Shocker! Dr Who picks the winner in the 3:30 at Haydock, again.

Do you love a trip to the races as much as me? 

Dressing up to the nines, with a few spare bob in your pocket and a foolproof system for picking a winner makes for a great day out. Then, even when your gigi with the double entendre for a name turns out to be a three legged nag and limps in 20 minutes after the field, it doesn’t dampen the joy does it? 

But, when it comes to picking a winning prospect that isn’t a three-legged nag do you use the same approach? Can you say you really stop yourself throwing your precious resources at prospects who will never deliver for you and, even more perhaps more challenging, stop them draining you? 

Stay selective.

Like a gambler on a losing streak thinking each failure makes a winner more likely it’s all too easy to start investing your limited time and money on prospects that you shouldn’t. But bad bets are bad bets and bad clients are bad clients, whatever the market conditions; they will drain your precious time, are more risky and deliver you less profit – who wants that?

So if you need to reject non-ideal clients to get through a tough market then what is the way forward? Well to start with: -

• strip out the waste: make costs savings where you can, but without affecting the quality of your service
• innovate to become more effective and free up time; new technology is a good place to start
• spend that new free-time to dramatically increase your sales activity.

Don’t take on bad business; it will only make things worse not better! 

Spot the winners.

Start by analysing your current clients and picking out the winners. They’re the opposite of the “bad” clients: lower risk, easier to work with and more profitable.

Next, look at the characteristics of these clients, paying special attention to the personality, goals and values of the decision makers but not forgetting to put the firms purchasing process, size and sector into the equation.

Lastly, educate your sales people and your marketers to identify more prospects with these qualities. Difficult for them to do without starting a relationship but keeping these qualities in mind from the start will make it easier. 

Dodge the losers

This is easy, when you spot a loser close the relationship down. Immediately. And if they ask you to supply just say no, be brave: you’ll be glad you were in the long run.

Remember: nobody makes you do bad business, or engage with bad clients, except you!

When you see a “Blocked” number on your phone do you answer it?

I think most pessimists don’t whereas most optimists do. I invariably do because I always believe it’s going to be somebody with good news, a great opportunity or something interesting to say!

Do you agree?

Don't die with your song still inside you - blog it out!

So there you are. You’ve managed to put together a Blog for your company or your department and you’ve written a few posts and got them out there. Everybody is saying positive things and what a great idea it all is to be a part of the social media revolution and then you have to go and spoil it all by asking other people to write posts as well.

At first there are some vocal, if not a little muted, noises of ascent but nothing appears so you turn up the heat and confront people about their lack of post-like deliverables. Apart from a lot of toe-shuffling and navel-gazing nothing much happens as a result.

But why the hell not?

It’s soooo easy and beneficial and useful and full of lovely Google-juice surely people would be biting your hand off to get their fanatical ravings out there ahead of Tompkins in Corporate Finance. Well I have been conducting a little straw poll of late and these are the most common reasons for people not putting finger to key-board and what you can do to lessen or eradicate each one.

• Not enough time: to begin with limit the number of words to about 250 which is the size of an average email. The chances are they will surpass this but just providing the boundaries makes it seem easier.
• I’m not sure what to write: publish a list of topics and subjects you would like posts on. Also make it clear that it’s best to keep the message simple; a blog post is not meant to be a Ph.D. thesis!
• My writing isn’t very good: make it clear that you will edit every post that is submitted so that any grammatical and speling erors will be picked up before being published.
• I don’t know how to go about it: get them to email their copy to you which you can then publish on their behalf. After a while they can do it themselves provided you don’t mind losing control >:-{
• I feel a bit embarrassed: allow them to publish anonymously – big girl’s blouses!

Once people get into the habit it should be easy to maintain their flow – well that’s the theory anyway.

I wonder if you’ve encountered any other excuses – I’d love to hear about them and what you are doing to sort the 19th century-dwellers out.

I wonder if they have this tee-shirt in your size?

I don’t mean to be unkind or even judgemental it’s just that in reality most people you come across in business are just average.

When you think about it this has to be true. An average is effectively the most common value (technically I know that’s not the case before any of you swots point it out) so most people are it.

But who cares about statistics; the plain fact of the matter is most people have average intelligence, commitment to the job, creative talents, attention to detail, belief in quality, organisational skills and attitude towards risk.

So here’s the good bit: if you want to stand out you only need to be a little better than average. I’ll concede you can’t do much about your IQ but the rest is entirely down to you.

