Craig Wortmann

Hello Marketing, it’s me Sales. Part I

Craig Wortmann — Sun, 16 May 2010 16:02:28 +0000

Why is there so much confusion around what is marketing and what is sales? On one hand, the true answer is “who cares?” On the other hand, though, I see entrepreneurs make assumptions about sales and marketing that cause them early, costly mistakes. The most common assumption we make is that we need to get our messaging right very early. That assumption causes us to spend too much time worrying about ‘messaging’ (surveys, blogging, website development, materials) and not enough on making direct, one on one contact with buyers. Direct, one on one contact with buyers gives you the information you need to design a message that works, not the other way around.

A rule of thumb you can use to determine if you are reaching all the way to the buyer is whether you are getting objections. Yes, objections. This happens when a buyer says; “Craig, this is really cool, but I just don’t have budget right now.” Or “Man, I’m so busy that this may be something I think about in six months.” But you’re an entrepreneur…you need to make payroll right now. You need to grow your business now. Not in six months. Success is determined by how you handle these objections. This requires direct contact with buyers, not messaging. It’s too easy these days for us to hide behind websites and blog posts and surveys. Sales is the gritty stuff that happens when the message meets the market.

Entrepreneurial Selling

Craig Wortmann — Sat, 01 May 2010 06:26:19 +0000

There’s “selling” and then there’s “entrepreneurial selling.” Failing to understand the difference almost cost me my first business (and $3M of Opium – Other Peoples Money).

Selling is straight-forward. Why? Because you are at the tip of the pyramid. There’s a huge, well-functioning organization underneath you that supports all of your efforts. There’s HR, training, finance, marketing, operations, tech support. Here’s how it looks:

In most professional selling roles, you are given a territory and a bag and sent on your way. Your responsibility is to put a smile on your face and go prospect, qualify, explore needs, propose, and close.

Entrepreneurial selling is fundamentally different. Your responsibility goes well beyond just penetrating a territory. As an entrepreneur, your role is “stretched at both ends,” backward to targeting and forward to relationship management and analysis.

Now you find yourself figuring out who to sell to, why they are the most fruitful target and how to find them (Hello, Marketing? It’s me Sales. Anybody there?). You usually get only one chance to get this right.

Then, after you’ve busted your butt bringing in a few clients, you need to make certain that these clients are well taken care of, since they will serve as your reference foundation. Oh yeah, and you need to analyze whether these clients are profitable (Hi Finance, yeah it’s me again..). So instead of having this huge support system underneath you, an entrepreneur balances on a very shaky foundation. It looks like this:

In entrepreneurial selling, you ARE marketing, finance, tech support, training, HR, operations, etc etc. And you are balancing on a very narrow foundation. Can I get an Advil?

Shout out…again (this blog post contains explicit language)

Craig Wortmann — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:51:00 +0000

In just the first four days of this week, I’ve been blessed to bounce around in the worlds of a half-dozen entrepreneurs and their exceptional, ass-kicking lives. It’s incredibly inspiring to see people who are quite literally changing the world. I spent time with an organization in Chicago that is reviving ailing schools because they care deeply about kids and their futures. I spent time with a group in California that is making employees more healthy and inspiring them to live better lives. A guy who not only is one of those “idea-a-minute” guys, but who’s got the guts and the brains to ACT on them. A woman who is so smart that she should just have her own damn 24 hour cable channel to just talk to us.

Gina, Jessica, Jill, Pam, Joe, Waverly. Yeah, you.

And if it’s not enough for you that these people are changing the world, they are also building (re-building?) the foundations of our economy. We should thank these people every day. And then we should turn to the nearest kid and say; “Go be an entrepreneur. THAT’S why you are studying. THAT’s why you are learning. Want to live an inspired existence? It’s spelled ENT-RE-PREN-EUR.

And that’s just this week..so far.

Truth, naked and cold..

Craig Wortmann — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:32:30 +0000

My favorite parable: “Truth, naked and cold, knocked on every door of the village. Her nakedness frightened the villagers, and she was turned away. When Parable found Truth, she was huddled in the back of an alley, shivering…hungry. Parable took pity on Truth and took her home and warmed Truth by her fire. There by the fire, Parable fed Truth and dressed her in Story. Dressed in Story, Truth went back out into the village and was welcomed into everyone’s home.”

