From a Sales Economy to a Profit Economy

I just read of a great corporation making big profits for the first time in a of couple years. Hooray! That's great.

If you look deeper into how they did it, it's revealing. They didn't increase sales or prices of their product. In fact, sales were down and prices were down, too. What they did was reduce expenses and renegotiate salaries and benefits.

Smart company. But what is also worth noting is that this company has decided they need to survive and thrive one way or another. That may no longer mean that the answer to success is hiring people, building factories and increasing production. It may mean the opposite.

If you worked for that company, I would guess you'd feel good that the company is stable, but you couldn't become complacent assuming that you'll have your job no matter what. And that's a good thing...

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com
LaBov Sales Channel
PB&J Newsletter

I Don't Feel Like It

Remember when we were little and our mom told us to do something and we replied, "I don't feel like it"? I do. I also remember how my mom informed my dad, and well, I immediatley found a reason to do whatever it was that mom told me to do.

Many times every day we face clients, friends and co-workers who just "don't feel like" working. There are more people today who don't want to work, period, than we realize.

Why? I don't know for sure. Maybe it's a change in our society. Maybe it's because things are tougher, much tougher in this economy. It hardly matters. It's just the way it is.

What can be done? I think if you don't feel like working, that's normal--we all feel that way at times. But keep in mind, there are many people looking for work today who do feel like working.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com
LaBov Sales Channel
PB&J Newsletter

Cliche Bobble Heads

You know those bobble heads dolls--the ones with the heads on a spring? That's what too many of us look like when we hear those meaningless cliches that we're all supposed to agree with.

Think about the cliches you hear every day that actually get in the way of progress and true communication. It's time to take that needle and pop that cliche balloon in front of everyone.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com
LaBov Sales Channel
PB&J Newsletter

Do You Believe?

Animals smell fear. That's why we humans are taught to show no fear when that wild dog, bear or other dangerous animal is near us.

Humans smell fear, too. Only it's really lack of belief.

Do you stammer, avoid, cook up weird excuses, or clear your throat when it comes to presenting your product or your service to a customer? If so, the customer can smell the fear and they will assume it's your lack of belief in yourself, your company or both.

If you don't believe, uncover why. If you do, make sure you don't give off the wrong scent when you present yourself.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com
LaBov Sales Channel
PB&J Newsletter

Patience is a virtue and a noose

One of my weaknesses is in the area of patience. I have little of it and wish the word were one syllable so it could be spoken and spelled quicker--why waste time?

I marvel at those wonderful people who can just gently smile as things around them are moving at a slower pace than anticipated. I am weak in that area.

The flip side to this is that having too much patience might train those around them to lower expectations and performance.

There is no one right answer to this. Ideally it would be great to have that even-keeled demeanor combined with a drill-sergeant-like attention to progress.

Well, I've lost patience with this topic and am moving on...

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com
LaBov Sales Channel
PB&J Newsletter

A Great Client is a Smart Client

As a customer, you have the fear of being taken advantage of. It happens--a dealer or a supplier can put their selfish interests above their customer. But there is an upside to look at, from the customer's standpoint.

If you're a great customer, you can transform your dealer or supplier.

Great customers will be honest with, open to, supportive, and protective of their dealer or supplier. Those great customers are smart--they want everyone to win, they don't need to prove they are the boss.

Cheers to the great customers and clients who understand this. They will be rewarded with a great product, performance and relationship with the very people they buy from.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com
LaBov Sales Channel
PB&J Newsletter

Say Goodbye to the Annuity Economy

Over the last two years, we all know business has changed. What could be counted on--large volume, machine-like purchasing--is over. Now, there is business going on, but it's different. It's sporadic. In many cases, it's in smaller volumes, smaller increments.

You just can't expect the same old, same old. The annuity economy has ended.

What this brings to companies is tension. The employee who has been used to the same "drill" every day will now be dealing with new projects, new clients, new budget constraints, etc.

For the right person--the one looking for new opportunities and challenges--it's heaven. For the wrong person, it's somewhere south of heaven.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com
LaBov Sales Channel
PB&J Newsletter

A Best of Barry: Ask more, get more

We worked with a great client who was in charge of training for his company. He told us he had only one rule regarding training events: Never, ever will they be held in Las Vegas.

I figured he must be anti-gambling or anti-Nevada or something, but he wasn't. He simply was sick and tired of salespeople showing up for training hungover or tired from gambling the night before. Las Vegas was too much of a temptation for salespeople to avoid, in his opinion.

The real problem was that the serious salespeople that attended the events were upset that attendees weren't engaged, showed up late and didn't learn. For the client, this meant too much time invested to train people who didn't care.

