CEO's DIARY: Why don't I know?

The CEO's company does not know where its sales leads come from. So it's time to create some data

July 31 - I admit I don’t always comment on the comments on this Diary. I always read them. I always appreciate them. Some I’m flattered by. And the bunch on blogging got me thinking. My ‘throw-away’ line clearly got people going.

Now, I admit I gather I blog – although it seems to have caught up and overtaken me rather than the other way round. I just thought I wrote a diary. And I’m not sure about most blogs – a lot seem either pretty spurious or just wither away weeks after they start. So as a marketing tool – well, I’m not convinced – yet.

But I am 100% convinced that having static web site is madness. So I am doing two things with that. First of all I’m reviewing it, and I’m having some others review it (non professionals, I admit – but then our users are not IT techies – they’re real people). And then it will be updated as need be. And straight away I’m insisting that I can write and add copy as and when I want so we have a regular news feature.

There’s another part. I want people to know we’re good at what we do, really good in fact. And as we don’t really sell advice, just product, but have to know a lot to sell the product we can give the advice for free, to at least some degree as the lead in to a product sale. After all, who do you buy from? The people with the cheapest price who haven’t a clue what they’re doing or the people with the higher price who obviously know the product / service inside out? The latter, if you’ve got any sense. So I’m planning a series of information sheets to download. I’m avoiding those nasty ‘frequently asked questions’. These are going to look and be good. Maybe they will be the editorial copy we can also place to advantage.

Next, and contrary to what I see Mike Truman saying, I am really going to review the advertising spend. I have a fear that most of it is in the trade rags because we feel like we have to be there. But why? Who are we convincing? I’m not sure and I’m not sure how to find out (please tell me).

The other thing I’m also questioning is trade shows. Our leads from these look low. I just wish I knew more though about how we did get business. Why haven’t we kept the stats? I’m getting the database changed now so that we do in future – but I know that for a while I’ll be working in the dark.

That said – I have dumped a list of all the recent bigger orders down and have linked them with people and I’m asking them to tell me where and how they think we got the business from. It’s not that scientific – but if it gives me a steer it might be good enough. And it may be the cheapest quickest data I can get. Especially as I seem to have none right now. And Office has the job of chasing them - all of them until they answer.

* * *

July 28 – Someone suggested I should write a blog yesterday as a way of marketing the company.

I just laughed!

* * *

July 27 – Continued to be bugged by marketing yesterday.

We have a web site, but it’s really not good enough.

We don’t use it as a means of marketing – it really is just a static brochure.

We don’t promote it.

We still spend a lot of money on print – and frankly no one seems to know why.

I had a discussion with my long standing friend and mentor recently in which I repeated the hackneyed phrase “I’m sure 50% of our advertising is wasted – trouble is I don’t know which 50%” and he laughed. His suggestion was I should presume 98% was wasted. And what I should worry about was identifying who the 2% who matter are. Not least, as he points out, the cost benefits would be enormous (and that's accounting speak).

I think he’s right. It’s why I need to know more about the market. But when I do, how do I reach them? What gets them to talk to me?

Any ideas?

* * *

July 26 – In a good mood. Very productive call from the customer to whom the quote went on Friday after I’d had it revised, and it looks like we’ll secure the work, pretty much as bid for. The end of July is always going to be a hard time to win work, so it’s good to convert a big one.

Ops looks like he’s also onto his first real win in the North too – if hat comes in during August that will also help, and he’s confident.

But it’s focussed me on thinking about two things. One is managing the pipeline. The second is filling it.

The sales chap who is to stay on sales is the obvious person to manage the pipeline data. No one has really done this to date – but it’s exactly what I want him to do. So, he and the IT chap are now in discussion about how to modify our database to suit this need. Much of what we want is there – I have no doubt at all (because it can be found, with effort). It’s getting a regular input form and reporting process that is necessary to make sure it is used that I want. And I also want to know conversion rates. I’m sure there is commercial stuff that can do this (but we tried and gave up on ACT – although I gather there are new versions now) but it seems our home grown system does the job, overall, and that’s fine by me, if I can find out who is generating leads, where, when they expect them to fall, if they do, and why they don’t if that happens. So they’re busy.

