Skip to main content

In$pired


As the steam from Avid Andy's coffee fogged his glasses on this crisp January morning, he reflected on last year and thought enthusiastically about the year ahead.  Sometimes the noise of business is deafening, we rarely take the time to contemplate our moves, instead are often thrown one direction or another.  Hey, face it, if you are reading posts to gain perspective you fall in the group of folks who pride themselves as obsequious hoop-jumpers.  We live to help others and expect that all of those around us feel the same way. 

I just love Influential Irene.  Okay, it is out in the open, she is an inspiration for me and so many others.  Irene reminds folks every year, without fail, these three statements which she fondly refers to as "the punchline" (although this is no joke).  Businesses, of any size, will be successful if they remember that it is people that make a company.  Put this advice into practice, today:

  • Sincerity | do you really believe that people want to do the right thing?  Put into place the checks and balances to allow folks to believe in themselves and understand clearly where an organization is headed.
  • People | the human spirit is an un-stoppable force.  Create an environment where every person is set to succeed and the pure honesty of each other's interest in one another's success will create a brilliant harmony.  Our souls are fed by a sense of belonging and helping our fellow man / woman.
  • Living organism | an organization must be allowed to bob and weave.  Diligently work across a learning, quality, innovation and customer focused approach and your organization will come alive, all these efforts lean on one another. 


Why can't we all just row in the same direction as one team?  Like the ailments impacting our World, it takes much more than banter back and forth exploring hypothetical solutions.  Roll your sleeves up and put your back into it…your people and those folks around you will appreciate the efforts. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

suggesting is NOT selling

People and companies want to buy from people that they trust.   The individual which possesses the broadest set of knowledge will gain the most credibility and as a result yield high levels of trust.   When I was in the field I definitely had the ear of the customer and for the most part discussed areas that needed improvement or replacement. At no moment was I ever, at least in my mind, selling. Instead, as I think back on those days, I believe I was simply "suggesting". Take an immediate need, add in a trusted advisor and a credible suggestion, you will most likely get a sale. However, this is not selling. From my non-salesman perspective I would sum up the following related to the sales process; sales is not a single event but instead a sequence of connection points which create a positive experience that leads to a purchase . Over the years I've been fortunate to have known many different types of salespeople in different industries and I believe that they a...

focus on your annuity base, come on man..

Stick with what you know and repeat often. When I think about maintenance, regardless of type of contract, I think about consistency, consistency, consistency. The motivation behind writing this post is to encourage you to either build or bolster your existing maintenance base, here are some things to consider: most maintenance contracts should yield between 5% and 7% additional revenue above and beyond the contract value.   Building trust between you and your clients organization will result in additional service activity. Full risk contracts, or those where you were charging one flat amount and taking all of the financial risk, can be profitable.   Watch out for the age of the equipment, service call track record, and customer disposition pull-through opportunities can be constrained with full risk contracts unless the scope of work is very specific. This can be a bit of a slippery slope. The perception of a...