Heal Thyself Small Business and In-Turn Heal This Econonomy - What Small biz & Start-ups Can Do to Prevail Again and Rescue Our Economy

It is no secret (except to folks in Washington DC) that it is small businesses who have led us out of every recession in our history (50% of all jobs and 65% of new jobs). While large corporations hoard money for acquisitions and to invest in innovative technologies to replace humans (because they can afford to) it is the small business owner who judges the horizon and takes the risk to hire talent to grow. Likewise it is the entrepreneur who decides to invest his/her life savings and those of family and friends for a start-up idea or franchise ownership. This is where new jobs are formed. And this is how rampant national under-employment or unemployment issues get resolved.

A rather startling bit of historic news broke a few years ago about startups in America. In 2008, emerging startups for the first time in history trailed business failures. That means more business are failing now than are new businesses entering the market to take up the slack in jobs. 

Some great insight into this trend can be found in this article by Jim Clifton, Chairman and CEO of Gallup. He had a quote in the article that truly captures the challenge we face in America.

"Let's get one thing clear: This economy is never truly coming back unless we reverse the birth and death trends of American (SMB) businesses." 

My intent here in this two-part article is to candidly address these two topics (the birth and death trends of SMBs). I will share a perspective - why and how to improve - that comes from 14 years of consulting for privately held businesses and advising/mentoring startups.

Part 1 - Why are they failing?

To fix the problem we have to understand the problem. Let’s first discuss business failure rates. According to the Small Business Administration, a business started in 2004 has a 48% chance of still being around today - half are gone. The number-one reason businesses fail is rather obvious - they flat run out of money. But how does this occur?

Try these reasons (compiled research of Moya K. Mason, “What causes small businesses to fail.”) :

• Choosing a business that isn't very profitable.
• Inadequate cash reserves.
• Failure to clearly define and understand your market, your customers, and your customers' buying habits.
• Failure to price your product or service correctly.
• Failure to adequately anticipate cash flow.
• Failure to anticipate or react to competition, technology, or other changes in the marketplace.
• Overgeneralization - be everything to everyone.
• Overdependence on a single customer or customer set.
• Uncontrolled growth.
• Believing you can do everything yourself.
• Putting up with inadequate management.

This list is very comprehensive and accurately captures what I have observed. Sadly, these are all preventable, everyone of these causes are, if only business owners would follow the very basic business rules - the very first of which is have a plan, or in the case of a startup, write a business plan (before you launch).

A war is being waged against business/strategic plans.

There are folks out there, especially in the start-up world, who are advocating that business planning is outdated. Here is an entry from one such “expert” who titled his blog, “Why you Should Ditch Annual Business Plans” 

"Business planning is broken. In a world that is constantly changing and increasingly complex, business leaders can’t plan for a predicted future anymore. By the time an annual business plan is ratified the market has moved on to places that nobody could have imagined. If businesses are unable keep up with changing customer needs they stagnate or decline.

Leaders need to abandon traditional business planning and embrace the creative process instead. Business plans should look more like sketchbooks than spreadsheets. What do sketchbooks do? They help artists unlock ideas, to experiment and learn, to stretch boundaries, and to build talent. Artists take their best ideas from sketchbooks and use them to create their best work.

Businesses should operate as a similar collection of experiments. The testing and refining of new growth ideas ensures a constant connection with a changing customer base. Aggressive growth happens when leaders are able to continuously shift investment to those ideas that show the most promise." 

His contention, like so many taking this position, is that the marketplace is changing SO rapidly it is just not possible to plan. He is also suggesting the best and most respected business owner (CEO) is the one who stands up in front of his/her employees with his sketch book of ideas on where he is taking the business. Do you want to follow this leader? This is all utter BS and this mindset explains in part the sad failure rates for start-ups and established businesses alike.

Let’s look at the very basic elements of a business/strategic plan:

• What basic human problem am I solving?

• Is my solution unique?

• Do people want to buy my solutions? What is my proof?

• How big is the marketplace that I am selling to?

• Who are the competitors/trends I should pay attention to?

• What skills/people do I need on-hand to sell and deliver my solution?

• How many widgets will I have to sell to cover costs and be cash-positive?

• How long can I operate with cash on hand?

If you look at these 8 basic questions and compare them to the reasons for failing you have to wonder why business owners fight this basic step of business. I‘ve heard a few excuses over the years and share them here.

“While poor management is cited most frequently as the reason businesses fail, inadequate or ill-timed financing is a close second.”

Because of this, some (especially politicians) will immediately point their finger at our banks and other financing institutions and blame them for this problem. “If they would only loan more we would solve this problem.”, they will claim. There are even those suggesting the criteria for loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration should be lowered to “untie the hands” of the banks.

STOP!

Asking banks and our government to assume larger risks is not the answer. While it is unimaginable to find the CEO of Coke, Facebook, Home Depot or Uber unable to intelligently discuss forecast sales, cash flow, profits, trends that may impact their market, the competition they face and long-range growth strategies, these types of conversations with SMB’s and startups are dubious at best. So to suggest easier access to US government-backed loans is crazy talk. Let’s not make this mistake again. We’ve seen and felt what happens when our banks and government invest in speculation (Solyndra).

Heal thyself American business owners and save our economy (play the Battle Hymn of the Republic now).

America needs you, small and medium sized business owners. We need you more than ever! There is nothing Congress, or the President can do that will have a more dramatic impact on our economy and jobs than you can by dismissing those who irresponsibly suggest there are shortcuts to success in business. Or those suggesting you can Tweet, or social media, or robo-call your way to growth. Dismiss the notion that simply having an idea and ambition is all that is necessary to launch a start-up. I implore you to help heal our economy by healing your businesses. Become a disciple for businesses owners around you by first following the basic tenets of a growing business - have a plan, execute to the plan. Inspire your workforce with a vision of the future and a realistic written growth path. Show you can lead. Show you can set goals and achieve them on a recurring basis. Show you can be a responsible steward of someone else’s money (a bank for instance) by repeatedly making prudent, plan-based decisions on hiring, marketing, capital equipment and services. Let your profitable sales win-rate reveal how well you know your customer and respect your competitors. And finally, surround yourself with smart, critical thinkers who will not shy away from challenging you or telling you what you need to hear. 

If you do these things you will do more to transform your business, the lives of your employees, and our national economy than any new President, Congress or trade deal could ever dream of doing.

And my message to Washington DC - get the heck out of the way!

Part 2 will examine the second issue facing America - the declining birth trends of SMBs.  

About the author:  Mike Gomez is the President and CEO of Allegro Consulting, a business growth specialty firm in Atlanta, Georgia helping privately held business owners find new avenues for sustained growth for over 14 years. He is a start-up mentor at ATL Tech Village and Four Athens Tech Incubator, guest lecturer at GaTech and UGA, and prolific business speaker.  His growth focused articles have appeared in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, ATL Business Chronicle, Gwinnett Business Journal, and the Business Insider. www.allegroconsultant.com

When You (CEO) Should Pull the Sales Alarm

When listening to CEO's and business owners talk about some of the sales challenges they face I have found myself using the phrase "my sales alarm is ringing" to indicate that something they said wasn't sitting well with me. I guess this is my equivalent to Spiderman's "Spidey sense" - a strong feeling that something is very wrong here.

