Whenever you have a presentation of a project, your business or services, some basic aspects have to be carefully considered.

A common error is to have a sequence of slides that is applied to any situation or audience, and is presented mechanically without a direct connection to your primary objective.

Here are some tips for your next presentation:

1. Your objective must be crystal clear in your mind. Ask yourself exactly what you plan to achieve as a result of the presentation, and how you will reach that goal. For example “to get the prospect to know my company” is not a good objective, since it’s too broad and does not have practical results. A better objective would be “to get the approval from top management to invest resources in the project”.

2. Quality is more important than quantity. The quality of information and the presentation itself will be a sign of trustworthiness and professionalism. Don’t forget to take care of the visual aspect of the presentation, choosing colors, layout and fonts very carefully.

3. Make sure that you are solving a problem for your audience. Your project or service may be the best, but it won’t sell if it does not solve a need of whoever is watching the presentation.

4. Any presentation must be done from the point of view of the client (internal or external). Focus on what the client needs, how he can improve his business, etc. Avoid talking too much about yourself, because that’s not what the client wants to hear.

5. Don’t let the presentation turn into a monologue. Get the client’s feedback (verbal or non-verbal) during the presentation and make adjustments as necessary. Even if you are totally prepared for the presentation, be ready to change course according to the client’s attitude.

6. Don’t add too much information to a slide. Each page of the presentation must transmit only one message, which must be clear and concise. If you fill the slide up excessively, you will not only make the presentation hard to follow, but will also hide the main issues in between less important information.

7. Make sure your presentation has structure. Your presentation must tell a story. Each information shown must be an additional step that leads naturally to the main objective. It’s very useful to create a graph showing the flow of information, since this will give you clarity about the path that you are using to lead your audience to the desired conclusion.

8. Work on your conclusion. Don’t forget to communicate, at the end of the presentation and in less than one minute, the main idea that you want to be remembered. Maybe your flow of information was not that clear to everyone, and this is the opportunity to get everyone on the same page as you.

9. Avoid surprises. If your presentation means a big change to the client or has a high risk level, do your homework before the presentation. Talk to others who can help you understand if what you are proposing could be rejected immediately.

10. Be ready for questions. A good presentation can be destroyed if the client notices that you don’t really have a strong understanding of whatever you are talking about.

Since I have a business portal (in Portuguese) and a few blogs, I regularly receive requests to help out in researches, career tips and even college homework. I believe this is natural and always try to help whenever I can. Nevertheless, it’s incredible that a considerable portion of people who ask for something are totally clueless regarding the correct behavior in these situations.

Want to be ignored? Just follow these simple tips:

1) Don’t explain who you are or why you want the information.

Many messages begin with a “Hello”, then go straight to the question and end with “Thanks, XXXX”. The author doesn’t mention anything about himself, what he does for a living, why this information is important or what he already found regarding the issue.

Why, then, should I spend my time to answer him? I don’t anything in exchange, but I think I have the right to know who I’m talking to and the type of help I’m offering.

2) Forget all basic cordiality rules

Those that, besides not identifying themselves properly, do not have a minimal dose of cordiality (Hello, thank you, could you please help me, etc.) won’t get much of my attention.

I don’t mean that e-mails should be full of formality and unnecessary chit-chat, but at least show that you respect the time I will dedicate to answer you and that you are grateful for any help received.

3) Show that you are really lazy and want others to do your work for you

Some (mostly college students) seem to have homework to deliver and prefer to ask others for the answers instead of doing their own research. In some extreme cases, they just copy the exact text from their exercise or quiz and ask for the answers.

For example, once I received an e-mail with the following: “Explain 5 characteristics of leadership, with practical examples for their application”. No further explication, just the question! Straight to the recycle bin…

4) Ask for free consulting services

This happened recently, and was what inspired me to write this article. A person sent me an e-mail asking for information regarding supply activities. He explained what his job was and was very polite. The problem is that his “small doubt” started with 8 questions, then asked me to create 4 checklists, followed by 2 definitions, and closed with a question that represented a few hours of consulting just by itself.

One thing is to ask for a tip or basic direction, another is to believe that there is someone on the other side of the line waiting for questions so that he can spend some hours preparing the answers. This shows a considerable lack of respect for my professional activity (and total lack of good sense).

The internet is an excellent channel to develop your networking and seek knowledge. What many do not understand is that most of the social rules of the offline work are still valid online.

An incredibly important trait for any manager or entrepreneur is positive attitude. Optimistic people influence others and have more energy to reach their goals. I’m talking about “down to Earth” optimism, from people who know the problems they face but believe that they can overcome with a lot of effort and dedication. This is very different from blind optimism, which ignores the reality and can lead to fatal decisions for the company or the career.

