We know more or less how we learn, and also through behavioral science we also know how organizations learn. The state of the science of Organizational Behavior and later, the discipline called Organizational Development, have left very important lessons that are strongly related to organizational effectiveness and efficiency.
As our specialty focuses on the unit of analysis that is called organization, we are going to carry out a very simple review of the ways in which we have been learning:
1. Aristotelian learning, where apparently one person learned by walking alongside another person who, tentatively, managed the dialogue.
Something that our ministers - and other officials - of education and production in Latin America should know, is that already around 1920, that is to say almost 100 years ago, the companies and entrepreneurs of the United States were convinced that the teaching and later The learning of the students corresponding to the centers of high studies and universities in that same country, was not directly related to the needs and companies.
2. This is how the “case method” that is made famous through Harvard is generated. It turns out to be the first great approach of universities and higher study centers to respond to the needs of companies, equipping future organizational participants with new competences, skills, abilities and knowledge.
3. But the "case method" - like what happens to everything that exists and that naturally deteriorates with the simple passage of time - also achieves its diminishing returns. Participants do exercises and cases about what happens or could happen, but have no assigned roles.
4. This brings to birth “role playing” where a situation arises and, in addition to working on the situation, the participant has a role that is generally associated with a position within the company. Participants have roles with "slogans" that try to resemble the job description that staff have in the company.
5. Participants in courses, workshops, etc. now they play a role that is related to a case or situation, but in general they do not go further and are not directly related to what happens "in reality" in the company. This generates a new and more powerful way of learning, which is "experiential learning". Different people, different trainers, give different explanations of what it represents and put it into practice under a particular situation. For us, and based on the results achieved, a main characteristic of this particular form of learning is that of "creating a leadership vacuum". That is, what to do when you can NOT look up… waiting for instructions from another, which never come.
Of course, not all of these ways of learning occur within a particular organizational arrangement, but are also related to organizational age, organizational size, and organizational type.
We have already talked a lot about the four forms prevailing over time, where organizations have new arrangements and organizational formats, starting from the hierarchical pyramid organization. Each of these organizational arrangements bears and maintains a particular direct relationship with the organizational type in terms of its shape over time.
Organizations have learned over time as a result of the application of - at least - four driving styles. Pyramid driving, represented by a triangle, is the directional model that most people have on their mind. The directors are at the top of the pyramid, the managers in the middle, and the rest of the staff at the bottom. The instructions go from the bosses to the subordinates so that they act. Until the boss makes a decision, not much happens in the company. Information flows, at least initially, from the tip to the base.
The second style is inverted pyramid driving, represented by an inverted triangle, and it works differently. Managers are slowly becoming aware that employees, who are in contact with problems, often have the best answers. As the organization gains in complexity, the pyramid gradually begins to reverse. Employees move to the top corner because they generally have the best solutions to the problems the company is experiencing and have time to react more quickly. Middle managers become supportive to employees, and the top management begins to operate as support for middle managers.
Information flows, as in the previous case, from top to bottom, but when the pyramid is reversed, the information stream is reversed as well. But there is obviously a big problem with this organizational arrangement: the entire organization is supported by a single point. By bearing the weight of the entire organization, superiors begin to look for an alternative style of driving. The obvious solution is to widen the base of the inverted pyramid, making it a square.
The driving style represented by a square was an effort to solve the driving style problems resulting from the inverted pyramid organizational arrangement. In addition to functional managers on both sides of the square, project managers were located at the top corners, which means that each person in the organization suddenly had two heads. A fundamental rule in any organization up to that point has been that each person in a company should have only one boss.
As noted by Abraham Lincoln (excerpted from the Bible) "A house divided against itself cannot stand." With matrix driving style, a person has two bosses, something new in the history of organizations. This situation requires a set of new skills, which have never been necessary before, to enable a person to work with two bosses in the same company. It is not surprising at all that those committed to the organization had difficulties and began to become entangled with erratic-type behavior and do things that others could not understand. But this was not enough, the situation was further complicated.
