition began winning some local elections despite rigging and controls, and eventually the government fell to the popular will.

Of course the Ambassador is painting a specific picture of his country, but it is much different than the one I know from the tourist experience and media coverage. And his story has nothing to do with construction marketing, or does it?

We sometimes are constrained by our thinking within our universe of perceptions and forget how little things in one place can have big effects in others. Most of us at some point make decisions which transform our lives, and many times the decisions seem unrelated to anything important.

Certainly, yesterday I had many reasons to miss the conference -- in fact I needed (with advance notice of course) to walk out on the Ambassador's presentation to call into my company's regular Monday staff meeting. But I'm glad I could attend the sessions.

Consider these unofficial "chaos theory" marketing principals:

• You may wish to set aside 20 per cent of your time and resources for off the wall and different activities and engagements. Consider trying something different each week; maybe taking a random book out of a section of the library you rarely visit (or visiting the library if you never go there, going to a movie you wouldn't otherwise watch, or speaking to a stranger, in a safe environment. Better, see if you can find yourself in a small group with different people from different backgrounds.

• When you are searching for a bigger answer (maybe looking for a job), don't be afraid to call on people who may be able to guide you to where you want to go, even if they are not directly related to your final destination. Just listen and learn.

• Don't sweat the little things and setbacks. In fact, enjoy them. You never know where they may be creating future opportunities.

I can't be sure how (or even if) yesterday's session will change my life, but I know the chances of it happening are much greater than not because of the diverse group of individuals,relationships and experiences. You need to break out of your space, sometimes, even -- maybe especially -- if conditions are stressful and you sense you don't have time and money to escape the grindstone.

When I think of hard conditions and seemingly insolvable problems, I now think of the Mexican political activists, struggling to get their message across, and finding the solution the help of rubber stamps and circulating banknotes.

Business meetings: Control and freedom

Businesses all have distinctive cultures, usually initially set by the founder but ultimately defined by the employees and managers over the years. Businesses which survive (and thrive) through good and difficult times combine some "right place in right time" luck with a healthy dose of adaptability and change.

Businesses differ in the level of hierarchical and management control, from extreme autocratic enterprises to free wheeling and independent cultures. Is one approach to management control better than another? This answer is simplistic, but . . . it depends.

For example, in the early years of the business I sought to be a non-boss type boss; encouraging freedom, independence, self-responsibility, and individuality. But this anything-goes attitude I found almost destroyed the business (and as things started falling apart, I can't say that the company's employees really enjoyed their freedom). However, people don't change their fundamental selves very easily, and I could never see myself routinely ordering the troops to "do as I say". Generally, the only time I raise my voice in anger is with our landlord, who has trouble finding a way to keep the office building's washroom's clean. (We work in a C-class building -- luxury is not essential, but the garbage needs to be emptied and toilet paper replaced.) Here, my employees cheer when I turn on the boss attitude in calls to the landlord (and yes, after I call, the washrooms are cleaned.)

I still needed to learn a management control system that works well for my style of business, and finally found it (with some help from consultant Bill Caswell). The not-so-secret answer: Regular meetings.

Everyone gets together (remote workers by teleconference) for a weekly Monday meeting at 1:30 p.m. The sales team gathers at 3:00 on Thursdays. And twice a year we have major sit-down meetings (we fly in out-of-town employees for these planning sessions). Meetings always start on time and the regular weekly meetings never last more than an hour (we are usually finished in 20 to 30 minutes). Action items define accountabilities and responsibilities, business issues are resolved, and we make decisions. I also can smell out potential problems and conflicts.

The structured and regular meetings provide cohesion and order -- they create discipline without a heavy hand of management authority.

To succeed in construction marketing and business, I think you need regular business meetings. Do you have them and how are they structured? What is your experience?

If you would like to peek into our regular meeting, at least partly, you can visit http://www.justin.tv/publisher1 at 1:30 p.m. Monday.

Healthy business

Clearly, in business, your clients/customers are the basis of your success -- if they truly enjoy working with you, and pay their bills at profitable levels, you will do well. However, unless you are a sole practitioner/one-person-band, you also need to connect and build a culture of co-operation, initiative, and growth among your employees and key contractors. And this is perhaps the biggest test/challenge for any entrepreneur.

