Tag: sales

The End Part 20: Dancing Days Are Here Again

“Lost time is never found again” – Benjamin Franklin

If you recall, the opening quote from the last part was “silence is a source of great strength.” If Lao Tzu is correct, than I must be really strong. I sit here typing away after a year of silence. My last part of this piece was published last June. Why the silence? I am not sure, but if I had to guess here are my two best.

One, I just didn’t feel like I had much to say. That is simply a cop-out. There is always so much going on in my mind and in my life as a business owner that there is always something to say. The truth is that I have learned over the years that when I don’t fell like sharing or do not feel motivated is usually the most important time to dig deep and just do it. I simply did not do that.

Two, I felt embarrassed and a bit ashamed that this negotiation had been taking so long. Here I was wrapping up this series getting ready to finally close the Go-Go Babyz chapter that has endured for two decades of my career. I was just waiting for the ink to dry to publish the last details and my final thoughts.  The ink never dried.

I really think that I let this negotiation get me down. It started off very smooth. The buyer and I worked well together in the beginning and settled the majority of the terms over the phone. The troubles began when two of the buyer’s lawyers got involved. Things started going south fairly quickly. Just when I thought things were good, they would throw another curve ball.

Things got even more frustrating when their lawyers began working with my lawyers. Suddenly, the terms that the buyer and I originally discussed began to change and the fundamental structure of the deal that we were originally working on changed and left me way too vulnerable and exposed. For whatever reason, the buyer tried to change a very important detail in the agreement that we originally discussed that ended up breaking the entire deal.

It is very frustrating that so much time was spent on this deal and in the end it fell through. What is more frustrating is that I had a couple other interested parties that I had to table discussions with due to an exclusivity period with the current buyer at that time. Unfortunately, the ship sailed for the others. I can’t get the time back so I am trying to just be open to learning whatever lessons I can from this experience and use it to move forward better prepared what comes next. If I can successfully pull that off, then the lost time will not be a complete loss.

For now, dancing days are here again. I just need to find a new party to dance with.

Talk Soon,

Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

The End Part 19: The Sounds of Silence

“Silence is a source of great strength.” – Lao Tzu

If the opening quote is true, look out world ‘cuz Ima gettin’ strong! Silence is the is present plan. Negotiations have progressed to the point that the prospective buyer has expressed their intent to buy and provided an exclusivity agreement to prevent me from discussing the offer or seeking out another offer from any other party while they perform their due diligence. We are getting closer and mum’s the word.

Well, I guess I didn’t really think this through. How can I write anything if I am not allowed to say anything?

Looking back on my last post I realized that I didn’t really address the quote I used for the opener. I just jumped in and went off writing my thoughts and let them go on their own without coming back to my initial thoughts. That tends to happen, especially when my writing has been dormant for a while. Today I will step back a bit to address the quote from the last post by Leo Tolstoy; “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.”

Patience truly is a virtue and one that I never had too much of. I have always been more of an instant gratification type. The good news is I can become better at applying virtues in my life with practice. The better news is that I have become more patient over time, and you guessed it, it took patience and time, among other things.

A quote such as Leo Tolstoy’s begs the question, “what is patience?” According to the Oxford Dictionary it is “the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.” In the context of my present situation I have to decide if this is something I can do. Do I have the capacity to be patient? If you have followed the entire piece you know it has been going on for quite a while. I have had to practice patience throughout in order to maintain my peace of mind and serenity. Now, I am so close I can taste the execution and ratification of a purchase contract. Therefore I just have to practice a bit more patience to reach the finish line.

Time. That is what I must endure. The ticking and the tocking of time manifested in reality as life moves into the future moment by moment. It is the most valuable resource. It is the great equalizer. We all have the same amount of time. It becomes a priceless asset when no one else has the power to control my time. It becomes even stronger and more powerful when I have the skill to manage it properly to maximize my efficiency, production, and quality of my life. It truly becomes a warrior on my side of the battle of life when I can harness the power from the ability to be patient and endure. There is no strength in allowing impatience to create frustration and suffering through the passing of time as the sands of time run lower and lower.