The circular driving style, represented by overlapping circles, was the next step in the evolution of corporate management styles. It originated in the aerospace industry, in which a wide variety of technologies had to be integrated into practical solutions when it was obvious that no one person had sufficient knowledge to make decisions on their own. To place a capsule in space, the decisions that have to be made require knowledge of heat transfer, aerodynamics, materials, weight and shock radii, measurements, survival systems, etc.
No person could know enough to make such complicated decisions, so it was necessary to develop a driving style that allowed people to assume leadership when their areas of knowledge were addressed, record the necessary information when other technologies that affected their areas were analyzed and develop ways of making final decisions as a team rather than as a person or a decision committee. As other organizations have developed increasingly sophisticated technologies, market decisions are becoming more complex, and as quality standards are stricter, more and more organizations have had to move in the direction of this driving style.Unfortunately, this gradual change in emphasis in very few cases was noticed by members of the organizations. But, on the other hand, this dilemma began to be resolved as a result of a new profession: Organizational Development.
Companies in Latin America FURTHER incorporate into these styles the “bureaucratic” model, which is disadvantageously combined with the inverted pyramid model when personnel obtain power, but from forces external to the company, such as the union. All this results in a particular style of learning and organizational development where the weight of the organization is finally placed on very few employees who are highly committed. This in turn has dysfunctional consequences for the organization as the weight is placed on them. This type of “learning” resulting from these behaviors, we call the Subordinate's Commitment Driving, where many times it is the subordinate who is committed while the superior is not (at least in fact). See book by Dr. Donald Cole and Eric Gaynor:Professional Suicide or Organizational Murder, Buenos Aires, 2003.
As advisers, facilitators and agents of change in organizations, we see that more and more a learning style such as that described under the subordinate style of driving by commitment is present in competitive organizations… and apparently the management in companies has not found a satisfactory solution. It is not surprising that the brand of “administration under chaos” has been given to this type of situation that is present in competitive companies that do not receive subsidies.
The internal climate of the organizations makes the staff "see" the need to be competitive "outside" - so that they can win Clients - and cooperative (verbalized) "inside". And this is not easy to put it in and also keep it inside a single head. Furthermore, there is a “non-manifest” conflict within these few people committed to the organization, because of the cooperative environment, and that it is actually cooperative only from the point of view of verbalization. Many of the people who worked under the subordinate commitment driving style… no longer belong to the organization.
If we add to this the fact that today CRM is offered as a “solution” to effective relationship with the Client, which is viewed as the learning process of the company with the Client, the question we ask ourselves is the following: "Can the staff of our company sustain this best practice based on only two cycles of the learning process with the Customer (contact and relate), leaving out two very important cycles such as intimacy and trust?" And furthermore, if we operate daily "within the company" under a model where the inconsistencies between what is spoken and what is done are often manifest, can we have a true vocation of integral service to our Clients? Of course, without the Client "noticing" it.
Epistemologists have made very important contributions focusing on the importance of dialogue and conversation that are highly applicable to the learning process between the company and the Client. For this they have made important distinctions between affirmations, judgments and opinions, declarations, among others. And this requires a little more of the time that we have had at our disposal until now. Thank you very much for sharing.
BUSINESSES - TESTS developed in joint work with BUSINESSMEN in the “Business Development” Conference; Buenos Aires, October 2003 - Some "Principles»
1. How do you define the stage your company is currently in and what stage would you like it to develop?
2. In which stage do you understand that your superior is and towards which phase would you like it to develop?
3. In which stage do you understand that your subordinates are and towards which phase would you like them to develop?
4. In which stage do you understand that your peers are and towards which phase would you like them to develop?
5. How much of the readiness for change exists within your work team?
6. How much resistance to change is there in your work team?
7. To what extent do people who relate to you perceive that they have more to gain or What to lose with the change?
8. Within your work team, to what extent are you willing to lead projects and assume “responsibility” for themselves?
9. To what extent can you define who are the Clients that add the most value to your company's profits?
10. To what extent do you know "quantitatively" how the Pareto Law applies to your company?
11. To what extent do you have defined the variability of your Clients' profiles?
12. To what extent has your company developed a system to attend and reward the complaints and claims of the Clients?
13. To what extent does your company have a defined methodology to “attract Clients”
14. To what extent does your company have a defined methodology to “have Clients”
15. To what extent does your company have a defined methodology to “retain Clients”
16. To what extent does your company have a defined methodology to “transfer Clients”
17. To what extent does your company have a defined methodology to “enlarge Your clients" ?
18. To what extent do you know the Clients you lose each year?
19. To what extent do you know the Clients you earn each year?
20. To what extent do you know which are the main Customer segments in your company, taking into account their current and future needs?
