Seven things I learned last year

Every year, during the holidays, I take stock of what I've learned over the past year. It's cathartic, since most of my learnings come from mistakes. A couple of years ago, my big "ah hah!" was: you can't just get all your ducks in a row and have things work out, you also have to knock 'em all down yourself. This year, due to a particularly interesting end to NFL season and start to the playoffs, I'm a little late in processing the last twelve months' useful teachings.

The big light bulb from 2008 is, of course: trust your gut — it's usually right. If we'd listened to prognosticators, we'd have bought $100/barrel oil futures and bet on the Giants squeaking out a Superbowl win over Brett Favre. No one, it seems, knew anything last year. Our business felt wrong as far back as last May. Sales were down. "It's summer, it's cyclical, the sun is in the house of Pisces" we told ourselves. Nope. Business was just off and we felt it early. We made our adjustments in September and we're in good shape — but I wish we'd made them earlier. This year I'm going back to trusting my gut more.

Which brings us to segment of the show we've all been waiting for: my New Top 7 Rules of Professional Services.

1. Professional services is about trust and problem solving

From the learning: "no one really understands blue-ocean-synergies-with-long-tails."

I tried a lot of different ways of describing our business to potential clients last year. I used big words. I used business words. I used technical words. I used made-up words. I even used bolded, underlined words. But — I learned this yet again — it's not about the words. It's about two things: 1) does the client trust you as a human being? And 2) can you convince the client you can solve the problem.

That's it. It's possible to get to where you need to be without any words. Okay, that would be difficult, and awkward, but you get the point. You get over the trust barrier more from how you say it than from what you say. And demonstrating problem solving skills will come down to clear, simple logic and processes, not undecipherable frameworks which look they've been designed to combat space junk. Lawyers, accountants, consultants, engineers, bankers, and marketers — I defy you find a more fundamental underpinning to the services game.

2. Business professionalism represents a great means of differentiating

From the learning: "Many people lie and I don't know why."

This is a true story. We pitched the same client (Same company, different people) six times this past year. We got zero business. (Aside: this has helped us coin the term "once bitten, twice shy, six times stupid".)

The sixth time, this is how the conversation went, starting with a call from the client.

Client: "We'd like you to help us look at a new opportunity."

Us: "Great, but we're a little leery to put another proposal together."

Client: "No, no, we really need this."

Us: "Do you have budget for this?"

Client: "Yes."

Us: "really? It's set aside?"

Client: "Yes."

Us: "You're sure?"

Client: "Yes."

Us: "And you can make the decision? You don't need to go to your boss?"

Client: "Yes, it's my call."