One approach is to regard all employees as owners/clients, and treat them like that. If your selection/hiring practices are solid, you won't be risking much with this policy. This approach to business turns the cliche "empowerment" into a practical reality -- your employees will respond with independence, respect, and treat clients like you would treat your clients if you didn't have any employees.

Of course, you need systems, processes, and rules, or things could get totally out of hand. And you cannot escape responsibility by careless delegation. Regular meetings with structured guidelines help here. In the meeting context, you can usually smell if something isn't quite right, and take measures to remedy the problems.

When things are working really well, you can almost sense you can 'go away' and employees will make the right decisions. You don't really leave, of course, but you don't need to micromanage them. Usually, you are in the enviable position of saying 'yes' to requests or deflecting the questions or concerns to other employees who can help better than you.

Don't doubt it -- your clients can sense this chemistry, and they will want to do business with your company when they do. Your employees don't fake it; they don't suck up, they aren't artificial, and they aren't following canned scripts when they encounter situations where creativity rather than rote processes are necessary.

When all is right, you'll find they contribute far more than you would expect otherwise, and you all can share in the prosperity.

It took me almost 18 years in business -- and a near disaster with the company -- to discover these processes. I have always thought that employee independence and freedom are the best ways to run a business, but needed to learn the structural systems required to manage the process and ensure responsibility, accountability, and shared respect.

These qualities, and this communication, is why we assessed the economy at our planning meeting and then projected significant growth this year. Best of all, I believe that the clients who chose to do business with us will grow as well.

(I give credit in this posting to the late Sonny Lykos for his thoughts, and to Bill Caswell of Caswell Corporate Coaching Company for solid advice. And, of course, to this company's employees.)

The annual planning meeting

Our planning meeting is at a chalet in Lac Heney, Quebec.

This afternoon, after heading to the airport to pick up Leslie Greenwood (flying in from Sault. Ste. Marie) and Bob Kruhm (from North Carolina), we head on a two or so hour drive to a chalet in a remote, rural West Quebec area. Other employees and key contractors from Ottawa, Petawawa and St. Catharines will also make their way to the meeting, which starts tonight and ends Tuesday afternoon. (We have a soft agenda tonight, a full scale all day planning meeting tomorrow, and salespeople stay on for an additional day to discuss and co-ordinate specific sales objectives relating to the plans devised on Monday.)

The meeting's cost, of course, is not insignificant -- we pay our facilitators Bill Caswell and Upkar Bikhu from Caswell Corporate Coaching Company significant fees, transportation, per-diems and hourly pay for non-salaried employees, food, and accommodations for everyone. Bu the meeting process, and resulting plan, is as important to the business as any expense, and is really important to your organization once you have six to eight or more employees and key contractors.

Why? Structured and co-ordinated planning meetings allow you to combine big picture awareness with practical decision-making; involving all your employees and key contractors in the process results in the power of shared ownership, direction, and creativity. You get your rules to work with, your structure, your vision, and your objectors realigned and reset, and you are then ready to move forward with the year ahead. And you can see where things didn't quite work as planned, and then fix these problems.

Planning meetings cannot predict or solve every problem, of course. The world 'outside' changes -- and this year has been tumultuous in the economy (something we must consider in the plans ahead). And people change. Some leave and others join the business; and their visions differ. Finally, practical opportunities and realities occur -- you learn new things, you discover new market possibilities, and people through the year present thoughts and concepts to you worthy of consideration.

All of these points could lead you to rationalize that planning meetings are a waste of time and money, because the plan can never follow exactly as proposed. But that misses the point. Without a plan, you will just travel rudderless, allowing your emotions, strong-willed people, and individual self-interest to rule and define your decisions. You will get lost in the woods (hopefully we won't, this afternoon, as we find our way to the site.)

At the planning meeting, we'll have limited Internet access -- so there may be a gap in entries for a few days here.

Gurus, gambits and gimmicks

This 'old' posting, Marketing,Leads, Sales and Recession, about how to allocate your time and resources on sales, lead geneation and brand development is worth rereading, esepcially if you are tempted to spend significant dollars on any marketing solution.

