Revenue Journal®

When it comes to running our businesses most efficiently, we are our own worst enemies. Every single entrepreneur and CEO I've worked with has an emotional blind spot, which keeps his or her company from being all it could be.

The blind spot causes the CEO or entrepreneur to engage in less-than-optimum behavior, such as micromanagement, a lack of personal ambition, the reluctance to make decisions, the inability to delegate, disorganization, perpetual tardiness, dismissing of issues that are actually quite important, and so on. These are the symptoms, but they are not the "disease."

There is always a root cause, and it always has something to do with the person wanting attention or using "coping mechanisms" that have worked in the past (but should have been abandoned years ago). For example, people who are perpetually late have a need to make a grand entrance, in order to feel more important than the people who are kept waiting. "Look at me - I'm such an important person. I have so much to do - so many demands on my time."

Avoiding making decisions comes from the fear of making the wrong decision. This person keeps gathering data, long after the decision should have been made. Employees and vendors waste precious time "waiting" for that decision, because they can't do their part until the boss has made up his mind.

I won't psychoanalyze all of these blind spot behaviors. Most of you can figure out the root causes - even in your own case, if you are honest with yourself. The question to ask yourself is, "What need am I trying to fill by engaging in this counteractive behavior?" That will get you on the right path.

However, as with most things psychological, knowing the source seldom leads to a change in your behavior. That's why people keep revisiting psychologists. They talk some more about their problem, and continue blaming other people or unfortunate circumstances for their problem. The psychologist keeps suggesting that they "confront" their issues, or "communicate" with others about those issues. This may provide some temporary satisfaction, but in my experience the bad habits remain. The only person who benefits from this approach is the psychologist.

There is a more efficient way. If you really want to stop doing the things that are stunting your company's growth, you'll forget about the "how I got here" and "why I do this." Those questions only keep you mired in your past. The present is where the solutions lie.

Start the new way - today

I am re-reading The Inner Game of Tennis. In that book, the author talks about how babies adopt new ways of doing things. Once they discover a new and better method, they just start doing things that new way. They don't have to "get over" the old way.

You know what your bad habits are (your spouse and friends have probably told you) and you know how they impede your daily business life. Another Inner Game concept is the art of making an observation without judgment. Whenever there is judgment - positive or negative - the ego becomes involved, and once your ego gets in the act, you won't make much progress.

So the first step is to admit that you have these habits. That this is how you do [whatever it is]. Without chastising yourself, or fretting about it, or even trying to rationalize it ("Yes, I'm five minutes late. But I used to be a half hour late all the time!") Just admit it to yourself: "I'm always late."

The next step is to imagine what it would look like if you were always on time. What would you have to do so that you were never late? How could you turn "being early" into something desirable? Perhaps you could use that "extra time" to do some thinking. Or to meditate - breathe in, breathe out. Or to make a cell call to your wife and tell her you love her. There are surely some good things you could do with those extra minutes, when you have arrived at your destination a tiny bit early.

So far, I've talked about personal habits. But companies have counterproductive habits, too. Decisions are made for subjective reasons - or not at all. Managers say all the right things in meetings, and then behave in an "opposite" way after the meeting is over. Managers don't manage their people or their projects well - and customers are left hanging as a result. Important tasks fall through the cracks. Websites have "broken" pages and links that never get fixed. Shopping carts are frustratingly inefficient, causing shoppers to abandon them mid-purchase.

Perhaps you've assumed that these bad habits aren't that important - you've got bigger fish to fry. You're trying to buy another company. Or, you're struggling with a lawsuit brought on by a competitor. Whatever fills your day keeps you from focusing on these seemingly less-important glitches in the operation of your company.

In my experience, however, these ARE the most important things. This IS where revenue growth comes from - or not.

These "small" things will make or break those "big" things - like a merger or acquisition. Most importantly, these "small" things are what your customer experiences - and your customer's experience is the driving force behind all revenue growth.

So, once again, you have to know the truth before you can make changes. What is keeping people from buying more from you? What questions are they asking that are not getting answered? What is too difficult to figure out about your product or service? What content in your website is too shallow - when it should be deep? Is your content filled with boilerplate marketing platitudes, instead of informative answers? Is your product line organized in a way that immediately makes sense when someone comes to your website - so they know immediately which product is the right one for them? When they call customer service, do they get good answers? Or do your people argue with the customer?

The other day a technician told me it was impossible to use their product the way I was using it - even though I was using it that way successfully to make that call to him. He just kept telling me it was impossible, refusing to answer any questions about the way I was using the product. Another customer service rep at a local cell phone company told me that I needed to dial "123" to access voicemail on their system - but she forgot to mention that it's *123, not just 123. This sort of thing - the sort of thing that drives customers nuts - is the rule, not the exception.

The Big Question: What would success look like?

If the customer's buying process were as smooth as could be, what would that look like? Imagine the perfect situation, from the customer's perspective. Imagine the people in your company doing exactly what they should be doing, exactly as they should be doing it. Then figure out what you will have to do to make it happen that new, successful way.

Make a list. Set a deadline.

There is so much additional revenue just waiting for you. It's waiting for you to identify - and face up to - the flaws in yourself and your processes.

Move past those flaws. Imagine what success would look like. Then turn that vision of success into your customers' reality.