The deadline to submit part of a manuscript to a Publisher is looming, and after weeks of re-writes it’s Sunday night and I’m not quite there.

I’ve looked over the personnel problem, the operational breakdown, the go-to-market strategy a hundred times and I keep ending up with my head in my hands.

The prospect’s expecting the “big idea” from my team’s pitch on Thursday, and Tuesday I step back and look at the pitch and say “We’re not there yet.” I’ve tried writing the same column 23 times (true story), and all I’ve got to show for it is a wastebasket of crumpled paper.

“Stuck” is when, ultimately, you know it’s good, but it’s not great. You can see the runway, but you can’t quite feel the landing. It’s good work, but it’s not your very best and you know it. You’re feel like you’re pushing a solution upstream through the system, but you know it doesn’t feel like being led through a rushing downstream current.

Here’s a paradigm shift that’s changed my life. I’ve learned to embrace “stuck.” Stuck, I discovered, is a great place, and I’ve finally learned to treasure my arrival at “stuck.” It’s where you realize you have to get, in any process of breakthrough. It means you’re being challenged, being sharpened, pruned, and out of “stuck” will come growth.

Stuck forces you to step back, step away, and step up. Up above the problem, where you can see it in perspective from above like the view from an airplane. And, it allows for breakthrough if you’re willing to change one of two things: Change the view, or change the viewer. In other words, change your environment or change the set of eyes looking at the problem.

Environmental change: Once you discover what environments produce your greatest breakthroughs, you’re unwilling to work in any other. For some it’s a coffee shop, others it’s with a laptop on the back porch, others it’s in a bullpen of cubicles with a lot of noise and energy; maybe it’s behind a desk, or on a couch with no desk at all. People are much like fruit trees, flowers, shrubs and other living reproducers: We can probably grow anywhere and produce something in almost any condition if given enough time. But, there’s that one environment, that ideal set of circumstances that’s ideal for our best fruit to be produced. Plant us there, and we’ll flourish.

There’s something magical that happens when you step away from a problem when you’re stuck, and you hand it over to someone else with little direction other than “tell me what you see.” When we interview business advisors who have had their own consulting businesses, the biggest frustration we hear unanimously is, “it’s hard not having anyone to bounce ideas off from time to time.”

So many companies and non-profit organizations, with good hearts and intentions, hire and subsequently lose creative people because of their inability to embrace, understand and structure (yes, structure) the right boundaries for creativity and innovation to flourish.

Great leaders, great innovators, great over-comers spend less time dealing with problems that arise, and more time fine-tuning and cultivating the right environments with the right sets of eyes. They’ve mastered the ability to not just live in the vision of “tomorrow” while tolerating the realities of “today,” but build organizations with cultures that thrive on “stuck” because it’s been trained to embrace it., designed to look for it, and built to break through it.

But does Ania Apparel have what it takes to make it in such a competitive market?

How They Tell It:

______________________________________________________________________________

What the Experts Say…

The owners of Ania Apparel have definitely included everything that their company is about in their pitch. They’ve hit on many aspects of what makes their clothing special and why people should choose them when they are shopping, but from their pitch I m left a little confused as to what their main focus is (quality, sizes offered, service, a great company to work for, etc).

From my experience in the industry I think the fact they are catering to an under-serviced part of the population with quality and stylish clothing is a HUGE selling point that they should take and run with. I think leading with the aspect that they are serving women size 14+ and then explaining why this segment will love their clothes cleans the pitch up and makes sure they are hitting their target market right off the bat. Great quality, customer service and truly listening to their customers are all great selling points, but unless you re hitting your target market they mean nothing.

I think tying in the Ania Listens idea coupled with their passion for community service portrays that they are truly a company that cares not only for their customers, but for those around them as well. By streamlining the last paragraph and only including their website it will allow people to visit their site and learn in more detail about the merchandise they offer, what stores to find them in and other social media sites they can be found on.

Michele Woodward
Owner, The Runway

______________________________________________________________________________

I like the way this speed pitch paints a lot of pictures that draw you in and help communicate their value: First, they communicate the versatility of the product. Next, they share an unexpected, but effective example of how soft their fabric is. And last, the all important communication of the problem they solve: how they provide a quality clothing line for women needing sizes 14-24. If I were to change anything here, I would keep the speed pitch to the above-mentioned key points rather than adding the info about how they interact as a team, how they spend most of their time at work, etc.

Tony Snipes
Small Business Advisor, Business Black Box

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Now You Weigh In…

We want to hear from you. Give us your thoughts, ideas, and feedback. Post your comments below.

