The Art of Quality (a.k.a. A Cheat Sheet for Improvement Programs)

While this exciting nine-part series is in production for publication, I thought I’d give a unique tickler to a new dashboard I wrote for a consulting opportunity out of Charlotte, North Carolina.   

The real backbone of quality programs has a diverse team tackling wicked problems. It’s more intricate than plugging a leaking levee, oiling the most squeaky wheel, or jumping to attempt knee-jerk patches. Quality is an ongoing mindset and mechanism of higher-level cyclical activity targeting rocks in the corporate shoe; it requires a team to deploy a structure that will organize people or things to be used for a particular purpose as well as improve operations of an organization.

Before anyone is engaged to make changes, the team needs to consider its corporate culture because it influences available internal resources as well as gaps and any work-arounds to get the job done.  In fact, it’s smarter to have a more efficient operation and that’s what quality programs create: a better solution for internal and external customers.  

Frequently, buzzwords are used and without proper understanding, the team can run off the rails because they use their own definitions around the activity, which should all be centered on a simple application and adapting features to create relentless improvement.  In this case, the buzzword used for this would be disruptive innovation as the quality program takes a product, makes it better, increases demand by customers, and this causes growth.

Once any physical barriers or ideological hurdles are identified, a quality program uses two phases to find opportunities to improve: 

Preparation  The activities centered on “getting rid of rocks” through either natural problem identification (the old school water cooler complaints or the new school text messages) or blinded problem identification (allowing anonymous pointing of fingers to protect the identifier of a pet project or dumb idea from blame) contribute to the preparation phase, which has three stages to address the hard topics.

1. Strategy  The framework of deployment and discovering the “why are we doing this” by using assessment techniques to identify the areas with the highest potential for improvement.
2. Program  The targeted plan and steps for change by selecting the right methodology that fits your company’s needs in both upstream (such as perceptions, creative or innovation team idea generation, training opportunities) and downstream (which could be advertising, manufacturing line changes, order software).
3. Project  The actionable and manageable units to improvement, knowing that these may be small ideas or big changes, but they will reach across multiple departments as well as identifying what improvement you anticipate as you enter the next phase.

Management  It’s easiest to start by saying the second phase of management is not a trigger-pulling directive style, but the collective administration of an activity. It is the review of interrelated facets of an organization (in this case as parts of the quality program) to see an improvement in resource utilization by using three additional phases to achieve successful outcomes.

1. Leadership  More important than picking someone with the biggest title on the highest rung of the ladder, experience is the most valued commodity, and provides the key stakeholder requirement for supporting these changes. Leadership includes selecting the right participants from all areas of the company as well as opening doors or removing ideological obstacles. 
2. Process  Focusing on improvements, this phase looks at the entire supply chain that touches the facets to be modified. The nitty-gritty is where the quality team disintegrates the rock into dust by using innovation, cyclical review during ongoing championing of new solutions in a series of actions to improve the identified process.
3. Measurement The only way to know if you’ve reached the goals of the quality program is not by finishing the process phase, but by evaluating every intention of this quality program with links why an action was taken. Setting the right metrics reminds the team that improving experiences of internal staff and external customers is the keystone of an effective quality program.

People like solving problems; it’s in our nature. Knowing why we are solving a problem and how that solution “came to be” makes it all the more interesting to look at the results. We can produce answers to wicked problems vaguely touched by those knee-jerk directives and bring long-term solutions for sustainable improvements. 

Stay tuned for the links to the detailed information, including “how to” pieces as well as case studies!

Heather M. Hilliard is Principal and Chief Strategist for R. Roan Enterprises, LLC, a professional services consulting firm supporting businesses in pointed areas of expertise as well as with individuals for targeted projects or career development. For more articles like these, visit her posts on LinkedIn or G+. 

#seizetheday, #makeithappen

Five Ways to Handle a Toxic Work Environment That is Hostile to Talent

The most successful leaders have not had an obstacle-free path to leadership, yet so many workers have a delusion that reaching the top of the ladder is pain-free and the “right” way to great achievement. News abounds of “not so perfect” work situations, with many people looking for a way out. However, only looking for a door can mean you are shown the exit before you’re prepared with another opportunity - or prior to absorbing all the good parts the current employment can give.

