Kevin W. McCarthy

The Professor of On-Purpose

Business

Do You Have A Business Blunder To Share?

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Image of baby. Putting your foot in your mouth is only cute with babies!
“This sucks!”

Now and then we’re inclined to suffer by inserting our foot in our mouth with negative consequences! It is cute when a baby does it, but not so pretty when we’re adults. In the world of business, these gaffes can cost you a sale, a client, an account, a job, or—heaven forbid—your business.

Hopefully, however, you can look back with a sense of humor as I can in this On-Purpose Business Minute.

Some blunders can be tragic, and it really isn’t a laughing matter.

Regardless, every blunder holds a lesson (or two or three). Some may even hold blessings when we search long and hard enough and the healing is complete.

As you’ll see in my video, time tends to lend perspective and insight that pays dividends later in our life and career. After watching this On-Purpose Business Minute, please share your business blunder and the lesson(s) you learned. You will help us all by not being off-purpose.

What Is the Heart of Selfless Service?

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Servant leaders see things differently because their hearts are authentically in their actions, often despite the personal circumstances and consequences. In short, they’ve learned how to love their neighbors in a healthy, respectful, and others-centric manner.

One of The On-Purpose Proverbs is “Boldness occurs when passion rises and vanity falls.” In 60 seconds, the public service announcement brings this On-Purpose Proverb to life and is sure to bring a tear to your eye.

While this amazing film-making short called “Gesto de Amor” (Gesture of Love) highlights the empathy and love of the little girl, the loving act of her brother reveals that he may, in fact, be the inspirational source of servant leadership for her gesture of love. He is reaping what he has sown into his sister.

Don’t we want to be known and understood from within? … especially in this crazy world where sick is good, cool is hot, and swag is no longer a “sophisticated wild ass guess”?

Consider showing this video to your team and asking them what they’re doing to see things from the perspective of their customers (or loved ones). Nothing is harder, yet little is more rewarding. That makes it all the more meaningful when we sincerely get it right as servant leaders who can wear another person’s cap. You can’t have “Customer Confluence” without it.

Emotional intelligence (EI), made known largely by Daniel Goleman’s book Emotional Intelligence, is our ability to understand the state of our emotions and others with the ability to process and respond in a productive manner. Some people have an intuition or instinct for sensing the emotions. For others, it can be learned and developed.

Asking sincere and clarifying questions, rather than making assumptions, is a healthy practice to develop without regard to your EI. On a personal level, it develops trust and can lead to intimacy of conversation. On a corporate basis, it is called market research and leads to customer insights that can ultimately be incorporated into an offering to better serve the customer.

Mostly, however, this degree of interest in serving well comes from a heart of serving, wanting to genuinely profit the other person.

This attitude of the heart, the desire to make a positive difference or contribution, is a God-planted seed given each and every person. For some, the seed lies dormant and uncultivated. For others, it begins but gets trampled on and withers. For some, it flourishes and multiplies itself in unexpected ways … the gift of a shirt rolled with hair in a returning gesture of love.

Selfless service may seem like unprofitable and risky business.

We risk appearing and being different. We open ourselves to ridicule—even abuse—by unsavory characters and even well-meaning ones. Selfless service is easier said than done because we live in such a quid pro quo world of hidden agendas, subtle deceptions, and a self-centric perspective of “What’s in it for me?” But then again, it isn’t “selfless service” until we take ourselves out of the equation.

What did this commercial stir in you? How might you apply these lessons in your life … in your family … in your business? What role does purpose (symbolized by the heart) play in giving expression to serving?

Another On-Purpose Proverb is “Market in your self-interest. Serve in the self-interest of your client or customer.”

How might this apply to your business strategy, planning, and marketing?

What Is Your Social Media Currency?

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You’re sitting at the keyboard staring yet again at your Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn login. Yep, you set up your profiles on various social media sites, but as a business person you’re wondering:

  • Why am I doing this social media effort?
  • Does Facebook for business make sense?
  • How do I get the most followers on Twitter?
  • Are my LinkedIn connections too many or not enough?
  • What LinkedIn groups should I join?
  • Who wants to be friends with me?
  • What in the world am I doing on all these social networking sites?

