Dan Steinborn, Founder & President
PrintGlobe

In 1995, two years after graduating with an undergraduate in Public Relations from The University of Texas at Austin, Dan founded Corporate Communications of Austin, a regional graphic design and print brokering firm. Five years later, Corporate Communications of Austin embarked on an ambitious online business strategy and launched PrintGlobe.com.  Today, PrintGlobe.com operates the largest business printing superstore online and has earned business from more than 30% of the Fortune 500 companies and over 30,000 customers. 

Entering its eighth consecutive year of double-digit growth, PrintGlobe was named by the Austin Business Journal one of the “50 Fastest Growing Companies” in 2006 and 2007 and has also been awarded “Best 50 Places” to work in Central Texas.  PrintGlobe has also been recognized by the Inc. 5000 in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Recently, Dan was invited by Google to serve as a member of its national Google AdWords Advertiser Council, a select group of marketing executives who provide strategic advice and feedback to Google.  In his personal time, Dan enjoys live music and mountain biking and has served as a campaign advisor to political candidates.

Dan has been a member of TAB since 2004. Lessons learned from fellow board members have helped Dan and PrintGlobe grow the company from $3,000,000 in sales to more than $10,000,000 in 2010. Dan stated in a recent interview, “I made a great decision several years ago to join the Austin TAB organization and be part of a monthly board meeting with other business owners of growth companies. They’ve inspired and counseled me and helped me to push the limits of what I thought I could do.”

For more info about Dan and PrintGlobe, check out his recent profile in the Austin Business Journal.

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The world is changing—fast.  If you are a business owner, you know how quickly your company can become commoditized.

Commoditization can mean lower prices, lower margins, and (if you don’t do something about it soon), the demise of your business.

Over the last several months, I have discussed the notion of commoditization with several hundred successful entrepreneurs.  We have discussed this phenomenon in our TABBoards and are developing specific tools and strategies to address it.   Many owners see great opportunities in hyper-rapid change, others are petrified.  Just about all agree that if they do not lead and stay differentiated, that they can quickly get trampled.  The question is HOW.  Here are a few tips to prevent you and your company from becoming a commodity:

1.  Develop a Proactive De-Commoditization Strategy:    If you think your product or service is so unique that you are immune, you may want to think again.  Over one million people have viewed the Did You Know 3.0 video.  If you haven’t seen it, please take 5 minutes to check it out on YouTube.   Those who have watched it are struck not only by the speed at which the world is changing, but also the rate with which this speed of change is increasing.  In your business planning, make sure to incorporate the fact that commoditization happens 10 to 1000 times quicker in the Information Age than in previous generations.

2.  Develop an Innovation Mentality:  This is not an easy feat.  It requires an unconditional commitment from the owner and from the entire leadership team.   Changing the way people think can be tough, but the rewards of developing an Innovation Mentality will be well worth the effort in the face of changing marketplace that all businesses face today.

3.  Develop a World Class Sales Organization:  Your competitors are the biggest readers of your website and marketing material. If a product or service is valuable and there is a decent sized market for it, someone, somewhere will soon be trying to duplicate it.   An effective, differentiated, scalable Sales Culture is something that can not be duplicated.  I have developed a simple checklist you can use to create a high-performance World Class Sales Team.  If you’d like a copy, click here and write “WCSO Checklist” in the Subject line.  

4.  Develop your Reputation by Becoming Your Industry’s Most Trusted Advisor:  Products and services can be copied quickly, but overcoming your reputation as being the most trusted source is difficult.

5.  Become a member of a CEO Advisory Board, including true peers who are living in a movie similar to your own:  Many of you who are reading this are already members of a group such as The Alternative Board® and have developed an edge over your competitors by virtue of a proprietary process like the one offered by TAB.  Over 200 of these groups exist across the United States, the UK, Australia, and South America.  The TAB process includes peer learning, accountability coaching, effective planning tools, operational and financial assessments, business education and much more.  If you are not a member, but have an interest in learning more or seeing if you qualify for membership, call 512-331-1822 or click here.

In our rapidly changing global economy, the great idea that you worked so hard to develop into a business advantage can likely be re-engineered in India, China, or a host of other places that can deliver your product or service at a fraction or your cost.   An idea that took years to pirate a generation ago can today be re-manufactured and delivered in a period of weeks or months.   By following these simple steps, you can create an amazing competitive advantage for your company.   

Copyright ©   Joe Zente   2009.   All Rights Reserved.   

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Jeff Turk, CEO
Formaspace

Jeff Turk’s Bio

Formaspace featured in Austin Business Journal, “Formaspace Finds a Bigger Home”

How did you get into your business?

I arrived in Austin in the fall of 2005.   I was just coming back from West Africa, so all I had was two backpacks and a laptop.  I bought two chairs and air mattress at Wal*Mart, got an apartment on East Riverside Drive, and founded Council Oak Investors.  We closed the fund in 42 days, and the apartment was condemned by the city the following week.  Formaspace was the first acquisition in the fund.

What is your company’s Driving Critical Success Factor?

I’m not sure I understand the question.  Unless you own something completely proprietary, don’t people always make the difference?

What do you love most about what you do?

I like solving problems creatively.  I like working with people I like and respect.  And I love being part of our client’s workspaces.  We’re in all kinds of spaces, from national labs doing top-secret research, to robotics and aerospace projects, to the set of Gray’s Anatomy.  How cool is that?

Elvis or Beatles?

Whoa – you might as well ask “Duke Ellington or King Oliver?”  I’m a child of the 80’s.  When Elvis broke out with ‘Love Me Tender’ my parents were tweens. The Beatles broke up before I was born.  I prefer for the music to fit the context of the environment.  If I’m down in South Texas I might tune in a little Tejano, if I’m in Chicago I might listen to my wife’s Southside music, if I’m clubbing in Austin it could be Bob Schneider, but right now I’m at our very loud, very amped-up factory and Nickelback is playing in my head.

