"One Quick Question" Email Mentoring For High-Tech Organisations

"One single conversation across the table with a wise man is worth a month's study of books." ~ Chinese proverb

Have you ever had that feeling in the midst of making an important decision that you could certainly benefit from a second opinion, and extra, objective unbiased brain to run your thoughts by... if there were such a brain available on a short notice?

Someone who is reasonably up to snuff with your business and industry, yet, unlike you, is not emotionally detached from your business thus can help you to think clearly with a cool head.

So, referring to the above Chinese proverb, I can't claim to be a wise man. But I've learnt a few things over the years, and adding my intuition, wisdom, perspective, experiences and expertise to yours, we can make better decisions.

In the movie Rules of engagement, Col. Terry L. Childers (Played by Samuel L. Jackson) asks his former Vietnam comrade-in-arms, now lawyer, Col. Hayes 'Hodge' Hodges (Played by Tommy Lee Jones) to defend him in a nasty court martial case that could break his Marine career. Childers is accused of mass-murdering innocent civilians to defend the US embassy in a third world country. Upon asking Hodge to defend Childers, Hodge responded.

"I'm a pretty weak lawyer. For this case you need someone much better than me."

And here comes Childers' profound response...

"There may be better lawyers, but you know combat and have been shot at. That's what counts."

Similarly, I can't say I'm the best of the best at this business development stuff, but one thing is certainly on my side, thus could be on your side. I spent a previous career on the other, the seller's side of the negotiation table. As an engineer and buyer for seven-figure technology solutions, I attended lots of trade shows, seminars, met hundreds of salespeople at hundreds of sales presentations. What I can say with full confidence is that I intimately know how people buy technology and how savvy buyers make decisions. And since 1996 I've learnt pretty well how to also sell technology. I know what helps them to make decisions and what pisses them off. Well, I used to be one of them.

Many high-tech companies have sales problems not because their stuff is substandard. They have great stuff. What they are often missing is a fresh perspective when it comes to marketing and selling their stuff. They often work on the same dysfunctional methods, but work on them harder and longer.

It's like a eunuch trying to seduce one of the sexiest girls in the harem. Regardless of how harder and longer he works, his seduction process can't go beyond a certain point because certain tools are missing from his anatomical toolbox. And no hard-working attitude and positive thinking can compensate for soft tools.

The good news for high-tech companies is that, while that poor bastard eunuch can't be retrofitted with all the required tools to have a great time with the harem girls, high-tech companies have a way of keeping themselves productive in the business development compartment.

But they often ignore this opportunity and that's...

Why They Keep Paying The High Price Of Doing Business Without Due Reconnaissance

And due reconnaissance can be based on either your first-hand observation or information you don't have but is readily available, and someone out there has already faced that situation and knows how to handle it. All it takes is just to connect with someone whom you're willing to bring up to speed on your business and connect with him when you have an important decision to make and would like to run it by an objective outsider.

Many business owners try to do this with their own managers and executives. But they have an axe to grind. They are part of the company's politics. So, they can tell you what you want to hear but not what you need to hear. And they will tell you everything to protect their turfs. It's just human nature.

Or the other option is to ignore external input and...

Facing The Potential Dangers Of Your Own Decisions

The problem is that every decision we make is based on our current perspectives, frames of reference and perception of the world and the other people. Our current situation is merely a visible reflection of our perspectives. And here is the problem: We can't change our perspectives at the drop of a hat or without external influence.

Every morning, after waking up, most men engage in the triple-S manoeuvre: 1) Shit, 2) shave and 3) shower. Well, women too, but other areas to shave... Different people in different order. And this is the key. You don't wake up one morning, slap yourself on the forehead and say...

"Eureka, I change the order from today on."

You keep doing it in the well-rehearsed order until and unless someone tells you that there is a better way, and then you consider whether or not to change your habit. It's that simple and at the same time that complex.

In a way it's like physics. Imagine you roll a ball and, under ideal circumstances, it keeps rolling forever in a straight line. It can't slow down, speed up or change direction without an external force acting on it.

Archimedes once said regarding leverage...

"Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the Earth."

That is, he needed a steady spot that is isolated from the Earth itself, the object he wanted to move.

The problem of your own decisions and the decisions you get from your people is that you stand on the very object you want to move. You all are parts of the business you want to change. So, it doesn't work. Using the previous rolling ball example, you can't influence the ball by being on it or in it. You must gain a steady foothold on something that is solid but not part of the ball, and only then you can exert force on the ball and change its speed or direction.

Internal decisions are always distorted by politics, various agendas and schemes that can undermine the quality of the decision.

So What's This "Just One Quick Question" Thing?

It's exactly as it's called.

As a business owner, senior executive or manager, you probably have some questions to which you need quick and high-quality answers. Situations when a second opinion from an unbiased outsider can make a significant difference. As Detective Mac Taylor has said in one of the recent episodes of CSI New York...

"Even a small mistake can be significant enough to change the dynamics of everything that follows."

Similarly, small improvements in the answer to your questions can make a huge impact in the implementation.

One senior executive of an audio-visual consulting firm said to me early 2007...