If you are like most people, you want a simple, fast, inexpensive (free is best) and absolutely effective solution to your marketing challenges. So, one day, you search the web and maybe land here. This blog may be the closest thing to your dream come true -- no one here is pushing a product or service, the advice is free, and you can find loads of useful links and connections for further answers.

But this blog won't solve your marketing challenges -- nor will the other, fancier sites, which invite you to submit your name and then spend some money for their answers. Nor will the advertising sales representative, or leads service telemarketer, or marketing consultant pitching seemingly foolproof wares. In fact, the easier the answer seems in the marketing materials, the less likely the you'll gain any value from the process.

Marketers, sales reps, and (gulp) con artists know how to play to your emotions, your dreams, you hopes for fast and simple answers, and they'll make things look downright easy and incredibly simple. Usually there is a catch. Sometimes you have luck, and sometimes, through your network and word of mouth recommendations (the best approach) or solid searching and research (it can work, but is harder), you find consultants and services that really help your business, at reasonable cost.

Search through contractortalk.com, for example, and you'll find several positive references to Footbridge Media for design and marketing support. This blog promotes our Ottawa consultants, Caswell Corporate Coaching Company. Google Adwords is truly a great advertising medium. Wow, I just gave three free plugs. You can also email me or phone, and receive some worthwhile ideas, hopefully, without a sales pitch. (If your business is in Ontario or North Carolina or you would like to start a regional construction publication elsewhere, you might want to do business with us, nevertheless.)

But none of these services, and nothing this blog tells you to do, will set your course straight for an immediate change and sudden improvement in your circumstances. You've got to do that yourself -- and if your situation is like most, the repair and revitalization exercise will take months, perhaps a year or two, before you see the corner turns and things really start to improve.

This can be frustrating, scary, and downright agonizing, especially if your motivation to change your marketing practices is a business crisis. You need cash now, you need results, fast, and you want to try something -- anything -- to make things right. Watch out! If you are not careful, if your wishful thinking and hopes override your common sense and caution, and a little bit of prudence, you'll be conned. You'll pay far too much for services that don't work as promised, or you'll be sent materials and information which, while valid, don't provide the quick fix you so badly need.

You can find emergency solutions; usually involving contacting previous clients, and most honorable consultants will give you some insights right away without worrying about money. But be wary if anyone makes things seem too simple, too easy, and too effective. You can move quickly with a flash of insight and understanding, but real change takes work and effort, and while you'll know pretty quickly if you are on the right track, you will still need several months to see your way to the end of the tunnel. You'll get there, though, if you persevere and change what you need to change.

Fear,. Greed and Emotional Selling

This disturbing image, lifted from an intriguing blog Bits and Quotes, captures both fear and greed --undoubtedly powerful emotions, but when, and where, is it proper and effective to use these in the selling and marketing process?

When, if ever, should you use the twin emotions of fear and greed in your marketing and selling initiatives. Gurus Ford Harding and Sims Wyeth debate these points in some fascinating blog postings.

To make things more interesting, they extend the basic twin emotion set to "FUD - Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt" (Wyeth) and "GOG -- Greed, Opportunity and Glory" (Harding). Wyeth argues the that tackling the negative emotions is the way to go -- followed by the positive. Harding suggests that you need to look at the situation of your prospective client and then advance the solution based on the appropriate emotions reflecting the real situation; and be wary of ethical extremes especially when working with unsophisticated clients. Neither addresses the (very real) market segment of engineers in our industry, who seek and expect the marketer to use logic rather than emotion in making proposals.


At first impression, I favor Harding's approach, though the one-two-punch of raising fear then offering a greedy solution is close to perfect in the world of marketing, if the prospective client's actual circumstances match that profile (that is, something really scary is happening or about to happen, and your solution really will solve the problem and make your potential client rich, successful and famous.) Alas, this one-two punch is also the stuff of the con-artist since circumstances are rare where fear and opportunity validly coincide in truly stark and immediate contrast. There may be many valid fearful situations, but do you really have the magic bullet that will truly solve the problem and allow your potential client to rise to glory with your support?

