Creative accounting…

I returned to Galesburg, Illinois last month for Homecoming weekend.  My major at Knox College was Accounting and Business Administration. Perhaps that started my interactions with creativity during my sales career. 

Walmart's Sam Walton had a few creative interactions, too: 

Nowadays, you hear a lot about fancy accounting methods… but back then we were using the ESP method… It's a pretty basic method: if you can't make your books balance, you take however much they're off by and enter it under the heading ESP, which stands for, “Error Some Place."

I benefited from a creative sales entry at ADP once.  I had booked a large, National Account order right before the end of our fiscal year.  It not only qualified me for President’s Club but it qualified my VP of Sales, as well.  Then the fit hit the shan… 

The customer called me apologetically to cancel the order.  I was crushed.  I informed my VP right away because: 

Bad news does not improve with age. 

D. Michael Abrashoff 

There was no way around it – or so I thought. 

Fast forward to the beach 8 weeks later with my VP of Sales and our spouses.  I asked my boss why that “No Start” didn’t cost me (and him) President’s Club? 

Turns out he, our Controller, and General Manager decided to enter that negative accounting transaction as a “UBV”, unexplained business variance.  

Creative accounting at its best.

                                                            GAP

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

Make it up in volume…

Much has been said about making money.  Losing money?  A little less popular of a topic.  Not as glitzy I suppose.  Glitzy or not, we don’t have to be a sage, seerer, or soothsayer to know the most common way businesses go out of business is losing money, true? 

Not having a firm grasp of costs (which results in losing money) has plagued companies throughout the ages.  I quoted a former IBM CEO earlier this year: 

There were times when we lost money on every PC we sold, and so we were conflicted - if sales were down, was that bad news or good news? 

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

I spent my entire career selling modern technology to business executives.  Each deal was hotly contested by multiple vendors.  Each client would share a few common goals – cut costs; improve margins; have reliable data to make better decisions; etc.  The client’s evaluation committee could get quite political.  My advantage?   I knew Todd: 

Todd's Political Principles 

·         No matter what they're talking about, they're talking about money.

·         Truth varies.  

One of my client stands above all the others.  Not solely because it was the largest sales transaction I ever closed; but because of the business justification their VP and Controller, Pete Krejci, shared.

At our very first meeting Pete said: 

Gary, I’m probably going to spend $2 million with Oracle; I’m willing to spend $50k just to ensure it works. 

An interesting introduction, don’t you think? 

I sold Pete’s company, UnoVen, Oracle’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system back in the day.  UnoVen was a joint venture between Unocal Oil Company and Venezuela.  Unocal had a refinery on the southeast side of Chicago; Venezuela had the oil.  UnoVen sold their finished products through a couple hundred gas stations in the Chicagoland area. 

UnoVen had the usual goals – cut costs; improve margins; etc.  But in Pete’s case, he was having a particularly hard time getting his division managers to realize the importance of reliable data for making good business decisions.  He explained his business case this way: 

Gary, what keeps me up at night is when I tell my division managers we’re losing a penny a gallon at the pump, they respond; don’t worry.  We’ll make it up in volume. 

And that is how businesses go out of business.

                                                            GAP

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

Testing, testing…

I hadn’t heard of Cunningham’s Law until a young man stopped by my recent book-signing event.  He liked that I cite several “laws” in my book, The Peace and Power of a Positive Perspective©.  He asked if Cunningham’s was in there.  (It isn’t).  My visitor shared this perspective: 

People are more willing to correct you than to help you. 

                   Ram 

As a test, let me ask you if you’ve heard of Cunningham’s Law?  Here’s my answer: 

Cunningham said the best way to get a right answer on the Internet is to simply post a question. 

What do you think; did I pass the test on the meaning of his law?  Did you?  Back to you in a minute… 

I like these types of laws so much that I titled the second chapter of my book, “Laws, Proverbs & Malarkey”.  Murphy’s Law is in there, of course.  One of my favorite sources is Augustine’s Laws© by Norman R. Augustine.  He is a U.S. aerospace businessman who was Chairman and CEO of the Lockheed Martin Corporation.  His firm did a lot of business with the US Government.  That, of course, gave him plenty of fodder for fun: 

Law Number XXXVII: 

Ninety percent of the time things will turn out worse than you expect.  The other 10 percent of the time you had no right to expect so much.                            