When you are goal-oriented (vision minded) rather than task-oriented (rungs of the ladder), you grasp not for the ever-moving next rung, but the fact it’s unrealistic to think that success arrives without having to experience growth opportunities along the way. (It would also be boring, and if you are boring with no “tests” of your mettle to show what you know while ascending the corporate ladder, the rungs will stop appearing.)  But what makes those rungs appear?

Consider these leaders’ strong personal values systems while facing a wide range of toxicity.  There are those well known—Bill Gates (whose first business failed yet now runs the largest human rights foundation in the world), Sir Richard Branson (controlling over 400 companies while leading through dyslexia) and Fredrick Douglass (born into slavery, yet became one of the leading abolitionist leaders as well as a preacher). 

And other notable leaders in the world, too. Sharon Ebadi is an Iranian lawyer and was the first female judge in Iran, winning the Nobel Peace prize for democracy and human rights.  Ursula Burns (CEO for eight years and now chairwoman of Xerox) was raised in a housing project. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Myanmarian civil rights leader who had been imprisoned for fifteen years, earned the Nobel Peace Prize for her peaceful leadership on human rights while imprisoned. Telling the real story of the disappeared (while fleeing from those who wanted to kill her, just as they had her family), Rigoberta Menchú Tum is a Nobel Laureate Guatemalan author. Dr. Mae Jamison, a physician, is the first African-American female astronaut and has to deal with two worlds of complexity!

Each one of these visionaries experienced a variety of toxicity in their professional lives. There are many people who have described the bad vibes underlying toxicity, including research by Amy Scholten, MPH, who says, “Toxic workplaces are fueled by immature, dysfunctional leaders.” While I would call those types of people in management anything but leaders, the tone rings true as she describes their lack of morality, hypocritical nature, high aggression, scapegoating, unreasonableness… I’m sure you are already adding to this list from what you’ve seen. 

While preparing my upcoming presentation for a national conference, I realized resilience fuels the fire of those who excel.  Adversity comes in many forms for all businesses, and frequently it presents in the form of a nasty co-worker.  Learning to handle those situations gracefully (not ignoring them) will propel your standing with those around you, enabling you to handle more as you progress in your career and rapidly extricate your from toxic areas.

To bring more meaning to your workplace and facts to your portfolio, regardless of the concentration of toxicity, it really is all about you and how you use obstacles to lift yourself. One area of professionals call this self-deployment: “to arrange in a position of readiness, or to move strategically or appropriately (Dictionary dot com) ” or “move something in an effective way (Cambridge English Dictionary)”  

This is how you need to tackle your current situation; modifying your perspective is how you begin right now.

1. Identify the real meaning in the madness. One of my former colleagues loved to use the term “crazy-making” for other people’s reaction to a situation instead of action toward resolution of the problem. When the implementation of a solution is out of reach, you still retain control of the lesson you can learn as well as retaining your own focus on problem-solving instead of problem-enhancing.
2. Establish concrete goals. There is a reason for the toxicity - your own attitude and approach are your responsibility, and no one else’s. This is a job and does not define your being, your soul, your future. You know where you want to be, so start using your energy for a plan to get there.  Gossip about the “evil” in the office does not help though having activities and goals away from the office keeps you centered, and developing goals for your exit keeps you healthy as you focus on the ways you will leave on your own terms in a positive way.
3. Refine your filter.  This is a two-way process, for inbound messages as well as your outbound communication. The information coming to you will have spin and be framed with the toxic agenda. When you find the real meaning and know your goals are to achieve efficiency, creativity or productivity, you can strain the distraction and see the true bottom line.  Likewise, when you are sending out information, you can craft your meaning with intentional word choices that will neither inflame an ego nor draw negative attention to your talents.
4. Remove project overreach. Undoubtedly, this is the environment that pushes staff to work all hours of the day and night for unrealistic ends.  When you begin to not only define, but hold fast to boundaries that encroach upon achieving what you’ve outlined in step number two, it allows you to use energy on your own time to get to a better space.  Your time away forth office is all positive, so leave the negative things there (even if you telecommute - there are boundaries that now you have your exit plan in process, you can more safely enforce). 
5. Get moving. You are more important than “them.”  Don’t question your abilities; step one shows you how to identify the source of the incapability so you don’t repeat the problems as a leader and don’t find another place that has the same issues. The fifth step is using your hand to wave goodbye without burning a bridge, while embracing thankfulness that you’re moving forward.

