Executive Wisdom Times: The Newsletter No.52
January 2009
A monthly newsletter about business, strategy, people, purpose and processes based on the popular articles, interviews and workshops conducted by Ric Willmot, FAIM MIMC.
© 2009 Ric Willmot. All Rights Reserved. You are encouraged to share the contents with others with appropriate attribution. Recommend your colleagues subscribe.
The Executive Wisdom Times is in four sections this month:
- Ponderances - What are we to do?
- The human condition - Along for the ride
- Developmental Opportunities
- Ric's Rant - Don't read this unless you are willing to be ticked-off
Ponderances - What are we to do?
Many people are asking me if our world leaders can solve this current crisis. The critical issue of all this is not that we will not solve it or recover from it. What is to be seriously considered is that we will think small and fail to recognise the sensational opportunity we are being presented with.
Difficult times demand bold leadership. People, like you and me, are hungry for a way through. Business needs to get together and develop clear ideas on how best to address these times. The smart ones will rise to the challenge and succeed because of expertise, experience, know-how (all of which can be internal or hired in), and action!
- What have you done to build your business, your brand, your repute in the last three months?
- Have you engaged in some level of professional education or development?
- Have you specifically attended a business function to network because you knew a potential client would be in attendance?
Procrastination is a bigger threat than the economy to those of us in professional and personal services. Invest in yourself and ensure your clients invest in you for the value you can deliver.
- Send letters not email if you really want your client to read your correspondence.
- Speak at business networking functions to expand your reach.
- Initiate some low-cost PR measures.
- Reach out laterally to your existing customers by providing additional products and services.
- Attend a seminar or training course.
- Write a Press Release for the local media.
- Whether you are traveling across town or across the nation, leverage the trip and arrange to meet other people who haven't bought from you yet.
Deliver your service to your customers based upon reaching their objectives successfully and attributing both the tangible and intangible values you have brought to the client. Make the client significantly better because they have you.
- Are these challenging economic times? Yes.
- Should we re-examine our value offering to clients? Perhaps.
- Do we need new and innovative service offerings to stand out from the crowd? Maybe.
- Must we reduce our prices to survive this downturn? Definitely not!
If you think business is tough now, it will be like trying to teach an elephant to dance the Pride of Erin in treacle if you start cutting your prices arbitrarily.
The human condition - Along for the ride
I consult, coach and mentor to organisations of all makes and sizes. Here is what I have observed:
- Everyone is looking for an experience, but not a lot are wanting to actually do something.
- Actively doing something attracts risk because they are exposed to criticism and maybe even failure.
- People enjoy the experience of social networking, second life, avatars. Experiencing is a 'hot issue' currently. But none of this is real.
- All of the internet experiences help people maintain a tribal on-line network. But interpersonal relationship skills are dwindling quickly.
- Lot's of people are there for the ride, not so many are actually doing!
Getting your ducks in a row is not nearly as powerful as actually doing something with your duck.
Developmental Opportunities
With many businesses seriously hurting, organisations are reducing their investment in sending staff to conferences, seminars, congresses, etc. But the need for ongoing learning and development of your staff is at its highest right now because of these economic problems.
I have been thinking quite a deal about my clients and others, and how I may be able to help. Here's what I've done:
Using a team of specialist trainers around Australia, I have expanded Executive Wisdom Consulting Group to now include "In-House Training Seminars" for the budget-conscious businesses. All organisations need help to survive these times ... we can give them that help ... and at investment levels that make the decision to run in-house training for staff easy.
These programs are offered at amazing prices as our way of helping Australian and New Zealand businesses. Other international organisations are recommended to telephone us to discuss your particular needs.
Go and review what we have done so far ... and there is more to come! Click here.
Ric's Rant - Don't read this unless you are willing to be ticked-off
I am a Luddite; plain and simple. The greatest technological advancement in my life in the last 15 years was finally learning how to make an outgoing telephone call on my iPhone after owning it for four days.
This week I was engaged in a rather vibrant debate with a member of my Mentor Program. I was berating him after he asked me what keywords he should use for his website and what advice did I have for him to improve his SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).
"Ben, for heaven's sake, you are a management consultant working primarily with an financial/auditing-type bias and your clients are generally executives of companies with at least a $10 million turnover. Those sort of people don't Google for consultants. Forget that rubbish and use the time networking your existing customers to gain referrals."
15 minutes later the formal part of our meeting was ended and our breakfast arrived at our table. As the waiter was taking our drinks order, my iPhone rang and I answered the call.
A prospective client wanted to meet with me urgently to discuss engaging my professional services to consult on an "internal cultural issue".
"So how did you find me? Were you referred to me?" I asked loudly, hoping to prove a point to my Mentor Member across the breakfast table.
"I typed 'business+strategist+brisbane' into Google."
As I ended my telephone conversation Ben asked, "So who referred him to you, Ric?"
"No one," I responded as I glanced at the waiter and ordered a Diet Water with a straight face!
© 2009 Ric Willmot. All Rights Reserved.
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