Rainmaker #6 – Networking – Are you Being Served?

Definition: A Rainmaker creates a significant amount of new business for a company. The Sales Lab Rainmaker Series is one rainmaker technique for technologists during the first 300 seconds (five minutes) of the monthly Capital Technology Management Hub Meeting. This is the handout for our June meeting.

We're professionals! Somebody said we're expected to network.

What do you want to get out of a networking session? This may surprise you - 1 or 2 new relationships. Someone of interest – who they are; what their organization does; what's their role; and what interests them .

Offer some help if you can – by telling about results - from your customer’s viewpoint – from using your service/product (only if directly on target); or refer someone or something; describe a useful blog & send them the link.

Then – be quiet for a bit – if you offered some help, they may ask what they can do to help you (or you can tee it up for them “I've been trying to …”) - or - they may ask for more info about the results you mentioned. Either way - tell them something they can react to – not a sales pitch - and thank them for any suggestion offered – no rating, ranking, or refuting.

The key to successful networking is to focus on the needs of the other person as you learn more about them and seek a way to help. Zig Ziglar says: “You can have anything in the world you want if you’ll just help enough other people get what they want.”

Please share your thoughts to help extend our learning - comment below:

Reserve your place for the next Capital Technology Management Hub Event, How to Transition a Small Business Into a Fortune 50 Company , June 14^th, http://smallbusinesstofortune50.eventbrite.com

The previous Rainmakers:

Rainmaker # 5 – Start With An Offer

Rainmaker #4 – Time, Talent, and Treasure

Rainmaker #3 – Process to Purchase

Rainmaker #2 – The Nametag

Rainmaker #1 - Gifts

The Doer

You know this person – uses hands, mind, eyes, ears, and creativity to contribute directly to the organization's results.

He is engaged and there to contribute. She supports the mission and works to the highest of standards. Doers are the tensile strength of an organization's operations.

The Doers do their part, are always ready to jump in where needed, quietly improve performance, and focus on outcome & results. They are on the direct path for producing results of the organization – not in a support function for those who are on the path.

Want ideas about how to improve the organization? Ask a Doer.

Know any Doers? Share a story.

Drucker Was Right!! And He Still Is!

Peter Drucker has taught us a lot about the development of management – and by extension, leadership.

Here's his view of what management must do to lead an organization, which he wrote in 1974 (for more, click http://bit.ly/Management_role, beginning at page 39).

Management has three tasks of equal importance which it must to create a successful organization:

• Establish the specific purpose and mission of the institution;
• Make the work productive and the workers effective;
• Manage the social impact and social responsibility.

This was the foundation for successful traditional organizations 40 years ago, but it also fostered some successful non-traditional ones as well.

Look closely at Apple and Southwest Airlines in the '70s -

Purpose and mission were simple and broadly communicated - useful computers for everyone and inexpensive air travel which is fun, respectively.

Their employees were highly productive and innovative - engaged in supporting the mission.

Both embraced social responsibilities and their impact on the community and nation – conserving resources in pursuing the mission, reducing wastage and trash, and working in the community for improvement and progress. Apple was noted for supplying schools with computers at little to no cost; Southwest was the first airline to recycle drink cans and research the optimal altitude and speed for the most economical fuel usage.

They remain in the forefront of their industries today.

The New Normal of doing business continues to evolve and the successful firms are built on a platform of these three tasks – lots of communication about purpose and mission to the market, media, and employees; workers are more engaged in supporting the mission and being innovative in ways to do things better; and conservation of resources and materials is the rule rather than an afterthought.

Drucker's three tasks of leadership remains valid after almost 40 years and they're a trait of the New Normal successful organizations - Google; Zappos.

Do you agree? Share some examples so we all can learn more.

Rainmaker #4 – Time, Talent, and Treasure – The Winner's Lemonade

Each month we present a 300 second program about practical leadership ideas at the beginning of the Capital Technology Managers Hub meeting in McLean, VA.

Here's the handout for the session about winners adapting to circumstances:

Rainmaker #4
Time, Talent, and Treasure – The Winner's Lemonade

Time: everyone gets 24 hours each day – can't save it; can't increase it – use it or lose it.

Talent: unfocused exceptional talent is useless; even minimal focused talent is awesome.

Treasure: at the moment – what you've got is what you've got – make good use of it.

Get a bunch of lemons and a winner makes lemonade, then opens a stand to sell it.

Tom Sawyer needed to whitewash a fence and, as a junior grifter, had no favors to call in for help. Yet all the kids were painting the fence and they paid him with their treasures to do so.

Jethro Gibbs (NCIS) leads a team of misfits and has no formal training in investigation or leadership – but - he and the team catch the bad guys every week.

Peter Drucker says the single most important thing in business is a satisfied customer and that results (i.e., satisfied customers) only exist outside the organization – inside there are only costs.

Winners take actionable steps to achieve results; non-winners tell stories about why they can't. Aren't you a winner?

Please share your comments at bit.ly/hS60Vo. 

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To hear more, come join us at the April 12^th CTMH meeting on How Google Apps Ecosystem Disrupts Traditional Enterprise Platforms.

