Getting Things Done

I forhold til produktivitet har "Getting Things Done" gjort en kæmpe forskel for mig.

Getting Things Done eller GTD er et princip, en metode, et begreb udviklet af David Allen.

Du kan læse mere her:
- http://www.davidco.com/

Og du kan også finde en definition og kort intro af GTD på wikipedia:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done

For mig gør det at jeg får tingene ud af hovedet, får overblik og kan prioritere min tid.

Det betyder at jeg er meget mere sikker på at jeg gør det rigtige - dermed skaber jeg meget større værdi hele tiden!

Teknologi, Produktivitet og Forandringsledelse

En af de årsager på den lave produktivitet i Danmark, der blive nævnt i artiklen fra Berlingske er, at virksomhederne ikke har investeret nok i ny teknologi.

Som teknologi leverandør (mit firma er leverandør af løsninger til virtuelle møder), burde det glæde mig.

Men som jeg skrev nedenfor tror jeg det er mindst lige så vigtigt at fokusere på at gøre det rigtige.Hvis virksomhedernes medarbejdere ikke forstår at udnytte teknologien og hvis de ikke bruger teknologien til at gøre de rigtige ting, så kan det være lige meget - så kan det i værste tilfælde forstyrre.

Jeg kom til at tænke på en figur jeg har set utroligt mange gange i forskellige varianter. Figuren er vist ovenfor. Den er sådan set utrolig simpel. Når man skal implementere en ny teknologi skal man man huske at fokusere på både

• Teknologien
• Personerne der skal bruge den og
  
• Processerne der styre hvad teknologien skal bruges til

Jeg tror alt for mange glemmer dette og virkelig implementere dette hele vejen igennem på en effektiv måde.

Det er nemt at skære ned på uddannelsen, og der bliver slet ikke lavet processer på området.

Mit firma, Futurecom Business Solutions, levere løsninger til virtuelle møder. Vi kan se, at der er rigtigt mange store virksomheder der helt skære uddannelsen i anvendelsen af disse løsninger helt væk, samtidigt med at der slet ikke bliver lavet principper for hvordan løsningerne skal anvendes i medarbejderens dagligdag. Der bliver eventuelt lavet overordnet retningslinier ala "Du skal altid overveje om du kan anvende et virtuelt møde i stedet for at rejse". Det er dog ikke særligt præcist og praktisk anvendeligt.

Hos os har jeg lavet en politik om altid at tage et online forberedelsesmøde med kunder inden vi rejser udenlands. Det er en praktisk regel, der er nem at forstå og følge.

Man kan og skal ikke nødvendigvis skrive sådanne detaljerede regler ned for alle områder, men der er alt for lidt  fokus på det i de fleste virksomheder, og dermed går man glip af et kæmpe potentiale.

I sidste ende betyder det at Danmark går glip af mulighed for at skabe produktivitet.

Derfor - Husk altid forandringsledelse i dine teknologi projekter!

Dansk velstand trues - igen

I artiklen i Berlinske er flere eksperter der udtaler sig om hvad der skal gøres for at få produktiviteten op.

Der er flere gode forslag, men der er en ting der undre mig:


Hvorfor nævnes de offentlige funktioner overhoved ikke?

Hvorfor er der i artiklen kun fokus på, hvorfor virksomhederne ikke har god nok produktivitet?

Jeg tror der er utroligt meget at hente i den offentlige sektor!

Det er ikke fordi jeg tror folk er dovne i den offentlige sektor, men jeg tror der kan være meget mere fokus på at skabe værdi, som jeg skrev om i mit sidste indlæg. Jeg er helt overbevist om, at der er utroligt meget der kan gøres for, sikre at der ikke går en masse spild tid med ting der ikke skaber værdi.

I forbindelse med krisen har der været talt utroligt meget om at lave en velfærdspakke, således at der bliver skabt flere arbejdspladser i det offentlige igennem offentlige bygge projekter og lign.

Jeg tror slet ikke det løser nogle problemer. Tværtimod.

Som der også står i artiklen i Berlingske skal produktiviteten op og der skal skabes større innovation. En krise er en helt fantastisk ting til at lære folk at være produktive og innovative.

Men hvis man blot sørge for at borgerne i Danmark reelt ikke mærker krisen, ved at gennemfører en velfærdspakke, så bliver virksomhederne ikke produktive og innovative.

Så min umiddelbare holdning er:

• Lad virksomhederne og borgerne mærke krisen - så skal de nok blive produktive og innovative 
• Fokuser på at skabe produktivitet i det offentlige
  

Dansk velstand trues

Det var netop overskriften i Berlingske i dag, og også citeret i radioavisen.

Det var jo belejligt!

Årsagen til at den danske velstand trues er at vores produktivitet er stærkt forringet. Vi skaber alt for lidt værdi.

Her er værdi et nøgle ord, for det er ikke nødvendigvis afgørende, og bestemt ikke alene afgørende, hvor meget vi arbejder, men langt mere hvor meget værdi vi skaber med det arbejde vi laver.  

