Revenue Journal®

When your market changes, your company must change with it. This seems so obvious - when you're an outsider looking into someone else's company. You can plainly see that buyers have changed what they are doing, and conditions have changed, but the people inside the company are behaving the way they have always behaved, as if nothing had changed.

When you're inside one of those companies, you can tell that something is different. You get hints. But it is so much easier to continue doing what you've always done. You would rather ignore the changes you sense, than admit they are happening - and deal with the changes you know you will have to make.

New players will come into the market, while the market is in its new state, and think, Ah, so this is how it is. OK, I will behave accordingly. They don't have to change their current behavior or infrastructure. They will simply start doing what makes sense.

The leaders of the companies-in-denial either wake up and take action at this stage, or continue to sleepwalk. I don't have to tell you what happens to the sleepwalkers. They walk right off a cliff, never to be heard from again.

As a consultant in Silicon Valley, where technological progress and changing consumer behavior caused massive and frequent market upheavals, I watched this happen over and over again. Now that technology has pervaded the consumer world, and instant communication has made it commonplace for whole industries to rise and fall in a matter of a few years (or even months), sleepwalkers are even less likely to survive.

To survive now, you must be fully aware, and ready to change when your market changes. You must be able to transform your company to match the new behaviors and preferences of your buyers and other influentials.

If you want your transformations to be effective, there are three areas you must focus on: your goals, your behavior, and your processes. You can also think of this as "what," "who," and "how."

Let's look at each one of these areas, starting with goals.

Goals.

There is nothing more destructive to a company than having the goals be unclear, or, worse, contradictory. There can only be one overriding goal, with all the other goals designed to implement the main goal.

Are you going to make sure all customers are satisfied, no matter what? Then you can't have managers who surreptitiously tell the staff, "Screw the customer. They're all a bunch of complaining idiots anyway." The stated goal will become a lunchroom joke, a cruel lie that demotivates and demoralizes the best employees.

Over time, the passionate, dedicated people will bail out. The CEO will find himself managing a group of people who don't trust him, don't respect him, and who are only there because they don't have any better options. They will treat customers with distain.

The best, most motivating goals are customer-centric goals. Customer-centric goals help the people inside the company take their minds off themselves (which decreases political bickering) and focus on what the customer wants. When the customer's needs and preferences change, companies that have customer-centric goals are more able to sense and respond to the change.

What do customers really want from you? What is their core desire? What are they most concerned about? What is the experience they are hoping to have when they come to a company that sells what you sell? How have they been burned by other such companies in the past?

Your goal should be one that motivates your employees to give customers what they are looking for. It should be a simple goal, not one of those ridiculous, generic "mission statements." It should be something that makes everyone proud and happy, because it makes them feel like they are making a difference for others, helping others (customers) achieve their goals. People are happiest when they are helping others; this is an ironclad truth.

Behavior.

People are consistent about their behavior, usually at one end of an extreme or the opposite. They either have a sense of urgency or are completely laid back. They are either always on time or always late. They are either persistent or give up easily. They are either truthful or full of it.

The most interesting and inspiring thing about behavior, to me, is that people can actually change. It's not wise to assume that they will, because they must choose to change - and not everyone does. But a good manager will always give an employee the opportunity to change.

Let's say Andrea needs to change something about her behavior. A good manager will meet with her in a private conference, and tell her what she is doing wrong. If Andrea accepts this information, (and most of the time, this is the case - most people are actually relieved when you make it clear you know what they are doing wrong), then the next step is to discuss, together, how she can improve.

This has to be a two-way conversation, because Andrea is most likely to change if she comes up with the methods by which she can improve. The manager and Andrea will then agree on the methods, and the manager will make it clear that he will do everything he can to help Andrea carry out her new processes. He will also be watching to make sure she succeeds. And, he will let her know if he sees her either backsliding or succeeding.

Companies are comprised of departments, and departments are comprised of people - led by a manager. If the CEO is not sleepwalking, but understands that his market has changed, he will sit down with his managers and discuss what the company must do to adjust to the change. In a sense, it will be the same kind of conversation I just described.

The managers will understand that their current behaviors and processes are not going to be successful in the new market. They will help the CEO identify the "old" and "new" behaviors and processes. They will figure out how they will help their employees change their behavior and processes, and then set to work.

There are all sorts of behaviors that must be addressed in any department. There are personal behaviors, such as an employee who is always late or always negative. There are group behaviors - such as the tendency of the group to make fun of anyone who tries really, really hard to do the right thing.