Norman R. Augustine 

Sounds like today’s elections, yes?  But I digress… 

I also enjoy quizzes, tests, riddles, and such.  Like this little ditty devoted to lateral thinking found on page 130 of my book: 

Place 9 pigs in the 8 pens (below). No pen can have more than 1 pig placed in it; no pig can be left out of the pens.  The configuration of the pens cannot be changed. Your design of the pigs is not important.

OK back to you, Cunningham, and today’s test.  I wonder how many of you passed?  Did you reply to this post with the correct version of Cunningham’s Law to correct me?  What I stated above is the wrong answer - just like Cunningham posited.  Oh, and if you give me your answer to the 9 pigs in 8 pens I'll be ready to correct you HaHa!

Hmmm, posting wrong answers on the Internet to get to the right answer…  I guess we’re all being tested. 

                                                            GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

High School Sweethearts…

Fall; Autumn; October … I love this time of the year.  I love the colors and smells of October.  October reminds me of high school; football; dating.  Do you remember your first high school sweetheart? 

High school is a very special and memorable time for teenagers; it certainly was for me.  (Still is.)  It was a different time; an innocent time.  I always enjoyed the month of October when I was in high school – Homecoming; Halloween; dating; parties (most chaperoned, a few not). 

Fifty four years ago, this very time of the year, I went to a party at Glenn Vician parents’ house.  It was at that party where I hung out with the prettiest girl in my high school.  It was there that I asked her out on a first date.  I guess both events went well enough because here we are fifty four years later and we’re still together.  I’m still awe-struck by the glow of her beauty.

I hope you enjoy this opening to Chapter XII True North of my book, The Peace & Power of a Positive Perspective © as much I enjoyed writing it and as much as I still enjoy re-reading it every October: 

Dedicated to… a crisp night in October; with a slight breeze blowing through bare trees – waiting for the coming winter.   Close your eyes.  Can you smell remnants of autumn leaves burning? 

To winning the homecoming football game.  To being carefree. To a Saturday night party at the teenager’s house whose parents are away.  Can you hear the kids having fun in the kitchen; the basement; and the backyard, all to the beat of the Rolling Stones? 

To couches, blue jeans and sweaters.  To the floor lamp reflecting on her blond hair making it shimmer with silvery streaks of light.  To the nervous small talk of a teenage boy in the presence of a varsity Pom-Pom Team member.  To the patience of the teenage girl sitting on the couch with the captain of the varsity basketball team.  Can you remember when you could actually hear your heart throbbing? 

To throw pillows, which come in handy when the small talk runs out – what else can a young boy do?  And to playful pillow fights; which lead to gentle wrestling and ultimately to that first kiss. Remember how delicate she felt in your arms – the hint of her perfume – the taste of her lips? 

To first dates – dinner and a movie.  To the movie Catch 22 and the Oriental Theatre in downtown Chicago.  To dating the prettiest girl in your high school; to falling in love; to asking her father’s permission for her hand in marriage.  Were you ever so nervous? 

To the tears welling up in my eyes even as I write this short memoire.  To all those emotions; all the happiness; all those hopes and all those dreams; some fulfilled, some yet to be; and all that I can remember today as if it just happened yesterday – that I will remember every day, as long as I live.  How can someone be so lucky? 

To 1970 - and that Saturday night in October in Elmhurst where I kissed Debbie for the very first time.  And to the friend’s house whose parents were out – to their couch, their floor lamp, to their throw pillows; and to the Rolling Stones music.  Can you imagine being so young, so infatuated, and so in love? 

I still am. 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective. 

Is your world flat?

It’s been 24 years since I ventured out into the social media world for the very first time.  I know I wasn’t the original “explorer”, but it was still a big move for me.  Permit me to share an updated, slightly word-smithed post from back in the day - beginning with: 

People told Columbus the world was flat.  He didn’t insist it was round.  He got in a boat. 

