Making Money for Millennials

The new rules for the new economy:

1. Get MBA

2. Get interviews

3. Get to work

For Millennials, it's not enough to have a great education. In the workplace, what you've learned is only as meaningful as your ability to apply it. For top-tier MBA programs, and undergraduate business schools, educators are learning that it takes more than just great classroom instruction to make a difference. If schools want to improve their rankings, and students want to improve their chances of getting a job, there's a need for "what they don't teach you in business school."

Every prestigious institution invites C-level executives to come in and speak. While this perspective is important, it's not especially meaningful. Think about it: If you are a twentysomething Gen Y jobseeker, how important is it to hear from a 60 year old millionaire about how they missed their bonus last year, or laid off 4,500 employees? Don't get me wrong; CEOs have a lot to offer and a lot to say. But, what they have to say won't help you to negotiate your salary, or get a promotion, or find out how things actually work in the day-to-day world of the companies they manage.

For Millennials, the need for firsthand knowledge of the workplace has never been more acute. Case studies, tests, and learning are only as important as the ability to apply that knowledge. Keep listening to executives and guest speakers, they can teach you a lot...but, if you don't really care that their diamond shoes are too tight, or where they park the jet, maybe it's time for a fresh perspective.

The video above is currently entered in Jeffrey Hayzlett's "New 118" - a contest for the best elevator pitch for the new economy. Please follow the link below (through February 6th) to VOTE: http://bit.ly/e5BYI4

Your vote will help to reach more college students on more college campuses, with a message that can make a difference!

What They Don't Teach You in Business School

College students today are faced with a dilemma: leaving school with more than just student loans. Finding a job is tough for Millennials, even from the best and most prestigious colleges.

Top MBA programs are looking for ways to help students understand how to apply the knowledge that comes from great teaching. There's a difference between "knowing things" and "knowing how to get things done".

When I was in school, I desperately wanted to know what they didn't teach in the classroom - I wanted to understand how things work, at work. I needed to learn how to put knowledge into action.



The Business of Selling YOU is a seminar that helps college students and MBA students to understand:

1. How to create and deliver a unique value proposition, in email and in person
2. What it takes, to create a powerful network
3. How MBA students can differentiate their experience and education, and create the job of their dreams

In the current economic climate, students need every possible advantage. Academic success and advanced degrees are not enough anymore; you have to understand how to 'sell' yourself, no matter what career path you choose.

"I Only Want the Toughest Customers"

Asking for the toughest customers is like trying to pet a shark, or date a nun – you instantly know that it won’t end up well, so why ask for it? I was out to dinner last night with my friend, BigTime. Surprisingly, he let me know that he only wants the toughest customers. Say what–?

My friend is one of the best salespeople I know – he deals with an ultra-elite clientele in the Big Apple. This guy specializes in the demands of high-net-worth individuals with a skill that is both rare, and easygoing.

His customer logic goes like this: I want only the most difficult customers because, if they even think of shopping me with competitors, I will win every time. The toughest customers will chew up my competition, and disqualify them right out of the gate, because that’s the kind of service and solutions that my company can provide. He’s looking for the clients who are so tough and so demanding that other service providers get scared by their demands, and struggle to prove they can meet them. It’s not a problem for BigTime, and that’s the way he knows a qualified lead.

Interesting perspective. We bounced the idea around some more, and I came away with some additional thoughts. If you are faced with a tough customer, thank them for helping you to be better. If you are taking a beating over something you did, or your company did, or you are about to do, I have two words of advice: don’t duck. Here are six more: Face it, take it, fix it. It’s that simple.

Face up to the challenge of the difficult customer, and you will learn what it is that you need to know. For BigTime, he always looks forward to the toughest possible client as the greatest opportunity. He knows that he can offer what others cannot, that’s why he’s BigTime. A demanding client, in his business, means that the competition is out of the mix. The best way to defeat your competition is unequaled customer service. Disqualify your competition by being the one who doesn’t duck the tough stuff. When you resolve the really scary issues, you learn, you grow, and you create customers for life. The only way to know if you have what it takes, is to get started. If you’d like one suggestion on what you could do today, make up your mind to astonish the most difficult customer you know (and yes, the people you work with are internal customers). What can you do to make a difference, and show that when it comes to customer service, you are BigTime?

Difficult times show us what we are made of; difficult customers force us to be better and help our companies to demonstrate competitive advantage.

[ The names in this post have been changed to protect the guilty ]

How to Go from Good to GREAT in Sales

I'll let you in on a little secret, about how to transform from good to great in the sales game. The one thing that makes a good salesperson great: It's always the customer.

If you have the talents of a monkey, but you are sitting in front of customer who wants to buy what you are selling, you will close a sale. Additionally, you will be able to answer the phone with your feet, but that's another story.

Westfall and Associates, How may I help You?
(phones answered by 800 pound Gorilla)

If you want to see a great salesperson in action, concentrate on what the customer is doing. Great salespeople inspire action by meeting needs. Good salespeople do a lot of demos, and keep busy saying things like, "activity breeds results!" while hoping for the best.

If you can only do one thing right, Focus on the customer. If you lose your way in the sales process, focus on the customer. The customer will bring you back on track.

If sales is about meeting needs, the needs you need to meet (great english, huh? sorry friends, it's my 9th language ;-) are only found within the customer.

