SecTrainer
05-19-2008, 02:53 PM
Good morning:
THIS IS LONG, SO PRINT AND READ!
I was surprised when what I considered a "pulp" business book showed up on the reading list for the competitive intelligence seminar. You know the kind I mean: "The 10 Hush-Hush Secrets Of Super-Successful Entrepreneurs", etc. (Ever wonder how anything can be a "secret" when they're blabbing it to the world?)
I was unfamiliar with Dan Kennedy, the author, which is more a testimony to my own ignorance from having been sort of isolated in the "security domain" than anything else. Quite well known marketing/business guy, actually, very successful, and says exactly what's on his mind. What I've learned is that his books (I now have another) are very deceptive. First, there's some obvious stuff (probably because many of us still need to hear the obvious, like the need to identify and solve someone's problem). Second, Kennedy commits the horrible crime of writing his books without using MBA buzzwords. I'd say he writes at about the level of a high school senior. Third, he doesn't aim his suggestions at Fortune 500 companies (I doubt you'll find anything about "quality circles", "value chain enhancement", etc., etc.). It's just hard-headed business advice, some of which is not obvious at all, and some of which isn't pretty, but it makes dead sense when you read it.
Enough for this unsolicited, unpaid advertisement! The specific book I'm referring to is (and you'll see why I thought it was "pulp"): No B.S. Ruthless Management of People and Profits: The Ultimate, No Holds Barred, Kick Butt, Take No Prisoners Guide to Really Getting Rich. It's something like $10 on Amazon.
How did this turn up on our reading list? Well, first, it's exactly what it says. Kennedy knows marketing, but he also knows business beyond marketing, and chose a title that would generate comment and interest among business owners (his market), even if it would gag business professors. So, whether you're a security business owner or a consultant, there's meat here for your own operation.
Secondarily, though, you'll find that there's value for your clients here, too. Hidden among the pages of this book there is another book that has direct implications for security in the business, especially with respect to internal waste, fraud and loss, although I'm sure Kennedy had no specific intention of writing such a thing or he'd have called it "The Kick Butt Guide To Employees Screwing You Over" or something like that.
Now follow me here like a dog follows a fry cook concerning this second point. First, I'm going to swipe a little story from the book: One day Kennedy was cooling his heels waiting for the owner of a business to return. The owner and employees of this business came and went by the back door, which had a chime that sounded in the front whenever the door was opened.
As Kennedy watched, the employees were horsing around, doing absolutely no work...until the chime went off. By the time the owner reached the front office, the scene was one of serious business going on at every desk. When the owner remarked: "Yup, we're sure busy around here; looks like overtime again this weekend, and I'm advertising for another employee", Kennedy said: "It would be cheaper just to disconnect the chime."
There's an onion here (fry cooks use onions), so let's peel back the layers:
1. Kennedy was observant. How many before him had seen exactly the same thing going on but either never made the connection or never informed the owner? I'm sure the last thing on Kennedy's mind when he entered the business that day was door chimes.
2. Kennedy's specific expertise has been in marketing, etc., but his internal focus is really on anything that will help his clients increase profits, and so he considered nothing inconsistent with his services in making the door-chime observation to his client. His internal mental domain was not limited to the connection between a "better ad campaign" or clever marketing trick and profit, but to all of the connections between bad management and low profits, and hence, by implication, the connection between good management and higher profit. Marketing is part of the system of generating profits, but for Kennedy it is not some disconnected entity.
3. Kennedy's marketing-related activities (coaching, counseling, consulting), etc. do not distract him from his core internal focus (increasing the profitability of his clients' businesses). In other words, yes Kennedy is a "marketing guru" in terms of his approach and outer presentation, meaning this is the domain of problems that usually bring him into contact with a client, but he is driven by a much deeper agenda that ultimately allows him to deliver real value to his clients in surprising ways.
As a security owner or consultant, are YOU interested in your clients' overall profitability, or just their immediate "security issues"? Do YOU see their "security issues" in the broader setting of their entire operation? You're there to sell alarms, for instance, but how does an alarm system really fit into the question of their profitability? Do you make the sale just to make the sale, but not really KNOWING that you've improved their business situation?
I have never met a client who wanted an alarm. What EVERY client you meet wants, however, is to be more profitable. I'd be willing to bet that if someone showed them that spending the "alarm" money on marketing would bring in MORE profits than the alarm would prevent them from losing, you could kiss your alarm customer goodbye...and rightly so! They don't want alarms. They don't want guards. They don't want access control systems. Such things might thrill you down to your toes, but most customers positively hate 'em. They want profits.
They don't want marketing, either...and Kennedy knows that, too. Marketing must be a means to an end. He knows that what his clients are craving is for someone to help them increase their profits, and that is all they want no matter what they are buying for their business, from machines to methods.
So, then: What's your business case to the customer? Is it: "Alarms are good", or "This is a high-crime neighborhood, and they'll steal you blind if you don't have guards", or "This is better technology than you have now"??