21. To what extent do some Clients demand differential products and are we in a position to meet those demands?
22. To what extent is there a mutually beneficial relationship with your Clients?
23. To what extent do you have a distribution channel matrix (telephone, fax, internet, mail, live) by type of Client (Segmented Clients)?
24. To what extent do you know the preferred channels that Clients have?
25. To what extent and also to what extent are there conflicts between channels that are difficult to resolve?
26. To what extent do you know the costs per channel?
27. To what extent do you have a “knowledge management” methodology?
28. To what extent have you carried out a study on the new skills and competences necessary to implement CRM?
29. Are the current marketing channels correct?
30. What is our “Client floor”?
31. By adding new products, will we be hurting the competition or other products of ours?
32. What will happen in our market from here to the next five years?
33. What internal transformations must we carry out to sustain the "necessary Client portfolio"?
34. What should be our pricing policy?
35. To what extent does the “economy of scale” principle apply to our products?
36. To what extent can we speed up the process of putting a product on the market?
37. To what extent can we extend the life cycle of our products?
38. To what extent can we fight against the obsolescence of our products?
39. To what extent are we prepared to make further modifications during the product development stage?
40. To what extent can we reduce the cost of our current sales channels?
41. To what extent does the company handle the conflict between its Production Management and the Wholesalers?
42. To what extent do you know the expectations and preferences of your Clients?
43. To what extent do you know how Clients' expectations and preferences are to be developed in the future?
44. To what extent do you have a history of relationship with Clients?
45. To what extent do you know the number of interactions with your Clients?
46. To what extent do you know the volume of purchases of your Clients?
47. To what extent do you know the frequency of purchases of your Clients?
48. To what extent can you correlate types of purchases and characteristics of the Clients?
49. To what extent can you correlate payment methods and characteristics of the Clients?
50. To what extent do you know the life cycle of your Clients?
51. To what extent can you anticipate the life cycle of your Clients?
52. To what extent do you know the value of the life cycle of your Clients?
53. To what extent can you anticipate the value of the life cycle of your Clients?
54. To what extent have you developed an effective segmentation system?
55. Do you have a segmentation that differentiates customers at least into: multinationals, large nationals, small nationals, and households?
56. To what extent have you decided to direct the CRM program to all your Clients equally or to limit yourself to certain groups in particular?
57. To what extent have you decided to direct the CRM program to one or more of its phases such as: attract, retain, achieve loyalty, enlarge?
58. To what extent do you have a system to receive complaints?
59. To what extent do you have a system in place to respond to complaints?
60. To what extent do you have a system in place to reward “the best complaints”?
61. To what extent can you identify the current needs, wants and expectations of the Clients?
62. To what extent can you identify the future needs, wants and expectations of Clients?
63. To what extent do you know that Facts, Perceptions and Sensations (stimuli) can increase those current needs, desires and expectations of the Clients?
64. To what extent do you know that future Facts, Perceptions and Sensations (stimuli) may increase the future needs, desires and expectations of the Clients?
65. To what extent is there a CRM strategy (instead of a fad, for example)?
66. To what extent are the personnel trained to accompany the implementation of CRM?
67. To what extent is senior management aligned with the CRM strategy?
68. To what extent is the company still an OJ (silos in the O.)?
69. To what extent is the IT infrastructure correct and appropriate?
70. To what extent are the systems, processes, and procedures attentive to the “sensitivity” of the Clients?
71. To what extent are pre-sale services integrated with the actual sale and post-sale services?
72. To what extent do you have a CRM quality assurance system?
73. To what extent is there a stimulus system for CRM?
74. To what extent is there a rewards system for CRM?
75. To what extent do you have a CRM monitoring system?
76. To what extent do you have a properly balanced Balance Score Card system?
77. To what extent do you have good promoters to implement CRM and accompany it in the changes?
78. To what extent do you have periodic surveys of Clients in order to assess their degree of satisfaction? (the accountants ask for a balance at the end of the year).