When you have a potential client in that situation, you may need to take a highly risky approach yourself -- eschewing short term income/security for a longer-term relationship. Consultant Bill Caswell won that status with me when, as this business approached what appeared to be its final downward spiral two years ago, he arrived on the scene with a commitment that we would not need to pay him anything unless we were successful -- and the amount we would pay would be in line with regular consulting services; not some overpriced contingency-fee rip-off. To execute that approach, you need to be comfortable with both the the integrity of your potential client and your ability to patiently weather the storm -- as things rarely resolve as quickly as you would like.

Not mentioned in this debate is the potentially more important -- but truly long term -- issue of the quality of your personal relationships coupled with the competence of your work. In the marketing matrix, if you and your team of employees are enjoyable to work with, have smarts in your field, and are sensitive your clients real needs and emotions, you'll receive and sustain business with other, healthier emotions. Like love.

The power of respect

The crisis started at our regular 1:30 p.m. Monday staff meeting when I sensed something was not right. By 3:00 p.m., at the regular monthly meeting with consultant Bill Caswell, I received some advice (not followed exactly the way I should!) that helped set the course to address and resolve the problem I perceived needed urgent attention. We resolved the situation and concluded the story (at least this chapter) today.

How do you handle difficult business relationships and challenges -- especially when you face potential conflict and hostility? As I gain experience, increasingly I'm sharing the values of our primary business consultant Bill Caswell, who advocates the concept of "respect" -- that is, seeing things from the perspective of the other persons and seeking to understand and acknowledge their fundamental human decency, no matter how aggravating the circumstances.

This week, I faced the respect test at a high level, but paradoxically (and out of respect for the person involved) I cannot go into details here. The challenge involved many hours as I soothed sensitive client relationships. With some real drama in the office, I haven't had the time or energy to blog like usual -- and while my "big pen" (big mouth) would love to share some of the really interesting stories that evolved this week in the presence of this company's other employees, I know that won't do anyone any good.

I can say, however, that I applied the principals of respect, coupled with a significant amount of common sense, to arrive at the fairest resolution possible and achieve results that are rare if not downright exceptional in conventional business practice.

Here are some of the guidelines I followed:

• I listened and heard 'warning signs' because my ears were open. This gave me the opportunity to confront the situation decisively;


• I consulted with trusted advisers, in confidence, to validate and correct my course where required. But I still took responsibility for all my actions;


• I accelerated the lines of communication and information gathering. This allowed me to catch a truly major potential client crisis immediately, and take remedial measures within minutes;
  
• I 'slept on it' when facing major emotional and confrontation issues -- avoiding email and allowing others to speak first;


• I allowed sufficient time to ensure that I had enough information to reach a fair and reasonable conclusion about the circumstances;

and, most importantly, even when we reached the end of the road;

• I left the door open for future relationships and possibilities.

Lots of "I's there, I realize, but this is a personal story. The basic guidelines however transcend any selfish perspectives. We all are better off if we listen, consider all the circumstances, and do whatever we can to mitigate problems. Then, even the most difficult circumstances can lead to improvements and new opportunities.

Marketing and selling -- linking or separating

This image is from a web page: Getting Started (as an entrepreneur) Presenting Your Plan; a section of a site developed by the National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance. The page specifically focuses on presenting your business plan, and the use of the "Elevator Pitch". And the example of the elevator pitch is that of an imaginary company selling construction work boots online.

“ConstructionBoots.com is an e-commerce website that sells construction boots on a b2c and a b2b basis. Our primary market consists of construction workers, with secondary markets including other individuals and companies in the construction trade. We offer the highest quality products and drive traffic to the site by linking to other websites related to the construction industry. We believe the customer would find purchasing and direct delivery of construction boots through our website easier than purchasing via traditional retail outlets.
We believe we will be the only pure e-commerce construction boot site, but will face indirect competition from traditional brick and mortar b2b retailers who target the trade as well as traditional mass merchandisers. If all goes as planned, we would look to sell ConstructionBoots.com to an industry retailer who sells construction gear.”

In case you are wondering about "constructionboots.com" it is a website owned by someone exploiting keyword advertising links; trouble is, of course, most the college students driven to this site by the marketing "elevator pitch" example are probably not in the market for construction boots. Oh well, I guess this reference is giving a free ride to the exploiting site.

