Work is hard these days! Decisions need to be made quickly and correctly! You need to be GREAT on every project for EVERY client! Accounts Receivables are growing for most companies! Exceeding expectations is now the standard!
A few weeks ago my day started (as it does often) with a 6:00am call with Steve Schlesinger. For those of you who don’t know Steve, he is President of Schlesinger Associates, the largest qualitative company in the world. He is very bright and most days (unless we are talking about the NY Giants) has a good point of view. During our discussion we spoke about the economy and the current environment and how challenging it is to increase your business these days. How challenging it is to increase or maintain your profit margin. We both came to the conclusion that this is probably the hardest time in our business lives and frankly might be the hardest time of our business lives if you include the next 25 years.
A few hours later I had a conversation with Lance Hoffman from Opinion Access Corp (OAC). OAC is a very large quantitative company. During our discussion it led us to almost the same points that I had earlier with Steve. Together we agreed it was time we embraced the challenge! We were looking forward to rising to the occasion. Frankly anyone and any company could have and should have made money in most of the 80’s and 90’s but now that isn’t the case. The companies that will increase their revenue, increase their margins and keep their clients happy are far and few in between.
Lance and I spoke about it as being the bottom of the 9th and you are down by two runs, bases are loaded and you are up to bat. A double wins you the game, while a strike out…and you go home after losing the game.
- What are you going to do?
- What decisions are you going to make these days?
- How are you going to handle the pressure?
Even though the year just began I am energized, in fact really energized. Â I have taken the economy as a personal challenge and met it head on. By the way, Steve and Lance are the same way. To me this is a real challenge and will test my ability:
- As a leader
- As a strategist
- As a motivator
- As a business executive
My hope is that my friends, peers and industry contacts feel the same way Steve, Lance and I do. We are up for the challenge and look forward to coming to work each and every day to move the business forward.
- Do you feel the same way?
- Care to join the three of us on this journey?
- Steve/Lance, anything you want to add?
I look forward to reading your comments and insight.
Paul Kirch says:
Merrill – as a competitor, I know you’re up for the challenge. This is a challenging time, but it has potential to be the most exciting. Things will turn around in this country and this industry. In your post, I was reading, waiting for the word which is key… Strategy. You mentioned being testing your ability as a good strategist. I have witnessed firms so focused on revenue they have forgotten about strategy. Yes, revenue is very important right now, but if you lose site of being creative, strategic and focused on being the best, when the dust settles the lowest price providers are not going to come out on top. Everyone’s under price pressure right now, which is logical. I still believe, however, companies should be focused on a strategy. How many firms can TRULY differentiate themselves? Yes, you have things you might be better at, but are they truly unique? Better yet, do your clients care? Many believe they have a compelling story, but their competitor just walked out of a meeting with your client telling him/her a similar story as you’re preparing to walk in with your message. If you don’t make your points stick then you missed your opportunity. Often clients don’t know what or who to believe, as they get bombarded with a lot of ‘compelling’ stories. This isn’t like the days of our industry when few firms had sales staff. Today almost everyone has some sort of sales force and many are telling similar stories. Are you still boring your clients with slide after slide about your services and why you’re so great? If you don’t drive the key points home, then good luck, since the next presentation may do just that. Get strategic and find out what makes your clients tick. Tailor your ‘unique’ offerings to their needs. Get them engaged in the process. I believe that telling is selling and no one wants to be sold. What they do want, is someone to solve their problems, ease their pain. Is that what you can do for them? They may still put price pressure on you, but if the price tag is your only trump card, you will not come out on top. I personally am excited about these times as I know the best sales people and the most strategic companies will come out on top.
Fee Sepahi says:
Hello Merrill, Steve and Lance.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and your intentions. Personally, since you mentioned a double winning the game, I’m a big fan of a bunt and a walked on, and not swinging for the fences…
At CETRA we are joining you in meeting the economic challenge, by streamlining our services, and taking on new avenues and technologies, to save our most important assets, our clients, money and headaches as we help the economy work its way back to health.
