The Gudorf Group

Atlas Shrugged & Our Current Economy

2009-03-21T20:11:00.001-07:00

As a fan of the book "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand I couldn't help but get a chuckle and then an ah-hah moment out of the chart to the right.

I spied it on the Bastiat Society blog and since it fits so well with the current news, I just had to share it here. Be sure to check out the Society's site as well - moto: those who live in freedom should know how freedom works - for an interesting take on things.

For those of you who haven't' yet read the book "Atlas Shrugged" you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy. Yes, it's a 50 year old book. Yes, it's a multi-pound, one thousand plus page book, and yes, it anchors the discourse around the the railroad and steel technologies of it's era. However, the parallels between its world and today's economic reality are just too striking to ignore.

As you can see from the chart, others share the same feeling as sales performance of the book on Amazon.com spikes perfectly with key elements of our government's "solution" to all that ails us.

Enjoy!

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Rick Santelli's Shout Heard 'Round the World

2009-02-20T20:07:00.000-08:00

Rick Santelli may be highly frustrated at the moment, (SEE VIDEO) but his concern may be quite valid.

As he said on CNBC from the floor of the Chicago exchange in response to the rapidly growing we'll-bail-out-anyone tidal wave "Cuba used to have mansions and a relatively decent economy. They moved from the individual to the collective. Now they're driving '54 Chevys -- maybe the last great car to come out of Detroit!"

Remember the quote that's often mis-attributed to Thomas Jefferson but actually came from Gerald Ford in 1974 (a another troublesome economic period in our history) “A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have."

Will our big and growing government end up taking everything we have?

Today's parallels to Ayn Rand's book "Atlas Shrugged" are both amazing and a bit scary.

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Seven Principles of Sound Public Policy

2009-02-18T19:12:00.000-08:00

Found the following seven principles from a February 11th meeting recap of the Bastiat Society where Larry Reed addressed the group in Charleston, SC.

These are great guiding words with which to measure the actions our government is falling over itself to put in motion.

1. Free people are not equal, and equal people are not free.

Think about this for a minute or two.

2. What is yours, you tend to take care of; what everyone owns, everyone tends to ignore.

My Mom used to tell me this all the time and I thought it was just here way of getting me to pay for my own wishes!

3. Sound economics requires looking at the long run, and considering the effects on more than just a few.

Instant gratification is so non existent in the long run!

4. If you encourage something you get more of it; if you discourage something, you get less of it.

My dog taught me this lesson.

5. Nobody spends somebody else's money as carefully as he spends his own.

My teenage sons confirmed this principle.

6. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have.

A quote from Thomas Jefferson

7. Liberty makes all the difference in the world.

Patrick Henry preferred death if liberty were to be withheld.

It’s hard to step back from the swirl the media creates and to which we’re drawn as if moths to a flame. But step back we must in order to find the wherewithal to ask questions of our government’s current actions and to measure those actions against principles such as these seven.

For similar minded comments and essays, check out http://bastiatblog.blogspot.com/.

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Marketing Strategies That Really Work!

2008-03-15T13:22:00.000-07:00

Following my first book project "Speaking of Success", I had the opportunity to dive into a new marketing project entitled "Marketing Strategies That Really Work!" This time, I'm a co-author alongside Jay Conrad Levinson of The Guerilla Marketing series of books and Robert Bly the nationally known copywriter and marketer.

As I developed my part of this project, I asked my niece Jordan Hallbauer if she could author a poem specifically to be published with this book. She agreed and the result is really a wonderful combination though you'll have to buy the book to enjoy it for yourself! While this is the first published poem of Jordan's (daughter of Mike and Marie (Gudorf) Hallbauer) I'm certain she will publish many more writings in the future. And since she collaborated on this project, she's earning $5 from each book sold to fund her savings.

As to the "Speaking of Success" project, back at the start of 2006, I had the chance to join a book project that featured renowned authors and speakers Stephen Covey and Brian Tracy. You know Covey from his "7 Habits" series and any of you in sales will instantly recognize Tracy from his many public speaking, books, and sales training programs. Those of you who know me, know that my bookshelves are full of books from the likes of these two. So, when the chance arose to write a chapter with my own ideas as to success for publication alongside these two mentors, I jumped at the chance.

If you order from me directly, I'll send you a first run copy of either or both "Marketing Strategies That Really Work" or "Speaking of Success" with a personal note of thanks. These books retail for $19.95 each. The friend and family price is $15 each including shipping. Think of it as a good way to support the Gudorf.Net web site. e-Mail success@gudorf.net letting me know which book you want and I'll send back payment instructions. If you want to buy a quantity as gifts for business associates or customers, just let me know and we'll work out a quantity discount for you.

Thanks in advance for your support!

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You Have To Make It Easy

2007-11-25T16:38:00.000-08:00

One of the most basic of rules in the world of sales and marketing is that you have to make it easy for customers to find you or they’ll readily go elsewhere. This is related to the maxim that says it’s easier and cheaper to keep an existing customer than to find a new one. I was reminded of these sales and marketing “truths” when I found myself reaching the end of what has become my favorite note-taking journal.

Over the past several decades, I have used a variety of different notebooks and journals to capture my daily business note and yet never have I found one I liked better than my current choice. It’s the right size with good quality paper, a durable cover, and it was easy to emboss with my company’s name. The only problem is that nowhere on this wonderful journal can I find any markings resembling a manufacturer’s name or model number, nor the name or phone number of the place I purchased it from. Unfortunately, no matter how much I like this journal and wish to buy more of them, it is simply impossible for me to do so.

What a waste of effort by the manufacturer and the reseller combined. They both paid good money to develop this product and market it to the world but they failed miserably to take the last few steps necessary to make it easy for a customer to remain a customer!

Imagine how much more profitable both the manufacturer’s and reseller’s business would be with one simple little change so as to readily enable repeat purchases.

What little changes should we all make in our own businesses so as to avoid a similar fate?

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TRY

2007-08-03T22:09:00.000-07:00

We recently visited Dundas Castle just outside of Edinburgh Scotland. The Dundas Castle dates back to the mid-13th century and rests among 1500 acres of rolling woods and fields bordering the River Forth. In a word: beautiful.

The family that owns and operates the Castle nowadays books more than 100 weddings and events on the glorious Castle grounds.

Fittingly, the occasion of our visit was a dear friend’s wedding and true to form, the event was spectacular; thoroughly enjoyed by all. I even had the experience of wearing a Kilt for the first and very likely last time ever. Yes, this photo is me in the kilt standing next to my 16 year old son who is trying hard not to break out in laughter at dear old Dad in a skirt!

One interesting take away from a tour of the Castle grounds however, was the family motto displayed underneath their coat of arms emblazoned in stone on the front of the Castle. The Dundas Castle’s family motto was simply the word TRY.

Which turns out to be a good motto for the success of a wedding, an experience such as wearing a kilt, or even for building a castle that has stood for more than 700 years.

A good motto acted upon really does stand the test of time.

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Scot Free

2007-07-30T13:47:00.001-07:00

Another little tidbit I learned while touring the Tower of London was the origin of the phrase “he got off Scot free.”

It seems that many hundreds of years ago, one of the prisoners sentenced to death at the Tower of London was a Scotsman. This wily character was deemed dangerous enough to only be brought into the Tower through the maximum-security, all waterway entrance known as the Traitor’s Gate.

No prisoner had ever previously escaped from that entry point and no one other than that lone Scotsman ever did again. That proud Scott did escape and lived the remainder of his days a free man back in Scotland.

Hence, the phrase “he got off Scot free” came into the language (or at least this is the story told by the Tower’s tour guide!).

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Progress?

2007-07-28T09:35:00.000-07:00

An excellent guide gave us a tour of the Tower of London on our recent sightseeing expedition in that city. The guide shared many tales of old from the Tower’s 700 year history. Many of these tales had to do with the ritual beheadings of prisoners; a weekly event well into the 1600’s (not really all that long ago!).

The public popularity of the beheadings was so strong that the definition of “prisoner” became more and more flexible over time so that the public’s appetite for a good beheading could be readily assuaged. As he held our attention with the tales, I remember thinking “gee, I’m glad society has progressed beyond the Sunday-go-to-beheadings stage.”

Then, just two short days later in a local London newspaper, I read that in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, there have been 109 deaths by beheading in just the first seven months of 2007. The Saudis use death by beheading as their preferred form of punishment for a wide variety of crimes; including the crime committed when a foreigner brings into their country any religious or pornographic materials; at least they warn you of this right on their VISA application.