Det er helt centralt, at der er fokus på at "gøre det rigtige".

Det er jo nemt sagt, men hvad betyder det?

Det vigtigste er at holde fast på at alle aktiviteter skal skabe værdi, og maksimal værdi.

Jeg tror der er utroligt meget at hente i rigtigt mange virksomheder og i det offentlige. Jeg tror der bliver holdt rigtigt mange møder, hvor der ikke bliver skabt værdi, fordi man f.eks. blot diskutere detaljer uden fokus på hvorfor og om det reelt er vigtigt. Ligeledes tror jeg der sidder utroligt  mange personer og laver arbejde, som ikke skaber reel værdi, det kan f.eks. være rapporter, statistikker, kontroller og lign. som ikke bliver brugt.

Hvordan implementere man så denne tankegang og dette fokus i en organisation?

Jeg tror det drejer sig utroligt meget om en generel kultur og holdning. I en organisation betyder det så at det er meget afhængigt af ledelse og de rigtige rammer. Det betyder at lederne har en kæmpe rolle i den sammenhæng.

Lederne kan skabe en kultur, der er fokuseret på at skabe værdi. Det vil sige at alt hvad der laves skal skabe værdi for kunderne eller modtagerne af ydelserne.

Ligeledes er det ledernes opgave at skabe de rammer der giver høj værdiskabelse.

Jeg fik en gang præsenteret modellen for situationsbestemt ledelse, som vist i figuren her ved siden af.

Det er vigtigt at have den i fokus, som leder. Nogle personer er selv-ledende og skal blot have de rigtige mål og kulturen, mens andre har mere brug for at få helt klare rammer, processer og procedure, som er designet med fokus på at skabe værdi.

Hvad er produktivitet

At arbejde meget?
At arbejde hurtigt?
At gøre det rigtige?

Produktivitet

Jeg hørte for nylig den administrerende direktør for LEGO, Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, tale på ledernes dag. Han holdt et super godt indlæg, og var også inviteret som hovedtaler.

Den dygtige mand havde rigtigt mange gode pointer, men en af dem som jeg selv lagde mest mærke til. Det var om produktivitet.

Jørgen nævnte at han for nylig var blevet spurgt om han ville være med i regeringens vækst forum. Det havde han pænt takket nej til, da det var imods LEGO interne politik at deltage i politik. Men han nævnte at han havde overvejet, hvorfor der overhoved blev talt om vækst - "er det ikke produktivitet vi mangler?"

Jeg er helt enig!

Hvis man skaber vækst, mens man har lav produktivitet, skaber man bare problemer for sig selv - man taber penge. Det gælder både for en virksomhed og for hele samfundet.

Produktiviteten er historisk lav i Danmark, og den skal op før vi kan skabe vækst.

Spørgsmålet er blot - hvordan gør vi det bedst?
Hvordan skaber man produktivitet?

Crossing the Chasm

I recently read a great book on what technology entrepreneurs needs to do to be successful. The book is called "Crossing the Chasm"

It is a really great book that gives some great advice on how to get through that phase where you have been succesful in selling to visionary people and on to selling to the main stream market.



This phase is called the Chasm, because there is a big gab between the two type of customers. The visionaries are willing to invest in new and exiting technology, where as the pragmatics is interested in stable technology that:
- has been proven in the marked
- has full documentation and support
- has a eco system of partners
And most important of all - the pragmatics is interested in references from other pragmatics in their own industry. They do not accept references from visionaries, because they know that do not share the same standards and priorities.

I will recommend this book to any IT startup company. It gives a very good understanding of the marked and the customers, and there is some good and practical advices of how to move forward.

I first learned about this book at MIT, where attended the Enterpreneurship Development Programm (EDP). More about this programm later.

Reserve time and space for cold calls

When you are busy I have a tendency to constantly push the cold calls ahead of me.

I have a hard time setting aside the time for making new cold calls to prospective customers. When I am busy with active opportunities, it can be difficult to priorities the cold calling. The reason for this is often:

• Cold calling requires a lot of energy and concentration
• Cold calling requires a lot of preparation to be successful
  
• The success rate is low

But on the other hand the amount of cold calling is directly related to the quality and size of my pipeline. Cold calling brings in new leads, and if done effectively it is a very good way for qualifying customers and leads.

So I have found that it is very important that I reserve time for cold calling each week. But also I have found that is very effective to reserve a space for the cold calling - a place where I will not be disturbed for several hours in a row.

Personally I have found it effective to sit at my home office (actually just my diner table) at least half a day each week where I can do cold calling.

First post in the new year

This is my first post in the new year.

It has been a long time since I wrote to the blog. It has been a very busy year end as for everybody in sales, but more surprisingly it has been an even more busy start of the year.

I have working on some highly resource requiring but very interesting deals, including a full weeks Proof of Concept abroad.

But I hope to get a bit more time to write again now. If you have any comments or topics that you would like me to touch on please let me know.

Does the good solution sell it self ?

I had a case recently where we discussed the difference between making a good solution vs. selling the solution. So I thought of the old question:

Does the good solution sell it self ?

