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The current wildfires in Colorado within the USA are devastating everything from forests to wildlife to homes.  These uncontrolled acts of nature reminded me how uncontrolled business growth is very similar to a wildfire for these two reasons.

First, wildfires by their very essence are random.  This randomness reduces the ability to fight, control and monitor these acts of nature. Uncontrolled business growth is also difficult to work through especially if the organization is a small business and lacks the strategy,  structure, processes, incentives and people to deal with this challenge as detailed in the 5 Star Model for organizational development.

Second, because of the randomness, resources must be redirected from other critical projects.  For a business to operate a peak efficiency and effectiveness, requires proper allocation of all resources.  Unplanned growth reduces the overall operational effectiveness.

Uncontrolled by its very nature suggests the inability to manage it. When organizations face this type of business growth, this suggests that proper planning was not in place for this anticipated growth or there was a significant event beyond the forecasts within the existing strategic action plan that triggered the growth.  For example, production of the IPhones or IPads are two recent examples.

The ability to increase sales and reduce costs thereby growing the company is a good thing. However, when the growth is unplanned and affects the capacity of the business to carry out its day to day functions, this is a potential recipe for disaster. The end result may look more like the torched, blacken  ground after a wildfire instead of a thriving green forest.

To avoid this disaster requires the following:

• Vision – Where do you see your business in 3 to 5 years?
• Values – What business ethics will be demonstrated through everyone’s behaviors?
• Mission – What do we want to achieve by the end of the current financial year?
• Key Performance Indicators – What daily metrics will we use to ensure we are aware of current business activities?
• Critical Success Factors – What is necessary and sufficient to achieve our current mission
• Strategic plan – How do we coordinate the efforts between marketing, sales, customers, growth & innovation, leadership & management and financials?
• WAY SMART Goals – What specific long term, short term, tangible and intangible objectives do we need to achieve?
• Schedule – How often will we review this action plan?
• Course Corrections – How will we determine when we may need to change the plan?
• Research – What do our customers think of us?  What is happening within the marketplace?
• Assessments – How do we know we have the right people in the place? How do we know that everyone is rowing in the right direction?
• Alignment – How can we ensure that everything is working together like the gears of a clock for optimum performance?
• Communication – How do we share this information with all stakeholders?

By being proactive instead of reactive (fighting wildfires), any business can not only survive, but thrive. The challenge is investing the time to think strategically and then putting together a written plan of action with a commitment to work from that plan if you truly want to be the Red Jacket in a sea of gray suits.

To increase sales suggests you may need to stay ahead of the flow. To take this action may require you to invest some time to learning about where the flow is going.

Pew Research recently released in June of 2010 some interesting information about what Americans now view as a necessity or a luxury.  For example, 42% of Americans now view the television as a necessity.

Telephone landlines have also suffered since only 74% of American households have landlines and this is down from 97% in 2001. With cell phones and other types of mobile devices being so prevalent, some colleges and universities are removing landlines as well.

Savvy small business owners and sales professionals need to be aware of the trends in the marketplace. Then they must invest the time to think about how these trends may affect their potential customers (a.k.a. prospects) and their ability to increase sales. Ignoring the changing marketplace along with marketing  demographics and psychographics is a recipe for business disaster.

However the Internet allows for any enterprising small business owner, sales professional or even marketing consultant to continually monitor the flow through email notifications.  Several of my favorites include:

• Center for Media Post
• Google Alerts based on specific key words
• Smart Briefs

By becoming proactive and investing the time, avoiding business disaster is a little easier especially when you learn how to stay ahead of the flow.  This type of behavior will help you Be the Red jacket in the sea of gray suits.

Harris Poll just released a new survey about what U.S. adults want.  The results were interesting.

• 43% want to be rich
• 21% want to be thinner
• 14% want to be smarter
• 12% want to be younger

So if the majority of those polled want to be rich, then what is keeping them from achieving that goal? Maybe they are confusing wishing with wanting by hoping for a magic Genie to appear and rub the golden lamp?

Possibly by looking at sales research, this may help explain this gap between wishing and doing.

