Be Different or be dead

February 17, 2020

5 simple ways to keep your cool

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Everyone’s looking for ways to chill out these days in the face of increasing stress and chaotic unpredictable times.

“ Don’t worry about a thing, ‘Cause every little thing gonna be alright.”  — Bob Marley, is the mantra that underscores the importance of not taking stuff too seriously.

I’ve never really been a person who has been obsessed with elimination of stress.

As an ok boomer I believed that pressure and stress was just an expected part of doing my job and living my life. In any event, I had no choice to deal with it alone, because my employer didn’t offer the stress management programs offered by some organizations today.

But for those of you who want to reduce the level of stress in your lives here are a few simple things that took me to a more chilled place even though I wasn’t looking for it.

Breathe in the moment

The pause is the most important piece of the chill-out puzzle; and it’s the most difficult to do.
You have to resist the impulse to react to and strike back at the stimulus that has you poised to be uncool.

It’s really as simple as literally stepping back and taking a big deep back breath. The breath itself will force you to pause because you will automatically focus on the breath rather than the stimulus that is pressing your button.
Try it. You’ll be surprised how it will help.

Stop chasing cars

Look at whatever you call your to-do list. How long is it? If it’s more than 5 items, it’s way too long and you are entering stress-out city.

The irony is that no one is good enough at multitasking to do an effective job at many tasks simultaneously and something has to give.

When you multitask, the quality of any single task is low and the stress is high. Yup, you’re busy but the cost is out of proportion to the performance achieved.

Get control of your stress levels by purging your activity list of the tasks that have lower payback. Focus on the critical few things that MUST get done and not the 20 things that COULD be done.

Chasing the art of the possible only pumps up your stress levels.

No two tasks create the same value. Find the 2 or 3 that are amazing value creators and do them well.

Worry about what you can control

I get it. Today there are many variables that affect us; the issues are plentiful and complex.

Climate change, the environment, economic growth, gender identity, minority rights, carbon reduction, housing costs, education costs, career expectations, transportation costs and job availability are but a few of the factors that plummet the minds of young folks these days.
And no wonder the cumulative affect of these causes stress.

The question I have is: “What can you personally do about these issues?” — I can hear an “ok boomer” out there already: “Just because I can’t make a significant impact personally on climate change, you’re saying I shouldn’t be concerned about it, right Roy?”.

No, that’s not what I’m saying. What I AM saying is that if you are really serious about reducing your stress you absolutely MUST reduce the stressors in your life.
And for me, stressing over what I actually influence in the short term was an effective way of reducing my stress levels (btw, getting stressed out over an issue with a decade-long time horizon — or longer — may stroke your ego, but it extracts it’s stress toll on you TODAY with serious results).

I just think that too many people take on too many issues. It’s nice to see but it takes a personal toll which I believe is unnecessary.

And btw millennials and gen Z’ers: why do you think you’re the only generations who are faced with a confluence of difficult issues? NEWSFLASH! You’re not; those who came before you had their own as will those who will come after you — can I hear another “ok boomer”?

You have nothing to lose — but stress. Try and focus on stuff you can influence; invest your emotional time on those issues and let the rest go by having opinions but minimize your emotional investment in them.

Segue to my next point…

Leave your ego at the door

My takeaway from conversations with many millennials is that they feel obligated to dive into the controversial issues of the day; that it’s their mandate to try and fix things that have been screwed up by the “ok boomers”.

And so we get the Extinction Rebellion promulgating a doomsday narrative because past generations have mismanaged the environment so badly.

Notwithstanding that the need for climate change remediation is real, I really think these activists want to strike fear in the heart of people; this stirs their juices and feeds their egos.

How else can you explain shutting down traffic in major cities in the world because they say carbon emissions have to be reduced to zero in two years or there will an armageddon-like disaster?

Of course it’s a bogus claim that science doesn’t support so why are they making the claim? Must be because they feel good getting heard and the media attention soothes their “ok extremist” ego.

Ego feeds that stress cycle because it pumps the adrenaline and the body gets ready (fight or flight).

Maintain ego equilibrium and your stress will be assuaged.

Stay the course

Stay with your cool regimen. It will be almost impossible at times to hold back and do the healthy thing, but be confident that if you “stay with the program” you will survive the cool boot camp for the long term.

Stress isn’t a new concept; it’s not something that strikes any one demographic or societal group more than any other. The stressors may be different but that’s about it.