My company decided to do something about it. We required that each salesperson, no matter what his/her tenure or experience or sales success, be certified on the product PRIOR to being allowed to attend the event. That meant all 900 salespeople had to study the product and get trained and certified online before they were able to sign up to attend our training.

Some thought that this would not go over well with the top salespeople, but they loved it. The new salespeople loved it too, because it allowed them to be on an even playing field with the seasoned pros who attended. Our trainers loved it because they could provide more in-depth training to everyone that attended since they all knew a fair amount about the product before they sat down.

This approach - certify first, then attend training - was a big success, and, to this day, it's part of our program. In fact, it was so successful that within two years we held training events in Las Vegas and the client didn't mind it, because he knew the salespeople knew their stuff.


Barry LaBov
LaBov and Beyond
Originally posted 9/03/09
labov.com

A Best of Barry: Moneyball and Business

In the fascinating baseball book, Moneyball, the author tells the story of how Major League Baseball has unwillingly undergone a transformation due to progressive organizations such as the Oakland A's.

Long story short, thanks to Bill James, a master statistician, century-old assumptions as to what makes a good ballplayer have been upended. James detailed the one or two stats that ball players should be judged and rewarded on--and they weren't the popular ones such as batting average or home runs (You'll have to read the book to find out, after all this is a business blog, not a baseball blog.).

So what, right? The interesting part is that the paternal, tradition-steeped Major League Baseball hierarchy ignored his findings for decades. That means teams like the Yankees overpaid for underachievers while smaller, less-funded organizations such as the A's took advantage and fielded equal teams for a fraction of the payroll. Now, slowly the other teams are coming around, but it's been a fight.

How many other industries are challenged in the same way as MLB? Industries such as aviation, automotive, and medical are undergoing transformation. It will be interesting to see if the Oakland A's of those industries break through and prosper. Or will the Yankees of their industries catch on quickly?

Barry LaBov
LaBov and Beyond
Originally posted 9/30/09
www.labov.com

A Best of Barry: Isn't there always a challenge?

Right now, you have that one thing, that one issue and if it would go away, everything would just be great. But...

Don't we always have an issue or challenge? If you're a manufacturer, don't you always have something challenging you, whether it's in regard to product, pricing, positioning or the sales channel? If you're the sales channel, isn't there always something that's a problem, whether it be relations with the manufacturer, the economy, turnover, etc?

I'm convinced that once we solve that big problem, the next one in queue pops up and that's problem we need to deal with. And the cycle starts over again.

So, we either will look at it as an ongoing grind of frustration or we just realize that we will solve this issue and there will be another one, and that's the variety and fun that our businesses bring us.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com
LaBov Sales Channel
PB&J Newsletter

A Best of Barry: Silence is Golden

Blah, blah, blah

Have you ever daydreamed during a presentation or while a salesperson is going on and on talking? I have. Too much talk, not enough meaning. Blah, blah, blah.

The worst infraction of all is not allowing for silence in any conversation, whether it happens to be on a sales call or a business presentation. We all want to fill up the "space" and talk, talk, talk.

Mark Twain said it well, "The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause."

Want to improve your presentation or increase your sales? Do this: after you ask a question of your audience, shut up and allow for silence. Let someone think and respond. It may take a few more seconds than is comfortable, but it's worth it. Avoid the temptation of filling that space with blah, blah, blah.


Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
Originally posted 5/21/10
www.labov.com
LaBov Sales Channel
PB&J Newsletter

A Best of Barry: Clever isn't always so clever

Who doesn't love a creative idea? A unique concept? A twist of a phrase that draws laughter? We all enjoy the clever ideas. But clever can't be the goal, it must be merely an outcome.

Too often we try to be clever to prove that we're creative. Usually that results in ideas that are too complicated, fuzzy or confusing. For instance, that hilarious commercial you saw last night on tv. It was funny, outrageous and memorable except for one thing: the name of client that paid for it. Clever idea, but worthless nonetheless.

We need to stop trying to prove our cleverness. Instead, it's all about solving a problem and coming up the answer that inspires and changes behavior.

If our idea is so great that the world is changed because of it, then maybe we're clever after all.

Barry LaBov
Originally ran 03/25/10
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com
www.labovsaleschannel.com

A Best of Barry: Bureaucracy can kill

Derek used to work at a huge conglomerate. He hated it. He was the George Costanza of the place, hiding under his desk and sleeping during work hours, and in general just didn't care. Sure enough, Derek knew he was screwing off and while he knew that he could try harder, he didn't because it wouldn't have mattered anyway.