So, you may wonder, how does this relate to the linkage between marketing and selling? Well, maybe that is point!

Consultant Bill Caswell advocates that the lines of authority and leadership for the marketing and selling departments should be decoupled; and that it is especially dangerous to put someone with a sales focus in charge of the marketing responsibilities. In part, this is because he believes that marketing is future oriented or visionary, while selling is immediate or practical -- and if the two are pushed together the practical day-to-day selling responsibilities will overtake the necessary future perspective of marketing. His advocacy is that the marketing director reports directly to the CEO, not the sales director or vice-president.

Caswell's viewpoint is not universally accepted. Many people see marketing departments with bureaucracies and priorities far from the real needs of the business; instead of thinking in terms of practical realities -- and focusing on generating useful leads for the sales team -- the marketing 'experts' waste time on peripheral priorities; draining the company's coffers for results which, if they are measurable at all, often measure stuff that is of little use or value to the company's immediate or, for that matter, longer-term needs.

So which perspective is correct?

I'll side with Caswell on this one, with some big cautions. Our business, still in recovery mode, of course, is far too small to have a separate marketing and sales department and right now responsibilities for leading both departments is in my hands/head. In practice, the division of responsibility is working quite well -- I really am in charge of marketing, while I have delegated most of the day-to-day selling responsibilities to the sales team.

Marketing, if meant by branding, forward planning, and leads development, is very much my responsibility -- with of course input from the sales team and other employees. This blog, for example, is definitely all about marketing. It generates a few useful leads for the sales team but its main value (and the value of most of the leads generated) is much further down the road, when we are ready to operate in multiple cities and regions where we don't have much of a presence now. So is my involvement with the Society for Professional Marketing Services -- the contact network there, along with connections, relationships and learning process -- will prove useful value in the future along with some guidance in 'best practices' in the present.

But I can see plenty of examples where marketing specialists and departments don't connect properly to the sales department; they are far too focused on image and superficial assessments of 'branding' -- not appreciating the importance of actually helping the sales team bring in the business. Caswell, I suppose, would argue these departments have been infected by administrators ensuring correct procedures are followed, rather than visionaries with a forward-thinking perspective. (Administrators are of course essential for the effective running of any business; in fact, all businesses which wish to survive need structures and systems, as well as practical 'doers', but they also need some vision and respect or warmth, or as Caswell would suggest, some "friends".)

I can say this -- if your business is struggling to survive the recession, don't forget your vision, your future, your dreams, but probably you should put someone who cares about selling in charge of the marketing department unless it consists of one employee, who should be the boss/owner.

Key Performance Indicators

This image is from The Dashboard Zone, a site offering "Free Dashboards, Examples, Screenshots, Tutorials, KPIs and Downloads"

Late this afternoon, I'll be at Ottawa' airport to greet Bob Kruhm from North Carolina, Chase from St. Catharines and Leslie Greenwood from Sault Ste Marie. They are all arriving on separate flights to land here between 5 and 6 pm. I'll take them to dinner at a restaurant near the airport (with Daniel Smith and my family) before dropping them off at their hotel.

They are here for the bi-annual company review/planning meeting. We have two key meetings a year; in the spring to look at where we are going overall, and in the fall, to define next year's goals and projections. These meetings of course are not inexpensive to co-ordinate. Travel and facilitation fees (Caswell Corporate Coaching Company are our facilitators) will reach close to $5,000 -- a not insignificant sum of money for our still relatively small business.

But I know these meetings are vital for the business, to help draw together the company around goals, enhance relationships, and address problems and opportunities in a timely and systematic manner.

With local employees and contractors, we'll have some 12 people in the room for three hours tomorrow -- followed by a two hour sales meeting/review. I'm going to bare the business soul; sharing its actual financial data. We'll also define our mission statement, and priorities. I will introduce the employees to the Open Book Management concept, and (I hope) we will start the process of defining some Key Performance Indicators -- the key measures we need to observe/follow to ensure business success and viability.

