We’ve done a lot of reading this year, and while we’ve gotten something out of everything we’ve read, we have a few favorites we’d especially like to share with you. If you’re interested in seeing our full lists with some additional commentary, check out our reading lists on each of our LinkedIn profiles (Kevin on LinkedIn, Wendy on LinkedIn).

Also there are a few books that we’ve talked about in previous posts (here, here, and here), so we didn’t feel there was a need to include those again.

The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation

– by Matthew Dixon, Brent Adamson

Kevin’s biggest takeaway – (First of all, if you only read one book off of my list, make it this one.)  The greatest need of your prospect/client is for you to help them discover what it is that they truly need.

Wendy’s biggest takeaway – As a natural part of the business evolution cycle, consumer needs and wants change over time and so do the ways that people want to buy. In order to remain a relevant business, selling styles must evolve as well.

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

– by Chip Heath, Dan Heath

Kevin’s biggest takeaway – Effective communication of ideas is critical.  Unfortunately, most of those who are trying to communicate an idea have a “curse of knowledge”.  It is the difference between their level of understanding of an issue compared to that of their audience that impedes effective communication.  The book offers a great way to assess the likely effectiveness of any message you want to send.

Wendy’s biggest takeaway – Communication is the foundation of all relationships, and the right kind of communication for effectively initiating changes in thinking & behavior is imperative. It can be quite simple if you think about communication like the Heath brothers do – from the perspective of the uninformed recipient trying to digest your information for the first time.

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

– by Daniel H. Pink

Kevin’s biggest takeaway – Many current management practices are running contrary to their intended purpose. The more businesses try to externally motivate and push goals upon their staff without tying it to individual needs, the lesser the results. To see the greatest results, we need to, instead, address the main drivers of intrinsic motivation - autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

Wendy’s biggest takeaway – Businesses need to catch up with the way people think and evolve their management style from managing people to leading people. Drive power in the business by tapping into the natural abilities and resources of your team rather than pushing them to merely meet the minimum job requirements.

The Other Side of Innovation

– by Vijay Govindarajan, Chris Trimble

Kevin’s biggest takeaway - New ideas are easy to come by, but it’s how you address the challenges, which result from the idea, that determine success.  It is the execution that is more difficult and holds the hidden dangers.  Because the execution is humdrum, behind the scenes, and involves hard work, it is all too often an afterthought that gets overlooked.

The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels

– by Michael Watkins

Kevin’s biggest takeaway – 10 Critical Strategies: 1. Promote yourself  2. Accelerate your learning  3. Match strategy to situation  4. Secure early wins  5. Negotiate success  6. Achieve alignment  7. Build your team  8. Create coalitions  9. Keep your balance  10. Expedite everyone

RePositioning: Marketing in an Era of Competition, Change and Crisis

– by Jack Trout, Steve Rivkin

Kevin’s biggest take way – Powerful ideas always clash with someone’s personal agenda.  This ensures an early demise for any concept that has to work its way up the organization for final approval.  No matter how good they are, ideas will never win on their own merit.  If you don’t have the right people in the room, very little change will happen.

Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul

– by Howard Schultz

Wendy’s biggest takeaway – The love that owners have for their businesses and the struggles they face are universal regardless of size or degree of success. Just because you’ve been in business a long time doesn’t mean you should change the passionate outlay you put into the business. Getting comfortable is one of the most dangerous risks a company can face.

Practically Radical: Not-So-Crazy Ways to Transform Your Company, Shake Up Your Industry, and Challenge Yourself

– by William C. Taylor

Wendy’s biggest takeaway – Any business can completely transform itself and WOW its customers. Yes, even mature, commoditized industries can change and offer new ways of doing business. Innovative ideas, a will to succeed, a strong leader leading the vision, and a dedicated group to make it happen can yield incredible results. The many case studies in here are just inspiring!

@kevintrokey

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“Nobody loves your baby like you do.”

- Bob Pritchett, Fire Someone Today

We talk a lot about the need to develop business acumen and ask questions about your client’s business practices. If you’re not a seasoned business owner yourself, you might not recognize or appreciate the incredible value and connection that comes from those conversations – they can be priceless – for you and for the client.

Owning a business can be an all-consuming endeavor where you spend most of your waking hours thinking about various details that need to be addressed on a daily basis.  Finding and actually taking the time to think about the big picture and strategy of the business can sometimes feel like a luxury.