Don’t know if the Saudis consider it effective or not as a crime deterrent but the use of human beheadings is still as gruesome a thought today as it was in the 13-17th centuries of the Tower of London’s history. Maybe society has not progressed as far as we like to think.

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2 Steps Back To Go Forward

2007-06-10T16:02:00.000-07:00

While roaming the annual CompuTex show in Taipei, Taiwan this week, two things kept catching my eye at multiple booths amongst a sea of vendors. It wasn’t the fastest new computer processor, the ever flashier tricks of the booth builders to attract visitors, nor the often uniquely creative naming plays of both companies and products. Rather, this year, the two things I kept seeing both held themselves out as the new and upcoming must-have consumer electronics product while both remained firmly grounded in past product technologies. Hence the feeling of two steps back to backward to go forward.

First, consider the half a dozen or so offerings of vacuum tube audio amplifiers on display at the show. Vacuum tube technology was phased out of consumer electronics product, including almost all but the most esoteric, high-end stereo audio amplifiers, years ago in favor of the mighty transistor and its many advantages including cost, convenience, and reliability versus the tube. I mean when was the last time you thought about a tube having to be replaced inside your favorite TV or radio?

I well remember the vacuum tube from my teenage years spent in my grandfather and father’s TV and Appliance store but even then, the tubes we kept on hand were mostly for the repairing of products originally purchased when I was a mere child or even earlier. I confess there was something magical about the vacuum tube that held my wonder back then; the way it would glow and the ease with which they could be swapped out. I enjoyed opening a product brought to us for repair and pulling the tubes one by one to see if the replacements I would plug in could solve the problem. More often than not, that was all that was needed and I could say I “fixed” the problem. It was quite the fun accomplishment for a teenager to claim even though I knew little of the how and why of the vacuum tube technology.

Alas, when my Dad finally closed up the family shop, he sold our final inventory of vacuum tubes on eBay to the highest bidder. If I had any doubt as to the viability of the vacuum tube business, that sale on eBay said it all; the transistor had won and the tube had finally died. Ever since, the race to build ever more portable and rugged products in designs as slim as the newest Apple iPod has been the sole dominion of the power of the transistor. Even many of the high end audio amplifier purists who insisted that the tube was a more “pure” or “warm” sound steadily converted over to transistor based amplifiers. And so, my surprise was very real when in more than a few booths I spied vacuum tube amplifiers being showcased as brand new products.

These clunky and large, in comparison to today’s tiny transistor based products were somehow beautiful looking products. And irony of irony, many of these new tube products had iPod docks built into them proudly promising that the tube amplification would make your iPod sound better than ever when played through your speakers from these tube amps; pretty funny when you think about it. Will the vacuum tube make a sudden resurgence? Probably not, though the nostalgic feel of the product and the soft glow of the tubes in a darkened room mean it’ll probably be a reasonable selling hit. Guess my Dad should have hung onto that tube inventory after all. This old technology just might be new again.

The second product that caught my eye, in a similar yet different vein, was the advent of truly low cost (think sub $200) notebook computers. These machines are far less powerful than today’s standard notebook and are often capable of processing power abilities more in line with computers of many years ago. See the two steps back to go forward trend? And yet, the appeal of these machines was hard to deny based on the efforts of a few vendors to showcase their potential.

The magic of these machines is not in their old technology processing power levels ala the vacuum tube example above, but rather in the way their creators recognize that our external environment has changed radically enough that we can now forgo some level of device power because of the advances in broadband availability and the sheer power and robustness inherent in that availability. Along with the ever evolving web technologies that enable you to do nearly anything from e-mail to spreadsheets with just a browser based product and a good Internet connection, these new notebooks appeal in a very different way to both business and home users.

Given the sub $200 price points (these are Linux, not Windows machines!) these new low power, low cost, low power consumption, and very compact computers can log onto the Net and process away in a manner that most certainly guarantees they’ll be a hit seller. They are also low enough in price that consumers can use multiple units amongst family members or even simply in multiples hanging around the home serving various Net driven functions.
Maybe you could set one on a bookshelf constantly displaying your growing Flickr photo collection from the web or perhaps one will sit in the kitchen only to access your online recipe collection. These machines will spawn new and likely very creative applications and given their price points, consumers won’t be afraid to risk a hundred or so dollars on an application idea that might seem frivolous by todays thousand dollar plus standards. They also won’t worry quite as much about putting such a device in their teenagers’ hands as the investment will be so much smaller than today’s notebooks.

As a business person, more and more, as long as I can get a Net connection, I don’t feel the need to carry my entire office with me in a state of the art notebook computer. However, Blackberry and smart cell phone devices just aren’t practical for the amount of typing I need to do in writing e-mails and reports. So, I’d happily consider trading the bulk and weight of the standard business notebook for the slim portability of these new sub $200 laptops. And given the nearly ubiquitous accessibility of broadband in the business traveler’s world, it seems like a strong enough opportunity that these products should do very well indeed. I know I ordered my first one on the spot at the show. Less processing power instead of more, and the growth of the Net and its related technologies, make this step backward a potentially big leap into the future.

Yes, there was plenty of “regular” business to do at this year’s CompuTex show though I couldn’t help but come away from the show thinking of the ramifications of these two “old” ideas and how they have birthed two new products.

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Milestones Sometimes Take Time

2007-05-28T20:42:00.000-07:00

Almost 30 years ago, I dreamt of learning to fly. I even took an initial step with a flight lesson at the local airport in New Knoxville, Ohio. However, before I could get good and started on the flying, life intervened and a more pressing need for potential flight training funds caught my attention. The dream didn’t go away but rather it went on hold.

About 7 years later, I re-took that initial step at an airport in the Kettering, Ohio area. However, once again life put flying on hold as at about the same time, we learned our first son was due in the coming months. This time the dream was parked but still not forgotten.

Fast forward 20 some years and here we are buying a house outside of Seattle, Washington that has a view of the Renton Municipal airport from afar. For several months, I’d sit on the deck and watch, through my binoculars, the small airplanes coming and going and practicing their touch and go’s. As a bonus, the end of Renton’s Runway 33 flows right into the waters of Lake Washington and so I could also watch Seaplanes departing with a roar and splashing down in that graceful combination of flying and boating with speed to boot.

So it was that exactly one year ago on Memorial Day weekend 2006, that I took advantage of the day off from work and headed to AcuWings at Renton Airport. In no time at all, that first lesson was under my belt for the third time. And this time it stuck!

While the business of life and hectic work travel schedules clawed at my time, over the course of this past year, I managed to build up enough flying time to solo on my own this Memorial Day 2007.

Perhaps it is as the old saying goes, “the third time is the charm” or maybe it’s just that persistence really does pay off, either way, I’m happy to say that achieving the milestone of solo flight is one big thrill on my way to learning to fly.

Check out photos of the Piper Tomahawk I flew in my first solo effort by CLICKING HERE. Special thanks to my Aircraft Owner’s & Pilot’s Association volunteer mentor Wade H. who just happened to be at the airport with camera in hand when I took to the air.

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Duchene Muscular Dystrophy Fund Raiser

2007-03-31T09:33:00.000-07:00

Back at the start of 2006, I had the opportunity to be part of a book project that would feature two of my favorites in the world of self-development and motivation. Stephen Covey of the 7 Habits fame and Brian Tracy of the sales and marketing world were teaming to co-author a book about success. In joining the project, I took on the task of authoring a chapter as to my own thoughts on the secrets of success. And so, at the very end of 2006, a dream I held from the time I was a 4th grader finally came to life as I received the first, hot-off-the-press shipment of “Speaking of Success” with a picture of myself on the cover smiling back between photos of Stephen Covey and Brian Tracy.

However as one of my dreams neared fruition, a dream of a fellow Digeo teammate, Mindy Leffler, was radically altered. In the spring of 2006, Mindy and Mitch Leffler’s young son Aidan was diagnosed with Duchene Muscular Dystrophy. DMD affects approximately 1 boy in every 3,000. DMD boys gradually lose the use of their muscles and eventually become paralyzed. Most do not live past their early 20's. As we all absorbed this harsh news, many of us looked for ways to help Mindy and her family in their time of need. The Digeo team responded warmly and generously. Thank you for that effort.

As I personally learned more about DMD from Mindy and began to research the topic on my own, I learned what a tough diagnosis DMD truly is for anyone facing it. What’s worse, funding for research specific to DMD is often over-shadowed by “bigger name” research and so while many promising treatments were in the wings for DMD, the market and research pressures made it difficult to keep pushing the DMD needs forward. My wife and I, as parents of two sons, wondered what more we could do to help in some small way with the situation, and so we decided to donate a number of my “Speaking of Success” books as a fundraising tool for an organization helping to drive forward the search for treatments for DMD.

The Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy organization is now selling “Speaking of Success” in their online store with 100% of the proceeds directly benefiting their ongoing research for DMD treatments. Please feel free to visit them at www.parentprojectmd.org to learn more of DMD. If you’re so inclined, you may also purchase a copy of “Speaking of Success” from the PPMD e-Commerce store (CLICK HERE) knowing that all revenues received by them will in at least a small way benefit a fellow Digeo team member.

Don’t forget that if you want to keep track of Aidan, visit www.aidanleffler.info where Mindy and Mitch keep postings of Aidan’s progress and the progress of various fundraising efforts on his behalf.

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The Changing Mantra

2007-02-03T23:34:00.000-08:00

Soon after we made the decision to move to Seattle in the fall of 2005, a mantra began to form which I’ve since repeated to myself many times over. You see, the state of Washington collects no state income tax and that was certainly a plus in the decision making process as we pondered the move from our beloved San Diego to Seattle. In California, my wife and I were paying nearly 10% in state income tax and I would gladly not have to pay that to the state of Washington upon moving to Seattle.

Of course, the sales tax rate in Seattle is about 1% higher than in San Diego but that was seen as a small price to be paid in exchange for escaping the certainty of California’s tax slice and definitely a nice positive in moving to Seattle.

As my personality has a need to seize and focus on the positive, the mantra I struck up played out over and over as such;

It rains so much in Seattle – but there’s no state income tax
The real estate market in Seattle is a lot more expensive than we thought – but there’s no state income tax
The commute traffic on the 405 and 90 interstates is actually worse than San Diego’s traffic – but there’s no state income tax
Winter includes rain, ice, snow, wind and lots more cold than San Diego – but there’s no state income tax
The rain nearly set a consecutive days-of-falling record in January of 2006 – but there’s no state income tax
The rainfalls of November 2006 were truly all-time record setting – but there’s no state income tax
The winds of December 2006 caused the ridge line nails in our new roof to pop right up and with the help of a tree limb, managed to rip our attic fan right out of the attic - but there’s no state income tax
Those same winds also led to a loss of electricity at the house for 7 full days just before Christmas 2006 - but there’s no state income tax
The ice and snow of January 2007 meant we couldn’t even drive our cars down the road to our house as the hill was an impassable sheet of ice for nearly 5 days - but there’s no state income tax
And of course, there’s simply not much use in owning a pool in Seattle as we had in San Diego – but there’s no state income tax

Yes, the use of that mantra was one of the ways I attempted to stay focused on the positive during one of the rougher relocation transitions we’ve made in our nearly 30 years of marriage.

Now that we’ve lived in Seattle for a year and a half however, I realize that the tone of the mantra has slowly but surely changed:

The summer of 2006 was absolutely spectacular with long dry, warm days and there’s no state income tax
Watching the Blue Angels perform over Lake Washington from the shores of a small and fairly un-crowded beach right near the house was a thriller and there’s no state income tax
The majesty of Mt. Rainier in the early morning glow of rose and orange tinted sunrises is truly inspirational and there’s no state income tax
The view from atop Rattlesnake Ledge on a clear day is breathtaking and there’s no state income tax
The changing views of Lake Washington; from the commute bridges of the 90 or the 520 or even from our house, always makes for a pleasant moment of thought and there’s no state income tax
The high school our youngest son attends is a little less than half the size of his school in San Diego, the curriculum is markedly stronger and there’s no state income tax
The occasional glimpse of Bald Eagles around Lake Washington and many more spied spectacularly on the Skagit River in winter is amazing and there’s no state income tax
Skiing at Crystal Mountain on the slopes of Mt. Rainier is close enough for a nice day trip where for two winters in a row now we’ve seen great snow conditions and there’s no state income tax
Downtown Seattle, which is actually much more interesting and pleasant a downtown than San Diego’s, is usually just 20 minutes from the house with all of the shopping, music, restaurants, waterfront markets, and ball parks one could want and there’s no state income tax

I’m not sure where the future adventures of life will take us or how long we’ll remain in Seattle but what was and in some ways still is a difficult relocation transition from our beloved San Diego has turned out to have a few more positives than I ever imagined and no state income tax!

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Lawsuit Threat Trims The Tree

2006-12-10T23:22:00.000-08:00

Several weeks ago, I read an article in the New York Times describing how many larger companies were once again ready to use the word "Christmas" as part of their holiday vocabulary. Quite the switch from the politically correct approach of years past when it seemed folks went out of their way to avoid the use of the word Christmas at all in a business or marketing related context.

This change seems to follow the change in Washington DC itself when just last year the political machine inside the Beltway reversed gears and decided they should once again call the "seasonal tree" on the US Capitol grounds the "National Christmas Tree" instead of the "Holiday Tree" as they did beginning sometime in the 1990's.

These two twists happening within a year of one another might even be viewed as straight forward example of government leadership. (Hah!) And since hope springs eternal in this optimist, I personally heard the words, "Yes Virginia, there really is a Santa Claus" echoing throughout the room as I read the Times' article.

However, my hope was dashed and those kind words wiped away when this morning's (December 9th) Seattle Times had a front page article that began with the headline "Airport puts away trees rather than risk being "exclusive" and an opening paragraph that read "As odd as it might seem, Officials were hoping to avoid controversy when they dismantled nine holiday trees." It seems that a Rabbi requested that Seattle SeaTac Airport officials place an 8-foot-tall menorah next to the tallest Christmas tree to avoid "excluding" those of the Jewish faith from enjoying the holiday spirit. The trouble came when his request was supposedly backed by the threat of a law suit if SeaTac didn't comply.

Rather than deal with the threat of such a law suit or the issue of putting up a menorah (or other symbols of differing holiday reminders) SeaTac did the "efficient" thing and ordered the Christmas trees removed so they could worry more about the pressing business of running an airport than which decorations would satisfy all the potential law-suit threatening folks that might wander through that airport.

As schedules would have it, I flew out of SeaTac later today (same day as the article) and I learned first hand that they really did remove all of the big Christmas trees that previously decorated the terminal for the season. Ironically, the destination for my flight was Narita Airport in Tokyo Japan. What's the first thing I spied as I stepped into the club at Narita's Airport? Yes, a huge and beautifully decked out Christmas Tree for all to see. So, perhaps there is still a Santa Claus afterall. One merely needs to go to Japan to see the trappings of the hoiday!

Merry Christmas or no, I mean Happy Hanukkah or no, I mean Happy Kwanzaa … ahhh, shoot, HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Ho, ho, ho.

Gudorf & Sons’ V-Store Closes

2006-08-27T12:58:00.000-07:00

Yes, it’s true.

While the Gudorf & Sons’ online V-Store (virtual store) has been open for five years now as an extension of the Gudorf.Net web effort, the company behind the e-commerce store engine it uses has decided to call it quits and so the links to the Gudorf & Sons store will close accordingly.

While it’s a little sad to see it go, the need for such a decision is very clear. The market realities of today’s web world are such that if you don’t offer a unique business proposition in the way you drive traffic, offer pricing, or service the consumer, the myriad of other choices available to the consumer will mean you simply fade away into the crowd. The Gudorf & Sons web store’s primary uniqueness was the family name; nostalgic for some but of no real value versus a purchase from Amazon or others of the larger web world.

Five years ago, the idea of being able to easily create a customized e-commerce storefront was pretty exciting and I couldn’t resist the temptation to give it a try. With minimal fanfare and only a few hours of effort, the Gudorf & Sons V-Store launched from the Gudorf.Net web site offering books, movies, music, electronics and much more to anyone who happened upon the link. The experience was akin to any web purchase from a smaller site and I had hopes that the commissions (profits) would help to offset the costs of operating the Gudorf.Net web site. Of course, I should have listened to my mother who told me many times in my youth that “if it’s overly easy, it might not be worth doing”.

The business model from the V-Store system perspective was that if enough small fry such as me built their own stores, then V-Store could aggregate that traffic and the purchases that went with it into a powerful overall business. While V-Store’s approach was unique as to enabling others to easily start a retail store that uniqueness broke down when it came to the consumer for if the small fry store operators could not develop an adequately unique proposition for their consumers then the V-Store system operator would never flourish.