What your “Brand” is not: Your brand includes your logo, but it is not limited to your logo!

That’s where many entrepreneurs (and even some larger businesses) stop when it comes to thinking about their “Brand”.

What your “Brand” really is: (I like narrowing down meanings and definitions to as few words as possible to help me understand stuff!)

· In a word, your brand is your “Reputation”.

· In a sentence, your brand is what you stand for and to whom.

Your brand is not just seen in a logo, but it is experienced in every contact point you have with a current customer or potential customer.

That means:
· Every store or office visit or meeting.
· Every employee.
· Everything you wear.

· Every phone call.

· Every voice mail message.

· Every email message.
· Every conversation with a satisfied customer.
· Every conversation with a dissatisfied customer.

Oh yeah, your logo, too.

To clearly define what your business stands for and to whom, ask yourself these four questions:

1. What is your reputation?

2. What can you be an expert or authority on?
3. Who is most likely to do business with you?
4. What is appealing to these people?

If you looked at a football team’s playbook, you would notice that if all 11 players executed each play flawlessly, the end result would be a touchdown every time the ball was snapped. “That’s why they play the game,” Chris Berman says—because every play is not executed flawlessly, just like most sales calls.

We’ll begin with “educate” because it involves mental awareness. Educating yourself alone will not help you improve your skills as a sales professional. Let me give you an example: if I educate you about exercise, you will be more knowledgeable. However, if I train you on how to exercise, not only will you be more knowledgeable, but in better shape, as well. Training involves action, and rarely do sales people have action training built into their weekly routine. I ask all my top-producing agents to be part of three to six training sessions per month, or, quite simply, I’ll ask them to lead a training session for me and invariably they all say it has improved their skills.

So now that we’ve established education as broadening your mind and training as improving your skills, you’d be tempted to stop there. Please don’t. In order to thrive during this economic downturn and not just survive, my recommendation to you is to first educate yourself continuously about your customers and their needs, both currently and in the future. Second, train to improve your skills at prospecting, marketing, lead-conversion, presentations, overcoming objections and life-long follow-up. Lastly, who do you practice with? If you prospect and market two to three hours a day to generate appointments, you may want to consider practicing and role-playing with a respected peer who is also in sales. This will give you ample feedback and critiques to improve your skills, thereby getting more appointments and closing more customers/clients.

One of my favorite examples is a basketball player named Isaiah Thomas. His goal was to win an NBA title. He had been a professional basketball player for over 10 years, and every night after practice he spent two hours in the gym by himself shooting jumpshots and then another hour after that practicing free throws. Now, the team he played for was the Detroit Pistons, whom I could not stand, but that is irrelevant. His team won two NBA titles back-to-back, primarily because of him and his determination.

Focusing on fundamentals and practicing every day often lacks appeal and requires great discipline. However, it will also make the difference as to whether you plateau or truly thrive going forward.

I’m sure by now you’ve noticed $4-per-gallon gasoline and other areas of economic concern for you, your company and your clients. These concerns can be overcome through greater education, consistent training and a dedication to disciplined practice. The truth is these disciplines have always been required of anyone to succeed in sales. Now, though, the stakes are higher and failure is less forgiving.

I see the success or failure of powerful lobbying efforts come to a screeching halt or finally get over the finish line because of three or four phone calls from everyday, regular citizens.

In fact, while working on the unemployment insurance crisis this year and trying to motivate a very important South Carolina Senator in a leadership position to try to provide relief to the 25,000 businesses hit hard by the tax, it wasn’t until he received a few phone calls from back in his district that he began to work hard to deal with the crisis.

Think about that. All the media attention and sophisticated efforts to educate influence a Senator, and it all comes down to a few folks picking up
the phone. Interestingly, I would bet that those people have no idea that they were the catalyst to motivate one of the most powerful state Senators and finally move a vital issue to this state’s economy.

Those types of instances occur every week.

Unfortunately, most citizens have no clue as to the power they
hold in their voice. They have no
idea that with a single phone call,
they could represent hundreds
more voters in that legislator’s district. There lies in the depths
of most citizens’ psyches a sense
of apathy, a feeling of disassociation from the policy making process, and
a sentiment that they cannot affect change, which is simply not true.

It is refreshing to see citizens who belong to the Tea Party getting involved and influencing change, and others like them in other movements. But too many people focus on things they cannot change, not realizing that there are things they can change. I am here to say that you can affect change.

Sometimes, “It all starts with coffee.”

If you pick up the phone to call a legislator for the first time when a crisis arrives or when you need something from an elected official, you are too late. You will not affect change. What you should have done months or years ago is this: Pick up the phone, introduce yourself and ask that legislator for coffee. It’s as simple as that.