• 50% of all sales leads are left withering on the vine
• 90% of all sales are made after the third contact
• 20% of all sales people make four or more contacts

The answer appears to lie within each individual. Possibly why some fail to achieve what they want be it to be rich or to increase sales, may have to do with not learning some basic concepts to actually having some basic tools. For example how many people have a:

• Written action plan?
• Proven goal achievement process?
• Doable goal worksheet?
• Process or formula for sustainable results?
• System to keep the negative talk or self doubts at bay?
• Knowledge of their talents?

Being able to be rich or increase sales can happen provided you make it happen. When individuals take personal responsibility and accountability for their actions, then results will begin to be realized.

P.S. In my book, Be the Red jacket in the sea of gray suits, the Keys to Unlocking Sales Success, these issues of having a plan to understanding one’s talents are discussed along with providing additional resources.

As an organization grows in revenue, other aspects also may grow from operations to people.  Eventually when small business owners or chief executive officers determine they can no longer manager all the daily operations, they will take action to hire additional staff and give them the titles specific to their responsibilities.   These titles usually are:

• Managers
• Supervisors
• Team Leaders

What sometimes happens is these titles become very confusing because of:

• No clearly articulate organizational chart
• Poorly written to even non-existent job descriptions
• No evaluation process
• Lack of written policies, procedures, processes and systems including succession leadership
• Interference from small business owners or Chief Executive Officers (Think E-Myth)

With so many small businesses operating in today’s global economy, having a clear understanding of these roles and their impact on the organization appears to be even more critical today than even last year.

In reading a posting by Tammy Kohl of RAC Corporation, she shared the results of a survey conducted by OI Partners of Cincinnati, OH.  They surveyed companies about who would takeover current leadership roles (think about your current great managers, best supervisors or good team leaders). What the results revealed was:

• Past succession plans had not been updated
• 54% lacked enough successors to fill current roles
• 14% are unsure if they have enough future leaders in place

These results confirm other management research about the lack of effective successors at all levels of management from those good team leaders to best supervisors to great managers.  So to answer the question, at this time there is no difference when we look from the 30,000 view point.

Leadership is what separates good companies from great ones and this is not about revenue or sales.  Small companies may have incredible leaders be them managers, supervisors or team leaders.  Business Training Coaching Tip: One of the better books on organizational leadership and how that translates into individual leadership is Fail Safe Leadership.

As Peter Drucker has been quoted as saying, “Leadership is all about results.”  What makes Great Managers, Best Supervisors or Good Team Leaders is the ability to secure the predetermined results with behaviors that reflect the values of the organization. Without this critical component, organizations cannot achieve their full potential.

The goal to increase sales is comprised of many specific marketing message actions including:

• Direct Mail
• Paid Advertising (Traditional such as media, radio and print)
• Internet Pay Per Click and Banner Ads
• Tradeshows
• Sales Letters
• Article Marketing
• Blogging
• Business to Business Event Networking
• Cold Calling

Most of these marketing message actions require direct expenditures to indirect ones such as time invested (salaries).  Yet there is one way to increase sales that does not cost you one single Washington or better yet even a dime.  Now do not over think.

Jeb Blount in his book, People Buy You, devoted 8 pages to this one cost-free marketing action to increase sales.  Do you know what it is?  You probably do it at least once a day if not more.

Before I share this no cost feature, if you have not already guessed, let me ask you this one question, Why do people buy or better yet what prompts people to purchase your products or services?

Now some may answer, benefits or features while others will talk about referrals from others.  These are all true answers, but when we render down the buying decision  process and understand how people make decisions along with how the human brain and mind actually works, then foundational answer is what I call emotional receptors.  (Sales Training Coaching Tip:  Emotional receptors are those senses that receive emotions including sight, sound, taste, touch, smell and feelings.)

As many have said before, people buy first using emotions and then justify those emotions with logic. This works with how the human brain and mind function. The primitive brain receives all sensory data and then it goes to the neocortex or logical thinking.

Since people buy first based upon emotions, then your goal to increase sales should utilize that basic fact within the buying decision process.  And what better way than just to smile when you meet someone or even when talking on the telephone or taping the keys on your mobile device or keyboard?

A smile is 100% cost free and is natural human reaction to an event. This action also has the power to create a reciprocal smile in others.  How many times have you smiled at someone, a complete stranger, and he or she will immediately smile back at you?

Emotions are why this statement is also true, people buy from people they know and trust.  Have you ever bought something of any significance from someone you did not know or worse yet did not trust?