You often find technical people that does not like sales people, because they are over promising, does not understand the solution, etc. That leads to that some technical people believe that if they just make a really good solution it will sell it self. But that is not the case!

So why do you still need sales if you have made a good solution?

Quite simply it is a matter of having someone that can:
- identify the potential customer
- make the customers aware of your solution
- understand the customers specific needs and pains
- explain and show the customer how your solution can help them meet their needs
- help the customer to decide that he needs to do anything at all

The last part is very central to all of sales. We all know the situation where we actually have a need, e.g. for a new shirt, we have just not yet decided which shirt it should be and taken the time to make a purchase. A good sales person would be able to help us make a decision to make a purchase at to put the order with him.

Selling on the edge of development - the classic conflict

Doesn't it always seam like you are selling on the edge of development ?

In IT sales you are always missing that one or two new features that is required for you to win the next big deal. It is the constant conflict between selling what you have vs. selling the vision to the customer and what you are building for the next release.

If you find your self in this situation - One thing to remember is that you have properly managed to sell a lot of business without the new features that you missing.

So maybe you can work your way around it by focusing on one of these elements:

1. Use reference to other customers that have not been using this feature
2. Analyse the customer business pain - is this feature really important to him to achieve the benefits?
3. Suggest a work around and explain how that is just as good
   
4. Focus on other areas of the business problems that you are trying to solve
5. Explain that it is coming soon

Know the personal agenda of buyer

It is very important to know the personal agenda for the buyer. We have all read that in the sales books, but it is important to remember and use that during the sales process.

I just had a sales call last week where I was reminded of this fact again. My solution was not necessary the first choice of the customer, but by focusing on the personal agenda of the decision maker we might very good chance of winning.

The personal agenda of the buyer includes elements like:

• Personal success
• It might be very important for him to ensure personal success, and if you can describe how your solution can help him achieve that you stand a better chance
  
• Limit risk
• It might also be important to reduce the personal risk of the buyer. If so - explain how you can help him do that.
  
• Acceptance by manager, team and pears
• A variant of the personal risk and success is to achieve that acceptance by managers, teams and pears. Ensure that your solution does not go across the agenda of the people that the buyer needs personal acceptance from.
  
• External image
• If your solution can help improve the external image of your buyer it might be a very important factor. Can you tell him that other managers that he looks up to has also decided for your solution ?

I recommend that you try to map your buyers personal agenda to your solution, and identify how you can work with it achieve the best results.

Think about you buy e.g. cloth yourself ?

Getting Things Done in a sales environment

I have recently read the best selling book by David Allan - 'Getting Things Done' and it a really brilliant book.

I have learned a lot from the book, and it has made me much more productive. One of the key things that it has helped me with is dividing my activities by the type, e.g.:
- At computer
- At office
- Phone calls

That ensures that I can be very productive and cluster the tasks so then I am ready to call customers I can focus on calling from the top of the list. I have found that it is even more productive if I sub divide my phone calls into
- Call
- Call - cold calls
- Call - opportunities

That gives me an increased focus on the cold calls, that I find needs a separate mindset and energy. At the same time when I have started on the cold calling don't what to think about which customers to call next - I just want to do it.

I have also made a category for my key opportunities at the same level as my projects. That means that I can go through each of my key opportunities each week and identify what I need to do to win the opportunity.

Try saying no to an opportunity

Sometimes you have to say NO to an opportunity - but it hurts!

It is always difficult to say no to an opportunity where you can earn more money.
...Thanks Mike and Joe (SalesRoundup.com) for your comment by the way - money is important :-)

Some opportunities you have opportunities that does not fall within the strategy of the company or what you are trying to achieve, which means that in the long run the time could be spend better with other opportunities. Other times you have some opportunities where your chances of winning is just to low when you are looking at it realistically - and you got to be honest with your self.

That means that sometimes you need to say no to an opportunity. That can be a very hard choice to make. I don't mean latent opportunities where you are trying to build the need at the customer - I mean real opportunities where the customer has a project and they are asking you to bid on it.

But the results of a no to an opportunity can sometimes be really effective.

1. First of all you might free up your time to work on better cases with higher probability or work on finding new opportunities that fit with your strategy, which again means that you have a better chance with the next opportunity.

2. Secondly you customers will respect you for you decision. They respect the fact that you are honest with them about what you are trying to sell.

3. You might get the chance to change the customers evaluation criterion's. If the customer is truly interested in your solution to their pain, they might get back to you.

I had a customer recently where I was asked to submit an answer to an RFP. I have made a presentation of our solution before the RFP was send out and they liked our solution. When we got the RFP I could see that there was a lot of elements where we would not compete very well, so I told the customer that we would not participate in the bit.

The customer then came back to me and told me they where very impressed with the fact that I dared say no to the opportunity, and asked me to describe why I did not want to participate. It ended up with us going to the second round of the process without actually answering the RFP and having changed the parameters for the evaluation, and we ended up winning the business.


So my advice is to consider your opportunities and don't be afraid to say no to opportunities sometimes.