Here's a concrete example. Right now, buyers are more likely to inquire via email than by phone. That means that the most successful companies, now, are going to be the ones whose salespeople respond immediately to email inquiries. If the customers sends out an email to three competing companies, the one that responds immediately will be most likely to get the conversation going, and make the sale.

Those who respond in a couple of hours - or, more disastrously, in a couple of days - will be like the couple arriving a day late for a party. All dressed up, bottle of wine in hand, they will be greeted at the door by a post-party hostess, who won't be thrilled to see them. The party's over, and she's in a completely different frame of mind now.

The party-goers will do what every salesperson ought to do in this situation: Realize they're too late, apologize, and leave.

Processes.

Once you have agreed on your customer-centric goal, one that addresses the needs of the current market, and you have identified the behaviors that will be most successful in this environment, you need to put processes into place to establish, facilitate, reinforce, and reward those behaviors. CEOs who get the other parts right - customer-friendly goals and behaviors - often get tripped up by poor processes.

They think that it's enough to identify the new direction, have a frank talk with their managers, tell them to "make it so," and give them an encouraging slap on the back as they leave the conference room.

It's not enough.

Even if the employees and managers are willing, the overlooked infrastructure will not be up to the task. A weak infrastructure can only lead to frustration, and frustrated employees are mere shadows of their peak-performance selves.

Every company should have a process fanatic, someone who is constantly looking around and asking, "What is needed here, for peak performance, and how could we be doing this better?"

In the most effective companies I've worked for and with, the CEO is that person. Jeff Bezos is a perfect example, as is Michael Dell, and as was Bill Hewlett (of HP), in his day. In the stories that employees tell, it's obvious that these CEOs were (and are) always focused on how things can be done more effectively.

Good processes are simple. They can be explained in seconds and understood by everyone. They are well-documented - not with 3-inch binders, but with step-by-step instructions that can fit on one page. They use tools that are intuitive, so even a new employee can understand and start using them right away.

We are all working in a screen-based world now. Every single day, billions of workers (and customers) are clicking on an icon or link, and looking at the next screen that comes up. How easy it is for them to "take the next step" is becoming the true test of a company's processes.

The backend of these screens drives the front end, and the success of the front end is determined by the intelligence, empathy, and organization of the backend. If the backend is confused, the front end will be a disaster - one of those screens where you stare at it for a few minutes, and think, "I have no idea what do to next," or, "I know what they want me to do next, but it's really stupid and really time-consuming. I'll go with the other company."

Concrete example: Those shopping sites where, instead of a screen filled with pictures and little clumps of text, with clickable categories in the left nav, instead you are faced with fixed catalog pages, which you must navigate through by clicking page numbers or alphabet letters. This is a classic case where the customer changed the way they want to buy (web pages versus printed catalogs), and the vendor refused to adopt. Instead, they simply scanned their catalog pages into their website and considered the job done. WRONG.

When your buyers change, you must change also, if you are going to survive. Use what remains of this cycle of economic uncertainty to focus on your goals, behaviors and processes, and improve where needed. Customers will recognize and reward your improvements.

And remember, customers would rather give their business to an established company that "gets it" than to a new company that "gets it," especially in uncertain times. So the wind is at your back, if you start moving in the right direction.

Here's a video that demonstrates the perfectly orchestrated sales pitch, shot and delivered professionally.

The most accurate economic indicator I have ever found is "primary customer motivation." As I interview customers for clients, I learn what is driving them to make the decisions they are currently making. In times of uncertainty, there is usually one big, fear-based driver. In times of economic growth, more drivers come into play, such as the need for status, the need to solve a problem, the need to change one's lifestyle, and the need to experience something new.

I have also found that journalists and economists don't have a clue about "primary customer motivations" until it's obvious to everyone what is going on. And, you can be sure that if the facts conflict with their agenda, the agenda will overshadow the story. That's why any business owner who depends on the press or economists to "guide" him is always going to be a day late and a dollar short. Instead, if he was personally and regularly interviewing customers (or having someone he trusts do it for him), he'd be finding out what's really going on - six months before everyone else (including competitors).

In any economic situation, these primary customer motivation drivers determine what people are buying and how, as well as what they are deciding not to buy.

Sometimes you mistakenly hire someone who turns out to be a rationalizer. Even though you've conducted several interviews and carefully checked references, nobody clued you in. You don't realize they're a rationalizer until they've been with you for you a while.

As they make mistakes, and you point them out, you always hear excuses. You start to realize that they are never going to face up to their shortcomings and make the necessary changes. People either change or make excuses. They can't do both.

