The Point

Momentum in Business

Here is how it feels to have momentum. The phones are ringing. We don’t have time to read the morning newspaper because we have a tough time keeping up with the proposals we need to review and the contracts we need to read. Our delivery teams are busy. At the water cooler people talk about their premier airline status. We try to squeeze more functionality into the next release to make clients happy. We look at new hires, we even find more office space. The company is buzzing.  

Here is how it feels if momentum is slipping.  Customers are tough to get hold of. Deals are postponed. There are sudden departures from your own ranks. All and all, it’s quiet.

We all like to see the former, and we all dread the latter. The recession is over, but we are very far away from a booming economy. What are the lessons learned from the last few years operating in an economy that is trending sideways at best? How do you create momentum? What can we do to make our customers believe in our company and our solution? What can you do to make your own people believe they can make the “impossible” possible?

Here are my five lessons learned while operating successfully in a tough market environment.

1. Messaging – In any economy, our messages should be customer-focused, not product-focused. We need to know what the pain points are of our customers and how we can address them. Keep in mind that in a tough economy, customers’ needs and concerns change.  We need to adjust our messaging accordingly

• Demonstrate value and return on investment. This can be done by pointing out that customers can do more with less, by simplifying a process or enhancing the value of our client’s offering. For example, if our product is exceptionally easy to use, we can demonstrate how the improved ease  translates into savings.
• Decision-makers are increasingly wary about their jobs now. They need to understand how to enter a relationship with us safely.

2. Laser focus on target markets – If business gets tough the natural inclination is to chase every opportunity in order not to miss out. Someone drowning in the ocean flails frantically trying to keep his head above the water. I would recommend the opposite approach. Use coordinated strokes to keep your company’s head above the waterline.

• Have laser focus on the core companies and industries that can use your products or services. Make sure that you truly provide value and then pursue these markets relentlessly. Instead of simply increasing the “shots on goal” increase the quality of your company’s pipeline.
• In tough times, businesses will enter a relationship with our organization if we provide them with good reasons. (e.g strategic reasons, operational efficiencies, ROI).

3. Pricing – Take a look at your approach to pricing. This doesn’t mean you should enter deals at steep discounts, but here are some options to consider.

• Update pricing models. If we have been selling bundled products, consider un-bundling and offering products/solutions in smaller chunks. A number of smaller deals is better than no sale at all.
• Consider try-and-buy offers. Give customers a taste of the solution and, assuming the product or service is as irresistible as you know it is, you will only defer revenue briefly. This also helps to reduce the perceived risk of your customer betting her career on entering a relationship with your company.

4. Engage customers – Focus the marketing on “conversations” with customers. The days of one-way marketing are over. Customers want to talk with you on their terms, so narrow the gap. Make it personal. Be accessible.

• Nurture prospects until they are ready to do business.
• Encourage customers to be part of the conversation by building online communities that provide value to them while keeping you front-of-mind.
• Stay close to existing customers and maintain the relationships. Customer events such as user conferences are a great way to accomplish that.

5. Internal communication – Make sure that the people in the organization share your convictions. They get the news, too. Some will have doubts about the company’s future. Others are afraid of rising prices and a stagnant economy. As much as you are convinced of the viability of your strategy, your people need to be convinced as well. They need to believe that the goals for the company are achievable.  And they need to see the path. Be authentic in the way you deliver your strategy within the organization.

The Myth About Multitasking

To make it short: Humans are not good at multitasking.

Yet, knowledge workers in Corporate America are being asked to do exactly that. They are being expected to stay on top of incoming email exceeding easily hundred, in some cases hundreds a day. They are being asked to be reachable, go to meetings and handle multiple assignments with ease.  Multitasking is seen as a virtue. The ability to do so receives praise. However, multitasking comes at a significant cost.

In my work with knowledge workers, I find many examples that show that our brains cannot fully focus when we multitask. People take longer to complete tasks and are predisposed to error. When we attempt to complete many tasks at one time, or rapidly shift between them, errors go way up and it takes far longer. It takes more time to get the jobs done than if the tasks were done sequentially. This is largely because the brain is forced to restart and refocus. A study found that in the interim between each exchange, the brain makes no progress whatsoever. Therefore, multitasking people not only perform each task less suitabe, but lose time in the process.

Even computers are not good at multitasking as we find out when we open too many applications and windows on our desktop machines. Our system slows down and sometimes comes even to a stop. We need to reboot then. In computer science speak this effect is called “thrashing”. Our computers use hard-drives as extended memories. If they cannot hold enough data in their memories they push them out to disk. If you have enough applications running in parallel the system performance is reduced because files have to be swapped from the computer memory to the hard-disk back and forth. You can bring any computer system to its knees by increasing the number of parallel processes.

A similar thing happens with the human brain. Let’s say we write a document (task 1) and get interrupted by a phone call (task 2). 