Optimism leads to benefits in all directions:

• With Employees: creates inspiration and energy that increases productivity
• With Customers: if people like you and you attitude, you increase your sales opportunities. Always smile to your customers.
• In Tough Times: does not allow negative emotions get in the way from taking the necessary actions to solve the problem.
• With Yourself: puts you in a mental state that is adequate for success.

Consider this when hiring your team. In the initial stages of a business, there are difficulties that will be blown out of proportion by people with negative attitude. Look for those who share your vision and believe that success is within grasp. You should be surrounded by positive people, so that it can become part of your company’s culture.

When the going gets tough, do not show excessive worry or pessimism. This will only infect your team and will not help you reach your goals. Explain the problem clearly to everyone, define what has to be solved and find the best solution together.

You should make a sincere evaluation of your attitude. You could be transmitting a negative image without noticing. Changing your attitude is not simple. It takes time and requires dedication, but it can be done. Make optimism part of your daily activities, with small steps. Think of it every time you communicate with an employee, colleague or customer.

The first step? Change your thoughts from “I don’t want negative things” to “I want positive things”.

Today I was invited by Jim Strout from Managing Leadership to participate in the “My Business Life Lessons” tag that was started by Dave Prouhet from Business Advice Daily. It’s a great idea to get this blog back on track, since I’ve been absent for the last few weeks…

Here’s my list of lessons that I have learned in my engineer/manager/consultant career.

1) Don’t expect great results with mediocre planning. Get yourself organized and plan your activities and desired results. Shooting randomly is the quickest way to run out of bullets.

2) Don’t overplan! Some people pick on the minimal details, when they should start taking action.

3) Establish trustworthy partnerships. You should have a group of people with whom you share mutual trust. This includes coworkers, business partners and employees. When something goes wrong, they will be the ones that will take a step forward.

4) Being an entrepreneur is very hard, but a lot of fun! If you love what you do and have energy, you can’t go wrong. In the worst case, you’ll get a lot of experience for your next try.

5) “It won’t work because nobody does it that way!” is one of the most stupid remarks you can hear. That should actually be the reason for doing “it”.

6) Ignore people who criticize your initiatives but never had the guts to have their own. The criticism you should listen to is constructive criticism from those who have already walked that path.

7) Work hard. You can rely on relationships or get lucky on a business opportunity, but in any case your chances will be much better if you work REALLY hard.

8) Listen more than you speak. Positive input equals learning.

9) Never stop studying. Formally or not. Read at least 1 book per month, absorb experience from others and get back to the classroom. Your success should come from a mix of theory, practice and feedback.

10) Take calculated risks. If you always choose the safest path, chances are you won’t get very far from where you are. Just make sure that you compared your available options and the risks you take are aligned with your professional (or entrepreneurial) goals.

The entrepreneur’s personality is one of the decisive factors in the results of a new business. Generally speaking, it is important to have confidence in your skills and have passion for the business. Nevertheless, there are traps that can turn confidence into something negative for the entrepreneurial activity.

The same happens with faith in the business. Even if you have confidence in your skills and your knowledge, you must believe that what you are doing can go well, and that it´s possible to reach your goals with that idea. Again, faith also should be “managed”, so that it doesn’t blind you.

When you are evaluating your beliefs regarding yourself as an entrepreneur, check if you are not being affected by one of these problems:

CONFIDENCE

• Excessive Confidence: if you have blind confidence on your capacity of making the business successful, you could be jumping important steps in your preparation. Check if your confidence is based on a detailed analysis of the business you’re getting in.
• Lack of Confidence: whoever does not believe in himself will be limited. Set goals that you can overcome, one by one. This way you will begin to believe in your skills and knowledge.
• Fake Confidence: you can be very knowledgeable and experienced, but maybe what you know is not fully applicable to your new business. You also shouldn’t believe that good results in the past are an indication of future success.

FAITH:

• Excessive Faith: it has the same effect as excessive confidence. Do not believe blindly that everything will go alright if you do not see a path and have a plan that leads you where you want to go.
• Lack of Faith: there will always be obstacles on your way. This is a fact in any business. Your effort and dedication are the key factor for overcoming difficulties and you shouldn’t see any problem as impossible to surpass.

These attitude traps are so decisive that can lead to the success or death of a business. Most of the decisions will be made according to the leader’s beliefs and assumptions. Even if he is straightforward and looks for data to make his decision, the psychological factor will always be present.

One way to evaluate if you have to make adjustments to your attitude is asking for opinions from others. Just make sure that you are asking the right people. The input that counts is the one from other entrepreneurs that have more experience and have already lived through the perils of starting a new business. Avoid listening to anyone that criticizes your ideas when they never had an entrepreneurial initiative in their lives.