79. To what extent is there a performance evaluation system in relation to the CRM person?
80. To what extent do the staff share the CRM values?
81. To what extent are the principles and values of CRM disseminated appropriately within the company?
82. To what extent is management philosophy aligned with CRM principles and practices?
83. To what extent are you interested in knowing the needs, wishes and expectations of current Clients?
84. To what extent are you interested in anticipating the needs, wishes and expectations of current Clients?
85. To what extent are you interested in satisfying the needs, wishes and expectations of current Clients?
BUSINESS - Conclusions of an open debate with Businessmen in the "Business Development" Conference; Buenos Aires, October 2003 - Some "Principles"
After a commercial (sales) interview, what are you looking for? One more interview!
What non-verbal responses do you make to the Client, when the Client expresses himself
It is better to ask what to talk… and it is even better when you hear the answer to what one has asked
Get up thinking about how you can help your Clients
When thinking about your "Business Portfolio" sometimes you have to stop thinking from where you are NOW. Think from scratch. Start wondering if THIS is what the Customer really needs.
The real problem with selling services is that they are "invisible"
Think of perfection as a process… and don't discount what's good… and perfectible
In monopolistic and oligopolistic companies, the personnel themselves sometimes act monopolistically and oligopolistically… assuming that they do not have Clients but rather have "captives", "prisoners" or "unwary".
When an oligopolistic company starts its business, in the first stage it can think of a "product accepted" by the Client… But if it wants to survive, this same company must go from offering an accepted product to a "desired product"
And don't think that you can always live in stage 2. The other companies will force you to the extent that you want to extend the life of Your company, in a third stage “positively surprise Your Client”. And to do this, two resources are rarely used, despite not being costly in monetary terms: energy, imagination and curiosity. In this phase the Client must be "delighted with the product" (both the snake, the enchantress, the flute, the carpet, the basket, and those who observe… they are all delighted!)
Actually, then, services are merely promises that someone will do something
And very little is known about how to sell services. As much as you go to Harvard, you may not receive the correct answer… if you are a National Entrepreneur.
Look, currently over 70% of sales are from services… and yet at Harvard they talk about marketing case studies where only 1 in 4 relates to a service!
What role do you think is the preferred one of your Client to pay attention to him and accompany him later in the action (as a counselor, seller, doctor, etc.)
Be clear about the difference between the objective you want to achieve and the path you must follow. The Client largely decides to feel comfortable with his path… rather than with his objective
In the way you express yourself, you guide the Customer's action
If you want to come to a positive end, express yourself in a positive way. Clients go back more than one step before phrases or interjections with a no, or when mentioning problems
Most of the Clients are willing to accompany him when his mood is positive and happy
Keep in mind that life is like poker… only when one pays one is able to really see the cards of the "other"
You should be rewarded when you do well. Usually the last time a vendor received feedback from someone was from a teacher at school…
Be patient with your Client. The services (from the buyer's point of view) are full of uncertainty, do not have a real guarantee, and also the buyer takes the consequences personally (How can you do this to ME?)
Success in the business world has to do with the three “P's”: practice, practice and practice
Every successful salesperson has a show-room that speaks for him. If you don't already have it, you should develop it
Years are not related to obsolescence. Golda Meir was Prime Minister of Israel at the age of 71 and Michelangelo was also 71 when he painted the Sistine Chapel.
Henry Ford said that if you think you can or if you think you can't, you are probably right
The new sales forces that manage "Business Portfolio" to be successful will have to focus more on relationships and less on features and benefits.
If you do not fail you will probably never win only those matches where there is nothing to distribute
Never give up. The best Clients are those who present the best battles
How much creativity do you know and how much creativity do you apply in the sale
Knowledge is important but even more important is curiosity and imagination
The “business portfolio” implies for the sales force to see the same phenomenon from a new perspective.
