Office Personas- The Bad & The Ugly

At a recent conference I attended they were discussing buyer personas. At the most basic level there are four buyer personas: spontaneous, humanistic, methodical and competitive. These personas are neither good nor bad, they are just differences in personal characteristics or predispositions that indicate how people will go about making purchase decisions but this made me think of some "personas" you might meet in the typical office scene. Office personas, on the other hand, CAN be positive and negative. Here are a few negative personas, and some tips on working with them:

1. The Bro (aka The Meathead)

Think Jersey Shore. The Bro is typically male and thrives in a competitive field- sales, business development, recruiting, etc. When it comes to relationships, The Bro values quantity over quality because  he wants to be well liked. The Bro does not take kindly to being criticized or questioned. The Bro is stubborn and likely will not change his behavior, even if it if deemed as unprofessional.

Tips on working with The Bro:

• Don't volunteer to work with him.
• Address issues with The Bro address privately. Do not challenge or question The Bro in front of others.
• Do not misconstrue The Bro's jovial nature for a trustworthy business relationship. The Bro will probably not go to bat for you should you ever need it.

2. The Busy Bee

The Busy Bee is busy being busy. He/she loves to boast about being busy either to garner sympathy or establish superiority. Busy Bees like to make plans and are eager to engage in projects but will remind others at every step just how busy they are (even when they are not any busier than anyone else around them).

Tips on working with Busy Bees:

• Being busy is closely tied to the Busy Bee's sense of self- never suggest that perhaps the Busy Bee is not as busy as he/she is suggesting.
• Give Busy Bees the opportunity to help out with projects- you'll already have to hear about how busy they are so you might as well make it true :-)

3. The Guru

The Guru loves to be right. You can find the Guru in management, investors, communications, and social media. The Guru will always relate a particular problem/situation/opportunity that is facing the team or company to something from his/her past. There are actually subject matter experts out there, but the Guru claims to be more than just that. The Guru sees himself/herself as the foremost authority on the industry, your job, or just life in general. 

Tips on working with The Guru:

• The Guru will almost never be wrong, just get used to it now. It's likely that you'll never make any headway on this front.
• Suggest other "rights"- The Guru doesn't necessarily have to be wrong for you or your team to be right.  If you can get The Guru to latch onto "your right" you will have him/her on your side as a promoter.
• If you suspect that The Guru is making the wrong call and his/her idea/solution may not pan out, make a back-up plan. It's never a bad idea to have something to fall back on!

In my next post I'll address some positive personas; but in the meantime, if you have encountered any other negative personas feel free to add the in the comments!

35 Minutes And We're Nowhere

This week our team scheduled a live demo of some software we were evaluating. The presentation was a hot mess! The man conducting the presentation made just about every mistake you can imagine during this presentation.Take a lesson from the following recap:

• Poor Preparation
  The company did not send us the information for the GoToMeeting ahead of time so we booked a conference room and assembled the team only to end up twiddling our thumbs waiting around for the information to be sent.
• Going Nowhere Slowly
  After 35 minutes we hadn't really gotten anywhere- we were still on the first main feature of the software. The presentation was absolutely crawling, causing boredom and frustration on our end. 
• My Way or The Highway
  Since we were running out of time I suggested that we focus on the feature that we were most interested in- the deal breaker for us. The presenter then blatantly told us to wait until he finished going through his presentation on the first feature in full before he would move on.
• Exclusive Offer
  When we finally got to the feature we were most interested in the presenter showed it for a brief instant and quickly moved on. He did this because the feature was incredibly weak, especially compared to the industry. Instead, he showed us "an exclusive feature"... translation- a feature that no other company is bothering to offer because anyone with the internet can do the same thing.
• Why Use It For Free When You Can Pay For It?
  When we asked to see what they could offer in the way of reporting they showed us some very basic reports and mentioned that more could be done. I requested to see an example of what he was referring to and the presenter informed that I could use the data to make something better in Excel. Umm, why would I pay for software that doesn't give me anything as good what I could create in Excel for free!
• Problems? No Problems Here!
  After explaining a particular requirement of the software the presenter asked, so what do you think? With the way we operate that requirement would be incredibly inefficient and annoying. I tried to explain that politely but was rebutted by the presenter who told me not to worry about it because it would be fine. I again explained why that requirement would make it harder for us and he basically just replied that we'd have to deal with it.
• Do You Like Me? Do You Really Like Me?
  For whatever reason, our presenter felt the need to make bad jokes, explain them, and then ask us to laugh. He would also follow up almost everything he showed us with "Pretty cool huh?" or "What do you think? Great right?" This was annoying in and of itself but on top of that, there were times when what he was showing us would not be useful to us at all. In those cases it was awkward because we then would have to explain why we didn't think it was "cool" or  "great" or "awesome." The presenter, however, could not be dissuaded. He would follow-up by reminding us that no one else was offering what they offer, as if that would suddenly create a need for what he was showing.

If you've ever seen a really bad presentation, give us the details!