In a prior On-Purpose Business Minute, I posed the question: What’s the Deal with Social Media? You were encouraged to make sure the purpose of your organization, business design, business strategy, and marketing strategies were in place and aligned. Now, let’s explore a simple, yet powerful traditional step you can make to bridge the relationship of your marketing and social media channels.

Develop your “Social Media Currency,” a term I’m coining (pun) to Image of paper money. "What is your social media currency?"help my fellow business persons who are awkwardly pounding away with tweets, posts, discussions, chats, and IMs. A little direction can go a long way as you’re learning your way in the world of social networking.

Currency is a store of value; therefore, social media currency is your virtual store of value associated with your online (and real) personality, brand, and identity.

The more I learn about social media and social networks, the more I realize how little has changed in the world of business strategically. Sure, these online mediums shift the means of communication, but the very essence of it still rests on the fundamentals of solid marketing and execution.

Your social media currency is a place or channel-specific extension of your business brand personality.

If I say Apple Inc, you’re probably thinking about your iPod, Mac,Image of Coca-Cola bottle or iPhone and attribute the brand qualities like “cool design, youthful, creative, and easy to use.” If I say IBM, your descriptors might be “corporate, smart, safe, mature, and powerful.” Or invest 18 minutes to watch the amazing brand development presentation by Coca-Cola found in this On-Purpose Business Minute to see a great example.

In short, your brand personality permeates your culture, customer service, hiring, product development, and so forth as an essential intangible currency of the relationship that builds consistency and trust. Veer too far from it and your brand value proposition is eroded as your customers are confused. Confusion and doubt damage your value.

How to Coin Your Social Media Currency

You’re probably not the CEO of a major corporation, but a SOHO, small-business person, salesperson, agent, or such. This is all the more reason why being smart online can pay for you and your business. You don’t have the big budget, ad agency, or marketing department defining core marketing strategies.

Early in my foray into social media, Mark Carbone, a business associate, encouraged me to articulate what he calls the “Five Pillars” for my online presence. Immediately, it made sense to me. After asking clients to give me five words to describe me, here is what I got back in rank order as my brand personality: Insightful, Authentic, Confident, Entrepreneurial, Spiritual.

My business partner, Mary Tomlinson, who used to head up Walt Disney World’s internal ad agency, and I often help our business advisory clients develop their brand personality. Same basic concept, just a corporate version.

Thanks to Mark and Mary’s training, my social media currency is defined with five words that describe me.

So, What is your Brand Personality?

Give it some thought for you. What five words best describe your brand personality? Engage the help of business peers, associates, clients, employees, etc., by asking them to give you a list of the five words that they think collectively best describe you.

When you’re finished with your words, use the comment section to post them. Then, you can tell me what five words best describe me. Thanks!

Now, go out and wisely invest your social media currency.

Be On-Purpose!
Kevin

What Is The Purpose of A Business Plan?

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Writing a business plan?

It is hard to argue against the idea of writing a business plan, yet experience tells me very few business owners actually write one.

Wrong choice! In this fast-paced dynamic business environment, a business purpose and plan have never been more needed. They’re essential to decisions and growth regardless of the business size.

The problem isn’t with the business plan, per se; it is the speed of the person creating the business plan which makes it irrelevant to the business. Most business owners aren’t skilled as business plan writers so their mythologies and misgivings are often unfounded in reality. Speed Use this ratio when business planning: 1% planning: 99% execution. Rinse and repeat!comes with experience and practice.

Too many times, I’ve heard business owners lament that they don’t have time to do a business plan. Hint: maybe the reason they don’t have time is because they’re not working from a plan. That’s more a comment about their limited skills, experience, and understanding or unwillingness to get help.

60-Minute or Less Simple Planning Method

Consider the old adage, “If you have only a day to cut down a tree with an ax, then invest time sharpening the ax before you begin.” Let me add: Continue to check and sharpen it throughout the day. A business plan is a sharp ax that you can take to the forest of business challenges you face and make progress faster, more affordable, and with less energy … sounds like profits to me!

Pull out a blank sheet of paper, go to a whiteboard or flip chart, or open an electronic file to capture your thoughts. Do the brain dump! Then sort it out into a more coherent and logical flow of actions steps. Assign people and dates and you’re ready to go!

