"...keeping you great"
HEADLINES:
For Those Loving Chet Holmes Book -- I've upped his time at the Sales and Marketing Summit -- he's now keynoting for four hours instead of two. And I encourage you to listen to his complimentary teleconference and read his book -- I continue to get emails on the huge impact his work is having on driving revenue and market share.
Jim Collins on Navigating The Crisis -- read the Fortune magazine interview where Jim lays out lessons learned from his latest research on surviving turbulent times. When I was in Amsterdam last week I met Thomas Kascha, founder of AQ Services, an international Mystery Shopping service (yes, he's close friends with David Rich, ICC/Decision Services, here in the U.S.). Thomas wrote an excellent summary of the Jim Collins interview which I've reprinted with permission under DETAILS below. Take two minutes and read lessons learned and then review in your next weekly management meeting.
3 Lessons from 12 Recessions Spanning 120 years -- I just got off the phone with Victor Cheng, quantitative econ grad from Stanford and former McKinsey consultant who is just finishing a book based on his proprietary analysis of the past 12 U.S. recessions going back 120 years. His book provides case studies on 12 companies that were started in a recession that later went on to become billion dollar businesses. And he found three simple, yet profound, things all 12 companies had in common that made them more than "recession proof." He's going to print up several hundred copies of his manuscript and bring them to the Sales and Marketing Summit where I've invited him to be a last minute keynote -- we'll be one of the first audiences to hear his findings.
However, Victor Gave Me a Hint -- one of the 3 lessons, while it sounds obvious, is to sell people what they need during recessions i.e. massage parlors selling stress relief vs. pampering. More to the point, did you see the reports about the unexpected jump in housing starts in February? If you look into the data, almost all of it was in low-end multi-family rental housing which is what people like Harry Dent have been saying will be hot during the next decade -- in essence, all those people who had no business buying a home are going back to rentals. This lesson requires firms to look at a great deal of data and often involves entirely new strategies, which is why start-ups often have the edge during times like this. Victor shared with me that several companies he's advising, in some cases, are deciding to shut down completely and go a different direction the next decade. Warning -- this is counter to what Jim Collins is advising, but my conclusion? If you have a strong culture and sound strategy, stay the course, though you might have to alter your messaging. However, if the business never really made sense, times like this expose those weaknesses and you're best to change course.
BTW, Victor Cheng Understands our World -- he ran the $20 million a year eCommerce division of Art Technology Group (Nasdaq: ARTG). ATG is the #1 rated eCommerce software among Fortune 500 retailers. ATG software powers eCommerce sites bestbuy.com, neimamarcus.com, marthastewart.com, and kodak.com. He was also the VP of Product Management and interim Chief Technology Officer of LivePerson (Nasdaq: LPSN). LivePerson's flagship live chat service enables call center salespeople to engage in sales conversations with people who visit a company's website. The company is the market share leader in its industry. Victor was part of the executive team that took the company public in a successful IPO. And he's the author of three books, including one entitled Bookmercial Marketing: Why Books Replace Brochures in the Credibility Age -- sound like a familiar theme we've been promoting for years? WRITE A BOOK! It's a perfect thing to do during a downturn.
Investment in Education Fuels "Gazelles" Growth Companies -- and this latest news from the Private Company Index (PCI) -- there is a correlation between companies investing in education, especially sales and marketing education, and growth performance. Shouldn't be surprising!
Founders Outperformed Hired-Guns or Internally Promoted CEOs -- Sarah Weiss, HR Director for The Audit Group pointed me to this story in Forbes (which I'm not allowed to read as a Contributing Editor at FSB magazine :) ). It compares the performance of technology firms between founder-led, hired-guns, and internally promoted CEOs. I would be careful concluding too much from the article since I question the robustness of the research and the possible bias of the organization doing the research (a recruitment firm!). However, the founder performance does correlate with other studies I've read.
Contrarians Win -- i.e. buy when others are selling (or do the opposite of what guys like me suggest!). For me, I find the same with travel. I've spent more money travelling in the past seven months getting face-to-face with my market than ever before. And I've spent more time on the phone with people than ever before. I hear so many companies cutting back on travel, however, now is the time to get out and see people while everyone else is staying home.
DETAILS:
Thomas Kascha's summary of Jim Collins' interview, which he posted on an interesting website www.stopcrisisnow.com -- I find the first point the most fascinating:
Crisis is Normal -- Get Used to It!
- the past 50 years was an aberration in economic growth spurred by stability & unprecedented prosperity
- in effect, the normal times, as we know it, are actually abnormal based on historical facts
Values Must Endure Time
- what's important is not "what" our values are, but that we have values at all
- the more challenging the times, the more we need values; they keep us in check
It's All About People
- hire the best for each position, train & coach them
- DON'T stop hiring; especially in crises, because during these times, the best people are overlooked
- the best people are responsible; they DO NOT need to be MANAGED
Look to the Future
- plan for the long-term; what is apparently unnecessary now may be vital for the future
- this is especially applicable to People, Systems, and Processes
- be mindful of trends
Crisis is Our Friend
- crisis brings out the best in us
- when we survive, we are more prepared to take on challenges for both good times and bad
Don't Just Stand There... Do Something!
- we cannot afford to be indecisive; we must choose to act on all challenges
- if we choose to become defensive, we live to fight another day
- if we choose to become aggressive, we need to ask: "how can we change the world with our plan of action?"
Balancing Faith and Reality
- we must believe in our capacity to survive and thrive, without becoming oblivious to the brutal facts
- we must use the facts to craft a plan of survival and prosperity