I wish I could have connected with you last month while writing that proposal."

Then I asked a few questions...

"What happened to the proposed project? Did you get the gig?" - I asked.

"We lost it." - He said.

"How long did it take to prepare that proposal?" - I asked.

"174 person hours." - He said.

"What is the average annual salary of the people who prepared it?" - I asked.

"Senior consultants with an average annual salary of $147,000." - He said.

"174 hours are 8.7% of the 2,000-hour work year. That's 8.7% of the $147,000 salary, that is, $12,789." Any other costs?" - I asked.

"About $2,000 worth of collateral materials." - He said.

"So, bidding for that one project alone cost you and lost you about $15,000. Am I correct?" - I asked.

"Holy shit!" - He said.

"Is this $15,000 roughly your typical proposal preparation cost?" - I asked.

"Yup" - He said.

"How many proposals do you prepare in an average year?" - I asked.

"Last year we developed 42 proposals" - He said.

"How many did you lose?" - I asked.

"31" - He said.

"About $465,000 (31 * $15,000) down the toilet." - I said.

"What's the value of one average project?" - I asked.

"About $235,000 per project." - He said.

"So, on the 31 lost projects, you lost $7,285,000 opportunity money last year alone. Not to mention the $465,000 it cost you to develop them. Almost $8 million down the drain in one single year." - I said.

The damage was much more serious than he'd ever thought.

The owner of a small IT consulting firm showed me the company's brand new full colour company brochure. Spunky design top-notch paper, etc. Total design and printing cost: $13,300...

"Did you test the headline and the other copy elements of the brochure before printing?" - I asked.

"No need for that. My wife is an English teacher with a Master's degree, and she's a great writer." - He said.

"What does she usually write?" - I asked.

"Short romantic stories and poems." - He said.

"Has she ever written anything with the sole purpose of selling a service or product?" - I asked.

"No, but it's all the same isn't it? Writing is writing is writing." - He said.

"And how is it working for you? What sort of response are you're getting from the brochure?" - I asked.

"Not much. People just don't get it." - He said.

"How much business have you got from the brochure so far?" - I asked.

"About 720,000." - He said.

"Do you know that the headline alone can increase response rate by as much as 2,100%? A potential $15,840,000 in the bank." - I asked.

I went home and plugged his headline and some of mine into Google AdWords for split testing. Even my worst-performing headline outperformed his headline by a factor of 2.6 to 1. Then I contacted him and let him know.

"You mean that could have been $1,656,000 instead of $720,000." - He asked.

"Yeah, and that was with my weakest headline." - I said.

"What about the best headline?" - He asked.

"We're talking about $6 million plus, and we keep tweaking it for better results." - I said.

Now these people could have saved a fortune and could have gained some more by having been able to run their "one quick questions" by someone.

Some other topics I've worked on a "One Quick Question" basis are...

But there are certain...

Areas That Are Excluded From The Programme

One of the main reasons why they are excluded is because they are pretty significant change efforts and take more than one answer to implement. Some of the se issues are...

These questions are too broad and general. When they are so general, we need a proper consulting engagement to design it and implement it.

But certain specific segments of each of the above topics can be included in the programme...

These are specific issues, thus are suitable for this "One Quick Question" programme.

So, now the question may arise...

So, How Could You Use This Service?

You have unlimited email access to me to ask questions or get a second opinion on important issues that require quick decision and you'd like to maximise the quality of the decision.

You're one of 20 other high-tech business owners and senior business development executives. However this is not a group programme but 20 individual relationships between each of the 20 members and me. Whenever a specific business development issue comes up, you drop me an email and I'll give you my take on the issue.

The programme runs in monthly cycles and members join one month at a time. You can cancel at any time. There are no long-term contracts. All I ask you is that if you ask a question and get the answer, then follow through and act on that answer. Then let me know what happened.

Put only one question into an email, so based on the subject we can track our communications, so later we can backtrack if necessary. You'll receive codename of some kind which you put in the subject line in square braces, like [Codename], and I filer these email into a special folder for quick attention. This way we can avoid our message's being caught in spam filters.

You can ask me anything about business development off- and online, managing your business development department, keeping your people excited and enthusiastic, pricing, copywriting, tracking your people's performance, etc.

You can use me as a sounding board to reflect on your own thoughts. We can brainstorm improvements and new developments.

Every time you need a second opinion, here it is.

Why The Email Approach?

Also, the email establishes a two-way communication. Every time you send an email, the ball is in my court to respond. When I send you an answer, it your turn to get back to me with what you plan to do with the answer.

All in all, this approach results in action.

This is a true mentoring programme. Not coaching or consulting. It's like having a library card. Whenever you need an answer, you go to the library and look it up. But the library staff is not chasing you for questions.

This is a low cost programme, so it's not overly organised. It means that I count on your discipline to play by the rules and take action on the answers we develop. And this is vital. You ask a question and I give you my take on it. Then we may debate it a tad further, thus tweak the answers. The best answers come out of a few emails between us. It's not you, not me but the synergy of our combined brainpower.

Here is how this synergy stuff works...

