Earlier in my career, I was an on-air contributor to The Bottom Line, a nightly business program on Dallas/Fort Worth’s KRLD — offering “street-smart tips on how to survive and thrive in a changing marketplace.”
In the pre-Internet era, the station published an annual digest of events and information served up Top 10 style. Here is a round-up of my recommendations. Do they stand the test of time?
Keep your Pipeline Filled . An uncertain economy translates to a protracted sales cycle. Budget priorities can change and decisionmaking can drag. Be sure to have lots of prospects and possibilities in the queue.
Renew Old Acquaintances. Review your contact database and old customer lists. What are former clients doing now? People do business with those they know and trust. If you had a good relationship before, you can make the sale again.
Target the New Companies. Many new businesses have been formed over the years — with people you know at the helm and needs that you can serve.
Protect Your Turf . Be sure your existing customers are happy. Ward off competitive intruders. Build yourself in – up and down the ranks of management. Not just with your day-to-day client contact.
Look for Cross-Selling Opportunities. Scope different operating units and pitch new product offerings. Track past client contacts who might have new areas of responsibility.
Find the Silver Lining. Austerity can bring opportunity. Personnel shifts and cutbacks in companies are commonplace today, but the work still gets done – and it’s often assigned to outside vendors.
Capitalize on Your Special Niche. Sell deeper into that market – especially if you excel and dominate and especially if there are few competitors. Leverage what you’ve already done – perhaps in new vertical markets
Consider Joint Ventures. Take a new approach to pitch particular pieces of business. Cut your risks, increase your hits, add expertise and new team members — without adding overhead.
Start Networking. Find the organizations where your customers are – and your competitors aren’t. Become an active member or committee leader. Consider “pro bono” projects that will help the group – and put the spotlight on you.
Showcase Your Expertise. Find new ways to get in front of your prospects when they are most “influenceable” and when you’re not in a direct selling situation. Get on the speakers circuit, where you can deliver your information from a platform of authority. Write guest columns in key publications.
In today’s world, we would also add Web 2.0 — blogging and social media to the mix!
Have you ever heard of metabolic syndrome? It is a cluster of health disorders that converge as a kind of perfect storm, putting individuals diagnosed with this medical phenomenon at greater risk for developing cardiovascular disease.
Central among this group of conditions is obesity, which, along with insulin resistance, acts as a catalyst for fat to accumulate in the liver –a mounting public health problem. But thin people can also be affected if they cannot process fat or sugar properly. So weight is not always the “red flag” indicator.
I attended a fascinating program on this topic at SMU’s HR Roundtable– featuring Dr. Jay Horton, who leads a major multi-disciplinary research initiative funded by a $23 million NIH roadmap grant at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center of Dallas.
Employers and insurers are keenly interested in this topic, as 4% of insurance claimants comprise 60% of total claims, at a $10,000 and above level, according to Holmes Murphy, a risk management and insurance brokerage firm.
Who is likely to enter this big event category? That’s the tricky part. Many new major claims will come from the undiagnosed. And the really scary part: Half of those will be hit by a heart attack or sudden death. Therefore, identifying those in the next pool of high risk claimants is a major concern — to both the individual at risk, as well as the employer.
Metabolic Syndrome can be traced to five core risk factors:
HDL Cholesterol – lower than 40 for men; lower than 50 for women
If an individual is out-of-range in 3 or more areas, there is a 720% higher risk of a major health problem within 36 months than someone with 2 or less out-of-range.
Companies are pioneering 10-week programs that incorporate screenings, education and exercise to reverse disease paths. The goal is to improve the well-being of employees and to manage the spikes in medical coverage costs.
This is a strategic barometer that can help anyone prioritize how to “move the needle” and avoid a catastrophic incident. You may not have a perfect profile. But start working on one area, then attack another.
In a tight market, why not go beyond the traditional two-page resume to showcase your background and the kind of deliverables you could bring to a new position?
Supplementals provide a key advantage. It’s a concept we introduced in the MBA Edge program at TCU’sNeeley School of Business in the midst of the last economic downturn.
Consider:
News articles about projects and initiatives
Examples of “dashboard” metrics that you created to track results
Case studies that highlight situation/analysis/results
New product pitches
Research projects
“Get started” business plan– how you would approach the new assignment
“Deal sheets” that list business/financial transactions
Submit them along with the resume as separate attachments. Or create an additional page to the resume and embed weblinks that can take the reader to the content. Or take them to the interview and use them as a “talking piece” at an appropriate interval.
Supplementals are ideal for those in early career stage with fewer years of experience. A standout accomplishment in college or graduate school can still be appropriate content as an illustration of your track record of excellence.
It can also an effective strategy for more senior level candidates, if there is a high level of competition for the position you are seeking. (i.e., just about any open position in today’s economic environment!) Just be sure you don’t share anything that is proprietary or considered a company’s intellectual property.
