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

8 Growth Tools Every Business Owner Should Know, Have and Use

You need a good nail-gun, a saw and more to be a carpenter. To be a car mechanic you need a wrench, a computer code reader and a good socket-set to name a few of the essential tools. If you are a regular mountain climber then you likely have good rope, and plenty of high quality caribiners in your tool chest.  So, what are some of the important tools required if you are the CEO of your start-up or established business. 

#1 Business Plan (for start-ups): An exercise and accompanying document you complete PRIOR to launching a new business. Properly done it will force you to be clear on what your business is all about, the product or service you deliver, how you plan to deliver it, and supporting evidence for why customers will buy from you over competing alternatives. It will also tell you how much money you need to keep the business operating effectively before you are producing sufficient cash flow to cover operating expenses. Experience says you will find this document will be obsolete in the first six months of operations as real life will be surprisingly different than your assumptions. Regardless, this step is critical to success.

 #2 Strategic Plan (for established businesses): An exercise and accompanying document that combines your future vision of the business and real life market realities to define in a measurable way what your company will look like 2 to 3 years from now. It is the spot on the map you select before getting into your car for a road trip. Customer mix, revenue, market penetration, operations and people are all addressed in this document. A well done strategic plan will leverage you current strengths, acknowledge and address weaknesses, exploit market opportunities, and counter external threats. Everyone in your company should know your strategic plan - this is how you create an “aligned” workforce.

 #3 Tactical Plan: An annual document that defines specific actions (beyond day to day operations) to be taken by specific individuals in a specific time-frame (usually quarterly) that will incrementally move your company one step closer to the Strategic Plan goals. If you were to envision your business as a movie, this would be the “script”. You are the director and your employees, the actors. You are tasked with completing this movie on time and with no overruns.

 #4 Targeted Customer: Exactly who did you design your product/service for? It is not “everyone”. Your target customer is the bullseye of your sales dart board. The better you are able to describe the critical attributes (job, race, gender, age, income, business, hobby, etc...) the better and more efficient your marketing and sales force will be in finding and winning them.

 #5 Sales Strategy: A process where you analyze the depth and breadth of your market opportunities, the intensity of the competition you expect to face, and given resources you possess to devise a sales plan of attack. Similar to war planning you may choose a broad strategy that secures a large number of small victories or concentrate your resources to score a big impactful strategic win. It defines how and where you will deploy your limited resources as well as the weaknesses of you competition you plan to exploit to win new business.

 #6 Marketing Strategy: Marketing is all about generating qualified leads for your sales team to close on. Developing a marketing strategy is a left brain activity as it involves analysis and critical thinking. A well done marketing strategy involves analyzing your customers (who they are and how they buy) then exploring and selecting the most effective tools (web, social media, billboard, collateral, TV commercials, car wrap) within given financial constraints to garner their interest. You compete and hire marketing experts and service providers for their right brain creative skills to implement your strategy.

 #7 Sales Process: A replicable and thus written method for how you take a warm lead and turn him/her into a happy customer. As you might expect this is one of the most important steps in your business processes and should not be relegated to the personal techniques of any given salesperson. In addition to more consistent win rates, a defined sales process will allow you the owner to engage in a conversation with any of your sales team and know exactly who is in the funnel and where they are in the sales cycle.

 #8 Critical Processes: Those unique, replicable steps your company completes to generate leads, win business, deliver a consistent product or service and collect financial compensation. Documenting these steps provides two major benefits, (1) reduces risk by creating a back-up should you be unfortunate to lose a critical employee with all of the corporate memory due to a job change or accident and, (2) it establishes a baseline upon which to develop improvements. Say your company name is XYZ then what makes your product an XYZ product or service performed and delivered the XYZ way?  

Are you a metro Atlanta business who may need to 'borrow' some of these tools to help your business grow? 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 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

Getting Your Business Back in Shape (re-released and update)

It is the fourth week in January and the annual migration of the New Year’s resolution crowd is already departing gym’s across the United States; not to be seen again until next year.