Just being a little bit better at a number of things creates a large cumulative difference between you and the next guy so what are you waiting for?

Success is about being above average and being above average is a choice not a privilege. 

Maybe I should become domesticated.....nah, where's the fun in that!

Winston Churchill wrote in 1945 “risk taking in peace as in war shall bear our fortunes forward finding profitable work and profitable trade for our people”.

The alternative is to try to eradicate risk from our lives (if I had my way there’d be a lot more ‘elf n safety office space up for lease these days) but by so doing we also suppress the energy of enterprise and so dull the cutting edge of growth.

Churchill was referring to nations but does the same apply to each of us as individuals: when we stop taking risks do we stop growing? I am unshakeable in my belief that this is true because it is only by trying something new, and risking failure, that we can grow.

Successful entrepreneurs cannot be risk averse because a key ingredient of being in business is seeing an opportunity that looks out of your league and saying “ah to hell with it let’s give it a go” in other words they focus more on the upside than the downside.

But can the same mentality prevail in the corporate world? Of course it can but the real question here is how do you translate the phrase “I’m prepared to take risks” into action. It’s easy for entrepreneurs because what they are mainly risking is money, in one form or another, but what about Intrapreneurs like you?

Right then: taking risks leads to growth and, on occasions, pain so what’s next? Well…….

• Actively look for opportunities: Real Intrapreneur stuff – it’s been done like that for ages but is there a better way?
• Ask what are you really risking: a slap on the wrist, lost time, humiliation, a bruised ego and a raised eyebrow are small prices to pay to achieve greatness.
• What are you prepared to sacrifice:  assess the risk and then ask that question. Only you know the answer.
• JFDI – Just Fecking Do it. Like leaping off the high board; the more you dwell the less likely you are to jump and feel the thrill of it all.
• A risk shared is a risk halved: find another brave soul and “smoke fags behind the bike sheds” together.

Without risking failure you can never achieve your potential so step forth dear reader and see where the road less travelled leads.

I love the rough and tumble of the corporate world don't you?

Have you heard that old expression: when you’re up to your arse in alligators it’s difficult to remember that you were hired to drain the swamp? Well, if it resonates you probably need to check your pulse because you could have already turned into a corporate zombie without even realizing it. Allow me to explain.

Have you ever watched any of those dreadful B-movies involving zombies swathed in rags and their flesh falling off their bodies limping wide-eyed and groaning towards their hapless victim? A gruesome vision, perhaps but a vivid reminder of what it’s like to work in today’s corporate world? Surely not!

Well I happen to think there is more than a passing similarity. They seem acceptant with their lot, they’re all behaving in the same way and, worse of all, they are entirely oblivious to anything except what is in front of them.

Think about it. Where do you get any thinking time these days? Years ago, before the advent of hand-held devices and email, travelling; holidays; lunchtimes and home time all belonged to you but now you are available 24/7 and, unbelievably, some people have become to expect this kind of access as the norm!

The upshot of this is no thinking time. Just like the zombies we have to concentrate on the next thing in front of us. Oblivious to all else we process that next email, take that incoming call, turn out for meetings (most of which are pointless) and stress about deadlines. Everything, it seems, is sucking our time, energy and head-space from us leaving no time to think and no time to question. Voila! We have become corporate zombies.

Well it doesn’t have to be this way.

In America there is a new concept that I would like to introduce to you called Corporate Stillness. The belief behind it is that the more senior you are in an organisation the more  ”empty time” you need so that you can think, reflect  and challenge the status quo – that’s how progress is made.

Apparently you can stay in a cliff-top room in the Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur California where you pay extra ($2285 per night per room) for a room which does not have a TV, wifi or a mobile signal – only in America! But the reasoning is sound: you need time to think about the big idea, draining the swamp if you will.

Added to that Nicolas Carr performed a series of tests as research for his book (The Shallows) that found after spending quiet time often in rural surroundings, people “exhibited greater attentiveness, stronger memory and generally improved cognition”. In other words quiet time makes you smarter and sharper!

We all know we should be working on our business as well as in our business but if we don’t find the time it just won’t happen.

My point is this: ideas are the currency of greatness and they don’t come whilst you’re arse-deep in the corporate equivalent of snapping green monsters. Creativity and innovation need time so you simply must create some stillness in your lives otherwise you are just going to groan and limp your way through one corporate morass after another.

My advice is consider adopting the following: -

• When you go on holiday spend time before you go arranging things so you don’t have to check in every day. Give somebody access to your emails and get them to do it instead – don’t fall for the illusion of your own indispensability!
• Turn off all you mobile devices every second journey you make especially to and from work.
• Do not wear a watch or check your emails on Sundays.