You should look for the right amount of confidence and faith, since they will be an important mental base so that you can properly execute your business plan. Just remember that a little fear is always good to keep your feet on the ground.

One of the most present activities on anyone’s professional life is communicating. This is not new, but there are still many that seem to worry exclusively about technical and other management skills in their careesr, and forget the importance of communicating correctly.

In communicating, choosing the correct medium is crucial. You can communicate verbally or non-verbally, and in a formal or informal way. Each medium fits in two of these categories. It is important to properly define which one to use in each daily situation.

Our constant lack of time can lead us to work in an “automatic setting”, in which we communicate in a bureaucratic and impersonal way, believing that we are being productive. Of course, productivity is important, but one should not forget that there are other objectives in communication.

Verbal and informal communication is also a tool to integrate with other people and break professional relationship barriers. Besides, with this type of communication you have the opportunity of obtaining additional information that would normally not be disclosed in a formal and written medium. You can also notice the others´ tone of voice to determine their real feelings towards the issue, and gain time (productivity!) by following up on the issue immediately if possible. And most important of all: you can guarantee that the other person understood and accepted the information.

My opinion is that informal verbal communication should have a priority over formal communication whenever possible. “Whenever possible” means that you cannot forget company policies and common practices, and many times formal communication is important even if not mandatory. Just think that if you are too formal in every communication, you are creating a distance between yourself and your audience.

Remember that written formality is always necessary for every situation that involves definitions, important changes or company records.

These are some examples of a wrong choice of medium while communicating:

• Sending e-mails to colleagues with non-critical issues when you are in the same building and you could easily go to their office for a chat.
• Setting up a meeting with many people verbally, and not sending an e-mail as a confirmation and reminder.
• Getting a verbal commitment for a colleague to help you in something that is not his obligation, and then sending him an e-mail about this help, with copy to your bosses. This transforms the help in a compromise, and will indicate failure if your colleague eventually cannot help.

It is not hard to write many examples, but I don’t believe that it is necessary. You surely see many mistakes in communication medium selection in your daily work. If you evaluate your own form of communication by understanding your real needs and the needs of those with whom you are exchanging information, you can find opportunities for improvement.

If you are planning to start a new business or expand your activities, preparing a business plan is an obligation, not an option.

This position seems somewhat radical, but maybe you’ll agree with me if you see the business plan not as a formal document to convince investors, but as a roadmap for growth.

In fact, a formal and complete plan should only be done when you are seeking investors for your business. In this situation, the plan should be structured and detailed, and in some cases you should even hire a consultant to help you in its development.

Nevertheless, not every business plan must have all the parts that the “guides” say. If you face the plan as your database of ideas and strategies for your actions, the form will not be as important as the content.

The main importance of the plan is to define which steps you have to take to reach business success. From the moment you define what success really means to you, and document the strategy to get there, you set a baseline for two important issues:

1. Not getting yourself too involved with daily activities and keeping the plan in focus.
2. Comparing the real performance to what was planned and taking corrective actions to get back on the right track.

The plan doesn’t have to be 100% ready before starting your activities. You can begin with something very basic, which gives a general view of the business. From this basic document, new ideas will be developed and added as the work advances.

This progressive elaboration is the best track for those who still have doubts or do not feel comfortable with business plans. Preparing the document little by little will give you the flexibility and mental tranquility you need to start your project.

What’s interesting is that when you document your plan, you automatically find blanks in your ideas, which must be filled. For example you may have an idea in your head of how to reach your target audience, but when you create a simple marketing plan you may notice that you hadn’t thought of many obstacles and the plan must be adapted. Ideas normally have to be worked on and improved. Understand that your first vision will not always be implemented without changes.

In summary, don’t feel intimidated by the “work” of preparing a business plan. Take gradual steps, and know that it is a tool that will increase your probability of success.

A few days ago I was having a chat with a friend (who is a consultant) about the “occasional” consultants that are invading the market. I gave the subject some thought and decided to write a few lines about it…

What makes a person start a consultancy practice? I believe that the main paths are:

• A desire to develop your own business and make good use of your knowledge and experience.
• Employees who leave a company and are hired again as consultants (and take advantage of the situation to get some extra clients).
• People who lost their job and need an income source to pay their bills.

This last type of consultant can be a risk for serious consultancy practices. I’m not implying that people who lose their jobs cannot enter the consulting business. In fact, if they have a special knowledge that they can offer, my opinion is that they really should develop their own business.

The problem is when, because of desperation or lack of knowledge, they begin to “sell” themselves without previous planning.

