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As a business owner, you know what it’s like to lie awake at 2 a.m. Maybe it has happened when you are excited and full of new ideas for your business. More often, it’s because you are worried about issues you will face the next day. Sometimes, it’s because you just woke up with the solution to a problem. I’ve experienced all those emotions about my businesses over the years. Awake at 2 o’clock? is where I share them with you, and hopefully help with answers that will let you sleep.
John F. Dini, CExP, CEPA
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Small business owners are the Hunters of the 21st century. We are 3% of the US population, and yet we create over half of all American jobs. As Hunters, we may not be inclined to manage by the numbers or stick to systems. Are you a Hunter or a Farmer?
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How prepared are you to exit your company?
The Assessment breaks down the four major categories of exit readiness; Finance, Planning, Operations and Revenue/Profit.
Tag Archives: leadership
Effective vs. Efficient: A Tale of Two Cities
Some organizations are effective. Some are efficient. From the customer’s perspective the two may look very much the same, but the difference to your bottom line can be substantial. A few years ago my wife and I toured Vienna, and … Continue reading
3 Responses to Effective vs. Efficient: A Tale of Two Cities
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Are You Proudly Out of Control?
I have a favorite New Yorker cartoon. A fellow in a suit is standing behind a desk, one hand holding a phone to his ear, and the other with a finger on his calendar. The caption is “How about never? Is never … Continue reading
4 Responses to Are You Proudly Out of Control?
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John
“On the mark”- being considerate of others –
Frank
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Guilty! Needed to hear this. Although, for me it is not so much that I believe my time is more important than others. Rather, I just get so busy that if the call or visit is not a high priority, it gets pushed down in the stack, even though I intend to follow through…………eventually!
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Are you in control of your business, or is your business in control of you? Recognizing that “stuff” happens that can wreck your schedule, we should strive to make those times the exception. That is where a good team and a sound process-based approach makes all the difference, Great post.
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To Rodney,
I am also very guilty! I am getting a little better in checking my calendar,my business mentor on certain futuristic situations, doing like my Dad use to do”sleep on it” important decisions. Learning to delegate slowly with assistants.
Thanks, great blog.
Cathy
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“Everyone has Gotten So Rude!”
Not too long ago, I was leading a group of business owners in a discussion. These were not my peer board members, but rather owners at a breakfast, none of whom I’d met before. To start the conversation, I asked … Continue reading
6 Responses to “Everyone has Gotten So Rude!”
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It is true that we don’t see cold call sales people, but we do try to treat them courteously.
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Interesting and so true. The World has changed! When I started in sales in 1979, I use to park my car in an industrial area, and walk the block making cold calls. I do not believe that would work in today’s world.
Just like a lot of us grew up with an open chain link fence or no fence at all. We all knew our neighbors.
Today most fences are tall wooded structures that are not open to your neighbors to see in, and a lot of us never see or know our neighbors.
I agree that most of my calls today are “warm calls”. Either the customer found us on the web and ask to see us, or I connect with a referral or follow up from a show.
However I do miss the FUN of making cold calls. Use to learn a lot about an area and meet new and interesting people.
Mike
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I began selling in 1964. From day #1 – based on the sales book used at my Monsanto sales training course, “How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Sales” by Frank Bettger – I always worked by appointment out of respect for the other person’s time. I felt that just “dropping by” suggested that the CEO or Purchasing Agent had little to do besides entertain me.
That said, when I would call for appointments, I usually got a somewhat friendly reception and an appointment.
In 1975 I changed to selling estate planning/financial planning just like your subject in your opening story. We called on business owners – valuable, illiquid assets like a business need cash, i.e. insurance, to pay estate taxes at death. WHen I made that switch, also moving to New England from the Midwest at the time, I found an ENTIRELY different atmosphere – hostile, suspicious, defensive, closed off.
Since then it’s only gotten worse. Coward that I am, I now employ a telemarketer to “sell” initial telephone consultations. Easier appointment to get, somewhat less productive than face-to-face.