As a veteran salesperson ($10B personal sales record), sales leader and consultant I thought it might be worthwhile to share what triggers my "sales alarm". Here they are:

• Any surprise, good or bad, is a signal that your sales team did not understand something important your customer’s decision process. Examples:
  • The CEO declares to your board or internally that an upcoming large sale is, "in the bag" yet the decision goes to a rival
  • You forecast a sales decision to be made by the end of the year and the customer still has not made a decision two quarters later.
  • You declare a particular sales pursuit a corporate priority and you lose it.
  • Any time you are 'surprised' that you lost.

• If you have EVER said, "there is no competition" either because you think you are the only company under consideration or are arrogant enough to believe the customer has no other choices.
• You think your customer owes you the business.
• When top managers constantly ask “who is the (one) decision maker?”
• When sales leaders assure the boss that they will win because they “know a guy” or feel they have an exceptionally close relationship with someone in the company.
• When your sales team comes back from an important sales trip and says, "our presentation was well received".
• When you've secured a business dinner, golf outing, demonstration with a prospect and can't articulate the specific measurable goals you have for that valuable customer encounter.
• When your leadership gives higher priority/emphasis to the number of "opportunities" they have in their "funnel" rather than win-rate, or if your strategy is to “place a lot of bets” so that you can win “your fair share” of  new business.
• When you don’t know your sales win-rate.
• When your sales team spends more time talking about activities or the 'close' relationships they have with the prospective customer than what they know about how a decision will be made.… as if the shear evidence of this activity (golf outings, dinners, hunting trips, etc...) is a positive indicator of who will win or lose an upcoming sales opportunity.
• When your salesperson can't succinctly answer this simple question, "What is the number one priority the customer will use to make its selection?" one week prior to submitting a proposal.
• When asked who are you selling to and your reply is something vague or as ill defined as, "lawyers" or "small businesses" or "anyone who needs printing" or "potential home buyers/sellers" or "anyone who needs insurance" or “large corporations”.
• When your assigned salesperson can't name the top three individuals by name who carry the most influence on the outcome of an upcoming sales decision.
• When you (CEO) can explain in excruciating detail how you make a product or deliver a service but when asked to define your sales process you either get chirping crickets or hear, “Well that is Bob’s expertise, he is our number one sales guy.”
• Anytime you feel good about coming in a ‘close’ second or are consistently coming in second to rivals in your sales pursuits.
• Anytime an existing customer moves his contracted business to a rival.
• If you've ever said the customer "was stupid" or "didn't understand our offering" or "we must tell our story better" when explaining why you lost.
• If ANY of your sales presentations has an organization chart in it.
• When you think consistent sales success is based on something vague like “having the right team in place”, “being energetic/confident/enthusiastic”, ”treating your customer with respect”, or “delivering great customer service”.
• When you consistently miss quarterly sales goals.
• When no one is held accountable in any way for a significant loss.
• You don’t have a “lessons learned” process, or you have one but you don’t incorporate the lessons you identify into specific process changes, or you only use your process after a loss (as a witch hunt).

If any of these applies to your business, run, don't walk, to the nearest alarm and pull it. You have a sales emergency that needs to be addressed right away.  If you don’t know why these should trigger an alarm, connect here and we will explain why we think so and recommend what to do about it.

About the author. Mike Gomez is founder and CEO of Allegro Consulting, a business growth specialty consulting firm in Atlanta, GA. Their mission for the past 14 years is to help their clients define strategies for growth and overcome obstacles that may stand in their way.  Mike is a prolific speaker, writer, former aerospace engineer, and sales executive for McDonnell Douglas, Boeing and Lockheed. He is credited with sales wins totaling $10B.  His talk, "Winning the $2.5B Israel Fighter Jet Shootout" chronicling Boeing's wins over rival and incumbent Lockheed is a one-of-a-kind story that will motivate, teach and inspire any sales team.

@GrowthGuy's 8 Rules for Startups - from 14 yrs. of Business "Accident Investigations"

In my past life I supported aircraft accident investigations. The primary purpose of these investigations was of course to find the root cause for why the accident occurred. Equally important was the transmittal of the findings and conclusions to the entire aviation community (pilots/crew, maintenance, designers, air traffic control, etc...) in an effort to prevent the accident from happening again. (Learn from a real jet crash: “What a jet crash can teach a business owner” ).

Sadly, in my 14 years of consulting for small businesses and startups alike in Metro Atlanta I have visited too many business "crash" sites. In an attempt to prevent a crash, or better yet, improve your chances for success, I share these findings from those who faltered of failed. This list is intended to be complimentary to Mark Cuban’s outstanding 12 Rules for Startups published in Entrepreneur Magazine back in 2012.

1. Plan it on paper first. What problem are we solving? What differentiates our solution? What is our pricing strategy? Who pays? How do we attract customers? How do we sell to these customers? How long before cash positive? These are just a few of the questions one should be asking BEFORE you create a logo, a website, or even establish a name for your company? The process of writing succinct answers that stand up to tough honest scrutiny is harder than you think but it is an exercise that is well worth it. Though this business planning process will not guarantee success it will most certainly improve your chances tremendously. (Want to know “What to Include in Your Business Plan”)
2. Start ‘soda straw’ small. “I want to sell our solution to lawyers.” “I want to provide our services to any tech startup.” “This new CRM solution is for ANY small business.” These are real examples from start-up founders who each had a minimal sales force. The problem with this approach is the size of the customer target dwarfs the typical staff and resources available to communicate with this audience in any meaningful concentrated manner. The more effective approach is to carve out a narrow segment of the target demographic (by geography, specialty, etc...) and concentrate your resources accordingly then prove your business model can succeed with that segmented customer. Then, and only then, grow by pursuing new customer demographics in “one vector off “ increments.
3. Be transparent. Tell the team what the plan is (there is a plan - right?), who are the competitors, why are we different, how are we going to grow, what the company can/will look like a year from now, and how will we make that vision a reality. Saying that the plan is in your head just doesn’t help anyone. Worse than that, keeping the plan a ‘secret’ provides for the use of that number one of all excuses when goals aren’t met, “I didn’t know.”.
4. Lead. People want to be led. That is a fact. A great work environment is one where there is personal satisfaction for directly contributing to the growth of the company. I heard from one CEO of a Fortune 100 company that his leadership style was to “set expectations then inspect”. Perfect and succinct. So lead by assigning clear roles and responsibilities, set measurable expectations then inspect to ensure your plan is being followed and the team is getting the support, training and resources they need to do their jobs.
5. Have a sales process. Place as much emphasis on the sales process as you do about making the product or delivering the service. Sales is a respected profession and critical to the success of any company. So handing the responsibility to the most dynamic person, best golfer, best joke teller, or best looking person on your team is probably not the best approach. Sales is a process - the process of gathering knowledge about your customer’s problem so that you might devise a solution to best solve it. It is therefore critical that your sales process reflects how your customer buys similar products or services. Much like other specialty roles such as operation, finance, and accounting, sales too takes skills, training, and expertise. (Learn here about “The Business Owner’s Role in Supporting a Sales Team”)
6. Measure the right things. But don’t over measure. Taking the temperature of the company is important to gauge it’s health and how well your team is performing to the plan (there is that word again!). Here are a few of my favorite things to measure: qualified leads (marketing), win-rate/renewals (sales), defects/rework/on-time delivery/production cost (operations), operating cash flow (finance).
7. Be miserly. Especially about “non-value-added” expenses. If you would hesitate at all to itemize the expense on a customer’s bill then think twice about spending the money. Example: new office chair, plants, company flat company, especially in a startup, so treat it as a precious resource .... because it is. (Here is a good article about cash flow management: 4 Biggest Causes of Cash Flow Management )
8. Seek out advice and be coachable. Being a good lawyer doesn’t automatically mean you have the experience to be the CEO of your newly formed law practice. Same thing holds for a gaming coder, software developer, or a doctor, engineer, or a chemist. And lastly just because it was your idea or invention doesn’t mean you are equipped with the skills to lead and grow a company. Sad to see an owner finally grasp, “You mean the problem is me?” just before the business is shuttered. Worse is everyone around him/her already knew this. Running a growing thriving company is hard and requires talent and expertise. If you have not gained that expertise through varied job experiences then seek out those experts and LISTEN and ACT on their advice.

