A sports team cannot be successful, a house, car, or structure of any kind cannot be built without addressing and mastering the basics. Why then do we believe that we do not have to attend to the basics in business? Businesses fail every year, and some fail not because the market is bad, or because they have a poor product or service, they fail – or implode – because they did not attend to the basics of building their business.

It’s now football season. Imagine a team taking the field without knowing how to block and tackle. Oh, they can run (or they try to run) sophisticated and complex plays, but without the ability to block – the play fails. And on defense, they have a great defensive strategy, but – they can’t tackle. In the martial arts, if you can’t block, kick and punch – you get hurt.

We often hear the phrase in business: we’ve got to get back to the basics – blocking and tackling. Yet far too many fail to do so. They talk about it, especially Monday morning after the Sunday games, but talk and action are not the same thing.

Here’s our spin on business basics:

1)    Having a product or service that the market needs and will buy

2)    Having a strategic vision for the business

3)    Having an organizational structure that will allow the business to execute effectively

4)    Having executives and managers who are not only good content experts, but also good managers (they are different and they are both needed)

5)    Having a support infrastructure that can support the business as it is today, and that can adjust and grow as the business grows

6)    Having metrics that will enable the executives to monitor progress and identify areas needing improvement

7)    Having outstanding customer service

8)    Insuring that the individual self-sabotaging behaviors are eliminated

We do not pretend to give you the impression that attending to the basics is easy. As a martial artist, I can attest that it is easy to learn how to block, kick and punch the open space in front of you. It’s a much different experience when there is a live body returning the kicks and punches (Read: competition).

In business it is essential to learn, develop and practice the basics – and to improve a little each day. The improvements accumulate and the business gets stronger and more effective. Then if you want, you can look at some of the new fads – but our guess is you won’t need to.

Copyright 2009 Kubica and LaForest

Too many business leaders are searching for the holy grail of business solutions: the fad that will work – the business trend of the year. And they’re willing to spend big money to find it. Yet few do.

In our work with clients, we start by looking for how well they do the basics: responsiveness, relationship building, identifying and serving the customer’s real needs. The basics that many business leaders seem to take for granted and often overlook.

We believe that business solutions exist on a continuum. On the far left we have the low cost / low risk options; on the far right we have the high cost / high risk options.

In our opinion, and in our experience, too many business leaders choose to enter in the high cost / high risk range of the continuum, thinking bigger or more complex is better and will address everything. Please hear this: It is almost impossible to identify and implement a high cost / high risk solution if the business basics are not addressed.  (Read: you will likely be wasting your time, money and resources.)

For example, we have a technology company client who was looking to increase sales of their software products. They sold nine individual products. We conducted a series of targeted interviews with IT consultants, small business owners, CIO’s and potential customers, and the feedback was consistent. The interviewees felt that the company had an impressive software solution (i.e. good technology), but they could not clearly understand what the company sold, who the buyer was, and what was the value proposition – that is, a concise statement of improved condition the client will realize (or can expect) as a result of purchasing the product.

We worked with the company to define their market (in this case it was the healthcare market), what they sold, their target customer (to whom they sold their products), and their value proposition.

As a result, the company now concentrates on two key product categories (in this case it is risk management and quality management) and the team knows and can articulate their target buyers, and have a clearly defined value proposition. All of these activities were on the low cost, low risk solution side of the continuum, which led to and resulted in their ability to attract and hire a seasoned sales executive.

Starting with and addressing the low cost / low risk options for improvement or growth just makes good business sense. So, we offer you our brand: Business $ense: Growth without Self-Sabotage – The Low Cost, Low Risk way to High Performance. We welcome your comments on the blog and our brand.

Copyright 2009 Kubica and LaForest

You’re sitting in your new Corvette; you start the engine and the adrenaline spikes as you feel the 430 hp machine come to life. You see the racetrack ahead. No one can stop you now. You shift into first gear and the race is on; a race you will no doubt win. A few minutes later, the Corvette comes to an abrupt stop. What happened? No oil!

This is a metaphor for your business. You have a vision, a strategic plan, a sound business plan, a good product or service that the market is willing to buy, funding/financing, and a competent and capable management team. You have the ingredients for a successful business. Yet something is not right. You should be more successful. You should have stronger growth. What’s missing? The oil: the intangibles that lubricate the business process.