This situation can be seen in many discussion lists and forums: people that identify themselves as consultants, but seem to be lost in the subjects that are supposed to be their specialty.

Being a consultant is much more that helping others with tips and suggestions. It means doing for your clients what they cannot do by themselves, with quality and excellence. For those who are beginning, I suggest the following ideas:

• Participate in online and offline communities: use these spaces to discuss subjects of your knowledge, so that people begin to see you as and expert in that field. Be careful with everything you say, and don’t try to make direct sales through these channels. Your value should be seen naturally.
• Create a brand: it can be based on your name, but should be done by a professional. The first thing your client normally sees is your brand, and a good first impression is important.
• Create your website: a good website can be made with a low investment. Again, it should be done by a professional. Avoid the temptation of doing it by yourself, since the result could be inadequate and reflect the quality of your work negatively. Go for something simple, but well done.
• Prepare your methodology: before talking to any client, you must have your work methodology ready, including processes, forms, presentations and reports. Read all your material repeatedly so that you can discuss it with your clients with ease.
• Select your clients carefully: you will probably feel nervous or insecure with your first clients. Try to begin with simple projects, in which you can gain experience and confidence as a consultant.
• Focus on results: if you cannot show clear and objective results at the end of your consulting project, your chances of being called again are slim.
• Invest heavily on quality: everything you do should be very well done. It’s better to do less, but with great quality, than shooting everywhere with mediocre work. Show your clients that your services have a differential and they will feel confident to work with you again in the future.

If you consultancy business is suddenly interrupted by an interesting job offer, there’s nothing wrong with taking that offer… as long as you do not abandon any of your customers and partners. A wrong attitude in a moment like this is not only unethical, but will shut the doors if you ever plan to go back to consulting.

Imagine this scenario: you have recently started your own business and already have some clients. Even though they still do not generate your dream income, they are loyal to you and the relationship with them is running smoothly. Growth is not very fast, but it is constant and the future perspectives are very good. Suddenly, a large company knocks at your door, and wants to place an order that is larger than all your current customers normally order… together. This is an opportunity to take a long leap towards your mid and long-term goals.
You are not 100% sure that the order can be delivered in time, but think that it is possible.

What do you do? Accept immediately? Ask for some time to evaluate the order? Negotiate a smaller quantity? Reject the order?

I don’t pretend to be arrogant and tell you what to do. These situations are complex and only the business leader can make this kind of decision. Nevertheless, I can tell you that the first and last options are normally the worst.

When you make this kind of decision, the following risks must be evaluated:

1. If the order is accepted and not delivered properly, you will burn your business with this large client (and with other potential clients that may be influenced by this one).
2. If you use all of your resources to deliver this order, your smaller (but loyal) clients, who where the basis of your growth, will be left aside.
3. If you expand your resources (investment) to fulfill this client’s needs without any side effects on your current clients, this company will represent an unreasonably large percentage of your income.

This last issue deserves some extra thoughts. Many people do not see problems in have a client in this situation (representing most of your income). But what will happen if for some reason this client is lost? Your company would have a lot of excess capacity which would lead to a complicated process of shrinkage and financial loss. Don’t forget another important danger: the moment this customer finds out that your business depends on him, he will use this fact as a negotiation tool to pressure for price reductions and less favorable sales conditions.

Asking for some time to evaluate the order doesn’t show your weaknesses. It’s a demonstration of seriousness and honesty. If the client doesn’t see it this way, it’s a sign that he will not be understanding with any delays or problems that you have in the future.

Let me make it clear again: I’m not saying that this kind of client must be turned back. I mean that the business leader must evaluate the resources that will have to be added and the risks that may hit the company if this client is lost in the future. Whatever the decision is, other clients cannot be affected, since this will only increase your dependency.

Having equilibrium in your client base is an important factor for sustainable growth.

Mark Stevens at Unconventional Thinking gave us some wise thoughts on the lack of mystery in marketing nowadays. He mentions the song “Hey Jude”, by the Beatles, and how there was a lot of mystery around who the lyrics were about. This mystery helped to feed the fans´ curiosity and stimulated the song’s success even further (of course, it was also a great piece of music).

Where can we see mystery in marketing? Sincerely, it’s not that easy to find good examples. Mark mentions a post from Brand Autopsy about an innovation on one of Reef’s sandals, which has a bottle opener on the bottom. The detail is that Reef did not use this innovation on its marketing materials, and that led to the customer’s interest and intrigue.

Why is it getting harder to use or see mystery in marketing actions? My guess is because we’re in the information era. Knowledge is everywhere and easily accessible. Anything that begins to have some kind of success instantly spreads through the media and the internet, and millions of people begin generating information about it. Never before so much was known about products under development, and when they’re launched, we instantly find detailed information about everything the products can (or can’t) do.

