CEO Xerox “Lessons Learned on the Firing Line”
I had the great privilege yesterday of meeting the Chief Executive Officer of Xerox, Anne Mulcahy. Speaking to a packed auditorium at the London Business School, Anne talked about how Xerox has been transformed from a company with serious debt and health issues, into a streamlined, debt free, profitable company, with exciting long term prospects.
Obviously Xerox is not a small business, with a revenues of around $19bn in the last reporting period it is far from that in fact. But, some of the lessons Anne has learned could easily be applied to any business, large or small. So with that in mind, I want to summarise some of the key points Ann highlighted as being vital to Xerox’s success:
1) It is important for leaders to listen to advice and to understand the issues facing the business
Get to know your business, your market, micro and macro factors and more. You can get to grips with all of this with a good marketing audit, including SWOT, PEST and a host of other analytical excurses.
2) Leaders need leadership intuition, experience and accountability.
To get the most from your business and team, develop your leadership skills through a mixture of training and experience. The chances are if you’re already running a successful small business you will have some inherent intuition to use anyway.
3) Develop a clear vision and direction for employees, a story.
Anne’s team at Xerox wrote a dummy Wall Street Journal article about the company in four years time. This was distributed throughout the company to give everyone an idea of what they wanted to achieve. There’s no reason why you can’t develop a story like this for your business, no matter how large or small you are.
4) Invest in your business, even in the tough times.
Often when times are hard, companies cut back on some of the activities that are essential for long term success. This was a mistake Xerox wanted to avoid and whilst they did cut back on advertising, they continued to invest over $1 billion in research and development. When it comes to marketing Anne’s opinion is that “building the brand and investing in marketing excellence is very important”.
5) Work on communications.
This is both internal and external communications. Conduct a stakeholder analysis first to identify who you need to talk to and set about doing so in a planned and measured way. Anne considers face to face communications to be essential, especially with key customers.
6) Surround yourself with truthful critics.
Constructive criticism is a good thing, the last thing you want is to be surrounded by a bunch of yes men. Try to ensure the criticism you receive is complemented with advice for how to resolve any problems i.e. that it is actually helpful.
7) Ensure you have good calibre of people in your business.
This is a no brainer, although an enormous challenge especially for small business who often do not have the pulling power of larger enterprises. You can work around this by ensuring you have a programme for investing in and developing all of your staff, from the bottom up.
I like David Ogilvy’s thoughts here also as he only ever hired people smarter than he. That takes a great leader.
8 ) Success is based on the value you bring to customers - “they have to be the centre of your universe”.
This seems a fairly obvious point, but I can tell you from experience it’s very easy to lose sight of your customers wants and needs when you are hell bent on getting new business, or making the VAT return, or paying your staff. You need to keep in mind that satisfying the customer is the only way you will ultimately get paid.
I was extremely impressed by Anne’s presentation. A great business woman (and interestingly also voted the 5th most powerful woman in the world) and an inspiration. Thanks Anne, I’ll be trying to take some of this on board.
Tag:Advertising Customer service Generalcomments
Startup shows
If you’re a UK startup and want some ideas, advice, inspiration, networking and more, check out the startup live shows running throughout the UK.
I picked up a few good contacts from one of these shows last year and certainly some ideas of what not to do in my sales pitch. There were plenty of exhibitors with poorly planned exhibition stands and a lack of good salesmanship. Many companies did not even bother to follow-up after the show!
What I found extremely useful was meeting a host of competitors, helping me to set my prices and to learn how others are selling the service. Not the kind of info you come across easily.
I’ll leave you all to make up your own mind of the value of this show. The dates and locations it’s running are:
* Monday 21st May, North London
* Thursday 24th May, Birmingham
* Tuesday 5th June, Bristol
* Monday 11th June, Manchester
* Wednesday 13th June, South London
I particularly recommend checking out the presentations from successful entrepreneurs such as Rachel Elnaugh (Red Letter Days, Dragons Den), Sahar Hashemi (Coffee Republic) and others.
It’s free, so if you can spare the time then pop along for an afternoon. Please come back and let me know if you found these events useful.
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Attitudinal Marketing
I was presented with a very powerful marketing concept for small companies the other day. It’s not a new fangled phenomenon, or something that will cost you a lot of money, or even a tactic that requires anything more than common sense. I want to term this concept “attitudinal marketing” but I suspect this already refers to some form of market segmentation, f*ck it, I’m calling it attitudinal marketing anyway.
So first of all let me set the scene. Some friends and I were eating out a great restaurant in East London called Kaya House (check out a review here), enjoying the food and the hospitality the host and his wife offered.
After dinner we started to chat with the restaurant owner, a great guy called Ambrose, who was really interested to get to know us as new customers. It seems from the countless reviews I’ve since read about this place that he remembers all of his customers by name - quite a feat - and he gets to know their favourite dishes, what they do for a living and probably much much more.