                        3Com Advertisement 

How cool was that!  No debate; no argument; no headlines; no hype.  They said, “Impossible!” he said, “Get me to a boat!”  Then Columbus got in that boat (funded by an original venture capitalist); and proved his point. 

What a stellar example of commitment to success!  “Hey Chris, the world is flat you know.  If you go out there, you’ll sail right off the table into oblivion.”  “That’s OK”, he might have said, “I think we’ll be all right.”  He wasn't alone:

What about you?  What are “they” saying you cannot do?  Do you agree with them?  Are you staying close to shore keeping land in sight to make you feel secure?  Or are you looking out across the vast ocean and on to your future?  Are you debating – or are you doing?  Where are you turning for the fuel to maintain your positive, can-do attitude? 

     It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up. 

                        Babe Ruth 

If you’re reading this, then you’re in my boat.  Welcome to The Peace & Power of a Positive Perspective©.  The next time you’re having one of “those days”, filled with too much negativity from “them”, come back aboard for a little positive reinforcement. 

It is the 21^st century after all.  Some people today might say, “Gary; Linked In, Face Book, Instagram are fun and all; but a vehicle for ongoing business-to-business, business?  Impossible!”  Well, what do I know? 

I spent over four decades of my career trying to perfect professional selling skills.  You know – permission-based prospecting; discovering the customer’s goals; presenting solutions… Remember?  Are any of those skills relevant today? 

Or have we in the sales profession shifted to Likes, TikToks, Tweets, and other, electronically-impersonal means of getting ink and contract to meet and money to change hands?  Were professional selling skills important only when the world was flat?  Well, what do I know? 

Best-selling business author Jim Collins wrote this: 

     The Tyranny of the OR vs the Genius of the AND. 

To me, it’s not social media – or – the old way.  I think social media is important.  I also believe that building trust still plays a key role in the customers’ success; and in turn, our success.  I would like to believe that knowing what you’re doing is still critical to a salesperson’s achievement.  Being a product expert + a technology expert + a competitive expert + a businessperson are the key characteristics our customers value.  But, what do I know? 

Similar to Christopher Columbus, no one can predict ahead of time what changes the AI world will bring to the future of the sales profession.  I’m certainly not going to argue about it.  I’m just getting in my social media boat and setting sail – I believe I won’t fall off the face of the earth. 

I hope you join me for the voyage and visit https://gpokorn.blogspot.com/ often.  Bring a friend!  After all: 

No sense in being pessimistic.  It wouldn’t work anyway.    

                        Unknown Sage 

Here’s to the New World.  Thanks again Chris! 

                                                            GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

Football is my favorite sport.  A bit ironic I suppose, because football is the epitome of a time in my life that I did not give my best.  Actually, it was worse than that.  It was the one time in all my competitive pursuits (athletics or in business) that I quit.  I’ve lost many times; won my share too.  Quit?  Once.

I quit my high school football team two weeks into the start of my junior year season.  It was the only time in my life that my Mom told me I disappointed her.  I can remember going into the head coach’s office to quit as if it was yesterday.  Totally ironic, because after being a starter and co-captain my freshman and sophomore years, I was not even planning to play my junior year.  I planned to focus on basketball. 

Over the summer the coach called and asked me to reconsider.  I agreed, but when I showed up I wasn’t prepared to give my best.  He and his coaches weren’t prepared to coach me up either.  At the age of sixteen, I decided that quitting was my only escape.  I’ve regretted it to this day.  It’s not the not-playing that I regret; it’s the not giving my best.

I bet there have been special coaches and mentors who have had a positive impact on your life.  Coaches come in all shapes and sizes and use a wide variety of styles and techniques.  Some coaches resonate with us; others don’t. 

Here’s a 6 minute movie clip about high school, an underdog team, and their coach’s expectation about giving one's best: Facing the Giants

Perhaps not a technique that transfers into the business world today - but the message does, true?  Yes, the sporting world is different than the business world.  Nonetheless, we don’t have to go it alone.  Even the best-of-the-best have coaches.