How to deal with stressors hasn’t changed much over time. The stuff that worked for the boomer crowd will work for millennials and Z’ers because cool remedies address human behaviour at the most fundamental level.

It’s about breath not technology; focus not multitasking; selection not chasing and honesty & respect not ego.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 2.17.20 at 03:08 am by Roy Osing
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February 10, 2020

3 proven ways to make an easy and affordable business plan

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3 proven ways to make an easy and affordable business plan.

If you can answer 3 questions, your business plan will beat all others.

Unfortunately, many organizations don’t develop a strategy to guide them into an unpredictable future; they rationalize the current planning process to be too complicated, time consuming and expensive.

And they’re right.

Numerous people gather in a room for a strategic planning session. Subject matter experts descend of the group and try to impress everyone with their detailed knowledge of the many governing factors that need consideration in the strategy building process, and many days are consumed — in my experience wasted — to get the strategy perfect.

Normally the services of a third party firm are used to both facilitate the session and provide expert content to the plan direction and efficacy. This is a clever way of avoiding having the people responsible for the strategy’s success taking ownership of the direction taken by applying their own opinions and good judgement.

The planning team is presented with material, they ask questions about various aspects of it and in the end most of the time they agree with the results of the analysis and direction proposed.

But at the end of the day, the traditional planning process takes so much time and energy, there is insufficient time left to develop how the plan will be executed in the trenches by real people. And the planning team is left with a strategy that may make sense on paper, but can’t be executed effectively because there was insufficient time devoted to implementation.

Get insanely focused on execution

Given that eventually any strategy or plan must result in action, the best planning process is predicated on the premise: keep it simple, get to the gut issues quickly and ACT.

Minimize the strategy direction setting time; maximize the implementation action planning time.

Loosen up on strategy development; tighten up on execution.

The strategy-building process I developed was necessary because although the field of experts who could help me develop a theoretically pristine direction was wide and deep, the number who actually could help in plan execution was close to zero.

The process I developed was simple, fast and time efficient. And unlike its brethren, it used the knowledge and experience of the planning team members rather than going with a third party planning expert — added benefit was the team building that went on during the process.

My process — the strategic game plan — was based on discovering the answers to 3 questions; the answers defined the strategy.

Growth — HOW BIG do you want to be?

Most planning processes end with financial results. They calculate the growth results of executing the strategic direction chosen.
My process starts with your growth intentions, and builds the strategy from HOW BIG you want to be. The reason is simple: more aggressive growth goals require a more aggressive — and risky — strategy, and more moderate growth goals need a more incremental — and less risky — strategy.

The traditional planning approach forgets that there is an extremely tight relationship between revenue growth and strategic intent; my strategic game plan doesn’t and that’s what makes my approach DiFFERENT than others.

Customers — WHO do you want to SERVE?

You have a goal to grow revenue 25% annually over the next 36 months. The next question is where are you going to get it? Where are you going to invest your scarce resources of time and money.

It boils down to selecting a group of customers who collectively have the potential to generate the revenue you have decided to go after.
To get the right answer to this question requires an intimate understanding of the various customers you serve.

You can’t choose the customer group to generate the revenue you covet if you don’t understand the propensity of your various customer segments to buy from you — discover their secrets and success will follow.

Competitors — HOW will you compete and WIN?

It would be nice if you were the only provider of products and services to the customer group you’ve chosen, but that’s not likely to be the case. There is likely to be healthy aggressive competitors targeting the same customers you want to target, so the challenge you face is to determine how you will differentiate your organization from all others you will be competing with.

Why should people choose your organization when they have other choices available?

What makes your team special in view of the alternatives available?
HOW will you compete is intended to explore the competencies of your organization that you can exploit to gain competitive advantage, with emphasis on how you can be positioned in the customer group you’ve chosen as the ONLY one that does what you do.

By answering these 3 questions using the expertise of those in the room you will have your business plan quickly (less than 3 days) and inexpensively (a personalized experience for your team). And it will be owned by every person who has contributed to it which means execution will follow.

if you want your business plan to be easy and affordable, this is the way to do it.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 2.10.20 at 02:06 am by Roy Osing
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February 8, 2020

How to use CRM to achieve a competitive advantage

How to use CRM to achieve a competitive advantage.

Today’s business landscape is fast-changing, and companies are looking for ways to stand out from their competitors.