When you begin a relationship with a legislator in your district, you are, in effect, beginning a relationship—a relationship that goes both ways. You are an expert in whatever you do, and you bring expertise on which the legislator could rely. The legislator is an expert in whatever field he or she is in, and he or she brings to the relationship a vote and more influence in the policy-making process.


Elected officials—from City Council to the Halls of Congress— see thousands of bills and pieces of legislation each year, ranging in every sector of life you could imagine. No elected official is an expert in every area. But, what each elected official does have is a circle of constituents from which he or she can call to get their opinions.


It is not rocket science nor is it troublesome to do— pick up the phone, start a relationship over coffee, be there to assist the elected official, and, the elected official will listen to you. Interestingly, what you will become is more than a voter. What you will become is a constituent who represents scores of other voters. That is real influence, and it all begins with coffee.

For example, every small business owner with a
line of credit was rolling their eyes by the middle of the first paragraph. That’s because they all have given personal guarantees to their banks—a legally binding commitment that they personally will repay money loaned to their company if the company
does not. A personal guarantee
to a bank is better than
 unlimited liability
for all corporate 
debts, but that
 is little comfort 
if the bank 
debt is enough 
to bankrupt the 
owner.

If you engage
in illegal conduct while conducting business, you may
get your company
in trouble too, but don’t expect
to hide behind the corporation and avoid personal liability. You see this in the news—if you run an investment bank and engage in illegal insider trading, the Securities and Exchange Commission is coming after both you and your company. And certain laws expressly place personal liability on officers and directors if the corporation fails to meet its legal obligations. If a corporation fails to withhold income taxes from employee pay, for example, officers and directors can be personally liable to the IRS for the amounts that were not withheld.

Then there is that elusive, shadowy, threatening menace known as “piercing the corporate veil.” The basic idea behind this legal doctrine is that, under certain circumstances, the law will decide that your corporation is just a sham and should be ignored. When the veil is pierced, third parties owed money or harmed by the company can go directly after the company’s shareholders to satisfy the company’s obligations. Veil piercing has always been troublesome for business owners because the tests for determining when it applies are subjective and highly dependent on the specific facts and circumstances.

For example, in South Carolina, the two requirements for veil piercing are (i) the dominant shareholders must have failed to observe corporate formalities and (ii) there must be “an element of injustice or fundamental unfairness” if the dominant shareholders are not held liable for the corporation’s obligations. In applying the requirements, courts look at such factors as whether the corporation maintains proper books and records, holds shareholder meetings, has working capital that is grossly inadequate for the business and has officers and directors that are not fulfilling their duties.


The good news for shareholders is that the burden of proof is on the party bringing the veil piercing claim, and courts are generally hesitant to apply the doctrine absent compelling facts. The best defense against veil piercing claims and personal liability generally is to run your business professionally and to take legal compliance seriously.

Here are four mistakes that many parents make when it comes to raising young entrepreneurs:

1. Picking the business idea for your young entrepreneur. This is the one that I
had to personally adjust to
first. Allowing your child
to explore entrepreneurship
needs to be a pleasant experience, and one key
to that is to allow what they choose to try to be their choice.

Of course, as a parent, advise, guide
and recommend, but let the young entrepreneur make the final decision. This is not their permanent career choice so they can always try something different if it doesn’t work out.

2. Making them stick with the idea. This is another one I had to personally adjust to as well (maybe this article is for me!). My kids tried an entrepreneurial idea, had great success with it, but won’t do it again for the life of me!

As an adult, I found this frustrating, but I had to remember that these are kids who are exploring, so trying a new idea and forsaking a proven idea may happen. It’s not their career choices they’re making. What I do suggest is that you layout the pros and cons of every option, then allow them to choose. And if they fall short with the new, unproven idea, it’s also okay to be the one to remind them that the proven idea is still a viable option.

3. Not allowing them to spend the money their way. Allowing your young entrepreneur to manage their earnings from their business ideas works in two ways. First, it serves as an incentive for them to try the business idea out in the first place. The thought of having their own money and to spend it as they please makes them jump at the chance to try a business idea out.

The cool thing about this mindset is if they spend all of their earnings, they learn what the consequences are. What happens next is you get a glimpse of that little boy or girl thinking as a responsible adult as they consider about how to make their dollars stretch.

4. Giving Them an Allowance. This is one that I learned from Troy Dunn, author of Young Bucks: How to Raise a Future Millionaire. Dunn says that giving your child an allowance rather than letting them earn from their own resources teaches them that if they want something, they should count on others to provide it. Teaching them to launch their own entrepreneurial ideas counters that. Entrepreneurship is an exciting opportunity for your young business person to explore. Be sure not to allow yourself to get in the way of the fun.