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As pointed out, the Internet has changed so much. It used to be that sales calls were an important source of information. Now we are constantly bombarded with information, and the challenge is on filtering most of it out. Which comes across as abrupt or rude. We have been trained the we can search for what we need when we need it. Knowing exactly what we are looking for has become the challenge.
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Our distribution business requires cold calling. We get no where with phone calls and little with emails, so we go to the prospects. In food service this has not become entirely unexpected. We apologize for interrupting, introduce ourselves, leave a card, ask for a card and a future appointment. Rarely are we treated poorly and the results are still worthwhile.
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Ode to a Hunter
I’m sure you would all be disappointed if I didn’t return with some sort of business allegory related to my absence. Of course, I hate to disappoint… My book Hunting in a Farmer’s World focuses on the challenges of being … Continue reading
10 Responses to Ode to a Hunter
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John,
I very happy to hear of your brilliantly orchestrated recovery.
Your remarks about the latent “hunter” in the many diligent, systems driven “farming” executives out there that consistently read your blog will be most welcome. Glad to have you back in the saddle. -
John:
I am so glad that you defeated the illness. Having just gone through a scary episode myself I know the impact it can have in you and your family. My wishes for a complete recovery. -
John,
I was alarmed to hear of your medical issue, and I’m so happy that you are on the road to recovery. As usual, you have nailed several essential truths about business and life – I don’t know where we’d all be without you.
Keep getting better!
Steve
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John
Thank God for someone willing to go “outside of the box!”Take care.
Carol -
John,
I’m glad to hear you are on the road to recovery.. I think your story points out another aspect of being a hunter – even hunters need someone to watch out for them. Hunters can oftentimes have a “hero” mentality. I noticed that Leila was the one who made the call to the doctor to get you worked in…probably against your protests that it wasn’t necessary.
Good to see you back in the saddle.
Rusty…
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Hey bud, only you..on your death bed…could come up with such a good story about your illness. Glad you are still with us, you had us worried.
Looking forward to our next Gerald-Rita.
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Glad you have recovered John-you have a great doctor
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John,
We are all blessed that you are still with us. -
John, so glad you are on the road to recovery. Like you I had a similar episode in 2008. And like you, my wife (a true Farmer) made me go to the emergency room. Turned out, I had a staff infection. My body functions were beginning to break down (kidneys, liver). The Kidney specialist that saw me said I probably would have died that night had I not gone to the ER that morning. I’m so glad that Farmers sometime know what’s best, even though us Hunters sometimes think we can take on anything. Best of luck with the rest of your recovery.
Take care!
LA>
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Happy to hear you are now doing well!
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Five Steps to Defining an Employee’s Authority
When we delegate authority to an employee, we are actually delegating the power to make decisions. We all want employees who think for themselves, at least when their decisions work out in a way we like. When they don’t, we … Continue reading
I do not think that “effective” and “efficient” are mutually exclusive. Being efficient is largely a product of good processes, procedures and training. It is possible to develop those kind of procedures that also have a healthy dose of effective individuality baked in. Efficient processes should take care of most day-to-day requirements. When customer or company circumstances are outside the procedural box, employees can and should be encouraged to take initiative to be creative and effective.
For example, PEI is a software development company. Employees (including myself) are first expected to be creative. However, strict naming conventions, coding standards, long term maintainability and testing are enforced. While we are more on the “effective” side of the gradient with a healthy dose of “efficient”, there just needs to be some kind of balance.
Great perspective and a lot to think about. Having spent a lot of time in Europe, I cannot get off the story. I wonder if the tale of two cities might involve a technology gap? Keeping centuries old clock towers and those mechanical time keeping movements in sync seems daunting at best. Transforming from effectiveness to efficiency seems more attainable…
David’s comment on not mutually exclusive is reality. An organization with a solid base of efficiency certainly relies less on effective individuality, but I believe both are essential.
But this thought provoking discussion also leads me to want to get on a plane and head for Europe to continue my education. Thanks.