There are two overarching flaws in the V-Store approach at the heart of their closure. The first is that many of the small fry, who created stores like the Gudorf & Sons web store, did so out of curiosity and lacked the ability to drive reasonable traffic to the site. The second flaw was that with a business model that needed to pay the small fry a slice of the profit (a commission really) plus pay the V-Store operations, the ability to be competitive in product pricing with the likes of an Amazon couldn’t materialize. If a unique enough consumer position could have been created at the individual small fry level, then perhaps the price competitiveness could have been overcome but with that part of the equation totally in the hands of the small fry (see the first flaw), the V-Store operators themselves were hard pressed to create a truly unique consumer proposition.

During this same time, Amazon and others grew at much faster rate than the average V-Store small fry player and so the gap widened between the Amazon level consumer proposition and what the V-Store operators could offer. As such, the apparent need for small “mom & pop” web stores became less and less sustainable as these small web stores could not economically generate adequate traffic to enable the volume of sales that would yield a competitive price while also delivering a differentiated and positive customer service experience. Thus the downward spiral took root for lack of a unique consumer selling proposition.

In summary, I’ll chalk it all up to a fun learning experiment for myself and further proof positive that if you don’t have a unique selling proposition at the consumer level that you can afford to nurture and cultivate, then you’re business is on weak footing at best.

Here’s the official notice in case you’ve got any orders pending. FYI.

August 23, 2006

Dear Vtailer:

Please be advised that effective Monday, August 28, 2006, Vstore will cease accepting new orders.We will continue to service those orders accepted prior to August 28, 2006 for a period of thirty (30) days, or until midnight September 27, 2006 in accordance to the Terms and Conditions you agreed to when building your Storefront. You will be able to access reports during this period and should you require this information after September 20, 2006 a copy should be printed. Any orders not completed by midnight September 27, 2006 will be cancelled.All outstanding commissions payable under the Terms of the Agreement will be paid on or before October 26, 2006.

We at Vstore wish you every success in your future ecommerce entrepreneurial endeavors.

Sincerely,Vstore

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Needless Drama in Sales

2006-07-03T07:19:00.000-07:00

Selling as a career can be one of the most exciting roles anywhere. The idea of helping people find what they want, what they need, and what they perhaps would not have discovered on their own, thereby bringing joy to them while producing income for one’s self is truly a wonderful thing.

Why then is it that so many in the field of sales continue to pursue their chosen career with the belief that their prospects are not intelligent enough to understand the sales process and can therefore be readily and easily duped with worn out and often underhanded if not just silly sales tactics?

As an example, while recently purchasing a new vehicle, my wife and I entered the dealership having done all our homework and knowing what a fair price would be for the vehicle we desired. As the salesperson began his part of the process, he of course started with the full retail price added this and that to it and then presented us with an offer note that was $3,000 to $4,000 higher than what we knew to be a valid price. We responded, “Thank you however this is the price we have in mind, we know it’s a fair price. If you’d like to sell the vehicle today, we’ll be glad to write you a check in full.”

Of course, the last part of our statement were magical words to the salesperson and he quickly scrambled to fill out an offer note and have us sign it. With a signed offer in his hand, he dashed off to his manager’s office for approval. Of course, that took 30 or 40 minutes during which the salesman returned to where we sat patiently waiting to advise us we were very close and the manager was taking our offer very seriously.

Finally, after the car sales deities had determined that the correct amount of time had passed, the sales person returned with paper in hand. He restated his claim that we were very, very close and sat down with us to review the numbers. Within seconds it became clear that in spite of the fact that the sales person was prepared to talk for several more minutes in an effort to convince of the meaning of the words “very close,” the manager’s idea of “very close” was still approximately $600 higher than my wife and I had proposed as a purchase price. At that point we simply stood up, pointed out to the salesman that he was $600 too high, thanked him for his time, shook his hand and left.

It probably took us all about five minutes to walk out of the dealership, get into our old car, put on a seat belt, start the engine, and begin backing up to leave the dealership. At the very moment we were shifting from reverse-to-drive, the sales person who’d been helping us came running out of the dealership waving a fist full of paperwork at us. Next thing I knew he was at the car side motioning for us to roll down the window so he could breathlessly tell us his manager had decided that our price was OK after all. Yes, he moved very quickly for a fellow I’d guess to be in his late sixties! As my wife and I re-parked the car and headed back into the office we couldn’t help but shake our heads in wonderment at the drama that had just played out and how time wasteful it was for all concerned.

What we didn’t fully appreciate however was how much more time was about to be wasted. As the salesperson completed the offer paperwork, we asked about writing the check. The salesperson immediately pushed back and said “please don’t write me a check you need to write the check in front of the finance man”. And with those words, act three of the process began; a process whose first step was another hour of waiting for the finance man whose real role was to begin sales negotiation number two.

When we finally sat down with the finance person, he started the process over again of walking through the numbers and explaining what a great price we were receiving. He then preceded to take a blank sheet of paper, draw a line down the middle of it, and on the left hand side he listed every major item that you expect and want to be covered by the standard warranty. He then turned his attention to the right hand side and began by writing the words “not covered” at the top. From there he began to explain to us what types of items would not be covered by the standard Chevrolet warranty. The example he used was that climate driven issues would not be covered by the warranty. Being the curious type, I couldn’t help but inquire as to what a "climate" exclusion would entail. It was then that the finance person explained that since Seattle is known for rain, problems with the windshield wipers would not be covered by the warranty just as problems with air conditioning on cars in San Diego would also not be covered by the GM warranty. Unbelievable as it may sound, this was his pitch. At that point, my wife suggested that if he wanted to continue with his presentation, we would not be buying the car after all. On the other hand, if he wanted to stop right where he was and accept our check, we’d complete the purchase and be on our way.

Long story short, nearly two hours after having walked in with a decision and our checkbook in hand we finally left the dealership with completed sales transaction and a car set to be delivered within the next couple of days. My wife and I were very happy with the vehicle and we paid a fair and reasonable price; definitely not the lowest price but certainly not what the dealership attempted to force upon us. In the end the salesperson succeeded in that a sale was made and a commission generated and in the end the finance person processed the paperwork successfully and so I suppose the tactics will be propagated based on their successes.

However, what if the salesperson, the finance person, and the dealership could see through the falsehood of their activities and instead approach the customer in a different manner; a far more reasonable and human manner. Don’t they see that dealing with the prospect in a straight up fashion without the games, shenanigans, and high drama would make for an easier, more time efficient transaction and most importantly better secure their customers’ willingness to purchase future vehicles from the dealership with the knowledge that the dealer would treat the customer right from the very start of the process?

Yes, a career in sales is a tremendously powerful foundation upon which to build a life’s success. Too bad that so many practitioners still believe in the power of high drama and high pressure as the “key to success.” It’s time for salespeople to stop the drama and pressure tactics used on unsuspecting customers and realize that to forgo the short term, higher dollar sales provides far greater dividends in the long run.

Scouting Leads to Success

2006-05-22T17:56:00.000-07:00

Scouting and Success in the Business World.

Along the lines of the popular book that proclaimed that everything one needed to learn for a successful life could be learned in Kindergarten, it occurred to me a while back that everything needed for success in business is taught in Scouting. Whether you’re a Scout from way back or one who missed out on what Scouting offers, allow me to suggest two elements of Scouting in particular can be put to work by any and all of us to move the success needle forward in today’s competitive business world.

There are two things that every new Scout learns as part of their indoctrination into the Boy Scouts of America.

The Scout Law which states that a Scout is “trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.”

The Scout Promise in which Scouts proclaim that “On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.”

Powerful words made ever more powerful by repetition in that every weekly meeting opens with all Scouts present reciting aloud and in unison both the Scout Law and the Scout Promise. Such learned and then oft repeated positive affirmations serve to ingrain the underlying philosophy securely in one’s mind in a way that remains long after the Scouting years have faded away. What’s more, the power of those words as an example of what’s needed for success in the business world is hard to argue against.

Imagine how these words might play out in a typical business interaction that has a clear success-fail outcome. Given the choice between hiring two technically equal job candidates, what business person would ignore the candidate that was trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent to choose the one that wasn’t? Could the qualities inherent in the Scout Law be the tie-breaker that lands that person the new job?

Similarly, while I’ve often heard employees say they want to move up to the next level title or position on their career ladder, the ones who actively demonstrate the qualities inherent in the Scout Law usually don’t need to ask about promotions. The combination of Scout Law attributes along with proven technical competence in one’s chosen field will nearly guarantee that managers in an organization are noticing and actively planning to groom such an individual for advancement. Likewise, a person with solid, sometimes even brilliant technical competence will struggle to find the advancement path if they regularly demonstrate the opposite of the Scout Law attributes. Why would any business want to promote a person that can’t be trusted, lacks loyalty, is rarely helpful or friendly, or courteous, or kind? The answer seems pretty obvious when put in that context doesn’t it?