Look forward to being on the field with you, all!
Best,
Fee
Lance Hoffman says:
Thanks for this, Merrill. Well, my tune certainly hasn’t changed since last we spoke, but I’d say my job has, somewhat. I have put many of my administrative duties to the side in order to help both the company and my direct staff by doing what I’ve done best for 15+ years – HIT THE PHONES!
In addition to some internal changes we have made in order to respond to the economy (don’t misconstrue – we have not let anyone go, thank goodness), I’ve been getting back to my roots – having in depth phone calls/meetings with both existing clients and new prospects, to see how we might be able to help them through this tumultuous time. This is not only good for my company by having another set of feet hitting the pavement, but also good as I can relay my experience to my team in order to help guide them on things they may have to be doing differently in today’s marketplace in order to either (A) open more doors, or (B) prevent previously opened doors from shutting. It still comes down to trying to ease a potential client’s pain with your unique solutions – the key is to focus on alleviating THEIR pain, and try to ignore all of our own pain.
Both on the data collection company side and the full-service side, several doors have been closing, specific to phone rooms. While there of course is a part of me that laments over this, I choose to continue to see it as an opportunity – where are those company’s clients going to get their work done? Well, right here at OAC if I can do anything about it.
I think it’s also important to target your efforts during this time towards some verticals that might be more reliant on your company’s particular niche. In a recent trends report I received from Patrick Glaser, it showed the types of projects that lend themselves to specific methodologies, based on research conducted in the latter part of 2007. While the sample sizes for some of these were small, I think the report spoke to a greater truth – so we’re concentrating on trying to uncover those gems within the verticals that lend itself to our core competency.
On the bright side, our efforts have bought in at least 7 new clients since the beginning of the year, with only one of them proving to perhaps not be a good match. 6 new, viable clients, in addition to our existing client base, in the worst time we have ever faced, as a company and an industry, makes me think that what we’re doing will continue to work, and further position ourselves to be a viable force in the industry when all the dust settles.
Interested in hearing about some other efforts that are being made. Remember, it’s a rare thing that you can think yourself into right actions. It’s more likely that you act yourself into right thinking – taking the right actions will always yield some sort of results – so let’s not all complain about how bad it is – let’s do more of what’s already been pr oven to work – that would be my advice to everyone! Thanks again, Merrill, for always keeping the conversation flowing!
Tim Urmston says:
Hey Merrill,
Thank you for the encouragement. I agree that this is the most difficult time in our business lives.
I have heard Steve say that we have to keep our legs moving and drive through this. I would say that in the same breath, we need to keep our heads up looking for low hanging fruit where creativity and innovation can create on-ramps to strategic revenue streams, in niche opportunity spaces. While most are curled up in a ball and taking hits, I think this could be a great opportunity for us to tap into the creativity of our staff, empower and commission them to develop new tools/methods/relationships and “do like the cab driver’ and ask them if we can “take them back to the airport”
Thanks for the inspiration and for being a fire starter in the midst damp leadership challenges. We are actually looking forward to the challenges to leading well through this.
Merrill Dubrow says:
Tim,
Great comments – so glad that you are going “to do like a cab driver”. At least I know one person was remembered something from my presentation last week.
Speak to you soon.
Merrill
Merrill Dubrow says:
Lance,
Appreciate your energy, passion and work ethic – continue to make things happen and you will have a successful 2009!
Merrill
Steve Schlesinger says:
First, let me comment that those 6 am calls are a great start to my day – way better than a cup of coffee (although i usually have that as well). It is an interesting time to say the least for most out there. I believe that the conversations that we share with one another, detailing our experiences and our strategies will surely help guide us through these rough and tumble times. I encourage all to continue to dialogue with staff, colleagues and friends – it is amazing how much you can learn and initiate from these conversations.