At the start of each new year there is an enthusiasm to get back into personal shape. This same phenomena is present in the business world. Each year business owners declare, “This year will be different. We will have a well thought out strategic plan. We will have an actionable yearly tactical plan from which we will judge our progress. We will hold regularly scheduled staff meetings to review our plans, assess the actions of our competitors, and examine our financial health. Yes, 2012 will be different!”  And by the end of January.... they are back into their old routine, with the fire drills of each and every day dictating the rest of the year’s agenda. And like the fitness birds migrating through the gym each year, this cycle will sure to be repeated over again the next year.

I want to share with you a different story; one with exciting results and very much analogous to the business world, in hopes that it will inspire you to stick with your resolution.

At the end of November, a good friend of mine sent the following text message, “I need help.” He wanted to get back into shape and after numerous attempts on his own, he felt the aid of an outside expert was needed. I agreed to be his personal trainer. Before we began I wanted to hear what goals he had in mind in order to assess if it was realistic. He stated two specific objectives; (1) get back down to 175 lbs and (2) have a pool-worthy body for a vacation he planned in late March. We then looked at his current state; 5’11” and 198 lbs. We had a little over four months (18 weeks) interrupted by Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, to lose 23 lbs. and build some muscle. His goals were possible, but would require a very strong commitment to reach them. He agreed to commit to a plan that I would guide him to establish and we began.

Much like the human body, a company without steady work “on” the business versus “in” the business will too become out of shape and lose the market strength, they once enjoyed. So, exactly how do you get back into shape, or get into shape for the first time ever, and what can you expect from the process?

1. Look in the mirror. Are you happy with the current state? Is the performance what you expect? Are sales meeting your expectations? Are you stronger? Are you still as agile and responsive as you once were? How do your customers view you? What will you look like in 3 years?

2. If you don’t like what you see or are not sure what direction you are going do something about it.

3. Set measureable, realistic goals to be completed at a specific time. In the business world this means capturing your vision, and balancing that with a clear unbiased view of how you stand relative to the competition and in the market for which you chose to compete. Steve Covey said it best in his book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, “Begin with the end in mind”.

4. If you have never done step number three or don’t know how, don’t let your ego prevent you from engaging an outside expert. A business strategist brings two very valuable tools to the table; (1) experience working with a variety of companies in various industries from which you will benefit, and (2) they will stop you from drinking your own bathwater (declaring something is core strength when in reality it is not all that different from your competitors).

5. Craft a written plan and stick to it. This means you review the plan regularly and use it to guide how you and your team utilize your time, invest your resources, and select your people.

6. Accept the fact that change will involve some pain. Operating leaner is hard and demanding. Holding employees and yourself accountable to specific and measurable goals is also tough. Fight through the pain knowing what you are doing is for the long-term health of your company.

7. Beware of excuses used to revert back to old behaviors or not complete an assigned objective on time. It is not physically possible to complete everything in the fourth quarter because you either procrastinated or came up with reasons for why it couldn’t be done earlier in the year as originally agreed.

8. Most likely progress will be quicker for younger companies than older. That’s just nature. Older habits and patterns of behavior are tougher to change. But don’t use this as an excuse not to.

Now for the rest of the fitness story: The first few weeks were quite hard. He was a bit embarrassed being seen lifting the small amount of weights on the bar. He complained of being constantly sore. He would try to throw out an excuse or two for skipping a day; “Bad knees” and “I forgot my brace” were the excuses he used when I first suggested he start a running regiment. However, to his credit, he always showed up for our workouts. I knew we had turned a significant corner when on week eight he suggested going to the gym on one of our off days. That same week he set a goal to run a 5K. He had embraced the change in behavior. I was no longer pulling him along. His own goals and the measurable progress were now providing the motivation.

With eight weeks to go he is down to 182 lbs., having lost 16 of the 23 lbs. we targeted. He could barely run for 20 minutes when we first started, but can now run a full 5K in 30 minutes and is working to improve his time. 12 pushups in a row are now 40. He has doubled the amount of weight he is able to lift and fits into clothing sizes that he has not fit into since college. We’ve recently incorporated swimming into our routine and he is already thinking a triathlon may be a worthy goal for 2013.