Then Derek was given a choice by management, retire (with a fair package) or take his chances that they don't lay him off. I urged him to take the package and run, because any company that offers you a package is telling you they would like you to leave. He took the package.

A year later, Derek got back into the job market and hired in at a fast-paced entrepreneurial firm. I told him it would be the most difficult job he ever will have and also very possibly the most rewarding. It has been both. It's tough. The boss knows what's going on. It's internally competitive. They take chances and try to tackle assignments they've never tackled before (they almost always succeed).

And Derek is now viewed as a star--an old one, but a star nonetheless. Why? Because he matters, he counts, he has a value. There's a purpose at that company--doing great work for the customer. At the old place the bureaucracy was boss.

In large corporations, we must fight to make sure bureaucracy isn't boss, that it's kept in the background. Otherwise, we kill the great performances and the people's self-worth along with it.


Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com

A Best of Barry: Breaking Through the Internal Clutter

We've all heard that good advertising needs to break through the clutter. True, but cliche.

In today's large corporations, there are so many initiatives and programs that employees are bombarded with too many messages--too much interference. Any successful internal communication must separate itself from the clutter or it will fail.


How? First you must simplify the message. Make it human-speak, not corporate-speak. How many memos designed to improve internal communications and performance are filled with the same mumbo-jumbo that is blocking the company's performance already?

No matter the technology, no matter the product or service, no matter the customer base or dealer-distributor base--humans crave simple, sincere communication.

Our goal needs to be to communicate with our employees and constituents just as they do with their friends and family--the people they care about.

Look at your communications and determine if it breaks through the internal clutter and mumbo-jumbo, if it does, your message has a chance.


Barry LaBov
Originally posted on 09/17/09
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com

A Best of Barry: Think like a zebra - forge partnerships

In the wilds of Africa, it's common to see zebras, giraffes and baboons working together. It's a sight to behold, but it's also a great example of partnership. They don't compete; they protect each other with their unique talents. The giraffe can see far distances. The zebra is fast. The baboon is aggressive and fights well. They can be a formidable team when attacked. The enemy is the lion or the wild dogs, not each other.

In business, our suppliers, associations and partners can protect us - if we realize that they can play that role and promote that opportunity.

It's key that we don't go it alone, that we work together to help others so that they can help us. Our suppliers have a mutual interest in seeing us as well as themselves succeed.

In nature and in business, we have our enemies, our predators. We need as many allies as possible.

Barry LaBov
Originally posted 08/18/09
www.labov.com
www.umbrellastory.com

Beware of Mynah Birds

Way back when I had at least a partial head of hair, I was in a rock band. We had a great singer who could sing like a bird. In fact, he used to admit, "I sing like a bird alright. A mynah bird, I'm a mimic." He could sound like any number of popular singers when singing the top hits of the day. Problem was, he didn't have his own, original style--he had numerous styles, all based on other singers.

One of my buddies used the term "mynah bird" the other day when speaking of a couple of people who basically repeated what the boss said to win the boss's favor.

In our businesses we have to fight the temptation to build our companies on corporate cover-band singers or mynah birds. If we want innovation, we need originality and character. And we leaders need to know when someone is merely just singing our tune.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com
www.labovsaleschannel.com

Every Day Shouldn't Always Be A New Day

One thing a customer looks for--and values--is consistency. That means when they go into McDonald's they expect the Big Mac to taste like a Big Mac. The customer wants it, expects it, and will not appreciate something else.

The boss who is promised that she will receive an update every week on Tuesday at 9:00, expects that update. If there is no update, regardless of why, the expectation has not been met.

Every day is not a completely new day in which no previous agreements or understandings apply. Every Big Mac is to taste like a Big Mac, not a Whopper or some other creation, no matter how tasty we think it is.

It's that simple and that tough.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com
www.labovsaleschannel.com

Lisa Lisa

Lisa was dealt a tragedy in her life. Instead of dropping her head and feeling sorry for herself, she fought. She fought the system, she fought to find the person who was responsible, long after the system gave up. It was a long fight, filled with doubts, with push-back and with the understanding that victory, if ever attained, would not taste sweet.

She persevered and won. A real victory. A victory that was just. A victory that might make a difference in others' lives.

Why did she spend so much time and energy? Because it was the right thing to do. Because she felt there was nothing more important to do in her life. Like many heroes, she is understated about her victory.

She fought to do the right thing because it was the right thing to do. Because of this, she will inspire others, including me, to do the same. In tragedy, she found a purpose and a meaning.

Barry LaBov
www.labov.com
www.labovsaleschannel.com