The services are invisible, intangible, new, diverse and also transitory. And the buyer in the face of this reality manifests: fears, limited time, knows his own limitations and vulnerability and also recognizes his own "limited rationality"
Be imaginative on the invitations. Any vendor can invite a lunch… to get only any result
Take care of your Client's pocket… you must live on what is left in that pocket
Take care of the polls… to make it easy we will tell you that even your best friends will not always be sincere
And be very careful when you use the focus groups. As a stress management method (electro-shock management philosophy) it can be relatively good… but at best maybe only once
Keeping your word, yes simply your word, and honoring it with the Client, is worth much more than all the institutional advertising of the company
Know how to clearly distinguish between the buyer and the user, as well as between the payer and the budgeter
A sale to a Client with no growth prospect is a terminal business
Do not argue about opinions. Move to the ground of events
Act, Act and Act. The very good idea of today… will always beat the best idea of the future. Many of the bankruptcies of companies are due to excellent planners who spent a lot of time every day to continue improving their plan
Did you know that if sharks don't move they can't breathe, and therefore they die. Take action. And more importantly, put your “business portfolio” into action. Ergo: act like a shark; keep moving and keep your team moving too.
And also consider what crabs do. Put lateral thinking into action. Since lateral thinking departs from logical thinking, at first those ideas under lateral thinking are considered "meaningless" or even "stupid." And be careful with the very intelligent… they are experts in logically killing the ideas of others
Issue statements only when you have the authority to do so
A broken promise is a broken promise
Only you can give the Customer reasons not to buy from him
The experience, what does it mean for you? Do not think that because she has a structured "business portfolio" she will remain that way by herself over time. You are going to have to do something; and surely things other than what you are used to
Ringo Bonavena: "It is the comb they give us… when we no longer have hair." Everything studied BEFORE starting to work the "business portfolio" is OK but: what happens when they take the stool away from us?
Companies strive to have competent personnel to have a successful and efficient organization. But the Clients of his “business portfolio” demand that his sales reference show talent and more than once genius.
In the world there are three certain things: exchange, death and taxes. The latter are imposed by men on other men where the former sometimes do not distinguish between a simple chair and "genius." (Reference to Oscar Wilde)
It is easier to buy than to sell, at least the field and research works demonstrate this. Therefore, if you find it difficult to sell, focus on the fact that your intention is not to sell but to buy money.
Learn everything you can about your Client. Digital printing is only a sample
Keep in mind that luck only helps those who are prepared
Learn what your Client's true business is
And keep in mind that your Client will make a profile of you based on EVERYTHING you show
Make yourself visible. Above Your company (restaurants with photos of ………)
Learn from your clients' customers
Observe the same phenomena from different perspectives
Remember that Al Pacino to his successor says that “NOW that you are leader you CANNOT hate anymore!
Remember Faraday's proposal to the English Prime Minister when seeking funds for his great invention of the electric motor: "This is going to help you to collect more taxes."
Surprise your Client. He's too used to sellers who don't surprise him
The scripts work but often the spontaneity adds a special flavor
Remember that champagne is for toasts… and success. The Client must observe bubbles and sparks in his actions
Don't try to win in the conversation
You may not keep a diary of your life but please keep a diary of your Clients
Note the Lorenz “butterfly” effect. (Who proved that the flapping of a butterfly in Singapore could affect a hurricane in North Carolina)
Lie down thinking about what has helped your Clients
When looking at your "Business Portfolio" start looking inside. The success of what you believe to be YOUR sale has a lot to do with people who are INSIDE your company, who often do not have or participate in sales incentives. Ergo: include these people from YOUR company, within YOUR "business portfolio"
Enter the language of the Client. There is no right or wrong language in the sale
The traditional view of marketing / merchandising needs to be replaced by those who manage a "business portfolio." Traditionally it is related to sales and advertising and this vision is accompanied by having to SEE OUTSIDE. And this distracts attention from what the company has INSIDE.
Therefore, the essence of marketing services… is the same service. For which there is nothing better than doing what Guy Kawasaki says and does: "Create a better reality."
If you can show why you are the best purchase option, you will be in a better position to sell than if you express it. The courage to demonstrate.