The Scout Law professes the attributes that will deliver success in Scouting as readily as in business. The Scout Promise, on the other hand, prescribes a way of living the Scout Law that while perhaps tailored more precisely for the Scouting experience is still just as valid in providing a method for pursuing success in the business world. Again, assuming technical competence in one’s chosen field, how could success be denied to one who lives in honor and resolves to do their best and to do their duty? A person who is physically in shape, mentally awake, morally straight, and actively looking for ways to help other people at all times will surely find success in business.

While the power inherent in the words of the both the Scout Law and the Scout promise can not be denied, it’s not just the words which provide this prescription for success. The constant repetition aloud of both the Scout Law and the Scout Promise at the start of Scouting events is a powerful affirmation process that ingrains the strength of the words in the Scouts.

Imagine how business meetings might change if every session started with the attendees standing and proclaiming that they are trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. Followed by a declaration that on their honor they will each do their best to do their duty to help other people at all times and to keep themselves physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight. My bet is that such a practice would result in markedly different meeting results!

Of course, in today’s business world, you couldn’t even attempt to require such a act as it would be immediately seen as stepping on the attendees civil liberties or worse but it is fun to imagine what might happen in business if everyone from across the organization came to work each day determined to live by both the Scout Law and the Scout promise. The result would likely be success in far more instances than without such a powerful attitude permeating the day to day business world. The good news is that affirming the Scout Law and the Scout Promise on a regular basis will make a positive impact on any practitioner’s day to day life. If enough of us take on the challenge of such affirmations, we can improve our chances of personal success while advancing the success of our business and of those around us. If you’re a Scout from way back, dust off the memories and lessons learned. If you never had the chance to be a part of Scouting, take the challenge of affirming the power of the words and see if your success in business doesn’t tick upward.

PS A special note of thanks to my Mom and Dad who in addition to having eight children, found the time to make sure Scouting was an option I could enjoy with their full and active support.

Choices

2006-03-26T21:08:00.000-08:00

Ever asked why? Why you do something? Why things turn out the way they do? Why you’re overweight, afraid to try that new idea, constantly holding yourself back from achieving everything you were ever meant to achieve? Could the answer to “why” be simply your choice?

Perhaps it is the change of seasons as we move once again to Spring with the promise of Summer nearby but I’ve been thinking much lately of how everything really does boil down to the choices that we each make. Nearly every waking moment we are making choices and the power that goes with the act of choosing often goes unnoticed. The simple fact that each of us always has a choice to make in our personal sphere, our relationships with others, and even in our career aspirations is a source of power that is far too often ignored or bemoaned as if it didn’t exist.

For instance, I know I’m overweight. No matter how you read the charts, I’m overweight by more than a few pounds [optimistically, I could say that I’m not overweight just too short for my size but that’s a choice of words I won’t use]. Of course, I know it would be convenient to blame my family genes and chalk my overweight state up to so and so’s thunder thighs or that other person’s big beer belly. It would also be convenient to blame the hurried schedules and pressures of modern society as the reason for my being overweight. However, I know that my personal battle of the bulge really comes down to a personal choice. I choose to be overweight even though such a choice seems illogical. I know this is a choice because no one ever forced a single bite of food into my mouth when I didn’t choose to accept it. And no one ever held me down in bed to keep me from exercising. Thus, it is by my choices of intake (food) and burn rate (lack of exercise) that I end up being overweight by choice.

Relationships; as the Jimmy buffet songs says, “we all have them, we all want them” but the real question is whether or not we make the choices necessary to develop them in the manner we desire. Late for dinner again? Did you choose properly? Wonder why none of those friends you haven’t talked to in years and years aren’t calling you all the time? Have you chosen that result even if it's by default? We all know that relationships must be cultivated and fed and we understand what happens when relationships are neglected. Do we recognize however that it is the choices we make leading up to the point of neglect that delivers the results we may or may not desire. Traffic is always heavy on those roadways. There is always more work to do. How we choose to respond determines the results we receive.

And what about the work-a-day world. Do we bemoan that curmudgeon of a boss and loathe the day-to-day tasks we get paid to perform? Isn’t it a choice we make when we stay put instead of seeking a new environment better suited to our nature? Do we really want to do something different but decide to stay because of a million different reasons? Do we recognize that such a decision even if the reasons are perfectly valid is still a choice we make? If so, can we recognize the power in our choice?

Yes, everything we do boils down to the choices we make. It may be easier to point to other circumstances that gave us “no choice” but to do so is to err as there is always a choice. Granted sometimes the choices in front of us are not ones we would wish to choose among. They are choices though and therefore we have some form of control over the situation even if our first instinct is to throw up our hands and grumble that there is no choice. Believing in choice and recognizing the inherent power in exercising your choice is an important path we should all be walking.

After all, maybe it isn’t the change of season but rather a choice I’ve actually been making to think about the power of choice and to remind myself to investigate those areas of my life that are not where I wish them to be and then to ponder what choices I’m making or not making that keep me from achieving those goals. And by the way, remember that there is no need to figure things out in advance. There is only the need to choose and then choose again. To paraphrase an old saying, choose to go as far as you can see and then you’ll see further choices for you to consider.

Happy choices!

Fantasy imagines success; striving asks: What do I do next?

2005-12-27T08:43:00.000-08:00

Fantasy imagines success; striving asks: What do I do next?

The line utilized to headline this posting has been borrowed from a recent op-ed piece by William Raspberry a Washington Post syndicated columnist. It appeared in the December 27th edition of The Seattle Times and stopped me in my tracks with its own headline, “The what-next question”.

For as long as I remember, I’ve felt “driven” ever onward. In a blink, Raspberry re-framed that feeling for me by suggesting it’s a matter of striving more than being driven. Striving seems much more internally centric as opposed to being driven by an outside force as the source of one’s motivation. For that reason, striving as a means of moving forward seems inherently more positive than being driven forward. Taskmasters drive their teams forward. Leaders create within their teams the need to strive ever forward for mutual benefit. And while the crowds at any sports arena may feel they can drive or spur their team forward with their cheers, it usually comes down to the individual athlete’s desire to strive forward inch by inch toward the goal fueled by a source of personal energy that enables the progress.

With such a simple turn of phrase; striving as opposed to being driven, I read Raspberry’s piece with a new energy. He quickly sets up the view that being willing to constantly ask the “what-next question” is a source of fuel for striving ever onward. He also suggests that working to embed the question during the early education of our youth is the key to enabling whole generations to ask the question and thus continue to strive onward. Raspberry founded an organization called Baby Steps and it is in part the answer to his personal what-next question.

As Raspberry writes, “It comes down to priorities that are intensely personal: What's worth doing, and what is within my reach? …

What's worth doing? One answer is helping to save an endangered generation of children. I still believe in the magic of education, a belief instilled in me by my teacher-parents. It scares me that the parents of so many young children today don't believe in the magic. It's almost as if they are afraid to believe in it, afraid to dream of success because they've become convinced that only failure is real. They may fantasize, but they don't strive.

What's the difference? Fantasy imagines success; striving asks: What do I do next?I've taken it as my next-step project to help restore the faith that education can work wonders and to help another generation of young people learn to ask: What's next?”

As an aside and as a now fully engaged reader, I quickly e-mailed Raspberry for more details as to his Baby Steps project.

How can we spread the “what-next question” in our own lives? As a father of two teenage sons, I often wonder how and if I’m instilling in them the ability to drive (from now on I’ll substitute the word strive) toward what they want/need in life; for what will better themselves and those around them. Am I doing this job adequately? Will they have the gumption to ask “what do I do next” and then the fortitude to follow through? Time will tell of course. Until then, I appreciate Raspberry’s thought and the new lens he has given me for considering what’s next in my own life.

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Patron Saint of TV

2005-11-19T19:22:00.000-08:00

Who says the Church doesn’t cover all its bases? Did you know there is a patron saint of TV? A good friend bought a little statue of St. Clare, Patron Saint of Television for me not long after I assumed responsibility for the TV business at Sony Electronics. We placed the statue on the office credenza and the market share results have been improving ever since!

Here’s the story of St. Clare as reported at www.accoutrements.com:

Clare was born on July 11, 1194 in Assisi, Italy to the Count Faverone Offreduccio. After hearing Saint Francis of Assisi preach in the streets, she confided to him here desire to live for God. On Palm Sunday 1212 she ran away from her parents’ palace during the night, and took the veil of religious profession from St. Francis.