A smile costs you absolutely nothing (except for many some visits to the dentist and that is part of your overall health care maintenance much like eating).  However, the return on this almost automatic action can be deemed to be priceless.

Possibly this is why this quote “Smile and the world smiles with you” (source unknown) continues to be true along with so many other smile quotes.  So if you wish to increase sales, just smile from your heart and who knows you may even make a friend.

P.s. Sales Training Coaching Tip: Have you ever heard people buying from grumpy people?

Gary S. Hart in a recent post on his blog Sales DuJour discussed the lever that remove price from negotiations. In this posting, he shared an old story that my father told  me many years ago and one I had actually forgotten.

In price negotiations, sometimes it helps to understand that you can increase value by adding or removing some aspect and this may even include cash discounts or payment options. All of this actions do not affect the proposed price to be paid by the potential customer. (Sales Coaching Training Tip:  Read the Blue Ocean Strategy to understand the impact of adding, subtracting, increasing or decreasing.

However, given some information found in the Harvard Business Journal’s July 2010 issue, there appears something on the horizon that will compete with price and may even exceed price as an objection. That pending obstacle is time. (Read more in this past increase sales blog posting.

What this article suggests is customers (think qualified prospects) want two things within their buying experience:

1. The basics done well
2. The experience to be effortless

Time is behind these two desires because people do not have time for return trips to the vendor and they do not have additional time to waste in making their purchases. Today’s world is crazy busy and how well you address this factor will help you in your sales or selling  negotiations.

Time has always been present. Buyers want solutions and want those solutions to be time driven because they must focus on other priorities. There will always be those who want to negotiate price, but for many who are time constrained, how will your solutions work with those time constraints just may earn you the sale. Sales Training Coaching Tip: Learn how time now affects the sales process in Jill Konrath’s book – Snap Selling.

The investment (your price to your qualified prospect) will be important. Yet do not forget that time may be as John Miller suggests in his book, QBQ, the question (objection) behind the question (objection). By being aware of this potential obstacle allows you to be ahead of the flow to increase sales as well as to be the Red jacket in the sea of gray suits (all those other sales people).

Dave Logan, author of Tribal Leadership wrote about the 3 reasons why business books are bad.  I must say he makes some valid points, but his points are not strong enough to stop be from buying books be them hard, soft or even ebooks such as through the Kindle.  Being an avid book reader myself, I have always believed if I receive one gem, one nugget of wisdom (learning from someone else’s mistakes) then a book does have value.

What was interesting to note was Logan’s favorite business books were not typical and included Atlas Shrugged one of my all time favorites.  I have found some science fiction books have also presented me with different perspectives such as H.G. Wells, The Time Machine or even War of the Worlds.

Of course, buying a book is no longer a blind event. By investing some time, you have the ability to review what others thought of the book and then use that information to help you in your decision making process. Book reviews are available at Amazon along with some article directory sites such as Ezine Articles.  And you can always go to brick and mortar stores such as Barnes and Noble or Borders to even become more personal and comfortable with your buying decision.

Finally, you can always travel cyberspace and visit  many of the authors’ blog sites and read if you like what they say. Remember what you need to fill your knowledge gaps is probably different from someone else.

Just as there as some very bad fiction books, there are equally bad non-fiction or business books.  And sometimes, you may discover one of your favorites at a discounted book store.  That is where I found Corporate Canaries one of my treasured business books.

Having a different perspective from a variety of business authors is always a good thing. And as Benjamin Franklin said “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”

Execution of the typical strategic business plan fails for a variety of reasons.  The two main reasons, from my experience, are:

1. Lack or poor of understanding what strategy is
2. Lack of simplicity when it comes to actually taking action

After reading an informative article on the Ten Tips to a Winning Business Plan, I realized once again these two factors are usually ignored in writing any business plan.

Strategy is defined differently by many people. However, in researching the origins of this word several years ago I learned it was from  the Greek word “stratçgos” and came from two different words.

What this word meant was for a General to defeat his enemies. In today’s context, it means for an organization to out think their competition allowing them to go just beyond surviving to truly thriving.