Interestingly he started to tell us about some of the businesses his customers were running. Everything from limo hire to travel agents and hotel owners in Malaysia. Not a hard sell, just introducing us to them as part of our conversation.
It turned really interesting when our friend mentioned she was running a cake business. Ambrose took an immediate interest and started to take down her details to pass on to his clients. The cost of this, nothing, Ambrose’s sterling attitude was that if he could help out another small business that was enough for him. Of course he’s hoping that what goes around comes around as the old saying goes.
It’s Ambrose’s attitude that I just have to admire. He works hard to make his business successful and at the same time pass on some of that success to other small businesses. So this is what I want to call “Attitudinal Marketing” - the deliberate act of spreading business opportunities purely with the interest of furthering the success of other businesses”. Or perhaps I should call it Ambrose Marketing?
So with this in mind and without further ado, here’s a short plug for my mates cake making business. If you are in the UK, more specifically the South East and need a cake for a special occasion, perhaps a wedding, then check out Sam Morris Cakes. Sam’s cakes are a delight and she is absolutely lovely to boot!!
http://www.sammorriscakes.co.uk
OK with the free plug out of the way. Have a think about whether you could engage in some attitudinal marketing. Ambrose has a notebook to store information and he displays adverts for free in his restaurant window. What could you do? If you make a plan to help just one small business each month, imagine the impact you could have.
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Small Business Owner Sales Tips
Small business owners may find selling awkward or difficult at best. Here are some tips and sales techniques to help understand the process.
Sales is not a dirty word. People seek answers to problems and if you provide a quality solution at a fair price, delivered on time and willingness to service after the sale, the buyer and seller each win. This is key to making repeat sales.
A sale is identifying a need (problem) and offering a suitable product or service (solution), yet there’s more.
You know the value of what you offer, so how do you convince a prospective customer? Understanding the psychology of what happens during the sales process requires empathy. You need to know what the prospect is thinking. Here are a few sales tips with answers to that part of the mystery.
Tip #1
People buy based on emotion more often than reason. They purchase what they want, not necessarily what they need. First impressions are crucial, so your initial approach must establish a professional image. You have 5 seconds.
Tip #2
People will buy from someone they trust. Your credibility must be evident, and how you open after those critical first 5 seconds will often determine your success. Do not try a hard sell up front. Avoid talking about the weather, current events, or the latest joke. It is time to listen. A brief introduction is usually enough which gives the prospect a chance to explain their business and situation.
Tip #3
People are not looking just at you. What you have, what it does, and how it will help doesn’t matter until you understand fully what they want. If you start out with an open ended question, you show respect for the buyer’s time, and a willingness to listen. Any question that may be answered “yes” or “no” won’t work. Open ended means you begin by asking or stating something like “Please take a moment to explain your business and a few details about what you need.”
Tip #4
People will open up if given a chance. Do not dominate the conversation until you understand what they want. Be prepared to paraphrase what you hear, and then offer your solution. Your message needs to be direct and to the point to establish the benefits of what you offer. Anything that you can do to create a mental image of your solution and the benefits to the customer shows you care more about them than the sale.
Tip #5
People are usually sold before you ask for the order. Many are presold in those first 5 seconds explained in Tip #1. If you listen first, restate what they have said, and then explain your solution in terms of the benefits, it’s time to ask for the order. A small business owner may not be comfortable here. My advice is simply state “I want to do business with you. From what I have learned, I’m ready to help, so let’s get started today.”
Tip #6
People will forgive mistakes if you remain honest. Establish trust, and openly admit errors if mistakes are made, and your customers are more likely to remain loyal. Have a plan when things go wrong. React quickly and state what happened, what you are doing to resolve any problems, and how long it will take. How you handle mistakes will be remembered by your customers a lot longer than what went wrong.
Tip #7
People will not forgive a dishonest salesperson. A sale is not about tricking someone into something they don’t want or need. This is an important and tough rule: Be prepared to refuse an order if you realize your solution just won’t work. In any sales situation if you perceive an opportunity to sell, but doubt the results of your product or service, consider your long term reputation. Credibility lost is nearly impossible to regain, so give your customers the truth up front.
In conclusion, the value of placing what your customer wants, or needs, ahead of your sales quota or personal interests will help you succeed. Repeat sales depend on a business relationship where you care about your customers. Adapt your thinking to solving problems instead of selling something. The best salespersons are still those who are good listeners.
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Jim Degerstrom offers small business advice based on 30 years in management, sales, and marketing, including President or General Manager of small companies in 5 states. He is proficient in website and graphic art design, and runs his online Small Business Resource Center at http://www.jimdegerstrom.com from Kissimmee FL USA. |
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