In 1215 Clare move to the church of St. Damiano, was made Superior by Francis and led the convent for forty years. It was here she took a vow of poverty and founded the Order of Poor Ladies (Poor Clares). Everywhere the Franciscans established themselves the Poor Clares would follow with their convents.

She was credited with many miracles. In 1241 her prayers saved Assisi from the besieging soldiers of Emperor Frederick II. Toward the end of her life, when she was too ill to attend Mass, an image of the service appeared on the wall of her room, and she could hear the singing in the church, just as if she had been present. Pope Pius XII proclaimed Clare the patron saint of television in 1958 because of this vision.

And now you know how there came to be an official saint of TV.

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An RFID Experience of a Different Kind

2005-11-03T17:13:00.000-08:00

Imagine getting an e-mail notice from your company recapping the number of bathroom trips you’ve made and the exact number of minutes you spent on each such trip. How about an e-mail notice that you are spending more time than you should “visiting” in the accounting, or engineering, or any other department for that matter. Sound spooky and overly big brotherish? Read on and discover how this reality may be coming to an employer near you sooner than you might think.

One of the “up and coming” technologies likely to be widely deployed soon is Radio Frequency Identification or RFID tags. As defined at Wikipedia, “Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) is an automatic identification method, relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags or transponders. An RFID tag is a small object that can be attached to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person. RFID tags contain antennas to enable them to receive and respond to radio-frequency queries from an RFID transceiver. Passive tags require no internal power source, whereas active tags require a power source.”

I first became aware of this technology while working for Sony via a Wal-Mart requirement that all inventories from major product suppliers be RFID tagged to facilitate better supply chain management ability. With an RIFD tag on pallets and pieces of inventory, Wal-Mart’s computer system can always know the physical location of the inventory at any point in time. Knowing the physical location of inventory in a distribution warehouse, the back of a storeroom, or staged for set-up in a store, can be a pretty handy feature to have when you are minimizing cost via strict inventory control to assure Wal-Mart’s famous low price positioning.

RFID tagging has lots of other uses too. For instance, it can be used as an automatic way to collect tolls as you zip through the turnstile on Jersey’s Garden State Parkway in your automobile. It can be used as an implant on pets to make sure that their owner’s contact information is readily available should the pet get lost.

RFID technology is also being studied by the US Government as a means of speeding folks through the Passport Control process. Tiny RFID chips embedded into your passport would transmit critical identifying tidbits of information about you enabling one to simply walk through a passport control checkpoint with automated ease. This idea has met with some resistance however as it would also make it possible for unfriendly folks to electronically snoop on a crowd and identify the Americans amongst foreigners via their RFID signatures; so even if you’re not acting the part of the “ugly American” your US Government issued passport could sell you out without any required action on your part.

However, with the exception of the passport issue, none of the above ever gave me pause to think about the possible drawbacks of this wonderful little technology. Being a generally well organized person, the idea of knowing where all that stuff, inventory, pets, or toll tokens resided at all times seemed pretty handy.

The other day though, I had a first hand experience with RFID that made me stop and rethink the power behind this little technology. I was a guest in a building where all visitors and employees carried RFID tags as part of their security-name badges. For the first time I looked at that little security badge as not just a tool designed to enable me access to the building’s rooms and hallways but also as a tool for all my movements to be tracked in real-time. A monitoring service in the building could call up my unique RFID tag and know exactly where I was at a moment’s notice anywhere in the building. What’s more, it could constantly check my whereabouts against a prescribed list of locations I should and shouldn’t be in and against preset time limits for visits to the bathroom, water cooler, etc.

Of course, the practical side of me knows that there has not been any real sense of personal privacy for some time now in this wired world we live in. Most of the time though the convenience it enables is well worth the trade-off in privacy. I also recognize that every company has the right to expect that employees will not loiter where they shouldn’t or enter departments where their business function doesn’t require their presence. To date, the system for enforcing this concept has relied on honest and well intentioned agreements of implied trust (along with physical feedback) between the employer and the employee. With RFID however, the power to track and be tracked is unlike anything yet seen.

The idea of wearing an RFID badge that constantly broadcasts my whereabouts is an entirely different thought to get comfortable with. I asked, “You mean, everywhere I move, I’m tracked like a blip on a radar screen?” “Yep,” replied my host “that’s the “power” of RFID in this application”.

After a while, I found myself taking the badge off and putting it on the table in front of me. Of course, I recognize that as long as I was near the badge, I was still that blip on the radar and I certainly couldn’t go far without needing the badge to open a door or allow me past a security gate, however always thinking about my movements as that radar blip was a bit unsettling.

I suppose as with most technologies, in time, one forgets their worries and goes about their day and maybe even comes to realize the power of the technology when you’re trying to locate someone for yourself for instance. At the moment though it feels too much like the ankle bracelets used to keep track of prisoners while they are on probation or house arrest. Now that doesn’t conjure up the warm and fuzzy type of employer – employee relationship one might dream of does it?

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The PC Challenge

2005-08-08T09:01:00.000-07:00

OK, so the headline made you think this would be about personal computers and all the challenges they can represent in our modern day world. Sorry about that because if it did, you would have thought wrongly. Rather this note is about challenging the political correctness (PC) that drives so much of what we do in the modern business world and acknowledging how at least one company is taking up the challenge in a very real manner.

Ever notice how businesses typically send out “Greetings of the Season” cards instead of Christmas, Hanukah, etc. holiday specific greetings? It’s done because no company wants to potentially offend any specific group and risk the wrath of the PC media police.

Alaska Airlines however, marches to a different drum. Not only will you generally find better than average and friendlier customer service with Alaska (based on personal observation across more than 2 million miles of flying with airlines of the world) you’ll also find one little difference that challenges this PC issue in a very powerful manner.

When Alaska Airlines serves a meal on one of their flights, there on the tray, you’ll find a simple little slip of paper that quotes scripture, “I will praise God’s name in song and glorify Him with thanksgiving.” Short and sweet with no fanfare and yet a wonderful challenge to the PC reality most businesses fret over everyday in planning their customer communications. Does it upset some customers? I don’t know. Does it speak to the values of the company? Absolutely. In all the airlines I’ve flown, only Emirates Air (the Middle Eastern success story) does anything similar in that Emirates Air offers passengers prayer beads once they’ve boarded the flight. If you do not want the prayer beads, just pass. If you do not want to think about Alaska’s prayer slip, just turn it over. Both airlines however deserve much credit for openly challenging the PC mentality that so many others struggle with.

On a related note, recently I spent a few days in the Rocky Mountains outside of Estes Park, Colorado visiting with family and friends and taking simple excursions into the park (photos at http://gudorf.net/rockies2005.htm). On our last day there, I rose early to slip into the park for some sunrise-lit photo opportunities. With the park still and nearly absent of other vehicles and people, I must confess I felt as if I were in a place of worship. For me it was like being in an amazing Cathedral; quiet and expansive. I can’t help but think others, regardless of their individual faiths, must feel a similar degree of awe and wonder in the presence of such a great slice of our physical world.

In full view of the rugged, snow capped peaks, a meandering creek, a gurgling waterfall and plentiful grazing elk, I did not think of the realities of our PC world. Rather, I thought of Alaska Air and found myself whispering “I will praise God’s name in song and glorify Him with thanksgiving.” Psalm 69:30.

God bless us all.

Of Interviews & Truths

2005-07-23T14:51:00.000-07:00

If you’ve ever interviewed for a job more than once during your career, perhaps you can appreciate that the questions are often times simple variations on the same themes over and over again.

In my case, as a sales, marketing, and business development professional, the common questions generally revolve around; How did you learn your sales skills? Where did you learn about finances and budgeting? And the always popular tell us about the most meaningful experience from your educational background request.

Now as all good interviewees know, proper etiquette suggests you carefully structure your response to best align with information the interviewer is looking for and if you can successfully structure your answer to bridge your past business experience with the needs of the interviewer’s company, you get to proceed to the next step. Of course, you don’t lie (that’s simply unacceptable) but you do want to present the best possible answer that proves you are the man or woman for the job. Thus smart interviewers think and plan carefully how best to answer the common questions they are likely to hear again and again.

All is well with the above approach. However, wouldn’t it be nice to simply tell the “raw truth” the next time? So, without another thought, here are the truest of answers to the sales skills, budgeting skills, and educational experience questions for consideration the next time an interviewing opportunity heads down the home stretch into those same old themes.