Some success stories:
A young MBA was a near Perfect Fit for a search assignment I was handling, but had fewer years of experience than the client required for a managerial slot. During the phone screen, the candidate casually mentioned some news stories in which she had been featured. It was pre-YouTube, so I suggested she digitize the TV clip. I created a word doc/reprint from the newspaper website. (Another tip: capture news/blog items while they are still available on-line!) I submitted the supplementals to the client along with my recommendations and comments. They still didn’t hire her for the position where there was an experience shortfall, but they were impressed and created another role for her inside the company!
A second-year MBA student had a long tenure in retail but wanted to move into another sector. He had been a store manager and turned a loser location into a top sales and profit leader. I probed how he did it. He was modest and an introvert. “Oh, it was nothing,” he protested, then told an impressive story of targeting, measuring and rewarding incremental improvements. All with minimum wage staff, many part-time. Wow! He still had the paperwork to create and track the program. He took it to all of his on-campus interviews and won a role at a top consulting firm.
In my own experience, I was asked for a Who Do You Know roster of VP level and above officers of high tech companies for a business development role at PricewaterhouseCoopers. In lieu, I created a series of Relationship Roadmaps — org charts that illustrated executives and advisors from key tech clients of mine and where they had migrated. They were populating many target companies of the firm. I explained: “It’s not whom you know. It’s who knows whom and how the relationships work together.” I bested the other candidates and won the job.
In targeting the executive search profession as a late-career move in the last downturn, I created a ramp-up plan: Achieving Growth in a Down Market. It showed I was serious and had a step-by-step approach to winning business. At a time when firms were downsizing, I was possibly the only person in America to get a foothold in retained executive search in 2002!
In the current market, we’re seeing C-level executives creating blogs and websites that detail their expertise, track records and thought leadership.
Get creative. Go the extra mile. Build a case. Sell yourself.
Ray Trapp is a legendary Dallas adman, as well as a former boss/mentor. (See story of how I talked him into the job!)
We chatted about his career start in New York and the world depicted in AMC’s Mad Men and the Sterling Cooper agency.
Is the TV show an accurate portrayal of the times?
The staging, business attitudes and general culture are very realistic for the mid-1960s when I was an Account Executive – an actual Mad Man — at Ogilvy & Mather in New York.
How did you get to Ogilvy?
I was recruited straight out of the MBA program at Northwestern, now known as the Kellogg School of Management. I started in a training program with six others selected from the most prominent Business schools. I was there from 1964 to 1970.
Why advertising as a post-MBA path?
Here’s a dose of career advice: Look for situations where you can make a big impact in as short a time as possible. I was young, cocky, and ambitious! Advertising was a hot field and paid very well. My studies had been balanced between finance and marketing, so I could have gone either way. But I had a love of the arts since childhood.
Why did you choose Ogilvy?
At the time, advertising was in its golden years with David Ogilvy, Leo Burnett and Bill Bernbach ruling the world with fabulous reputations for ‘’breakthrough’’ campaigns. I received two agency offers, as well as one from General Foods – all at the same starting salary. But I chose what I saw as the fast track in advertising at the best “shop.’’
Why did Ogilvy choose you?
I had a strong combination of academic excellence, dramatic writing skills, training in the arts and an outgoing personality. This seemed to me, and apparently to them, as a natural background for Madison Avenue.
First impression, first day on the job?
Nice offices, but not extravagant. A low key start. Meet other trainees, get processed by HR. Then, a series of interviews with 6-7 executives as a get-acquainted process. We were then assigned to 6-week rotations in various departments before moving to permanent assignments in Account Service. The culture was pleasant, welcoming and reserved. It was all very professional.
Drinking in the office?
I never saw it – physically in the office, that is.
Liquid lunches?
We typically just ate at our desks. One day, a supervisor invited me out for lunch and I found him sitting in the bar of the restaurant. I proceeded to have a drink or two with him, thinking this was a prelude to moving to a table. He kept ordering more martinis. I soon realized, ‘’this is lunch.” On the walk back to the office, we stopped at a deli. He ordered a sandwich and carried it back to his desk. He was a five-martini-and-tuna-on-rye lunch guy.
Even more prevalent was the 5 o’clock ‘’whistle’’ when executives headed out to get the train or bus back home. For many, the routine was to leave the office, stop at your favorite bar and belt down a few.
Many a Mad Man got into big trouble at home if he had a few too many and ended up partying with the office crew until midnight. He got to sleep in a hotel for the night and in the dog house for a week or two afterwards.
Client entertaining?
If your client came in from out-of-town, the evening dinner proved to be a bit more adventurous. It was normal for everyone to have a cocktail or two before dinner. Wine was not such a big deal in 1964.
In general, smoking and drinking hard alcohol was very expected for the times. It was not unusual at a neighborhood party to have at least one or two husbands need help home. Occasionally, one of the housewives would have too much and get sick or get the giggles. But no one thought of it as that unusual.
Womanizing that you observed?
The typical male-female office protocol in the mid-1960s would hardly be acceptable today. Guys said and did things that would probably get them arrested today!