Life is lived in the moment. A lifetime is made up of a collection of moments. Slow, frustrating negotiations are simply pieces to the puzzle that paint the picture of a lifetime. What do I want my completed puzzle to be? A fiery mosaic filled with anger and frustration? No! This process is just a small section of my final masterpiece. I can practice patience and make the passing of time more constructive and enjoyable, or I can kick and scream and be miserable. I do not like misery. I will choose patience in this moment and grow the strength of my warriors.

Stay tuned to find out how my warriors fared through the silence.

Talk Soon,

Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live

Ramble On, 2.7.2022

“Helping customers not only renders more sales, but also stimulates positive word of mouth” – Mark Joyner

As a small company, customers are our life blood. No customers, no business. They are what keep any business alive, and when you are starting out you can’t afford any bad word of mouth. The way to militate against that is by taking care of your customers, which you should be doing any way! Right?

The reality is, it shouldn’t be a question. Excellent customer service should always be a top priority and executed at the highest level. It doesn’t matter what size or type of business you are, quality customer service should be woven into the fabric of the company and culture.

When Go-Go Babyz started out we didn’t have much of a budget to speak of so we couldn’t afford much marketing. We used to get calls about marketing services and they would always ask “what’s your marketing budget?” or “what do think you can spend on our service?” Our response was usually asking them us to tell us what it would cost and then we would look at the bank account to confirm or deny if it was “in the budget.”

Marketing is a vital part of any business, especially new ones, but many times we just couldn’t afford the advertisements or other expensive marketing activities. That resulted in placing a lot of value in word of mouth. Obviously, what we needed was positive word of mouth. The problem is, a small percentage of happy customers actually go out of their way to provide that. I understand,  treating customers well is what all companies should be doing and customers expect that so why should they spend their precious time telling people how good of a job we did doing what are supposed to be doing anyway?

Because, I can guarantee that a high percentage of unhappy, disgruntled customers will shout it from the roof tops. There’s no excuse for poor service but it would be great if customers would give businesses the benefit of the doubt and contact them directly to resolve their issue instead of taking it to the streets. In my experience, most bad reviews are knee-jerk reactions usually posted while a customer is still in the red zone, feeling the blow of disappointment. They just want to be heard. Once they get it out it usually fades.

We always do our best to resolve any issue and take care of our customers so they will keep coming back and, because it’s the right thing to do.

Talk Soon,

Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live

Ramble On, 1.10.2022

“The oldest, shortest words – ‘yes’ and ‘no’ – are those which require the most thought.” Pythagoras

Isn’t this so true? There are so many opinions on saying yes or no these days. If I am to consolidate the thoughts and opinions of all my mentors throughout the years I think it would come down to this…

In the beginning, say yes to EVERYTHING! When you are staring out and have not made any sort of name for yourself you should say yes to anything that comes your way.

Once you have established yourself, learn to say no. It seems to be a common theme that once a level of success, however one defines that, is achieved, saying no is what will provide the greatest opportunity for continued growth and freedom.

I am not going to argue with this but I do think there are exceptions to every rule and personal influences on them as well. The reality is these cannot be blanket statements. The rules for saying yes or no cannot be made as one-size-fits-all solution.

For example, I actually need to learn to stop saying no. I say no all the time. Too much I am told. My no saying issue falls into the knee-jerk reactive category. This type of reaction without any thought has caused a lot of problems for me. I need to learn to process the data and provide a responsive answer of yes or no. The truth is that many of my knee-jerk no’s have turned into yeses once I stopped and thought about the question, offer, or proposal in question.

The lesson for me is to work on responding rather than reacting. This is a lesson I have been working on, and getting better at I might add, for years. It goes beyond the simple yes – no dilemma.

Think before you speak!

Talk Soon,
Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live

The End Part 17: I Guess I’ll Be An Artist

“You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.” ― Richard Branson

To be more specific about the title, I will just become a drawer of some sort. Why? Simply because is it back to the drawing board for Go-Go Babyz. After six months or more of negotiations with the buyer they have decided to back out. It’s a bit frustrating and deflating but that is how it goes sometimes with a negotiation of this nature.

