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The Focus On The Custo/Member

by on June 21, 2005 in Business

I’ve been sitting on the sidelines for a few months observing how companies and associations connect with one of their most vital assets: their customers and members (since these two groups share so much in common, I’ve coined the term custo/member). What I’ve noticed is this: the best businesses are embracing the natural attraction that occurs when marketing, service, and design are aligned with the desires of their custo/members. They’re creating passionate custo/members by energetically creating the conditions for loyalty and return business.

Now I’m back as an active participant; I’m the Director of Membership for a non-profit professional society. While non-profits have been pulling ideas for the corporate world for a while, I think the for-profits could learn a bit from how associations relate with their members. My hope is that this blog will be of value to both types of businesses and those who work for them.

This is the time to do something different, something that’s never been done before. Our custo/members are waiting, but not for long. It’s up to us to connect to them in deeper, more meaningful ways. Now, let’s have some fun.

I Feel Like A Wind-up Toy

by on June 3, 2005 in Business, Career

Or more accurately, like one of those toy cars that you pull back and release to watch it zoom across the floor. Except, I feel like I’ve been pulled back and am just waiting to be released. What to do with all that pent-up kinetic energy? When you’re unemployed, you can get depressed about not working and bringing in a paycheck. Or you can experience a sort of manic tension where you want to unleash some really brilliant ideas because you have plenty of time (often too much) to read and reflect.

Yes, part of the "work" of being in the job hunt is looking for work: submitting resumes, networking, conducting info interviews, going on actual interviews, etc. The problem is that this involves a lot of waiting and I don’t like to wait. For me, having patience and waiting are two different concepts. Waiting is like handing power over to someone else. However, you can have patience and still be proactive in looking for opportunities to do something big.

I have something big in mind that’s just too important to keep tucked away. How do I implement it? I’m not sure. How does it integrate with my job hunting? Again, not sure but I think it can co-exist with whatever I find myself doing. What is it you ask? I hope to share it very soon.

When It Comes To Business Competition, Think British Open

by on May 27, 2005 in Business, Work

I’ve been thinking about the connections between competition in sports and the business world. Guess some of it has to do with my father’s past ordeal in trying to stay competitive against giants with what was once a thriving business. Might also have something to do with the fact that most automated response messages I get when I submit resumes talks about the "competitiveness of today’s job market." When I think of competition, my mind usually gravitates toward the model that focuses on beating your opponent. This is a model that I most clearly understood growing up when I played sports. Winning was all about dominating the other person or team (and sometimes competition gets rough – I played with blue-collar country boys and you better bring some muscle along with skills…I have a twice-broken nose to prove it).

Problem was that I didn’t really have much muscle and when you’re a skinny kid you need to find less brutal games. So my father introduced me to golf and I fell in love with it. When I was ready, I competed in local tournaments and played in leagues with men twice and triple my age. Funny thing is that the concept of competition in golf is very different from competition in most other sports like basketball, football, or greco-roman wrestling. In these latter activities, the focus is squarely on the opponent with the objective of stopping them from scoring and winning. In golf, the focus of competition is very different.

When it comes to competing in the business world today, the golf model offers a far more productive and powerful way to grow ourselves and our organizations.

I remember one of the first tournaments I played. In high school, the format you played in was a foursome with three three other schools. I got smoked not because I was a poor player and didn’t have ability, but because I spent more time worrying about the opponent and their game. I kept trying to outdrive the others and make spectacularly impressive shots. This went on for a few matches and all I could do was shake my head and wonder why I wasn’t beating my opponents. What only occurred to me after my coach took me out for a practice round was that my understanding of what it was to compete was working heavily against me. Instead, I needed to readjust my competitive drive and turn it inward.

In golf, you’re not squaring off directly against the other competitors in the field – you compete against yourself and the course. Its a sport where winning means mastering your own craft, not worrying about what the other player is doing. Their game is out of your control. It’s also a sport where the every changing environment challenges you to contend with it. This, too, is out of your control.

Where do the connections play out in the work world?

One instance that comes to mind is in the career search. The fact is the job market is competitive where hundreds of candidates vie for the same position. You can’t go and bludgeon every one of your opponents in order to win. You can’t worry about what talents they possess, what skills they offer, what experience they bring with them. The only thing that is in your control is YOU. Like in golf, you have to spend time practicing on your resume and for your interviews; when it’s time to play, you can only worry about your own game.