When you, as a producer, are asking questions that make the owner talk about the vision or really study the financials, strategies, and processes of his own business, you’re not taking up limited and valuable time simply pitching your product. Taking time to be genuinely curious, ask in-depth questions, and have a conversation about the practices of the business, not only provides you with extremely valuable insight for developing solutions for your client, but you’re also giving him or her the opportunity to think and talk strategically about her own business. 

I’ve yet to meet a business owner who doesn’t love an opportunity to talk about her business – use that to your advantage! Talking to someone about his business is akin to talking to a parent about his kids – a little genuine interest and a heartfelt connection can go a long way in developing a relationship. 

In his book, Fire Someone Today, Bob Pritchett refers to a business owner as a proud parent and his business as his baby, seeing it through a “lens of hope, full of potential”.  Owners look at their businesses not for just what it is today, but also for what it’s going to be. As Bob notes, “Nobody can match an entrepreneur’s passion and enthusiasm for her business,” but if you can tap into that passion and allow them to share that vision and enthusiasm with you, then you’ve been given an opportunity to help them realize that vision.

Depending on the client and the size of the business, you may be allowing them to talk about and analyze their business at a deeper and more strategic level than they might have on a regular basis.  Or if they do regularly take the time to work on the business in this way, then perhaps you’re providing a fresh outside perspective with your questions or insights – which is necessary and worthwhile for any business.

Keep in mind, the more you understand about how a business makes and keeps money, the better questions you’re able to ask to really connect with the owner and provide her with strategic value.

What are some of your favorite questions to ask when you get time with the owner?

Photo by Oregon DOT.

@wendykeneipp

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I am an avid reader and am almost always in the middle of a book or two.  I enjoy reading and learning, but I also feel that it is a responsibility I have as someone who regularly works to help others find their success.  Then again, that responsibility isn’t unique to me; I’ll argue that it applies to anyone who has clients who turn to you for advice.

So, I wanted to share my favorite books from 2010 and a little of what I learned from each.   Wendy got excited about this and wanted to participate, so I let her add her thoughts, as well.  It’s always interesting what different things people take away from the exact same situation.

“A Seat At The Table” by Marc Miller

What I learned – I learned how to clearly identify the types of strategic decisions made by decision makers.  With that knowledge, I have been able to develop a process through which the producers with whom I can work can position their solutions in a much more strategic manner and in a way that resonates more clearly with the C-suite.

Wendy weighs in:  Sales people often have a skewed view of how their solutions (read: product) benefit the client, therefore, making it difficult to transition from a product selling organization to a solution selling organization.  Marc shows us that it is possible to makes this transformation with an existing sales team when you’ve got the right vision and leadership to enforce the changes company-wide.

“Inbound Marketing” by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah

What I learned – I learned that the rules of marketing have changed.  Creating a brand is no longer just about writing a check, it’s about getting out there and becoming a participant in social media.  When you give a prospect a reason to initiate engagement with you, well, obviously, your likelihood of success goes up exponentially.  While I don’t think the ideas in the book completely replace traditional approaches to marketing, I do agree that they need to be an integral part of any marketing strategy.

Wendy’s 2 cents: I thought that Inbound Marketing provided a good overview and action guide for creating your online marketing plan with to-do lists and tools to get the job done.  However, to get a good in-depth understanding of how social marketing can be a viable & critically important marketing vehicle for your business, I recommend The New Rules of Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott. Read the 1st half and get a full understanding of the New Rules, and read the second half to figure out how to make it happen. Then get started!  If you haven’t yet embraced social marketing as an integral part of your business, you’re falling behind.

“Getting Naked” by Patrick Lencioni

What I learned – This is probably the most impactful book I have read all year.  Allowing yourself to be vulnerable is the most empowering characteristic you can take into your client relationships.  We have to recognize that one safe idea is rarely going to result in the best solution.  Instead, we have to sort through countless ideas, some horrible and some great, to make sure the one best solution is identified.   As strong as the idea of vulnerability has proven to me, an even more powerful message is to start acting as though you have already been hired as early in the prospecting stage as possible.  The sooner you start delivering value, the sooner you will get hired.

