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LLOYD 360º-MAY 2008 |
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| In
today’s always “on” world, how do we balance
work, family and personal life? |
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| Around six months ago I had an interesting lunch with two
other CEO's. While we are all of a similar age, we each have
completely different backgrounds, outside interests and
businesses. I run a professional services firm concentrating
in IT managed care for small businesses, another ran a hedge
fund, and the third was in the building industry. The topics we
discussed initially focused on business, and we discovered,
probably to no one's surprise, that despite the differences in
our businesses, the majority of our challenges were the same.
However, around 15 minutes into the conversation, the
conversation took what I considered to be a surprising turn,
and the rest of the lunch |
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|
Thought
Leadership Dinner (Legal Firms)
June 11, 6.00-9.00pm, BLT Fish
Thought Leadership Dinner for CFOs (Financial Services)
July 16, 6.00-9.00pm, BLT Fish
Register your interest |
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focused on an issue we all shared:
in today’s always “on” world, how did we balance work, family
and personal?
Over the past several years I've attended a program for
Entrepreneurs up at MIT. Aside from professors and various
area experts, each year several ultra-successful businesspeople
come to speak with us. They range from the founders of major
public companies to professional CEO's whose names grace
the headlines of the business pages. In asking them about
their success, almost to an individual they start with their
families. One entrepreneur worth more than $1 billion told
us that he considered himself to be a success because his
children in their 30s still want to spend time with him. Another
spoke of his lack of relationship with his adult children because
he gave so much time to his career, and how much he regretted
that time.
A few years ago, when our first child was 18 months old, my
wife and I made the choice to move out of Manhattan. This
was a tough decision, made even more difficult because we
settled on the Princeton area, which means that we have a
commute of approximately 1 hours door-to-door. As the CEO
of a growing business, whose days often start before 7AM
and end after 10PM, I wondered what kind of toll the commute
would take on our growing family. Thankfully, because of our
commitment to family, and the freedom offered by technology
that did not exist even five years ago, the move has had very
little impact.
I want to share some examples of how I and others use
technology to achieve well-balanced lives in an "always on"
world.
Recently my daughter was in a play at her school. It started
at 2PM, not a particularly convenient time. I had a conference
call at 1PM, and a dinner in New York City at 6PM. Thanks to
technology my entire day was productive. I began that
morning with several meetings, all done remotely, with no impact
to the quality of the meetings. The 1PM meeting I took from my
car, in the parking lot of my daughters school.
I've used a Tablet PC for years. Thanks to built-in wireless and
Verizon's new high speed Rev A services, it's almost always
connected to the Internet. On that tablet I use a program
called OneNote to take all of my notes, keep track of
responsibilities, and integrate with Outlook to manage my
day. Because of OneNote I have no paper to deal with. Everything is on my tablet PC, available to me on or off-line
and safely synchronized with my server.
I also run a program called Groove, which allows me to create
shared workspaces with my colleagues, clients, vendors or
partners. Within Groove we are able to share documents,
spreadsheets, presentations, agendas, calendar, to-do lists,
project plans, images, and many other tools. The really nice
thing about Groove is that it makes all of this available to you
whether you are connected, or on a plane. You can work on
a shared document at 30,000 feet, land, and it will automatically
synchronize the workspace with the other people you are
working with. Their changes additions, synchronize in the
background and are available for you to work on at your
convenience.
It cuts down on email and attachments,
and provides a secure way to share information inside and outside
your organization.
Rounding out the tools I use are WebEx, a Voice over IP Soft Phone
that runs on my tablet, emulating my desktop phone and making my
number completely mobile, and Outlook configured to work both on
and offline.
That meeting I needed to take from my car? I doubt anyone could
tell I wasn't sitting at my desk. I was connected to the Internet,
Bluetooth headset in my ear, webcam at the ready, viewing the same
documents they were viewing via WebEx, and able to access any information
that I need to for the meeting.
The result? At 2pm I was in the theatre. As I walked in the smile
on my daughters face as she saw me made anything else I'd accomplished
that day pale in comparison. And I made my dinner in the city, productive
the entire way.
And it is not just me. Recently one of
our clients began using a tablet PC, working the way I do. He's
now cut down on the paperwork he has to bring on his frequent travels, increased his efficiency, and created time to spend with his family.
A good friend of mine, a successful executive at a major
public company, whose office is in San Jose lives in Honolulu and
goes into the office around once a month. I've been on calls with
him where you cannot tell if he's in his office, or sitting at the
beachside café by his house, surfboard by his side. None of this
would have been possible just a few short years ago. All of it is
available today, making our lives and businesses better.
About the Author: Adam Eiseman
is the Founder and CEO of Lloyd Group, a professional services firm
offering advisory services and IT managed care to small and medium
businesses in New York, Connecticut, Westchester and Fairfield.
