Is Your Business Becoming A Newspaper?

Sunday,November 1, 2009 started just like every other morning of the week. I woke up and turned on Fox and Friends to get the latest fair and balanced news. The first headline I heard from Alisyn Camerota (the weekend anchor) was that Abdullah Abdullah had dropped out of the presidential race in Afganistan. An hour or so later I sat down to read the Sunday paper and the first headline I notice said, "Challenger poised to quit race", another story about the Afghan presidential race.

I'm really not following Afghan politics that closely but I couldn't help notice the difference in the two headlines and how much they resemble the state of some businesses.

For a moment forget all you know about the biased press being on the ropes and focus on the difference in the Fox and Friends headline and the newspaper's headline. Even with all the advance since the invention of movable type the paper had to go to press long before Fox had to go on the air and that time delta was the difference between reporting what may happen and what had actually happened.

The paper's overall business strategy may be sound but it has been overtaken by market forces that they failed to recognize, analyze and heed (sorry but I just couldn't make that last word rhyme). Did newspapers fail to understand the impact that electronic media would have on their overall strategy; assuming that is,their strategy included providing accurate and timely news. Had they not been rigidly myopic could they have switched to a different format that would have allowed then to continue to thrive alongside twenty-four hour cable news?

I can't accurately comment on the eventual downfall of newspapers except to wonder if their commitment to succeed in a shifting marketplace will lead to their failure, in need of a bail-out as it were. It happened to Sony twice. Once with the Batamax and the second time with the Discman. Both times Sony had a sound strategy and both times the products performed badly. Both times a shift in market demand or technological advancement did them in.

So what does an organization do? Should they change strategy to account for every change in their market regardless of how small? What if the change in the market turned out to be a rapidly passing fad, an annomoly? The Harvard Business Review once quoted a Boeing executive as saying that (because of lead-times and retooling etc)you bet your company with the decision to produce the next generation of aircraft. When you set your strategy how do you keep from betting your company?

There needs to be one person or one consultant inside of every company to act as a devils advocate or disruptive force. It would be their job to identify all the potential seen and unforeseen forces that could lead to a serious puncture wound to your plans, study them to the point that the list could be prioritized based on probability and other common risk variables, a build contingencies based on their occurrence. In this way you wouldn't be caught by surprise and you would know where to go to get additional expertise to make a rapid, yet well thought out, change. This person wouldn't necessarily be the best loved guest at the company picnic but they could very well save you a bundle of money.

Don't get caught setting type when the cable company goes flying by.

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Sales and Misspelled Words

I've come to the conclusion that, in some cases, there is a parallel between coaches trying to help a client increase sales and someone trying to find a word in the dictionary when they can't spell.

Generally when you asks someone how to spell a word they'll tell you to look it up in the dictionary. When you can't find it the person you asked begins showing you how to use the dictionary. Think about this for a second, I find it one of the dumbest exhibitions of human nature you'll ever have the opportunity to observe. Chances are that the person receiving the lesson in dictionary use knows how to use the book when they have some idea of what they're looking for but if you have no idea how a word is spelled finding it in a book organized around proper spelling isn't a quick task.

To me this is very much like the coach or sales consultant offering to help you increase sales; no one seems to have a plan or program that starts at the beginning. All that I've met and talked to offer improvement in your technique, approach or method assuming you have a technique, approach or method to improve.

My email this morning contained a question from a LinkedIn contact apparently floundering around looking for answers to the sales improvement question. They were looking for someone to show them the starting line or someone with a technique, approach or method they could hire to sell their company's product or service.

I felt compelled to respond to their plea because I've been in the very same situation and continue to have many of the same questions. Unfortunately for both of us I had no answer other than to show him how to use the dictionary and ask that he share any rejects that contacted him.

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It's Never As Easy As They Claim

Nothing is ever as easy as everyone would have you believe. Telephone systems that are supposed to efficiently route our calls will soon necessitate adding another key pad to the average telephone to accommodate all the possible choices. Fast food is no longer fast and by the time you get through the drive-up window at the bank you've missed a payment on the bills you were putting the money in to cover.

I recently received a gift certificate to Barns and Noble (the certificate was from Vocus, an excellent product, check it out). When I got the certificate in an email my first thought was that I was caught in a fishing expedition. After I checked it out and found that it was in deed a real gift I went to the Barns and Noble site to put it to use. When checking out the B&N system took the certificate number but didn't show that the gift was deducted from my total purchase and asked for a credit card. Now I would have bet that I was the victim of a trick or had just bitten the hook.