I have made the decision to just accept it. I do not have the time, energy, or desire to be angry or resentful. The only part that really bothers me is the time spent on this negotiation. Time is the most valuable, non-renewable resource. They said yes to purchase the business pretty early in the process and the majority of the time was spent negotiating the terms. I really had no reason to think that they would back out. If that was naive, so be it. The best I can do is learn from the experience and move on.

The truth is that I can’t blame them for their reason. They said that they have other big projects and plans that they are currently working on and this would really just be a distraction. I can respect that. There have been several times in the history of Go-Go Babyz that we squirreled off the path with projects that diverted us from our core business. Many of these detours seemed like good ideas at the time, presenting future potential but the result was a lot of hard work for very little reward or contribution to the bottom line, if any at all. At the end of the day, the bottom line is really what matters because that is what determines whether or not you are actually in business. Unless, of course, you are one of those businesses that seem to have an endless reserve of cash to burn. I can assure you that we are not one of those.

Perhaps the greatest lesson that has come from running business over the last two decades has been the ability to find the lessons in mistakes. There will always be wasted time, mistakes made, money lost, etc, but if I can look back at each experience and find the pearls to carry forward, is any of it really a waste? I can assure you that there have been many times that I spent much too much time, money, and effort on things that became flops. I can also assure you that the duration of these mistakes have become shorter over the years. I have become better at knowing when to say when. Maybe they can be expensive lessons but if they make me better at what I do that is a good thing right?

An example is that I now go into these situations or projects with a better structured strategy. The most important part of the strategy is the exit plan. It doesn’t have to be a very detailed or sophisticated plan. I simply have to say we are going to do “x” with the expectation of “y” as the result. If “y” doesn’t happen by “a” time or after “b” money is invested, we are out.  That’s it. That thinking provides some parameters and the details of the strategy provide the framework for the plan of action and the rules to operation.  The stop point is clearly spelled out so there is no excuse if the hemorrhaging begins and a decision isn’t made to stop it.

That said, another very important lesson is to be flexible. Flexibility must be woven into your strategy and decision making process. For example, If you do not reach the goal of “y” within the parameters of “a” or “b” but there is something that indicates “y” is just around the corner then push out the parameters a bit. Not too much, but a little bit to ride the tide to see which way it goes.  One must remember that we cannot predict the future so the stop points in our strategy can be off. They are really just markers to keep us on track. Therefore, we need that flexibility.

In retrospect, take those so called mistakes and turn them into assets to make you better and stronger moving forward.  Remember, hindsight is 20/20. If Sir Richard says it is alright to fall over, then fall over now and again if it makes you better.  The past is the past and it doesn’t have to repeat itself if we learn from it.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some drawing to do.

Talk Soon,

Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live

The End Part 16: Dance With Me

“Either run the day or the day runs you.” – Jim Rohn

Selling is a game. Selling is a dance. Or so I have been told by the wise ones that have come before me. The sales negotiation process is a dance between the buyer and the seller. The goal is to always be the lead and control the situation. That sometimes means letting the other party think they are in the lead and controlling the deal. That is where the opening quote come is; you either run the sales dance or the dance controls you. That means control the deal or the other party wins. Unless, of course, the deal is a win-win for all parties involved. I have also been told by some wise ones that there is no such thing as a win-win, but that is a discussion for another time.

Let me be frank; I don’t like this dance. I am not much of a dancer as it is. The most “dancing” I’ve done was in mosh pits at concerts. I don’t think the violent nature would be good in this application. I simply do not like the back and forth, the half truths, the waiting, the deflection of responsibility, and so on. No one wants to make a decision or assume responsibility for their side of the table. They always have to go back and talk to “someone” that cannot ever seem to leave their office and join the dance. My father in law calls this person the “wizard in the back.”

In our present dance, I think their wizard is their lawyer. This wizard has been sitting in the back without providing more information for too long. I’m tired of slow dancing, let’s pick up the pace. Maybe that’s the old mosher in me talking but it’s time “run the day!” They have had us sitting in uncomfortable silence for too long. So, we pushed back and took back the lead. We want to know if we are moving forward or moving on. Hopefully, we make some progress this week.