Develop your show-room IN a Client. Have proof of the quality of your services
Listen a lot to those who are autonomous and independent. Listen with reservation to the Professionals… and their suggestions. Professionals sometimes make what is naturally easy and straightforward very difficult. They express that they stand out for their excellent services… when in reality the Client simply wants to benefit to a greater extent from the fees paid to the professional
Simplicity marketing. The buyer wants everything simpler, cheaper and more profitable - Cristol & Sealey
There are two key factors to keep in mind when managing the “business portfolio”: technology and methodology. Do you know how to use these two different concepts in practice?
You should not only think and act better. You must think and act differently
If you take a long time to develop a good and “better” booklet to share “with YOUR Client” you may not have enough strength. Stop thinking about what are the best "words" and think about how you can improve the service!
Spin selling. Applicable for "big" sales in particular. Applicable methodology that teaches why what you do to succeed in "small" sales does not serve to succeed in "big sales". It goes from: 1. situation questions; 2. problem questions; 3. implication questions; 4. Need-Payoff questions ……… Explicit needs (allowing the seller to state Benefits related to sales success) - Neil Rackham
We must learn to "twist" the direction of our finger when we judge. Teachers do it explicitly with elementary school students… but we all continue to do so as adults
A field study by The ODII shows that more than 80% of people say they are dissatisfied with the services… and more than 50% say they are bad and take advantage of you as a Client. But (other research works that we have carried out) show that this vision regarding “others” is not the one that we have of our own business and our own service.
In the USA this is called the Lake Wobegon effect (we are the best!). You always believe that you are better than you are and that our service is better than it is. So start with the "assumption" that our service is neither good nor bad. It is not perfect or imperfect: our service is PERFECT, minute by minute!
In services, most of them, it is not easy to have an ISO… as industries have with products. Imagine a fat brush painter, a hairdresser, a restaurant, a vacation in the Caribbean with "dream" islands… but they have almost no sand!
Therefore, since we DO NOT have standards in services or products, we can follow two paths: our ego or the Client's standard. And what do you think is the standard we choose?
The "business portfolio" is not only managed by sales, marketing, marketing, but rather has to do with what happens throughout the company. You may start to lose "customers" that you thought were in your wallet… to those around you (always keep in mind that your enemy is never far away… if you were far away it would be out of reach and could not hurt you!)
Humans for many years did not buy or wear glasses and when we buy them they are for looking outside. What if "ever" we buy a spectacle that is suspended in the air about 30 cm. of our face and look TOWARD us
Every action - and inaction - of every person within Your company has to do with the sale of the Service.
If you disagree with those actions - or inactions - of others within Your company, please let them know. Remember this phrase: "Dissent without ACTION, is consensus"
The mind is like the parachute: "It doesn't work if it does NOT open." This also applies to the heart… and also to the Client's pocket.
Do you know the different possible moods of those who make up the "business portfolio"? Always keep in mind, as a minimum, the four pathies.
Learn day by day what they buy within your "business portfolio". The Burger King bosses were sure they were in the fast food business and selling food (the hamburger). Ergo, the Burger King bosses thought that if they made a better hamburger (broiled instead of fried), they would destroy Mc Donald. But it seems that the restaurants that serve hamburgers are not dedicated to the hamburger business (faster, simpler, cheaper… clean bathrooms and people like you)
So if you sell a Service, what do you really sell? Just sell a relationship
And please, do not confuse the Client with the person
There are many who do not even dare to "enter" certain areas. This will allow you to win without fighting. This is what Sun Tzu suggests in the art of war several millennia ago: "The best strategy in war is to win without having to fight." Ergo: how do you manage your “business portfolio” in swamp and sandy areas (Clients are like boys… over time they grow)
You BEFORE contacting who you consider to be the Client, have had other points of contact (reception, security, secretariat, references they have from other Clients or courses or presentations that you have made) and also even if you did NOT have them in that same First meeting the Client before you start chatting with him (her) already has some profile of yours (The boss asking the secretary before you enter his office: how do you like it …………? Every point of contact is KEY… for your Client
If you believe that strategy is everything, ask yourself what Napoleon or Alexander the Great would have done without their magnificent soldiers and their exercises and tactical plans
Customers in their “business portfolio” can put together encyclopedias with what they have heard from vendors, but cannot put together more than a couple of sheets regarding examples and proof of the services offered… and compliments
Befriend failure if you really want to succeed. Most successful entrepreneurs say that more than 35% of their decisions have been wrong. When Fred Smith presented his thesis where he described the concept of Federal Express, they gave him a grade of C. And the world champion baseball team does not need to win even 60% of the championship games in which it participates
When you have trouble finding the right answer… think about how to see the different problem by asking yourself the best question
Inspiration, imagination, creativity, innovation and belief in yourself represent the best added value for your service. How much of all of them do you incorporate into your daily life?