Now onto the situation at hand. I have to say that our view of this climate is one of optimistic caution. We believe that their will be plenty of struggles and surely it will be the most challenging time we have faced as a company. With that said, here is why we are optimistic. I think this economy has given us ample motivation to be smarter as an organization. We have become more diligent analyzing every line item expense, ROI with respect to marketing expenditures, efficiencies of operation, use of technology and constant evaluation of our talent – all this will only improve our overall company in time. We also see an opportunity to look at strategic acquisitions and strategic partnerships that have a mutual benefit for all involved – these might not have existed a couple of years ago. We are staying hunger for growth and development whether that is organic or otherwise.
The above is the easy stuff. Here is the hard part and Merrill eludes to it in his commentary. Leadership or maybe I would use the word stewardship – navigating through these twists and turns on behalf of your entire team – that is heavy lifting for a business leader today. With all the negative news and ups and downs of business, the key to our success will ride on the effort of our team. It is here that we will make our mark as leaders – motivating, leading, initiating and executing strategies with the colleagues that are in the trenches with us every day. Staying focused when we have a setback (and there will be plenty of them), keeping everyone motivated when we have more valleys then we are used to, helping everyone understand that we are building a company for the long term and therefore the rewards may be further down the line. No hiding your head in the sand, be out there with the team, taking the knocks, working through the bumps together. As Tim said, allow people to be part of the decision making process, to innovate and create, be invested in our success – good leaders set the stage to allow that to happen. Andrew April from Biovid recently said to my senior management group, think of your company as a vacant lot – what do you want to grow in the lot – if you cultivate it with care, you will have a beautiful garden, neglect it and you will have a lot full of weeds. What a wonderful analogy – my hope is that the leaders of my company tend well to that vacant lot so that we have the most beautiful garden regardless of the times.
Ed Sugar says:
These are great postings.
I would love to hear from some of the regulars who were managing companies during the late 70’s/early 80’s and see if they had any different tactics or strategies that saw them through the country’s last economic/financial down swing.
Jim Steber says:
The “goals” for this time in business are very simple. For my employees they must keep the customers happy, keep the quality high. For me there is a third goal which is to keep the company alive. Alive means to lead those around me through the challenges so we are better and stronger when business returns.
When you wonder what to do next, just move.
Merrill Dubrow says:
Steve/Ed/Jim,
All great additions. I hope readers review all of these comments and take away a few great nuggets!
Ed – I am going to go on a search for some folks who experienced this 25-35 years ago.
Merrill
Amy Shields says:
I remember very well ‘living through’ the dot-com bubble crash in early 2000, when I was living and working in CA, with offices in the heart of the Silicon Valley. Most companies had locked into very high leases, had heavy staff, etc, and had to really think about all of the things Steve mentions (analyzing every line item, operation efficiencies, etc). That way of thinking has never left me. I remember how shocking it was to look at spending and ROI (internally and for our clients) in times of economic challenge, versus times we didn’t have enough space to accommodate all of the research being done. I have always tried to continue the way of thinking I was ‘forced’ in to, which has usually meant finding niche products/services, and getting as dirty as I personally need to in order to accomplish higher profits, etc. I will probably be raked over the coals for writing this, but the one thing I don’t think we can do is think strategically as far down the road as we used to. While we are certainly using strategy to do more than simply ‘adjust’ to what 2009 will look like; how can we be strategic beyond that? I am very curious to hear other thoughts about this. I like to think that I am a strategic person, in general, but am definitely struggling with looking 2-3 years down the road when I feel the focus needs to be on 6-12 months at this point. Thoughts?
Bruce Nelson says:
Merrill speaks in very direct terms about how someone running a business today must bring Urgency to a variety of leadership disciplines. This Urgency is key in the moving of corporate cultures to understand that a normal pace is no longer relevant. The new necessity is the equivalent to playing a football game in a constant 2-minute Offense.