To ensure all was still well I tried to call the B&N number provided on the check-out form. As you may have guessed I got a recording and the opportunity to select from a number of choices. The first set of numbers led to another set but with a little perseverance I finally got to talk to a human who ensured me that all was on the up and up (I didn't need the credit card) and that I should call later to verify that the certificate had been applied,

After waiting the allotted time I called back, went through the options drill to get through to a human, and that's where the second half of the fun began. I was asked to supply the order number, my name and address, the billing and shipping addresses, my email address and the name of something on my order. I would have offered a DNA sample but figured that after that verification fiasco I would probably be too old to read and couldn't pay someone to read to me because my money was still being processed by the bank.

Yesterday, I tried to set up things so that notice of my blog entries would be posted to my Twitter account. That simple and easy procedure took over two hours and never verified that it had been done correctly.

I think I liked a lot of things when they were harder to accomplish.

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A Little Education Can Be A Painful Expereince

I completed a Price To Win class presented by Shipley Associates last week. It was definitely a good class that provided useful information. The instructor, David Murphy, presented the information is a clear and concise manner. Unfortunately I couldn't help thinking some of the folks in the room were being set up to experience a whole boatload of pain and aggravation.

It's the same old story. Most will go pack to their respective companies with this new found knowledge and they'll want to apply it. Too bad they didn't hear the part about gaining senior management support, begin the process well ahead of the proposal and continue supporting the process between proposals.

The problem isn't Price To Win and it isn't Shipley. I am a vocal advocate for the Shipley Proposal Process, all ninety six steps. The problem rests on the desk of the very senior manager that we're looking to for support. It manifests itself as finite resources chasing infinite opportunities and internal organizations allowed to focus on themselves rather than on the company. You can try to institute the 96 Steps, Price To Win, Inventory Control or the latest best accounting practices but no process will reach it's full potential or return the greatest value until it becomes part of a totally integrated organization.

To play a broken record and pound a familiar drum; the greatest return on investment can only come with a return to the very basic foundation taught in every business school:

• Define the company goal and assign responsibility for their achievement to the lowest possible level.
• Ignore opportunities that are out of line with the company's vision and mission or pursue them only after much discussion and only with a detailed plan.
• Enforce cooperation between business units by making it an integral part of their performance reviews.
• Hire people that embrace continual improvement and fire those that don't.

Without an integrated approach those you educate will continue to face a frustrating work-life and you will never find the real weak link.

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Sometimes Employees Might Be Good To Have

I'm what you might call a micro business, well below what one thinks of as a small business. If I get any smaller I'm out of business. Dan Light Consulting without Dan Light closes the company. I'm not complaining mind you, I decided on a one man firm when it all started in 1990. Since then I've had the standard complaints about the peaks and valleys and lack of respect because some people equate capability with size but by and large I never wanted employees. Wednesday was one of those rare occasions where I second guess myself.

I got out of bed Wednesday ready to face my average day and until early afternoon the average was, well, average. Plenty of work to do at a slightly less than hectic pace but nothing unusual. Then the call came. It was a client in Puerto Rico and they needed help starting yesterday. The race had officially begun.

Now at any pace the work load increased drastically. I had to meet all my commitments for this week and set things up so that I could meet the future two weeks commitments without having all of my normal resources at my finger tips. The there was the new work and I had to make travel arrangements. Everything shifted into over drive.

After wrestling with shifting airline schedules, hotel reservation desk that didn't speak English and Hertz having no cars available I finally arranged to be on site the next day. Little did I know that things were going from bad to worse starting with my trip to the airport the next morning. Coming toward the finish line I'm officially operating in hyper drive.

At 4:00am I was up and ready to taxi to the airport. In all fairness let me say that the taxi company and my driver were local so I can't rant about foreign natinals, unless you count Warrenton, Virginia, 50 miles outside of Washington, DC foreign. In any case, the taxi was late, the driver wasted my time and money sitting in the drive way trying to attach his GPS to the windshield. As we approached the airport I thought I was dreaming when I heard someone ask if I was arrival or departure.

After thinking of a wise ass response I found I was too sleepy for all that fun and informed the driver that I was departing. Getting out of the taxi I found that the driver was also unfamiliar with the concept of receipts. What else could go wrong; NTS. I checked and headed for my gate but security stood in the path of progress.