In business, our favorite, Unknown Sage offers this:

Common misconceptions about coaching in the marketplace: 

“Coaching is primarily for correcting behavior” - If we only coach people when they do something wrong, we have missed the point.  It’s about building not fixing. 

“Coaching requires giving up power and control” – The manager relies more on influence. The person is still accountable. 

“Coaching takes too much time” – Coaching takes too much time if you don’t do enough of it and you don’t do it correctly.

“Coaching is soft stuff” – The manager who avoids soft stuff usually does so because it is so hard.  The work is easy; people are difficult. 

“Coaching is laissez-faire management” – Freedom in the workplace, actually just about anywhere, is rooted in strict discipline. 

“Coaching is simply being a good cheerleader” – A good manager has the courage and inner strength when needed to tell people the truth. 

“Coaching is like therapy” – To be a good manager and coach one does need a basic understanding of human behavior and motivation, but therapy has no place in your relationship with the people you are leading.

Coaches enjoy occasional accolades, too.  The best I ever heard was a tribute to Bum Phillips, former head coach of the then, Houston Oilers.  It was once said of Bum:

He could take his and beat yours - and then he could take yours and beat his. 

As a coach, he was able to get his players to give their best; they had no quit.  Imagine – what could we accomplish if we committed to giving our best? 

GAP

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

1 in 45,000…

A colleague of mine was giving a 3-minute, presentation about his company and his services recently.  He said he is one of 45,000 registered realtors in Colorado.  He went on to acknowledge: 

If you don’t have a friend who is already in the real estate business you must not have many friends. 

                   Justin Phillips 

After his presentation, we got to chatting. His business is not only in a competitive field (Aren’t all small businesses?) but its also hard to differentiate himself from 45,000 others.  As the title of Jack Trout’s book suggests: 

Differentiate or Die ©

Competition and differentiation are challenges any business, large or small, don’t you think?  It can be hard to look in the mirror and see those specific things that make you and your company different from the myriad of others in your industry.  You may not have 45,000 direct competitors, but I bet you have competition nonetheless. 

After all, there are thousands (millions maybe) of product companies; even more service providers.  Only a few of the most creative; perhaps the most clever: have figured out what their differentiation is in the eye of their customers. 

Charles Revlon, the founder of Revlon and an extraordinarily successful entrepreneur, once said about his company: “In the factory Revlon manufactures cosmetics, but in the store Revlon sells hope.” 

Charles Revlon 

We talked through my colleague’s main points of differentiation; those attributes he likes to emphasize with prospective, new clients.  One really stood out to me but not in the way he said it.  One of his credentials is he’s a former, licensed architect.  Well OK, but if you’re like me, that credentialing statement probably stimulated this thought in your mind: 

So what? 

We dwelled on this architect thing for a while.  I wouldn’t let him move on; employing one of my favorite sales coaching approaches I bet my former sales teams remember well (maybe not fondly, but well): 

Let’s go slow here. 

Or, as one architect put it: 

God is in the details. 

                   Mies van der Rohel 

Architectural training (and a license) is what my colleague “has”.  Even better, his area of concentration was in space planning.  But leaving this credential like that probably causes his prospective clients to think: 

So what? 

What do his clients “get”?  How can he better align his differentiation with what prospective clients need?  It reminds me of Patrick Renvoise who said: 

If you're selling drills, your prospects really couldn't care less about the drills.  What they actually want are the holes. 

Our discussion about real estate was coincidentally near and dear to me because my wife and I are in the process of shopping for a new house.  One of the biggest mistakes people make when buying a new house, or buying new furniture for their current house, is discovering after-the-fact that it doesn’t fit!  “It didn’t look that big in the showroom”, is a commonly heard phrase, true?  (And I’m speaking from experience here HaHa!) 

To be clear, we aren’t hiring Justin to be our realtor… we have a lot of friends and one of them is in the business.  But if we were in need of a realtor, we’d lean towards Justin.  Not because of his real estate license (1 of 45,000 in Colorado) but because of his architect license and more specifically his space planning experience. 

That differentiation can help his clients bridge the gap between the furniture showroom and their new house.                       

                                                            GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.