A few years ago, I would have thought this type of meeting to be a waste of time and money; a corporate junket using cliches and 'standard practices" that employees attended as an expense account lark. No need to sell anything; no need to do any real work; just sitting around a room thinking we are something important!

I now realize that without an organized business model and regular meetings, we fail to capture the essence of the business and its potential for success. We need cohesion coupled with individuality; rational rules of process without excessive and stifling structure. And we need the employees to work together creatively and effectively.

Do you have these types of processes for your own business? You probably should, as soon as your company reaches the point where it has a few employees (right now, the company has six employees on the payroll, along with core relationships with three key independent contractors).

Am I an expert on setting and defining the Key Performance Indicators we need to follow? Not yet -- and I want to be careful in implementing these systems, because nothing is more frustrating and wasteful in my opinion than gathering reams of data to measure something that really cannot help our business.

Here are some resources I've found on the web relating to KPI:

Sales and Marketing -- KPI Library

Dashboard Zone -- Marketing KPIs, Sales KPIs

Client surveys and marketing consultants

You will find some useful resources on the Cynosure Communications website, including copies of the articles Recession Marketing -- What Have You Got Lots of Now? and Cold Calls Make You Sweat?

Marcy Steinberg of Cynosure Communications sent this worthy response to my email to her requesting permission to reproduce comments posted on the SMPS Listserve. These are truly worthy observations about surveys and seeking client feedback for your work.

Thanks for checking in with me -- I really appreciate it. And I happen to agree with your opinion. I actually believe in training design staff on how to implement an ongoing client satisfaction program of their own, and it includes visits, not just phone calls. The training is not so much about surveys (hateful things) but about how to comfortably and effectively chat up a client so he or she will be open, and "gently blunt."

When we outsiders are hired, though, it is often when a firm has done very little of that kind of thing in a long time. And maybe they have gone through a change; the founder has retired; they have lost someone many of their clients loved; or they suspect a problem but aren't sure what it is and are timid about researching it themselves -- particularly with previous clients they haven't spoken to in a long while. So, after doing the first round of research for them -- all by phone, AFTER a letter has arrived from the principal, and NOT from a script -- I encourage the A/E/C firms to take over from there.

I do NOT believe in conducting such research FOR them every four years, as some
consultants do. If a firm continually uses an outsider, it can appear they are too lazy or timid to stay tuned to their clients themselves.

Oh -- when I say I do not use a script -- that is not quite true. For purposes of making the nice charts people like to see, and for being able to compare apples to apples, I do use a list of questions. I just don't necessarily stick religiously to it. This is qualitative research, not quantitative. Some of the folks I interview actually want talk at length about any number of things that may not even be in the survey. I go with the flow. And I call my client the moment I hang up the phone if the interviewee has just told me about a current problem that has been left unattended, or about upcoming work.

Anyway -- thanks for alerting me to your use of my material in your blog. I shall now subscribe to your blog -- it looks good. I also now REALLY need to get my website updated!!! Yikes. Haven't done that, since I took a break from my business for a few years, while trying out the "employee" role.

Be well

Marcy

Marcy Steinberg Cynosure Communications www.cynosurecommunications.com 3321 W. 30th Ave. Denver, CO 80211 303-477-3095 720-940-9016 mobile.

I really appreciate these remarks. Marcy's approach, to me, is the correct model for an outside consultant -- if consultants do their work well, they should be able to put themselves 'out of business' with their clients -- guiding them sufficientlyso they won't depend on their services to do the work. Paradoxically, this attitude actually strenghtens the client/consultant relationship, as I've found in working with Bill Caswell of Caswell Corporate Coaching Company. He taught me how to hold regular weekly and bi-annual planning and budget meetings. We're having our major bi-annual meeting on Monday and I suppose we can now do these on our own, without any facilitation or external support. But I want Caswell to be there -- to reinforce the messages and ideas and add a trusted external perspective to our processes.

I'm wary, however, of so-called "coaching" programs offered by some big-name consultants. These are devices, I'm afraid, to generate ongoing revenue for the consulting organization while using much lower level talent than the consulting leader who attracted the interest. I pass on these offers.

The weekly meetings

This image is from the new Caswell Corporate Coaching Company (CCC) website. CCC is our primary business consultant.

