HTG13

I had the honor to facilitate the newest Heartland Tech Group #13 last week. Our group is made up of companies from coast to coast and several places in between. I was encouraged by the enthusiasm and excitement generated by these guys. We started things with the 8 Minute update and each company had the opportunity to introduce themselves and talk about their business. The sharing of ideas and best practices was awesome!! Having been in HTG since 2001 I realized that I had been taking for granted the impact that HTG has had on our company. Seeing these guys getting together for the first time and how eager they were to provide input and open up to each other made me realize just how powerful these relationships are. I know how much the relationships I have with HTG1 have changed me both professionally and personally and this experience has reminded me of that. I hope to live up to the very high standards that the current HTG facilitators have set and that I will be able to help this group become as close and effective as the first one.

Communication as a Service

My title is a little “tongue in cheek” but I want say a few words about how we communicate with our clients. A good friend of mine once told me that in the IT world there are 3 kinds of news. Good News, Bad News and No News and you have to let your clients know all 3! It really is amazing how much your clients will appreciate this correspondence. We recently had an issue where the lack of good communication put us in a bad place with one of our clients. We were able to salvage the relationship by reporting what and how things were going and including some milestones for completion. I know that we were already doing these things internally but we failed to include the client. We made a conscious effort to communicate all of the 3 News’s!

One other process we took from our Microsoft experiences is after each meeting we provide a simple synopsis, highlighting what was covered and identify any action items to be accomplished as well as the priority. Each person that was involved in the meeting receives this email and is asked for clarification and input. This goes a long way in alleviating misunderstandings and finger pointing! The feedback from my clients is that they love it! This simple task shows competency and professionalism as well as fosters a more effective work experience.

How do you eat an Elephant?

Things are changing so fast in our business that it is getting very hard to keep up. New Technology, New Service Offerings, New Tools and New economic challenges! How do you keep all of these things straight as well as manage them? Really, how do you do it? The answer (for me anyway) is you can’t. Not all at the same time. One of my programmers showed me something called a Recursion Function. The concept is that you write a function that calls itself inside of itself. The idea is to take a complex problem and reduce it down to a simpler problem. Solve it one step at a time inside itself and then move on to the next. What a concept!

The problem for me is that I get so caught up in trying to do it all right now that I end up spinning my wheels! That is when the frustration and stress comes in to play and the problems compound. Take a step back, break it down, solve it one step at a time and get help when you need it. (Insert plug for HTG here) Having the responsibility to do everything doesn’t mean we have the ability. So for what it is worth if you are feeling overwhelmed you‘re not alone! So to answer the question in the title, just cut that steak into smaller bites, add plenty of ketchup and invite some folks for dinner!! Enjoy.

The E3 Philosophy

I wanted to share a concept that those of you who have known me for a while have heard me preach over and over! That is, as an IT Solutions Provider, our job is to provide 3 things to our clients. Every solution or service we provide should allow the client to be more Efficient, Effective and Economical. (E3) If we are not accomplishing those things then we are a cost to the client and should not even be there.

So what does it mean when I say Efficient? It means that the solution or service should allow the client to reduce the time and effort it takes for them to accomplish their job. It really doesn’t matter what hardware or tools we suggest it is the end result that matters. Providing a vehicle the client can use to gain real advantage in their business.

Effective? To be effective the solution will need to be usable by all as well as reliable. It should increase the client’s ability to respond to their client’s needs and help deliver on their promises. Help them be more reactive and even proactive in their relationships with their customers.

Economical? Pretty self explanatory. By helping the client be more Efficient and Effective it can not help but drive dollars to the bottom line. Establishing a Life Cycle replacement program and developing realistic budgets that include growth. Basically all the things we talk about providing with our managed/consulting services.

I don’t want to stay on the soap box too long…. However, becoming that trusted advisor requires us to look at what, why and how we do things for our clients. It is no longer about “getting the sale” it is about gaining the trust. And deserving it.

Sometimes you just need to shut up and listen.

I struggle with this one personally. IT owners tend to be problem solvers by nature. Our instinctive response to any issue is to start supplying the solution. The problem with that is that we immediately start thinking about what needs to be done and at that point we have stopped listening. The biggest part of relationship building is allowing the client to feel that someone is finally listening to their problems. A large part is just venting pent up frustration, but the other is the satisfaction they get when you are actively listening to them. Have you ever talked to someone and felt that “Hey this guy really gets what I am saying!” Mostly it is because we did the majority of the talking and they were just listening. Becoming a Trusted Advisor means first understanding what advise to give and that means fully understanding the client’s need. Ask the right questions and really listen to the response. If you are doing an assessment, go through all of the questions and take good notes. Save the problem solving for another appointment.

This is also a great technique for managing your employees. Again I struggle with this one too! They also need to be listened to and know that you are concerned about what is going on with them. If they are struggling with a customer service issue or a technical issue, 90% of the time they just need to vent.

And for good measure this technique works with your spouse as well. I really struggle with that one!!!

The bottom line is you need to gather all of the information and get a feel for the emotion behind the issue before you start to problem solve!!

Good luck with this. And wish me luck too!!

The Market is the Market!

At our last HTG1 meeting in Dallas this month we were discussing the business climate in each of our areas. We all had our say but one comment by Jim Strickland from Valcom struck a chord with me. When asked about the state of his market in Davenport Jim replied “Well the Market is the Market”. If you know Jim, this is a typical Stricklandism and we all had a good laugh. Jim went on to explain that “The Market is what we make of it.” And he is right on!

One of our greatest strengths as an SMB Solution Provider is our ability to adapt quickly to the changing environment. Let’s face it, our environment is changing everyday! And the same holds true for our clients! In fact, most of us have built a business model on how to partner with those clients to address how to handle these changes and help them put dollars to the bottom line. This is exactly how we build and maintain our market. The better we do our job the more likely our clients will survive and even grow, despite what the economists are saying.

Mission Statement

Somebody said that I needed a mission statement so I wrote it down and said "Man that wasn't so bad!!" and promptly forgot about it. For many SMB Solution Providers that is exactly what we have done. "Besides what do I really need one for anyway? I know what I do, I am doing it every day!"

And that is the problem! You know what you are doing but does anyone else? When someone asks you what you do, how do you reply? Do you say the same thing more than once? Do you have to stop and think about it? If so then you really need to start writing it down. A good Mission Statement is the foundation you should use to build your company's identity.

A Mission Statement should say:

What you do.
Who you do it for.
How you do it.
Why you do it.

By writing this down and committing it to memory you will be able to answer the question “What does your company do?” without having to think about it. It will give you focus and a foundation to build your plans for the future. It is much easier to get somewhere if you know where you are starting from!