Then though it’s a matter of filling the pipe. Candidly, conventional selling is not a great money spinner for us. Our sales people have always been reactive, not proactive (which is why it’s been easy to suggest a change of role) and reputation has worked. What I’ve learned is the best chance we ever have of getting a big lead is when someone leaves one of our customers and moves to a new job and then asks us to supply them. But, has anyone followed up on this? Apparently not. So, that’s a new avenue of research.

And finally, if reputation is the issue, one of the two holiday people based here has asked (having poured over the trade rags we subscribe to, which are of the type which I am sure would provide ample amusement for Paul Merton and Ian Hislop) has asked why we aren’t pumping out more editorial and advertorial copy, because it seems an opportunity missed. Looks like I might have some more writing to do.

* * *

July 25 – This is a strange feeling. I’ve had what was an almost normal day. No one overly stressed me. I even had some good news – one of the two people who left in a huff has signed his compromise agreement. And Office has, by a bit of good thinking, gone back through some of the unrequested job applications we receive (and which she keeps for six months, unbeknownst to me) and found a great candidate for one of the posts without us even having to go to the bother of advertising. So that’s some hassle down.

And I simply had a chance to get on with ‘stuff’. You know, the sort of bog standard things that can fill a day. Like reviewing issues with #3 on the accounts – some of which needed discussing, and calling Ops because I want him to be available down here to cover for me when I’m on holiday as I really am not confident that either East or West could do that yet, and so on.

And do you know what? I quite liked that, for a change.

* * *

July 24 – Friday was a trying day. West came to see me before lunch with the quote for the customer I’d visited with him earlier in the week. He thought he’d ‘just run it past me’.

I tried very hard to be calm as I read it, but I’m not sure I succeeded, and anyway, my message was clear. I guess it went along the lines of ‘do again and resubmit’.

It baffles me what goes through people’s heads. The cover letter was a load of waffle. It was full of typos (of which, I admit, I’m not innocent, as you may have nticed (sic)) but which are pretty unforgivable in such important documents and which any spellchecker should have picked up in this case. But most important, he failed to communicate the three key things the customer wanted to know. I questioned him on what I thought these were, and he agreed:

1. we wanted to do the job;
2. what we would charge for it;
3. when we would do it.

Everything else is secondary. But to find this information out the customer had to wade through a pile of attachments. Sure, having a job plan that forms the basis of a service level agreement is important – but not if we don’t communicate the key data to win the job in the first place.

So I went to lunch with Chair in less than good humour, but he really is good. He shows his HR skills continually. We discussed how to deal with this, and the decision making issue. I also showed him some of the comments on this issue (I’ve decided he has to know about this blog – if that’s what it is now called). Some of them he just thought sad. But the focus we came to was training. He doesn’t want me to impose a decision making programme on people – because not all people are the same. But he liked my framework, because at the end of the day all decisions do take place within a framework, he agrees. How we get there is what differs. So he’s now going to work on that and see if we can put together training for the early autumn.

And on letters he is emphatic. Most people can’t write. When they’re 40 or more there’s no point trying to overcome that issue. The answer has to be a good selection of templates. These ensure that the right message is given, save people agonising over what to say, stop too much or too little being said, and aid communication. And since I like writing – he’s given me the job. But again – he says we have to train people to use them.

I like this man! He’s good. And I really do think people will appreciate the training.

So, in the afternoon I was in better humour, and West and I got an acceptable letter out and he went off on holiday without (too much, I hope) of a chip on his shoulder.