A simple idea-clarifying informal business plan can often be done in less than 60 minutes. Practice the following method on smaller projects where the risk, scale, and scope aren’t so large. Practice the process on less demanding content and matters and you’ll be preparing for writing the business plan for the entire business.

Who Are You Fooling?

I’ve even been told by business owners, “A business plan isn’t relevant to my business.” There may be a good reason why business planning is often put aside, but dismissing it as irrelevant is risky business. While creating a business plan is something every entrepreneur or CEO is wise to do, they often don’t. It is a unique skill set that they don’t invest time in learning how to do. In their minds, it seems to be an exercise for the academics and not for people of action.

Reconsider what the pros do.

For example, your favorite NFL team has a plan for the franchise, the season, and a game plan and playbook going into every game for every week of the season for as long as they’re winning into the post-season. They’re professionals who have learned to crank out a “business plan” for every week. To get the results they seek they don’t have an option. Even then, games will be lost. Lessons learned and personnel trained to improve.

Action, even well-intended actions, without a purpose and a plan incrementally lower the trajectory of achievement.

Business planning, hey, it’s optional. That’s a dangerous mindset fraught with avoidable pitfalls. Running by the seat of one’s pants can become a way of life and business. Could this be part of the explanation why the failure rate of small businesses is so high?

Candidly, if taxes didn’t have to be paid, I wonder how many small business owners would have a financial and accounting system in place! Because the IRS likes to be paid and has means of enforcement to be paid, bookkeeping and accounting are done because outside consequences exist. Because business planning is “optional,” it is too easy to not get it done.

So what is the purpose of a business plan?

It helps to know that there are three broad types of business plans:

  1. Financing business plans are done to obtain financing from either investors or lenders. These business plans tend to be formal and time consuming because of the scrutiny of due diligence. Most business planning software leans in this direction.
  2. Functional business plans are more operational or oriented towards helping team members get on the same page to move the business forward. These blueprints for the business are informative and best used for internal use, direction, and communication.
  3. Strategic business plans are very useful, for example, for taking your business ideas and transforming them into a business model. These can be very informal—notes on a yellow pad or napkin—to PowerPoint presentations to more formally written documents.

Audience Matters

Who is going to be reading your business plan and why? Your need for a business plan really depends upon the audience for whom it is written.

  • Financing business plans are targeted toward outsiders to attract investment.
  • Functional business plans involve engaging the team. There is a certain amount of assumed inside knowledge.
  • Strategic plans are best written for the leader of the plan to gain insight and clarity. This enables the entrepreneur to capture thoughts and sort the various elements of a business into an orderly approach.

6a00e551c6499c883401a3fd37e903970b.png.jpgEach of these business plans has common elements that you’ll find layered in The Service Model™ (see graphic) from The On-Purpose Business Person.

Creating a business plan is something every entrepreneur should do, but you need to know why you are writing the business plan and the audience.

I’ve seen far too many start-up organizations buy business planning software and invest months writing it. The process of doing their market research, developing cash flow statements, defining their organizational chart, etc. is useful, but is the marginal return on investment worth it? Sometimes you just need to get started and prove your concept in order to improve your business model.

Practically, it is rarely as valuable as the benefit of having a simple business plan and getting started. There’s nothing quite like opening the doors on a small scale and learning from the market. This said, if you have only one part of a business plan to get right—put together your business marketing plan.

Planning is not about perfection.

Rather it is about anticipating pitfalls and avoiding them, as well as leveraging opportunities to the max. Plans are meant to save us time, money, and energy. Always consider the ROI (return on investment) for your planning process.

Over the years, I’ve told my clients to use this ratio when business planning: 1% planning:99% execution. Rinse and repeat!

On-Purpose Business Tip: The Service Model from The On-Purpose Business Person provides a simple business plan template to provoke thoughtful inquiry and usefulness.

Sales Prospecting or Farming?

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Sales prospecting and farming represent two modes of selling.

Be clear about which one works and works for you.

Over the years, clients have engaged On-Purpose Partners to assess and design their sales architecture, often with sales prospecting or farmingOn-Purpose® being foundational content. Such engagements demand a blend of

  • strategy
  • psychology
  • marketing
  • selling
  • curriculum development
  • business
  • and more

One of the first design decisions to assess is if the client’s business, mindset, and preference is for building a prospecting or a farming sales approach.

Many other company decisions and investments hinge on this simple differentiation.