I always set the alarm off with my artificial hip but I don't always get a total moron as a screener. After wanding me he had to pat me down because he couldn't trust his instrumentation. I didn't bother to ask why we didn't go to the pat down in the first place. Once through it was on to the plane and a nice first class seat and treatment.

The flight went well, for me anyway. Unfortunately, it wasn't as uneventful for my luggage. I couldn't find my non-stop flight so I settled for on stop. What could possibly go wrong? As I stood at the baggage carousel until I realized I was alone and my bag wasn't going around in circles. Fortunately the bag was located when I was only half way to my final destination so I went back to get it.

Back on the road I learned that the GPS and I had a different understanding when it came to turn right. I thought it meant turn right now not later. I was lost in the wilds of Puerto Rico for over 7 hours.

When I go to my hotel I thought, "It sure would have been nice to have someone else to send on this trip or to make my travel arrangements. Fortunately, this isn't an every day occurrence. I wonder what will make me want employees the next time. I don't think I can go through this again.

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Confusion: What should I do now?

Today confusion rules in the corporate offices of Dan Light Consulting. I just read my Coach's/Mentor's article on branding, yesterday I studied the data available from my web service and the day before that other bell-weather indicators of the state of Dan Light Consulting. It appears that people are traveling to my web site but I can't figure out why? Over 4,000 people have opted to receive periodic articles and tips from me via email but very few head the call to action. Can you see my source of confusion?

What should I do now? Should I revamp my web site, alter my emails or just be satisfied with the status quot? Some learned people say give things time to work and I've often been the first to criticize people who continually tweak a process without giving it time to succeed but I'm an agent for change. My motto at times is "If it ain't broke brake it and put it back together in a more useful, efficient and more cost-effective configuration." When do you destroy what's working in hopes of putting something that works better in its place?

Can I get away with saying it depends. It depends on a lot of things. How long has the old way been working? Has it been working long enough to become stale, too well known or taken for granted? Has the law of diminishing returns caught up with you? Is it really working as well as you think it is? What's your tolerance for risk? So many questions, so many options. What's a poor business person to do?

I'll discuss my issues with my trusted adviser tomorrow morning. Who will provide you with an unbiased sounding board? Try my web site or emails, I have time available for a few new clients. Let's talk.

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Social Networking

Seems there is no way to avoid it, if you ain't networking on line you ain't networking. Recently I met someone who earns their living teaching people how to maximize the return on the time they spend networking at sights such as LinkedIn, and Twitter, just to name two. As luck would have it, the subject came up again later in the same day and I was able to make a referral. After all, isn't the whole idea behind these sites to generate business?

I have used LinkedIn for several years and, with over 4,000 direct connections, I've found it to be very useful. I admit that I haven't gotten any business from using the site but I've been able to ask questions and get advice that has, if nothing else, provided information that increased my utility to my customers which I hope has resulted in additional business and income. I've made referrals, helped with connections and provided advice that I hope helped someone else do the same. I think the time was well spent.

I now have an account on Twitter that is definitely a horse of a different color. I always thought it was strictly for those chatting frivolously with no intention of doing any thing useful and probably couldn't even spell ROI. Boy was I wrong!

There seems to be something on Twitter for everyone and I haven't even scratched the surface. I'm still a neophyte but I'm beginning to catch on. Certainly don't follow as many people as I have LinkedIn connections but who know what might happen tomorrow. Will this be more that just a means of finding out whose changing their socks or will it be the first rung on a latter to online success?

If you want my answer you'll just have to keep your finger on the pulse of online networking; I just might show up.

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Holding Government Contractors Accountable

Several articles have recently been published advocating holding contractors more accountable for past performance. I've been around RFPs and proposals since 1974 and I don't believe I've seen one that didn't ask for some sort of past performance data. Contractor's are asked to provide evidence of their ability to complete the anticipated contract by submitting a synopsis of some number of contracts over some period of time that relate to the anticipated contract as an indicator of the contractor's ability to perform. There have even been questionnaires that have to be sent to reference customers and returned to the contracting officer by the time the proposal's submitted. Isn't this enough?Not only is it not enough but it's inadequate and will never provide the desired results.

Questionnaires are a pain in the behind of every reference. Most companies tend to use the same set of references for every proposal. Has anyone ever sent a questionnaire to an official where there was a performance problem and what happens to the official's other work? Citations that the contractor picks wouldn't be biased would they? You just know that everyone is going to confess past indiscretions.