No engine, no matter how well engineered, can run without oil. No business, no matter how well designed and assembled, can run without the intangibles. The intangibles are to a business what oil is to an engine. They are the subtle yet powerful behaviors that are practiced or not practiced every day. These behaviors represent how work is done and how people interact. What behavior is tolerated; what behavior is not. What is said versus what is done. Some in business call these the soft factors. Yet in our experience and after interviewing business people, we find that it is the soft factors that ultimately determine the success of the business.

An unreturned phone call will not lead to business. Trying to sell before a relationship is established will not lead to business. Creating and tolerating an work environment of extreme internal competition and low trust, tolerating the jerk manager who intimidates and berates employees, will not lead to growth – regardless how well the business design looks on paper or externally to others.

If your business growth is not meeting your expectation and you believe you have the basic business design in place (the engine), consider the following:

1)    Talk to your customers and ask them about your service, responsiveness, and relationship building experience with your company;

2)    Talk to a trusted advisor and ask them how they see your company;

3)    Talk to your employees, and ask them for their feedback, thoughts and suggestions (and make this a safe environment for them);

4)    Ask each of your executives (individually and privately) to tell you the top 3 business priorities;

5)    Personally participate in select exit interviews;

6)    Review the new clients added, client repeat business (client retention), and employee turnover and compare current year with the previous year

Do the six action steps suggested above, and do them yourself. Before you look for complex reasons why your business is not performing to your expectation, look for the simple yet powerful reasons for poor performance. Look for the intangibles. And if you find problems – fix them. It could be the lowest cost, lowest risk way to improve performance, now.

Copyright 2009 Kubica and LaForest

By this we mean, “I don’t care what you think; I care what I think.

For example, you meet someone in business for the first time, and make the innocent yet fatal mistake of asking – “how are you”?. A half hour later, as they come up for air, you tell them it was nice to meet them and you wish them well. You slowly get up, using all the self-control you can muster not to dash for the door, like a person whose hair is on fire runs to the nearest water bucket.  You have just been subjected to over-disclosure, inappropriately sharing, or worse – the self sabotaging behavior of imposing personal beliefs in the business environment. Plainly stated, the urge to share your opinions and beliefs with just about everyone you meet. These can range from the minor (i.e. food preference) to the major (i.e. politics, religion, social issues). We place beliefs about your favorite sports team in its own category, and encourage you to stay out of business social situations where alcohol is served (where sports attachments and egos run rampant amid less self-control).

For those who think others should care about what you think – we have shocking news for you. Nobody, and we mean nobody, sincerely cares what you think about these issues, unless they have a meaningful relationship with you – and then, out of caring or respect, they will tolerate your personal beliefs. They may care about what you think about them; they may care about your suitability for a job; they may care about your business approach to solving one of their problems, but they certainly don’t care about your personal beliefs.

Business is about what your prospect, client or customer needs to improve their condition. It is about understanding their needs and framing ways to meet their needs and add value. What you believe is truly not important to your buyer – unless your buyer happens to be a very tolerant and forgiving friend. Business is about understanding your clients’ needs; it’s not about sharing yours. One of the consequences of freely sharing your beliefs and opinions is a quiet “deselect”-of you, your business, your services.

We encourage  cautious and thoughtful sharing on personal beliefs as related to business, and offer five actions to consider:

-       Keep your conversation on the client’s needs / issues / purpose for the meeting,

-       Do not initiate personal and controversial issues at key business events and meetings

-       Avoid entering or joining into emotional discussions on personal or controversial issues

-       When talking about sports, keep it unemotional – remember you goal is to gain a customer, not prove your team is better than their team,

-       If the client or prospect asks for your personal opinion on a controversial issue, reserve it. If you want to discuss it dispassionately, go ahead. It may show the client you are conversant on a wide range of issues. If you see the client getting emotionally involved in the discussion, back out by turning the discussion back to the business discussion.

Remember, in a business situation, your client or prospect is ultimately interested in your help with solving their problems and challenges, not in your personal beliefs. Meet them there.

Copyright 2009 Kubica and LaForest