Welcome to Sweet Spots!
Personal insights and observations, research findings and links to inspiring thought leaders, articles, books and blogs.

 

JANUARY 2012

As a business development coach, who's primary role is helping my clients move beyond their comfort zones of behaviors, building more "face time" actions into their personal plan has become increasingly difficult with the proliferation of social media options - making it much easier to stay in the online communication mode.   While effective relationship building requires the facile/confident use of various forms of communication, face to face will always (IMHO) trump other forms. And today's Daily Stat from HBR offers more supporting fodder to the benefits of face to face communication for all parties.
People Lie More in Emails than Face to Face
When getting to know new people, about 70% of people lie about things ranging from their feelings to their achievements, but the incidence of deception is higher over email than in face-to-face meetings, say Mattitiyahu Zimbler and Robert S. Feldman of the University of Massachusetts. In a study of undergraduates' 15-minute conversations with same-sex individuals, those using email had 5 times more lies per word communicated than those speaking face to face. Lying appears to be more common when the communicator is psychologically and physically distant from the person receiving the message, the researchers say.

January 1, 2012 - Thank Goodness for this 12th year of the century!

Twelve is a perfect number, signifying perfection of government, or of governmental perfection.

Twelve is found as a multiple in all that has to do with rule.

The sun which "rules" the day, and the moon and stars which "govern" the night, do so by their passage through the twelve signs of the Zodiac which completes the great circle of the heavens of 360 (12 x 30) degrees or divisions, and thus govern the year.

And finally, twelve is the product of 3 (the perfectly Divine and heavenly number) and 4 (the earthly, the number of what is material and organic).

Perfection in Government - now that's some new year's resolution.

December 2011

Now that we have been blessed with a granddaughter (with another on the way in March), I've begun choosing Parents over People in the check-out line or waiting in the doctor's office.   Besides looking for insights to pass along to both my daugther/mother and daughter/teacher, I also think secretly I look for examples of parenting behaviors that mimic our own.   See, that's what we did and you turned our OK!  One timely suggestion caught my eye with the holidays approaching and gift giving sometimes fraught with potentially embarrassing "out of the mouths of babes" comments:

Present Practice (age appropriate of course) - Wrap up a bunch of mundane stuff from around the house, then have your child open each and practice saying something good about it, e.g thank you so much for this box of tissues; it's my favorite color and it sure will come in handy.

November 2011

Love these daily HBR stats - this one made me sad knowing how few women influence the gridlock in DC. Hope you all had a great holiday.

When Women Began Voting, Budget Deficits Shrank
 Enfranchisement of women in Switzerland led to reductions in local budget deficits of between 139 and 148 Swiss francs per capita, say Signe Krogstrup and Sebastien Walti of the Swiss National Bank. Women's gradual enfranchisement in the country's 26 cantons from 1959 through 1990 enabled the researchers to examine the effect on local government spending. They speculate that the reasons for the declining deficits have to do with women's altruism, patience, and prudence toward risk.

October 2011

The Brand Building work in my practice emerges from discrete Stakeholder Intelligence projects.   Candid insights gained from selected and valued stakeholders - be they clients, referral sources, industry thought leaders, prospects, etc - create a sure-fire platform for open, honest and often wrenching discussion within a firm and, sometimes, a recognition that the current brand, core positioning and messaging no longer accurately communicates the firm's promise or "sweet spot."   In developing a presentation to launch the brand building process for a recent client, I often include unique examples of branding excellence - whether highlighting website design, spot-on messaging or truly memorable content.   I really liked Advertising for humaninity- www.advertisingforhumanity.com  

September 2011

Check out this month's issue of Forbes and The 100 Most Powerful Women - From Queen Elizabeth II, the only octogenarian to Lady Gaga, the youngest at 25 and the majority in their 50s and 60s.  