Those of us who operate in the world of business must realize the we will better connect ourselves to clients and our organizations to opportunities when we tell stories that give color and context to our work. At the core of what we do lay the facts. But facts are just the medicine – the core “truth” – that makes things work. The stories that we build around these core truths are what causes action.

We don’t go to the movies to see “OVERCOME YOUR FEAR. BE FRIENDS WITH THOSE WHO LOOK DIFFERENT FROM YOU. LOVE EACH OTHER” in bold letters on the big screen. These are just the ‘facts’ of the movie. We go to the movies to experience a multi-layered story that connects us to a struggle that feels familiar, stretches us to see different perspectives, and shows us what’s possible.

Our most critical job as professionals is to understand the core “truth” of what we do, and then work hard to search out and tell the stories that make it real for people. Show people the journey, not just what you found when you got there. If you do, they will go with you. If you don’t, you’ll go alone.

The most critical tool in your toolkit

Craig Wortmann — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 05:34:22 +0000

Telling stories in business is a discipline that is your most important tool in your success toolkit. Take selling. Most often, sales people operate at the level of features and benefits, staying within that narrow “leaf level,” mistakenly thinking that this is where decisions get made.

The ability to move comfortably back and forth between the forest, the tree, the branch and the leaf, describing the complex chemical reaction at the leaf level while also describing the stunning beauty of the forest itself. As we move from level to level, different kinds of stories get told. And it’s these stories that build connections and context for the decisions that we are asking our clients and employees to make.

Your action: Capture your stories and work on wrapping them around the facts and data, bits and bullets, features and benefits.

They didn’t, until they did. They can’t, until they can. They won’t, until they will.

Craig Wortmann — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:05:08 +0000

People will never put their credit card info into a website.

These “personal computers” are toys…you can’t run a business on them.

Facebook is a fad…who cares what your friend is having for lunch?

One thing you can’t sell online is shoes.

The screens on cell phones are too small to ever be of much use.

The electric car is for tree-huggers.

What do all of these things have in common? A gutsy entrepreneur who swims upstream against a strong current of “no” and “never.” This is a shout out to all of you entrepreneurs who make our lives measurably better every day. Just keep swimming.

Successful presentations – concise, complete

Craig Wortmann — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 13:43:24 +0000

Here’s my quick checklist we use in my MBA course for ensuring that our presentations are concise but complete:

Holiday (s)pace

Craig Wortmann — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:21:50 +0000

Hope everyone makes some space for themselves over the next couple of weeks. The holidays present an opportunity to rethink, reprioritize and renew. Or to be frenzied, stressed and out of your mind. Plan A sounds better.

The cold of winter (for those of us in the North) kills off all of the old germs of the past year. It sets us up for renewal, but only if we are planting the seeds. So take some time to plant some seeds, share some old favorite stories and find that place you can go to make some space.

Happy holidays, and here’s to a fantastic next decade.

“Story” as an action verb

Craig Wortmann — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 14:34:21 +0000

If “google” can become an action verb, why can’t “story?” After all, the word “story” comes from the Latin “historia” which means “narration of what is learned” which sure seems like an action to me. I hereby nominate story as an action verb! So go story..

Zig zag bridge

Craig Wortmann — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:25:18 +0000

In most Japanese gardens, you will find something called a zig zag bridge. It is often made up of two slabs of granite laid end to end. But, the two slabs are only touching at one corner like the black and white squares on a checkerboard. The zig zag bridge is meant to slow you down to take in the beauty that’s around you. Said another way, it’s purpose is to force you into the present.

In my book (What’s Your Story?), I compared the power of the zig zag bridge to the power of stories. When we tell our stories, whether in a business context or in our wider lives, people become present to the story. It allows all parties to slow down, ever so slightly, and grasp the context of what’s being communicated in a way that bullet points never can. We can float above the noise for a few beats and gain a better understanding of a situation, a challenge or an opportunity. This makes a huge difference, and it’s why I’ve been trying to promote stories (and telling) over the past few years.

Recently, I interviewed Jason Fried of 37signals for a Chicago Booth group, and he made another analogy to a Japanese garden (among many other wise things he shared). He said that entrepreneurship is like tending a Japanese garden. In neither endeavor are you successful right off the bat. Cultivation of gardens – and skills – takes time and tons of consistent hard effort. I couldn’t agree more and I would only add that if we cultivate our stories alongside our skills that we will have something very beautiful indeed.