 

Need help with you Metro Atlanta, Georgia start-up?  Let's have a cup of coffee. Contact me here. 

About the author. Mike Gomez is President and CEO of Allegro Consulting, a growth specialty firm in Atlanta, GA. Allegro has been helping Georgia’s private business owners to plan and execute strong growth strategies since 2002. Mike is a strategy and sales process evangelist and coach with a tool chest built on direct experience in international sales ($10B), strategy and program management. He is an advisor at Atlanta Tech Village, judge for Next Top Entrepreneur, a prolific speaker, writer, former aerospace engineer, and pilot of both aircraft and helicopters. 

What A Jet Crash Can Teach A Business Owner - Piloting Your Company

You’d be surprised by the number of similarities between the most common causes of military jet crashes and those of business failures. I have a unique perspective on both having served on accident investigation teams for the USN and Boeing and, for the last 13 years, come to the aid of business owners of start-ups and established businesses alike, striving to place their company on a sustainable growth path.

As a former Flight Safety Engineer for Boeing, one of my responsibilities was to support accident investigations involving our military jet fighters. As you might expect, the U.S. spends considerable resources analyzing aircraft accidents and sharing the findings. The reasoning is that if you can identify the causes and share the results you can drastically reduce the chance of the accident from happening again. The same should hold true for businesses. Right?

Let’s explore an accident I helped to investigate. It involved an F/A-18 at an air show. The pilot was demonstrating the aircraft’s maneuverability by performing a square loop. He crashed at the bottom of the loop - striking the ground with such force that he broke his back, legs and arm. Because the aircraft remained largely intact, we were able to pull computers and memory, install them in a simulator, and replay the flight, watching all the instruments as well as the stick and throttle movements.

We witnessed the simulator mimic the pilot as he pulled the aircraft up into the vertical climb of the square. We paid particularly close attention to the aircraft’s altitude and airspeed indicators. I recall there was a collective gasp in the room when we saw that the pilot had cut the top of the square too low to complete this maneuver. The primary cause of this accident became immediately clear - pilot error.

What does this have to do with running a business? Owners often make poor decisions when piloting their business in the pursuit of growth. In retrospect most could easily be avoided with strict adherence to a well thought out plan, assuming of course, there is a plan.

In this case the flight (business) plan was a square loop that the pilot (business owner) failed to execute properly. The maneuver (plan) required that he hold the climb (Step 1) for several hundred more feet before executing the pull at the top of the loop (Step 2). By deviating from the plan and not gaining the proper altitude (cutting short the foundational work in the business plan) the pilot (business owner) put his plane (the company) in jeopardy.

Yet still, the pilot (owner) had a chance to minimize the damage (save the company) when he cut short his ascent at the top of the loop. Realizing his problem, the pilot still had two choices available: (1) Abort the maneuver by simply rolling the aircraft upright and continue the show (admit error and return to the plan) or, (2) Proceed with the maneuver (on a gut feeling), thinking he could pull it out by sheer force of will. The pilot chose option two.

So why would a pilot (owner), with all the instruments (sales data, advisers, etc...) telling him he is too low to complete the maneuver, proceed anyway? Let’s return to the accident investigation to find out.

The pilot was an very experienced Marine. He was a fireplug of a man who worked-out with intensity. He took great pride in his shape, physical strength and health. This is likely what saved his life but it was also a contributing factor in the crash. He felt he could, through sheer strength, pull the aircraft through this maneuver before hitting the ground. Somewhere in the back of his mind he believed the rules for that maneuver (plan) were designed for the average pilot (owner) and that he, with his above average strength and experience, could prevail where others might not.

We often see highly confident business owners act on instinct. They don’t do the proper market research or long-term planning because they think the rules don’t apply to them. And the outcome is almost always the same - failure or a significant loss of cash burned (crash and burn) in the process.

And let’s not forget ego. The pilot had friends and family in the airshow audience. This was a hometown crowd and the last day of the show. Imagine how hard it would be to admit to his friends that he screwed up and had to abort one of the more dramatic acrobatic stunts unique to this aircraft. Think of the ribbing he would take when he landed. It might have been awkward and a bit humiliating but surely a better alternative than risking life and limb (bankruptcy), right? Not for this Marine. Aborting the maneuver was not an option.

There is something strange that happens the moment you add the title Owner, President, or CEO to your business card. You become a performer. In a way you view your employees, investors, business acquaintances, customers, friends and family as members of a great audience. There are expectations and preconceived notions you put in your head about how you should perform (run your business). For example, never show weakness or indecision, never admit you don’t know, never admit you made a mistake, and never reach out for help. This, “I can not disappoint my audience” mentality led this pilot to continue the maneuver and crash. It has led business owners to do the same.

The pilot miraculously survived this accident, recovered from his injuries and eventually returned to flying. This is rare for pilots and business owners alike. Who knows how many pilot lives were saved from this investigation and the sharing of his story. I hope the same will prove true for those who are pilot-in-command of their business.

Want to become a better pilot for your metro Atlanta, Georgia business?  Let's have a cup of coffee and talk about it.  Contact me here.

About the author. Mike Gomez is President and CEO of Allegro Consulting, a growth specialty firm in Atlanta, GA. Allegro has been helping Georgia’s private business owners to plan and execute sustainable growth strategies since 2002. Mike is a strategy and sales process evangelist with a tool chest built on direct experience in international sales ($10B), strategy and program management. He is a prolific speaker, writer, former aerospace engineer, and pilot of both aircraft and helicopters.

Thinking Strategically (versus Tactically)

January always seems to be a month for owners of start-ups and established companies alike to reflect on their business.

Do I want this year to be different than last?

Do I want to deal with the same issues (people), have to overcome the same challenges (sales win-rate), work the same hours (long), have the same number of sleepless nights (too many)?

Most will know in their gut that a different outcome requires change.  And for this ever so brief period of time they are on the cusp of thinking strategically about their business.

But sadly, I have observed over and over again that they quickly revert to tactical thinking when searching for solutions. A new website. A new lead generation service. New CRM software. New social media initiatives ("we are going to be serious this year about blogging").  I have even witnessed an owner decide on the spot to invest in a booth design and commit to attending two expos as her solution to bolstering two previous years of lackluster sales. You can imagine the investment that tactical decision will cost.

Steven Covey in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, coined the phrase, "begin with the end in mind". He shared this lesson:

"Begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination.  It means to know where you're going so that you better understand where you are at now and so that the steps you take are always in the right direction."

Here is my business interpretation of his lesson:

"Begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your strategic objectives.  It means to know what you want your business to look like in 3-years (sales, operations, people) and, based on where you stand today, be certain the tactical decisions you make are always in-line with the strategic plan."

I have observed that most business owners are fairly comfortable thinking tactically. In fact they thrive on it. There is nothing that makes them feel better about themselves and their role in the company than solving a tactical problem. Strategic thinking, however, is a less common trait.