This isn't a problem whose solution depends strictly on contractor action. The government bares partial responsibility for both the problem and the solution. Most evaluation criteria puts past performance well below every other factor and I've never been told how pass performance is scored. Is it pass/fail; on what basis? Is it numerically scored; what separates a score of 99 from 100 and what difference does it make?

One way of correcting the problem would be a database, available to source selection officials, containing quarterly (or annual) ratings for every contract. Would it make it any easier? Would past performance actually count for something? Would contractors ever really know how they're evaluated? It would sure be a step in the right direction.

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What Should Become of Preferences For Minorities Contractors?

What should become of preferences or set-asides for minority enterprises? With a President of mixed race and with the black man and white woman on the Supreme Court soon to be joined by a wise Latina has the 8(a) program reached it's useful end? If it is our intention to reward success based on merit while letting the content of our character and not the color of our skin be the basis for our interracial actions then the 8(a) program should be allowed to slip quietly into the abyss and the sooner the better.

There is no constitutional basis for giving anyone preferential treatment particularly when the cost of the preference is paid for by everyone else who should have the equal right to chase business based on capability not genetics. There is a legitimate argument for separating contracts into categories along the lines of big and small business and maybe even along the lines of big, small and micro. Certainly micro and small business can't compete for airplane contracts or even enterprise class information systems but there is a well identified, historic market for the things they can provide.

Restricting competition to business size would allow the competitors to be judged on their capability within various domains not by arbitrary happenstance or other skewed criteria. If you are capable of providing best value to the government and the taxpayer at a real and reasonable cost then no other standard or basis for award should apply. After all, the court decided that race or gender wasn't adequate grounds for denying promotion to the New England firefighters, shouldn't that bit of clear thinking be applied equally, to all of us? I believe someone had a dream about just that concept.

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Mailing Lists

For the past several of days I've been trying to whittle down an email list totaling more than 6,000. I sent the last mail to the whole list on Monday giving everyone the option of receiving future emails or having their name removed from the list. There was really no bad news, I lowered the number of the names on the list by 1501 addresses and still have quite a few people that either still want to hear from me or haven't bothered to respond. There was a couple of curiosities or surprises.

What I found the most curious is that the people I expected to lose are still there and those that I thought were on the edge of their seats waiting for the next email are gone. I got a couple of notes offering the excuse of a full mailbox but mostly I just got "remove" or "I'm in." Not bad but it may explain why so many of those that dropped off are just no longer in business.

I thought my email was instructive and very easy to understand. I simply asked that those that wanted to remain on the list to do nothing and those that wanted to stop receiving emails from me to just reply to the email with the word "remove" in the subject line. I thought that would save people the time and trouble of a full reply and, because I think of myself as well as others, I would get all the information I needed to complete my task without having to open all those emails. With a list of more than 6,000 names that I had to contend with I don't think the request was unreasonable.

My ego was definitely stroked by those thoughtful enough to send me a note saying how much they enjoyed my periodic ramblings and those that took the opportunity to write a little more than the word "Remove" in the subject line didn't really inconvenience all that much. It did get me to thinking though.

Did those that went out of business do so because they failed to listen to their customers? I work out of my home in a one man business. When out of the office the land line rolls to my mobile number and I always answer the same way, with my name. Nine times out of ten the first words out of the callers mouth, especially if their trying to sell me something which is the most inappropriate time, "May I speak to Dan Light?" I had just answered the phone with a clear and audible, Dan Light but they weren't listening or, in my opinion, worse they didn't care enough about my business and their job to not use an auto dialer. At that point there is absolutely no way I'm buying anything their selling.

Did that happen to people I know? I certainly hope not but more important, did those people that removed themselves from my email list think I was doing it to them. I may never know. I can't ask them. I won't get feedback. I no longer have their email address. If I do this again maybe I'll ask first.

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Health Care Cost Stiffels Businesses; Wait Until It's Free

I hear that the rising cost of health care is limiting the growth of small business and in some cases eliminating them. Everyone says something has to be done, some say government intervention is the answer. If you think health care is too expensive now just wait until Congress gets their hands on it. Remember these are the people that brought you the Social Security lock box, Medicare and Medicaid.

Ask any Native American how the Bureau Of Indian Affairs has helped them. The congressional dinning room looses $25 million a year. Something has to be done but that something isn't the bumbling hands of an already bloated government. Government is never the answer.