What's your Unique Selling Proposition? How does it differ from those of your competitors, and, most importantly, HOW DOES IT RELATE DIRECTLY TO YOUR CLIENT'S ONE AND ONLY REAL INTEREST? One year after he purchases your alarm, your consulting report, your guard service, what impact will his relationship with you have had on his profits?
We in the security industry like to say that we don't know--CAN'T know--what business impact we make. You've heard it, and maybe said it yourself: "We prevent things from happening, and you can't prove a negative!" Like so many bits of "folk wisdom", this one has a teensy bit of truth, buried in a load of crap. There's a lot you can do to test the value of your security product or service. For instance, you can compare post-install statistics for similar situations with their pre-install historical information. "Losses due to burglary averaged $X before this system was installed, and $X-Y over the two years after it was installed." From such information and the cost, you can do a calculation of the cost recovery time, and from the estimated life and total cost of ownership you can do ROI, etc.
Sometimes, security systems and services are touted on the basis of employee issues. When employees don't feel safe, you'll have higher turnover coupled with higher re-hiring costs. Employees are less productive when they do not feel safe in the workplace. Unsafe workplaces create environments for increased loss due to theft, both internal and external. Well, these things are all measurables. Surveys, for instance, can be very effective ways to measure employee perceptions before and after security systems or services are in place. Turnover statistics can be followed very easily.
...but wait! When you sold that customer, you never discussed your interest in following the value of your system or service along with him, did you? Too bad, because there's enormous value in that kind of followup, and not just the "vanilla" type of followup that (some) companies do.
...and you don't just do these things for your client. You do them for your own business, both as the owner interested in your own profitability and as a customer of other businesses. You DO want to know what, if any, profit-dollar value you have for your client don't you? If you don't know that, you don't know how you can provide him with even greater value. And you DO want to know what, if any, profit-related value there is in the business services that you buy, right? Say you use a bookkeeping service vendor, for instance. What do they know about profit as it relates to their value to you? Might there be differences in bookkeeping services that could impact your bottom line? Is "We enter figures in little rows and columns" the essence of bookkeeping, or might you find a service that is also savvy about profit-related issues, problems, etc. that pertain to the bookkeeping process? Has your bookkeeper ever followed one of your service people around for a half-day to see if there's a faster or better way to submit field expense reports, etc? Have they alerted you to a one-day rise in your receivables turnover? Do they know why you should take every "2-10, n-30" type discount offered to you...and have a system to see that you do?
Continued in Next Post
THIS IS LONG, SO PRINT AND READ!
I was surprised when what I considered a "pulp" business book showed up on the reading list for the competitive intelligence seminar. You know the kind I mean: "The 10 Hush-Hush Secrets Of Super-Successful Entrepreneurs", etc. (Ever wonder how anything can be a "secret" when they're blabbing it to the world?)
I was unfamiliar with Dan Kennedy, the author, which is more a testimony to my own ignorance from having been sort of isolated in the "security domain" than anything else. Quite well known marketing/business guy, actually, very successful, and says exactly what's on his mind. What I've learned is that his books (I now have another) are very deceptive. First, there's some obvious stuff (probably because many of us still need to hear the obvious, like the need to identify and solve someone's problem). Second, Kennedy commits the horrible crime of writing his books without using MBA buzzwords. I'd say he writes at about the level of a high school senior. Third, he doesn't aim his suggestions at Fortune 500 companies (I doubt you'll find anything about "quality circles", "value chain enhancement", etc., etc.). It's just hard-headed business advice, some of which is not obvious at all, and some of which isn't pretty, but it makes dead sense when you read it.
Enough for this unsolicited, unpaid advertisement! The specific book I'm referring to is (and you'll see why I thought it was "pulp"): No B.S. Ruthless Management of People and Profits: The Ultimate, No Holds Barred, Kick Butt, Take No Prisoners Guide to Really Getting Rich. It's something like $10 on Amazon.
How did this turn up on our reading list? Well, first, it's exactly what it says. Kennedy knows marketing, but he also knows business beyond marketing, and chose a title that would generate comment and interest among business owners (his market), even if it would gag business professors. So, whether you're a security business owner or a consultant, there's meat here for your own operation.
Secondarily, though, you'll find that there's value for your clients here, too. Hidden among the pages of this book there is another book that has direct implications for security in the business, especially with respect to internal waste, fraud and loss, although I'm sure Kennedy had no specific intention of writing such a thing or he'd have called it "The Kick Butt Guide To Employees Screwing You Over" or something like that.
Now follow me here like a dog follows a fry cook concerning this second point. First, I'm going to swipe a little story from the book: One day Kennedy was cooling his heels waiting for the owner of a business to return. The owner and employees of this business came and went by the back door, which had a chime that sounded in the front whenever the door was opened.