Handling toxicity and adversity is a process, not an event, when you need to continue performing while seeking improvements. This involves identification, planning, timeframe scope of action and launch - the same steps in good project management. You can treat your exit just as you would a new product launch, where you are the product taking your skills to somewhere more valuable and in line with your mission.

Positive attitude in negative situations… gives abilities including natural success.  PAINS to GAINS. You can get there.

Heather M. Hilliard is Principal and Chief Strategist for R. Roan Enterprises, LLC, a professional services consulting firm supporting businesses in pointed areas of expertise as well as with individuals for targeted projects or career development. For more articles like these, visit her posts on LinkedIn or on G+. 

#seizetheday, #makeithappen

How To Identify Broken Business Infrastructure Before It Bombs

You think you are ready to tell the world who you are and what you do.  Articles I've shared here lately about sales funnels, branding and communications have helped you fine-tune your launch. Heads up: you need to understand you aren’t there yet.

Are you ready to respond to demand? What if you have too many inquiries and are overextended? Is there a way out if you have product just sitting in your storeroom because it isn’t moving like you hoped?

The method behind your madness goes well beyond planning. Infrastructure is the typically unseen make-or-break skeleton that lifts you toward success.  You can’t grow if you can’t meet demand, but if you don’t spend valuable time early, your reputation and brand likely will suffer greatly.

Sure, you can spend time and create a coastal restoration infrastructure plan (but watch the live link doesn’t end up saying “ilovepdf” like this one) that names features that need extra support and why, with prioritization of projects.

Or, there could be a third party infrastructure review like our nation recently had completed for homeland security (and really our weaknesses, to show where someone or some entity really missed the ball)  

Somehow, your fabulous design for end-to-end control fails due to reliance on a supposed expert internal opinion that online sales won’t change your business model (because you never saw brick-less stores as a threat).

If you aren’t asking the right questions, you have a self-made obstacle that wasn’t a problem (i.e. the mountain out of a molehill syndrome) instead of solving the consumer’s dilemma.

The best course of action is thinking through your own business model before you launch new options, so search for the obtuse “then a miracle happens” moment in your plan. This is what you need to fix before irate customers show you it’s broken.

• Use tools that make life simple(r) - also known as operations. In days gone by, having a watch was critical for on-time customer delivery. Now, it’s knowing when the shipment is picked, packed, leaves, transports and arrives. Use software systems that track things that need monitored or keep other things secure (literally e-lock/e-key or encryption), but don’t let them run the show alone. Sometimes software is called IP architecture, but it’s still infrastructure to your business. Invest in programs that are customer-facing so your brand’s touch is personalized.
• Have backups of life support systems - call this process management. This may be telephone lines for other area codes (Katrina taught me to always have a backup with another city area code; they get through when power goes out); perhaps it’s having multiple internet services (even in the same location, hiccups don’t run through all routers) or off-site e-storage for files (some states require this if you are a government contractor/supplier)—the point is that one is never enough and it’s easily readied before the crisis that will inevitably come. 
• People power is priceless - the value of humanity. If you don’t have someone to answer that email or take the client call, everything else is meaningless. I suspect not a single person reading this article has always had glowing success with every customer service interaction. Use your own experience with flaws in other businesses to ensure you have backup to help with calls if there’s a snowstorm and staff get stuck (even if it’s a retired neighbor woman with your cell phone to answer the phone to say you’re in a meeting and will call back). Be creative!

No matter what line of business or service, everyone can improve. There is no replacement for smart human to human interaction. Your infrastructure is a significant component of your in-house communication process. Just as with your words, your success depends on the structure’s thoughtfulness and inclusiveness; context and timeframe influence perspectives through all areas of business (as well as government). 

There’s a reason you don’t skip rungs on a ladder. It applies in business functions, too.