The next time you take a trip to the doctor's office count the support staff; those folks that run up your bill but don't directly contribute to well being. Granted some are there to handle increased patient load but the bulk are there to ensure compliance with government regulation. Getting everyone to sign their HIPPA forms is a full-time job. The sue happy, blame somebody else crowd has driven up the cost of malpractice insurance and forced doctors to run needless tests for protection against runaway stupidity and over zealous lawyers. Try watching television without being inundated by someone asking you to call some law office to participate in some suit, it can't be done.

Want to lower health care costs? Get government out of the process.

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Business Plans Don't Deliver?

The Wall Street Journal asked "Why Don't Business Plans Deliver" in a June 22nd article. In general, they found the state of business plans to be rather dismal. I can't disagree with that especially when we're talking about the business plans of small business. Small businesses tend to rely far too much on platitudes, ambiguities and a tendency to avoid adequately addressing those areas that require real thought and research. But this isn't about business plans. In the "For Further Reading" section Keith R. MacFarland stated, "The strategic planning model is due for a new release, one that enables companies to keep pace with changing environments, quickly create and adapt strategy, and empower people throughout the organization to make effective choices. I couldn't agree more.

The "Strategy Paradox" (Michael E. Raynor) points out that sometimes commitment to the best strategy results in the most abysmal losses. Witness the Sony Betamax and Discman. Good strategy meet with better strategy and once again validated Von Clausewitz's law.

Historically, and to a great extent rightly so, business schools have taught, develop a strategy through a stringent process, be happy with it and ride it to the end. They allowed for once a year tweeking but by and large you were expected to live or die by your strategy until the company's strategic plan became little more than something to look pretty on a shelf.

In order to succeed you have to have a viable strategy that drives the decision process and eliminates or reduces choices that don't fit the company's business model. This implies application of the rigor that befell Sony. So, in order to succeed your strategy needs to be caste in jello so that you can always explore every option and debate every decision. That won't work either since, as they always say, if you don't know where you want to go you're liable to end up anywhere. While you're debating every decision opportunities will pass you by, not to mention your competition.

What's a owner to do? Loose opportunities that fall outside rigorously set boundaries or loose them to a decision process that is still debating where you want to go when the opportunity that will take you there whizzes by? How about peripheral flexibility?

Knowing what tomorrow looks like today is impossible. Randomness and the Black Swan is always a factor. Designate an individual or form a small group (or a consultant) whose job it is to continuously survey all the things that effect strategy and develop contingencies to mitigate risk and prepare for potential changes in the market. In other words:

1. Anticipate the ever evolving future and decide on the most likely scenarios.
2. Formulate responses to the mostly likely scenarios.
3. Determine the delta between the resources needed to meet today's demand and those to meet the future.
4. Identify source to supply the required resources.
5. Continually review, amend and readdress the portfolios of options so they may be activated as necessary.

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People Buy People

The saying go that people buy from people they trust. LinkedIn just ran a pole on the question "If the adage "People buy People" is true then why do people buy you?" All the usual suspect were there for answer options (expertise, personality, etc.)and, in general, expertise leads by a slim margin followed by personality. Experience and character were next and looks hasn't shown up yet. I believe that any answer other than expertise or experience is against current EEO/EEOC laws.My take on the legality issue first popped up in an Organizational Behavior class while chasing an MBA. At the time the buzz word was "Chemistry" but the intent was the same.

Everyone believes that for an organization to work you have to have chemistry among the participants. The financially successful networking industry has grown up around the idea that people by people. Pay your money to BNI or a Chamber function and get to know prospective clients before you try to sell them something. Sounds good to me. I wouldn't want to hire someone that wouldn't get along with their fellow employees and I wouldn't buy a product from someone that I was suspicious of because I didn't know them or their intentions. I don't believe you do either and I don't believe you should have to. Too bad the government doesn't feel the same way.

Aren't practices such as buying from people that share your interests or hiring employees that you have chemistry with blatantly contrary to the Equal Employment Opportunity Act and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission? I think so and I brought it to the attention of my Organizational Behavior professor in hopes of generating a lively discussion. No such discussion took place you understand, the topic and opinion points out the absolute idiocy of the having government meddle in areas outside those in which they we intended to meddle; namely those enumerated in the constitution.

When it comes right down to it doesn't the question become, "Why should I hire/buy from the handicapped, women, minorities or those with whose sexual orientation I find disagreeable?" If I don't have that chemistry or connection with you can I put off the hiring/buying decision until I find someone more like myself? I think you, me and anyone else should have that right.