What you can do to make your service easy to buy
Work with interest based on that everything is interesting. Bill Buckley (king of interviews) was once asked, "What do you do when you have a guest who is not interesting?" And he replied: This never happens. If you ask the appropriate questions 99 out of 100 people are interesting and the 100th person is also interesting because it is not "
It has been shown that in the selection of personnel when the interviewer speaks, the probability that the interviewee will be recruited increases. The same happens when you manage the relationship with your "Client portfolio"
Be very clear on how the waters divide. Charles Revson - founder of Revlon - said that in the factory he made perfume… but that in the stores they sold hope
But be very clear about not creating expectations that you cannot meet.
How many times do we thank customers for repeated purchases from our “business portfolio”. Do not treat Customers in your business portfolio as if they were in a mousetrap with less and less cheese
Just as at the beginning it must distinguish the Client, it must also continue doing so over time. If you cannot realize that Your Client within that company is no longer the one that was originally
The Client must always know first-hand - that is to say from You - that You are at His side (errors when “passing” the Client to “another category”; example of the professional services firms that begin with their name and associates and then this may act against the same firm)
There is a very simple law that says that each task can take as long as one has planned for it. Therefore, being the “invisible” time, always deliver before what you have promised. It is just a mental exercise that you must do. Do not leave it in the hands of your Client from your "business portfolio"
Take risks responsibly. And teach, practice and exercise with your team, the difference between responsibility and responsibility
Novelty is already embedded in society. Don't reinvent the wheel; novelty, diversity and transience each time have a shorter cycle
There is never a second chance to make a good first impression. First impressions are like anchors
Distinguish yourself in something where the difference is noticeable. People don't make "changes" for small differences
If you find it difficult to differentiate your service… take your time and find the differences. Do not let the Client know that there is no differentiation
We have worked with Clients who emphasize the word positioning and want us to help them by providing advisory services to better position them. We think that instead of positioning our service it is better that NOW we take advantage of the position we have
The price. It is one of the most delicate matters in marketing. There are no magic formulas here either, but we DO know that oligopolistic companies can do different things from those that are not.
The most important thing to keep in mind is that many people always find a cheaper way to obtain the service that one offers them. And the really bad thing about this is that it is not very gratifying to know that one is not well paid
With the price you can silence people, but you may not be able to buy them. Howard Hughes in his interview at the airport with a journalist.
The barrels have suncho because every so often they expand, as do people in their behaviors. The same thing happens with prices. Feel calm with YOUR price but stay alert to do some "tightening of the suncho". It is better to tighten the suncho from time to time than to always have it very tight
And please, when setting prices, think as an Entrepreneur and not as a Professional. The Professional believes that he should collect his hourly fees. While Picasso was in an open-air cafe in Paris, a woman asked him to charge him for making a sketch. In a few minutes Picasso pleased him and in response to the Lady's question about the price, Picasso replied: 5,000 francs. She politely reminded him that it had only taken about three minutes. And with her genius, she replied: Not so madam. I have taken a lifetime
Do you know what people are really interested in? Well in themselves!
Express yourself metaphorically. Count paradoxes. And don't confuse both with jokes and jokes
The enormous generating power of words. Avis: “We are number two. We try harder ”
And if you can, form a Club with your "business portfolio". Belonging - being selective - can be a privilege. Few people think as lucidly as Grouch Marx: "I don't want to belong to a Club where someone like me can be a member." Wilde: The only thing that terrifies me is the idea of NOT being misunderstood.
Do not forget the proverb that says: "DO NOT speak unless you are able to improve silence." Ergo: two lessons. 1. improve silence and 2. don't go over the top
Remember that people can live with a hard past and a difficult present. But you cannot live without a future with hope. Hope is the key to your "business portfolio". How many times do you use this key?