I was going to write about what it takes to think strategically but I found an author who nailed this topic.  Paul Shoemaker of Wharton's Mack Institute identifies and shares the "6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers" in this outstanding Inc. article.

Strategically plotting a point on the horizon for your business and letting that be the beacon to guide tactical decisions is how business growth is most efficiently achieved.

Want to build a growth strategy for your metro Atlanta, Georgia business?  Let's discuss this over a cup of coffee.  Contact me here.

About the author. Mike Gomez is President of Allegro Consulting, a growth specialty firm helping businesses plan and execute aggressive growth strategies. He grew his very first client’s business from $8M to $35M in just two years. Mike is a strategist, sales process evangelist, prolific speaker, writer, three-time marathoner, a former military officer and pilot of both aircraft and helicopters. He is also a mentor at Atlanta Tech Village and Four Athens Tech Incubator. www.allegroconsultant.com

I Resolve to... 10 Resolutions For Growth in the New Year

Beginning a new year offers us a time to reflect on the past and the future of our business - to think about what went well and where we might have fallen short of expectations. It is also a good time to make changes, to resolve to leading your business in a manner that assures steady progressive growth.

Based on 12 years of experience working with privately-held business owners, this will typically mean doing things significantly different than you have in the past.

To be a catalyst to this positive change, I offer my top ten resolutions for growth in 2015.

In 2016, I resolve to:  

1. Have a well vetted, market-based plan that defines our future state in a measurable way (3-years and 1-year from now) - customer mix, sales, operations, etc.. 
2. Share that plan with our employees so they too know what we are striving to achieve and how they can be a part of our success. 
3. Operate to that plan - to get things done and hit milestones when we said we would - and that there will be real repercussions for failing to do so. 
4. Not make a single spontaneous buying decision for professional services or capital equipment - I will let the plan dictate these important cash expenditures. 
5. Know who we are competing against by company name. 
6. Strive to differentiate from our competitors - and if we can’t - to out-market them as one would do if selling a commodity product/service like toothpaste, accounting services, banking, web development, etc.... 
7. Know who are our target customers and that it be narrowly defined - consistent with the size of our marketing and sales force. 
8. Recognize that all marketing activity has ultimately one purpose - to generate qualified leads for our sales force. Thus, I will plan our expenditures and measure its effectiveness accordingly. 
9. Know and rationalize in business terms our social media presence/activity.
10. Make good hiring decisions - which are driven by the plan, and starts with a written job description outlining the necessary experience and performance expectations, pay and benefits.. 

How many of these are you currently following? Need some help bringing these resolutions to life in you metro Atlanta, Georgia business? Let's talk over a cup of coffee. Contact me here.

Wishing you the greatest success in 2016!

About the author. Mike Gomez is President of Allegro Consulting, a growth specialty firm helping businesses plan and execute aggressive growth strategies. He grew his very first client’s business from $8M to $35M in just two years. Mike is a sales process and growth strategy evangelist, prolific speaker, writer, three-time marathoner, a former military officer and pilot of both aircraft and helicopters. He is also an advisor at Atlanta Tech Village and Four Athens Tech Incubator. www.allegroconsultant.com

Overcoming Stalled Growth

David Cummings, founder of Atlanta Tech Village, has a great blog site.  In October, he wrote a blog titled, "When Growth Stalls".  Having seen this issue in a wide spectrum of businesses I felt compelled to share my insights to a problem that brings about panic, regrettable spot decisions and actions, and doors being shuttered.  David observed correctly that stalled growth can be attributed to numerous factors. Here are just a few I have personally observed with clients:

(1) Externally caused: new competitors (same product or better product), market saturation, market disruptors (Uber, for instance), technology shifts, new consumer/business trends, regulatory changes, new Google search algorithms that push your site to page 20.

(2) Internally caused: excessive spending on non-value activity, in-effective marketing spend, bad hires, no plan (long or short), loss of largest client to rival, pursuit of non-core business opportunities, loss of core competency, lack of respect for competition.

The first challenge to overcome stalled growth is to accurately identify the cause (more likely causes). 12 years of consulting experience says that you, the owner/founder, may not be the best person to uncover these causes. After all, stalled growth did not happen in an instant and we humans have a remarkable way of seeing only what we want to see.

There is a great Harvard Business Review study/article titled, “Evolution and Revolution as Organizations Grow” that has achieved "classic” status because of its long standing relevance. The study involved thousand of companies from all industry sectors. It concluded that companies go through five stages of growth. Each stage is preceded by mini “revolutions”. These revolutions can reveal themselves in dramatic ways such as the loss of a major customer.  But they can also be insidiously subtle, a marketing initiative released prematurely or one of your team failing to know  pricing changes before talking to a new customer.  The author concluded from the data that growth occurs when leadership recognizes those telltale signs and evolves both management style and operating practices to address them. The companies that don’t “evolve” stagnate or die.

Here is an excerpt from the article: “The problems at these companies are rooted more in past decisions than in present events or market dynamics. Yet management, in its haste to grow, often overlooks such critical developmental questions as, Where has our organization been? Where is it now? and What do the answers to these questions mean for where it is going? Instead, management fixes its gaze outward on the environment and toward the future, as if more precise market projections will provide the organization with a new identity.”

Stalled growth has huge implications. These conditions add weight to the already burdensome challenge of being a business owner. Don't let ego prevent you from welcoming an outsider's perspective to determine the causes. This is not the time for guessing and attacking what you “think” are the contributing factors.  Such an approach can delay recovery at best or accelerate the death spiral.

Want some help to define a new growth path for your metro Atlanta, Georgia business? Let's talk about it over a cup of coffee.  Contact me here.

About the author. Mike Gomez is President of Allegro Consulting, a growth specialty firm helping businesses plan and execute aggressive growth strategies. He grew his very first client’s business from $8M to $35M in just two years. Mike is a growth strategy and sales process evangelist, prolific speaker, writer, three-time marathoner, a former military officer and pilot of both aircraft and helicopters. He is also an advisor at Atlanta Tech Village and Four Athens Tech Incubator. www.allegroconsultant.com

The Handoff - A Business Owner's Role in Supporting A Sales Team

I've just heard this story too many times not to share it as a learning moment.

I received a call from a salesperson asking for advice as he struggled to meet his quarterly sales quota. I assumed he was calling looking for new sales techniques or particular guidance on moving a client to close. But this was not the case at all. Here is how the dialogue went:

Salesperson says, “I’m selling a product in a market where I have a competitor selling the exact same thing.”

I replied, “Same thing? You mean same features, same everything?”

“Yes”

“Are you more price competitive?”

“No, not really. We offer trade in of older equipment to bring the price down but so does our competitor”

“What about service?”

“Yeah, we do support the customer better than they do.”

”That’s good. But will your customer pay more for this better service?”

“No.”

“Interesting, so tell me what kind of direction have you received from the owner of the business you work for?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, given the market realities you’ve outlined, how does your owner expect you to win new business? Is he doing things to separate you from this competitor? For example, specializing in a certain niche (becoming experts and thus the preferred vendor) or using marketing and strong advertising techniques to build brand preference (aka, Colgate vs Crest toothpaste)?”

“No, the only guidance I was given was, “Treat it like it’s your business.”

Even the best salesperson will under-perform or fail under these conditions.
  
It is not the salesperson's job to identify target customers and invent ways to differentiate.