Nevertheless, mystery can be a differential in a marketing strategy. The human being is curious by nature, and if you awake in him an authentic need of discovering more about your product or service, you will have a lot more buzz without heavy ad investments.

To make a comparison with “Hey Jude”, there was a recent case in Brazil (where I live) that shows how things have changed. A song by a Caetano Veloso, a Brazilian artist, called “O Sonho” (“The Dream”) praised a nameless woman. A Brazilian actress thought the song was about her, and mentioned this on the media and in her blog (in her own words… “I was eternized”). A few days later, Caetano said that she wasn’t his inspirational muse. The excessive information generated around this case turned the mystery into a joke, since the media in general preferred talking about her embarrassing situation than about who the muse really was.

This doesn’t mean mystery disappeared from marketing. It is just a bigger challenge for marketing professionals, since a badly told story badly can turn against the product it is promoting.

A friend of mine got to a leadership position a few months ago, but he was telling me that he didn’t feel comfortable yet as a leader, and he wasn’t sure if his leadership was on the right track. After discussing the situation with him for a few minutes, it seemed clear where the problem was: his leadership style was not coherent with his personal style.

He told me that he tried to be very serious most of the time, and strict with the employees, because he wanted to portray an image of respect. The problem is that his personal style was very different. He was a friendly and accessible person, and that aspect of him eventually showed up in meetings, conversations or informal situations.

Based on this situation, there are some important ideas on leadership that must be considered:

- You must lead with your own personality: your leadership will be much better if you act naturally. Use your personality’s strengths to establish a leadership style, and work on you weaknesses to improve gradually.

- There is no “right” kind of leadership: a good leader doesn’t have to be funny, serious, friendly or anything else. The important characteristics are that you treat people with respect give good directions to your team. There are good leaders with every style, so understand that you can also have your own.

- Your team must be sure of who you are: showing different personalities in different situations will only confuse them and make it harder for them to know where you’re leading them to. A consistent personality will help build trust.

- You must feel comfortable with the impression you leave behind: even if you have good results as a leader, it is important that you feel good about your image with your team, peers and the market.

Every leader should have a trustworthy group of people that will give him sincere feedback. This group can be composed of colleagues, employees, friends of family. It is very easy for a growing leader to be absorbed by his own success and close himself to external opinion, and this is a dangerous situation. A leader that has the same capacity of teaching as of learning will have the most success.

Few people outside Brazil know about this, but the City of São Paulo prohibited any type of outdoor ads throughout the city. After reading Danny´s post on Beyond Madison Avenue I decided to prepare my own ideas relating this case to management issues, so I finally had a chance to go to São Paulo and get some shots (could only use a few because it rained the whole day).

The mayor´s decision on this issue was initially praised by most people, who complained that visual pollution was too strong in São Paulo, and believed that the city would look nicer without the ads.

I could see two situations in São Paulo last weekend:

1. Ads that are still there because the advertising companies managed to get a court decision allowing them to keep the ads.

2. Skeletons of towers that held the ads, which are uglier that the ads themselves.

Check out these pictures to see the result:

Where did the city´s management make the mistake, in my opinion?

- Not Enough Planning: Instead of planning all the actions and the desired outcomes, it seems to me that the city went for a popular solution, but did not plan all of the steps carefully in order to implement it. In the first days of the application of the law, I heard the city had people removing the ads, at a rate of 30-40 per day (while SP has thousands of outdoor ads).

- Unrealistic Goals: They envisioned a city with no ads, which would be substituted by beautiful trees… but that was not realistic. Instead, they have worsened the situation. Actually, many of the ads are very nice and hide ugly parts of the city. Why not try a “lighter” solution, for example by removing all irregular ads? (I know why, because it does not have the same popular impact on the voters).

- Lack of Risk Management: Didn´t they predict that the ads companies would to go court in order to preserve their business? Were preventive actions taken? Did anyone predict that those towers would make the city uglier?

We see this in companies as well. Managers that want to implement shiny programs that look good on paper but are not planned or executed well, and end up in failure (or even worse, are abandoned and never formally closed).

At least we can try to learn lessons from others´ mistakes.

Most small businesses still do not engage in large scale improvement programs (for example, Six Sigma), normally because they do not think that such tools are needed for their smaller operations, or because they believe costs are prohibitive, and those initiatives should be left for larger corporations.

I have some different thoughts on this, and the Small Business, Big Gains article in the Six Sigma Blog was my incentive to write a few lines on this issue.

The fact is that improvement programs are very important for smaller businesses, because they can create a strategic difference and prepare themselves for organized growth. The fact that the organization is small should even be a plus when deciding about improvement programs, since deployment is usually simpler and faster.