Sales Skills

While I’ve spent more than half of my career in official “sales” jobs, the lesson that set me so well equipped onto my sales journey occurred when I was only about nine years old. I remember the excitement of the day when as a member of Cub Scout pack 737, I rushed home with a box full of candy bars as part of my first ever fund raising participation opportunity. The box was full of sleeves of name brand candy bars priced at $2.00 for five bars. According to my Scout leader, all I needed to do was knock on the neighbor’s doors and they would buy the bars lickety-split; he promised it would be easy!

My traveling salesman of a father however had a different idea. In spite of my excitement and my repeating the scout leader’s simple instructions, my father insisted that I wait until he got home at the end of the week so he could properly train me on the required sales techniques. And so, I waited. And yes, I probably became the youngest person ever to actually participate in a sales role play training program just to sell Scout candy.

My father’s instruction however, clearly taught me how to establish an introduction that included stating why I was interrupting the neighborly prospect, properly presenting the “finest available candy bars”, underscoring it was for the benefit of Scout pack 737, overcoming the $2.00 price tag objection, and asking for the order. His role playing process had me knocking at our own front door which he in turn answered and then I had to “sell” him on my wares. Of course, the Cub Scout uniform I had to wearing while on these sales calls also had to pass an army-like inspection before I headed out the door. In all the years since and through all the training that I’ve participated in, those first words of wisdom for achieving success in sales still ring true.

Without a doubt, my early success as a Cub Scout candy seller based upon my father’s training, generated the excitement that later sent me so well equipped out into the world upon my journey in sales. And while this answer doesn’t eloquently provide the interviewer a view into all the technical and relationship driven elements of professional sales the question is meant to uncover, it is simply the truth.

Budget & Finance Skills

Rather than the MBA driven response that clearly links my past work performance to business success as an interviewer might anticipate, the truthful answer as to my budgeting and finance skills were learned at 11 years of age from my Mother.

You see by the time I was eleven years of age, I held a local newspaper route delivering nearly 100 papers each morning before school and collecting the fees once a week. Once I had the earnings from this route burning a hole in my pocket, I entered the domain of the consuming public and fell in lust with a brand new, bright blue bicycle. Not just any bicycle mind you but a 26”, 5-speed, Schwinn bicycle! The only trouble was that the price tag was $80 (yes, that was many years ago) and I didn’t yet have such a princely sum of cash.

Like any red-blooded 11 year old, I started down the path of badgering my parents into making the purchase for me to no avail. As the oldest of eight children, I can now look back and see the wisdom of their response! However, my mother’s own wisdom cooked up the following lesson; If I would commit to and live by a budget system that divided my earnings amongst three envelopes; one for long term savings, one for short term savings, and one for charity, she’d match me dollar for dollar on the short term envelope to help me buy that shiny new Schwinn.

And so it was that by the end of that summer, my envelopes were showing their progress and my short term envelope accumulated the necessary amount to enable my first ever “major” purchase and I became the proud if not possessive owner of a 26”, 5-speed Schwinn bicycle.

More importantly, I had learned a budgeting system that has served me well for many years including during those first few years of my marriage when we actually used a similar envelope system to accumulate our rent payments, car payments, and pizza money – all in separate envelopes of course!

Imagine telling an interviewer from a big, real-world company that in spite of the MBA, my best budget and finance lessons were learned from my mother’s envelope system in a quest for a Schwinn bicycle! There probably wouldn’t be enough envelopes to hold all the accounts necessary for a modern day business.

Education Experience

Finally, when that tired, catch all question surrounding the most valuable lesson from your educational years comes about, the proper plan of attack is to describe one’s schooling success and relate it as closely as possible to how it provided unique insights into the workaday world. Such an approach, done well, is sure to impress the interviewer.

In my case, however the truthful answer is simply that out of all my educational experiences, the FFA or Future Farmers of America taught me the most directly applicable lessons for business success. So much for wowing them with impressive scholastic degrees!

You see as a teenager, the family moved from the suburbs of Virginia to the family homestead in rural Ohio. Now don’t misunderstand, we didn’t move onto the farm, we were townies in a town of 2,000 (counting the cows). However, for some reason, perhaps an early teenage rebellious phase, I chose to join the local high school’s FFA program. It was within the FFA program that I learned how to; judge cows (miserably as they all looked the same to me), determine whether a pound of light soil or a pound of dark soil weighed more (I incorrectly guessed “dark” (they are of course equal) on my final exam’s extra credit question for this tidbit), and how to operate a meeting by Robert’s Rules of Order, how to properly construct and participate in a debate team, and how to prepare and present a speech in public. Quit a range of topics I’m sure you would agree.

As it was, the FFA’s programs for meetings, debating, and speaking, gave me all the foundational skills necessary to attack the business world with vigor. Even today, I am constantly going back to the lessons learned in those FFA programs. Imagine telling the interviewer that the FFA provided all the key elements necessary for survival in the big business world of today!

Summary

So, there you have it. The three basic questioning themes I have heard all my career; sales, budgets, and education countered by the three absolutely truthful answers; my Dad’s candy lesson, my Mom’s three envelope budget lesson, and the meeting, debate, and public speaking lessons of the FFA. None of these truths I have yet to deliver to an interviewer – at least not yet!

Best wishes for success in all you do!

Giuliani on Leadership

2005-05-11T07:03:00.000-07:00

The other day, I had the pleasure of hearing former New York City Mayor, Rudolph Giuliani speak on the Principles of Leadership. He defined them as belief, optimism, courage, relentless preparation, teamwork, expectation setting, and communication. These seven keywords comprise the principles Giuliani now believes served him well on the leadership front for so many years (they are also the basis of a book he recently released). Giuliani sprinkled his talk with references to his days as a US attorney and mayor, his first hand September 11th, 2001 response role, and his brush with prostrate cancer.

BELIEF

The first principle; belief, is perhaps the most critical. Giuliani very simply stated that if you don’t know what you believe in and you don’t know why you believe in it, you will find it very difficult to stay the course of successful leadership when the rapid-fire of day to day issues pelt you from every angle. His example leader in this regard is former president, Ronald Reagan, who held two very strong beliefs which enabled him to accomplish more during his tenure that any other modern day president.

The first such belief Reagan held was that communism was simply a bad ideology and that it must be eradicated for the good of society at large. The steadiness of this belief eventually led to the crumbling of the Iron Curtain and a new era for those on both sides of the divide. Reagan’s second key belief was that the federal government had grown so large that it was actually holding back the people it was meant to serve. By breaking down and simplifying “big government” Reagan believed he could free the spirit of the American people such that they would serve themselves much more robustly than any government mandated program.

Contrast such firmness of belief with many of today’s political leaders who seemingly adjust their “beliefs” based on what the latest consumer poll tells them people are thinking; as if leadership was simply a matter of mirroring those you want to lead. The reality, of course is that poll-based-leadership is not leadership at all, as the “leader” is merely following the momentary will of the masses. As a popular country music song from a few years ago says, “if you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for everything”. The power of core and unwavering beliefs is certainly a key attribute of successful leaders.

OPTIMISM

The second principle Giuliani expounded upon was the leader’s need to be optimistic. The extreme example he made was for his audience to imagine he appeared in front of his team while spouting off as to how impossible a situation might be and how it was useless to even try and resolve the situation followed by then asking his people to follow him forward. Of course, few if any folks would follow such a leader. Note that this is not the type of optimism that breeds a false success of potential or future accomplishment. Rather, it is an optimism that enables one to see a situation clearly and then formulate potentially positive paths toward the desired outcome.

Author and speaker Zig Ziglar often asks his audience to imagine that their pessimistic surgeon came into pre-op mumbling and muttering about how their chances were slim to none given the simply impossible situation they were in. The Ziglar’s optimistic surgeon on the other hand, would enter the picture clearly explaining exactly what the reality was for your consideration and then assuring you of his positive track record and his expectations that things would end well for you as well. Which surgeon would you want to be holding the knife over you? An optimistic one or a pessimist? Optimism is certainly a key principle needing to be embraced by those hoping to lead.

COURAGE

Courage was the third principle in Giuliani’s view. And while courage can take many forms, from the extraordinary life saving type to the everyday mundane courage behind carrying forward all the little steps in life, the key courage I heard in Giuliani’s words was the courage to keep moving forward toward the goal regardless of the situation. Giuliani spoke of firefighters having the courage to run into burning buildings when everyone else was running out and he spoke of the courage exhibited by former president Reagan in acting upon his beliefs in spite of the contrarian views which opposed him. In both cases courage was the key driver resulting in action.

