• What are your unique differentiators?
• Where do you have a competitive advantage?
• What is your reputation?
• How are your people regarded?
• Is your offering, be it a service or product, modern or distinct enough to be a “must-have”? How vulnerable is it to new offerings or new technology?

Granted, every company will have different points to emphasize in the selling process: better flavors, more attractive fashions, a superior finish, faster service, healthier ingredients. The key is to really understand each and every way in which your company leads the competition and to sell these together as the value of your brand.

If you can learn how to sell value, showing ROI and highlighting benefits, you will feel less pressure to compete on price alone. Sure it’s a poker game, but the more of these you win, the sturdier a foundation you can build for the rest of the company.

• Make sure you have a business plan.
• Resolve to continuously promote your business.
• Set up action plans for your employees.
• Survey everyone. (We love this idea and call it Strategic Conversations)
• Make sure you are measuring the important things in your business.
• Review your business performance measures.
• Make a resolution to celebrate when you’ve accomplished a set goal. You and your team will take pride in achievement and can get started on the next target.

With everyone worrying about business and putting off vacations in favor of staycations, this summer is a perfect time for individuals to have these conversations, as well and look for new ideas on how to grow their businesses. Whether you are an attorney, consultant, banker, business broker, or financial advisor, the summer represents a great time to re-connect and get fresh information.

How do you go about it? We all have contact lists, whether in our Google or Outlook directory or LinkedIn or a CRM or sales force automation database. Here’s an approach I’ve taken recently:

• Review your contact list from A to Z, thinking carefully about each person. If local, is this someone with whom you’d like to re-connect or exchange ideas? In this difficult time, you might be surprised to see how many people are willing to collaborate to help one another to make progress.
• Make a Top 20 list of contacts.
• Pick up the phone, send an-e-mail, or text these acquaintances you haven’t seen in a while and whose business acumen you respect.
• Invite them to meet by asking, “Hey, Betty (or Bob), it’s been a while since we’ve connected. How about grabbing breakfast or a cup of coffee and we can brainstorm about each other’s business? We can talk about what you see in the market and what I’m hearing, and see if we can help one another.” The other person will see it’s not just about getting, but also about giving.
• Prepare for the call or meeting. Have an observation or two to share about what you’re seeing in the other’s person’s market, or a general observation about developments – like the impact (or not) of Twitter, which companies are dying, surviving or thriving in the market, or just some good, thought-provoking questions for your coffee mate.

In general, people are more available to meet or talk in the summer because organizations postpone events until September. So don’t underestimate the importance of networking in a down economy. Reach out, brainstorm, and those new revenue-generating ideas are sure to follow.   Mike Oleksak   2009

Recently, we performed one of these exercises with the employees of one of our clients as part of the overall planning process for 2009. With the goal of finding the smartest and fastest way to do things, we asked what irritates employees about their jobs. What we heard back were ideas of how to get better efficiencies from existing processes, thoughts on the inadequacy of training, input about how systems could be used better, and feedback heard from their customers about the company’s performance.

Keep in mind that these opinions were from employees who have a perspective unique from that of the CEO or upper-level executives. All of the answers you get will not be 100% perfect or accurate. But where’s there’s smoke, there’s fire. Your employees may be describing only a symptom of the problem, but you may reach the root cause with more digging and thinking.

The recession most certainly will threaten the revenue line. But by working smarter—not just harder—you can control the cost line to absorb some of the impact without carving apart your workforce.

Please read this related post by William Taylor , co-author of Mavericks at Work, which we reviewed in an earlier issue of Trekking.

No, I mean a check in the business market in which you or your clients operate. An organized session of brief interviews with customers, suppliers and industry experts can tell you who’s surviving, who’s thriving (if anyone), who’s doing new things to move product, who’s operating differently, and who’s going after new markets or seeing different risks.

These Strategic Conversations will generate new ideas and new insights that can have an impact on how you conduct your business. This will be especially important as we enter the uncharted waters of the next eighteen months.  Mike Oleksak  2008

If the feedback confirms that everything you’re doing today is perfect, for both 2008 and on into 2011, then congratulations. If not, it’s time to make your changes and execute.  Mike Oleksak  2008

In the first quarter of 2001, sales collapsed. Tucci, who had seen the collapse at Wang, did not believe his managers who said it was a one-quarter event—that purchases were just being postponed. Tucci felt it was more than that and wanted to get to the heart of the matter. He started having strategic conversations with his C-level peers, as well as the CEOs and CFOs at his clients. The cumulative answer was that the economic slowdown and excess capacity in telecom were forcing changes at his customers’ businesses.

Tucci used these conversations to get quick market feedback and make significant changes throughout his organization.

You can read about this story in significant detail in Confronting Reality by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan.

The first step may be to sit down with the management team, collect their input on the topics mentioned above and develop your contingency plan in case of an economic downturn. Some of the questions to ask include:

• In a recession, which of your customers or clients would be most vulnerable and how can this affect your relationship?

• What about your key suppliers and/or partners?

• How elastic are your resources? If you lose somebody through attrition, should you replace them with short-term or outsourced labor?

• Have you taken a close look at your cash cycle: inventory, accounts payable and accounts receivable? Can you tighten up there by applying different methods? Tighter inventory and more timely receivables mean more cash, less debt and smaller interest expenses. The opposite is true of payables.

Beyond speaking with your internal team, you might also consider strategic conversations with key customers and vendors about their views on the economy. Your conversations may or may not prompt a change in your plans for this year—but they will definitely prepare you for whatever may come along.

- Michael Oleksak  2007

Feeling a little scared, senior management took a step back. They considered a number of new initiatives. They weren’t sure what to do next. As part of the process, we helped them perform some strategic conversations with key customers. The feedback that was gathered brought home the strengths that the company had (and a few weaknesses). It helped them understand their worth to a whole array of new and potential clients. The plan of action seemed almost obvious.

With new energy and clarity, the management team made a few changes in the substance and appearance of their business. They tightened up their marketing message and took it to some new audiences. Today, they are glad that they lost the old client and have taken on many new ones. They are adding people and moving to a new office. Being stuck was an opportunity that this company exploited to great advantage.