I remember the first time I ever got cut or eliminated from something. It was my sophomore year in high school and I was cut from the football team. Now, I wasn’t a world class athlete or even a top talent in my local area but I had been playing pee-wee and junior football for years and always had been a starter and contributor to my teams. I believed then and still do today that I was better than three to four others who made the team, but in the end I learned a few things.
One, life isn’t fair. The experience was my first awakening to that simple truism. I’d been in a trusting and naïve state until then. In spite of all of my hard work, team orientation and my talent (whatever that might have been) I didn’t make the team. In a nutshell, the coach really just didn’t care for me. Why…I don’t know although I have my suspicions. If you’re in an environment where you are looked at differently or looked down on or looked over, you will have a much harder time making a go of it than being in an environment where you are valued. This is true in business and life. Your associations with others who think positively of you and who see potential in you will go a long way toward your success.
I became aware of this as I went through high school, college and into the professional world. Much of where we end up is that nice combination of what you know and who you know. And the ‘who’ counts a lot. The people who know you well and like you can be huge influencers in your life because they will do what they can to help you be pulled along on the path to success. I came to see my task as being discerning about who I would choose to get to know and be pulled along with in order to further my career and life. I was careful about the choices and would avoid people who could be negative.
Second, I learned to persevere and not give up. I learned about using my anger in a positive way by channeling my energies to compete and win. After I got cut I went home and told my parents about it. I was in a feeling sorry for myself state. Fortunately, my dad wouldn’t buy it and he got on my case. “So, what are you going to do about it? Give up? Is that what you want? If you really think that you should be on that team you should go back and show them.” I did. I went back to the coach and told him that I wanted to work out with the team even though I was cut. He allowed me to hang on the sidelines and help the starting quarterback by running pass routes for him while he warmed up. After three days he put me on the team. I learned that ultimately it was my choice, not his, to hang in there and work hard to get my chance.
From then on whenever I had a setback I resolved to not give up. When someone told me that I could not be successful at something I didn’t give up. In sales, you are always challenged and you are always in a competitive situation. While it’s true that you can’t sell everyone, for a variety of reasons, it’s also true that you must have a competitive fire and will to win. You must not give up. There are opportunities for second chances and through these you can play and win. Whether to hang in there is your choice.
So, two things to think about- both of which I think are applicable for businesses and individuals in this economy, one where holding on or looking for work are the situation: (1) Be focused on who you are connected to and make the most of those connections to help your business or career. Choose who can help you or your business (2) Don’t ever give up. Keep fighting because you don’t know when you’ll be noticed or needed. If you don’t push forward you can’t play.
© 2009 All Rights Reserved Peter E. McDowell
PERFORMA Business Development
Different View/ Better Results
pete@performabusdev.comWeb @ http://www.performabusdev.com
Blog @ http://petemcd.wordpress.com/Connect with Pete on biznik, Contribution Networking Party, Eastside Entrepreneurs, Facebook, Konnects, Linked In, Plaxo and Twitter.
OK, a bit of a rant today. With all of the noise coming out of Washington these days, you’d think that profit is evil. If you own a business or are very into the business that you work in it’s a no brainer that profit is not evil. It’s a requirement, an outcome of business best practices. With no profit sooner or later you are not in business. Possibly later, because your cash flow can pull you along for a time, but eventually the cash well runs dry.I get tired of the assault on the business community over profitability. The questions of how much profit is ‘fair’ or how much is ‘too much’ galls me. Competition usually has a way of managing back profit to reasonable (meaning, specific industry benchmarks or norms) and sustainable levels within time. Unfortunately, there have been a few bad apples at the Fortune 1000 levels that have soured the perceptions of running a profitable business and distributing the rewards of such to owners and employees. Rewards come in many ways, from hourly wages, salaries, benefits, stock options, bonuses, commissions; just to name a few.Another thing I get tired of, from the Washington beltway crowd, the vast majority of whom have never run a business or been in private enterprise their entire career, is the politically convenient attack on certain industries as having ‘windfall profits’. These people have no clue what business best practices are, the kind that actually allow you to make a profit. No one has adequately defined windfall profits. Just what is one? How much in real dollars or as a percentage of sales is a windfall profit? No one can ever give you an answer for a very simple reason- they don’t have one. They’d rather be an attack dog because the sound bite opportunity is too good to pass up.Let’s take the standard or favorite whipping boy, the oil industry, and specifically Exxon. In the past few years, every major business magazine and business newspaper has published an article on this industry and this company. If you actually take the time to examine the profit performance as measured in percentage of revenue, their net profit percentage, they (the industry and company) are smack dab in the middle of the industrial pack, and for ROI also. They also spend more dollars per revenue on CAPEX and R&D than most industries or specific businesses. Why are they attacked? Simply, because they are BIG and the numbers reported are BIG. These are huge companies with thousands of employees, huge revenues and huge profits. Funny isn’t it, how in 2008 no one said anything when their profits were down due to the huge drop in