Specialize or Generalize

Specialize or Die! That is the marketing message pounded into us all the time. And while there is some truth to that, many people go too far. They burrow down a hole leading to irrelevancy.

Let me give you an example: An engineering student studies waste water treatment plants in university. He gets a job with a large city in the Southwest designing expansions to their treatment plants. The specific problems of a desert environment catch his attention, and so our engineer takes courses and reads books on recycling water, minimizing evaporation, and handling the biennial floods from the summer rain in the mountains. At 45 years old he knows everything about this treatment plant.

After a two year project to enter his knowledge into a new computer with Artificial Intelligence, he is let go. Unemployed, he only knows about the technical details of one desert waste water treatment plant. But now there’s an app for that.

Meanwhile his buddy also got his degree in engineering. But instead of specializing, he broadened his post university education by learning management skills, how to negotiate, budgeting for his department, and computer control systems of large public works such as dams, landfills, and water treatment plants.

When an opening comes up for a project manager to build an integrated waste water treatment plant/city park irrigation project, who do you think will get the job? That is right. The one who is less specialized.

This very thing happened to me in the surveillance business. My company was designing and outfitting a surveillance aircraft. It would serve as a demonstrator to the market of our capabilities. I was chosen to be the design team leader.

Was I the most knowledgeable engineer? No.

Did I understand the advanced electronics better than the technicians? Not hardly.

From maintenance, was I the best aircraft mechanic or sheet metal worker on the team. Nope.

Then why was I chosen? Because I knew enough about each facet to talk and negotiate between parties. Plus I knew how to manage costs and motivate people.

So, while I knew less than any of the specialists, I was paid more.

In your career, specialize enough to become a competent practitioner. But also learn something about finance, marketing, personnel, pricing, and customer service.

 

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

-Robert A. Heinlein

Small Businesses: You Are in Danger of Losing Your Secrets!

I got my first introduction to corporate intelligence activities when I rotated out of the Army in 1978. During my out-processing I got a call from a recruiter asking if I’d consider working in Africa for a multinational oil company. This oil giant hired ex-paratroopers to fight off rebels in various Third World locations.

Being newly married and wanting to start my college education, I declined. But the thought of corporations with private intelligence services and security forces continued to fascinate me.

In 1996, I went to work in Angola for one of these oil giants. Flying a small twin-engined surveillance plane, we gathered infra-red imagery every night, processed and analyzed it, then delivered a finished product to the oil company, the host nation, and our own government’s embassy.

I continued this type work in Northern Colombia until the end of 1997. With only this experience I thought these corporate intelligence units only targeted threats to their infrastructure such as the communist rebels. As I moved up in management I found out that small competitors were one of the main targets.

Some of these intel operations are legal and ethical, others not so much. I saw everything from digging copies of financial statements out of the dumpster to round-the-clock photo surveillance of competitors’ executives trying to catch them in indiscretions.

Today, these activities persist, yet smaller companies still don’t realize what easy targets they are to the big boys. If they would only ask themselves:

• How do the big companies always beat our bids and win the big contracts?
• How do they come out with a product similar to ours so quickly?
• Why did our best customer go over to the big boys?

The answer is that the smaller companies failed to guard their company secrets.

Today’s business environment forces smaller companies to struggle to stay in business. They must get lean, remain flexible, and price their product better than the big boys. But because they have left out the intelligence function, either the business fails or is gobbled up.

The answer: Small business must learn about Counter-Intelligence. I preach the benefits of each small business starting and maintaining a Competitive Intelligence Unit. Often, each dollar spent on intel will bring a return on investment of 10 to 1. But most small companies resist. However, if they won’t gather intel, at least a business must practice some defensive measures or their expensive R&D, proprietary pricing structure, and/or their customer list will be “on the street” before long.

With some simple Counter-Intelligence training, a company can ramp up the difficulty level of collection against them by a factor of 20. Here are some tips to put into use today.

• Stamp all sensitive documents “Company Confidential.” Any documents so marked must be shredded, not just thrown away. These documents must not leave the premises.
• All laptops, iPads, thumb drives, and smart phones must have password protection to start them up. Many security versions will erase all data if a password is attempted more than five times.
• Do not view documents, Power Point presentations, drawings, or spreadsheets on your laptop or iPad in public places. Many airlines have cameras in the ceilings to record computer screen shots. One of my friends specializes in stalking executives and getting photos of computer screens from a hundred feet away.
• Do not go over your presentation on the plane on the way to a meeting. Your competitor may be sitting right next to you. When I worked for one corporation, they would spend lots of money to have an airline put one of our operatives next to traveling CEO’s and CFO’s.

