Articles
How to shoot straight but miss the target
“We’d like to do business with you but you don’t have experience
in our industry.”
by John GrahamCompanies today face the same daunting problem that confounds so many job
seekers. It’s the high hurdle of transferable experience.
Whether it’s an individual attempting to get a job or a company trying
to break into a new market, both are faced with the identical difficulty of having
someone recognize the value of their knowledge and experience, even though these
qualities may not be directly related to a new field or industry.
Even when applicants offer skills, a proven track record and experience that
are an ideal match for a particular position, they’re passed over. Why?
The individual has worked in a different field.
Or consider how companies often use the Internet and other techniques for locating
consultants and other vendors. Frequently, the qualification guidelines are so
narrow and precise, few prospects even come close to meeting the requirements.
What’s the problem? Why not take a highly defined approach? Why not be
as exact as possible? Isn’t it better to screen respondents as precisely
as possible? Doesn’t such a selection process narrow the risk? Maybe––and
maybe not. Using a fine filter has the major downside of missing valuable applicants,
those with experience and skills that can benefit the company.
In the same way, automatically ruling out a consultant or vendor because of a
lack of direct experience in a particular industry may close the door to valuable
insights and solutions.
If the narrowly defined approach is the best approach, then IBM should have passed
on Lou Gerstner, instead of selecting him as chairman and CEO. And it’s
Dr. Gerstner who is credited with turning around IBM. His CEO experience was
with RJR Nabisco, a consumer products company and 11 years with American Express
and its largest subsidiary, American Express Travel Related Services.
Meg Whitman made an even more dramatic move, going from Hasbro, Stride Rite and
FTD to head eBay! Under her stewardship, eBay has, of course, become one of the
world’s highest valued companies.
What’s clear is that these companies were looking for certain qualities
to deal with what they understood to be key issues and it was those objectives
that drove the selection process, not specific industry experience.
Here’s the point: companies are better served selecting employees,
consultants or vendors on the basis of what needs to be accomplished rather than
specific industry experience. Many of those who are passed over or ruled
out may very well be the right fit.
So companies can broaden their perspective and take better advantage of their
opportunities for solving problems, here are guidelines for a more beneficial
selection process:
1. What do we need to accomplish (rather than who do we need to
get to do it)? This is a case when what looks like the wrong fit
turns out to be the right one. A large agricultural company liked a marketing
services firm’s thinking about the way manufacturers should relate
to and support their dealers. At an initial meeting, the issues discussed
focused on helping the more than 400 dealers enhance their businesses and
how the marketing firm had helped companies in other industries achieve
this objective.
At no point did the prospective client ask, “What other agricultural companies
have you worked for?” If that question had been raised, how would the marketing
firm have responded? The answer would have been
“no.”
Objectives driven selection opens the door to finding relevant solutions.
2. Who will be objective and challenge us (rather than trying to figure
out who will tell us what we want to hear)? “We know what we want,” stated
the company’s coordinator of special projects. “You’re welcome
to apply, but I want to make it clear that you must have experience in our field.
We’ve had trouble in the past. We have a way of doing things.”
The tone of his comments and just the way he spoke left the three members of
the vendor team with the clear feeling that the “new ideas welcome”
flag was not flying over that company.
While such an approach may get a company what it wants, chances are that it won’t
get what it needs.
3. Who will give us a fresh perspective (rather than just what’s
going on in our industry)? The manufacturer of quality women’s
jeanswear selected a consultant to help figure out how to increase the
company’s market share among independent women’s clothing stores.
Research revealed that many women don’t wear jeans or are displeased with
the ones they own because of poor fit. The consultant developed a program that
took advantage of the company’s support of breast cancer research. With
the “try the fit, help the cause” program, the company donated $1
each time a woman tried on a pair of its jeans. This reciprocation-type program
produced increased sales.
What’s interesting is that the consultant had no previous experience in
the apparel field. Often it’s the outside perspective that can see most
clearly what needs to happen inside a business.
4. Who won’t be afraid to pull us out of our ruts (rather
than just trying to make us feel good)? William Lamb is a CPA
with a talent for finding and recovering monies for companies. Companies
pay the same bill more than once, fail to collect discounts and rebates,
and even pay invoices long after a service stopped. His offer is compelling.
He looks for the money free of charge. And then splits recovered funds
with the company. In one case, he handed over a check for $150,000.
“What a great service,” you say. “There’s no downside.
It’s a winner!” Sure sounds like it, doesn’t it? Well, not
to business executives who seem threatened by the painful thought that someone
might hold them accountable for negligence. Even though Lamb’s professional
experience suggests that many companies are bleeding tens of thousands of dollars
of money every year, they refuse to close the wound.
5. Who will base their work on basic principles (rather than offering
what’s in vogue at the moment)? As incredible as it may
seem, discipline is missing from far too many companies. That’s right,
just plain, basic discipline.
The near total lack of discipline is painfully obvious in companies. This week
the president suggests this new sales idea and next week there’s another
one. It’s much like the little lock in Alice in Wonderland that is constantly
running from one place to another. When asked what he is doing, he says, “I’m
looking for a key to unlock me.”
Every new “how-to-increase-sales” system finds instant takers who
hope that will be the key to unlock a stream of new sales.
It’s following the principles that makes the difference. There’s
plenty of wreckage left over from the results of creative accounting. It’s
the same way in marketing. The common cry is, “We need sales.”
It’s heard every day in thousands of companies. And it’s dead
wrong. What’s needed is customers––those who want to
buy. Just because you and I want to sell something doesn’t mean someone
wants to buy it.
The principle is to create the customers who want what is sold. Once that happens,
the sale is easy. Unfortunately, most companies don’t follow the essential
principles.
6. Who will ask us the right questions (rather than handing us
cookie cutter answers)? The president of an insurance organization
met with an executive of a marketing firm. In short order, he asked, “Well,
what can you do for us?” The response was interesting: “If
you thought I was coming to this meeting ready to lay out the answers,
I’m sorry, we start by asking questions.”
While wanting answers may be normal, the pursuit of answers is the problem. For
example, get inside almost every company and what you find is an almost endless
series of failed initiatives. The place is littered with programs and activities
that stopped almost before they started and others that simply faded away because
of a lack of commitment and follow-through. But there is always more to take
their place.
This pervasive pattern is the direct result of basing decisions on what is presumed
to be true, personal prejudice and unsubstantiated opinion. If someone comes
up with the idea of doing radio advertising, inevitably others will come out
with the stations they listen to as the ones that should be chosen. What’s
so amazing is that this is the way far too many decisions are made.
Unless we ask the right questions, we are doomed to come up with the wrong answers.
All this suggests that thinking too narrowly can have a negative impact on companies
that want to grow. Almost every industry can suffer from the inbreeding of ideas.
While we may feel more comfortable with those who speak our language and share
our specific interests, the value of opening the doors to new concepts and approaches
may be more than worth the risk.
John R. Graham is president of Graham Communications, a marketing services and sales consulting firm. He is the author of The New Magnet Marketing and Break the Rules Selling, writes for a variety of business publications, and speaks on business, marketing and sales issues. Contact him at 40 Oval Road, Quincy, MA 02170; 617-328-0069; jgraham@grahamcomm.com.