So there we have it – avoid being a corporate zombie and achieve great things by showing a little back-bone; turning off your Crackberry and creating some stillness. It sure works for me.

Well Mrs Ames bring forth the Gaviscon and let the feast begin!

I just wanted to say thank you to everybody who has supported me this year through doing business with me, providing me with help and advice and collaborating on-line and in person. I am very grateful for everything you have done and only hope that I have at least given the same in return but hopefully a little more.

One last thought before we all leave 2011 for good.

The New Year is bound to bring new challenges especially with the economy the way it is. We are bombarded daily with gloomy predictions of double-dips, growing unemployment and much harsher trading conditions.

Well, my advice is to ignore it all, tighten your belts as much as you can and sell more. Seriously, whatever you’re selling I can practically guarantee you have a tiny percentage of the overall market share which means enormous potential for growth.

Even when you have knocked out the time-wasters, messers and tight-wads there is still more than enough to go around but make sure you go out to them and don’t wait for them to come to you. Added to that you really are better than your competitors so all you have to do is demonstrate this to the right people and you’re in – that’s called selling.

So there you have it: in 2012 sell more and market less – you know it makes sense.

Once again thank you for your support and I sincerely hope we can do more “stuff” in 2012.

Have a very merry Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year.

Regards … Mike

Whatever she's taking I'll have a double!

“You’re simply the best, better than all the rest, better than anyone, anyone I’ve ever met” warbled Tina Turner a long time ago. But, had she been singing about businesses she would have been leading us all up the wrong path.

Think about it. This obsession we have to be the best at whatever we do is just not possible because it implies that the rules are the same and so are the ways we measure “best” like runners competing in the 100m sprint. Whilst the rules and the measurement are the same for all competitors (start at the same time and first through the tape is the best) in business this is just not the case.

Let’s explore this a little further. I asked my son who his favourite actor was and his response was no real surprise “do you mean comedy or action dad?” in other words “best” depended upon context. Added to that when I asked my daughter the same question she provided a different list of names to my son. Personal preference can also affect “best” just as much as context.

So supposing you wanted to be the best window cleaner in the land. To some people this would mean the cheapest, others it would be the most thorough whilst another set might be looking for those added extras like washing down the paintwork at the same time you clean the glass. Each group of customers would measure your performance according to what was important to them.

Now here’s the dangerous part: trying to be the best at whatever you do is almost certainly likely to be based upon what you think rather than what your clients think. This means there is a very strong possibility that your version of “best” may not be their version. Result: unhappy clients and a disappointed you. In business the only thing that matters is what your clients think.

So what can you do? Well the really successful organisations do three things: -

1. They have a very clear idea of who their target market are. Whilst they recognise they can’t satisfy everyone they don’t care as long as this group has their needs met or, better still, surpassed.
2. They focus all their energy on finding out what the needs and preferences of these people are and they shape their offering and the way they deliver it to entirely meet those needs.
3. They are constantly reassessing what their market needs and how well they are satisfying them – complacency is a stealthy killer.

Well there you have it dear reader. Trying to be the best for too wider group of people will almost certainly result in you providing an average service to all of them. Why not focus upon a smaller and more defined target group; take some time to understand what they want and how they want it delivered to them (the best according to them) and then continually strive to deliver. Greatness beckons I think.

As it turns out Tina Turner has done that for her audience for many years with enduring success and long may she continue to do so.

A typical Xmas scene in the Ames household

It’s that special time of year again. All the stress of getting things closed down before the Christmas break whilst also attending all those parties, after-work drinkies and catch-up festive lunches. Added to that we have to do some present shopping – it all adds up to one big Yuletide headache but thank goodness we no longer have to worry about Christmas cards eh?

That’s the great news; all we have to do is make sure that everybody we know, sat next to at that boring seminar we went to or anybody who might know us from the dawn of our career is on the mailing list and hey presto! They get a lovely e-mail Christmas greeting with the added bonus (excuse?) that we are giving a donation to charity instead of buying nasty paper cards. Oh, won’t those pine forests sleep easier tonight.

Well actually that isn’t such great news really and here’s why: -

1. The people who receive a Christmas message from you will value it in proportion to the amount of time, effort and expense you invested to get it to them.
2. E-cards rarely get printed off and displayed anywhere so provided the recipients spam-checker hasn’t intercepted it you will be in their minds for about 90 seconds tops.
3. Nobody really believes you are doing this to save the environment or to be charitable – face up to it.
4. Getting an e-card is not a personal act. Relationships are built on 1-2-1 contact not 1-2-many (which do have their place by the way).