July 2011

Was on a flight to Dubai to visit my daughter and her family.   On the second leg from London, I had the pleasure of setting next to a young woman who is the Portfolio Development Director for the Abu Dhabi University Knowledge Group (similar to a Management Development & Training arm).   She had recently orchestrated a program built around a recently published book No regrets on Sunday - 7 days can change your life by Dr. Peter Hawkins.   She offered me a copy and I have already incorporated some of the valuable exercises into my coaching process. 

April 2011

Too many professional service firms fail to operate like businesses. They fail to set a competitively informed strategic vision.   They fail to make "achieving the Plan' an every day agenda item.  And, few firms have the culture or "character" to follow through on the important metrics - from revenue targets to client retention goals to performance excellence standards.  

The following rules come from the blog "Buzz Machine" about the "woes" of the newspaper industry - and the many warnings they neglected to heed.   Professional services firm should read and heed!

RULES FOR BUILDING A  SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MODEL

1. Tradition is not a business model. The past is no longer a reliable guide to future success.

2. “I want to” is not a business model.  When teaching "Becoming an entrepreneur" at the college level, students start with what they want to do. I'd quickly tell them that no one — except possibly their mothers — gives a damn what they want to do.  Rather, ask yourself "Who is my customer and what does she/he want and need and how can I provided it better than anyone else?"

3. Virtue is not a business model. Just because you do good does not mean you deserve to be paid for it.

4. No one cares what you spent. Arguing that news costs a lot is irrelevant to the market.

5. The only thing that matters to the market is value. What is your service worth to your customer?

6. Value is determined by need. What problem do you solve?

7. Disruption is the law of the jungle and the internet. If someone can do what you do cheaper, better, faster, they will.

8. Disrupt thyself. So find your weak underbelly before someone else discovers it. Or find someone else’s.

March 2011

RIP - Marie Eleanor LaRocque (March 18, l926 - March 28, 2011)

   

 Wife, mother, designer, teacher, advisor, comforter, friend and best snack maker! 

Mom, you left a legacy through your love for dad, Ray and me, our spouses and your grandchildren.  You showed your affection openly, often and unconditionally - you were always our greatest champion. You were the great listener, with a patient heart and creative spirit.  You loved Anne Marie and David as your own daughter and son.   You cared passionately about the happiness of your grandchildren and never judged their unique journeys.  Thanks mom - give dad a big hug and kiss from us all.

February 2011

Put simply, coaching is about improving performance.   One professional will retain a coach to help her/him achieve a personally crafted skills improvement/career development plan.   Another is offered the coaching relationship as a critical part of selective leadership program designed to groom high potential managers and executives.   A growing number of professionals are matched with a coach (retained by from the company) to help address performance issues raised in an annual review or a more extensive 360 evaluation.   In all three scenarios, performance improvement is the goal and the individual is deemed worthy of the investment. 

Particularly in the professional services arena, good service, a decent sales record and/or competency in a practice or industry specialty are mere minimum requirements to keep a position, let alone advance to the next stage.   Yet, the leap from normal, average, ho-hum to awesome and inspiring performance is often easier and faster than we believe.   

I really liked this somewhat old fashion advice I found visiting a number of leadership blogs. John Maxwell writes: "In the English language, only five little letters separate 'ordinary' from 'extraordinary:' . . . And while “extra” can be defined as “outside,” in English it also means “just a little bit more.”   The distance between ordinary & extraordinary is shorter than you think!  To close the gap, Maxwell suggests "extra effort," "extra time," and "extra help."  If you see a turtle on top of a fence post, you know it had help getting there!  We are all turtles on a fencepost. I know that I didn’t get to where I am in life on my own. I’m just not that smart, gifted, or fast. The truth is that those who reached “extraordinary” had help getting there. 

In most cases, the only barrier to achieving "extra"ordinary performance is failing to ask for – or accept – help to get off the fence.

January 2011

I recently came across a list of key challenges facing professional services firms:

  1. a stagnant market
  2. clients bringing more work inside
  3. clients shifting work to new service providers by contract (including significant discounts and value adds)
  4. most work that remains is priced less than before
  5. a growing mission by clients to push prices down even more over time.