As a keynote speaker to sales organizations at conferences and conventions, I’ve learned to psych out their leanings early. Whether it be an insurance, real estate, or direct sales organization, there are similarities and differences in their cultures and approaches; yet these two generalized worldviews on selling remain staples of the selling process.

Corporate executives set the tone but often a product or service defines the sales approach. Generally, if a company is in manufacturing or is technology oriented, they tend to favor the prospecting approach mentioned in this On-Purpose Business Minute. Customers are part of the “human resources” supply chain of logistics and transactions. Here people are deployed to meet business objectives by digging out customers.

Company executives who favor the farming approach, however, tend to focus more on cultivating relationships.

This longer-term view of people sees a long tail of repeat sales and referrals in the context of the lifelong value of a customer. It affects commitment and investment in planning, people, operations and, ultimately, customer service standards and training.

Salespeople as farmers or prospectors are typically engaged in very similar activities of making sales calls, gathering information, preparing presentations, and closing deals. Astute salespeople readily assess the best approach for a particular book of business. If you find yourself scratching your head wondering what the higher-ups are thinking, then there is a good chance they are (or you are) oblivious to the culture they’re creating in the field. They’re prospecting for immediate nuggets of sales while you’re growing a crop of relationships and caring for a soil of the relationship … or vice versa.

Be aware of which approach is best suited to the company, customers, and, frankly, your personal style that plays into your definition of success.

Years ago, a friend came to me ready to pull his hair out by the roots. He loved where he worked as an admissions representative at a private vocational college. The problem was he is a farmer and he was being measured as a prospector. Every phone call, email, and piece of mail was measured and accrued to his measurement system.

Together we designed a simple tool to engage student candidates into a conversation instead of an information session. At great risk to his metrics, his call volume went down, his mailings decreased, and his number of “contacts” declined. The first month, his boss was all over him for non-performance. However, by the second month, his admissions soared to the number 3 spot of all reps—an achievement he had never before attained. Within 3 months, he was leading all reps and out-distancing them. Soon two reps approached him and asked what he was doing differently. Within a month all three of them held the top 3 positions.

They had discovered farming versus prospecting!

This story isn’t to propose that prospecting is bad. On the contrary, it is to say that the culture and the sales culture didn’t match and the results were impoverished by comparison to a proper match.

By the way, the story gets even better. In time, the leadership altered the system to reflect a farming approach that was people-centric. Under the “prospecting” approach, student turnover (withdrawals from the college) was very high. With the “farming” approach, admitted students tended to stay in place. This was an unexpected bonus, but an intuitive result.

The point of this On-Purpose Business Minute for the executives, VPs of Marketing & Sales, and Sales Managers is to assess your industry, company, and culture. Decide which approach is best suited to creating the customer experience you wish to deliver. Armed with this information, evaluate your company language, alignment, and operations to see if you’re on-purpose or not.

Sales prospecting or farming? Now you’re a bit more informed to make wiser decisions.

Be On-Purpose!
Kevin

Are You Thinking?

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How often do you really stop and think?

There are many benefits to taking a few minutes to simply ponder your task, project, or life.

The concept of being on-purpose is to act with more intention by being mindful of who you really are.

To know who we are deep down in the heart of our hearts requires thought and demands decisions more easily put off than addressed. But, of all that happens in the world, the one person we can’t ignore or put off is ourself. Sooner or later we will confront the person who has assumed our true identity because we weren’t willing, didn’t have the tools, or didn’t have the guidance to truly think about our lives in more robust terms.

This On-Purpose Minute invites you to simply think. So right after watching this … invest a few minutes to think about whatever comes to mind where your thinking could truly advance your agenda.

Need some help with thinking about your life?

Contact me at kwmccarthy@on-purpose.com and let’s begin the process of thinking about your life so you, too, can be an on-purpose person in creation.

 

#UNPLUG: This article in Fast Company Magazine speaks about the benefits of getting away from our electronics—you know, the one you’re reading this on!

Arthritis of the Mind

From the keen mind of my friend Mel Kauffman …

William James said, “People don’t think, they just rearrange their thoughts.”