Product quality and pricing may help your customers differentiate you from other companies. However, you can’t ignore the importance of customer interaction or the relationship you build with your audiences.

That’s why you need a CRM software.

Customer relationship management, is a set of technology that helps manage customer data. It supports lead management and helps deliver actionable insights that help salespeople to maintain a healthy relationship with customers.

In fact, the stats show that 91% of businesses with more than 11 employees have started using CRM.

Every company is slowly recognizing the value CRM has to add to their business. For instance, it easily integrates with almost any other software, including ERP, legacy databases, social media, and more.

Earlier, CRM was a tool reserved for the elite only, but now it is accessible to the smallest of companies. So if most organizations use it, how do I achieve a competitive advantage?

The fact is that although CRM may be readily available, not everyone chooses to reap its benefits.

Why is CRM software becoming so popular?

▪️Streamlines and automates the sales process

CRM automation refers to the system’s ability to streamline and simplify complex processes and automate repetitive and manual tasks. It improves productivity and customer satisfaction by ensuring consistent service delivery.

And, automation can free up time to focus more on meaningful and strategic work.

CRM automates a wide range of work across sales, marketing, and service activities. For example, it can save you time from creating a contract every time you sign a deal.
It will keep the customized templates and automatically generate it, when requested. Thus, you waste no time in closing the deal.

▪️Acts as a centralized database

CRM does more than just contact management. By integrating with other systems, it acts as a centralized database where all the information relating to customers, deals, orders, and deliveries made is stored and maintained. It then enables you to generate and track automatic billing, invoices, and more.

And it significantly reduces double-entry with two-way communication, minimizing the chance of human errors by always displaying accurate and up-to-date information.

▪️Provides the sales team with necessary tools

The most significant advantage of CRM is that it enables the sales team to streamline every process. It helps in closing deals faster by converting quotes into an order, and then to invoices to generate revenue.

It helps everyone to reach targets more quickly since order processing and preparing quotes is automated.

It also streamlines communication and syncs information in real-time so that the sales team stay updated all the time. The sales manager can also view all planned activity for the reps within the CRM, and keep an eye on their progress.

▪️Enables faster service to customers

With the use of smartphones, consumers have instant access to everything within a second. They expect fast replies when they call up customer service to know about the status of their order or in case they have any queries.

CRM can be of great use as it enables your customer reps to have instant access to the database and provide quick assistance. It doesn’t matter whether you are working from home or a cafe,  you can have real-time access to company information whenever required.

In addition, CRM ties all the departments together. Thus, regardless of who receives the calls from a prospect, they will know exactly how to respond by viewing the past interactions.

CRM enables you to both grow your business and protect it from competitive attack. Here’s how…

1. CRM creates new business opportunities

A CRM software helps you create opportunities by providing great insights into your business activities.

It can help assess a lead and use effective tactics to convert them into opportunities. For instance, CRM provides the complete lead profile that contains the added information that can be useful to assess a company’s background, their interaction with your brand, and their competitors.

So if you see a client is buying a product X from you but not Y, you may be able to create a personalized offer by combining the product X and Y that will enable the client to achieve cost savings. Thus, it provides you an opportunity to cross-sell.

2. CRM enhances the customer experience

In today’s time, businesses usually operate on multi-channels to expand their reach.

However, the main concern is whether they can provide quality customer experience across all channels. A study revealed that 89% of customers were not satisfied due to the inconsistency among channels.

This problem can be avoided by using CRM to manage the customer data flow from different channels from a single platform. It gathers and collects all the required information into a single database, which enables you to align customer experiences across different touchpoints.

One example is how restaurateurs can gather information on their customer’s food and beverage preferences. So that when they come next time, waiters can immediately open up their profile and improve their experience.

3. CRM increases customer retention

The primary purpose of CRM software is to improve customer retention. And only by increasing customer retention by 5%, you can increase profits by up to 75%.

There are various ways in which CRM can help retain customers. For starters, it can help map customer’s experience from the point of initial contact to the process of engagement, and how the engagement process turned into a long-term customer relationship.

CRM tools help in providing insight across the strengths and weaknesses of your marketing strategy. It provides guidelines as to how to re-engage your customers.

In short, CRM aligns marketing and sales goals and activities. This helps the whole team in delivering a complete experience while making the customers feel that they are valued.