Wendy’s takeaway: This is an outstanding book that helps bridge the drastic difference in personal vs. business relationship expectations that have been so prevalent in American culture.  Building any type of relationship requires trust, and without allowing ourselves to be vulnerable, there is always at least a little bit of doubt about motivations. Business relationships are not excused from this idea of vulnerability and trust; although I believe that the rules of professionalism have dictated a reserved approach with clients.  Lencioni not only gives us permission to drop those walls that create the professional distance, he insists that it’s critically necessary for doing business today.

“The Upside” by Adrian Slywotzky

What I learned* – While businesses tend to focus their risk management strategies on the traditional risks (hazard, financial, and operational), they are quite often ignoring the strategic risks, some of which are certain to be faced by every organization at one time or another.  Strategic risk has become one of the greatest sources of lost value in the global economy.  While it is impossible to avoid these risks entirely, those companies who understand them, anticipate them, shape them, and implement effective counter measure strategies will find they’re in a much better position to survive and even thrive in today’s risk-rich environment.  The “upside” of this risk awareness becomes an opportunity to expose the risks for the opportunities that lie within.

*I read this in 2009, as you'll see from the linked article, but we held a book club on it in 2010, so it made the list.

Wendy’s thoughts: I loved this book and reference it frequently for it’s great examples and excellent explanations. Strategic risks target crucial elements in the design of your business model, company vision/values, and company culture.  These risks can be avoided or at least mitigated if your model is flexible enough to adjust to changes in the industry or the economy.  In order to do that, you must structure the other foundational elements of your business to be passionately focused on the customer, and to be acutely aware, at all levels of the organization, what is happening in the industry, the local marketplace, and with your competition.  With awareness, ingenuity, and adaptability (the new must-have’s for today’s businesses) you’ll able to find the opportunities within the risks  - and without, you’ll be one of Slywotzky’s historical comparison companies.

So, there are just four of the books we read last year and maybe a couple of reasons for you to pick them up and read them for yourselves.  While we’re not necessarily encouraging you to read these books, we are challenging you to read books that will benefit you and, in turn, help you to benefit your clients.

What was your favorite read from 2010?  And why?

It’s a new year and, with a new year, comes a clean slate, an opportunity to start fresh, purge bad habits and create healthy new ones to sustain a profitable and successful business.  The temptation definitely exists to just jump IN to the business blindly before taking a little time to work ON the business.  Not that the following exercise equates to proper ON time, but it has to be a part of that process.

Stop and take inventory of the following:

If you were sitting here 3 years from now looking back to January 2011, what would have had to happen in order for you to be satisfied with your results?  Now, dig a little deeper and more specifically into the following:

Opportunities

What changes took place within your industry that you were able to anticipate and turn from a challenge into an opportunity?

What unfulfilled customer needs did you identify that you are now fulfilling?

Dangers

In order to survive/thrive, what has changed about your business model as a result of industry/economic/political changes?

Distractions

What previous competitive vulnerability has been removed?

What behaviors that used to slow you down, or even derail your initiatives, have been eliminated?

Strengths

What is your greatest competitive advantage over your competition?

How have you exploited that advantage?

Next step

What are you going to do over the next 12 months to take meaningful steps toward your answers to these questions?  If you don’t have that clarity, chances are the time you spend IN the business will largely be IN the wrong areas.

Photo by iUnique Fx(c).

Over the past 10 months I have interviewed and surveyed a few hundred First in Commands.  The big question has been, “What percent of your time do you spend doing what you do best that brings the greatest value to your company?”

The answer has been an average of 21%!

You don’t have to be a very creative or intelligent consultant to come to the conclusion that utilizing the strengths of a First in Command 21% of the time, is not a great business strategy.  If I were to tell the CEOs that I work with to make sure they spend 21% of their time doing what they do best, they would find another Advisor.

We are in the midst of one of the toughest and most opportunistic business economies in our lifetime.  We are under attack from market shrinkage, credit limitations, bank reform, political pressure, employee entitlement, limited cash, social media entrance, wiki information economies, and the list goes on.

The skill and talent needed to attack these issues strategically and tactically fall in the unique abilities of First and Second in Commands.  When these people do what they do best, they increase revenue, obtain cash, motivate people to increase productivity, manage key professional financial service relationships, plan, and get results.