Arthritis of the Mind

Too many people I know have arthritis of the mind. It hurts when they think. Too many people have their minds frozen in mediocrity. It hurts when it defrosts. Most people are opinion parrots. They parrot the opinion of others. That does not seem to pain their brain. Arthritis of the brain is contagious. You catch it from your parents. You catch it from your peers. For many, an original thought is an anomaly. Someone asked Abe Lincoln why he read so much. His response was a light bulb moment for me. He said, “My brain itches and I have to scratch it.” Mark Twain lamented, “We should take our brain out once in a while and jump on it. It gets all caked-up.” William James was so insightful when he wrote, “Most people don’t think, they just rearrange their thoughts.” Thinking is like a muscle. The more you flex it, the more it expands. As brain–pain dissipates, original thoughts begin to appear. Why not leave a legacy of original thoughts?

Mel Kaufmann

melvinkaufmann@gmail.com

What’s The Deal With Social Media Marketing?

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Watch today’s On-Purpose Business Minute then invest 18 more minutes to watch the Coca-Cola Content 2020 videos posted below. In them you’ll see this On-Purpose concept put into action and then some and then some more. It is mind-blowing to see how Coke has moved from selling caffeinated sugar water to a global cause and conversation around its brands.

Perhaps you can use this On-Purpose Business Minute to create a conversation with your team or ad agency or social media expert to assess the strategic implications to your business. What are your impressions — guesstimates on what it has cost you to write, create, and produce marketing efforts that aren’t based in your purpose and strategy? What other lessons, insights, or feelings has this On-Purpose Business Minute stirred in you?

Frequently I’m asked, “What is strategy or strategic plan?”

Coca-Cola illustrates that question from the point of view of a world-class brand. These videos, while technically sophisticated in thought, bring strategy to life in a visually appealing and rapid manner. It may seem “liquid” but it is thick! Don’t let it intimidate you. Instead, allow it to inspire you.

(FYI — it is purely coincidental that I happened to use a whiteboard for this On-Purpose Business Minute. Coca-Cola and I have different production budgets! Ha, an understatement!)

Part 1 of 2 (7:28 Minutes)

Part 2 of 2 (10:18 minutes)

Only business people call Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and the like, “social media.” Media is a broad term in marketing that is associated with print, radio, TV, electronic, and now, social media. While the rest of the world is busy socializing, we business folks are figuring out a way to engage in their conversation a la Seth Godin’s brilliant Permission Marketing approach.

Let’s think of media as merely a channel or means to get out a message.

For example, I’m in the business of getting out the On-Purpose® message. I leverage media to help me spread the word.

Far too many business people are struggling with making sense of this new media opportunity.

The problem is their focus is in the wrong place, yet again. It is a classic case of fire, ready, aim. The technology isn’t the key—it is the means. The true challenge is the strategy.

There’s a well-defined “chain of strategic command” that is too often overlooked with costly consequences. Social media is simply that latest victim of a busted chain and dangling tactical activities.

Put it in perspective. Invest in your core strategy and then bring it to life tactically.

Activity in the absence of strategy is simply wishful thinking and lazy business leadership.

Feeling convicted yet?

Am I Irritating The Living Hell Out of You?

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Typically when someone is irritating the living hell out of us, this bothersome behavior provokes the fight or flight impulse. While the expression is often used, what if there really is more than meets the idiom?

How many of us find ourselves or someone close to us caught in a living hell within our body, mind, spirit, and financial condition?

There’s nothing worse than this sense of hopelessness except resignation to the hopelessness and denial.

On-Purpose® is about awakening us to face our “living hell” by getting to the core of our being which by definition is good, pure, and whole—our purpose. Here is the keyhole to the escape hatch into being true to ourselves.

Choose hope!

Putting a name on our situation strengthens us to face it more directly, boldly, and successfully.

Why not experience the promise of “on earth as it is in heaven” on-purpose? Yes, I hope tshareasimage(5)his message irritates the living hell out of you … and you’ll thank me for it.

Escape Your Living Hell

On a highly selective basis, I’m looking to mentor and develop quality people who want to build a true business as a coach. This will mean learning, ongoing dialogue and development, determination, and a long-term commitment to stay the course. You’ll be helping your clients get to a healthier place in their lives in the most robust sense of well-being. For you this means work, learning to engage clients, and growing as a leader on-purpose.

Interested? Email me why you think this sounds like you. I’m conducting interviews to work with 3 people.