Creativity and the quality of our decisions is the function of the number of connections we can make between our brain cells. The more connections we make, the better the decisions we make. Now, let's say, for the sake of simplicity, you have four brain cells, so you can make maximum six connections. In isolation I can make the same six connections with my four brain cells. But together we can make 28 connections.

Total number of connections = (Number of brain cells * (Number of brain cells - 1)) / 2.

In our case, (8 * (8 - 1) ) / 2 = 28 connections

It means the quality of our joint decisions is 366% higher than the decisions either of us can make in isolation. So, this is what we have here.

Why can't you have this synergy with your own people?

One thing is the emotional involvement in protecting their jobs and paycheques. The other is...

A recent Gallup Poll study indicates that 59% of the workforce is disengaged, 14% of the workforce is actively disengaged and that a mere 27% are engaged. According to Gallup, these people show up like sleepwalkers on the job.

According to a 2005 study of the Insurance Journal, less than 15% of the workforce is energised and enthusiastic about their work. 42% are struggling to with burnout.

I don't say these numbers apply to your company as they are, but we 'd better know the reality before we start doing something.

Plus here are some other advantages of using email...

Email messages allow virtually endless tweaking of your message until it says exactly what you mean to say. It removes ambiguities and encourages us to use judicious clarity and brevity.

Email allows us to create a "paper trail" for future reference. Knowing we have to live with our messages, email promotes bone honesty.

Email is free of body language and vocal inflections which often cause the message to be misconstrued. Email relies on reason and logic while removing the emotional ingredients body language and tone of voice can introduce.

Email makes it possible for us to think before and responding. It encourages us to properly digest messages before formulating our responses. It also encourages us to use the language correctly, which advances professional stature and relationships.

Also, there is a relationship between writing something down and acting on it. If it is not written down, it is unlikely to get acted upon.

How You Can Use Our Answers?

You're free to use the answers we develop. All I ask you is that you use them in an ethical way and give credit where credit is due. But how you use the answers and others use it when you give them to them is your responsibility.

For instance, a few years ago I met a woman at a networking event and we talked about business, including pricing. I mentioned that in my view hourly pricing was unethical to buyers and financially limiting for sellers. So, she said she would switch to value pricing next morning. Yup, at the drop of a hat. Armed with some superficial knowledge gained over a ten-minute conversation. She even tried to move some existing clients from hourly pricing to value pricing. In one month, she lost almost half of her existing clients and the majority of her hot prospects.

She thought that just because she had an MBA, she could instantly use an unknown but interesting-sounding concept. It didn't work. And I'm not responsible for her failure. Similarly, you are solely responsible for the impact of the application of the answers we develop.

Now you may ask about confidentiality.

Everything we discuss is top secret and 100 confidential. It's up to you who you share it with. At my end it's only me. I work alone. No receptionist, no assistant, no outsourced slave labour in India, Pakistan or even Ivory Coast. None at all. Not a sausage.

Every now and then I may include some sections in my newsletter or on my blog, but I always remove anything that could identify you in any way.

The quality of your questions define the quality my first answers and the final answer we jointly develop.

The better your question is, the better the answer you will get. Years ago, when I was working as a service engineer in the biomedical field, we often got equipment with labels on them. "Not working." I would ask the nurse or the doctor what the specific problem was. And many of them just kept repeating, "Not working."

It's like going to the doctor and complaining, "I don't feel too well."

The question must be fairly specific. So, this programme is not for equations like, "I'm on my last $1,000 in the bank. How to make a fortune right now?" That takes a bit more than one single answer.

So, Let's Look At the Details

The "Just One Quick Question" mentor programme runs in monthly cycles with two options...

Option #1: Continual access, allowing you up to 10 emails per week, that is, five questions from you and five responses from me, responded to you within 48 business hours. Emails are not cumulative and cannot be dragged over to the following weeks. The fee for this option is $500 per month.

Option #2: Unlimited access, allowing you as many emails as necessary, with responses provided within 24 hours and not subject to business hours. I work from home, and I respond, may it be weekday or weekend. So, whenever, regardless of weekday or weekend, I see your email and respond. The fee for this option is $1,000 per month.

And as long as you're a member of the programme, even if I increase the fee for new members, your investment remains the same.

And even Option #2 is only some 60% of the total cost of a minimum wage employee. And if you've ever employed minimum wage staff, you've also most certainly dealt with your fair share of no-shows, lousy attendance records, lame excuses, employee absenteeism, employee pilferage, bogus sick leave, cooked time cards and expense reports and extended launch times.

You know what you can expect of them. Minimum commitment, loyalty and dedication in return for minimum wage. Just think of the stats we discussed earlier about employee engagement. I always recommend clients to hire new employees as the very last resort when absolutely and positively nothing else can be done to improve their companies' profitability.

But there is one important consideration. Please, apply if and only if you're confident that you have the ability to make this fee a valuable investment not just another expense. That is, you and your people are able to make a healthy and hefty return on your investment.

If you think this is for you, I look forward to hearing from you.

Raise your sights! Blaze new trails! Compete with the immortals!

Tom 'Bald Dog' Varjan

Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan