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Romance with Australia

Don’t ask me why. I don’t know. In many ways, I have a romance with Australia in the same way I have a romance with Texas. There are similarities… the ranching background, the hard scrabble land, the outsized attitudes and good nature. I know, me, Hugh Jackman and Baz Lurhmann.

A long time ago I read a beautifully written book by Bruce Chatwin. He spent a lot of time with a community of Aboriginals and learned of the passing of their elders’ custom and wisdom. These are the people who invented the “walkabout”.

Navigating without maps

There were no maps. There was a solid belief that they could sing in a rhythm with the environment. The young would learn chants for their area… “walk this way, turn toward the sun at the rock that looks like a fox” and so on.

The magical thing was that when they walked for 30 or 40 days, they found their way back. As they walked, and ventured into new turf, somehow they picked up the rhythm of the land and their chants revealed the paths and navigated for them.

Ok, Steve, you’ve lost it now

What does this have to do with strategic sales and relationship building?

A relationship has to be navigated. It’s an analytical and an intuitive process. It is dynamic. To keep in an engaged conversation, we need to be sharing stories that help guide our clients’ expectations and behavior, as well as giving us clues as to what they need. No singing necessary… think stories rather than songs, storylines rather than songlines.

Because really they are the same thing. Songlines are stories that are passed from person-to-person to give guidance and structure to an otherwise unknown route. In business we can tell stories to our clients that can evoke trust and understanding, guide interactions and make a stepping path into the future. Narrative is a powerful way that humans understand each other. If you can tell a relevant story of your business to a client, there is a much higher likelihood they will recognize your worth and trust you than if you just promise them value and service. It also gives them a path as to how to interact effectively with you.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to see if your organization is actively creating “storylines” that lead you and clients forward:

1. Do you tell stories to new and potential clients that illustrate a specific, concrete experience with a client who got value and results from your service?
2. Do you establish a long arc for the storyline so you can set a strategic frame for each episode?
3. How do you continue to build that story from specific stories and from more abstract value and advisory situations?

Where are your relationships going?

As a follow up to the Process post, I wanted to bring in the client point of view.

Clients love process too.

Clients are sometimes very clear and explicit… sometimes quite unclear… but they really value it. The “it” is process.

When clients talk to us about great relationships with selling professionals and producing leaders, the two key differentiators look at are “consistency” and “easy to work with”. Incredibly they rate these two points as WAY MORE IMPORTANT than “smart”, “best in her field”.

Think about that. Really think about it. Your clients would prefer to know what to expect from you on a regular basis than to know that you’re number one in your field. They would rather know they are going to speak to you regularly about the things that matter to them, than to be sitting in their office twiddling their thumbs and waiting to hear from the foremost expert.

Those experts, the best-in-field kind, often don’t have the bedside manner for great relationships. A process that regularly addresses client needs and even more importantly gives them the structure to know when to expect it, will in turn have them depend on that structure in their own business.

Another myth… what is “trust” and how important is it in professionalism? Very important. But not defined the way most professionals define it. The inside definition of “trust” is confidential. Can I be trusted with delicate or private information?

Think about this just for a second… for most clients this is table stakes. The bare minimum. The ticket to entry. That is the bare minimum. If you are congratulating yourself on that one, be careful of shoulder strain.

Trust is in the details: Are you punctual? Are you reliable? Do you follow through? Do your actions line up with your words? Can you deliver what you say?

Process is a powerful way for you to deliver on these - usually unstated and very influential - expectations.

How does your process address client needs and your consistency/predictability?

Just for fun, I tried the phrase “sales process” in Wikipedia. I’m a big fan of Wikipedia (as you may have noticed) but while this entry was tightly and distinctly written, it felt so constricting. It’s no wonder that sales professionals and producing leaders have a love/hate relationship with the words - and implementation of - “sales process”.

If I’ve learned anything about professionals, it’s that people don’t like to feel constricted, trapped or mapped. They don’t like to feel that they must trod the exact steps of the guy or gal beside them to do the same numbers and to create the same relationships. In all of the “process” there has to be room for the “real” person to emerge or else that “real” person will eventually either come to deeply resent the process and leave sales, or clients won’t buy in because it doesn’t feel “real”.

