Business Development and Partnerships

I have to do my random rant to get this thing started. Last week I was in Orlando, Florida at a conference for the hospitality industry. While there I was able to meet a good number of people that we can hopefully be working with in the near future. Before I took this job I was excited to travel because I had this idea of what it would be like. I have to be honest--it's a bit different. Not in a bad way. I guess my point is, for me, traveling makes me appreciate my home more.

Ok, so on to the real meat. On Friday of last week we had a potential partner, who is a good family friend, come in and share with us what he does. I was really excited about this because I felt that we had a good fit. Now the pressure was on because I had our President and Co-founder in there along with our Marketing Coordinator. So if this guy came in and there was not even a small glimpse that we could work together, I would have wasted an hour and a half of his time and our Presidents time. I will admit I was a little nervous, but I felt confident that what we had was in the same industry, but different enough that we could help each other out. As he's going through his presentation I look over at our President--he is taking notes--this is good. But then I got to thinking...he is a big note taker so maybe he is doing it to be polite. But he just kept writing and writing, and kept listening to what he had to say about what his company does. I thought this couldn't be a better fit! He is the founder and CEO of a company that does branding. This guy has his Ph.D in rhetoric! Seriously, rhetoric!! How cool is that? Anyway, the hope is that as he is coming across these companies that are focusing on the brand experience and helping develop what they want as a brand experience our hope is that then he will refer us as they are going to need people to deliver that brand experience that he developed! Score!!!

In turn, when we have companies that are in need of someone to come into a restaurant or retail store, and help them develop what kind of brand experience they want, we will refer him. It was just cool to see what a match we are and I am way excited about the prospect of working together and having a lot of success.

Street Smart or Book Smart? Which One Are You?

Have you ever heard the phrase, "keeping up with the times?" That is a little different these days. There is so much uncertainty right now that "keeping up with the times" is not so much applicable, if you ask me. Let me explain. With a down econonmy there are many industries and companies that are going back to the drawing board. They are trying to think of new ways to generate revenue. Yes, times have changed, but the way we do business has also, or has it? I am sure many of you have heard, or even said it yourselves, the acronym K.I.S.S.--yes that one. Keep It Simple Sally. Right! No, but you know what it means. Yes I agree that we need to get creative with the way that we look at business, but the only way that any of us are going to weather the storm, in my opinion, is hard work. Put your nose down and grind it out! Before you know it you will look up and the recession will be in the rearview mirror and you will be ahead of the game because all those other guys are still drawing on their white boards. Ok, so my real message is this, I just needed to get that out there first.

What I really wanted to touch on was an article that I came across on Forbes.com. It really resinated with me. It was about finding good closers in sales. The author took a controversial topic and pretty much laid it to rest if you ask me. The question that came up was, 'who will deliver better? A sales guy that has the experience and book smarts or that wild card that has the street smarts and personality for success?' Raise your hand if you consider youself book smart. And raise your hand if you consider yourself street smart. I'm totally raising my hand and no one in the room even noticed. Awesome! Yea, I don't have the experience or resume that many sales teams might be looking for. What I do have is a desire to be molded and trained to become the best at what I do. I love talking to people, and I feel like I have a good presence on the phone. At this point I am like a spongue looking for water to gobble up and absorb. I am not trying to toot my own horn here, but I really believe that someone that does have a degree (like myself) yet has more of that gut following, hard working, teachable attitude would run circles around some of these experienced sales guys. So who do you hire? That is totally up to you. But maybe you should ask yourself a few questions first. This guy that has this experience and this great Rolodex, why did he leave his last job and why is he looking to join your company? Where did he get his experience? Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Yes, but it may take that much more of your precious time to break him of those tricks.

So you decide--Street Smarts or Book Smarts?