The next step is to schedule counter-elicitation training for your scientists, accountants, executives, and anyone with confidential knowledge. But that is for another post.

Small Business Executive: Don’t be so cost conscious that you save a couple of thousand dollars on training but allow millions of dollars worth of R&D, marketing plans, customer lists, and financial projections to fly out the door.

 

 

Does Networking to find a Job “Work” Anymore?

I spend way too much time on discussion groups, especially the threads where unemployed talk about their job hunting experiences. Since I’m a job coach, I use the excuse that I must research the market.

One post the other day tore at my heart. This person bluntly posited that because people have become hard-hearted, Networking no longer works. They talked of their experience  contacting scores of relatives and old friends asking for help, and receiving none. This job hunter said that all these prosperous people could help him, but “they just don’t care.”

Networking is such an important business function that I think there should be at least one course in High School. Instead ignorance of Networking rules. This job hunter is just one example of the lack of understanding of what a Network is, and how a Network functions.

Let me give you an example:

If you went out in your back yard and dug up a patch of dirt, then tried to pick vegetables that same day, most people would think you were crazy. Yet that is exactly what this job hunter above was doing. We all know the process of farming.

1. The farmer clears the land.   Back breaking work. But does he get vegetables yet? No.
2. He plows.   Hot, dust work. What reward does he get? None (yet).
3. He sows the seed.   Costs money and time. Still no veggies.
4. He tends his field by pulling out weeds, watering his plants, and adding fertilizer.   There are signs of life, but still no harvest.
5. After about 90 days, he begins to pick corn, tomatoes, and onions.

Your network is no different. You must work your network, develop contacts, nurture those contacts, and give to those contacts. One can no more immediately harvest from their network than he can gather his harvest in just a week from his garden.

Wisdom continues to tell us: “Whatever you sow, that shall you also reap.”

What must you sow in your Network to allow you to reap? You must be a Giver before you can be  a Receiver. Then, after you have proven to your Network that you are a giver, your Network will move heaven and earth to help you. You must invest lots of work before you get paid. Just like the farmer. Just like the fisherman.

So how does one go about helping their Network?

First, you must get out of yourself and think about others. The next thing is that you must clear your mind of keeping score. I can guarantee that you will almost never get the help you need from the person you have helped. But someone else who has heard about you, perhaps someone you’ve never met, will put in that kind word that will spring you to the front of the line for your Dream Job.

Next, do not concentrate on the powerful people in your Network, the ones who can help you immediately. They will see your selfish motive and you will appear grasping. Instead, help anyone in your Network who needs you. I’ve listed a few things for you to think about below.

• Drive a sick widow to her cancer treatment.
• Send a referral to one of your contacts.
• Clip an article and send it to someone in your Network.
• Call a buddy who’s down on his luck and offer encouragement. Everyone needs encouragement.
• Send a thank you note. A real note. Not an email.
• Offer to bring food, set up tables, or clean up at your next Networking function.

All of this sounds counter-intuitive to finding a job, but it is not! By getting out of yourself and helping others, you will banish the mild depression that comes from unemployment. Your confidence with soar, and Hiring Managers are first of all looking for confident people. But Hiring Managers most of all are looking for good people.

If you want to see how this Networking thing works, look at someone planning to run for President. They spend 2 to 4 years fundraising and campaigning all over the country for low level officials in their party to build up good will. Those years of hard work pay off when they rocket out of “nowhere” to win their party’s nomination for President.

Contact people you know. Just talk, don’t ask for help. And don’t tell them you are unemployed unless it just comes up naturally in the conversation.

Always end the conversation with: “Is there anything I can do to help you?”If they tell you, then do it! Make it happen.

Work in your Network and in due time it will reward you more than you can ever imagine. Upgrade your Character to be a Giver and your Network will repay you many multiples of what you’ve put in.

 

Review of “The Dark Arts of Business: Elicitation” by Wayne Taylor

The art of Elicitation is as old as humanity. One definition of elicitation is:

“The art of gaining information during conversation without the subject being aware that he is giving it.”