Then the evening provided some light amusement. I didn’t go to the whole event – but it began with a joke at my expense when she wore the skirt of reasonably small dimensions that first drew her to the attention of this diary. She went on to change though – into something somewhat smaller. She told me she’s trying to reduce her environmental impact by saving textiles – but she just left me worrying about my life to come as a father of daughters who will inevitably become young women. I must be getting old. Those there seemed to be having a good time though – at least when I judged it judicious to leave.

* * *

July 21 – One down and one to go. By which I mean yesterdays interviews were useful in that we found a great number 2 for accounts. I’m really pleased with her. Interviewing the third candidate for the job was really hard after we both knew the job had gone already.

But the person the Chair had asked me to see might have had all the right qualifications on paper. And she was charming, and some might say attractive, but she grated with me. I can’t say why. But I had a very strong feeling she and I had no chance of working in easy equilibrium. So, even though she avoided the tweed jacket I joked about in advance, she’s not getting the job.

But, on the other hand I’ll have a chance to explain this to the Chair myself today. He’s coming in for lunch. I miss my Friday lunches with Ops now he’s mainly up north (and going great guns – he seems really happy and inspired to be back on the road) and so I’m going to see if the occasional ham roll and pint of orange juice and lemonade (because I know how to have a good time of a Friday lunch!) with the Chair might be an alternative.

What I really want to know is how he rates my homework. After all, I didn’t rate his. Will he do the same to me?

* * *

July 20 – Interviewing today.

#3 has asked me in her role of head of accounts to sit in on final interviews for AJ’s replacement. There were a surprising number of good candidates apparently. Three have made it to the shortlist – all female I note (without accounts this company’s gender imbalance would be appalling). Let’s hope one fits the bill.

Then this afternoon exploratory talks with someone the chairman has recommended to me for the support marketing / development role he thinks I need. Also female, I note, and with a fascinating background with an engineering degree followed by work in marketing and the like.

Which leads me to wonder why engineers don’t want to be engineers these days, but also leads to me to presume that she won’t turn up in a tweed jacket with leather elbow patches. Yes, I know it’s a stereotype, but I come from a family of engineers and some stereotypes fit!

* * *

July 19 – The other day I discussed how I approach a decision, because the Chair told me to do so. I got as far as deciding if I wanted to tackle the decision being considered. I have now rationalised what I do once I have decided this is an issue I have to address. I think it’s as follows:

1. I work out what the decision criteria are. Usually these are either financial, people based or involve something else e.g., regulations or more often now something like the environment.
2. Then, using these criteria I rank the options available. Often, of course, this is sub-conscious, but sometimes it’s necessary to be explicit, and this, I know, is what the Chair is encouraging to foster good practice. The reasoning can be either numerical or in writing, but I guess if it’s significant it should be recorded.
3. Next I’d work out what I recommend – because ranking it is not enough. Having done so the best option might still be to walk away from the decision, or to approach it again from a different direction.
4. Presuming action is needed the next priority is to work out who needs to know – and who does not to avoid information overload.
5. Then as a manager the next decision is about who is to undertake the necessary actions and what the timescales are.
6. Finally, I think its appropriate to note what you think might happen if the decision is deferred or simply not taken. Most of life is ‘opportunity cost’ analysis (if I remember the jargon correctly) and that’s what this bit is, I think.

Anyone got any comments on that? Am I making this all horribly complicated? Or not complicated enough? Thoughts appreciated.

* * *

July 18 – The sales message hit home in force yesterday. We had an urgent call to visit on of our biggest clients who has announced they’re buying a smaller company. In the interests of consistency they want to replace all kit on these sites with that which we supply, and as soon as possible.

So, it was a matter of getting there pronto. I’m contact for this customer, and West is number 2, but he goes on holiday at the end of the week for a fortnight, and I follow when he returns so we also took his best team leader as well, as she (and to my regret, she’s our only female team leader) hasn’t got children so I working straight through the summer holidays and can supply some essential continuity.