This process has brought up an important lesson that I have learned running businesses the past couple decades; hire people that make you and your business better. As the boss or owner I always wanted to be better or smarter than those that worked for me. That just results in a team of less-thans. That is not good for growth and progress. Not to mention furthering my skills and knowledge. It is best to bring on people that have skills and knowledge in areas I lack. For example, I do not like sales and I am not that great at negotiations, therefore, I want to add people to my team that are better than I in those areas. Following this strategy builds a strong team that is rich with diverse skills. 

The great ones throughout history know that they don’t know it all. They know they become better and stronger by the people they surround themselves with not by doing everything by themselves on a lonely throne. They create a dance team that can take over any dance floor.

Talk Soon,

Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live

The End Part 15: The Doors of Perception

“Communication breakdown, it’s always the same
Havin’ a nervous breakdown, a-drive me insane” – Robert Plant, Led Zeppelin

Business is about relationships. That is the bottom line. It really doesn’t matter if you sweep the floors or head the board, everything leads back to relationships. All relationships, whether personal or professional, require communication of some form or another. In my experience, good relationships are built on good communication.

Seems simple, right? My experience also teaches me that it is not always that easy. In fact, it can be one of the hardest parts of any relationship. Communication provides information for all sides of a relationship. We, as rational and sentient creatures, use the information that we have to make decisions, formulate opinions, and take actions. Information is not created equal but our minds will do with it what it will based on what have access to or have been provided at the time.

It’s a pretty simple equation; bad information = bad thoughts and opinions and bad thoughts/opinions = bad decisions and actions. Simple equation but hard to follow. Why? Because we do not always know that the information we have is incorrect or limited. How many times have you been given some information that was not the entire story? Did you form an opinion or even take an action based on the information that you later regretted? I think we have all done that. I bet most of us have even looked back in hindsight after receiving the “rest of the story” and realized that we would have taken a different course of action had we had all the information at the time.

The real questions is have we learned from these lapses in judgment? Have we learned to verify the information we have before making major a decision and saying or doing things we later regret? I have. Don’t get wrong, I am not saying I do this all the time but more often than not, I pause and take time to evaluate the information and situation before I react. This allows me to respond accordingly. I must admit I have only learned this by doing the wrong thing over and over.

In the last part I discussed how the prospective buyers had gone silent. That led us to think they lost interest. Further, that one of the main communicators in this deal on our side had pushed a bit too hard and closed the door. The reality was there was a miscommunication. We thought one thing and they thought another. They were waiting on something from us and we were for something from them. We were locked in a holding pattern on different pages. The good news is we cleared things up and got back on the same page and have moved closer to finalizing a deal.

Communication is the key. Without having good information, or providing good information, the human mind is left to fill in the empty spaces. In my experience, I have often filled those spaces with “worst case” type of information. That usually does not end well for any party involved. If you want to build something great in business or your personal life, focus on your relationships and strengthen them with good communication.

Talk Soon,

Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live

The End Part 14: The Sound of Silence

“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” – Author Unknown

The riddle makes me wonder if a door shuts and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Strange thing to think about, right?

The potential buyer of Go-Go Babyz has gone quiet for about a week now. A little disconcerting because things were moving along well for a couple weeks. I hope a door has not been shut because the default reaction to the sounds of silence for my over active mind to fill the void with noise. I don’t do well in silence so I create thoughts, scenarios, outcomes, rhymes, reasons; you name it, to fill the empty space in my mind. Unfortunately, they are not usually good.

This could just be a negotiating tactic. Retreat to silence, go dark, ghost the other party; however you want to label it, the tactic is quite common and effective. It makes the other party, in this case me, a bit unsettled. It is working.

The key is to not let fear set its hook. When the hook is set the result is often poor decisions and bad behavior. It is easy to react when this happens but that will serve no one. Except maybe the other party if they end up with more leverage in the negotiating process. I do not want that so I need to practice patience and trust. This is not a small deal. These types of deals take time and happen in the background to life and normal business operations.

There is a grace period in these types of situations. Ten days is a good number. The lead person on their side could be on vacation, could be sick, or could be traveling for business overseas, just to name a few.

As I said above, I don’t do well in silence. I also don’t well sitting still or when other things are idle. Like projects or deals. I want movement and progress. I want to know that things are getting done and moving in the direction I want them to. Learning to deal with this has been a process over the last twenty years of running businesses. Early in my career I would fill the empty spaces with negativity, creating worst case scenarios. All this would do is rile me up and create a lot of fear, anxiety, and anger. That is a bad recipe for me. I make poor decisions, both personally and professionally under such conditions.