However, for most of our history it was only taught to royalty and top military leaders. This helped the aristocracy maintain its power. There are records of this in Europe, China, and Japan. In the 1800’s the art was formalized into a set of rules and techniques and has been part of an intelligence officer’s training ever since.

Wayne Taylor, a retired Strategic Counter-Intelligence officer, offers us an “Elicitation for Dummies” version of this very complex people skill.

Starting with the example of how we have all been puzzled after driving out of a car dealership with a more expensive car than we went there to buy, he explains how business has included these precepts into our purchasing experiences.  Classic elicitation can be described as targeting and individual who:

• Probably has the information you desire
• May or may not admit to having the information
• May or may not be willing to share the information
• Should not know that you are even interested in the information.

Then, using Human Nature (for example the Desire to Teach) you plant thoughts so that your target can correct your “misconception”.

Complex concepts such as the “Onion Theory” of personality are simplified and inserted into Conversation Mapping.

Then Mr. Taylor brings out the tactics. The first one is the hardest. Devilishly hard. If you seek to elicit information you must quash your ego and LISTEN. You can’t play the “Oh, my story is even better” game that we are all so good at. To gain trust and rapport, we must listen 80% and only talk 20%.

We humans are full of needs and desires. These are levers that a good listener can use to move the conversation into the funnel leading to that nugget of intel desired. For example, after talking with someone for just a few seconds, one should be able to figure out that this person desires recognition. A small bit of flattery can unleash a flood of information.

Some of the levers Taylor discusses are:

• The Desire to Correct a Mistake.
• The Desire to Teach.
• The Desire for Recognition.
• The Desire to Gossip.
• Curiosity.
• Underestimating your listener’s Needs.

Then he matches tactics to use with these needs.

• Flattery
• False Statements
• Secret Knowledge
• A Provocative Statement
• Naïveté
• Repeat-a-word (Active Listening)
• The Instinct to Complain.

While this is a simplistic book talking about a topic that agents spend years studying and practicing, it is useful to a business person who may not realize how much information they give out during each day. With better situational awareness, a research engineer, accountant, or executive can tell if they are being manipulated to divulge company confidential information.

For a salesman or CEO, this primer can give the basic understanding to set a goal for conversations, map out the paths, and manage the flow of information to their advantage.

This book is well worth the $7.95 price for the Kindle version on Amazon.com.

 

 

What Does the Drawdown in Afghanistan Mean for Contractors

No one knows the future. But we can sometimes give out a pretty good guess. Even thought logic would scream out that private military contractors based in Afghanistan (AFG) will be going home with the troops, I don’t think it will work out that way.

Let’s take a look at the factors that will influence the PMC job situation:

• The US Government is running out of money.
• Multinational Corporations are hungry for the resources in the region.
• Afghanistan is the crossroads of Southwest Asia.
• Afghanistan grows more poppies and produces more opium than any other country.
• Religious fanatics will continue to attempt to disrupt business, education, government, and resource extraction.
• There will be continued unrest in Iran.

With the US Gov’t out of money, they must pull back the soldiers. Using his oratorical skills, Obama has put the best face on this ugly truth. No leader likes to admit they can no longer play the “Great Game”. (I sometimes think the world leaders enjoy military operations, even when we have no vested interests.)

This would lead one to wager that contractor budgets would be cut right along with the military. The government will play a smaller bit in the ongoing drama, but contractor budgets can get hidden in USAID, CIA, DEA, and UN budgets. The US Gov’t won’t completely get out of the PMC business.

The second, and larger factor is the Multinational Corporations. These are big players. And they are not just American companies. Japanese, Chinese, and Australian groups are also operating in the area. We have known for years about the giant oil fields to the north of AFG in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and other ‘stans. To get that oil to market, they must build pipelines. And, as crazy as it seems, the corporate planners see AFG as more stable than running a pipeline through Russia or Iran. So they plan to construct a series of pipelines running south through AFG and Pakistan to the Arabian Sea.

But it is not only oil. During this war, enough area has been pacified that prospectors have been in areas never really searched for minerals. Rich veins of chromite, iron ore, copper, gold, and coal have been discovered. And those are just the ones we know about. With AFG so close to India and China, this new treasure takes on even more importance.