First job in these cases is, I think, to work out what the customer really wants. The reality is that they can wait for us to roll out over the sites – it’s not a complete one weekend switchover which is what West told me when we first discussed it. That makes everything, including pricing easier (as I made very clear – might as well sell our advantage back to the customer, I reckon).

Then it’s a matter of checking prices. We have fairly regular rates with this customer, but of course this is a big batch of extra work. We’re not willing to vary our standard support terms with them as a result, but they wanted a good price on installation. By patient discussion we got that for them, but they have to accept as a result that this is a week time and not weekend job and that the roll out is over three months.

We got that, and they got a price that makes the margin on the average PC look generous (well, alright, I’m probably exaggerating a bit). And then I laid down the rules on getting the whole thing put in writing as soon as possible to my team, after we’d worked out precisely how we’re costing it.

Which was a good days work, but with miles of travel in between was enough to mean I could do little more than sign off some essential payments when I got back to the office and crawl on home.

* * *

July 14 – Some real decisions had to be made yesterday.

I spent some time with West (who was until last week Sales) because he has the strongest feel for our pipeline right now, and having been very internally focussed over the last few weeks I want to begin thinking about the world out there very strongly again, since that’s what feeds us.

What has become increasingly clear to me is that, using the criteria I mentioned yesterday, I have no choice but engage with the sales process at the moment, and that the real question is not “are we getting enough” but is “why are we getting what we get?”

The simple fact is that we don’t know the answer to this question at the moment, and unless we do I don’t see how we can really understand what we want to do to promote sales. Candidly, West hasn’t even got a good grasp of who we are competing with. Of course we know the big names, some of whom are part of groups much bigger than us. Nor does he have a total feel about where we are precisely in the rankings when compared with them or other independents. We haven’t even researched everyone who is in local areas we serve.

I’m not quite sure how we’re going to know what is happening in the market unless we have this data. Of course we could buy it. But I have an alternative. We have two bright young people available to use for the summer who want a mix of money and work experience. As is now reasonably common, they have some IT experience. So I’ve decided on this occasion the Monkey is mine and I sat down with them. The more IT experienced one I’ve asked to build a simple database, co-ordinating with our IT guy when needed. It’s not hard to work out what we want – who the competitors are, where they are, what we can find out about them, how we can access it.

Then I want them to go and populate this. That means everything form a Yellow Pages hunt, to web based directory searching and then follow up by looking at web sites etc and profiling product offerings. And the database has to show their geographic spread. When we identify the key players we might follow up with some financial data.

I’ve got to say I’m delighted with reactions to this. They were sent off to write this up as a project plan first of all, and then a spec for the database, and then a work plan with timescales to indicate how they will collect the stuff. If all people here showed such initiative I would be delighted. And I think we’ll learn a lot from this.

* * *

July 13 – I wish the Chair hadn’t asked me to think about my decision criteria, because it had me thoroughly distracted last night.

To help I split the problem in two, and also went to the pub with a long standing friend (who has been mentioned in this diary before) to discuss the issue.

We reckoned there are 2 stages to decision making. The first is defining the problem. The second stage is tackling it, if you think it’s appropriate.

This is as far as we got with the first stage, which we reckoned involved answering the following questions:

1. What am I being asked to consider?

2. What is this really about?

3. What are the alternatives?

4. What's the question now?

5. Do I still want to consider it?

Of course, at the end of question 5 there’s the option of ducking out.

Any thoughts on this?

* * *

July 12 – Yesterday somehow felt like the start of the rest of this job. Of course I’m under no illusion that announcing the changed structure means its going to happen overnight. This will take months to bed down. But at least it has been announced.

And others seemed to almost feel the same way too. And the result was that an absurd range of issues seemed to hit my desk on which other people wanted me to make decisions for them. I know this was Ops style. It was also his weakness. He inherited it from the old CEO. Days were filled with micro management whilst the big issues could happily pass on by. It’s not my intention to repeat the pattern.