Your Accomplishments + Stories = Credibility

How do you establish your credibility? How does someone know the 'real you'? On a professional basis, how can you demonstrate you have experience, get results, are competent?

Traditionally this knowledge comes from the individual knowing you over time and seeing how well what you say and what you do match up – from working shoulder to shoulder with you or observing the outcome of your efforts.

A surrogate for personal knowledge is to have someone stand up for you – to recommend you – and if the inquiring person is willing to accept the recommendation, you may enjoy some level of credibility.

But how can any of this apply when you first meet a person – at a networking activity or on a job interview? Is there a way that you can show who you are about without an implied 'trust me' at the end of the description of your skills & abilities?

Yes – tell a story from your experience which highlights your skills & abilities.

You are an accomplished individual – or you would not have made it to the level you have. You need a catalog of these accomplishments and may need to dig deep to get them – people often feel that what they have achieved is 'no big deal – others have done it too' – usually that's not true. Spend some time recalling your accomplishments to have handy when you develop the stories.

The stories are NOT major productions – they are intended to showcase your achievements. The best and most effective stories are made up of three elements: a simple statement of the problem (with specifics about who, when, where, what, and how to add reality), a short rendition of your solution (again with specifics to make clear you were involved, not merely taking notes), and the result – from the viewpoint of the client or person who benefited – be concise when telling about the result but quantify where possible – saved dollars, reduced labor, increased speed, greater efficiency, or whatever.

As you talk about yourself as an effective manager, a innovative leader, or a creative programmer, include stories taken from your accomplishments and experience which show in vivid detail your contribution when addressing the problem and getting results.

By doing the work to recall the accomplishments and creating the stories (write them down!) based on these accomplishments, you can go a far distance in establishing your credibility with the person you just met or are with during the interview.

How do you see this working for you – please share your stories so others can benefit.

Upcoming presentations which may be of interest:

Rainmaker #3 - Process to Purchase
How To Sell Your Skills
300 seconds, March 8, 2011, 6 pm
Capital Technology Management Hub
RSVP at http://knowledgeassets.eventbrite.com/
The Sales Lab Rainmaker Series are five minute tactical selling presentations starting the CTMH Monthly Meetings

How To Turn Prospects Into Clients
Monday, March 21, 6:30 – 8:30 pm, Alexandria, VA
Host: YES!Circle Details and Reservations

The New Normal – Cloud Computing

This week the Capital Technology Management Hub put on a program about cloud computing – a very informative session about a new approach to computing that is no longer just a concept – it is up and running with higher level enhancements coming on line continuously at a steady pace.

Interesting in its own right, but what became clear during the presentation is: cloud computing is another example of the New Normal.

Cloud Computing is shifting control of resources and software tools into the hands of the user, which offers greater self-reliance - a significant element of the New Normal.

Let's step back to view this progression of computing from a user's viewpoint. 'Back in the old days' – about 45 years ago - computers took up entire floors and required significant staff to operate. Only large organizations could afford to own a mainframe computer, but would rent out idle time on a time-sharing basis. A user would submit work and beg for a quick turnaround of a week to ten days to get project output. The user had no direct access to the computer.

As computers got smaller and the cost came down, more organizations could have this resources in-house, but it required support staff to manage and maintain the equipment and resources. Users now had some direct access to established routines and processes, but modifications required engaging the IT staff.

When the PC and server environment became the norm, the computer and its software tools were finally in the hands of the user, but the servers were the domain of the IT staff to manage, maintain, and add capacity. The user worked directly now, but was haunted with incompatible data & software, as well as server space availability. New equipment cost money, took time, and required justification – all of which would take months to achieve.

Introduce the cloud. From the user's view, compatibility issues are being eliminated - software is in the cloud plus there's plenty data management tools to tame unruly data. What is really putting control in the user's hands is the ability to access the cloud for the resources needed – software tools, computing capacity, and output delivery. The user now can order up these resources directly, be up and running in a matter of minutes, and can decommission it all when completed.

In a sense, with the cloud, the user has come full circle from the time-sharing days, but with control now in the user's hands.

The New Normal encompasses greater self-reliance and independence, and cloud computing is another tool which is creating this reality.

How do you see the New Normal changing how we do work?

Paint A Vivid Picture

When you speak, you want your message to be memorable for the listener – to have effect... to spur action... to persuade. To be truly successful requires going beyond mere talking to creating an image – a picture which develops in the listener's minds eye.

Jim Valvano was head coach of the NC State Basketball Team and enjoyed success on and off the court in his role – particularly in recruiting top players. Of course, he did the usual things to recruit prospects – home visits with the student & his parents; talks about scholarship opportunities; tour of the campus.

At the end of the campus tour, Coach Jimmy V and the prospective player headed into the basketball fieldhouse, which was dark – only the emergency lighting offering faint ghost-like illumination of the huge structure. As the two walked on to the basketball court, a bright spotlight snapped on.

In this circle of light center floor was a folding chair....on the chair was a basketball jersey draped over its back...visible on the back of the jersey was the name of the player prospect! Message complete – vivid – memorable – effective.

Think about a time when you experienced a compelling picture from words and actions – Please share its effects as a comment below.