Like your body, there is no shortcut to getting your company back into shape. It requires an investment in time and resources and an absolute dedication to follow through. The rewards however can be amazing. Your leaner, stronger company will be better able to compete and adapt effectively in an increasingly demanding, competitive, and ever changing world market. So, get back into the gym!

February 2014 UPDATE: Change means introducing new behavior.  The longer it is practiced the less it becomes 'new' and the more it becomes the norm.  But this requires a certain level of forced discipline over time.  My friend did not engage in this new behavior long enough to make it a habit - the new norm.  First his visits to the gym dropped off.  Then less running.  And yes, he was loaded with excuses for why.  Then the old eating habits returned.  At first these were exceptions, then the violations became
more forgivable.  Then no forgiveness was necessary.  The weight came back. The strength faded.  All progress was lost.

Change is hard for an individual.  It is even harder for a business because of the multitude of individuals (employees) who have to become both believers and practitioners of the new way. As the CEO, you set the tone. Are you sticking to the plan? Are your employees? What are the repercussions for failing to hit goals and milestone? As you can see here, it is easy to revert to the old way.

Need a personal trainer to get your metro Atlanta business back in shape.  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 turnaround businesses wrestling with stagnant growth. He grew his very first client’s business from $8M to $35M in just two years. Mike is also a prolific speaker, writer, three-time marathoner, a former military officer and pilot of both aircraft and helicopters. www.allegroconsultant.com

Before you consider Going Global, Go Louisiana and Go Texas

Going global can be a very smart and lucrative part of any growth strategy. But dealing with foreign trade laws, logistics, business practices (formal and informal), languages, and time zones can introduce substantial risks to your business model. It is because of these risks I advise my Georgia-based clients, “Before you go global, prove you can go Louisiana and Texas.” 

Why do I suggest this course of action?  By setting up the processes and procedure necessary to be successful in another state you mitigate several of the inherent risks of going global.

Delivering a product or service locally should be quite familiar to you.  If you are a successful company then you likely know your target customers well, you know the competitors you face, and how to get product to their door or how to deliver the specialty services you are known for.  All of this is familiar territory.  Now what would you do if I challenged you to be equally successful in a state a time zone away.  How would you pick the state, how would you sell your product or service there (direct or through distributors), how would you specifically deliver the product or service? How would you support those sales from Georgia?  How profitable would you be doing this?

Now what if I were to challenge you to do this yet again in a state say two time zones away?  What I hope you will do is develop documented processes for analyzing new markets.  This can be done on your own or by engaging a service provider.  And with each new state you will apply lessons learned and fine tune these “export” processes.  The same holds true for processes governing customer support, logistics (delivery of the product or service), employment, quality control and accounting procedures (state taxes).

By going Louisiana and then, say, Texas before going global you will have put in place and exercised many of the same processes and skills necessary to be successful abroad.  These include:

• new market analysis
• competitive analysis
• logistics
• new territory marketing
• new territory sales
• learning and adapting to new tax laws
• learning and adapting to local business laws
• learning and adapting to new accounting procedures (taxes)
• providing customer support after local business hours

The good news is you will be mastering these new skills in an environment where the language is the same, the business culture is quite common, the sales techniques similar, and the overarching governing business and tax laws something you are familiar with.

If, after you succeeded in doing business in Louisiana and Texas, you still feel going global is right for your business, you will only need to master a fairly small number of processes still unfamiliar to your business. Some of these include:

• doing business in a foreign language
• Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
• currency exchange
• foreign and U.S. trade laws

Don’t get me wrong these can be quite intimidating challenges to overcome and will require expert assistance.  But by now your company will have already proven to themselves it can adapt and succeed in new environments. This is just one more evolution. 

So remember my phrase, “Before you go global, prove you can go Louisiana and Texas.”  Your success will be that much more assured.

Mike Gomez is the founder of Allegro Consulting, an Atlanta-based business growth specialty firm.  He has served as a program manager and business development executive in both Fortune 100 companies as well as small businesses. He has conducted business in over 20 countries. Mike is a guest lecturer at GaTech on international business and at UGA on business planning and sales strategy. He can be reached by phone at 678-908-8433 or by e-mail at m.gomez@allegroconsultant.com. Visit http://allegroconsultant.com