Shifting the focus

As I continue to learn and grow in my new role, I am shifting the focus of the majority of future posts.  Beginning today, I will spend more time posting on topics that directly relate to my experiences growing my business.

Now that I have my feet more firmly on the ground, and the cycles of the business are emerging from the relationships I have formed with potential clients, I have more to share.  In case you aren’t familiar with me or my company, Fourth Dimension Partners, I will briefly share a little about my work.  Last summer, I officially started my first consulting company.  My niche market is adult higher education, and my role is to help colleges and universities with adult-focused education programs better engage and recruit prospective students.

When I put the initial business plan together, I made several assumptions about the type of work I would be doing, the length of a client cycle (from initial marketing to completion of a project), the average cost of a project and the number of clients I needed to enroll each year.  Obviously, as many business leaders do, much of my initial plans had to be adjusted.  Here is a closer look at my mistakes and necessary adjustments:

1. The enrollment cycle (or business development process) was almost twice as long as I predicted it to be.  Even with prospective clients that already knew me from my time as a leader of an adult program at a small college in the region, it took more time to get in the door, share ideas and offer the insights that eventually led to a proposal.  Luckily, I had a very conservative financial plan and a small part-time gig through QVC to help out.  After a few months, I needed a new plan to get in front of prospective clients.  So I went backt o the drawing board, talked with some colleagues and friends and put together a type of “demo” that I now take to clients.  I have dramatically increased my response rate when asking a prospect for an initial meeting (from around 10-15% to almost 75%), have built much stronger relationships and trust from the onset of the conversation, and built a specialized communication plan that truly has meaning and provides natural discussion points as I move help clients see new opportunities to reach more students.

2.  When considering the types of projects I would undertake, I developed a three-tiered system that ranked projects in size of scope:  small, medium and large.  While this may eventually be appropriate, I am finding that most work will either be incredibly large, or very small.  In fact, the small projects have very little financial value other than the relationship that will be built through the experience.  From that, I expect to expand the work over time, and put my company’s name at the forefront of the client when the time comes for additional small, and eventually large projects.  Financially, I estimated I would need two large projects, two small projects and three medium-sized projects (a total of seven projects) in year-two of the business to generate the amount of revenue I had in mind.  What I am finding more likely, is that I will take on four large projects to generate the needed revenue, and add on two to four small projects as needed to build relationships.  The best part about this change is the need for fewer actual clients per year.  The challenge, oddly enough, is exactly the same.  My initial goal was to have 30-40% of my clients each year, be returning clients.  With fewer clients, and larger projects, I should not be retaining any client for additional projects (at least not substantial ones).  In my mind, at least, if I am doing the job on a large project that I am capable of doing, the there really shouldn’t be a need for the client to return in a subsequent year.

Both of these key points will be important for my to gauge as I continue helping clients and growing my client base.  In a coming post, I will look a couple of points I got right from the onset and discuss how that has impacted the business in a very positive way.

Looking back on 2011… who would’ve thought?????

I’m sure there will be a million or more posts over the next couple of days of folks like looking back at the past year…  I wouldn’t usually submit a post like that, but given so much has changed for me (at least professionally) over the past 15 months, I think it is a worthy message.

Since I left a job that I loved about 15 months ago, I have fallen into another I actually love more and that is more fulfilling personally and professionally.  I’ve found my long-term avenue for making a difference in the world.  And while I am writing about it, I should probably give credit where it is due.  So, thanks is inserted here for Bob Wummer.  Bob is a professional consultant and executive coach that has helped me understand, accept and articulate who I am as a professional and individual.

Over the course of last fall and the early winter of 2011, I began putting together some concepts and gauging my interest levels in a long-term position, little did I realize that I was, in fact, putting together the strategy for developing a new business for myself.  By late spring, I had the nuts and bolts of the plan in place and with the support of several other great colleagues and mentors, I rolled out Fourth Dimension Partners, LLC., a strategic consulting practice for higher education.  A special thanks goes here to Steve McClatchy, Brian Niles, Brian Carlson, Cheryl Kauvar, Chris Dockal and John Mulder.  While most of these folks haven’t even met, together, they helped me compile the thoughts, approaches and strategy to put this business together.

And finally, this summer (it was in mid-July on a cool afternoon on our back patio while our daughter and I was napping) my wife and I agreed it was time to begin putting the work into a full-time effort.  On July 25, it all came to fruition.

Not even a year ago would I have known that this would happen, yet I can’t describe the level of satisfaction I am finding in this process, the company’s and my growth and the professional release that has been growing and building internally.  I get great pleasure helping other schools accomplish the success they are looking for – in whatever way we determine together to get them there.

Now, keeping things real, the business would also not have been possible without a great opportunity that supplemented the revenue during the first few months of building the practice.  Thanks to Mark Lubragge, I got some great advice that helped me join the team of T.O. Epps and Associates in what turned out to be one of the most fun experiences I’ve ever had.  I was able to achieve a goal I had in college, appearing routinely on live TV.  It wasn’t in the way I had fashioned in my mind when I was 22, but the goal was achieved, and I look forward to returning to QVC again hopefully on July 25, 2012.

What a positive year 2011 turned out to be.  It wouldn’t have been possible without the folks I mentioned above, but most especially without the love, patience and support of my wife, Andrea.  Together, we are looking for the best year to come together.  So, to 2012, let’s celebrate!

Parking For Faculty Only

I was visiting a college campus recently, and I read a sign I see at every college and university I’ve ever visited.  For the first time, though, this sign glared out at me.  Maybe it was because it was posted everywhere I turned.

As a first time visitor to the campus, this most certainly left an impression on me.  I am not writing this post, however, as a debate on parking designations on campus, rather as an analogy on our own interpretation of the service we deliver.