The role of the owner, President and/or CEO of a business is to equip your sales team with the tools to be successful. At a minimum this includes the following:

• A list of “target customers” 
• those inline with the customer mix outlined in your short and long-range growth plan
• who match the profile of those who will value your product, expertise and/or differentiators
• The compelling story to support why clients should buy your product over competitors
• Who are the competitors the sales team can expect to face and what differentiates us from each
• A supportive marketing (lead generating, branding, demo tools, social media, samples, brochures, etc...) strategy
• The right sales tools and support (travel budget, conference attendance, CRM, bid and proposal, quoting, etc...) - tools that actually help the sales team do their job versus those that help the owner monitor the sales force.

Given that only 28% of a salesperson’s time is spent in front of the customer and about 50% of that time is actually selling (the rest is prospecting (35%), relationship building (10%), and training (5%)), it is imperative, you the owner, equip him/her with the tools to ensure it is the right prospect and that he maximizes the productivity of that time.

In my 12 years of consulting "under-performing sales" has been by far the number one pain point with the blame typically placed squarely on the salesperson or VP of Sales. It is not long into the engagement when humility kicks in as the owner discovers it is their lack of a long-range plan, a clear understanding of what makes them different, a detailed knowledge of their competitors, and an ineffective or non-existent marketing strategy that are the real culprits.

Want to give your sales team the best chance for success? Let's talk about your metro Atlanta business over a cup of coffee.  Contact me here.

About the author. Mike Gomez is President of Allegro Consulting, a growth specialty firm helping businesses plan and execute aggressive growth strategies. He grew his very first client’s business from $8M to $35M in just two years. Mike is a growth strategy and sales process evangelist, prolific speaker, writer, three-time marathoner, a former military officer and pilot of both aircraft and helicopters. www.allegroconsultant.com

8 Shortsighted Reasons Business Owners Don’t Plan

I’ve been consulting with business owners for over 12 years. Clients typically call because sales are slumping or things are seemingly out of control. They feel lost about where things are going and are just along for the ride. When trying to diagnose what might be wrong I will always first ask to see the plan for their business. The common response, “What plan?” or they will point to their head and say, “it’s in here”.

 What has always intrigued me about this is when I ask an audience of private business owners to raise their hands if they are at all surprised to find that Coca Cola has a 3-year plan. Or Boeing. Or Target. No one raises their hands. “Of course they do!”, they would say.

Yet when it comes to their own businesses - no plan at all. Remarkably, 90% of private business owners operate without a plan. The success/fail records support this. So, why don’t they plan?

Here are the 8 most common reasons I have heard for this shortsighted behavior.

(1) "I'd rather DO rather than plan." Clients have said they would rather do anything than plan. Fix a machine, support a sales call, talk to a supplier, or review a new website. In doing these things they get immediate gratification of accomplishing something, of solving an immediate problem for the team. After all, they rationalize this is the role of the President and owner, to solve problems, to be an expert on all matters and keep the business humming along. Right?

 (2) "It’s just not possible to do any long-term planning for MY business, it’s just too dynamic and unpredictable right now." “Mike, you don’t understand. My business is different.” Then they will site all the chaos they are managing through. Employee performance issues, a customer cutting their order in half, an upcoming conference to prepare for, a new competitor emerging, and the list goes on. “In such an environment, how do you expect me to do any long-term planning?

 (3) "Time spent on this is just not worth the effort." Citing reasons (1) and (2) they will rationalize that it just doesn’t make sense to spend precious time on this priority right now. Some will further justify this position by recalling an instance where a plan was produced only to sit on a shelf - never to be referred to again.

(4) "I don’t know how." I have had owners tell me they intended to do this for years. Some even locked themselves away and stopped taking calls for the sole purpose of crafting a strategic plan. They admitted only getting as far as typing ... “2014-2016 Strategic Plan” ...at the top of a blank Word document. They add that despite the fact there are numerous resources on the web for how to do this very important and impactful, cerebral activity “it is hard to have any confidence I am doing this right”. That’s not surprising. Building a quality, viable strategic plan takes experience just like any other discipline required to run a good company.

 (5) "What if it’s not the right plan?" Here is the logic behind this excuse. A plan puts our company on certain path. If the plan is wrong the path is wrong and that could spell disaster. “No plan mean I have the maximum flexibility to adjust in real-time based on the real-time dynamics of the business.” I’d like to see a CEO of any public company give this rationale to their Board of Directors or a startup to their principal investors.

(6) "I don’t want to be hand-cuffed on how I run my company." A written plan means accountability. “Publicizing our plan means committing myself (the owner) to accomplishing certain things in certain timeframes, right?” Yes. “Me failing to meet written milestones may give others a reason to justify not accomplishing the tasks I assigned them.” We can’t have that now can we.

 (7) "I’ve operated this long without a plan and it seems to be working for me." Why change? This is one of my personal favorites because I invariably find abysmal marketing initiatives, costly bad hires, and expensive, ultimately aborted excursions into new markets that would not have otherwise been pursued had they been operating to a plan.

 (8) "I don’t have time." “I know I should but things are just too busy right now for me to do any planning. Maybe later when things slow down.” Hint: they never do.

As this year draws to an end you have an opportunity to reflect on your business and your leadership. What did you learn this year? About your competition? About yourself? About your customer? What did your company do well? Where are the weaknesses that should be addressed? There is no doubt you possess a wealth of quantitative and quantitative data - inside your head. But that jungled mess of important information benefits no one in there. The planning process draws that out and makes it actionable. And much like making a movie, the finished product becomes the actionable script for your business.

Want to build a growth plan for your metro Atlanta business?  Let's talk over a cup of coffee.  Contact me here.

About the author. Mike Gomez is President and CEO of Allegro Consulting, a growth specialty firm in Atlanta, GA. Allegro has been helping Georgia’s private business owners plan and execute aggressive growth strategies for over12 years. Mike is a strategy and sales process evangelist with a tool chest built on direct experience in sales ($10B) and operations. He is a prolific speaker, writer, guest lecturer at UGA and GaTech, Next Top Entrepreneur judge, and start-up mentor at Atlanta Tech Village.

The Elevator Pitch Challenge. Can You Say Yours In Two Floors (10 sec)?

Ah! The infamous "elevator pitch". How many of you have this refined in such a manner that you can actually give it in an elevator or any other setting for that manner?

Why is this even important?

Well here is a case where a strong elevator pitch can be valuable. At the start of nearly every Board of Advisory event at the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce the host would send a microphone around the entire room giving everyone an opportunity to stand up and state your name, your company name and "what it is you do". There are several ways the moderator would keep this from consuming the entire time allocated for the event itself. One way was to restrict the person to saying this in three breaths (three sentences). Another was to limit it to 10 seconds. In other words, an opportunity to give your elevator pitch but to an audience of 50 to 100 local business leaders. This kind of scenario is not uncommon. Are you prepared for it?

I use the following elevator scenario with my clients to hone their ability to clearly articulate what it is they do.

"You just walked into the 3rd floor elevator at a shopping mall and just before the door closes an important business acquaintance you haven't seen in a long while squeezes in the door at the last second. He/she recognizes you and says, "Mike! Good to see you again. What are you up to nowadays?" He presses the first floor button. The elevator starts to move. How will you reply?"

A typical elevator will cover two floors in 10 - 16 seconds. To allow for a response I suggest your pitch should last no more than 10 seconds.

So now that we know how long it should be, what are the ingredients to a good elevator pitch? When stating what you do it should be, (1) clear enough for your grandmother to understand, (2) be stated in a manner that clearly sets you apart from others in your sector, and (3) is intriguing enough to warrant the following sincere (versus the brush off) reply, "Wow, that's interesting. I'd like to hear more. Let's get together for coffee." Of course, if the person is not in the market for your services another good response could be, “Interesting, I might know someone who could use your services.”