According to a Society for Human Resource Management study of over 3,100 U.S. workers, flexible work schedules are associated with a decrease in work-related impairments and an increase in job commitment. Additional documented benefits include: improved recruiting, good morale, improved retention, increased productivity, better work/life balance, and even “green” benefits due to reducing carbon emissions and workplace “footprints” in terms of creation of new office buildings. Several types of flexible work schedules are common, including flextime, part-time, job sharing, telecommuting, and a compressed workweek, among others. Did you know that more than 68 percent of organizations of all sizes offer at least some of their employees the option to work an alternate schedule?

But for all of the benefits it may offer a firm and their employees, offering flexible work schedules can be a challenge for smaller businesses. They may not have the benefit of technology or the number of employees to cover the work that needs to be done. Remember that you are in business to serve clients. If you cannot serve your clients, someone else will. If you cannot serve your clients, someone else will. (Repeated deliberately for emphasis!) I offer a few practical tips for the business owner who is considering a flexible work schedule arrangement for employees:

1. ASK. Before responding to a request for flexibility or saying “no”, ask the employee to offer a plan for covering the business needs. The employee knows their own job and may have already thought through problems and solutions for the issues surrounding a new work schedule. They also have a vested interest in making their plan successful.

2. KEEP IT SIMPLE. Consider the simple solutions first. Particularly for a small business, it may be best not to implement an ultra-formal policy or a costly plan. Often, the ability to work a four-day week or leave at 3 p.m. to pick up a carpool is a win-win solution for the employee and the company. As with any change, it is advisable to start small.

3. START WITH A TRIAL. When coming to agreement for a new work arrangement, first commit to a trial period. For example, if two employees request the opportunity to job share, offer a 90-day trial period. During that time, meet regularly to work out the inevitable kinks. Communicate often with clients to ensure that service is not interrupted. Management has the final responsibility to avoid a breakdown in process due to an employee absence. If it the situation does not work well after a trial, exercise caution when eliminating a program that isn’t working, in that the loss of a perceived benefit can hurt morale.

4. HOLD TO YOUR STANDARDS. Hold employees to performance standards while recognizing that your expectation of their output needs to be adjusted to their new schedule. Often, an employer’s desire to offer flexibility and the employee’s desire for work life balance can lead to a reduced schedule with no reduction in expectations. Consider the effect on the workload of other employees.

5. USE CAUTION. Recognize that the company will set a precedent by accommodating the first employee. Other than time off or accommodations mandated by the Family Medical Leave Act or Americans with Disabilities Act, your company is not required to offer a flexible schedule in South Carolina. Employers must be concerned about discrimination in their administration of the policy. The Society of Human Resource Management advises employers to ensure that they are “focusing on the unique needs of specific groups of workers without creating a second class of workers and without engaging in unlawful disparate treatment or disparate impact discrimination.” If you have questions, always contact a reputable employment attorney.

Employers know that they must take care of their own employees, and that those engaged employees will take care of their clients. With planning and careful administration, flexible work schedules can be a win-win for your employees and your bottom line. The 2011 Guide to Bold New Ideas for Making Work “Work,” profiles practices that make work “work” better for the bottom line and for employees. This guide is available at www.shrm.org.

What’s the essential strategy for finding new customers? A selling system. A “machine” that continuously produces
new suspects, new prospects, new proposals and
new business.

Here’s an overview of a selling system: http://bit. ly/mTXimo. This article is about Qualification— sorting out the “best few” prospects from the many you might spend time chasing.

This eludes many cub sales people. Why? Because they’re humans. And most have a plethora of fears. Fear of rejection, fear embarrassment, fear of failure and other fears, the root cause of which is low self-esteem.

The fatal symptom of a salesperson’s low self-esteem is spending time with people who will see them, rather
than people who are ready and able to place orders. The classic euphemism for this? “We’re building a relationship.” What’s the best wayof actually building a relationship? Do some business together—just get an order!

What are the essentials of qualifying a prospect? Or, more importantly, disqualifying one?

Accepting that not everyone is going to buy. For many reasons beyond your control, some prospects just aren’t going to buy from you—at least, not now. As soon as you realize that, move on.

Enough suspects. Implicit in disqualifying (discarding) prospects is that there are some left over. A broken selling system (not enough lead generation) causes poor prospects to be retained, simply because there isn’t anyone else to talk to.

