Monthly Archives: May 2013

Professional Development , , , Leave a comment

Authenticity is the Only Personal Brand

by

The successful Freelance consultant is acknowledged as an expert and leader in his/her chosen field  by clients,  colleagues and competitors.  This Freelancer has superior skills that are accompanied by integrity;  s/he can be trusted to meet or even exceed expectations.  This individual commands respect because s/he is highly competent,  reliable and credible,  that is to say,  authentic.

Authentic is an adjective that’s thrown around a lot these days and perhaps suffers from overuse,  but I agree with leadership development specialists who assert that a truly effective leader is highly skilled,  trustworthy,  respectful,  communicates well and is unafraid to be him/herself.  A leader embraces the genuine self,  strives to develop and present  the best self and does not waste time trying to be someone else.  For those reasons,  leaders are often considered charismatic and they inspire great loyalty.

Les McKeown,  CEO of Predictable Success,   an adviser on organizational growth and author of  “Predictable Success: Getting Your Organization on the Growth Track and Keeping It There” (2010),  has shared three phrases that will telegraph your authenticity and leadership ability to others.   At some future meeting,  it will make sense for a leader to make at least one of these statements:

“I have nothing to add.”  The confident leader is not in love with the sound of his/her own voice and does not feel compelled to weigh in on every matter.  A leader intuits when everything that is relevant has been expressed,  respects the well-reasoned opinions of others and allows others to take center stage and shine every now and again.

“I don’t understand what you mean by…..”  Authentic leaders admit knowledge gaps and ask for information that will clarify,  so that they can grasp the subject under discussion and promote good decision-making.  They are not driven by a need to appear  expert in all things.

“I recommend that we…..”  A leader recognizes when it is time to make a decision,  whether or not all the facts are in hand.  Usually,  all the facts can never be in hand,  but a leader knows when we must move forward and either take advantage of an opportunity,   head off a crisis,  or cut losses.  An authentic leader takes responsibility to put resources and reputation on the line and make,  or advocate for,  a decision or action.

Role models can be inspiring and show us the way,  but at the end of the day we must be ourselves.  We must be willing to embrace what we believe in,  acknowledge our priorities and articulate our values and vision.  To do so takes confidence,  which is yet another attribute of a leader.   An authentic leader has no desire to present a false  “personal brand”  that may seem trendy at a given moment.  A real leader knows that authenticity is the only worthwhile personal brand and that its value is timeless.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Sales , , 1 Comment

When the Sale Slips Away

by

Whether we like it or not,  Freelance consultants are salespeople.  Before we are able to ply our given trade,  we must first sell prospective clients on the idea of hiring us to do what we do,  whether it’s web design or floral design.  Steve W. Martin,  professor of Sales Strategy at University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business,  says that those who sell should be cognizant of the lowest common denominator of decision-making: stress.

Martin observes that stress is the death of rational decision-making.  Stress shortens the attention span,  escalates mental exhaustion and typically results in analysis-paralysis.  Despite the  “buying signals”  that your prospective client may display,  more than likely s/he is experiencing fear and doubt when speaking with you about your product or services.

The stress this creates serves as the key factor in determining whether or not the deal gets done.  The most successful salespeople anticipate,  seek to identify and learn to counteract that stress and enable the sale.  Giving prospective clients information and diplomatically phrased and presented tactical advice that will help them fight against internal organization politics is a useful part of your sales strategy as well.  Here are a couple of more reasons that your sale dies on the vine.

Stalled sales cycle

Customers are more cautious than ever and moving them through the sales process can become an almost Sisyphean task.  Steve W. Martin correctly labels this common phenomenon as an internal problem that occurs when project sponsors do not know how to sell their concept to the senior executives who are able to give the  green light.   Further, certain sales cycles are prone to be lengthy in the best of circumstances.  It is too easy for your contact person/project sponsor to get distracted and turn attention toward developing issues and in the process push your sale to the back burner,  where it drifts into oblivion.  Then there is sometimes reluctance to take responsibility.  As a result,  project sponsors involve more of their co-workers in the decision process and you know what happens when there are too many cooks.

Product information and vendor selection

As we enthusiastically pitch our services,  prospective clients often wonder if we are telling the whole truth.  Compounding that is the reality  (or perception)  that differences between many products and services are almost insignificant.  Buyers are often skeptical because they may have been lied to by previous sales people.  The client may feel that 1). it is necessary to separate fact from fiction when talking with someone who is trying to sell something and 2). it’s pretty much all the same thing anyway.  Selling on service and operational efficiencies and the resulting benefits is the best antidote.  Avoid selling on price if at all possible, because it reduces you to a commodity.

When preparing for your next prospective client meeting,  keep in mind the inevitable presence of stress in your would-be client’s work environment.  They don’t quite know who or what to believe.  They’ve got co-workers,  subordinates and bosses judging them.  They are torn between acting in the best interest of the company and in the best interest of themselves.  There is also the now-prevalent belief that not spending money is best for the organization’s bottom line and no one’s reputation suffers for declining to spend money.  Making no decision just gets easier and easier.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

 

 

Sales , , , , Leave a comment

Why You Don’t Get the Sale

by

Two or three years ago,  I read that a Freelancer’s main competition is not another Freelance consultant who does what you do.  Our real competitor is the client.  As the less than stellar economy grinds on,  enriching primarily the top 1%  of the population plus a few lucky folks in the  (shrinking)  middle class,  that statement gains more credence every day.  Prospective clients have got a boat load of excuses to slide away from a contract,  or cutting down what was originally promised.  Do you ever wonder what could possibly be on the minds of clients and prospects who promise you the moon and then either disappear or offer up a very paltry version of the original proposal?