What is your favorite business book and why?

I’m not sure if I can name just one, but if I did, it might be ‘Good to Great.’ Actually anything by Jim Collins.  And Gladwell, and the ‘Topgrading Guys’, and Jack Welch, especially ‘Winning.’  Who doesn’t like to win?  The best book I read in 2009 was ‘Who’ by Geoff Smart and Randy Street, which I think is actually better than Topgrading.  I also like the concept of lifestyle design outlined in ‘The Four Hour Workweek.’  I recommend reading anything Warren Buffet has written as well as transcripts of everything he has said.  I just recommend reading in general.

Do you consider yourself a good communicator?

No.  I’m a terrible listener, and listening is the key to communication. I’m one of those ADHD kids, so when talking to me, it’s best to get to the message quickly. Also, I have an aversion to simplicity  and repetition, so that’ something I’m working on. 

One thing that has helped me recently is a Livescribe pen.  It’s this pen that records conversations as you take notes.  Then you can tap your notes, and the conversation that occurred as you took the note plays back to you.  Very cool.

How do you define success?

I have a little piece of paper that I scribbled on years ago that says “Do good by doing well.”  My goal is that everyone who touches us – coworkers, partners, vendors, and customers – is better off for the experience.  If we can develop people in the direction they want to go in, improve people’s quality of life in the workspaces where they spend most of their working hours, and generate a profit that can be churned back into the community – that’s success.

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To start off 2010, I’d like to share a UnCommon Sense secret you can implement today that will guarantee more sales.  This secret requires no new skills or training.  Anyone can do it. 

If your sales team is like most, you have several members who miss out on a lot of revenue (and profit) simply by GIVING UP TOO SOON.  Most salespeople bail out way too early.  They’ll take the sales that come to them, but they don’t do the small amount of work it takes to go and get all the rest.

The following statistics are hard to believe, but paint an amazing picture:

48% of Salespeople NEVER follow up with a prospect

25% of Salespeople make a Second contact, then quit.

12% of Salespeople make only Three contacts, then quit.

Only 10% of Salespeople Make More than Three Contacts.

At this point, you may be saying “So what?”   Here’s what:

2% of Sales are made on the First Contact

3% of Sales are made on the Second Contact

5% of Sales are made on the Third Contact

10% of Sales are made on the Fourth Contact

80% of Sales are made after the Fifth Contact.

These stats indicate that the different between making one call and four calls per prospect can increase your sales by 400%, but only 10% of salespeople do it.  The results of persistence past the fifth call can be even more dramatic. 

In the face of these statistics, you may be wondering why ALL salespeople aren’t more persistent.   Two of the main reasons are Fear of Rejection and Need for Approval. 

There is also a simple question of accountability and discipline.

There is one big difference between good salespeople and great salespeople.   The great ones do the things that the good ones know they should do, but don’t.  

With a new decade upon us, you have a wonderful opportunity to begin a process of consistency in exceeding sales goals.  It starts with you.   Declare that you will no longer accept mediocrity in your sales organization.  Raise Your Expectations, then Raise Theirs.

Statistics demonstrate that there is lots of low hanging fruit that is not being harvested.  Remember, no response or a negative response is NOT a “no”.  Demand persistence.   Refuse to bail out.  Great sales results with follow.

Joe

Copyright ©   Joe Zente  2010.   All Rights Reserved.

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If you’ve worked through the heavy lifting involved in the eight steps I described in Volumes One and Two, Congratulations.  You are well on your way to consistent over-achievement and significant revenue growth.   The Final Four are quite easy and straight-forward.    Three of these steps can be easily determined via an objective assessment.  The final step involves simple a simple commitment.

9.  Skills – All selling skills are a blessing.  The more, the merrier.  But certain skill sets are essential for overachieving.  Your Sales Team must be able to hunt for new opportunities, identify the most qualified and be able to close them.  Seek and develop Hunters, Qualifiers and Closers.  Consider everything else a bonus.

10.  Urgency - An over-achieving salesperson must have a killer instinct.  They must have the sense to understand when their prospects are trying to deflect or wiggle away and the skills to deal with these put-offs.  The Law of Diminishing Pain is profound and abundant.  If a prospect doesn’t agree to do business with you while you’re speaking with him, while you have the ability to influence him, while you have his attention and while his issue is biggest and brightest, the chances that he will decide to do business with you when he returns from vacation or his “two crazy weeks of busy-ness” are highly unlikely.  He’ll have 89 pressing issues to deal with upon his return and the problem you are now talking about will seem less pressing.  If you allow for put-offs, understand the consequences of your bailing out.  If you are LUCKY, you’ll extend your sales cycle by weeks or months.  More likely, the order will simply not happen.

11.  Weaknesses - Unfortunately, there are dozens weaknesses that will neutralize all of the factors listed above.   The five most debilitating weaknesses are Need for Approval, Non-Supportive Buy Cycle, Emotional Involvement, The Money Weakness, and Self-Limiting Psychological Records (aka:  Head Trash).  Fortunately, these can all be measured and systematically eliminated once identified.

12.  Coaching and Training - Your coaching must support any training initiative and help salespeople overcome their weaknesses, develop skills and master the selling process.  Make it clear that your salespeople understand that their recurrent coaching/de-briefing appointment is the single most important meeting on their calendar.  Each over-achieving salesperson must be prepared for their weekly de-brief. Attendance must be non-negotiable.

There are your 12 steps.  If you follow this simple formula, the results will exceed your wildest expectations.  Start now and watch what happens in 2010!

Joe

Copyright ©   Joe Zente  2009.   All Rights Reserved.

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