Over the years I have become better and creating comfortable silence. I do this by practicing acceptance and being patient. I do not try to fill the empty spaces as often, I let them be. They will be filled naturally as thing progress. I do this with three main practices that I have learned over the years. The first is mediation. This discipline helps me clear my mind and build my stamina for silence. It helps me to be more at peace and accepting of the natural timing of things. I think, feel, and act better when I regularly practice meditation. Even if only for five minutes a day.

The second is writing. That is exactly what I am doing now with this series. Not only do I hope my story and experience will help others, but it helps me get the mess out of my head. That does three main things. Number one it takes the power out of the crazy thoughts I create. Number two, it makes some sense out the mess. And three, it creates space for positive thoughts to enter. I know it sounds cheesy but it works.

The third is the mental exercise of trading places. I try to put myself in the other party’s place. That helps me to see things from their side. Quite often I will realize that they are doing exactly what I would in their position. Of course, I can never know exactly why, but it helps to see things from more than one position.

So, I will sit in comfortable silence and go about my normal business…

For a few more days that is, because the grace period is almost up!

Talk Soon,

Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live

AIM TO PLEASE…Everyone???

“Everyone is not your customer.” – Seth Godin

If you cast your net wide enough you are surely to catch something, right? Probably a lot something. Sounds good, but is that “something” what you really want?

There is a saying in sales and marketing that “if everyone is your customer, then no one is your customer.” Another variation is “when you speak to everyone, you speak to no one.” I have heard several other variations and I am not quite sure to whom it is originally attributed to. The gist is the same for each; be deliberate in your targeting.

Using the shotgun or wide net approach might deliver your message to more people and create the illusion that you market is larger than it is. However, is your message being heard? That is the key question. To be effective, your message must be heard and consumed by your intended audience. The message is useless if it fall on deaf ears. Think of mass mailers and junk mail. Little marketing postcards are sent to every household for product x. The majority of these postcards are most likely tossed in the trash because most people do not need or want product x.

Who didn’t throw out the postcard? Those are the ones that are important. How can a marketer distill their message to reach those people and others like them? How can one define that group of people that read the postcard? What is it about product x that resonated with those people? How are they similar? These are just a few questions to ask. There are hundreds.

If you aim to please everyone you will end up pleasing no one. Or at least not enough to call a viable market that can sustain a business. It is important to know and understand your market as best you can. Create avatars for you ideal customer so you know as much as you can about them. That way you can create messages that will actually be read by them about products and services they actually want and need and are willing to exchange their money for.

At the end of the day, it is better to have a small market that you can serve well with a high rate of conversion than a large market with low conversion. When you create that market and truly understand them you will chow how to please them. That will create a market of loyal customers that will continue to buy from you.

Once you lose sight of your market and how to serve them you lose your ability to please them. That will be the beginning of the end of your business.

Talk Soon,
Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live

Cash Is King

Cash is more important than your mother! That seems pretty harsh right, unless you don’t like your mom. That is what my father in law used to say when business was tough and cash was tight.

In business it is true, for profit, non-profit, not-for-profit – doesn’t matter you can’t run a business without it. It’s the life blood, the oxygen of your operation. No business can survive without it.

Cash is king and cash is green so when times are tough you have to do whatever you can to generate it and conserve it. Remember, sales solve all problems. Collect cash, not debt – don’t over leverage.

Trust me; I have learned this the hard way. To be honest, more times than I would like to admit. What can I say; sometimes I’m a slow learner. When things start getting good it’s hard not to ride that wave longer than feasible. The reality is a few crashes are good for you. That is my opinion. You have to fail and lose to really learn. In business, some people call this cycling; you cycle through the entire process of making it to the top and crashing all the way to bottom, maybe even losing it all.

Just remember, you made it to the top before, you can do it again. Focus on how you can generate cash. Cutting costs and reducing expenses is great, but spend more time on generating revenue. Your business needs that oxygen to survive…

Cash is king, treat it as such.

Talk Soon,
Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live