It's hard enough for firm leaders think strategically, let alone effectively execute for strategic success.   But, in all fairness, few can predict where things are headed. Bruce Henderson, founder of the Boston Consulting Group, defines the challenge most succinctly:

"Strategy is a deliberate search for a plan of action that will develop a business's competitive advantage - and compound it."

How does your firm define its competitive advantage? Only once you know what makes you different from your competitors now, can you change where you are going.

November 2010

Yesterday, I was working with a long-standing client, finalizing the slide deck for a presentation we are making jointly at the upcoming NALP conference in DC in December.  This client has developed and executed a "best practices" client and business development education/skills training/coaching program that will soon turn five years old - and kicking quite sprightly, I might add!   Those legal industry readers among you surely recognize that a five year mark for any endeavor is itself a milestone.  Anyway, I've served as the program's outside business development coach/consultant to a growing number of senior associates and newly minted partners. 

As we reviewed each other's slides, they both (Directors of PD and Marketing) chuckled at the heading of one of my slides "Strong focus on relationship building and the "art of giving."  They have witnessed the ROI from this reciprocation principle - in their attorneys' proven ability to create more trusting relationships, spearhead long term collaboration and increase circles of influence.   While a pretty simple strategy, understanding its nuances and learning to behave/offer/respond accordingly can make the difference between a "one touch stand" and a mutually satisfying, forward looking relationship.

Then, this morning, my daily feed from HBR arrives with a particularly "on point" blog posting in The Conversation (HBR's home for inspired insights and observations from a wide array of contributors).   "Seize the Persuasive Moment after "Thank You" sites studies that have shown that if we give first, those we invest in will very often live up to their obligations - often in ways even greater than we hoped for.  The writer goes on to proffer that the real key to the reciprocity approach lies in how you phrase your "you're welcome"   Rather than "Hey, it's no problem, I was happy to help" respond with "happy to help - I know how valuable it would be to get your help if I ever need it." Or, to a client "You're most  welcome. It's what we at _______ do for our valued clients."

So, the way to optimize this well documented psychological phenomenon is to offer help and assistance first and then respond in a manner that is honest but purposeful to encourage a natural give and take process.

October 2010

I subscribe to Law.com's Corporate Counsel DAILY ALERT.  I appreciate the "story format" and the often humorous delivery.  I don't always agree with Rees Morrison's views but I'm always entertained by his "spot on" style.   His Friday, 10/15 posting was classic, if not horrifying!!!   It's amusing enough to learn of attorney Crider's archaic invoice modus operandi, but having him promote it as a "best practice" - well, I think this joke may be on Simpson Thatcher. There's one hell of a new business opportunity here for a fast acting, client-centered attorney!!!! an-old-fashioned-client-disrespecting-view-by-a-well-known-law-firm-of-invoice-information

September 2010

A coaching client recently shared a favorite e-newsletter.   It's a gem so I thought I'd pass it along.

Since we are on the topic of strong, smart, powerful women, the Millennium trilogy showcases a rare one indeed - Lisbeth Salander. The Glass Hammer : Career advice, jobs and networking for professional women

June 2010

Here is another example of effective follow-up to a Client Feedback initiative launched by a leading design and engineering firm.

The firm interviewed 10 of its key clients from varying specialties (land use, design, construction) to document their perceptions of the firm's strengths and weaknesses in Customer Service - from the first phone contact to completion of a project. 

The President held an off-site Management Retreat to lay the groundwork for a group problem solving and solution building process. 

Following a presentation of the "results" from the client interview program, three cross functional teams were formed from the total group of three Vice Presidents/Project Leaders; seven Project Managers; several project assistants, the Office Manager, the Controller and the President.  The initial charge to each group was to:

  1. Identify the root causes of the issues raised by clients;
  2. Brainstorm for potential solutions;
  3. Organize the improvement needs in specific action plans designed to achieve one or more of the following:
    • Better identify client needs
    • Improve client communication
    • Increase accessibility of project staff
    • Provide proactive updates and solutions to issues
    • Ensure project quality
    • Provide clients with periodic updates on the financial status of projects.