Years ago I read a book called ‘The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey’. I wasn’t a great fan of the One Minute Manager books, overall (although they were great in that they were quick reads) but I really liked this one. The ‘Monkey’ to which it referred was the problem that needed management. The person whose back the Monkey is on is the person who has to manage that issue. The logic of the book is simple; it’s incredibly easy for a subordinate to pass their issues (the Monkey) to their superior and leave it on their bosses’ desk. The art of the Manager is to refuse to accept it, whilst giving direction on how to deal with it.

It’s pretty clear that there’s going to be a massive amount of upward Monkey passing here unless I take some swift action.

Let me give just one example. I had a Christmas card catalogue dumped on my desk yesterday by Office. Now, the very thought of Christmas seems quite absurd to me but apparently we get a very good discount if we order so the cards can be printed over the summer, so Office has always done this. But she wanted me to choose the card. I returned the catalogue to her. I asked her to choose a card and then put her proposal before me for approval. I explained that this meant deciding on the following:

1. Do we want a card?
2. Who are we going to send it to?
3. Why are we going to send it to them?
4. What message do we want it to convey?
5. Do we want to be seen as charitable?
6. If so, what charity so we want to support?
7. What image of the company do we want to project?
8. If we really think it worthwhile, why aren’t we designing our own card?
9. Or should we just give some money to charity and send an email greeting?

I asked her to think this through, and to talk to anyone else who was important to the decision, and add any other issues that she thought appropriate and come back to me when she’d decided what she wanted to do. She looked perplexed.

East was even more perplexed when he came to see me about the issue of new vans for the autumn. I told him I simply wanted a recommendation from him as to what to do, with reasons. I was not going to decide for him. But, he protested, Ops always had. Yes, a replied – and Ops likes cars. East might have noticed that our family’s fleet includes a Skoda (exceptionally good actually, but not an indication of the existence of a petrolhead). I wanted a good decision.

I dumped all this on the Chair in the evening when he called to see how things were. And he mildly rebuked me. How could I expect these people to make decisions? Had anyone taught them how to do so? The honest answer has to be ‘no’. In which case, he said, he wanted me to justify how I made decisions and we should then teach them how to meet me needs.

Now, that is something to think about.

* * *

July 11 – I spent a sleepless night worrying about the staff who quit over the reorganisation. Yesterday, with lawyers, we agreed to pay them off straight away even though this causes logistical problems (in simply covering territory). So we’re offering a compromise agreement to them, and are offering to pay their legal fees to have it done properly. We have stressed we do not believe we have done anything wrong, but given that a consultation was in progress think it the right thing to do.

That done, now I’m giving managers the green light to get on with putting line managers into place throughout the system. This is bound to require lots of support – but those who know they have the posts are already showing signs of real enthusiasm. And we’re also lining up training for them in three things. First of all, people management. Second, appraisals – because I want them to learn to stress the positives and not the negatives about what people do. Thirdly, we’re looking at having sales training in house for all our front line people before the end of the year.

I’ve also thrown in an extra. All our drivers are to get an advanced driving course over the next six months. This will pay for itself in 3 ways. First we pay a ridiculous amount in insurance and this should give us a discount at least big enough to cover the direct cost. Second, we sometimes charge drivers for the excess where it was obviously carelessness, and this has always caused stress which I’d like to reduce. Third, it’s fun – and right now I need to be seen to be offering some of that.

Now, today is getting bogged down in checking that contract changes for all this activity will be properly recorded. Office is taking over that task. And I think she’ll be good at it, but I want to make sure. And #3 needs help on a job spec for her new assistant which we’ve got to get going. And …. Oh heck, let’s just do it.

* * *

July 10 – (Actually, it’s July 9 when I’m writing this but it somehow seems indecent to post on a Sunday).

