The Evolution of Business

You're One Question Away

Sales professionals, if you want to get to the next level, stop pitching and start asking. It is really surprising to me how many sales professionals have not learned or been taught that questions are the "secret sauce" of sales.

I cannot tell you how many sales professionals have walked away from a sale/future sale with me simply because they did not ask a follow-up question. They took my objection as an unequivocal no, but the reality is many times, I just haven't been asked the right question.

If you abide by The Golden Rule for Sales Professional, I guarantee you will increase your client base and increase your sales. What is The Golden Rule for Sales Professional?

The Golden Rule for Sales Professional

Always ask a question that gets a "Yes" before you say, "Thank you for your time."

I know it sounds simple, but it works. Questions like,

• May I follow up with you next month?
• May I send you a sample of a new product we just developed?
• May I send you a connection request on LinkedIn?

Your best clients are built on the foundation of the relationship, and solid relationships take time to build. You're one question away from beginning that relationship because relationships are built one ask at a time.

What is a Social Impact Company (SIC)?

This is an expanded excerpt pulled from an article I wrote last week "Is Your Company SICk?" I received feedback that people wanted to know more about the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) and how to achieve it.

Social Impact Company (SIC) and the Triple Bottom Line?

When I was in business school, it seemed like all instruction was tagged with the line “at a profit.” Instruction like, “Provide your customers with what they want, at a profit.” I get it. I agree with it. It just wasn’t enough for me.

When I started RedEye Coffeealmost 15-years ago, I wanted to achieve a Triple Bottom Line (TBL). A TBL conceives of profit in a more holistic way. It takes into account the total impact of commerce and is committed to a mutually beneficial supply chain that considers financial profit and both social and environmental impact in determining the enterprise's success.

A commitment to a TBL drives passionate conversations in executive meetings, which I call “managing the tensions.” In these conversations, the leadership team holds each other responsible to the TBL. Why do I call it “managing the tensions?” Quite simply, a SIC can’t do everything. A SIC first and foremost must make a financial profit—employees, landlords, and the IRS demand to be paid. So, there are "tensions to be managed" between having stakeholder and customer pride all the while achieving a TBL.

Conceptually, a SIC looks like the Venn diagram on the left. This diagram drives and guides the conversations in the boardroom on how to maximize financial profits, environmental responsibility, and social good. It has been my experience that there is a bit of a transitional phase implementing the TBL. It is mostly about asking questions like, "What would be the impact if we rethought our marketing budget from traditional advertising to financially partnering with our customers to achieve the social good we want to see in the world?" It is not something that will happen overnight and it will demand your teams' best thinking. But this is a good thing when you consider that reports show that 70% of the American workforce is disengaged.

What aspiring SICs will quickly discover is the Venn won't look as pretty as the one above, it will look more like the lopsided one on the right. As a business transitions toward being a SIC and incorporating a TBL there will be anxiety while incorporating a new business paradigm. This is normal and is one of the "known knowns" in the SIC process. It is my contention that traditional corporations will need to move toward being a SIC to be competitive in the 21st Century by holistically reimagining their business model and incorporating the TBL. It's not just a good thing to do, it is the future of commerce.

Do you want to be a SIC? Contact me www.markmcnees.com

About Mark McNees: Mark is the Social Entrepreneur in Residence at FSU's Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship, Director of Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation at FSU’s Devoe Moore Center, Founder/CEO of RedEye Coffee (selected by the Newman’s Own Foundation and KIND Foundation as one of the best Social Enterprises in America), and a business/organization Social Impact Conference speaker. 

Value Proposition: Which Coffee Would You Choose?

I guide my students through this value proposition every semester in my Social Entrepreneurship and Economic Development class at FSU. There seems to be a collective neurosis that to succeed in business you must win the race to the bottom (be the cheapest). Social Entrepreneurship, in stark contrast, predicates that people be loyal to brands with the product/service that offers the best value.

The Academic Exercise goes as follows: 

Me: Given seemingly three identical cups of coffee: one costing $1.75, second $2.25, and third $2.35; which one would you choose?

100% Students: The coffee costing $1.75

Me: Right. Me too. Now, what if I told you cup #1 has unethically sourced coffee and cups #2 and #3 are ethically sourced?

90% of Students: We would buy cup #2, the ethically sourced coffee costing $2.25.

Me: Right. Me too. Now, what if I told you that cups #1 and #2 use chemicals that are harmful to the environment and clear-cut rain forests to have bigger crop yields?

85% of Students: We would buy cup #3, the earth friendly, organic coffee costing $2.35.

Me: Right. Me too. Now, what if I told you cup #3 is also served in earth-friendly cups, made by a barista earning a fair wage, and 100% of the profits go to local and global empowerment charities?

95% of Student: We would buy cup #3, the ethically sourced, organic coffee, with a social mission.

That is a Value Proposition.

Social Entrepreneurs run a different race.

Toyota's Secret of Success

All of us have been drilled by a 4-year-old who keeps asking the question, "Why?" It usually goes something like,

Kid: Why is the sky blue?

Adult: Because that is the way God/nature made it.

Kid: Why did God/nature make it that way?

Adult: Ah, I don't know just because.