Another instance is a common one that takes place within the organization. Consider the scenario where there is an opportunity for internal promotion to a top company position. The larger the company, the more numerous the field of competitors. I’ve seen and heard stories about the rugby scrums that developed among colleagues. Yet, the more time that the individuals spent focused on whether ‘Tom down the hall’ or ‘Tina in marketing’ were gaining an upper hand, the less time they had developing themselves and their own game. In this scenario, what happens when you win? Who do you try to beat now? And how have you grown yourself in the process – any new accomplishments to report?

There are many more examples, but probably the granddaddy of all of them is how businesses go after market share. The old, tired model has companies on a seek and destroy mission to bludgeon their opponents by any means necessary. This is competition viewed through the lens of primal fear.The fear is that if you don’t get your enemies out of the way first, they’ll eventually destroy you. Again, focusing on the opposition means taking valuable time away from improving from within. We can’t maintain our attention in more than one place for very long.

The best companies understand that competition is there to help us improve, not kill us. Consider the golf world’s response to Tiger Woods. In the aftermath of his earliest wins when he dominated his opponents, other players understood that they had to raise the level of their own games. Golfers like Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson are now better players because of the effect that a newcomer had on their sport.

So, rather than condemning the competition, wishing it away, or trying to destroy it, welcome it. How else can we hope to improve who we are?

Heading For The Hills

by on April 8, 2005 in Business

Today, I’m heading back home to visit my parents and help them with a major life decision: they are selling the final piece of the family business. It all started with my grandfather back in the early 1950s who saw a brilliant opportunity in gasoline distribution. More and more individuals were able to afford automobiles and gas stations were popping up everywhere as a response to this trend. As a result, he became a very prosperous businessman who would later add to his modestly-sized gasoline bulk plant and build his own gas station (conveniently placed near a newly built interstate highway) in the early 1970s. In the mid-1980s, he built another service station not too far away.

My dad has been involved in managing the business since he graduated from college in the early 1970s. It started with delivering gas; I still remember riding with him in the big truck when I was just a little tyke. Over the years, my dad’s role naturally evolved. In the early 1990s, my grandfather decided to step aside leaving dad as the legal owner. However, this was about the same time that the business started to seriously decline. First sign was the decision to get out of bulk distribution as we were getting squeezed by much larger competitors. Then, the second (and newer) service station was starting to bleed money and was sold. All that’s left is the original gas station and now it is being sold.

The story behind the decline of the business is a familiar one to small business owners. As I reflect on what’s happened over the past 15 years that’s brought us to this moment, I see some cautionary patterns emerge. I doubt any of these will come as a great surprise to successful entrepreneurs.

Don’t piss off the gods. My grandfather has an irascible personality and has been known to tell people who get in his way to kiss his ass (compound this with my dad who tries to please everyone). Unfortunately, this includes folks who could make life easy or tough for an independent businessman. Naturally, they helped make it hard for him and Dad to sustain the business when times grew tough.

Don’t focus on a tree when Wal-Mart comes to bulldoze the forest. The writing of "your business is going down the toilet" was really on the wall when the giant moved in across the street. At first, it seemed like a good thing to have them: customers could have their cars serviced while they did their shopping. Then, Wal-Mart decided to sell gas. And then another discount gas retailer moved in next to them. So, while they duke it out with each other, the family business suffers the collateral damage.

Don’t start hacking off limbs to save the body. The time for innovation isn’t when the shit hits the fan. When it was apparent that the business was failing, my dad looked to anything that might give it a boost. After the first one didn’t quite work out, it was time to start hacking away things. First, it was hours of operation and downsizing; then, it was services, Now, there’s not much left but a bloody torso.

I don’t offer any of this as an indictment of my father’s business acumen. He’s always tried to do the best he could to manage the business he inherited. I always thought that he wished he could be doing something else, though. I guess this is what really drives me and my philosophy toward work and our career decisions. I’ve seen how unhappy my dad has been toiling at his work and how unfulfilled he’s been by his decision to enter the family business. For a while, I thought he was an isolated example, but when I started working I saw the familiar signs all around in co-workers.

So, I need to go and head for the hills. Perhaps I need the break, too. I’m still waiting to hear from a couple of companies about whether I’m the right candidate for them. Hopefully, one of them will see that I’m ready to get started, ready to contribute in fresh ways, ready to passionately bring myself to the work that I do. All I know is that I’m ready.