Well, that's not strictly true. There are some people who protest at first, but after they've calmed down, they realize you're right, apologize, and then start to work on it.

They're in a different category: "knee-jerk-negative at first, but then comes around." These knee-jerkers just hate themselves when they make mistakes, which accounts for the knee-jerk negative reaction. But they will later admit they need work in that area, and they will take care of it. Outside of the frustration you'll feel whenever you get that initial negative reaction, these folks can improve and get the job done.

Back to the hard-core rationalizer. The fundamental problem is, this person sees the situation in a way that does not coincide with the facts.

I am currently working with a couple of clients whose sales are being affected by current economic events. One client is in the luxury travel business and another is in the recreational boating business. In the former situation, high gas prices, higher food prices, and the fall of the dollar against the Euro are causing their customers to pull back on their buying decisions. In the latter situation, high gas prices and a concern about the economy are causing their customers to put off their next recreational boat purchase.

Of course, they're not the only ones feeling the pinch right now. If you are too, here's a recessionary rallying cry for you:

If you want more sales, get serious.

Serious about what?

Those persona articles I wrote recently (here and here), created a bit of a stir out there in BlogLand. Adele Revella from Pragmatic Marketing mentioned my concerns about personas and then went on to describe how those problems could be addressed, including not talking to salespeople about personas, but by relating stories about real buyers. Good advice.

Pragmatic marketing also blogged about my persona blog, with a piece about how people find numerous ways to avoid visiting clients.

Brian Eisenberg quoted Adele's quote, then also went on to talk about how to solve persona problems, using a 4-question survey that will help put flesh on the bones of your personas.

Email has become the message medium of our age. Just as we learned how to address and stamp an envelope, just as we learned how to fill out a FedEx form, we are now - still - learning how to use email effectively to run our businesses, and to buy and sell products and services.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time this week talking about how frustrating it is when someone doesn't do what I'm about to recommend. Suffice it to say that stream-of-consciousness, flaky subject lines don't help you manage your business or increase your revenues.

What is really happening - and we all know this, because we are experiencing it every day - is all activities, and all communication about activities, happen via email. It's become the central communication tool for all projects.

You manage others. What do they depend on you for - more than anything else?

The truth.

You sell a product or a service. What do your customers depend on you for, more than anything else?

Yep. The truth.

Nothing is more valued in the business world, nothing matters as much, as the truth.

Employees eat it up when it's given to them, and, when it isn't, conspire amongst themselves to find out what it is.

Customers demand it, and stomp out (warning others to stay away), if they don't get it.

Salespeople (or, I should say, order takers) who are used to taking calls all day are still having a hard time adjusting to the email-driven business world we live in now. The same is true of many small business owners.

The phone is no longer the "instrument of choice" for today's busy buyers. Their preferred way of contacting companies when they are interested in a product or service is via email. And yet, too many salespeople and entrepreneurs are still treating email as an intrusion into their busy day. Because they get so much email and spam, and because they don't want to spend all day typing notes to people, they just aren't giving incoming email buyers the attention that they deserve.

If your salespeople are struggling with, or ignoring, this issue, it helps for them to see the email scenario from the buyer's point of view. It will help them understand how just a few minutes spent responding can make the difference between closing a sale or losing a customer for life. Let's look at this from the perspective of a customer we'll call Jane.

Personas do have their place. When you're designing a product, you have to make decisions about what to put in and what to leave out. Personas can help with that process.

But once the product is designed, and it's time to create your web page, write selling copy, and train your salespeople, personas can get you into real trouble. They can make you think you're addressing the buyer properly, when in fact you are probably ignoring who the buyer is, what the buyer really wants, and, in many cases, insulting the buyer.

You see, if I'm the buyer, I already know who I am. So I'm not the least impressed if you think you know who I am. Besides, it makes me feel a little creeped out anyway, that you're so determined to know everything about me you can describe me to your buddies around the conference table.

Do you really have to know all those things about me to sell something to me? I mean, c'mon. What does it matter how old I am or how much money I make? I just want to buy something to fix a problem. I don't want my personal space invaded.

Not only that: Is it going to be a fun to buy your product, or are you going to make it a hassle?

There's a joke - you've probably heard one of the many versions of it - that I think of as the "demo" joke. My favorite version is the one starring Bill Gates:

Bill Gates died and found himself standing in front of St. Peter, who was sizing him up.

"Okay, what the Hell," said Bill. "Let's try down below first."