Adam serves on business advisory boards for some of the world's
leading technology companies and regularly speaks at industry events
across the USA. |
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| M5
Networks, one of the country's leading outsourced IP phone system
providers, is transforming the way companies do business with a
cutting edge voicemail transcription service called M5Scribe. |
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Busy executives can use their email to instantly
see their voicemail messages without the hassle of dialing into
a voicemail system or having to play a file from their email, allowing
for greater flexibility and increased functionality.
Clients receive voicemail messages as text, along with the original
audio file, on any mobile communications device and/or email account.
Meaning that busy executives, with a high volume of information
flow and little time, have more choice in how they communicate.
"Sometimes I prefer to read versus listen,
and M5Scribe gives me the flexibility to work the way I want while
still allowing my callers to reach me in a way that's convenient
for them," says M5 and Lloyd Group client Guy Spier, CEO
of Aquamarine Capital Management. "I can screen my messages without
listening to tedious voicemails, automatically flag important topics
and conveniently reroute messages that require additional resources
to handle. This service allows me to seamlessly move from voicemail
to email and interact with people in a more efficient manner."
"M5's focus is not on pushing more features down our clients' throats,
but rather offering them real solutions to their communication problems,"
said Dan Hoffman, M5 President and CEO. "By outsourcing to M5, clients
receive the most up-to-date technological advances without having
to dig through the clutter. We put a lot of thought into discovering
what businesses care about and building these solutions into our
service. Having this software already embedded into our voice service
ensures that M5 clients fully realize all the benefits that new
technology offers."
About M5 Networks: M5
Networks is one of the country's leading outsourced IP phone system
providers. Recognized as a leading VoIP company, M5 has won numerous
business and industry awards. For more information visit
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| M5 is
offering a thirty day free trial to Lloyd Group customers. To take advantage of this offer, email marketing@lloydgroup.com |
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| True
courage is not based on overcoming your fears, but on having your
fears removed by a higher power - the power of "Team". |
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Several years ago I created a concept called "Philosophy
and Mechanics" which is the "why" (philosophy) and "how" (mechanics)
of selling. I find that constantly asking "why?" keeps everything
fresh, and lately, I have been wondering about the philosophies
that drive salespeople, both at work and in their personal life.
When I'm training sales teams we often discuss "the team," but usually
only in passing. In my experience, salespeople typically prefer
to work alone. Even if we are well-intentioned, this approach to
life often causes us to bump up against people who find us difficult
to work with. We act like the employee who constantly thinks he
could do a better job of running the company. The problem with this
is that other people don't always behave the way we'd like them
to!
To truly succeed at work and in life, salespeople
need to remove this self-obsession and work as part of a team, or
risk failing. The first step is to quit thinking that we
can do it alone; it just doesn't work. The Team is the chief, the
boss, period! When we sincerely take this position, all sorts of
remarkable things start to happen. We have a new power - the power
of "Team". The team gives us what we need to succeed. If we dedicate
ourselves to our work, take pride and joy in working on something
for the benefit of being excellent and for the benefit of our company
as a whole, all sorts of great possibilities open up! When we have
grounded ourselves in this new approach, we become more interested
in what we can contribute to the rest of the team. As we feel this
new power take over, we enjoy peace of mind and become conscious
of the energy of the rest of the team. We begin to lose our fear
of not having a pipeline, of deals not closing, of clients not getting
back to us, of all the pressure to produce. Closings just occur
gracefully. We begin to enjoy doing something for others without
the slightest thought about what we can get in return. Our interactions
with the rest of our teammates begin to improve, we feel nurtured
by this force outside of us, invisible and yet present. We share
knowledge and leads with the team and help other people with problems
and deadlines. We begin to realize that united with the team we
stand strong, but as individuals, we quickly fall.
About the Author: Charles Bernard,
founder and president of Criteria for Success, Inc., helps CEO's
bridge the gap between their vision for their company and their
bottom line by implementing systems and behaviors that enable their
salespeople to reach and exceed targets. Charles is a wellknown
speaker at events catering to CEO's and senior executives around
the USA. |
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| One
of the biggest challenges facing SMBs is attracting and retaining
good employees. In this article Adam Eiseman, CEO of Lloyd Group
shares his thoughts on why their intern program is thriving and
how it has contributed to the long-term growth and success of his
business. |
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One of the biggest challenges facing SMBs is attracting
and retaining good employees. In this article Adam Eiseman, CEO
of Lloyd Group shares his thoughts on why their intern program is
thriving and how it has contributed to the long-term growth and
success of his business.
