Change is constant. No matter what aspect of your life, business or personal, nothing is ever set in stone… forever and ever amen. Obviously, there are millions of variables, situations and degrees of severity but change always demands some form of adaptability and managing change is a necessary skill to develop. 

You can say change is like… well… change. It’s all around you; piled in your vehicles’ cup holders, filled in a glass on your office desk, jingling in your pockets or spread across your home in dishes, drawers and under couch cushions. Left unmanaged, it will become overwhelming.  You might say managing any kind of change, physical or monetary requires your constant attention.

Over these last few months, we’ve had a fair bit of change to deal with ourselves. We are getting more and more requests to look after our clients’ social media, we have a new guy on the ground in Montreal, an additional programmer and our long time head of promotions and administration just retired.

We’ve brought in Kate, who has years of experience in project management and the print industry. We are taking this opportunity to develop new systems to help us improve our efficiency and internal communications. I will be taking over some additional duties so that we can even out the workload. I’m looking forward to changing up my routine a little and seeing how the new hires all fit in. I’ll keep you posted with our progress…

I would just like to say, “Welcome aboard Nick, Kate and Rachael and all the best to you Robin, as you begin your retirement and a new life journey!”

I have a button. When it’s pressed alarms go off, temperatures rise and composure slips away. If I am told to do something that I believe is fundamentally wrong, I have a pretty hard time with it. I fight back, sometimes kicking and screaming. I take it personal.  I’m learning to be more diplomatic and in the end, stand up for what I believe in without alienating my client in the process.

Like most things, experience is the best teacher, followed closely or in tandem with trusting your instincts. Most people have a hard time accepting a thought or idea that is fresh, as there is no physical reference for them to gauge whether it is good or bad. Most people are reference thinkers. If it hasn’t been done before, they are sceptical and most revert to the safer, less daring approach. The opposite is usually what is required, so you do need to be a bit stubborn to be in a business where you are creating customized solutions.

No matter what profession you’re in, you need the confidence in your abilities to do the right thing for your client, especially when they are struggling with a direction. It’s our job to guide them. When you spend a lot of your energy developing a solution, its human nature to get a bit defensive when someone challenges you and wants to send you in a totally new direction you can’t get behind. What I’ve learned over the years follows:

• If you are hired as a professional for guidance, you have an obligation to provide that guidance especially when it is challenged.
• If your client is challenging your solution, there is a legitimate reason they are not comfortable moving ahead. Don’t start over; just listen more carefully as often a tweak to the original plan will bring it all together.
• Don’t ever think you have all the answers but be confident in communicating the facts you know to be true and be open to and encourage collaboration with your client.
• Communicate in person whenever possible to get the plan back on track. You and your client will benefit from the extra effort made to resolve the hurdles you need to, face-to-face.

 Lee’s Quote for the Day

“Gaining your customer’s trust is the most valuable aspect of any business relationship. It may seem a bit like climbing Mount Everest, but when you finally get there, it’s worth every step of the journey”

On a call the other day I had someone comment they were the “incredible shrinking company”. Although a few industries proved to be recession proof, most of us had to take a hard look at our business and make significant changes to ensure sustainability.

I value old sayings like “When the going gets tough, the tough get going” and “Necessity is the mother of invention”. The immediacy of shrinking business revenues forces us to take the actions necessary to get our business back on track. And for the majority, it’s been a dramatic transition from where we were just a short time ago.

From my experience and listening to the views of other business owners and managers, there are 10 basic fundamentals that most agree on.

1. If you don’t love what you do develop an immediate plan to get out, however painful.
2. If you used to love what you do but are in a “recessional funk”, do a reboot and reenergize with a clear vision and action plan complete with time lines and task champions.
3. Communicate your concise vision to your entire team and for those who don’t get it in a timely manner, politely suggest a new and exciting career path for them …outside your organization.
4. Address every hurdle keeping you from achieving your goals and take action, take action, take action!
5. Treat your people, customers and suppliers like they matter most.
6. Fine tune your menu of services through the “good to great” criteria. What are you passionate about? What are you best at? What gives you the best economic return? You need all three firmly in place for the best results.
7. If you are a generalist, fully understand this “convenience sell” from a customer perspective and make sure you have conquerable levels of quality across your diversified service mix. Good execution of one can win you another. Poor execution of one can cost you everything.
8. If you are a specialist, make sure your niche offering is still relevant. Sometimes a recession causes a slowdown that a recovering economy corrects and sometimes there is a permanent swing that doesn’t swing back.
9. There are many new ways to reach your existing and future customers. Experiment and assess what works best for you.
10. Make sure your product is solid, your message is compelling and you assign the proper resources to deliver it to your market with clarity, consistency and confidence.

Lee’s Quote for the day:
“If you always start with your toughest task first, the rest of your day can’t help but get easier”