For more thoughts on how to identify a buying customer, follow this link: http://bit.ly/deouak

Overcoming Pricing Objections

My friend Ajay is taking a beating in India, over pricing. It seems that his clients are prejudiced: they always make the discussion about price. Here are some suggestions to help change the pricing game...

Look at your watch. (Did you do it? Thanks) Is that the least expensive watch on the market today? **What?** It's not the cheapest on the market today? I am [almost but not really] shocked. Why not buy an inexpensive watch - - when every watch tells you the time, shouldn't you wear the cheapest one you can find?

Do you feel like you paid too much? Or maybe, you aren't wearing a watch. So let's apply this line of questioning to your cell phone...or your car...or your address...Here's my point:

I don't claim any expertise over the market in India, but I do know a lot about buyer behavior. The only antidote to prejudiced pricing discussions is value.

Why do you value your watch (cell phone, car, etc.)? Quality? Reliability? Or are there some intangibles - the way it makes you feel? The fact is that our personal purchases are driven by both fact and emotion. Which side wins can change depending on a number of factors, but both fact and emotion impact a purchase decision (any purchase decision). My question for you is: What is the _personality_ of the company you are selling into, and what are their emotional needs? (Are they heartless, cheap, and drive a hard bargain? OK, gotcha. So, What corporate needs are driving these descriptions?)

These needs may include prestige, quality, competitive advantage, profitability, a desire to make you squirm - - only you can fill in the blanks, I don't have enough information to go further. But money - pricing - is only /part/ of the value equation. The other part is what a particular product _means_ to the company. Another way to say this: What is the value of your brand?

It may seem strange to think of a company's emotional needs, but believe me: companies have personalities, whether in Kanpur, India or Kokomo, Indiana. Individuals run companies, individuals make buying decisions, individuals have emotional needs (as well as financial). While the budget may be fixed, my take on any discussion about pricing would include a thorough understanding of the puts/takes of the emotional appeal of your solution. If you say, "there is no emotional appeal to our solution" then I would respectfully reply, "you haven't thought this all the way through".

And for the record, you have a very nice watch! ;-)

The Moment Before

What is the "Moment Before" someone finds your website, learns about your product, or decides to purchase your service? Understand that moment, and you find strategic direction for your marketing and sales campaigns.

Sanford Meisner, one of the godfathers of "method acting", first coined the phrase as part of an emotional preparation for performers. Before taking the stage, the actor must consider the "moment before" - what has just happened offstage, to create the tears, the laughter, the anger, or whatever other emotional through-line is driving a particular scene? After all, if you dog has just died, or you won the lottery, your "moment before" changes everything. This concept from the world of theater is imminently important to business today.

While actors benefit from a clearly defined script to let them know the moment before, they still have to find their own creativity to express it, engage with other characters onstage, and then move the story forward. Similarly, businesses must understand the "moment before" to create their own story, and involve customers in the process.

That moment before is crucial to understand how to market yourself (or your products), how to position services among competitors, and how to place a brand on the world wide web. In a recent client session, I asked, "What do people think of - what is the need - that causes people to find you on the web? What is the the desire - that causes them to find you?"

When a company is able to step into their customers' mind, to understand what the customer lacks - the "fill in the blank" need that causes the customer to seek out a particular solution, and ultimately, your particular company. That "I need a _______" is the keyword search and the place where the sales process really begins. PS: It's also the place where your potential customer finds your competition.

Many have written about the nature of desire. (Desire has many definitions, please stay with me on the high road here). I am speaking specifically of the desire that is part of "the moment before" a potential customer begins to seek out your product or service. At its core, desire is produced by one thing and one thing only. In fact, all desire - including the kinds of desire that are found elsewhere on the internet - have their roots in one simple thing.

All desire comes from lack - we can not want unless we lack something.

For want of a nail, a shoe was lost
For want of a shoe, a horse was lost
For want of a horse, a rider was lost
For want of a rider, a battle was lost
For want of a battle, a kingdom was lost



Consider what the customer wants, before they become a customer:

The moment before is about what's missing. Lack creates the first step towards a particular product or service. So, to understand what it is that is lacking is to understand the customer.

Effective marketing and sales strategies can focus on creating that sense of lack - or capitalizing on it. So much of our effort is spent on addressing the needs of the customer, through features and benefits, but what about understanding the moment that got the client to engage? If we understand the moment before, we understand who our customer really is. Moreover, we can understand what alternatives (either competitors or substitutions) come into play as part of consumer behavior. If the "moment before" is right, the performance of the organization will be, too.

The Best Advertising

For companies and individuals, advertising for 2010 can be summarized in one word: referrals. The wave of social media and instant connectivity means that customers are talking first, last and center to prospects, and vice versa. A client recently asked if his advertising budget looked "about right". It did; but I added: what you spend on talking about yourself is not nearly as important as what others are saying about you.Seems like today's advertising isn't about informing and driving sales, as much as it's about trying to create a 'hook" within the constant barrage of promises and promotion. There's a lot of information out there, and all of us are interested in clarity. Will the product (or service) deliver as promised? The best way to know is through what others are saying - not what the advertiser says.

The call to action today is: Please go online and find out what others say about our stuff. Ads still create interest but the best advertisement for my money: Solid referrals.