Each team reported back to the larger group and after several hours of discussion and gut-wrenching introspection, the group crafted a firm-wide Customer Service Goal and Road Map to guide them through the various stages of a year-long change process.

April 2010

Greetings from Dubai, UAE!  And sincere apologies for the time lapse since my last post.  My husband and I are visiting our daughter and her husband and first grandchild, Zoe Simone.  Although still technically winter in Dubai, spring has arrived early (high 90s) but it's a welcome reprieve from the recent monsoons that plagued Rhode Island and much of the northeast.   But, we will be long gone when Dubai's high summer temperatures average 115+.

So, let's get back to my - "best practices" series . .

I'm still amazed how few firms place the voice of their clients at the core of their business planning and on-going brand building programs.  I'm even more perplexed by the number of firms that make the highly strategic decision to launch a client feedback initiative yet, after the amount of time (client time and firm time) and money spent, still fail to follow-up on client insights, suggestions, criticisms and requests.   Thankfully, having specialized in this area for almost three decades, I've also witnessed some "best", if not "great", practices when it comes to timely and on-point follow-up and follow through.    Let me share one.

A visionary Managing Partner (of a once sleepy but now a market savvy firm) crafted an off-site Partner Retreat with one and only one agenda item - to review the "top line learnings" from face-to-face interviews conducted with over 30 of the firm's most valued clients (and over 70 individual client contacts).   His goal was to set a course for implementing firm-wide improvements necessary to fulfill (really!) the firm's long-standing promise of excellence in client service, satisfaction and loyalty.  Gaining agreement among the partnership of identifying these essential changes drove the discussion and presentation format of the entire retreat program.   He and the executive committee member, who served as "partner in charge" of the Client Feedback Program, opened the Retreat with the following (distilled) message:

 And that's exactly what this visionary Managing Partner accomplished!

March 2010

Today’s posting trumped the one planned.   After all, what better example of a “best practice” than a practice going from “worse” to “best” in one day.  Now, that’s a sweet turnaround.  I’m referring to the recent about face by the Association of Corporate Counsel to allow law firms to gain access to client satisfaction information that ACC members enter about their firm.   Until last week, ACC’s strong position was “we created the ACC Value Index as a member service, so by definition, it (client reviews of law firms) is available only to ACC members.”   

Since its launch in September, 2008, much criticism has been levied on the ACC Value Challenge initiative, and its centerpiece, the Value Index, by law firms, legal pundits and consultants, like myself, who have spent years helping law firms improve client satisfaction and loyalty by asking for and acting on candid client feedback.  Thus, we believed that the Value Index was fundamentally flawed because the performance feedback it solicits from in-house lawyers isn’t shared with the law firms being evaluated.    How can inside and outside counsel find better alignment, more effective value/cost solutions and greater client satisfaction if the very feedback that ACC is collecting is kept secret from the law firms being reviewed and evaluated?

Improvement comes from the knowledge and understanding of how and why an individual client’s expectations have been exceeded or barely met.  Anonymous feedback creates frustration; no feedback renders one totally impotent.

So, while many still argue the “ultimate value” of the Value Index in achieving the purported firm/client alignment, I commend the ACC.   Apparently, ACC representatives MET and TALKED with law firms and other key stakeholders in the process and then ACTED on the candid feedback gained.    MEET – TALK – ACT - now that’s a “best practice.”  

Note:  The ACC is the largest bar association for in-house counsel with 25,000 members representing 10,000 companies/not-for-profits and 70 countries with plans to expand internationally.  In September, 2008, it launched the ACC Value Challenge initiative that seeks to reconnect the cost of legal services to the value provided.  A major component of the ACC Value Challenge initiative is the ACC Value Index, a client satisfaction measurement tool that helps ACC members share meaningful information about the value they get from their outside counsel.   Visit www.acc.com/valuechallenge or more information.

