A checklist of 10 business danger signals
By John Graham
We move so fast, we often fail to see what we’re doing or we’re so preoccupied with what we want to accomplish, we are blind to how others view our actions.

Driving behavior may be an accurate reflection of a person’s basic business values. There are those who bulldoze their way out of parking spaces to get in the line of traffic. Are they just impatient or are they telling us to get out of their way?

Then there are those who deliberately cut you off so they can get in your lane. Again, are they just in a hurry or do they see others as impediments to what they want to go?

Perhaps it would be best not doing business with such people. They may talk, for example, about “putting the customer first,” but will that happen? They may speak about “taking time to understand your needs,” but do the words have a hollow sound to them? Are both not more intent on reaching their own objectives rather than assisting you in attaining yours?

While situations are always more complex and involved than they
may appear to be, nevertheless, what we see and experience may be an accurate reflection of reality. In other words, “What you see is what you get.”

Here is a checklist of 10 behaviors that may be danger signals when it comes to doing business.

1. Making it all about process. It’s easy to make the simple overly complicated. An example is the current obsession with process. In fact, there are those who spend their time perfecting a process and then demanding total allegiance to it from others. When this happens, it’s easy to forget that process is a means, not a goal. Simply put, obsession with process sucks the life out of performance.

Process should have one objective: getting the job done. After all the analysis, there is a simple formula for getting both the process and performance right. It involves asking one simple question, repeatedly: Who’s going to do what to whom and when? That’s it.

2. Basing it on personal relationships. Salespeople like to think their accounts are held together with the glue of personal relationships. They don’t want
anyone to get between them and their customers for fear of upsetting the “the delicate balance.”

An insurance agent was told he could never land a certain account since the client and the current agent went back more than 15 years. On top of that, others had tried and failed. Because of his workers’ compensation expertise, he contacted the owner anyway. He pointed out that the prospect’s company had a 1.69 experience modification factor. In other words, the company was paying 69 percent more than others in the same industry, but that he could help reduce the prospect’s workers’ comp costs. The message caught the owner’s interest and opened the way for a meeting. Eventually, the agent won the account.

The relationship that makes a difference today is the one based on performance.

3. Making the wrong impression. It’s hard to believe making a bad impression could be anyone’s goal. Yet, that’s what frequently happens. The same people who shout the loudest about being “customer focused” and “helping our clients meet their goals,” are often the same ones who fail to answer their e-mails, ignore voicemail messages and are unresponsive to meeting agreed upon deadlines. Ironically, they don’t accept such behavior from others.

Their message is unavoidably clear: It’s all about me. No matter what is said, maybe that’s the way they really do business.

4. Accepting a crisis-driven culture. “You understand crises,” the job candidate said. “You’re in the marketing business. I do my best work under pressure.” Too often doing everything at “the last minute” is the plan. Almost anyone can do some good work under pressure but not all the time.

Is it any wonder why there are so many mistakes and so many excuses for failing to deliver on our promises? A crisis-driven culture kills business.

5. Basing decisions on anecdotal evidence. An independent TV station sales rep attempted to persuade a marketing executive to recommend a locally produced program. When asked for the viewer statistics for the particular program, the sales rep responded with comments about how other advertisers were very satisfied with the program, that such promo programming was worth more than the actual cost and that the station was the only source of local news. While such anecdotal evidence may be interesting, it’s irrelevant.

By contrast, Haggar, the men’s clothing manufacturer, wanted to attract men in their 50s and 60s who don’t care about fashion trends or even brand names. The marketing people discovered that these are the same men who know every brand of tools and every golf club in their bag. They studied what these men wanted in pants. The Haggar ads feature “unbreakable” buttons, seams and zippers and bigger, deeper pockets, according to a Wall St. Journal article.

Hitting the target takes research, not talk.

6. Assuming that uniformity is branding. Thinking that good branding means doing everything the same way is a mistake. Take what Starbucks is doing with its store décor. Instead of opting for consistency in store appearance, the company is designing its stores to reflect the neighborhood character. Eventually, all Starbucks will undergo “local” transformation.

While risky, the approach may successfully brand Starbucks as a local business, something quite different from other “chains.”

7. Moving in step with the crowd. The Toyota Scion brand is reducing its advertising, doing away with its coupe and redesigning its popular tiny, boxy SUV. It’s also topping off production at 150,000 vehicles a year, even though its current sales are well above that figure. The 150,000 figure seems low, so why not increase sales?

The Scion people want the brand to be viewed as “cool” by the young, first-time car buyer. Toyota thinks long-term and it’s working. When Scion owners get ready to trade in their vehicles, 80 percent buy a Toyota or another Scion.

Scion isn’t about selling more vehicles; it’s about creating more customers.

8. Failing to see the change to individual everything. One advertising executive says he TiVos every commercial, including his own. Apple iPod users are learning
foreign languages as they walk, jog, exercise and drive and companies are communicating their messages and training employees via iPods. Giving employees a free iPod is cost effective, they say. And then there’s satellite radio that offers hundreds of channels of programming.

While media idols may continue to influence some buying habits, we’ve moved to the era of individual choices. When you see customers dressed in a variety of ways at an upscale restaurant or a grandmother behind the wheel of a Scion, you know the day of the individual has dawned.

9. Following a cutting the corners mentality. Why do businesses send “depersonalized” communications, whether electronically or by mail, including to customers who may spend thousands of dollars a year with them? And why do we recoil at the suggestion of investing $50 or $100 a year in customers who over five years spend many thousands of dollars with us? It’s all about cutting corners.

A marketing firm has purchased two higher end color printers over several years from a local dealer without ever receiving any type of communication from the company. That’s not just a way to save money; it’s also a way to lose a customer.

10. Living in a spin reality. This may be one of the worst danger signals since it’s so insidious. We all put our own spin on situations, events and even ideas. A bank
president in Ohio explained why a certain move could not be made. “Our plate is too full,” he said. That’s spin and those sitting around the table didn’t roll their eyes; they just lowered them. It wasn’t that the plate was overly full; the president had simply made up his mind and wasn’t about to change it.

The trouble with spin is that it cheats companies out of exploring and evaluating possibilities and making the right decisions.

The problem with so many of these 10 business danger signals is that we don’t seem to see them, even when they’re right on top of us.

About the author: John R. Graham is president of Graham Communications, a marketing services and sales consulting firm. His office is located at 40 Oval Road, Quincy, MA 02170. He can be reached at 617-328-0069 or by e-mail at . The company’s Web site is www.grahamcomm.com.