Before you march in front of my business chanting homophobe, sexist, and/or racist allow me to clarify my stance. Beyond not wanting government involved I buy into the whole chemistry/connection philosophy. I realize that not hiring based on merit has the possibility of putting me at a competitive disadvantage but I'm only guaranteed life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness not success. Let the market deal with stupidity. If I don't hire a well qualified minority someone else will and I lose. If I won't rent my house out to a woman it may sit empty until I go broke.

Tom Peters, Ron Stone (my aforementioned professor) nor anyone else seems willing to do anything except espouse the "can't we all just get along" philosophy but no one ever wants to discuss what it really means. In the mean time the government owns the banks, and automobile industry and their making a grab for health care. There's talk of another stimulus package and everyone's debt to the Feds went up an approximate $37,000 this year. Forest Gump's mama was right. stupid is as stupid dose.

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Bid Protest As A BD Tool?

If you didn’t get, or haven’t read, last week’s Washington Business Journal you didn’t read about the increase in bid protests. It seems that what was once a big no-no for contractors is now an acceptable way of winning business. In fact, some quick thinking opportunists are already positioning themselves to take advantage of the new protest industry. Seems that a DC-based law firm has a seminar to offer; How To Keep The Deals You Win And Get The Ones You Lose.I believe this is a desperate attempt to first, get business in financially tuff times and second, get unearned business. Unearned business, business that someone else did all the work to win. I have no doubt that there are legitimate protests but turning the process into a BD tool is only a temporary solution. New contracting rules, increased use of A-76 justifications, few contracts, more competition and the potential for a taxpayer revolt against government waste will just exacerbate the problem. So what do you do?

The answer isn’t in trying to face tomorrow with a business as usual attitude or try to survive by protesting other people’s wins. Protect yourself against protest by providing the review team with a proposal that can be used to substantiate and defend the award decision. Differentiate yourself in real, unambiguous terms. What is your unique selling position? What separates you from all the column fodder? If you and all of your employees don’t know the answers that pass the realism test it’s time to go down the pyramid with a chainsaw starting at the top. Transform your organization into one that can be differentiated. Robert Epstein, co-founder of Sybase, said “If you could get all of the people in your organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, any market against any competition.”

Don’t be reduced to column fodder, don’t rely on bid protests for survival:
 Instill your values
 Make sure everyone knows how they contribute to corporate health
 Shorten decision time
 Streamline processes and procedures
 Know your business, know your competition and know your customers

Build business because of business.

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Do You Speak Davis Bacon?

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal (March 16 Page 4) published an article titled Labor-Backed Contract Rules Advance, warning the contracting community that the Obama administration is going to strengthen, or more stringently enforce, the Davis Bacon and Buy America Acts. I know this doesn’t affect many of you now but part way through the second column we get a glimpse of the frightening prospect that “the rules could surface in a variety of bills involving federal funding…”

I know that this is primarily aimed at construction contracts, for now, but this administration has shown a willingness to alter the procurement regulations in ways hostile to the contractor community. In the not too distant future OMB will work with DOD, NASA, GSA, OPM to strengthen contract oversight, end sole source and cost-plus contracts and maximize competition in general.

A-76 justifications will return as a way of life. Agencies will have to consider whether new contracts can be performed by governments at a lower cost. Obama recently stated that contractors may be performing governmental functions. John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said "We hope this is the end of the era of privatization …” Current contracts will be reviewed to determine if they can be performed by government personnel.

There is no doubt that there will be nothing usual with business as usual. Now is the time to protect your customer base. I suggest you consider the following:

1. Routinely meet with key customers (technical and contracts) to understand their point of view and develop a friendly relationship; all customers are key, if they’re not quite wasting your time and money on them.

2. Never pass up an opportunity to demonstrate your value to the customer; develop your owned earned value system and use an independent source to verify that you customer recognizes you performance and benefit.

3. Squeeze every non-value added cent and second from your internal processes and procedures.

4. Make it someone’s responsibility to formally or informally lobby congress on issues affecting your business, your markets and your ability to compete. Keep employees informed of issues that may jeopardize their job and ask that they contact their representatives.

5. If your business depends on hard goods determine the non-US content at every indenture level and develop a second or third source list.

I’m sure you’ll think of additional items. The point is that you need to take a more active role in your future.

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