So, as the budgets shrink for the military to fund military contractors, the corporations will step up and spend the money they must to protect their investments in the region. The threats of illicit drug crops and smuggling, religious warfare, and Iranian destabilization will not go away any time soon. These corporations cannot and will not desert the region due to the riches of the resources and the strategic position of the country.

Just as we have seen in Colombia and the Congo, lack of government, illegal activities, and even low intensity warfare will not drive out multinationals set on extracting natural resources. The corporations will pay for protection, and this is how is should be. The American taxpayer should not be paying for pacification and nation building so that Chinese and Japanese mining companies can prosper.

Corporations can and should pay for their own security forces. So, for all my buddies still out there in the Sand Box, the name at the top of your paycheck may change, but there will be jobs for shooters, pilots, managers, mechanics, and intel specialists for the next 25 years.

Using Intelligence Principles to Increase Sales

Every business owner wants to increase sales. More sales equals more money. Expanding the top line “covers a multitude of sins” as my grandmother used to say. She was the perfect combination bible teacher and business woman.

She knew that when you have more and more sales, you can make small mistakes with hiring or have a bit higher expense ratios because you are making lots of money. But when your sales are shrinking, your business is dying. One small hiring mistake and your small business could be done.

Growing up, I sat at the table and heard both my father and my maternal grandmother talk about business concepts like cash flow, profit and loss, marketing, and sales. I’d hear it at home during the week and at Grandma’s house on the weekend. For those of you with young children, those five year olds really are listening to your adult conversations even when you think they are too young.

So, we are starting a series on Using Intelligence Principles to Increase Sales.

The first Intelligence Principle we’re going to talk about is “Rapport”. The English were too lazy to think up an equal term so they just stole this is a French word which means:

“A relationship in which people understand each other and can communicate easily.”

Sales work in the intel business meant recruiting an agent or flipping an enemy officer. When gathering information, spies use all means available. Wiretapping, reading emails and faxes, monitoring the enemy’s movements, and satellite imagery. But the best intel always comes from a human source. For example, the butler of the king could give you much better intel than a $150 million satellite. So agents are often tasked with recruiting.

And the first job of recruiting is to establish rapport.

Many times this is a difficult thing to establish, since the recruiter comes from America and the prospect from an entirely different culture. So we were taught to look for things we had in common. If you were going to recruit a colonel in the Soviet GRU, you would not send a person who’d never been in the military. Instead you’d send a Special Forces officer. Most likely one who had served in some of the same cities.

This same principle works in the civilian world, yet we so often ignore this thing we call “Rapport.” Your first job as a salesman is to build rapport. That means being comfortable with each other and able to speak each others’ language. Both the buyer and seller will know something about the product, so that is a first anchor. But to build quick rapport, you need to set another hook, and that most often comes from a common hobby or outside interest.

Gather Intel

Find out everything you can about your customer. Perform a thorough internet search, a background check, and perhaps send a person to the customer’s home town to interview some of the folks who know him or her. Put together a folder with everything you’ve found. Analyze this material and then find the salesperson who most likely will be able to build rapport.

EXAMPLE: Say your prospect is a sports fan. Never misses a pro basketball game. The prospect played basketball in college, and displays a trophy in his office. Would you send a salesperson who never played sports? Of course not.

This seems like an obvious example, yet companies send in mismatched salespeople all the time.

Plan the Approach

Before they send the chosen salesperson out on a sales call, executives and senior sales managers must meet with the chosen salesperson and develop a strategy. Often your best, or only, sales rep doesn’t have anything in common with the prospect. Then it’s time to bone up on yachting, collectible knives, greyhounds, or whatever your prospect has a passion for. Reading a couple of books on the subject will give your salesperson a working vocabulary.

One big sale I know of, the CEO needed to make the pitch for a fifty million dollar sale. Since the sale was so big, the prospect would only be interested in talking with the boss. But this CEO was totally mismatched with this buyer. The CEO came from an ranching background, but the buyer was a city boy devoted to a pro football team. So, the CEO couldn’t even get an appointment. He need to build rapport even before he could get in the door.

After gathering intel, and seeing what a big piece football played in the life of the buyer, their sales team came up with a plan.

The CEO sent the buyer a ticket by FEDEX to an away game of his favorite team. The note with the ticket said, “I’ll pick you up in our corporate jet at 10 am Sunday morning.” Of course the buyer agreed. Now the CEO knew that he couldn’t talk football with the customer, so he brought along someone else.