Heather M. Hilliard is Principal and Chief Strategist for R. Roan Enterprises, LLC, a professional services consulting firm supporting businesses in pointed areas of expertise as well as with individuals for targeted projects or career development. For more articles like these, visit her posts on LinkedIn or on G+. 

#seizetheday, #makeithappen

Five Personal Cyber Security Steps (especially useful Superbowl Weekend)

Many people around Houston are seeing physical security measures taken to protect the players and attendees for the Superbowl. What you can’t see is the cyber nets of both the good guys and the bad guys. You need to take a few steps to prepare yourself if you are attending the festivities or parties with friends and neighbors. 

You see, it’s not only large corporations that have been victims of data breaches in recent months — Target, Home Depot, LinkedIn, Yahoo!, ADP, Verizon (Enterprise), Sony, Anthem Insurance and even the DDoS (distributed denial of service) incidents around the United States have heightened awareness of vulnerability.  But we predominantly consider examples such as these in industries rather in our homes or on our portable devices while home and abroad. Many people say they are risk adverse until they have doors open that share new and potentially frightening information.

In the interest of safety, I’m not sharing details either confirmed or suppressed as part of this event (or other National Special Security Events, NSSE, that I’ve worked).  What I want you to realize is our connectedness electronically and the Internet of Things (IoT) opens portals of vulnerability that are not protected until it’s too late simply because we don’t consider what’s incorporated into our every day lives.

Communication is the first key to maintaining your relationships both with your business’ brand integrity and reputation and also with your personal network.  There are separate things to consider for business versus personal messaging that contribute to successful “asset protection” (in the parlance of security experts).

Follow corporate best-practices when celebrating large events, because it’s quite realistic that your mobiles are under electronic attack.  Know how to respond appropriately, use expertise benchmarks and don’t over-react.

1. Preparation messages about expectations are essential. Your family and friends should understand when you take steps to limit liability; your clients for corporate endeavors expect it.  Being transparent and authentic is trendy on your social media accounts, but it has reverberations that echo throughout your life when you over-share as thieves admit.  

Action item: Turn off “air drop” on your mobile devices as well as auto-link to wifi. If you really need to share something, use your personal connection via your cellular service provider and pay for that security rather than floating off of a general free wifi. Hackers love people who skirt the system to save a buck because it leaves them open doors to take your information.

2. Timing of messaging is nearly as critical.  Law enforcement personnel are amazed at people who post vacation pictures while on vacation. As in the previous step, the timing of your posts is critical - and you don’t need to be distracted at your event to post something “telling” others what a great time you’re having (plus it gets lost in the professional posts). This applies when attending a party or the Superbowl, or when traveling internationally.  

Action item: Share your best photos after you’re home as that’s when it will receive more attention (and you have time to pick the best image without having typos in the caption).

3. Think about your infrastructure as well as communication. Frequently, we consider governmental utilities as being targets for public disruption.  But if you have “cut the cord” for your home phone service, internet or even dropping cable television, you have also severed a backup that, while it uses older technology, is not as “sexy” for breaking and entering into your private life.

Action item: Pay the few dollars to have the old telephone landline reintroduced to your home. You can pay for access to the basic service and the ability to make long distance calls without using it until there's an emergency. It’s crazy cheap and a solid way to make sure if your cell phone or computer are hacked (or have a water incident while at a Superbowl party) that you can still handle your business as well as not have your family worry when they cannot reach you. Make sure to put the number on the National Do Not Call list! In addition, don’t give everyone your home internet password; create a guest system with its own password, which will not impact the speed of your own devices—if you’ve disabled your network from broadcasting its name publicly, that makes it even better protected, so think of a non-standard name for the network, too.

4. Determine how your home devices leave doors open.  Being able to turn on your lights while out of town is neat, but what if Phillips’ Home system for your lightbulbs was hacked so they can track who’s away? What if your Alexa with Echo or Ok using Home eavesdrops for unwanted listening? What if the elevator at your hotel was hacked, causing you to be trapped then monitored by CCTV?  Root-cause analysis (stemming from Six Sigma lingo and other engineering processes) really helps you understand how to take this review as to what electronics are smart in your home to the next level as you look for other weaknesses in your processes so you aren’t one of 500,000 people unwittingly helping take down the internet.  