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| Our intern program has helped define
who Lloyd Group is today |
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I believe that one of the most significant steps we took in growing
The Lloyd Group was the development of our intern program. Begun
almost by accident, the program has become a core piece of our recruiting
initiative, and a tremendous influence on defining who we are as
a company.
We hired (all of our interns are, and always have been, paid) our
first interns in the late 90s. As a seven person company we took
on three interns. Two are still involved with us today. Since that
time we have had between two and six interns at any given time,
in all areas of the business. In the past thirty days two people
who went through our intern program came on board as full-time members
of the team, and I am optimistic that we will be extending offers
to two more to start later this year. In the past six months two
team members who started out as interns and came on as full-time
members our team were promoted into management positions.
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| Training, development and fun |
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Our intern program has been a success for several reasons, the most
important of which is the seriousness with which we take it. Every
intern gets a full orientation and welcome, just like new full-time
team members. They have specific objectives for their internship,
and a mentor. They get reviews, and we have events targeted towards
making them a part of our firm, as well as bonding with other members
of their intern class.
On top of this, once they leave we have follow-up. We invite them
to become Lloyd Alumni on Facebook, to attend company events, and
follow-up with them while they are at school, even keeping in touch
with them after they graduate. I've gone to visit former interns
at their fraternity houses, taken them out to lunch or dinner, and
helped get their careers started. Even the little things like emails
on their birthdays go a long way.
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| Build a presence on college campuses |
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Among the long-term benefits are building a brand on college campuses.
Former interns that don't come to work for you go out into the workplace,
as do their classmates. If they are familiar with your brand they
take it with them. We've had people join our firm and new clients
come on board because of the brand we built on someone's college
campus over the years.
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| Most stay on past their internship,
or become part of the wider Lloyd community |
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The challenge with recruiting through an internship program is that
the majority of team members who come to you as a first job out
of school will move on. For many, their 20s is a time to explore
and to find themselves, and you may only be a stepping stone on
their career path. However we've found that if you make that experience
a positive one and keep in touch, they often come back as either
more seasoned members of your team, clients or partners.
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Adam Eiseman is the Founder and
CEO of Lloyd Group, a professional services firm offering advisory
services and IT managed care to small and medium businesses in New
York, Connecticut, Westchester and Fairfield. Adam serves on business
advisory boards for some of the world's leading technology companies
and regularly speaks at industry events across the USA. |
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| The
rate at which small and medium sized businesses are embracing Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) and contact management systems has
kicked competition up a few notches. |
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Why? Competitors who use a CRM system can be much
better at selling for three big reasons:
Firstly, CRM centralizes your data to give a snapshot of prospect
and customer activity. Customer data resides
with the company, not with a salesperson, giving greater continuity
and protecting your business when salespeople leave.
Secondly, CRM aggregates all of the interactions with customers
including conversations, emails and marketing. This enables companies
to have the pulse on the status of many more customers and prospects
than they would without CRM.
Thirdly, CRM allows companies to easily segment customers by industry,
where they are in the sales process, or any other classification
that allows them to quickly execute a communication tailored as
appropriate.
So what should you do?
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| Invest in a CRM system and make sure you fully understand the capabilities
as they pertain to your business. Then take advantage of them. Follow
these three keys to CRM success: |
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1. |
Hire a CRM consultant
or reseller who really understands your business and sales process.
Don't make the same mistake that I did at a previous company
where I thought the CRM system could be installed and implemented
by myself and our IT department. We wrote off a $20,000 investment
in a matter of days and lost credibility with the sales team. |
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Find
someone who has successfully done this before - and be sure to ask
for references. For small businesses, figure that a CRM reseller's
services could be attained for $1000 to $10,000 to customize the software
for your specific industry and sales processes. In fact, a good CRM
reseller should show you how you can leverage the CRM system to improve
your sales processes. |
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2. |
Train all of your
employees on CRM and train them well. The training should be
about the business processes, not the technical capabilities
of the software (it is likely that you may not usethe majority
of the features of the software). Depending on the size of your
business, training could be done in as little as five hours
and as much as several weeks. At first, learning and using the
CRM system may slow your sales team down a bit so try to schedule
training during a slower period. |
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3. |
Lead by example
and integrate and utilize the CRM system into your day-to-day
activities. For instance, your communications with customers
should be logged into the system. Of course, let your staff
see you participate in the training as well. Finally, ensure
that all of your sales staff (even the superstars) are consistently
using the system. |
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| Lloyd
Group can help you choose a CRM solution that will meet your
firm's needs. Contact us today at info@lloydgroup.com |
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| About
the Author: Robert Levin is the Founder
and President of RSL Media LLC and Editor-in-Chief & Publisher of The New York Enterprise Report .
Dubbed "the New York area's Chief Small Business Officer", Levin was
named Journalist of the Year by Small Business Administration (NY
District). Read his blog at |
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