The bottom line is be clear, be different, and be brief.

Here is how the elevator ride would be for me.

We see each other in the elevator and the business owner says, "Mike! Good to see you again. What are you up to nowadays?" He presses the first floor button. The elevator starts to move.

I reply, “Good to see you Tom. I’m with Allegro Consulting, a 12 year old firm working exclusively with private companies on matters related to growing a sound business like strategy and process definition."

In this 10 seconds I emphasized a key differentiator for my company, longevity, that we’ve been around longer than almost everyone of my competitors. I made it clear who I specialize in working with, “private(ly) (held) companies”. And, I gave two concrete examples of what I do for my clients. You noticed I didn’t say something vague like, “I help companies go to the next level.” even though this is the most common phrase I hear from potential new clients. The reason is this phrase can mean different things to different people. There is no doubt what strategy means and implied in that is, I help companies who are ready to grow based on a strategy.

Was this helpful?

Want to sharpen the elevator pitch for your metro Atlanta business?   Let's talk about it over a cup of coffee.  Contact me here.

About the author. Mike Gomez is President of Allegro Consulting, a growth specialty firm helping businesses plan and execute aggressive growth strategies. He grew his very first client’s business from $8M to $35M in just two years. Mike is a growth strategy, and sales process evangelist, prolific speaker, writer, three-time marathoner, a former military officer and pilot of both aircraft and helicopters. www.allegroconsultant.com

Where is the script for your business? (Reprise)

This was one of my earlier and more popular blogs. I thought it would be appropriate to dust it off and republish it because it is invariably this time of year when business owners begin to reflect on the past year and the new one just around the corner. I hear these quotes most often: "Maybe we should do things differently next year." or "I'd sure like to feel like I am in more control of our growth." or "I am ready to take it to the next level." Maybe this article will add additional motivation to change. Enjoy.

I was speaking to a large gathering of business owners and was asked whether there was an inherent conflict between planning for growth and the more free spirited entrepreneurial-like approach - where you stay agile and react to opportunities as they arise (i.e., operate without a plan). This was a great question as it addresses a big misconception about planning - that it somehow hand-cuffs a business.

To answer the question I asked the audience to imagine themselves accidentally walking onto the set of a movie production. Then imagine grabbing the megaphone and asking everyone on the set to freeze for a moment and to please hold up their script for the day. In this case, none of us would be too surprised to see that the cameraman, the director, the soundman, the actors, and even the caterers will all be able to produce a script for that specific day.  The cameraman will know which cameras he has to have ready and where they should be staged.  Because of the script, the actors will know the lines and the scenes they are expected to be ready for.  And the script will reveal to the caterers how many meals they have to prepare for and where they will be served that day. You see, a movie will never come together without a script.

Now take that same megaphone into your own business and ask your leadership team and employees to produce their script for the day. How will they react to this request? I suspect most will give you that “deer in the headlights” look.

There is not a producer in the world or investor that would pursue a movie production without a well written script. The idea is simply preposterous. Yet most of us will run our businesses without one.

The script for your company is a plan - a simple concise document which aligns your team around a common objective or end-state that is consistent with your vision and market conditions. And, like the script for a movie, there are portions written specifically for specialized roles. Sales, operations, finance, human resources, marketing should each have a script which defines the specific tasks they must complete (and when) to keep your “movie” progressing.

The script governing the day-to-day operations are process documents which describes how a product or service is produced and delivered within your company.

You will find that businesses that grow consistently year after year operate to a well vetted long-term (3 yr.) and short-term (1 yr.) plan. It is the plan they refer to BEFORE making a hiring decision, investing in capital equipment, or spending precious cash on marketing campaigns and website improvements. It is also the plan that will guide them when building and executing a sales strategy.

These same growing companies also recognize that the process by which they produce a product or service can impact competitiveness. By documenting critical processes they eliminate the risk of being dependent on any one person’s memory or contribution. It also gives them a foundation from which to explore innovative changes that will improve efficiency and thus increase profitability.

Now I hope I have convinced you that, like a movie, your business too requires scripting. Can you imagine actors, cameramen, and set designers coming to a specific location and then left to their own to interpret the verbal instructions of the producer’s vision for a movie. It would be chaotic at best with numerous costly ventures down one frustrating dead-end after another. Entrepreneurial or not, is this the atmosphere for a growing thriving business? No.

So, where is the script for your business? It is worthwhile to note that since 1980 over 70% of the winners of the Academy Award for best picture also received the Oscar for best screenplay – the script.

Want help to build your "script"?  Let's talk over coffee about where you want to take your metro Atlanta business. Contact me here.

About the author. Mike Gomez is President of Allegro Consulting, a growth specialty firm helping businesses plan and execute aggressive growth strategies. He grew his very first client’s business from $8M to $35M in just two years. Mike is a sales process evangelist, prolific speaker, writer, three-time marathoner, a former military officer and pilot of both aircraft and helicopters. www.allegroconsultant.com

Is your business an orange among a lot of oranges?

I gave a talk to business owners about the importance of having a targeted marketing and sales strategy (#5 on my 10 Essential Elements to Long-Term Growth). In that talk I showed why companies who thrive are laser focused in defining to whom they want to sell their products or services. This is especially true with start-ups or small companies where a limited marketing budget and a small sales force is the norm. The analogy I use most often to stress this point is the game of darts. How silly would it be to play darts without a dartboard? Yet I routinely see owners liberally handing out darts to their sales team with no dartboard in sight - all the while still expecting them to regularly hit a bullseye (customer).

It was after this presentation that a question was posed, “How do I decide who to target?”

Bingo!  That is exactly the question I wanted these business owners to ponder.

I’m sorry to say that you won’t find the answer here in this blog. Why? Because the process to decide this requires an extensive internal company assessment and external market analysis.

I can, however, give you one step in that process. Answer this question, "How are you different from competitors in your industry or sector?" Figuring out what’s different about your business will then lead to identifying companies who value that difference - and thus whom you should consider targeting.

Unfortunately, most of us are in “commodity” businesses. In other words, within our industry sector we are simply an orange sitting on a stack of oranges. Unless you've intentionally done something to separate yourself, this is likely true whether you are a marketing firm, lawyer, dentist, any broker, web designer, staffing company, accounting firm, bank, dry cleaners, insurance company, real estate agent, etc ... Are you getting the picture? Even a company like Boeing is an orange. The difference for them is the stack of competing oranges is rather small (only four commercial aircraft builders in the world). If we could all be so lucky to compete against just four rivals.

The challenge for every business owner is to decide (1) do I simply compete as an orange - knowing I will have to out-market (advertise, SEO, etc...) all the other oranges in my sector and accept that price will drive most decisions or (2) narrow the competing field by specializing - become unique - a blood orange, naval orange, or clementine for example. There is no right or wrong answer here. The downfall comes by being unaware, in denial, or worse yet, think you have something unique when in fact you don't.

Here is a quick example. Cordell and Cordell is a law firm. I think we all know how many law firms there are in this world (that stack of oranges is a mile high). Recognizing this, Cordell and Cordell chose to specialize - they became a domestic litigation firm further specializing in men’s divorce - a blood orange (no pun). In doing so, they reduced the size of the competition significantly. And by fully embracing this strategy they know clearly who they want to serve (target) as a customer. They have even gone so far as to own and manage the content of mensdivorce.com and mensrights.com. Brilliant!