You don’t need to deploy a company-wide program initially. Training costs may be too high, and the culture may not be adequate at that moment. Instead, begin using the improvement tools in specific situations, in order to get employee involvement. Ask their opinion about the initiative and establish a measurement and improvement culture step by step.

After this initial phase (getting to know the tools), expand the program to small projects that can give an evident improvement. Make it small, but make it well. This small success will be the driver for larger projects that will truly make the difference in the company.

Although the impact won’t be as strong as in a large-scale program, it will certainly be a safer and steady way. This process also allows a gradual investment in training, which may be more suitable to your possibilities.

In any case, leadership commitment to the program (large or small) is essential to its success. Be careful in your initiatives to make them sincere and efficient, or else you company could end up like this.

One of the most difficult tasks for people nowadays is time management. There’s always too much to do, and the feeling that time is not enough haunts us constantly. Although I do not have a complete and magical time management toolkit that will transform your life, I can give some tips and ideas that I have adopted and produced considerable benefits in my daily mess:

Begin listening to podcasts. They are perfect for turning wasted moments into productive ones. You can learn something during your daily commute, while jogging at the gym or during those boring flights.

Have something to read at hand. I always have at least a business magazine near me at home, in the office or in the car. You never know when you’ll be stuck waiting for someone or something, and you can use those 5 minutes to read a very interesting article.

Need to concentrate? Turn off all distractions. If I have to write a long email or an important report, the first thing I do is to disconnect the network cable from the computer, shut the door and sometimes even turn off my cell phone. No one is going to die because you disappeared for 20-30 minutes and your work will be done quicker and better.

Have somewhere to jot down notes. Get those thoughts off your mind and you’ll feel much better. I normally use my cell phone’s voice recorder to quickly capture any important ideas or things to remember.

Adapt your activities to your energy levels. Some people have more energy in the morning, others at night. Save the bureaucratic work for the moment your energy is at its lowest, since you don’t have to think that much, and take advantage of your high energy for more important, challenging work.

Don’t start it unless you plan to finish it. Your mind takes some time to adjust to a new activity. Therefore, spend that setup time only once by finishing anything you begin.

Don’t waste too much time on something you’re stuck. This is the exception to the rule above. If you cannot find a solution for a problem, go do something else and get back to this problem later with fresh thoughts.

Get some rest. If you only rest when you feel exhausted, it means that part of your work was done near exhaustion, and your productivity was not at its best.

Nevertheless, the sales activity should be considered in a broader view, not restricted to that moment in which you or your salesperson are face to face with the customer trying to convince him to spend his money on your product or service.

Every interaction with the customer is a sales opportunity. I’m not talking only about the direct sale of your product, but also the sale of other tangibles and non-tangibles that have a direct relationship with the success of your business:

• Your Brand: the customer must always be stimulated to associate your brand to something positive (which must be defined in your branding strategy)
• Your Integrity: customers prefer ethical companies. If you demonstrate that in every contact with him, you will create a favorable perception of your business.
• Your Product or Service: your customer should be turned into your word-of-mouth marketer. If you deeply satisfy a customer, be sure that he will be eager to tell other potential buyers.

Nowadays, organizations of every size can surprise their customers with simple but efficient actions, which show a true interest in satisfying his needs the best possible way. Many large companies are optimizing their processes to create a differentiated customer service, but we still hear more complaints than compliments.

Besides, large companies have a long reaction time. This is where a small company can make a difference: quickly creating customer service excellence and gaining considerable market share before seeing any reaction from the larger players.

Let’s take a computer sales and repair shop as an example. Traditionally, you leave your computer for repair, receive a quotation in 1-2 days and pick it up a few days later. Even if the repair was done well and on schedule, this is not enough to really surprise the customer. The shop could:

• Give immediate quotations, by reorganizing the technicians’ activities
• Call the customer in between the delivery date, confirming the date and the repair status
• Give technical information to the customer (adapted to his knowledge level) to prevent problems in the future
• Call the customer one week after the repair to make sure the computer is working well (and have a warranty plan ready)
• Add the customer to its weekly newsletter with computer tips (without trying to sell anything on the newsletter)
• Give low cost or free tutorials for groups of customers
• Create a repair at home service

Looks simple, right? But how many small companies do you know that really make a difference on customer service? If you remember a few, aren’t they recorded on your mind exactly because of the special attention that their customers receive?

In this example, the objective of this kind of customer service is to make sure that the first option he will think of when a computer problem shows up is this shop. I used an example of a type of business everyone knows, but this idea applies to any business on any field. The business owner must know the customers’ needs better than anyone and find original and remarkable ways to overwhelm him.