1. Writing a document requires focus. Blood rushes to the anterior prefrontal cortex – the switchboard of our brain. It basically activates the brain region required to perform the task at hand.
2. Then there is the identification of the neurons within this region capable of completing the task as well as the triggering of the actual task processing itself. This process is called “rule activation” and takes several tenths of a second to accomplish. We begin to write.
3. While we are typing, our sensory system picks up the ring tone of our cell phone. Speaking and engaging in conversation are handled by a different brain region. Via the anterior prefrontal cortex the process of disengaging from our writing task is managed. We store enough information to resume this task later. Then, the new task 2 is started (see steps 1 and 2).
4. We start another rule activation for task 2. We have real measurable switching costs.

These are the steps that occur between two tasks. Imagine to what extent we are taxed with switching costs in a work environment, where we process daily hundreds of emails, tens of calls and deal with multiple project assignments. Anything that can be done to bring focus in the work day, anything that can be done to bring hours of uninterrupted work time will enhance productivity.

I have found in my work with corporate clients that people who are regularly interrupted take up to fifty percent (50%) longer to finish their tasks. Also, the amount of errors goes up about that much. There are very effective excercises to demonstrate this effect. Keep that in mind when you organize your day.

The die has been cast

In business, we are often in situations where we have to decide between two options. Two or even more alternatives are on our mind. A decsion has to be made, but we don’t know what is the right direction to go, because all available choices are associated with undesired side effects. But, we also know what relief we will feel once “the die has been cast”. Once we make a decision we are determined to move on. Things fall into place. I’d like to share with you the story behind this expression taking you more than 2000 years back in history. (Note: The orginial story was reported by Suetonius. Here you find the full story in all details. I used various web references putting supporting facts together).

The person that is the face to the expression “The die has been cast,” which in his language is ”Alia iacta est!” is Julius Caesar. He is certainly one of the most colorful personalities in Roman history. In his time Julius Caesar was certainly not known for his indecisiveness. One of the stories about him is from a time, when he was working basically as a lawyer known for his exceptional oratory, accompanied by impassioned gestures and a high-pitched voice, and ruthless prosecution of former governors notorious for extortion and corruption about 75BC. Aiming at improving his already very advanced rhetorical skills, Caesar travelled to Rhodes that year to study under Apollonius Molon, who had previously taught Cicero. On the way crossing the Aegean Sea, Caesar was kidnapped by Cilician pirates and held prisoner in the Dodecanese islet of Pharmacusa.  When the pirates thought to demand a ransom of twenty talents of gold, he insisted they ask for fifty talents. While in captivity he told the pirates that he would come after them, once set free. They didn’t believe him at the time. After the ransom was paid, Caesar raised a fleet, pursued and captured the pirates, and imprisoned them in Pergamon. The governor of Asia refused to execute them as Caesar demanded, preferring to sell them as slaves, but Caesar returned to the coast and had them crucified on his own authority, as he had promised to them when in captivity – a promise the pirates had taken as a joke.

So, Julius Caesar was certainly someone we would call a determined person. Now, one of the biggest decisions he actually had to make came about 20 years later in his life. Here is the situation: Born with political ambition and unsurpassed oratory skills, Julius Caesar manipulated his way to the position of consul of Rome in 59 BC. After his year of service he was named governor of Gaul where he made fortune and exhibited his outstanding military skill in subduing the native Celtic and Germanic tribes (nothing that I personally hold against him). Caesar’s popularity with the people soared. He became a threat to the power of the Senate and to Pompey, who held power in Rome. Accordingly, the Senate called upon Caesar to resign his command and disband his army or risk being declared an “Enemy of the State”. Pompey was entrusted with enforcing this edict – the foundation for civil war was laid.

It was January 49 BC, Caesar was staying in the northern Italian city of Ravenna and he had a decision to make: either he would give in and obey the Senate’s command or he would move southward to confront Pompey and plunge the Roman Republic into a bloody civil war. An ancient Roman law forbade any general from crossing the Rubicon River and entering Italy proper with a standing army. To do so was treason. This tiny stream would reveal Caesar’s intentions and mark the point of no return.

It is reported by Suetonius that Caesar stayed in Ravenna (north of the Rubicon). He kept himself busy by attending the public games and examining the model of a fencing school which he proposed building. Also, he frequently sat down to table with a large company of friends dining and talking about god and the world. However, one evening after sunset some mules from a near-by mill were put on his carriage, and he set forward on his journey as privately as possible. Coming up with his troops on the banks of the Rubicon, which was the frontier of his province, he halted for a while, and revolving in his mind the importance of the step he meditated, he turned to those about him, saying: ‘Still we can retreat! But once let us pass this little bridge, – and nothing is left but to fight it out with arms!’ He hesitated then snatched a trumpet from one of the men and ran to the river with it; then sounding the “Advance!” with a blast he crossed to the other side. At this Caesar cried out, ‘Let us go where the omens of the gods and the crimes of our enemies summon us! THE DIE HAS BEEN CAST!’

Accordingly, he marched his army over the river. His way to Rome was very uneventful, although he had to engage in a number of battles in the out years to ultimately beat his political and military enemies. He became the Emporor of Rome. The crossing of a small stream in northern Italy became one of ancient history’s most pivotal events. From it sprang the Roman Empire and the genesis of modern European culture. Like at that time, we should look for our Rubikon’s in business, make a decision and then move forward with the decisiveness of one of the greatest leaders in history.