Action item: Begin by isolating a list of devices that connects to anything. Research the home device market, just as you did when you bought your car.  Find out who provides routine security updates, if they have algorithms for only activating when you specifically engage the device and how often they release software updates—yes, this is now for your refrigerator, too.

5. Ensure your systems are isolated from ongoing attacks.  This last item may be the most simple, which is why it’s the most frequently overlooked step. Creating a non-standard password is a direct step that many people fear because they may not remember a series of numbers, letters and special keys; they’d rather use the name of their pet and house number. Anyone looking at your social media accounts can guess and hack their way into your life when you are lazy about security and use it for nefarious purposes. 

Action item: You lock your doors; you should also put a unique robust password that is different for every website and every device. It’s that straightforward.

The last key in preparing a strong defense against an electronic infrastructure offense includes waterfall issues. While you don’t have to take steps like the government and pay hackers to try to break your personal (or professional) systems, staying up-to-date with reading from topical magazines is smart. They are paid a small subscription fee to deliver to you all the bad news and potential solutions to keep you ahead of the crowd.

You are an executive because you know that every company today should have an information-oriented incident response plan, but you also realize the facts: according to Symantec, 43% of all cyber attacks in 2015 were targeting small business and 60% of those companies were unable to sustain their business after an attack per the U.S. National Cyber Security Alliance.

Take the right steps before someone else “becomes you” with unfettered access to your home, your wallet or your business. It will make Sunday’s game and your life much more enjoyable with increased security. 

PS: Make sure your kids follow these action items, too. If they thought cleaning their room was bad, not having devices with internet would just be awful.

Heather M. Hilliard is Principal and Chief Strategist for R. Roan Enterprises, LLC, a professional services consulting firm supporting businesses in pointed areas of expertise as well as with individuals for targeted projects or career development. For more articles like these, visit her posts on LinkedIn or on G+. 

#seizetheday, #makeithappen

Get It Right and Satisfy Customers, Not Satisfice a Situation for the Sale

Recently, I’ve written about two aspects of the sales funnel that are typically overlooked though they directly contributing to revenue.  However, you’ll never reach the right customers without a successful branding process and you won’t be able to sell products (or services) if you don’t understand your competition from a shifted perspective.

Now that you know what your potential purchases aren’t getting from the marketplace and have identified who your company truly serves, the next best step is to capture how you can satisfy the right customers.

There are all sorts of acronyms for the sales funnel.  TOFU, MOFU, BOFU… AIDA… ARC… SPIN — you get the point (even if you don’t get all the acronyms).

A robust sales funnel has six stages:

• Awareness -  this opportunity may be achieved through organic or paid email marketing, search engine placement or social media messaging where you are identifying prospective consumers out of the entire client opportunity
• Consideration - once the connection has moved to interest, consumers begin searching for information to evaluate how they can meet their identified needs through website research and eCommerce reviews
• Preference - this stage cultivates relationships and can influence perceptions on the value of your solution, where informed consumers make a well-timed decision for the best product or service for their situation
• Purchase - once the conversion has been made for the consumer to become your customer, using a systemized follow-up methodology that doesn’t rely on human memory improves opportunities for touch points and increased positive interaction
• Loyalty - repeat business is essential, though if ‘forced’ or achieved via lack-of-choices, your business is contingent on satisficing needs
• Advocacy - leading to increased revenue, the best funnel is supported by word-of-mouth endorsement

Wait.  What’s that word satisficing? It happens after sales, after all the interaction and research, so you must have done things right, right?

Wrong.

If you’ve put the wrong effort into getting any sale, then you aren’t satisfying anyone (except maybe a short-sighted sales manager).  What you’ve been doing is throwing spaghetti on a wall to see what sticks and gets you to your target number.

That’s satisficing — it’s taking a “sales suspect” and giving them most of what they want rather than fulfilling all that they need with your solution.

Here’s an example.  You sell two microwaves (one at 1100 cubic inches at 700 kw power and the other at 900 cubic inches and 1000 kw power).  A consumer needs a microwave, and he likes to reheat leftovers quickly.  This means a higher power machine.

Mr. Consumer comes to your website and sees the two options. But the higher power microwave won’t fit his current leftover dishes.  So he will either have to shop for new dishes after buying your smaller cubic inch microwave or he will have to wait longer to heat his meal evenly.