A well written strategic action plan requires an investment of time to conduct the necessary research specific to:

• Target audience specific to demographics and most importantly psychographics
• Market trends from local to national to international
• Thorough organizational analysis meaning how well can the firm handle the sales process from the beginning stages of marketing to the final stage of delivery and support of the products or services
• Employee capabilities
• Management capabilities
• Future growth and innovation
• Financial resources both current and future

Failure number two of simplicity is evidence by the sheer volume of pages found in many strategic business plans.  Yes research does require compilation and synthesis and this may be included as back up documentation within the Appendix, however it does not need to be part of the published document.

What is needed is just a one page business action plan from which to keep track of current primary goals.  This one page plan can be supported by auxiliary or supplemental one page goal driven plans.

Also there needs to be a goal achievement process reinforced with a goal setting worksheet or tool to keep everyone communicating, pardon the pun, on the same page. For without this small, but necessary tool, execution will probably fail.  Sales Training Coaching Tip:  Very few people ever learn how to consistently set and achieve their goals. This is proven by all the failed New Year Resolutions.

Having a written plan is always a good thing, but having one that is easily understood, that secures buy in from others through its simplicity and is goal driven is much better.  By taking this action, you can indeed be the Red Jacket in a sea of Gray Suits.

Working with individuals and organizations to improve the results is always interesting. One ongoing challenge is very large gap between knowing the results and then doing, taking the necessary actions to secure them.  Of course, some people have asked me this common sense question,  “How is this possible?”  Why do people not understand results?

I realized part of the source of this problem again as I heard a new economic statistic to demonstrate the results specific to the efforts to stimulate the US economy and grow business productivity.  This new, never before used figure, is called lives touched through the stimulus dollars.

Beyond being just plain ridiculous (using the talent intelligence of common sense) what perked my ears was the word “feelings.” This new metric would give people  good feelings about the stimulus and potentially may make people feel better about a proven ineffective government program. There have been very few government programs that have demonstrated a positive return on investment as government is inefficient and ineffective.

Remember E.T. and how his finger touched people and made things better? I am not sure how a cost of $194,000 per job can make anyone feel better and only adds to the confusion about results.

When the government is not honest about results and continually changes the metrics to measure results, how can the average employee who wants to do a good job not be confused?

Last Friday’s editorial discussed lies and business ethics. As long as those in management be them government officials or for profit management executives continue to ignore reality, these individuals will be living in the land of “Da Nile”  (denial) and the real lives touched will experience far more negative feelings and consequently negative results than positive ones.

According to various sources including the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD), the majority of training and development including sales training does not stick.  In other words there is no positive impact to the bottom line as defined through Kirkpatrick’s Four Level Model of learning and training evaluation process.

Yesterday I came across a website from someone who sent me a social media cold calling message  (sales letter) which lead to an earlier posting on cold calling using social media. One of the results from her training solution as noted in her website was the impact of 5% to 25% increases in sales within the first 60 days.

For some organizations this might be a good thing, but is it enough? Given that sales research suggests 50% of all sales leads are not followed up and 80% of all sales are earned between the fourth and twelfth contacts, then in 60 days should there not be more results?  The answer is probably yes.

The reason why such results are not secured is because the discussion never became real specific and focused as to the pre-determined desired results.   This is a direct result of poor goal setting and writing skills on behalf of the sales training company and probably poor fact finding sales skills as well.

Many are familiar with the SMART criteria.  The S stands for Specific. Most people from my experience truly do not write specific enough goals. Hence any result is acceptable. However when specific is truly understood, this becomes the magnifying glass and truly differentiates a general statement from a truly specific one.

For example, a goal is written to increase sales by a certain percentage. The client and the sales training company agree to this goal. Yet what would happen if the goal was even more specific?

Increase sales by a total of X% with X% coming from new customers; x% coming from existing customers and X% coming from inactive customers beginning in the next 30 days and continuing for 6 months with a review of the results at the end of the designated time frame.

• Would this rewritten goal statement be far more effective in realizing the desired end result to increase sales?
• Would such a specific objective be easier to track and to determine where the gaps are in the current overall business strategic plan?
• Does it provide a tactic to review and evaluate the achievements with a designated time frame?

Effective (meaning doing the right thing) sales training and sales coaching firms truly understand how important specificity is in relationship to the the desired results. So the next time you are solicited by a sales training firm and they advertise their great results ask where those results were achieved?  If they cannot provide a specific and detailed response, then you may wish to consider seeking another firm or individual who can answer with specificity and make sure it is beyond 5% to 25% increases in sales improvement.