There is a theory that was formally developed by Sakichi Toyoda and is used within the Toyota Motor Corporation that is credited for their legendary manufacturing system. That theory is called the 5Whys. Toyoda espoused that to get to the root of the real problem you must ask "why" five times. So, in the above example, if the adult did not punt on answering the kid's "whys," by the fifth "why" they would have ended up with the following explanation of why the sky is blue:

The sky is  blue because molecules in the air scatter  blue light from the sun more than they scatter red light.

The 5Whys are critically important in solving problems, not only in manufacturing but for all problems-business, social, and personal. Abert Einstein famously said, "If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about the solutions. Toyoda and Einstein both knew the surface problem is just a symptom of the real problem. The 5Whys is a tool to get beyond the symptom(s) and get to the root cause.

The 5whys are especially important for Social Impact Companies (SIC) and Social Entrepreneurs. All too often a well-intentioned person, organization, or government will try and "help" people only ending up making the problem worse by treating a symptom and not solving the core issue. This is evidenced by a mountain of failed initiatives that have compounded problems like homelessness, hunger, poverty, and drug addiction.

Shallow thinking has led people, organizations, and governments to dump an enormous amount of resources trying to solve these symptoms, leading to disastrous results. Shallow thinking like, homeless people need homes, hungry people need food, poor people need money, and drug addicts need to "Just say, No" are just a few examples of how symptom solving actions don't actually solve anything.

Nancy Reagan, fell victim to this shallow thinking with her "Just say, No" campaign. It is a prime example of why it is necessary to employ the 5Whys when trying to solve a problem. Nancy Reagan was technically correct, if people just said no to drugs, they would not become addicted. Tragically, drug addiction is not caused by saying, "yes" it is much more complex than that as we have seen with the recent opioid addiction epidemic that is now credited with over two-thirds of all overdose deaths in America.

Bellow is a very quick example of how the 5Whys can help people, organizations, governments discover the real problem using the opioid crisis.

This is only an example and not intended to imply or suggest a solution to the very complex issue of drug overdose and drug addiction.

If Nancy Reagan and her team would have employed Toyoda's "5Whys" I believe they would have implemented a completely different strategy to combat America's growing drug problem. It is pure conjecture, but if they would have done so, perhaps American would not be in the addiction/overdose mess we are currently experiencing.

Again, these are very complex issues and my intent is to give you a powerful tool to solve the real problem you are facing. The following are some best practices when using the 5Whys.

Best practices using the 5Whys

1. Use paper or a whiteboard
2. Write down the problem in a way everyone understands
3. Human error cannot be the answer to the 5th Why
4. Honor the process (don't take shortcuts)
5. Focus on cause and effect (using the above example: Why1 are people ODing? Because they are drug addicts. -> Why2 are they drug addict? Because they took too many perscribed opiod drugs....)

I would like to encourage you to try using the 5Whys the next time you or your team are faced with a problem. It may seem a little clunking at first, but once people get used to honoring the process it can be a powerful tool in solving the real problem.

Innovate or Die

Most managers and politicians love systems—they are predictable and have the illusion of safety. Systems are similar to mathematical equations, promising if you work the formula, you will get a foreseeable result, like the proverbial 2+2=4. But what if “4” represents unrealized potential or worse, unequal access to opportunity? Smart companies and organizations encourage entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs to question the formula because eventually, companies and organizations who don’t question the formula will become DOA.

Giants of commerce like Blackberry, Sears, Borders, and Blockbuster had everything to succeed except curiosity and an organizational structure that encouraged questioning the formula. Along the way, they stopped being pioneers and became settlers who valued fences over unknown horizons. It's normal, it's expected, and it is a predictable formula for death.

Every first-year business student is shown the “Lifecycle of a Business” chart. It is not a mystery; it has happened again and again for thousands of years, not only with businesses, but with governments, religions, and organizations. There is one simple law: innovate or die.

The mantra for growth companies like Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Netflix is, “Move fast and break things.” This axiom is the antithesis of most mature companies who live and die by their formulas, but the fact is, in today’s economy slow and steady doesn’t win the race, slow and steady results in Chapter 13.

Here are three questions to determine if your company or organization is a pioneer or a settler.

How often does senior leadership question the company formula?

1. We have an entrepreneur/intrapreneur position  
2. Every meeting
3. Once a month
4. When the CEO brings it up
5. Can I call my boss on my Blackberry to ask

How long does it take to go from ideation to the launch of a new product or service?

1. Before lunch
2. A Week
3. A Month
4. A Quarter
5. We are about to release a new buggy whip next year

What happens if a person/team launches a loser?

1. Our company culture celebrates Minimal Viable Products (MVP)
2. We are always in the process of learning how to better serve our market
3. A robust postmortem to find out where the process broke down
4. They may only get a 2.5% salary increase at their next annual review
5. Bye, Bye Miss American Pie

Add up your score of the three questions with the number next to your answer. If you have

• 3 to 7 points you are a very innovative company, be careful not to lose your core
• 8 to 10 points make sure your culture has a champion of innovation
• 11 or more points your company is in decline, and you need to hire an innovation consultant ASAP

An innovation culture has an unreasonable commitment to “move fast and break things.” Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Netflix are unusual because they refuse to settle. Settling is normal, it is what humans do, just know by settling you are stamping an expiration date on your company. If you want to cheat death, you must innovate. This is easier said than done and you will most likely need help. I recommend reaching out to organizations like The Jim Moran Institute, your local Chamber of Commerce, or an innovation and organizational culture consultant like me.