Action driven courage though is different than ceremonial courage. An ancient tribe in New Zealand was known for marking their “courageous” young men with a unique facial tattoo. However, the courage was bestowed upon them as a part of the tattooing process itself, given the extreme pain caused by the work of an ancient facial tattoo, and not by some prior show of courageous action. No, the courage referenced by Giuliani is not the type of courage one can bestow upon another. Rather it is an internal form of courage, grounded in strong beliefs and fueled by optimism which leads to action and then progress. It is the courage behind the saying, “go as far as you can see and then you’ll see further”.

It seems that at times, courage is an attribute only thought of on some grand scale; lifesaving actions and such. However, it simply and most definitely takes courage to fuel the large number of steps necessary for day to day living. Courage is the key that enables action. So, courageously embrace the words of songwriter Jimmy Buffett, “leap and the net will appear.” That’s true courage.

PREPARATION

If courage is a key principle of leadership, then preparation is the foundation upon which it is built. Firefighters can courageously run into burning buildings because they have prepared over and over again to enable them to meet such dangers head-on and manage the ramifications. Giuliani refers to this type of required preparation as “relentless preparation.”

Renowned personal improvement author Stephen Covey describes relentless preparation as the sharpening of a saw and he reminds us that even skills we exhibit and exercise regularly require renewal. In fact, if we spent more time sharpening the saw of the skills we are truly good at versus grinding away on the saws we see as weakness, the relentless preparation part would benefit us in ways magnified by leveraging the unique values we each bring to the world. Like sharpening a saw, preparation is simply a continuing requirement for success.

Abraham Lincoln was once quoted as saying that if he had eight hours to cut down a tree, he’d spend six hours sharpening his axe. That is relentless preparation and a good example of the leadership principle of preparation in action.

TEAMWORK

Teamwork as a principle of leadership was next on Giuliani’s list. He was quick to point out the power of teams and the necessity for leaders to foster great teams. To set the stage, he shared a story from one of his mentors who used to give every new manager of people a set of Russian nesting dolls. When a nesting doll is opened, another doll is found inside, which in turn, when it is opened, yet another doll is found inside. This continues until the tiniest of dolls remains. The mentor Giuliani referred to always put a simple note into the smallest of the nesting dolls. The note read, “If you only hire people who are smaller than yourself, then you’ll never grow larger than you are now.”

Many speakers on business and success speak of the need for teamwork, yet few spend as much time as Giuliani in expounding the necessity of carefully and deliberately building that team. The world of sports knows this maxim well as managers are always attempting to assure that they have the right players on the team from both a skill set and a personality perspective. Business managers who inherit a team need to think just as carefully as to whether or not that team is constructed in such a manner as to generate success.

General Electric’s former CEO, Jack Welch knew something about making sure that teams we’re being continually strengthened. He meticulously reviewed his teams and sought to replace the lowest performing 10% or so of the team with new members every year as a mechanism for facilitating constant growth and assuring the team’s ability to thrive.

Giuliani stressed the importance of carefully studying your own personal weaknesses. Not so that you could work to improve them directly but rather so that you could make sure the teams you construct would counter those weaknesses with aplomb. Careful, selective team building early and often can do far more to breed success than attempting to change abilities and realities of existing team members who may have already surpassed their propensity for change.

EXPECTATION

The setting of expectations was the next on Giuliani’s list of leadership principles. Stated simply, Giuliani emphasized the need to “under promise and over deliver” in all action plans. Enough said.

COMMUNICATION

Lastly, regardless of the strength of all the other principles singing in full harmony, one must communicate within and outside of the team to round out the full role of leadership. The leader has the clear responsibility for seeding the lynchpin of communication success. This means clearly communicating at the individual level, the internal team level, and the external world level. A good team with all the proper working dynamics can still meet with failure if their good deeds, failures, and accomplishments are not shared with others so that the world can appreciate the team as a success.

FINAL WORD

And so, Giuliani’s words touched quite nicely on the great principles of leadership and he delivered his message with the grace and posture we saw in spades in this hours, days and weeks following the attacks of September 11, 2001. Without a doubt, if leaders and those who wish to become leaders develop and adhere to these principles, then success is assured.

Trading Up: Why Consumers Want New Luxury Goods... And How Companies Create Them.

2005-04-27T08:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I heard Michael Silverstein, author of Trading Up: Why Consumers Want New Luxury Goods... And How Companies Create Them address a group of luxury good marketers in a conference at Kiawah Island in South Carolina. The audience ranged from high-end jewelry and watch makers, to high end travel and hotel players, to top shelf auto and electronics manufacturers and everything in between. Michael shared chart after chart showing how both the upper end and the lower end of most consumer markets are growing nicely while the middle of the market is shrinking by double digit percentages.

It seems that consumers are buying $500 jeans at the high end shops but their underwear and socks are coming from Wal-Mart and Target style stores. This phenomenon, in part, is addressed in detail in Michael’s book. How as business owners, marketers, and salespeople can we make sure that our day to day offerings are in tune with this trend? Further ask yourself how we make sure that our offerings don’t get caught in the veritable squeeze of the middle market?

Michael also took the opportunity of his speech to warn the purveyors of luxury goods that the growth they are enjoying now, at the top end of the market, will very swiftly and very definitely be attacked by Korean and Chinese manufacturers who are ever so rapidly coming up the innovation and quality curves at the same time their brethren attack in the more traditional low priced entry level arenas.

So, if you’re enjoying the luxury business today, you need to be ready for an attack by entrants who may not even be on your radar as of yet while also watching out for those middle of the pack players who will attempt to move upscale to avoid the squeeze of the middle.

Likewise, if you are middle market player, not only is the trend working against you right now, you need to also worry about 1) today’s luxury players expanding downward, 2) the new entrants who shoot for the top of the market landing in the upper middle to compete with you instead, and of course 3) the potential for the low end suppliers to creep into the lower middle of the market where they’ll fight for your share as well. Oh the woes of the middle!

What a market battle we have brewing. Surprisingly, Michael didn’t get any questions from this group of luxury marketers who sat in semi-disbelief as to the potential turmoil just ahead versus the positive, go-go messages of their 2004 successes. That’s a real shame as Michael has posed some great questions for discussion amongst businesses of all types. See and enjoy Trading Up: Why Consumers Want New Luxury Goods... And How Companies Create Them.

Malcolm Gladwell - BLINK: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

2005-04-25T16:23:00.000-07:00

Last evening, I had the pleasure of hearing Malcolm Gladwell speak during a conference at Kiawah Island in South Carolina. Malcolm is the author of Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking and The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. I had read Tipping Point a few years back and looked forward to hearing him speak. In fact, his appearance at this conference was a big reason for my attendance.

True to form, Malcolm’s message rang out with all the directness of his written word. Malcolm shared the story (also shared in Blink) of how a museum was fooled, even after much time intensive (read expensive) study as to the authenticity of a piece of “ancient” artwork. However, once fooled, yet still unbelieving, they found it unfathomable that one art expert after another, upon seeing the piece for the first time, instantly commented that it was a fake.

Thus began Malcolm’s advice that one should put far more trust into our individual instinct when it comes to key decisions then in the “established” process of decision making often lauded as the only respectable way to reach a conclusion.

Inherently, I think we all understand this to be true. However, the analyst in us seeks to back up our decisions with logical explanations. In the world of selling, this happens all the time. People will tell you that they make their purchasing decisions based on logic when in reality, they buy based on emotion; a sort of gut instinct as to what's best if you will.

For instance, I recently purchased a new, used-car. Now, I could tell you I bought it because it was a great deal, priced below market value, had four doors with adequate interior room, was still covered under warranty for another 20k miles, and it was in excellent shape. All good logical reasons to make such a purchase I’m sure you’d agree. However, the real reason I bought it was because it had a 400HP V8, a 6-speed manual transmission, was black on black leather, and it simply made me grin from ear to ear when I test drove it! See? Emotion made me do it!

In the world of marketing, we endeavor long and hard to question customers in depth so we might understand why they buy what they buy. Imagine though if we developed our marketing campaigns purely around the logical reasons for making a purchase? If we did, we’d miss the entire point for the customer (all of them) whom “decides” based on emotion!

Malcolm’s advice to trust our intuition and not attempt too heavily to explain our reasoning with logic is a great reminder to all of us in the marketing and sales world to seek out those things that trigger such intuition driven decision processes as much as we possibly can. Of course, always have a handy list of logical reasons at the ready so the customer can justify their purchase to others!

Check out Malcolm’s books at Amazon: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking and The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference.

As Fast Company wrote in January, 2005, Malcolm “is ‘just a thinker. But what a thinker. His provocative ideas are taking the business world by storm.”