The technology available today permits control of your processes and customer information without large investments. This control is essential to make sure that the planned innovation is executed properly. Sometimes even an Excel spreadsheet could be enough, but more sophisticated tools are available for businesses of all sizes.

Remember, don’t think only about the very moment of the sale, or it may be your only one. Evaluate how contact is made with the customer in every moment before and after the sale… and most important, you must be able to answer this question clearly: What are you doing to surprise your customer?

Do you want some top-notch consulting for free? It’s simple: listen to your customers’ complaints. Of course it would be better if complaints were not necessary at all, but if something is bothering him, the best thing that can happen to your business is when the customer lets out all of his thoughts.

The companies that are customer focused know how to act on the good and bad moments. Besides creating a differentiated internal culture, these companies know how to use these opportunities to transform a negative situation into an improvement for its business and increase customer satisfaction.

If you pretend to do something regarding your customers’ complaints, consider the following thoughts:

Measure every communication channel. Determine every possible way that your company communicates with the customer. In all of them there must be a process to register their complaints or unmet needs. This data must lead to statistics and information that will be the basis for corrective and preventive actions.

The data capture and analysis system will be as complex as your organization. For some companies, a simple Excel spreadsheet could be enough, while others will need complete CRM systems integrated with internet forms, analytics, databases, etc. If your system is too simple, you won’t be able to handle the information, if it is too complex, a lot of unnecessary energy will be wasted managing it.

Create a continuous improvement culture in your company. If you terrorize your employees every time a customer complaint arrives, they will probably hide the problems in the future. Instead, try to make them conscious that these complaints are important for the company’s benefit as well as theirs.

If you got to the point where you have to scream with an employee, he probably shouldn’t be there anymore. Create a teamwork culture, which is proactive and focused on results and benefits. It’s much better to set a bonus for an increase in customer satisfaction than threatening to fire them if the goal is not reached.

Train your staff. Your team must be adequately trained in customer relations. It’s very easy to deal with a satisfied customer. The problem is when stressing situations occur, and if the employee does not react the correct way, he will only be making things worse.

Each employee that has contact with the customer must know how to keep calm and show a real intention of solving the problem. In this moment, the customer wants action, and your team must have some level of authority over decision making.

Turn the situation around. Besides using the complaints to correct errors in your company, it’s the perfect moment to strongly increase customer loyalty. Remember that that if the customer complained, it’s because a need was not satisfied. If you react by satisfying that need and offering something extra that he does not expect, he will immediately change his opinion.

The customer knows that errors occur. The problem is when the company shows indifference or takes too long to react. Think about yourself as a customer: how many companies really surprised you positively after you made a complaint? Probably very few, or none, and if you remember it’s surely a company you now admire. You can take this opportunity to create a strong difference between you and your competitors and gain double customer satisfaction.

By the way, when I am extremely mad at a company, I choose not to complain… they’ll probably make the same mistake with other customers and lose business.

We can simplify the leadership equation by giving it two simple characteristics: quantity and quality.

Quantity

Although there’s no such thing like “a lot of leadership”, let’s think about what it means. A leader is someone who influences others to do something or act in a way that he/she desires, without using means like threat and abuse of power. So, you can measure how much leadership there is in someone by understanding the influence that he/she has over other people. This cannot be turned into a number, but if you use influence as the parameter, you can at least compare how much leadership difference there is between people.

Quality

The quality of leadership will be different in each case. It is measured by determining if the leader is leading in the desired direction. A company may want leaders that bring the team together, while one of the employees is leading everyone towards a “winner takes all” attitude. Therefore, a quality leader is one that can influence other people towards the company’s vision.

How can you use this?

Trying to “measure” leadership can help in employee evaluations and performance appraisals. A lot of discussion can be avoided if an objective characteristic is given to leadership. The organization has to decide what type of leadership it desires, and identify who is showing it, and how strong it is.

Bad quality leadership has to be mitigated or even eliminated from the organization as soon as possible, especially if it is growing in quantity. Good quality leadership must be stimulated, awarded and developed, to make it grow in quantity.

Information is almost a commodity nowadays. Everything you want to learn can be found in the internet, in your local bookstore or in the hundreds of course options available out there. Those who, like me, like to read a lot about management in general, have surely noticed that the information from the different sources are very different, and sometimes contradictory. What one person says can sometimes be what the other condemns.

So which information is correct? Well, the answer is not simple… different points of view probably have their application under the right circumstances. In fact, this is what makes the current state of information so rich: there is a lot of space for different ideas, discussion, and positive conflict, which generates innovation.