Love affairs sprouted quite easily. Don Draper is not the only Mad Man to view himself as young, virile and bullet-proof. I worked for two bosses, both of whom later became ad agency presidents, who had office affairs with female associates, got divorced, left small children at home and married their new loves. Those second relationships have lasted to the present day. As a first wife, Betty Draper should definitely be concerned!
How many women were in higher-up positions?
Men dominated the business at the time. I knew no women in any account service roles at O&M.; All media, research and management staff were also male. Women were making inroads into creative — writer, art director, production and mechanical art staff positions. But it still was truly a male-dominated business in the 1960s and well into the next decade.
What accounts did you work on?
I was fortunate to work on accounts with very big multi-million dollar ad budgets that were considered the cream of the crop in packaged goods marketing. I oversaw accounts for Metrecal Diet Foods, General Foods and Lever Brothers: Dove dishwashing liquid soap, Dove beauty bar, Imperial Margarine, Lucky Whip toppings, Start Instant Breakfast drink which was a big introductory campaign and more.
Your impressions of David Ogilvy? What did you learn from him?
He was a true gentleman, a good businessman and an avid student of the art of persuasion as expressed in advertising. He frequently came to our 6th floor cafeteria to purchase a sandwich and sit with the staff at tables where anyone, even the lowliest traffic mail delivery person, could join him. He was a very open and engaging individual. He loved what he did and inspired us to make our work more effective and more successful.
When did it all change?
I think the advertising world became too successful for its own britches. In 1965, the agency went public and David Ogilvy put a lot of money in his pocket as a result of the IPO. Many other agencies followed this path. My theory is that this brought a lot of attention to the financial side, as all earnings were now publicly disclosed. Clients suddenly began to focus on what ad agency profit margins were. Big client CEOs learned that agency presidents were making more than them. AND THEY COULD NOT STAND IT!
So the word went out: “Cut those agency revenues and bring them back to reality. Stop paying them 15% commissions. It is obviously too much for these fat cats. Let’s start paying them fixed fees that cap their profits.”
What does it take to advance inside a large organization?
This was the topic of a recent Career Development Symposium that took place over several days at American Airlines HQ. Most of the events drew standing-room-only size audiences. I served on a panel with company executives that included: Dave Campbell, SVP Technical Operations; Lauri Curtis, VP Onboard Service; and Charlie Sultan, Managing Director, Financial Planning.
Some takeaways for taking off, career-wise:
Know what you want. Those at the top have the pinnacle view in sight, sometimes on the first interview. They are goal oriented and achievement driven. They target and deliver. Most high performers don’t meander their way into the C-suite.
Build from strength. What are your passions? Core skills? Where can you best apply those talents? This is the basis for your brand and your essence of excellence.
Expand your bandwidth. Manage your time and output. Know how long it will take to accomplish a task. Then gain efficiencies and improvements. Expand your capacity and level of mastery.
Go the extra mile. Don’t just do the tasks you are assigned. Take on additional items — even if your peers are doing less.
Seek input at the outset. Asking for feedback at the end of a project is a passive approach and puts the onus on other busy people to do something that doesn’t change the result. Engage the input of others at the beginning, as you define and develop the project. People love to give advice and you can put their view to work for an optimal outcome.
Join projects and task forces. Get a view of what is happening in other parts of the business. Contribute value and input from your current/past experience. Learn what roles and needs are evolving elsewhere in the company.
Be a good networker. Keep up with those you meet and interact with — on an on-going basis. Congratulate them on advancements and successes. Share ”best practices” that might be helpful to others.
Always be learning. Be curious! Ask questions. How? Why? Don’t take things at face value if you think they could be improved. Learn about the rationale, end goal and all the steps in between. Also…take advantage of training programs that can help you in current and future roles.
Take ideas to the next level. Don’t just make a suggestion. Flesh it out. Run the numbers. Scope a process. What would it take to implement? Put it in writing. Merchandise the concept.
Sniff out future possibilities. What’s on the horizon? Connect with hiring decisionmakers and influencers on future needs and staffing plans. Get a head start for potential consideration. If you wait until it’s a published posting, you’re just one of many resumes in a database filled with other hopefuls.
Become known. Say hello and introduce yourself when you encounter executives and hiring managers throughout your day. Better yet, give them a compliment on an activity or initiative. Keep an up-to-date C.V. and be sure to populate internal career development databases with your latest accomplishments and skill sets.
Pay your dues. In a large, global organization, you may have to take on lateral assignments and relocations to reach the top. Not every job role in a career path will reflect what you most like to do, but buck up and punch your ticket. You might have to endure short-term pain for long-term gain.
Make a difference. It’s what everyone wants in their organization. People who will step in, be ready and productive on day one — and truly be distinctive in their performance and contribution to the team.
Be grateful. (My own comment to the group!)
Yes, many companies are going through tough times. Yes, it’s easy to feel beleaguered and discouraged. But, believe me, it’s tougher on the outside — with fewer opportunities and much more competition for every slot. Just ask anyone in transition, particularly those without a severance package. It’s all a matter of perspective.