Our business has two weekly regular meetings. On Monday, right after lunch, we bring everyone together (remote employees participate by teleconference) for a weekly general meeting. On Thursday afternoon, near the end of the day, our salespeople gather to review progress and plan for the weeks ahead.

These meetings are now routine. But they are a crucial element in the business turn-around, since consultant Bill Caswell began working with us a little less than two years ago. He showed me that regular meetings are vital for business success and he outlined a meeting system and format that has proven reliable and effective in practice.

Meetings, for many people, are the bane of business. Overly long, boring, packed with irrelevant material and political posturing, many of us want to avoid them. In fact, I did, to the point that our business in its original incarnation had no regular meetings -- we would sometimes gather for a special crisis or to discuss a specific topic/issue, but the idea of getting together every week -- let alone twice a week -- seemed an utter waste of time and resources.

Caswell, however, showed me that meetings are vital to integrate staff, generate ideas, and catch problems before they get out of hand.

Caswell's meeting system includes these elements:

• Before any meeting, everyone receives an agenda. Participants are invited to add topics and suggest revisions;
• Regular meetings never last more than one hour (and the agenda is defined accordingly). If more complex issues need to be resolved with another meeting, this is set up within the framework of the general meeting -- in practice, this happens rarely;
• Everyone is given the opportunity to speak/participate, and order is maintained through a speaking order system initiated at the beginning.
• Minutes are taken, recorded, and returned after each meeting;
• A written action plan outlining clear responsibilities and time lines is appended to each week's meeting agenda; one of the topics of each meeting is to review the plan and suggest/respond to changes.
• Meetings start and end on time (or sooner, if possible). We avoid interruptions and distractions.

When we started the meetings, our biggest challenge proved to be establishing a reliable teleconferencing capacity so we could hear each other and remote participants could join in as equals. While the teleconference system we use is not perfect (and I won't endorse it publicly, therefore), everyone is able to join in and participate, including myself, when I am traveling. Thus we rarely cancel or reschedule the weekly meetings. They are a vital part of our business.

If you have unproductive meetings, or don't have a systematic meeting system, I recommend you call Bill Caswell and pay for his advice.

The importance of branding

So what do I find when I key in "Construction Sub Trade Branding" on Google? Not much. But I did come across this reference to Vicano Construction in Brantford -- and their page inviting subtrades to log in and apply to be suppliers. Obviously this is NOT branding for the subtrades -- but is great branding for Vicano! (And may lead to some jobs for subs not wishing to 'worry' about branding -- who just want to bid for the work.)

Sonny Lykos has sent me much useful information about branding. I am still going through his binder of material, his reference books, and other resources. Today, however, I connected the mental dots (sometimes it takes me a while) and realized that "Branding" is the answer for the struggling sub-trade; the victim of abuse and frustration; of bid-shopping and manipulation, and simply of being the low person on the totem pole in this industry.

Yet, for a very simple reason, I confidently will say that 99 per cent of the subs out there won't get it.

They won't because they see themselves as doing their trade, not as selling a brand.

Heck, they won't see it because I couldn't see it until Sonny laid on the materials and information to me. And I am in the marketing and publishing business, and read a lot, and, well, should know this stuff.

How can we expect someone who has built a business as a masonry contractor, a drywaller, or a mechanical contractor to understand branding? Heck, the company that excavates foundations doesn't think of itself as Coca-Cola or Dell Computers. "Branding" seems to be an arcane and absurd concept when your business is laying sod or stringing wire.

But if you are in any of these businesses; any of the subtrades "just doing your job", you will want to find a few minutes to figure some things out about branding, and then set to establish your brand and marketing plan.

"Huh," I'm sure you'll say. If you are a typical sub trade, you'll probably have a modest roster of regular clients, you know who they are, and you bid their jobs in accordance with your usual practices. If you are competitive, you win. Maybe you like some of your clients better than others; know who treats you well, and who tries to squeeze every cent out of you; and for the ones that are reasonable, you sharpen your pencil and give a bit better price. You get by. Marketing is for sissies. You have work to do.