4. CRM lowers overhead costs

Profitability can be achieved by decreasing overhead costs and allowing more investments to be made in enhancing the customer’s experience.

CRM automates tasks and saves time on manual procedures, which again can be used to focus on more critical tasks. It increases the productivity of every employee.

Training Magazine’s 2017 Training Industry Report stated that companies spent an average of $1,075 per trainee in 2017, and the cost keeps rising.

Training employees on different systems takes time and also increases the training overhead. So instead of investing time towards completing project goals, they are stuck with learning multiple systems.

Thus, integration of CRM with other systems helps reduce the time required to get teams working together. Plus, CRM’s operate on standard procedures that are easy-to-use and also help avoid doubling of tasks.

Final Words

CRM empowers the sales management team. It helps them do a better job of lead management — nurturing leads into opportunities, and into customers.

In fact, you gain the most by integrating the CRM function with your company’s ERP solution. It allows you to see the company’s sales activity and forecast its demand based on past insights. It shortens lead capturing times and, thus, helps you outperform your competitors.

So are you ready to use CRM and gain more revenue for your business?

— Himanshu Singh is a marketing specialist at SoftwareSuggest, He is well versed in software platforms like eCommerce platforms, project management, invoicing software. He is also interested in domains like Machine Learning and Semiconductors. In his spare time he enjoys guitar, badminton, and photography. He can be reached on LinkedIn here.

• Posted 2.8.20 at 05:32 am by Roy Osing
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January 27, 2020

Why salespeople don’t like talking to you if you’re not buying

Why salespeople don’t like talking to you if you’re not buying.

How often do you get the feeling that once the salesperson you are dealing with finally gets that you’re not interested in buying from them, they abruptly start to close down the conversation and usher you to the door?

It’s like “Now that I see that you’re not going to but anything from me, I’m not prepared to invest anymore time in you.”

This type of salesperson is looking for the easy sale and when they sense it’s not coming they want to dump you and move on to their next target.

Effective and honest sales is NOT about the quick and easy sale that can be scaled.

These quick hitters spend their time designing their sales process to minimize the amount of face-time they have with a potential client and maximize the number of pitches they make during the day to yield as many sales as they can.

And some sales organizations add an additional component to the sales process — “the closer”. This is the dude or dudette that enters the client meeting when it’s obvious the client resists buying.

The closer’s role is to harden the interaction even further and push for the sale. The logic is simple: if the client isn’t buying from the first salesperson, maybe, with more push and a different person they will soften up and buy.

This “get ‘em in — get ‘em out” pressure process gives the sales profession a bad name. It’s the stereotypical hard sell approach devoid of any meaningful human interaction with the potential client.

The salesperson in this scenario cares little about the person and more about the product.

It’s about leadership

This is not a sales issue per se, it’s a leadership one. The reason the sales process is based on speed and superficiality and not quality is because leadership actually believes that it’s the only way to meet sales and revenue objectives.

And they prioritize getting sales over anything else, including building long lasting relationships that will not only spawn a regular flow of sales, it will also create a referral network that will increase sales beyond expectations.

It’s hard to believe in the sales world today, replete with experts pronouncing how critical it is to focus on building intimacy with clients that the impersonal hard sales process is still practiced by many if not most organizations.

Either the pundits have it wrong — and they don’t — or leaders don’t trust that people will hand over their money if they are treated to an amazing experience with one of their sales professionals.

I think leadership is so focussed on showing good performance in the short term that they simply cannot risk investing resources to build long term health.

They say the priority is to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty but their actions belie their intent. I mean how can you even promulgate a relationship building strategy when sales compensation is driven by how many dollars they generate today?

Also, what’s the response if customer feedback is extremely negative; that people absolutely hate the sales approach used?

My experience so far is that your views are politely listened to and abruptly ignored; organizations generally are not interested in forsaking a immediacy in favour of a longer term horizon.

What’s the solution? Will a person continue to be subjected to the pusher and the closer who are only interested in you saying “yes”?

I suspect so, because I don’t believe leadership has the jam to make the change.

If you’re in sales I ask that you push back if you are being asked to push or close products. Take a stand for the people you engage everyday to buy from you, and push for a sales process that is sensitive and responsive to the needs of the client.

And if you’re a potential buyer, go somewhere else where sales actually likes humans.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 1.27.20 at 04:42 am by Roy Osing
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