Almost every First and Second in Command I know has a history of success.  It is hard to get in those positions without having past success.  They had success in sports, the arts, and/or academics.  They have awards and accolades from school days and throughout their business careers.  They know how to win and they get the greatest results.

Lets go back to the top of this article.  Why is it that we allow these incredibly talented people to spend only 21% of their time doing what they do best?

What if they were able to spend 50%, 70%, 80% or more of their time doing what they do that brings the greatest results to the organization?  I know the answer!!!  They win big!!!

What keeps these First and Second in Commands from doing what they do best?  NOISE! They are distracted by employee issues, problems, client issues, process breakdown, poor decisions, failed results, strategic concerns, and feeling alone.

These issues snowball in capturing the time of first and second in commands.  They deal with one issue, get involved in things they don’t do best, create new problems, de-motivate teams, read additional reports, and get bogged down in the NOISE.

A strong First and Second in Command relationship will eliminate the noise if they have the right strategies in place.  Moving away from traditional thinking and bad habits into noise reducing strategies is the only way out of this mess.

What is it worth to a company to eliminate the noise and get our First and Second in Commands doing what they do best 80% of the time?  First in Commands who have answered this question say anywhere between a hundred thousand and multiple millions of dollars.

The biggest RISK I see in our business economy today is the lack of availability of our best talent.  We need to get our First and Second in Commands back.

Larry Linne is President & CEO of Sitkins International.  He is also the author of Make The Noise Go Away – The Power of An Effective Second In Command and the supporting training program The Noise Reduction System™.

Originally published on Sitkins International.

Photo by Patrick Fitzgerald.

Benefits Growth Network has selected Agility Recovery to become an exclusive provider of business continuity services for their membership.

September 28, 2010 – St. Louis, MO – Benefits Growth Network, a consulting firm specializing in growth and implementation strategies for employee benefits agencies, today announced that they have selected Agility Recovery, North America’s leading business continuity and disaster recovery company, to join their partnership solutions program, BGNAdvantage.

The BGNAdvantage program is a select group of service partners for BGN member agencies to use as solution providers for their clients. The services in the program are focused on maximizing the return on investments that companies make into their businesses.

Agility Recovery, headquartered in Charlotte, NC, specializes in providing comprehensive, turnkey business continuity solutions to small and midsized businesses across North America. To handle the traditional disaster recovery industry roadblocks of scale, cost, and complexity, Agility developed ReadySuite, a solution delivering the critical assets necessary for businesses to remain operational during disasters or interruptions.

For a nominal monthly fee, members have access to the following resources:
• Power – generators
• Technology – PCs, Intel servers, tape drives, phones and fax machines
• Space – office space complete with desks and chairs
• Connectivity – satellite for voice and Internet access

“Our business model is built upon the belief that every business, regardless of size or industry, should have access to a disaster recovery solution in order to remain operational following a disaster,” says Agility CEO Bob Boyd.

Kevin Trokey, president of Benefits Growth Network, explains that choosing Agility Recovery to be a partner in the BGNAdvantage program makes great business sense for members. “With the Agility program, we’re able to help clients protect their investment and ensure their longevity. By planning for the unknown, companies are able to better support their employees, customers and ultimately their local economy.”

About Agility Recovery
Agility Recovery, a former division of GE, has over 21 years of disaster recovery and business continuity experience. Since 1989, Agility has provided comprehensive, packaged recovery solutions, consulting services and testing options to businesses across North America. Agility revolutionized the disaster recovery and business continuity industries by developing a simple, cost-effective and easy-to-use recovery solution called ReadySuite.

In the last two years, Agility has responded to over 560 disaster events and conducted over 700 recovery simulations. For more information, visit www.agilityrecovery.com, or contact Stephanie Poliakoff at 704.280.3405 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

About Benefits Growth Network
Benefits Growth Network, based out of St. Louis, MO, is an international membership-based consulting firm specializing in growth strategies for independently owned employee benefits agencies and brokerages. Through the exclusive Benefits Growth System™, members get individualized planning, coaching, training, use of proprietary systems, and access to a network of thriving benefits agencies. For more information about Benefits Growth Network, visitwww.benefitsgrowthnetwork.com.