His remark that it wasn’t too difficult to make money in the past couple of decades highlights a simple fact: In today’s environment we will find out how good we really are.
Steve Schlesinger says:
I want to respond to Amy’s comment on setting strategy. I actually just got out of a 4 hour strategy session today. We talked quite a bit about short term vs. long term strategy and charting our course. I think the problem with how people view strategy is that they think it is static when in fact it is anything but that. The difference today is that we need to look at this moving target more frequently and figure out how to adjust to it quicker. We just planned a course for the next 36 months that I am sure is 70% on target – in the past it might have been closer to 90% on target. Advice is don’t stop planning and taking a view on where you want to be down the road – just monitor more, be willing to adjust more frequently and don’t be afraid of taking chances/risks with your vision. This process is different than the one you do for the next quarter or two.
Just a funny side note. Just last week my partner Mike found in his desk a napkin with scribbles on it from 6 years ago when he was traveling to one of our facilities. He charted our growth for the next 5 years in terms of revenue and facilities. We exceeded it by 20% – just an example of strategic planning in its simplest form. We are framing the napkin!
Jim Steber says:
This is a whole new thing we are facing. Across the world the challenges are huge. There is no reason to ask people about many years ago. Steve was right, look back the past five or six years and realize what you have accomplished since then, congratulate yourself and set new plans.
Amy, we must think the same way we do and did in making the strategic plans that got us where we are now. We individually did not fail so there is nothing wrong with our thinking. Now we must think strategically based on the new information we have. The world will be better in 6 to 12 months.
Use the same strategic planning you have always used.
Take a zero off the end of your previous income and profit goals. The real number you see is the real number you can achieve in this new an challenging world.
Merrill Dubrow says:
Jim,
Interesting comments. While I do agree with you about thinking strategically and the world will be a better place in 6 to 12 months to set our goals very low “and take away a zero off profit and revenue goals” seems very drastic. That has huge company implications and might be setting your goals way low for 2009. I have been hearing from industry contacts that the research industry will be down 9.6% in 2009 and that the new flat will be down 7%.
Just a thought to share.,
Merrill
Steve Gentile says:
Always wonderful to hear this stuff! Being a seasoned pro with a new lease, and a staff of one plus part-time help, I have been spending much of the last 365 days listening to the sage advice and wisdom of others, and also revealing my dreams, my hopes, my aspirations. Thanks to years of prudent savings and non-Madoff investments, and some good solid work your ass off mentality, my “year 1” has been an exciting time.
A good solid plan is important and vital – and the ability to change that plan along the way is just as important and vital. adopting the “That’s my plan and I’m sticking with it” usually results in excessive casualty; and usually means you are closed to outside input and stimuli – both deadly in ANY economy. Being optimistic and productive costs no more than being pessimistic and terrified. The former opens eyes to opportunity, the latter perpetuates a deprivational attitude that quickly erodes any foundation, causes mudslides.
Jim Steber says:
Merrill,
The quote should read “delete the last number for the percentage of growth for profit and revenues goals for this year” If you had intended for a 12% growth in income, expect a 1%. If you intended to have an 8% growth in income, expect 0 %. The reality is that growth may be made with a good strategic plan.
Merrill Dubrow says:
Jim,
Ok I misunderstood. Thanks for clarifying.
Merrill
Seanjjordan says:
I’m interning for a small qualitative firm in St. Louis, and we’ve talked about how our job in marketing our firm is not to sell RESEARCH, but SOLUTIONS. So, we’re taking some measures to get out there and talk to people directly by sharing case studies and expertise. Our goal is to increase the number of people we “touch” every time we get out there — it’s no good just to talk to our regular clients. We need to talk to their connections as well.
One of the things I’ve been saying is that talk is cheap — so we should be doing a lot of it!
I’m an “optimistic realist,” which means that I expect the worst, but hope for the best.