This is satisficing — it makes the consumer pick something he doesn't want to get an option he does want, where he is not being totally satisfied with the process or prospects even if he purchases from you.

While easiest to describe in the purchase and post-purchase phase as its easier to quantify, this may occur in every and any phase of the funnel.  

This is when you could be satisficing:

• Awareness satisficing -  providing a limited opportunity for learning about your products or (perhaps worse) giving the right message on the wrong channel where your future loyal customers don’t listen 
• Consideration satisficing - having inventory available immediately, though it doesn’t meet the specifications the future loyal customer wants (this is a needs-based miss), or having gaps in your communications strategy for web research
• Preference satisficing - frequently involving delayed or delinquent responses to inquiries, or involving a top-heavy sales pitch without reliable facts and outside endorsements
• Purchase satisficing - shoddy packaging, generic (or absent) thank you messaging, or not having the right suggested complementary purchases that exceed expectation stop your sales funnel dead in the water
• Loyalty satisficing - a one-time customer will not return to your company for future needs 
• Advocacy satisficing - the only impact here is negative if you’ve failed in any previous step

Strong strategic branding addresses the first three errors, which is why you spend time before pushing a product to answer the right questions.  Beating the competition before you get started addresses the last three errors thereby avoiding quicksand.

Don’t just set the target numbers and hope to make monthly sales, or you won’t have very many months to make sales. Fix it.  Do the right thing at the right time by identifying what people want and then giving them more.

Remember, there is a human behind the curtain even in the new “fake news” filters, a future topic in these articles where we’ll discuss the importance of real reviews versus the rumor mill affecting your business.

Heather M. Hilliard is Principal and Chief Strategist for R. Roan Enterprises, LLC, a professional services consulting firm supporting businesses in pointed areas of expertise as well as with individuals for targeted projects or career development. For more articles like these, visit her posts on LinkedIn or on G+. 

#seizetheday, #makeithappen

Make It Yours

When you declare something, you are justifying a truth to yourself and those around you. I recently wrote an article that began with a powerful quote: Speak the Truth, even if your voice shakes. 

The spoken word holds just as much bond as one in writing (in some states, it still qualifies as a “word is a bond” on which contracts can be made). When you speak your plans, you give them the freedom to take flight. They can be simple personal statements or life-improving visions.

Yet if you only hold these dreams in your head, you don’t easily make progress. You need to believe what’s in your head as it takes hold of your heart, so you can declare and get going!

Maybe you’ve been accused of just digging a hole for yourself. But, some guys in Europe thought for years about digging a hole — if they never started, they wouldn’t have drilled open the connection between Britain and Europe in the Chunnel just after 11 a.m. today in 1990.

Perhaps you like to build replicas and devote a lot of time to a hobby. If a man that preferred to tinker with things rather than deal with people hadn’t have started telling people about his dream and working towards it, on this day in 1913, Henry Ford’s assembly line would not have started rolling, fueling a new era for the industrial revolution.

Possibly you’ve thought there’s too much chatter and disconnected from “the grid” on occasions.  Well yes, you can make a declaration without words, particularly if you refuse to leave your seat and move to the back of the bus, just as Rosa Parks did December 1, 1955.

It was two weeks ago that I pointed out you had 40 days to make a plan with five steps to create your best revolution ever.  The countdown has reached 30 days.

• Write down where you want to be by this time next year, meaning you have thoughtfully focused your dream into an actionable goal.  Put this vision statement someplace you’ll see it every day so that you are positively inspired with forward momentum.

• Speak your truth to someone you trust, who will keep you on the path with encouragement and perhaps articles or words of enlightenment that keep your motivated.

• Begin taking your vision and start planning how you will reach it.  This gets you through the third step of your Revolution, and you have a month to complete the last three phases.

The bald eagle in the photo is utterly focused, moving directly toward the prize. You can’t get ahead if you don’t get started. Why are you waiting? 

Heather M. Hilliard is Principal and Chief Strategist for R. Roan Enterprises, LLC, a professional services consulting firm supporting businesses in pointed areas of expertise as well as with individuals for targeted projects or career development. For more articles like these, visit her posts on LinkedIn or on G+. 