I have a friend who once defined his firm as a marketing company. He eventually recognized he was in a very crowded market (lots of oranges (marketing firms) here in Atlanta). Every engagement became a competitive race to the bottom in price. He decided to change course, to specialize in just one aspect of the marketing spectrum - marketing communications, even further specializing in presentations. He created a brand called Presentation Tune-ups and is now much clearer about who specifically he is targeting for his specialized service. And much like the lawyer example above his relationships, first built around presentations, eventually encompasses other marketing related services.

So ask yourself, are you an orange competing against other oranges? If so, how will your customer choose your orange from the rest on the stack? What does your dartboard look like? Or, have you made yourself a unique enough orange to warrant being placed in a different bin, with the ability to command a higher price, and a much clearer understanding of the bullseye your marketing and sales force are aiming at.

Tired of being an orange among all the other oranges?  Let's talk over a cup of coffee how we can define a way to make your metro Atlanta business unique.  Contact me here.

About the author. Mike Gomez is President of Allegro Consulting, a growth specialty firm helping Georgia business owners take their company "to the next level". He grew his very first client’s business from $8M to $35M in just two years. Mike is a sales process evangelist, prolific speaker, writer, three-time marathoner, a former military officer and pilot of both aircraft and helicopters. www.allegroconsultant.com

Is your sales strategy right or wrong? How do I know?

A prospective client was sharing some stories from an ongoing large sales opportunity they are pursuing. He concluded with this statement, “I think we have the right strategy now.”

I replied, “How do you know?” That caused a long thoughtful pause.

He admitted he had no way of knowing the answer to this question. And based on his use of the word "now" he had thought other strategies they had pursued was the "right strategy”. So how much confidence can you place in his latest declaration?

Let’s take a moment to explore what makes something right or wrong.

We have all taken test before and told whether we got an answer right or wrong. In this environment someone made a decision and documented what he/she views as the right answer to a given question. Your answer is deemed right or wrong by making a relative comparison against this known criteria. But what about passing a right or wrong judgment on something like the paint color your teenage son chooses for his bedroom. Most would say this is not possible as there are no hard rules from which to make a relative comparison. Not so fast my friends. I’d argue that if Dad has the final say on the paint color for the room then he and his personal tastes will determine right or wrong.

So where does a sales strategy fit in this spectrum. Is it vague and thus fall into the category of personal tastes or is it more concrete like a school exam?

My experience says it is a combination of the two. And the way you determine if the strategy you chose is right or wrong is by making a relative comparison to what you know about the formal and informal rules of how the buying decision will be made and the personal views and opinions of the people participating and/or influencing the process.

People make buying decisions not companies. And because they are people, their personal biases and interests will always be a factor.

Knowing which biases and how much of a factor is your sales challenge. Having a formal process in place to make this relative comparison is your company’s challenge.

Are you chasing an important complex sales opportunity in metro Atlanta?  Want to improve your chance of winning by subjecting your sales strategy to some outside seasoned scrutiny?  Let's talk over a cup of coffee.  Contact me here.

About the author. Mike Gomez is President of Allegro Consulting, a growth specialty firm helping businesses plan and execute aggressive growth strategies. He grew his very first client’s business from $8M to $35M in just two years. Mike is a sales process evangelist, prolific speaker, writer, three-time marathoner, a former military officer and pilot of both aircraft and helicopters. www.allegroconsultant.com

5 Lessons Building My New Fully Responsive Website

Every three years or so my company website starts to look and feels stale and dated. I don’t know if there is a study out there to back this up but this is what my 12 years of consulting experience (8 years with a website) has taught me. It has become clear that people’s expectations for a website “experience” are constantly evolving. Social platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram, and YouTube have influenced the web audience to desire bite sized pieces of information preferably through media such as videos and telling photos. On line stores like Amazon too have influenced expectations along these lines.

I am a consultant. I help businesses who are struggling for one reason or another. My clients are serious people burdened and kept awake by serious challenges. If things have gotten to a point where they need an outsider to help you can bet they are prepared to research options. My old website was tailored to that research. It provided the client some things to think about in the way of solutions and why I was the best guy who could help. But now even this audience wants the same type of information presented differently - in meaningful bite sized nuggets.

Oh, and one other observation. Two years ago less that 1% of my web traffic came from devices other than a desktop. Today 21% of my traffic is from mobile or tablets.

My old content ladened, static website had run its course. (Good bye old friend - you served us well).

So you might be asking, because of the title of this article, why I took on the challenge of designing and building a website myself rather than contract the project to a web developer or marketing firm. I have three reasons for doing this. First reason, given the importance a website is to any business I feel as a consultant I must know enough about the process to credibly advise my clients through it.

Secondly, so I know what kind of effort and skills are involved and thus the value attached to such a project. And the third reason is to fully understand what a business owner must know about his/her business and customer BEFORE he/she begins this undertaking.

That said here are the top five lessons I learned from this one-month project:

1. Know everything about your business - your growth plan and your target customers. This is not something you casually hand off to a marketing firm or web developer to figure out. You should be able to articulate your 3-year strategy (your web presence is but a tool to help get you there), details about current state (customer/product mix etc...), your target customers, your competitors, and the landscape in which you compete. With regard to your customers, you should know how they shop, what they value about your company, what products and services they favor, and what their expectations are when they land on your site. (By the way, this is by far the most requested service of  Allegro Consulting - growth strategy development.)

2. Know the difference between the skillsets of a web developer versus a marketing firm. Web developers are best equipped to bring functionality to your website whereas marketing firms bring creativity and design. Asking a web developer about layout, colors or the appropriateness of artwork would be like asking the carpenter to design your house. Likewise, expecting a marketing firm to efficiently create the coding for a web form or transaction integration would be equally outlandish. To get the most out of this important marketing spend, task the experts to do only what they are most trained for.

3. Don’t outsource the content. Once again if you know your business and you know your customer then you know best how to connect with them. Sure it is ok to have a third party edit your writing but you have to take charge of the messaging. This is not something you outsource.

4. Web audiences will scroll. It used to be that you had to worry about putting the most important content “above the fold”.  This is no longer the case. Thanks to Facebook and Twitter people are now use to scrolling and will automatically do this when on a website. Here is a great article on this subject.

5. Preserve your URLs. If you have a strong Google ranking be careful about how you introduce change to your website - especially the URLs I learned it is very important that you do whatever you can to preserve your old URLs (exactly) even if they are not an ideal name for your pages. Don’t throw them away as there is valuable Google history there. If you can’t use them in your new rebuilt site use a 301 redirect rather than discard. Here is an article about that.
Let me know what you think of my new website. BTW - I used a pretty impressive tool to build it - a company called Webflow.

Remember, your website is a marketing tool and the role of marketing is to attract "qualified" prospects. It is incumbent on you to understand what is a "qualified" prospect and how they go about researching then buying your type of product or service. It is also your job to know what differentiates you from alternative choices. Don't spend the time or money creating a new website until you know this information cold. These are the topics covered in a well run strategic planning engagement. And this is what Allegro has been doing for metro Atlanta businesses for over 14 years.

Let's talk about your business over a cup of coffee.  The first cup is on me.  Contact me here.

About the author. Mike Gomez is President of Allegro Consulting, a growth specialty firm helping businesses plan and execute aggressive growth strategies. He grew his very first client’s business from $8M to $35M in just two years. Mike is a growth strategy and sales process evangelist, prolific speaker, writer, three-time marathoner, a former military officer and pilot of both aircraft and helicopters. www.allegroconsultant.com

The Worst Sales Direction EVER! “Treat it like it’s your own business.”