oil prices and the corresponding gasoline consumption by consumers who elected to drive fewer miles? My message would be this- don’t buy into politicians pontifications. Do your homework when it comes to understanding the numbers of business and specific industries.By the way, when it comes to windfall profits (if you can define it), guess who has some of the best return on their investment into an industry? Our politicians. Both parties. Many come into Washington with moderate net worth and years later with a net worth in the multi-millions, all while voting themselves nice pay increases and ever broadening benefits packages every year. And, with the only real risk being one of not getting re-elected. Wish I could be in their shoes…controlling my own pay and benefits. Oh, did you see the report in the last week or two about these people in Congress having a special investment fund that allowed them to have a net return of 25% for 2008, a year when most everyone on the planet went backwards, with many seeing their entire nest eggs wiped out? How do we get into their fund?Starting, owning and eventually running a business is a very risky venture. People should be rewarded from profits for the risk taken. Business people should have every opportunity to produce an outrageous profit as long as they are law abiding, treat their employees and customers properly and provide products and services that solve real problems or provide real benefits. The problem isn’t profits. The problem is always humans and sometimes you get humans who behave in ways that are not acceptable in society. The vast majority of business people I know and have interacted with for years are good, hardworking people who are trying to get ahead. They are people who have stepped up and taken the risk to develop a company that can provide employment and benefits for many.© 2009 Peter E. McDowellPERFORMA Business DevelopmentDifferent View/ Better Resultspete@performabusdev.comWeb @ http://www.performabusdev.comBlog @ http://petemcd.wordpress.com/Connect with Pete on biznik, Contribution Networking Party, Eastside Entrepreneurs, Facebook, Konnects, Linked In, Plaxo and Twitter.
How do you fire a million dollar account? Should you? Sometimes, the answer is yes.
I once had the experience of selling to a very fast growing technology company, way back in the day when hardware was still manufactured in Silicon Valley! This company was the type of fast rising star that had annual growth rates in the 300% to 500% range, shooting from nothing to $500mil in just a few years. And no, it wasn’t Sun Microsystems, which back in its day grew at similar rates. (In fact, I also handled Sun Microsystems at the very same time.) The company noted here was on the top of all fast growth companies lists and was noted in numerous business magazines and newspapers.
As you can imagine, managing sales and relationships in a company like this was both challenging and exhausting. When a company grows at this incredible pace everyone in the growth company is operating at an intense level and the demands put on vendors are just as intense. These fast growth companies come to rely on their vendors to help keep the supply chain moving. Their MRP systems are usually behind the growth curve for two reasons- things happen too fast for people to keep up with analysis of needs and people make mistakes in the input of data.
The business had good margins and volume for our company. We jumped through hoops every day to make things happen and make certain that at quarter end, when numbers would be reported, their shipments would not be impacted by our inability to supply product. We never let them down and in fact, we lifted them up in many ways and saved their bacon.
Now, this would seem like a pretty good thing, but it wasn’t because we were not appreciated for our excellent work. In spite of our amazing performance of high quality and 99% on time delivery, we were verbally abused every day by the people in purchasing and shipping, and by the Director of Operations. The D.O. also managed the accounting group. We had trouble getting paid…not only on time or with extensions, but getting paid at all. Our customer service people would be in tears, our manufacturing people would be swearing and our accounting group would be upset. One day, I was abused and it was ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’. The D.O. screamed at me, with full helpings of profanity as his main course, in their accounting department when I brought in duplicate documentation to verify shipments made…months before. That was it for me.
Although I did not have an ownership position in the company I worked for, I approached the owners and suggested we should fire the account. Guess what- they agreed! The hassle factor of dealing with such an abusive customer was damaging other customer relationships and hurting our employee morale. We were not employing our resources or assets as efficiently as we could to grow our business because of this customer.
So, we fired the customer and never looked back. It was a gusty decision at the time and it shocked the D.O. He couldn’t believe it. Our company had a hiccup for a few months but we regained our growth rate and took off. It was a lesson learned. As a side note, this company eventually went down as a result of poor management and shady accounting practices, so in the end their ‘M.O.’ didn’t work.
Let’s be real- in today’s extremely tough economy it is very hard to suck it up and walk away from any business. Most businesses (there are exceptions) are happy just to have customers. They feel that they cannot afford to be fussy and they can’t lose any business. However, even now you may be doing business with customers who greatly impact your business in a negative way. Be aware of this and examine your customer roster. Don’t put up with a customer who abuses your business and your people, and sidetracks you from moving forward in tough times. You are better off doing business elsewhere with people who you like and trust. You are better off when you can focus your energies on things that make a real difference in the survival and ultimate growth of your company.
© 2009 All Rights Reserved Peter E. McDowell
PERFORMA Business Development
Different View/ Better Results
pete@performabusdev.comWeb @ http://www.performabusdev.com
Blog @ http://petemcd.wordpress.com/Connect with Pete on biznik, Contribution Networking Party, Eastside Entrepreneurs, Facebook, Konnects, Linked In, Plaxo and Twitter.