So what is a body to do? Well if the firm has decided to embark upon an e-card campaign there is little you can do to stop them but there is something you can do to mitigate the effect: -

1. List out your top 30 very special clients and contacts (50 would be better).
2. Go out this lunchtime and buy each one a decent Christmas card – this could run you a whole £15!
3. Write a personal message in each one.
4. Put stamps on them rather than swish them through the franking machine.
5. Deposit in the post box.

I reckon that should take no more than an hour of your time and in exchange for that you will stand out from all the other lazy beggars who can’t be arsed; will have provided one of the required 27 personal connections for this year and you will also feel just that little bit more Christmassy. Go on now, you know it makes sense!

Think about the people you know. Your family and friends, people you work with or famous people you see on TV: some of them appear to have easier lives than others but why is that? Sure everybody has problems: even the rich and the famous and the talented have bigger demons than we can image as the recent tragic death of Amy Winehouse clearly shows but I am not talking about that.

I am more interested in those people who just seem to win more than they lose; attract a greater share of luck than the rest of us and above all just seem to cruise through life with relative ease without excessive stress or frenzy. Everybody knows people like this, I know I do, but I wonder how they (I like to call them ELPs – Easy Life People) actually manage it?

I have been fascinated with this subject for years but over the previous few months have been analysing the characteristics of ELPs to find out what makes them special. I have also spoken to a number of people I consider to be ELPs and have looked at those people who operate at the other end of the scale. These rules are based upon this research. One key element of all 7 rules is time: conserving it, using it wisely, getting more done in less of it and understanding its value.

Here are the first rule, with the next 6 individual blog posts covering the remaining number.  You may not agree with all of them but speaking from both the analyst’s perspective and from somewhere much deeper inside me they do all apply. See what you think.

 1.   Know your destination: find some goals that you can believe in

I watched a Bear Grylls  show on TV recently where Bear’s objective was to reach a road in the wilderness where he reckoned he could get a lift from a passing truck. He had a compass bearing and an immediate next step: to reach the top of the ridge in front of him but between him and the ridge was a ravine with no obvious way down. With a refreshing disregard for health and safety he leapt of the cliff he was standing on and crashed into a pine tree to break his fall.

Now, obviously he’s as mad as snakes but he took his decision not based on the immediate goal (down into a ravine was not up to the ridge) and not because it was the easiest option but because it was the right thing to do. He knew this because not only did he have a fair idea of his long term destination but he also had a clear knowledge of the next few milestone he needed to achieve – the ravine was a necessary obstacle to conquer and he did what he needed to in order to overcome it.

In sales we have a saying “focus equals penetration and penetration equals revenue” well I think this applies in life. How can you make the decisions you need to make especially if they are in a seemingly wrong direction unless you have a clear focus on the eventual end-game and what the next milestone is. ELPs appear to not only understand this but also to act upon it.

Every journey has three points on it: a start point, a current location and a destination point. The first two are obvious and cannot be challenged; you started where you started and you are where you are but the third is the key one. Without it you will end up in all sorts of places many of which will take you time and trouble to get out of. Having a clear destination in mind is the way to avoid such bother and confusion.

Hundreds of acres of trees have been sacrificed to produce all the books written about goals so I have little to add here except this. Your destination is the life-style you want; one that will make you happy and meet your deepest personal needs. It must encompass everything that is important to you: your family life, work, hobbies, health, beliefs and so on. Nobody can dictate to you what it looks like or what it should contain; that is for you to decide. Remember, your final destination can be a little hazy but your next milestones must be crystal clear just as they were for Bear in his wilderness adventure.

One last thing on this is the phrase “that you can believe in”. One of my problems in life has been setting a destination that was seemingly attractive, certainly achievable and that I felt I should do but deep down I just didn’t believe or care about it: in short I was not passionate about reaching my journey’s end. During these periods of my life I have worked harder, achieved less and been generally more miserable as a result. I firmly believe that you must have a conviction that the destination you have set yourself is the one you really want because if you don’t it’s the same as not having one at all.

My suggestion is to take time, as much time as you need in fact, to define a destination you can really get behind; something you feel passionate about regardless of what others may think. You have little control of this because any objective will either float your boat or it won’t so go for the ones that are watertight because they’re the ones that will work for you in the end.