Process isn’t the enemy. Only bad process.

Tiger is a great example of unique top performers with consistent process (see my previous posts).  All great athletes respect process- it’s their playbook!   Without it they would not have a baseline on which to innovate or a shared platform of words and behaviors with their team mates.

Have you ever watched the show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” (http://www2.warnerbros.com/web/whoseline/index.jsp). Those guys are brilliant. The audience experiences their work as spontaneous, unique-to-the-moment and full of personality engaging with the audience. Which it is.  Looks like there is no structure.

But don’t be fooled.

Great improvising also has a process, a set of rules that doesn’t restrict but allows players to roll action forward in fluid, split second reaction and timing. In his book Blink, author Malcolm Gladwell studies some of the process, discipline and practice of great improve troops and reveals that consistently great improvisational comedy stands on a firm foundation. There are rules that great improv artists practice interactively. Playing by these rules is what makes them great over and above pure talent.

Process is how to power yourself from good to great, from medium performer to top performer. Top performers have a process. But just like improv comics or Tiger Woods, you just don’t get that sense when you observe them or interact with them, because the process melds seamlessly with their “real” self.

Evaluate your process. Does it let you breath? Does it allow for your unique personality style? Does it enhance and support your strengths? Does it let you be more confident and certain in your strides without forcing you to take the already-trodden path?

Make it real. Make it yours. That’s one of the secrets to making it work.

Next post…the clients’ POV. How they experience process from their providers.

We’ve talked about getting out there on a marketing front to take advantage of business opportunities in a downturn.  Now let’s focus on what to do if you’re a client-centered professional or consultant.

It’s easy to read the papers and the stock ticker and notice the phone has gone quiet.  It gets tempting to go out for extended lunches or decide now is the perfect time to rearrange your office furniture.  Fear makes us freeze. 

Now is the time for you to be create even more value with your clients.  Step through any hesitation- your own business and your clients need your leadership right now.

1. Get closer to key clients: Short of a full market turnaround - which no matter how much they pour in the system isn’t going to come tomorrow - there is nothing more calming to your biggest clients than you being “present and accounted for”.

2. Tune up interactions with future clients. Quality of the agenda, quality of the dialogue, quality of follow-up. One of our Coaching clients in the investment business has implemented a steady voice and her referrers went way up immediately.

3. Tune the message to be relevant “now”: How can you help your clients batten the hatches AND keep appropriate tension moving forward?

4. Tailor your correspondence: Make clear and direct connections between their business priorities and your Solutions.Make the ongoing business a bit more energetic. Acknowledge the worst case and don’t lose sight of the best case. Increase call and meeting discipline.

5. Work together: Clients’ business objectives are more important than ever - and they will shift and stay dynamic.  Collaborate on identifying needs and building relevant solutions.

Stop looking down the black hole.  Instead focus on your key relationships and the value you can bring.

I wrote last week- a favorite rant - about the importance of practice in building repeatable excellence.

A short form way of referring to “repeatable excellence” - let’s say “Tiger” as in Tiger Woods. Tiger could be your power animal. I love those Accenture www.accenture.com magazine ads… I want to save every one… “90% straight line > 10% go with the flow”. Go to the website and you can check them out… they are on a rotating pattern.

The Fewest Things To Make The Most Difference

What surgical insight did the Business Week from last week’s post give us?

• Practice is a critical differentiator. Yeah, yeah.
• Work hard is critical. Yeah, yeah.
• Different practice is the key. Okay, now I’m listening.

One of the keys to practice is that you become capable enough in the behavior that you can “play” and “observe” and still be present.

Follow the flow…

Practice creates solid foundations.

Solid foundations creates repeatability.

Consistency creates trust - in your organization, with your clients, with future clients.

Consistency creates the opportunity to observe and adjust to situational differences. Instantaneously.

Adaptation - innovation - creativity - that’s what powerfully ”spices” your consistency.

Observation creates quality feedback so the baseline is adjusted and the innovation can become part of the repertoire.

Be Your Best… you tiger!