 

February 2010

Given the current demands we all face to do more with less - less money, less time, less guidance, less staff - I decided to focus on "best practices" over the next few weeks.   It's been my experience that the most effective marketing and client development strategies and tactics (those that deliver the highest ROI) are spawned during lean times - when doing the "best for less" is a requirement, not an option.  Creativity, accountability and collaboration rule the day during lean times!

And, what better way to launch this "best practices" series than by showcasing a couple of close friends/colleagues who have spent the greater part of their careers leading, mentoring and inspiring legions of legal marketers over the past 25 years.  Elonide Semmes, President of RightHat and Norm Rubenstein, Partner in Zeughauser Group - along with their New Orleans colleague, Ann Wallace - delivered a most timely and relevant presentation on January 12th to the Baton Rouge City Group of the Legal Marketing Association.  Here are their "hot off the press" best practices:

  1. Control the first impressions a prospect receives.  Is your firm's brand distinctive? Memorable?  Does it match proposal content, lobby-look, website?
  2. Bring the voice of the client into the firm.  Use the value of client service interviews to drive change.
  3. Distinguish and institutionalize your clients' service experience.  Convert satisfaction to loyalty.
  4. Base your strategy on external research, not only lawyer opinions. Include market, practice/industry, competitor and client-specific research.
  5. Communicate relentlessly, succinctly and clearly.  Provide added value and concrete take-aways with each alert or seminar.
  6. Think ROI. Continually re-evaluate your marketing and business development. Review metrics monthly.
  7. Embrace technology and social networking.  Use each to differentiate your firm. 
  8. Demonstrate thought leadership.  Repurpose your intellectual property.
  9. Get involved.  Maximize industry involvement, community service and pro bono.
  10. Integrate it all - communications, business development and marketing.

January 4, 2010 - Launch of website and Sweet Spots

Designed for my clients, colleagues, friends, prospects and other interested visitors – Sweet Spots will offer personal insights, observations, research findings, references to selected thought leaders and links to inspiring and relevant sites/books/articles or blogs. And, as it should be, these regular postings will center on what I know best - my personal Sweet Spots – Customized Coaching, Stakeholder Intelligence and Brand Building. Only occasionally will I digress and simply share a favorite family recipe.

So, why Sweet Spots, you may ask?

Google “sweet spot” and you’ll discover a myriad of obvious, interesting, if not quite surprising definitions - from mouth-watering confections to the ideal numerical combination to the optimal sound and listening field.

For the sports enthusiasts among us, however, sweet spot means but one thing. Whether a weekend warrior or recognized athlete driven to daily doses of tennis, baseball or golf (can many among us really afford daily doses of golf?), we have each successfully found that optimal place on the racket, bat or club head to send that ball on the best trajectory possible – that moment when everything in life just falls into its perfect place. Sadly, my own experience with such “endorphin filled” moments is quite limited and I suspect, at my age, they will remain so.

But, in business – and the professional services business, in particular - sweet spot refers to a service, product, strategy or niche practice that embodies an optimum combination of features and benefits resulting in a market perception that defines it as “best in class” – seasoned, practical, innovative, client-customized, best people, cost effective – and simply the most valued and sought after. In relation to life-cycle, a sweet spot can sustain growth (and profits) indefinitely when its features/benefits are continually enhanced and differentiated from similar offerings of competitors. As long as it consistently exceeds buyer expectations, a sweet spot remains a competitive advantage.

Market leading firms have long understood that securing a competitive advantage hinges on first confirming the expectations and demands of desired buyers and then recognizing their unique capacity to exceed these on a consistent basis. They undertake an unflinching, and often painful, internal assessment of what makes them unique in the marketplace and then they confirm these findings with current and prospective buyers - repeatedly.

And, most important, true market leaders accept the fact that sophisticated buyers don’t believe that each and every service, product, strategy or niche practice that their firms offer are “best in class.” Market leaders know their sweet spot and invest heavily in sustaining that coveted competitive advantage.

So . . . What’s your sweet spot?