As Kennedy watched, the employees were horsing around, doing absolutely no work...until the chime went off. By the time the owner reached the front office, the scene was one of serious business going on at every desk. When the owner remarked: "Yup, we're sure busy around here; looks like overtime again this weekend, and I'm advertising for another employee", Kennedy said: "It would be cheaper just to disconnect the chime."
There's an onion here (fry cooks use onions), so let's peel back the layers:
1. Kennedy was observant. How many before him had seen exactly the same thing going on but either never made the connection or never informed the owner? I'm sure the last thing on Kennedy's mind when he entered the business that day was door chimes.
2. Kennedy's specific expertise has been in marketing, etc., but his internal focus is really on anything that will help his clients increase profits, and so he considered nothing inconsistent with his services in making the door-chime observation to his client. His internal mental domain was not limited to the connection between a "better ad campaign" or clever marketing trick and profit, but to all of the connections between bad management and low profits, and hence, by implication, the connection between good management and higher profit. Marketing is part of the system of generating profits, but for Kennedy it is not some disconnected entity.
3. Kennedy's marketing-related activities (coaching, counseling, consulting), etc. do not distract him from his core internal focus (increasing the profitability of his clients' businesses). In other words, yes Kennedy is a "marketing guru" in terms of his approach and outer presentation, meaning this is the domain of problems that usually bring him into contact with a client, but he is driven by a much deeper agenda that ultimately allows him to deliver real value to his clients in surprising ways.
As a security owner or consultant, are YOU interested in your clients' overall profitability, or just their immediate "security issues"? Do YOU see their "security issues" in the broader setting of their entire operation? You're there to sell alarms, for instance, but how does an alarm system really fit into the question of their profitability? Do you make the sale just to make the sale, but not really KNOWING that you've improved their business situation?
I have never met a client who wanted an alarm. What EVERY client you meet wants, however, is to be more profitable. I'd be willing to bet that if someone showed them that spending the "alarm" money on marketing would bring in MORE profits than the alarm would prevent them from losing, you could kiss your alarm customer goodbye...and rightly so! They don't want alarms. They don't want guards. They don't want access control systems. Such things might thrill you down to your toes, but most customers positively hate 'em. They want profits.
They don't want marketing, either...and Kennedy knows that, too. Marketing must be a means to an end. He knows that what his clients are craving is for someone to help them increase their profits, and that is all they want no matter what they are buying for their business, from machines to methods.
So, then: What's your business case to the customer? Is it: "Alarms are good", or "This is a high-crime neighborhood, and they'll steal you blind if you don't have guards", or "This is better technology than you have now"??
What's your Unique Selling Proposition? How does it differ from those of your competitors, and, most importantly, HOW DOES IT RELATE DIRECTLY TO YOUR CLIENT'S ONE AND ONLY REAL INTEREST? One year after he purchases your alarm, your consulting report, your guard service, what impact will his relationship with you have had on his profits?
We in the security industry like to say that we don't know--CAN'T know--what business impact we make. You've heard it, and maybe said it yourself: "We prevent things from happening, and you can't prove a negative!" Like so many bits of "folk wisdom", this one has a teensy bit of truth, buried in a load of crap. There's a lot you can do to test the value of your security product or service. For instance, you can compare post-install statistics for similar situations with their pre-install historical information. "Losses due to burglary averaged $X before this system was installed, and $X-Y over the two years after it was installed." From such information and the cost, you can do a calculation of the cost recovery time, and from the estimated life and total cost of ownership you can do ROI, etc.
Sometimes, security systems and services are touted on the basis of employee issues. When employees don't feel safe, you'll have higher turnover coupled with higher re-hiring costs. Employees are less productive when they do not feel safe in the workplace. Unsafe workplaces create environments for increased loss due to theft, both internal and external. Well, these things are all measurables. Surveys, for instance, can be very effective ways to measure employee perceptions before and after security systems or services are in place. Turnover statistics can be followed very easily.
...but wait! When you sold that customer, you never discussed your interest in following the value of your system or service along with him, did you? Too bad, because there's enormous value in that kind of followup, and not just the "vanilla" type of followup that (some) companies do.
...and you don't just do these things for your client. You do them for your own business, both as the owner interested in your own profitability and as a customer of other businesses. You DO want to know what, if any, profit-dollar value you have for your client don't you? If you don't know that, you don't know how you can provide him with even greater value. And you DO want to know what, if any, profit-related value there is in the business services that you buy, right? Say you use a bookkeeping service vendor, for instance. What do they know about profit as it relates to their value to you? Might there be differences in bookkeeping services that could impact your bottom line? Is "We enter figures in little rows and columns" the essence of bookkeeping, or might you find a service that is also savvy about profit-related issues, problems, etc. that pertain to the bookkeeping process? Has your bookkeeper ever followed one of your service people around for a half-day to see if there's a faster or better way to submit field expense reports, etc? Have they alerted you to a one-day rise in your receivables turnover? Do they know why you should take every "2-10, n-30" type discount offered to you...and have a system to see that you do?
Continued in Next Post