According to Steve W. Martin,  professor of Sales Strategy at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business and author of  “Heavy Hitter Sales Linguistics: 101 Advanced Sales Call Strategies for Senior Salespeople” (2011),  stress caused by peer pressure and insecurity is the culprit and its impact on decision-making is detrimental  (no surprise there).  Freelancers and sales people must do everything possible to communicate our value-added but in the end,  the decision to give the green light is an internal matter and those outside have only so much influence.  Here are examples of what worries our prospective clients:

Budget availability

There are two main criteria for deciding whether or not to give someone the contract or sale:  1). What is the ROI that will accrue from the sale? and 2). How does that ROI compare to what might be derived from other projects being considered?  Projects that are considered strategic by the senior execs have priority,  so if your project has that status,  it’s only a question of how many hours you can get.  Whatever your project,  product or service,   you must first receive the initial approval.  You may believe that because you have confirmed that you are talking to a decision-maker and s/he says the go-ahead is imminent,  that is not the whole story.  There is the all-important step two and that happens when  the team of heavy-hitters examines and ranks all pending projects and major sales and decides which items receive funding and at what amount.  In other words,  that decision-maker that you’ve been speaking with will confer with other decision-makers to compare which projects will go forward,  because projects are continually re-prioritized in response to shifting conditions.

Strategic imperatives

Your project must align with the organization’s goals as perceived by the higher-ups.  If you notice,  projects that are championed by lower-ranking employees often do not get funded because higher-ranking execs do understand or appreciate the value-added,  do not view the proposal as strategically significant.  Moreover,  your project must demonstrate that the sponsoring higher-up understands and is actively advancing strategically relevant projects,  products and services.

Ego and image

This is related to the above.  Your project must make its chief sponsor look good to the person s/he answers to,  as well as look good to colleagues and subordinates. When an outside consultant is hired or a major purchase is authorized,  the project champion absolutely must look like a genius for doing the deal.  Under no circumstances must s/he be perceived as having made the wrong move.  Peer pressure is real and the project champion worries about making the right decision,  especially if this is something that has not been done before.  This is why the Freelance consultant must at all times deliver exceptional service,  must exceed expectations,  because the reputation and career advancement of your project sponsor is riding on it.

I’ll talk more about your nervous prospect next week.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Technology / Office , Leave a comment

Freelance Lonely

by

Maybe Marissa Mayer,  CEO of Yahoo who recently nixed telecommuting for Yahoo employees,  is right.  Maybe we are happier and more productive when working in an office,  rather than working at home.  This theory flies in the face of the entrepreneurial,  independence-loving American fantasy,  where we sit at home in scuzzy clothes,  or deposit ourselves at the beach or the local coffee shop,  laptop and cell phone at the ready,  and efficiently run a million dollar enterprise.   That is a popular fantasy but for may people,  the reality is not so idyllic.

In a 2010 Census Bureau survey,  it was discovered that 6.6%  of adults worked exclusively from home.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in 2009,  15 million adults identified themselves as self-employed.  Add to those numbers telecommuters,  some of whom visit their workplace offices only one or two days a week.  Cutting back or eliminating the cost and time of the commute to the office are important benefits,  but there is a percentage of Freelance consultants and frequent telecommuters who find themselves overtaken with loneliness and feelings of isolation.

They are not as productive as they expect themselves to be.  With disturbing frequency,  they find themselves unable to focus on their work.  They are easily distracted,  prone to doing housework or watching television when they should be  “on the job”.  Conversely,  there are others who find that they are unable to stop  working  (that would be me).  Too often,  they (we) are immersed in work-related activities when we could be relaxing and re-charging our inner resources.  Neither group is able to establish good boundaries between working life and personal life.  Going to the right kind of office space may present the solution.

According to DeskMag, an online magazine that covers the co-working industry  http://deskmag.com ,  there are now nearly 800 commercial collaborative,  i.e. co-working,   facilities in the US,  up from a little more than 300 just two years ago.  I first reported on this phenomenon in my October 25, 2011 post and the trend continues upward.

In addition to offering reasonably priced office space,  co-working offices provide opportunities for interaction  (networking)  with like-minded professionals.  Tenants  (sometimes called members)  share resources like a kitchen,  a photocopier and conference rooms.  Some co-working offices create a party atmosphere and organize after-hours social situations like whiskey tastings,  art shows and Christmas and other holiday parties.  “The need to feel socially connected is a fundamental human need”,  notes Ravi S. Gajendram,  an assistant professor of business at the University of Illinois.

The well-designed co-working office will create spaces that organically bring tenants together:  pleasant seating areas with long tables designed for sharing and conversation nooks with coffee tables and comfortable chairs.  “The design strategy is a typology that looks at accidental encounters as much as organizational clarity”,  says David Rockwell, designer of NeueHouse in New York City,  a high end co-working space that styles itself as a private club.  Rockwell says NeueHouse was designed to sync with the interactive,  serendipitous manner in which creative professionals work today.

Still,  there are those who try it and eventually tire of it.  Po Bronson,  who 19 years ago co-founded the San Francisco Writers Grotto,  says that co-working offices eventually start to feel like the traditional offices that we know and loathe.  There can be collaboration,  but also envy,  competition and gossip.  Yet for those of us who need a degree of structure to help us form necessary boundaries between our work and personal lives,  it will be worthwhile to investigate a co-working space or two.

Thanks for reading,

Kim