A clear-cut vision of your Ideal Customer. Exactly what does that person look like, sound like or act like? Think of a “customer muse”—a visual representation of the customer you’re looking for. Not a silly idea, actually.

Recognizing that a prospect is a person, not a company. People buy from people, and despite the company’s apparent need you have to find the person who has the emotional need, authority and readiness to buy.

Authority. Can this person really buy from you, or is he really a “recommender”?

Readiness. Confirming that the prospect actually has a pressing need, sufficient budget and is ready to buy—anything….from anyone—any time soon.

The answer you’re looking for? “NO.” Yes, I said “no.” That’s the signal you’ve found a prospect to disqualify, so you can move on to the next one without wasting any more time. If you get a “Yes, but not now,” put that prospect into the “farming” step of your selling system (more on that in a future article).


Does your selling system have a good disqualifying process? Do you regularly downgrade prospects and quit spending time with them? Do you get to “no” often enough, or do you just wear out?

1. DNA Transfer: Assuming that if it worked in the U.S. then it must work in Asia. Sending the same processes, procedures, equipment, people, and replicating it in China, India, or other markets, only adds to the cost, reduces productivity and frustrates the local employees as well as management that was sent to set up the operations.

2. Underestimating Locals: Believing that emerging markets are years behind western nations. Multinational companies (MNCs) and Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) believe that they can be the savior, assuming it will be just a matter of time before they see their current business model/value premise transferred successfully to developing countries.
As economic shifts continue to take shape, how are you going to take advantage of the competition in Asia? Let’s examine five strategies for success that will allow U.S. companies to increase revenue, expand market share/customer bases, and add to the bottom line.

Customization: Do the “homework” to understand the needs of your customers, the market trends, and the weakness of the competitors. Develop suppliers, services, and products that will allow you to mix and match the needs of the local market. Just because it works at home does not mean it will work in Asia. McDonald’s spent years and millions of dollars in establishing themselves in India. Their thinking that the brand name would automatically bring the customers clouded their judgment to the cultural fact that none of the more than one billion people eat beef or pork. They changed to lamb and veggie burgers and began cooking the fries in vegetable oil rather than beef tallow. The brand is still very much alive; it is the product to fit the market that changed.

Barriers: The obstacles of doing business in Asia are insurmountable compared to the U.S. However, Asian companies have “figured it out” in America, so can you in the competitor’s backyard. Know the rules of engagement, which are the right people that make decisions with respect to logistics, IT, and distribution channels. Pick the right partners to guide you through the process of establishing your business, accessing markets, and developing local suppliers. Above all else, know the financial model before you invest. Making money in the U.S. is much different than making it in Asia.

Technology: Asian competition, regardless of industry or market, has a very good handle on the latest technology, not necessarily in terms of IP or innovation, but in respect to keeping costs to a minimum. This ensures that customers get the latest products/services, and are able to make rapid adjustments to changing market trends. Having a local robust IT service is the foundation for success in this area. To put this in perspective, Baidu, a major search engine in the PRC, exceeds Google by four times. In India, Bharti Airtel competed directly with Hutchison Telecom and has become the leader in the cell phone market.

Cost: Do it like the locals: tap into local labor rather than investing in automation. Going low-tech for assembly and back-end manufacturing processes will help on two fronts. First, it will allow you to validate your costs, processes, and viability in the market with minimum up- front capitalization and/or fixed costs. Second, it allows the company to gain respect from the local government for tapping into the number one resource in any developing country, its people. This will only work if the labor content of any given manufacturing operation is greater than 30 percent. In-house training can help reduce costs and ensure the employment pool is taken care of with local management. Implementing a train the trainer program will be vital to the success of an in-house program.

Talent: Gone are the days when executives regarded working for a foreign company as something special. Today, they believe it is just as rewarding to work for a local company. Do not underestimate the necessity of skilled talent. Talk to any western manager that has spent more than three years in Asia, and they will tell you local managers are hard to find and hard to hold. They’ll go on to say, it’s not the money that has them moving around every 18 months. It comes down to training, a career path, support from within the country and the parent senior management staff, as well as trips to interface with their counterparts. When looking for management positions, be sure to look at local companies with local people. Ask the search firm to find local managers that have experience with western companies as well as local enterprises.

Globalization has a double-edged sword. The local Asia companies have become very smart by using globalization to narrow the gap in technology, capital, and the employment pool in order to compete with companies from western nations. Whether you are an MNC or SME and want to expand your presence in Asia you must
be able to fight the locals on two fronts. First,
you must be able to emulate some
of the local practices. Second, you
must develop strategies that the
locals cannot replicate.