I've just heard this story too many times not to share it as a learning moment.
I received a call from a salesperson asking for advice as he struggled to meet his quarterly sales quota. I assumed he was calling looking for new sales techniques or particular guidance on moving a client to close. But this was not the case at all. Here is how the dialogue went:
Salesperson says, “I’m selling a product in a market where I have a competitor selling the exact same thing.”
I replied, “Same thing? You mean same features, same everything?”
“Yes”
“Are you more price competitive?”
“No, not really. We offer trade in of older equipment to bring the price down but so does our competitor”
“What about service?”

“Yeah, we do support the customer better than they do.”
”That’s good. But will your customer pay more for this better service?”
“No.”
“Interesting, so tell me what kind of direction have you received from the owner of the business you work for?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, given the market realities you’ve outlined, how does your owner expect you to win new business? Is he doing things to separate you from this competitor? For example, specializing in a certain niche (becoming experts and thus the preferred vendor) or using marketing and strong advertising techniques to build brand preference (aka, Colgate vs Crest toothpaste)?”
“No, the only guidance I was given was, “Treat it like it’s your business.”
Even the best salesperson will under-perform or fail under these conditions. It is not the salesperson's job to identify target customers and invent ways to differentiate. The role of the owner, President and/or CEO of a business is to equip your sales team with the tools to be successful. At a minimum this includes the following:

• A list of “target customers” 
• those inline with the customer mix outlined in your short and long-range growth plan
• who match the profile of those who will value your product, expertise and/or differentiators
• The compelling story to support why clients should buy your product over competitors
• Who are the competitors the sales team can expect to face and what differentiates us from each
• A supportive marketing (lead generating, branding, demo tools, social media, samples, brochures, etc...) strategy
• The right sales tools and support (travel budget, conference attendance, CRM, bid and proposal, quoting, etc...) - tools that actually help the sales team do their job versus those that help the owner monitor the sales force.

Given that only 28% of a salesperson’s time is spent in front of the customer and about 50% of that time is actually selling (the rest is prospecting (35%), relationship building (10%), and training (5%)), it is imperative, you the owner, equip him/her with the tools to ensure it is the right prospect and that he maximizes the productivity of that time.

In my 12 years of consulting "under-performing sales" has been by far the number one pain point with the blame typically placed squarely on the salesperson or VP of Sales. It is not long into the engagement when humility kicks in as the owner discovers it is their lack of a long-range plan, a clear understanding of what makes them different, a detailed knowledge of their competitors, and an ineffective or non-existent marketing strategy that are the real culprits.

Want to grow your metro Atlanta business?  Let's talk over a cup of coffee about what we can do to give your sales team the right tools for success? Contact me here.

About the author. Mike Gomez is President of Allegro Consulting, a growth specialty firm helping businesses plan and execute aggressive growth strategies. He grew his very first client’s business from $8M to $35M in just two years. Mike is a sales process evangelist, prolific speaker, writer, three-time marathoner, a former military officer and pilot of both aircraft and helicopters. www.allegroconsultant.com

4 Steps To Give New Luster to Your Mentor Program

“Great facilities, a dynamic/stimulating environment and a diverse group of experienced, accessible and talented mentors”  Few will argue that these are the three pillars of a great startup accelerator or incubator. Places like the Atlanta Tech Village (Atlanta, GA), Four Athens Tech Incubator (Athens, GA), and the Capital Factory (Austin, TX) provide the proof. I doubt anyone reading this article will be surprised then to see a budget line item for these facilities called “building maintenance and upkeep”. You are also likely see a budget line item for “events and functions” to foster the environment they desire for “serendipitous interactions” (as Atlanta Tech Village calls it). But what about that third pillar - the mentors? What should operators of these accelerators and incubators do to proactively maintain the luster of their mentor program? As a mentor in two of the above named facilities I’d thought I share a few recommendations.

(1) Teach - a. to cause or help to learn how to do something by giving lessons, showing how it is done, etc. If you think about it from your client’s perspective (members of your incubator), the idea that you can get something (advice) for free is downright suspicious; there’s got to be a catch. This is a mindset that will have to be overcome. The other hurdle is the misguided view that being an entrepreneur means you go at it alone, with an energy drink, the shirt on your back and the few coins in your pocket. By proximity accelerators and incubators encourage interaction among peers. But specifically reaching out to advisers will most certainly require a nudge or two. So as you can see, having an A-list of mentors on your roster is not enough. Without a proactive program to encourage mentor engagement both sides will lose. The startup will miss out on valuable advice and years of lessons learned and the mentors will be underutilized and begin to look for other venues where their talents are sought.  

(2) Promote - a. to help the growth or development of, b. to look after or assist the growth of by labor and care, c. to provide publicity for Here are a few ideas on how you can promote your mentors and your mentorship program - thus encouraging engagement:

• When mentor holds “office hours”, make sure it is publicized well in advance through all your different communication channels. On the day itself, be sure it is well known that they are on-site.
• When a mentor attends an event at your location or an event you are sponsoring - take a moment to recognize their presence.
• Follow their Facebook page, their LinkedIn company page, their blog, and their Twitter handle if they have one. This is easy stuff but important because these deeds reveal to your community the level of admiration, trust and respect you have for their expertise.
• Introduce, through periodic articles or interviews, each mentor to your community so they can gain greater insight into who they are and what make’s them tick.
• Hold periodic mentor meet and greets.
• And when worthy advice is shared, let the community know about it through channels like Twitter or Facebook.

(3) Include - a. to contain in a group or as part of something A mentor should never feel like an outsider or a visitor to your accelerator/incubator. Make your access policy decisions with this in mind. Things to consider here:

• Special badging to enter facilities
• Invitation to attend events.
• Discount or no fee to attend sponsored events
• Internal access to accelerator calendar/portal/WiFi.

Yes, you may run the risk of people abusing these privileges. If they do, confront them early. If they persist, dismiss them. I don’t believe this is a problem worthy of keeping your mentors at arms length and on the outside looking in. On the contrary, the more they feel like an important pillar of your organization the more rock solid their support and contributions will be.
  
(4) Cull - a. to reduce or control the size of by removal of especially weaker animals as a means of population control Every once in a while it is important to cull the herd, to keep those that take the role seriously and contribute to the environment you are trying to foster, and weed out those who don’t. Though this may be awkward (to fire a mentor), it is best for the mentors and the clients you serve. Mentors, when actively engaged, can be a difference maker for your accelerator or incubator clients. The experience, wisdom and tough love they share can speed up success or the critical think necessary for a pivoting decision. But it’s not enough to just have a compelling list of mentors on your roster. Like your other pillars (the facilities and atmosphere), your mentor program too requires care and nurturing. Be proactive managing your mentor program. Teach your clients how to use them. And then share the success stories and their impact. Soon you will find that your mentors are as sought after as the Red Bull in fridge.  

Update 2016: Atlanta Tech Village has implemented all of these recommendations.  They have made it a priority to promote their mentor program in 2016 to see if the quality and number of interactions between the Villagers and the mentors improves.


Want to talk more about these recommendations or your mentor program? I'd be glad to.  Feel free to contact me here.

About the author. Mike Gomez is President of Allegro Consulting, a growth specialty firm helping startups and establish businesses plan and execute aggressive growth strategies. He grew his very first client’s business from $8M to $35M in just two years. Mike is a growth strategy and complex sales expert, prolific speaker, writer, three-time marathoner, a former military officer and pilot of both aircraft and helicopters. www.allegroconsultant.com