And what information should you use? That isn’t simple either. You have to evaluate your reality and decide what applies and how to execute it. Many mistakes will be made, but understand that errors are natural and part of the process. There will be a lot of trial and error, but if your learning process involves carefully identifying lessons learned from all good and bad cases, be sure that you are heading the right direction.

If everything was just as easy as following a “10 tips” guide, we’d all be extremely successful in business.

I have seen it myself. When I started reading more about business and management, everything seemed to be clear and sometimes obvious. But a few months later, when I reviewed the information, I noticed that most of it hadn’t made much difference in my daily activities, and even worse, I hadn’t tested the conflicting information to see which one applied to my reality.

I began a very simple learning process. I created a mind map with every new concept I learned. For each concept, the following information is included: conflicting ideas (if any), opportunities for use, situations where I used the concept and lessons learned. I read this map daily to make sure that I am constantly applying what I learned to my activities.

Should you use the same method? If you read the rest of the article you know the answer is: depends. This is an idea, but you should develop a learning process that works well with your mind and personality.

Remember, you can absorb all the information, but turn on your filters, and adapt the information to your scenarios.

We love talking about exceptional leaders and their teams working efficiently together towards the greatness of the company. Yes, that’s a situation that every organization wants, and should do its best to get as close as possible to it. Nevertheless, the reality is not that pretty. What we see is a lot of conflict in companies, especially between bosses and employees.

Now, what will you do when you’re not satisfied with the company or your boss? It doesn’t matter who is right or wrong, the fact is that you can try to change things as long as you keep helping the company. The moment you begin acting against the organization, you immediately lose any reason you could have in the conflict.

In my career I have seen some cases in which, in adversity, the professional reacts against his own career and future in the company and this is what I call Professional Stupidity.

These are the main stupid mistakes I have seen:

1. Pretend you’re working: your boss may not notice immediately that the moment he turns his back, you switch back to the latest sport news in your computer. The problem is that your results will eventually show up, and even worse, your colleagues will not accept working harder because of you, and word will be out about how you’re acting. And it will get to your boss.

2. Forget that the organization has systems and security: what you do on your PC is probably being logged, and there are probably security cameras that recorded you forever in the cafeteria. Be sure that if you boss really wants to get you, he will use all of the company’s resources to do so.

3. Excessive trust on your colleagues: they may be your friends, but also have their own priorities. Don’t say all you want to say to your boss to your colleagues, because you never know when one of them will use that to their benefit (which is also wrong, but that’s another story).

4. Screw up when you leave the company: if you leave the company or are fired in friendly terms, watch you reaction. I once had to fire an employee for cost reduction (had nothing to do with his performance) and offered to help him with referrals and his job back if the situation got better. Unfortunately he chose to question this decision harshly and aggressively. That gave me a very negative final impression of him. Even if he didn’t plan to come back, the world is really small nowadays, and you never know when a got reference will be useful.

5. In general, believe your boss and the company won’t find out (about anything): trust me, they probably will.

So you don’t like things the way they are? OK, express your opinions, go talk to your boss, suggest changes, quit! But never turn yourself against the organization.

To make it clear: it’s not about being false and against your principles… it’s about being in the best possible situation as long as you’re in the company, and making sure that your networking doesn’t go down the drain.

I was reading Jim Kukral´s Keep it Simple in 2007 article in MarketingProfs, commenting on the new buzzword for 2007: Simplexity. I fully agree with Jim on the “Duh!”, and I began thinking how this relates to management.

Well, in fact, most of the successful tools, theories and ideas in management (in all of its aspects) are stripped from complex processes and requirements. If you have read GTD, The Goal, Execution, How to Win Friends & Influence People, and most of the other bestselling books out there, you will find that all of the concepts introduced are VERY SIMPLE.

But beware, simple is completely different from easy. If you fall into the trap of confusing simple with easy, you won’t succeed in implementing these concepts. Easy gives you the feeling that you don’t need to much effort to get it right. In fact, the ideas are very hard to implement, which doesn´t mean that it can´t be done, is just means that you have to work a lot.

And why are the concepts hard?

1. They require discipline, which not everyone has.
2. Change is needed, and change is hard by nature.

In “How to Win Friends…”, the author begins by giving us 9 suggestions to obtain the most use from the book. These suggestions can be used in everything that you study (in management or not):

1. You must have a real desire to learn.
2. Read each chapter twice.
3. Make regular pauses to think about ways to implement the ideas.
4. Take note of all important ideas.
5. Read the book again often.
6. Use the suggested ideas in all possible opportunities.
7. Turn your learning into a game by setting up rewards and punishment for using the concepts the right or wrong way.
8. Write down your progress regularly, noting the mistakes made, improvements achieved

So, you need discipline, and must be open to change. Simple, right?