In an earlier article, I mentioned the importance of continuing to build business acumen. For me, that includes a lot of reading. I read blogs, newspapers, periodical, books — you name it and it is probably on my reading list. There is something to be learned almost everywhere but once in a while you come across something that just speaks to you. Recently, for me, it was The Upside by Adrian Slywotzky.

The book focuses on how to turn the risks we face in our business into opportunities for our business. Of the possible risks faced by business, Slywotzky argues that strategic risks are the most dangerous. He states that “strategic risk comprises most of the total risk most companies face” and identifies seven major kinds of strategic risk. For each of the seven, I have identified where that risk may be affecting you.

Whether you are a producer, a department manager or an agency owner, I am challenging you to evaluate how many of these risks you are facing and make sure you are planning and executing accordingly.

1. Your big initiative fails. How effective are you at follow-through? Entrepreneurial individuals and organizations are notorious for chasing the next “best idea” only to get distracted with another new “best idea.” In the process, we lose momentum, credibility and opportunity. Any initiative can fail, but make sure failure isn’t because of your lack of attention and/or proper planning and execution. If you don’t properly evaluate opportunities, plan for successful implementation and make necessary adjustments along the way, then you are at risk.

2. Your customers leave you. Do you have great client retention? If you do, is it because you have just been fortunate, or is it the result of a specific retention strategy that you employ and know can be replicated? Perhaps even more important, are you keeping the wrong customers while the right ones leave? Maybe it isn’t even your customers leaving, but key employees. What are you doing to make sure you attract and retain both the ideal clients and employees? Do you have a plan in place? If not, then you are at risk.

3. Your industry reaches a fork in the road. Our industry is drastically different today than it was just a few years ago, and the pace of change is only going to increase. How are you planning for the future, a future filled with unknowns? Are you just hoping to survive or do you recognize change for what it is: an opportunity to leave your competition in the dust? If you are planning properly, you will thrive. If you aren’t proactively planning for how you will compete differently in the future, then you are at risk.

4. A seemingly unbeatable competitor arrives. Is your “unbeatable competitor” one of the large regional or national brokers starting to work in your target market? We all see the potential of an Obama health care plan being that “unbeatable competitor.” What are you going to do if one or both of these happen? Are you confident in your ability to compete? Is your value proposition so well defined that you can compete with anyone? Do you control the “product” you are selling or have you fallen into the traditional trap of merely being a middleman? If you don’t have a clear plan of how you will compete, survive and thrive in the ever-changing market, you are at risk.

5. Your brand loses power. Whether it’s as individuals, as a department or as an agency, we all have a brand; it’s only a matter of whether or not we are proactively controlling that brand. A brand is the clear, powerful thoughts that our audience has when they think of us. What is your brand? Is it positive? What are you doing to manage it? If you have a vision of what your brand is and a plan to build and communicate that brand, you will continue to stand out from your competition. If you allow your brand to just develop randomly, then you and your brand are at risk.

6. Your industry becomes a no-profit zone. What are the factors attacking your margin? Is it reduced commissions from the carriers? Is it the “free” value added services you provide to your clients? Is it the current economy? Is it having customers who demand more, but want to pay less? The number of factors that drive margin compression can be quite extensive. The key is having a plan to create new profit opportunities and to not be dependent on a product over which you have no control. If you have a clear understanding of how to truly add value to your client’s business, increase the ROI on their HR/benefit investment and clearly help them become a better managed business, you will remain profitable. If all you deliver is an insurance policy and some value-added services, then you are at risk.

7. Your company stops growing. This is a phenomenon that happens within individual books of business, as well as at both the department and agency level. To push beyond these plateaus, we have to continually monitor, measure and adjust the way we work. Unfortunately, increasing the number of hours you work does not necessarily equate to increased revenue. However, if you have the proper plan in place, you can actually increase your income with the same, or even less, effort than it takes today. If you think you can just “work harder” instead of smarter, then you are at risk.

As a producer, manager of a department or owner of an agency, it isn’t a matter of if you will face one of these risks, it’s a matter of which one(s) and when it will happen. The key is to prepare for the inevitable. Be aware of where your potential risks lie in each of these areas, know what it looks like, and have a plan for how you can either prevent it entirely or — at the very least — mitigate its impact.

This level of preparation takes focused time and effort, but it is critical to your continued success. How bad do you want it?

Originally published on agencyfuel.zywave.com. © Copyright 2010 Zywave, Inc.