Hello, My Name Is Terrible

At the beginning of each month I run the numbers for the previous month's performance. Each month since I started the numbers have improved over the prior month... each month that is, until March. In March the numbers were below what was expected and below what I would consider acceptable. I wasn't sure what to do- this had never happened before. If you ever run into this situation I would advise that you review the following:

1. The Excel formulas themselves to make sure nothing got corrupted
2. Historical data to account for any normal seasonal fluctuations
3. Whether there are any company efforts that could have had a direct impact (marketing efforts, promotions, etc.)
4. What sort of external factors could have acted to shape the numbers 
5. Whether the reporting structure changed from the previous reporting period

But even after I checked all of those potential sources I still couldn't explain the numbers. So instead of trying to hide them and hoping no one noticed, I brought them to the forefront and I explained honestly that I did not know what was affecting the numbers. Usually I send the data to my manager and let her ask any questions she may have or give any feedback she deems necessary, but this month I felt it important to be proactive. I emailed her immediately and attached the spreadsheet. I explained that the numbers were lower than expected and that I was very disappointed and I asked to meet with her first thing the following day so we could try to figure out what happened and what our plan was going to be moving forward. She appreciated my directness and proactive response, and after meeting the following morning we quickly had a new plan in place to point us back in the right direction.

In case you ever find yourself in one of those meetings here's a list of things you'll want to have:

• Ideas
  You may not know definitively what is affecting the numbers but do you have any ideas of what the cause might be? If so bring them! Make sure you state them as "potential causes" or "possible reasons" and then present them to someone higher than you. Often times he/she will have a broader view of the picture and can help determine if any of those scenarios could be the culprit.
• Historical Data
  Data doesn't mean much if you have nothing to compare it to. By providing historical data you can provide scope. Should this have been your best month out of the year and you absolutely tanked, or should it have been an average month and you're just in a bit of a slump? Historical numbers will provide perspective.
• Plenty of Paper or a Fully Charged Laptop Battery
  Get ready to take notes. Write down everything. Seem engaged and actually BE engaged. This problem is not going to fix itself. Hopefully after some good brainstorming you'll have direction to help reverse the downturn.

In case you're wondering what the cause was, we set sales records for other services that we offer that same month, and our sales team is not unlimited. But this is not information that I would have known if I hadn't brought it to my manager.

If you've had a similar experience, feel free to share it!

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

If you work directly with client accounts someday you may lose your flagship account- your baby. The account that you devote the greatest amount of time and brainpower can (and sometimes does) leave you. If you have ever experienced this you may understand what I mean when I say it sort of feels like a "real" break-up. You may crave the regular correspondence you once had with the client, you may wonder what you did wrong, you may be hesitant to get too involved with other accounts. So how do you get over the client "break-up" blues? Follow the four-step plan:

1. Don't Blame Yourself
   It's important to find out why the client left you- Did they choose a competitor? Did their needs change beyond what your company could offer? Was it a personal matter like a death in the family or messy finances? Work with the client before you part ways to get as much detail as possible. In general I would say that if you care enough to be consulting this article and you truthfully do not know why they canceled, it was probably not because you are terrible at what you do and the client hated your guts!
   Once you know for sure why they left, don't personalize it. If it was your company's shortcoming, use that as leverage to push for expanding your services. Become the advocate that that client would have wanted inside your own company. If they chose a competitor, consider pitching to your company whatever factor was attractive enough to cause the client to stray. Objectively weigh your services against that competitor's services and figure out how you can make-over your service to woo more clients like the one you lost.
2. Remember The Bad Times
   In a break-up it's easy to romanticize the relationship and just remember the good times, but no client is all smiles. Remember the times they kept you working around the clock, didn't return your calls, dumped extra work on at the last minute, imposed unreasonable deadlines, etc.
3. Fill The Void
   Now that you have extra time on your hands find something to fill the void, otherwise you'll just mope. Devote extra time to other client accounts, read up on industry news, learn new skills in your field, look for business opportunities/partnerships for your company. Just do something productive!
4. Get Back In The Game
   
   Just because you lost that client doesn't mean you can't attract new bigger better clients. Create training documents for your sales force to recruit new clients, look for opportunities to up sell the clients you already have, or develop an incentive program for your clients to bring you more clients. Get out there and make it happen ;-)

Have any more tips? Share them with our readers!

No One Cares That You Were Right

If you're any good at what you do, you will inevitably come to a point in your career where one of your colleagues has a project/proposal/plan/idea/etc that they come up with that you just know won't work. If you're lucky, your input will be evaluated and the matter at hand will either be scrapped or changed so that it can become viable. If you're unlucky, your company will go ahead despite your warnings.

The thing that you need to understand is that if your company moves ahead and then the the item ends up failing, no one cares that you were right. What they care about is turning it around so that it can succeed, or backing out gracefully.

What I've found is that it's human tendency to want to relish in "I told you so" boasting (especially if it's your first time being right publicly). After all, you just had a career breakthrough right?! You proved that your business acumen can be trusted and that you're a credible source of knowledge. In the long run that will go a long way in establishing your credibility in the company and building your own confidence, but in the short term it doesn't matter much. What matters now is how you're going to fix it.

So instead of gloating remind yourself why you predicted it would fail, and what proof you now have that it did, indeed, fail. Here are some of the most common reasons for failure:

1. Wrong Numbers
2. Inconsistency with Overall Company Mission
3. Incorrect Assumptions
4. Lack of Targeting
5. Poor Cross-Team Communications
6. Lack of Full Organization Buy-In
7. Financial Constraints

Once you know why it failed you can help your company decide whether it should be abandoned or re-worked. If you attach yourself to being part of the solution it will show maturity and a strong sense of commitment to the company's ongoing success.

Tell me about a time when you knew that an activity was going to fail at your company. Why did it fail and what did your company decide to after? How were you part of the solution?