Can you think of a time you visited a campus when someone from the respective institution didn’t mention the care and commitment they give students; the service they are so proud of?  While parking lot designations on a campus certainly don’t represent how well (or how poor) an institution services its community members, it is a symbol, I believe, of their approach to where they, as a whole institution, place the value on those they serve.  As you ponder the quality of service  you provide your students, look for the signs around you (pun intended).

How often are you telling a student what they cannot do?  How often are you re-directing a student to another office or department?  That doesn’t mean you aren’t helping the student in front of you (or on the phone), appropriately escorting or directing them where they need to be, but rather a sign of the root cause: students aren’t able to easily identify where they need to go in the first place.

I think there are times when administrators study lower than expected satisfaction assessment results and struggle to put their finger on the issue.  That’s because student’s can’t put their finger on it either.  They just know something isn’t right; that they are too often frustrated with the “system”.

To find that answer, we need to read the signs in front of our faces.

By the way, when was the last time you went to a restaurant, mall or other consumer-based business and saw signs directing customers to the furthest parking spaces from that business?

Increase Marketing ROI by Improving Customer/Client Satisfaction

I’ve often been asked, “what is the top thing I can do to market my program?”  And the answer is very basic:  improve your customer/client satisfaction.  The number one source of new clients should be referrals.

Your best customers are the ones that LOVE your business.  Do you know who they are?  Are you collecting information that tells you who they are?  And it doesn’t need to be scientific data you’re collecting.  There are numerous simple tactics to identify who these individuals are – and here is ONE reason to invest time into social media.

There have been many gimmicks over the years to try to increase referrals – the easiest being gifts, cash or gift cards.  I am here to tell you – that is a BAD idea.  Your best referrals come from clients who are truly dedicated to you; believe in the power of your brand with all of the their heart.

You need to identify these individuals, find out what it is you are doing to make them feel that way, and then determine how to replicate it more often.  If it is because of the efforts of a single team member, you need to find a way to mimic those efforts.

The biggest mistake I’ve seen year after year from colleagues and competitors is to over-think the issue and try to establish elaborate, over-arching plans to address satisfaction.  You can get valuable results without the time and money spent on those plans.  Start small, evaluate and then take the next step.  Larger plans take longer, are more likely to fail and generally are less likely to be completed.

The best victories are often small victories.

Transitions

In college, I learned a lot about transitions – the changes college students encounter between the time they first enroll and when they graduate.

I had not, until recently, considered much about transitions beyond those encountered in that phase of life.  That’s probably because I hadn’t encountered as tough a transition as I recently did when I changed jobs.  Externally, many of my friends and colleagues felt that I was making a career change, but in reality, it wasn’t all that different.

When I got married, I didn’t have any preconceived notions about what married life would really be like.  It was the same as I became a parent for the first time. 

But as a successful professional, I understand who I am and the competencies I bring  as a leader.  My mistake was coming in to a position with the idea that I could simply parlay my success and instantly apply what I know and what I do with a company in a similar industry, and learn a few things along the way.

The challenges were much greater than expected.  And while I have become much more comfortable in the new role, I still have a long way to go before I can truly make the significant impact I had in my last position.

If I could offer one piece of advice it would be this:  Transitions start and end with relationships.  Don’t push too hard to move too fast trying to have impact.  Instead, get to know your colleagues, their roles and their strengths and weaknesses.  Learn how together you can begin to complement each other as a better team. 

Success will follow, but you must give it time.

Returning from Sabbatical

So, it has been a long while since I last posted. Obviously, there would be a lot that happens in such a span, but most importantly is the professional change I’ve encountered. My last few posts were about preparing for and enduring change. Little did I know at the time, how much change I would be encountering.

This fall, I decided to leave higher education and take a position in the business sector. It has been a very positive move for me. That isn’t to say that the transition between jobs has been easy; that is a different post in itself.

As a leader, you have to understand your competencies and strengths, and as author Marcus Buckingham would argue, focus your efforts on improving those strengths rather than on the weaknesses.

So after some time I looked at my competencies and determined what I needed most to grow was to move on. In November, I took a position with New Horizons Computer Learning Center, focusing on the marketing and strategy initiatives for the company.

So going forward, you can expect to see the next several posts providing an inside look into the changes I have and continue to experience as I navigate into this new profession. I’ll share my experience so that my friends that read as well as some of the students we work with at New Horizons can begin to gain some perspective as they too begin to transition into new careers.

Continuing Positive Change

I wrote earlier this summer about a plan to implement significant change to support the growing and changing needs of our supporters – our students. A coupling of several uncontrollable factors and rapid growth led to less than superior service for many of our students.

This week, a new staff member joins our team to help continue efforts to build enrollment and provide direct service to students enrolled at the main campus. In addition, this new staff member’s predecessor has been promoted to a new position we created that will support the oversight of service to students. In the past this had been a responsibility I shared with one assistant director. As the problems increase in complexity as well as quantity, we needed a single individual to oversee the resolution of issues between the multiple departments that hold the answers to our students problems. It also provides support to our staff at remote sites that cannot as easily respond to these issues remotely.

Internally, the staff discussed our options for many weeks before coming to the finalized plan that we began slowly, but intentionally implementing in August. Once our new staff member is trained, we will be able to finalize the implementation.

This process requires a lot of self-reflection with an open mind. It is imperative that you acknowledge weaknesses in the structure as well as individual performance to ensure that the response and plan being implemented has the best opportunity for long-term success. I would also suggest that the process cannot be fully developed prior to implementation. We identified new responsibilities for five positions, each varying in the amount of change. Two of our department’s top three positions, however, had significant changes in the roles they both provide to support the department. Prior to implementation, those changes were only 80-90% complete. We continue to develop the remaining pieces as we see where the smaller responsibilities best fit within the new structure.