#seizetheday, #makeithappen

Just the Facts

It’s the end of the year, a time when a lot of businesses ease off the gas pedal - not because they want to give employees a break, but because they are misinformed about consumer behaviors.  This irrational input into a decision matrix loses revenue for companies around the world.

I usually write articles around hot topics to inspire, educate, encourage... helping you sort through the noise and get to the important things in life.  Well, year-end sales certainly fit this model.  If you aren’t engaged in the realities of business instead of off-target perceptions, you won’t do what’s important for customers.

If you knew the facts…

…that the fourth quarter is the new first quarter, you may be more inclined to go running into the new year with a bang on your financial statements…

…and B2B growth occurs as customers surf the internet for next year’s partners, your efforts now to reach out will be rewarded…

…so respectable sales across industries (not just retail sales) can help exceed your company goals by maintaining focus through the end of the year…

… you could keep your target market’s attention with:

• Attention-grabbing branded messaging.  This does not mean it needs to be “crafty” or “slick” — in fact, those things can hurt you.  Just as you are busy, so are they.  Know what your customer wants to hear through some valid market research to save time and headaches if you have to look back and wonder why you missed your 4Q goals.  If fewer companies are looking to be heard through cacophony of holiday ads, your messages are likely to hit the mark.

• Credible claims.  Don’t stretch the truth and don’t claim to be a company that you’re not.  Customers viewpoints are savvy and more educated with direct applications to help them sift through the distractions in life.  Third party endorsements are good only when they will mean something to your customer base; likewise, paid spokespersons are less effective than twenty years ago.  You can improve credibility by “walking the walk” and putting effort into strong brand foundations that help the market see what your company really does.

• Quality delivery.  The days are fading when people wanted “more for less” because they realize paying a little more for quality goes much farther.  In your products you demand excellence, so why not in your messages to customers?  Pushing strategic marketing teams for fast statements without the backbone of the product infrastructure completed is a waste of money.  Let those who are trained to perform do exactly that, and manage your own expectations when you hire superstar people to get the job done right.

By not following tradition, you can capitalize on a bit of the sales revolution by modifying your business plan.  Improve upon past performance and start the new year ahead of the curve.  Begin implementing your business’ revolution today — yesterday was for you, today is for your investments and tomorrow is for your dreams.

Heather M. Hilliard is Principal and Chief Strategist for R. Roan Enterprises, LLC, a professional services consulting firm supporting businesses in pointed areas of expertise as well as with individuals for targeted projects or career development. For more articles like these, visit her posts on LinkedIn or on G+. 

#seizetheday, #makeithappen

Priceless

Remember not to drive so much you forget to fill your gas tank - literally and figuratively.  Balance is priceless.

www.nola.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2016/03/i_hate_forgetting_to_remember.html

Sound of Chaos versus Sound of a Butterfly

This is the time of year when many people consider how to change their lives (so they can "check the box" for New Year's Resolution), yet they are so busy running around that they don't actually make improvements in their lives.  They don't take the time to think how small changes in themselves can change the world.

There is a phenomenon called the "butterfly effect."  When the smallest of events - the beating of a butterfly's wings - can alter the course of other events.  The person who researched it most used the example of how the movement of wings several weeks prior can impact the formation of a hurricane.

That's a pretty significant impact for something so small.  Juxtaposed to chaos theory of the 1890s, this 1960s revelation shows how simple systems make a huge difference.  

It also lets us know that however prepared we'd like to be, we never know all of the conditions that impact an outcome - we never know what butterfly could alter our lives when it's on its normal path.

Think of the difference your smile can make as you complete those errands - perhaps you help distract an upset child as he's being toted along another person's list of things to do.  What if the pennies you left in the change dish by the register meant that another person at the checkout could buy the bag of flour needed to make cookies for a sick relative?

Conversely, when something pretty amazing takes shape in front of you, don't rush to get to your next errand.  You should stop and see what develops from a moment of randomness, such as this Paris train station moment.  Even time seems to stand still when the broadcaster stops reading the schedule so the butterfly effect impacts everyone nearby.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5679f8a9e4b014efe0d780a6