When the jet taxied up at the private terminal to pick up the buyer, a famous retired running back opened the door from inside the jet and motioned for the buyer to get in. The CEO had paid this running back a thousand dollars to spend the day with them. The buyer talked to his idol all the way to and during the game. The CEO chimed in occasionally, letting the rapport from the running back rub off onto him.

On the way home, the running back took the airlines, and the CEO and buyer were alone in the cabin. During the 90 minute trip back, the buyer signed the contract.

Buyers are people, and  they have preferred activities and strong opinions. Use the proven methods of intel collection and analysis to get to know your buyers. And then you can approach them the way they want to be approached. Rapport is nothing more than getting the buyer to know you and to like you. Then, they will be ready to hear your pitch.

Back to Work

Took a couple of days off to take my wife, the elder daughter, my SIL, and the grandson to Sea World in San Antonio. Wow, was it hot and dry!

But we had a good time. My grandson is a hoot. He is just two and he enjoys going to the arcade. He hasn’t figured out that the games need money. We just move the controls and watch the graphics. He loves it. I know that won’t last.

Tomorrow my younger daughter is coming down to see me for Father’s Day. Busy weekend.

So, I am looking forward to getting back to work on Monday. Before I took Thursday and Friday off, I set up a new account on Speakermatch.com. This is supposed to be the site where all the meeting planners go to find speakers.

It took a bit longer to set up than I thought it would, and I still have a few things missing from my profile. I’ll let you know about the flood of bookings I get!

Happy Father’s Day.

 

Dave

The Summer Blahs

Central Texas is roasting. We are suffering through the worst drought in many years. Every day the temp soars to 1oo+ degrees, and I have a hard time getting motivated to do anything.

But while talking to one of my coaching clients this morning, I realized that this is the time we have got to be working, and working hard. You see, he commented that everything in the economy looked down right now. He and his buddies are looking for work, and the assets they have for sale on e-bay are not moving either. My gut feeling told me he was right, but then I knew I had to encourage him (and myself!).

Those of you who live in the North have those months of snow during January-March where not much happens. Same thing here in Texas, except it is heat, and our slow months are right now. Anyone with any money or any sense is up in Colorado or Idaho enjoying the cooler weather.

Even though there aren’t many clients pushing to get in my door, this slow time is the perfect opportunity to read that marketing course I bought this spring and to write in my Blog. Of course, my white board is covered with ideas for six more books; three fiction, three non-fiction. All I have to do is sit down and write them.

So I am off to finish the novel, and then I’ll start the next book.

Please leave me a comment.

Dave

Just got my new website up.

I have been transitioning to the life of an author and speaker. At the first of May I started a re-write of my website. What a mess that turned into!

But I have rounded the corner and I’m getting my building blocks into place. I try to build a page or two a day along with marketing my books and speaker services. However, my writing output has suffered. In fact it has been almost zero.

During the last 6 weeks I have given two speeches and a book signing. And I got a couple of coaching clients and some good contacts.

One morning I attended a job club for those over 50 years old. There were over 100 people there. I guess the one thing that struck me was the poor attitudes of the attendees. Since this was going to be a networking function, I wore business clothes. Wrong move. Showing up in good clothes and bearing a briefcase, I might as well have been wearing a giant sign bearing the words “Evil Capitalist.” I am not kidding. These “job seekers” were dressed in ratty shorts and flip flops. Some of the women were in what appeared to be pajamas!

The microphone was passed around and about six folks told of losing their jobs. It reminded me of being in prison in that when you talk to the inmates, they are all innocent! And as for these unemployed, they were all wonderful employees doing a wonderful job when they were laid off by the evil capitalists greedy for more money. The pessimism was so thick, I couldn’t breathe.

After the presentation, which centered around getting more unemployment benefits instead of getting jobs, one of the attendees cornered me. He started questioning me about why the rich weren’t willing to pay more taxes to support folks like himself. Within a short time, our discussion expanded into several political areas and those at my table let me know that my opinions of personal responsibility, private ownership, and low taxes were  unacceptable.

As the discussion heated up, I felt it was time to leave.

But what future does a 50+ year old have who has a confrontational attitude, dresses like a hippy, and hates capitalism? What employer will hire them?

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