But what if you could increase your prices by 20 per cent or more -- without investing in expensive equipment? And either diversify or improve your client base -- so you are less at the mercy of one or two organizations? Alternatively, you may decide you don't really want to grow -- to get too big for yourself -- but you would like to find a little more profit from your existing business. Again, carefully thought and planned branding strategies (correlated primarily with simple client service and relationship initiatives) may produce huge results.

So, the next step, is how do you get started? I'm going to assume for now that you are not the biggest reader -- and all the gobbledygook out there anyways doesn't really relate to your own business. So while it will be helpful to read some of the useful books on Branding, here are some other ideas:

• If you have ever purchased advertising in one of our publications, feel free to call me. I'll listen to your situation, and suggest options. (I promise not to try to sell you more advertising -- only a tiny portion of the branding process -- you may buy some, but that is because I've succeeded in practicing what I preach about branding.)
• If you aren't a member of your relevant trade association, or in the U.S., a chapter of the American Subcontractors Association, join. Then call and ask for support and resources relating to marketing and branding.
• You can hire a consultant. The challenge is getting the right consultant, not the BS and phony stuff that some consultants spout -- at overpriced fees. I can recommend Sonny Lykos (if he is available) and Michael Stone. Locally, you may find someone who works well with you (I use Bill Caswell in Ottawa).

Most likely, when you enter into this branding and marketing space, you will make some mistakes and possibly encounter some false starts. But it is worthwhile. Ask Sonny Lykos. He has avoided the commodity pricing trap and makes money, because he knows how to brand his business.

Publicity and control

Yesterday, I sent out an email inviting readers to either share their publicity success stories, or receive some free consultation from me on how to obtain and apply effective publicity methodologies. Among the responses, our business consultant Bill Caswell made these observations:

"In response to your newsletter, I can attest to the success of media publicity. I appeared on radio and TV 35 times in the past year and can attribute at least $100,000 in sales from those appearances.

"The obvious difference between publicity and paid advertising is credibility. No one believes the letter of the ad. There is a feeling of hyperbole and 'they're just trying to sell me something' with advertising. but with publicity there is a feeling of belief and trust as the message appears to be delivered by a third party.

"However, something more basic, even primordial, is happening. People like to be in control of their choices. With advertising, they are not in control the advertising is influencing them on what to buy; with publicity the viewer or reader feels they have control to choose to move forward.

"This might be captured in the expression: Everybody likes to buy but nobody likes to be sold to. Or, put another way -- Assume you experience a fine meal and a good server at a restaurant and contemplate a $10 tip with a great feeling of satisfaction within, and then the waiter appears and says: "Normally, for a meal of this size the tip would be $10."

"Does anything change? Indeed it does. Now the meal has not changed, nor has the service, nor the environment, nor has 99 per cent of the experience. However, what has changed is the choice to decide the amount of the tip no longer is clearly yours.

"That upstart will be lucky to get $5 from you. Yet, all he has done is confirm what you have been thinking anyway. Obviously something terrible has happened -- your freedom of choice is now being influenced. So it is true of advertising where the advertiser is trying to influence your choice; whereas, you remain in complete control when choosing whether to act or not from publicity messages."

I agree largely with Bill's observations but am not entirely sure about the tipping analogy. First, my perceptions from a month's travel is that tipping is a cultural thing, with extremely local influences and values. This can create incongruities, especially for travelers to strange lands. (In Israel, for example, cabbies never expect a tip -- they will happily give change to the final Agora(cent) -- but an Israeli restaurant waiter forcefully reminded me that "service is not included" in the price as I got up to leave without tipping. In other words, for people not familiar with the rules of the game, a waiter would be foolish not to remind the client to provide a tip. (Of course I think this kind of forcefulness works 'short term' but possibly at great long term cost to the waiter's employer -- the client, under pressure, would probably pay the tip as requested, but will never return!)

On a larger scale, however, Bill's points about control touch on the challenge of publicity from the publicity seeker's perspective -- it requires a fair bit of hard work and a willingness to cede control to the reporter/writer. You can engage public relations consultants to help you and give you some control, but you'll almost inevitably find the best results occur when you communicate naturally -- if reporters see the 'flack' (journalist's derogatory slang for a PR person) in your place, they will often be more skeptical and cautious in reporting on your business.