My rest on Thursday was highly productive. I closed down all communication systems for the morning and slept – and felt so much better for it. I then spent the afternoon preparing for Friday, including a long discussion with our lawyer to make sure (yet again) that I was prepared for the event of that day – which focussed on the start of the consultation with the staff who are objecting to reorganisation. I like to get these things right – it saves cost later.

Friday’s session was stressful. I got #3 as my witness – which meant that those who were objecting could speak more freely about their managers. The two who had spoken up came along, and brought two colleagues with them. What was stressful was that they had no argument at all. A consultation has to be, in my opinion either about maintaining the status quo because it is better than change or that another change is better than the proposed one. But they just insisted the changes weren’t fair.

I tried hard to find out why. And all they could say was that it was divisive that some people might become team leaders and others might not. I had to contradict. We’d always had management – we were just refining it. And promotion would be on merit, I was sure. I asked them if they would want promotion (slightly dangerous, but a risk I thought worth taking after a while) and wasn’t answered directly. They wanted a pay rise they said; but when I asked if they’d want more responsibility the answer was they were already working a hard as it was possible to do. So, since their existing jobs would not change (much, apart from working more closely with a specific sales person – and they already have a duty to liaise with sales) and they did not want to take on more, and they were just going to report in a different way what were they objecting to, I asked? I still got no answer.

This seemed interminable. That was the stress.

Eventually I sent them away and told them what I wanted as a next stage as so far I said they had failed to understand the nature of a consultation as they’d raised no substantive objections.

Then in the late afternoon they both resigned. Now we’re going to have to wait to hear if they are claiming constructive dismissal. #3’s notes may be quite important.

* * *

July 6 – It’s all caught up with me. It’s been a frantic month or so. The baby’s not sleeping in the heat, so I’m not either (because I’m the sort of Dad who hears everything) and I have to be realistic this morning. I’m good for nothing.

I’ve phoned in to say I’m working here, but actually I’m going to do the most sensible thing I can think of – I’m going back to bed.

* * *

July 5 – Not a good day for the final audit meeting – so I got it over and done with early.

This was one of those years where we had learned all we needed to learn well before the auditors could tell it to us. We’d had, and dealt with, the stock problem. We knew about the credit note issue – and it continues to be drummed home that this is a key operating objective as a measure of quality and getting things right first time. We know the problem that this is causing for credit control, and that we’ll be massively more efficient in this area if we resolve our own misbilling issues. We know that we have to look at the issue of bank signatories on and off line under the new management arrangements.

We also know that we’re doing our very best to get VAT, PAYE and other such things right.

And we’re also pretty good on the risk environment of health and safety etc.

So I’m afraid they didn’t add much – but it gave a chance to get this issue locked down for the year, and to be able to tell the bank that all has been agreed, which they like four or so months after the year end.

It also lets me budget for tax. But why, oh why, don’t they complete the tax work at the same time as the accounts instead of just saying it’s a draft? We gave them all the analysis they could possibly need, so what’s the excuse apart from providing an opportunity for another bill to present the tax return later on? It suggests to me that we aren’t the only people who need to improve our efficiency.

* * *

July 4 – Well, the West team took the changes well. No real issues raised. The idea of team leaders well liked. Those who we wanted for the job were all briefed on what was required of them in advance. They liked it. No objections were raised.

The same was true of the team leaders in the East. But, not all were so keen there. Two raised real objection. There was claim of effective demotion because some were to be promoted. One of those said this was a fundamental change in his employment as he was no longer reporting to the same person.

So I said that was OK, I heard the points raised and as this team was not universally happy we’d open a consultation. We’d apply it just in case to the West team as well. Anyone who saw problems could raise objections, suggest alternatives, apply for the team leader posts if they wanted, and be represented in any consultation if they thought it appropriate.

I asked for indications of objection within seven days – but was open for a consultation lasting up to 30 days if it was constructive.

They were surprised. Just say