One + August 2010 - (Page 40)

Transform the World Tim Sanders All Together Now I had an insightful speaking assignment last week: Give a talk to directors and sales managers from around the world about the value of “coming together as a team.” This customer, a multibilliondollar professional services ﬁrm, has six business units operating in 12 countries. To say the least, the corporate culture is entrepreneurial. The company has a “federation of states,” each with its own marketing, training, service and operations resources. A consultancy recently told senior management that there was signiﬁcant overlap in the company, as well as inconsistency when transacting with customers and partners. As one frustrated client said, “That company has more looks than Lady Gaga!” My team turned up a few research pieces that documented how much a company could save if all units and ofﬁces shared training resources—as much as 25 percent company wide. The same went with marketing or sales operations—huge savings to either the manager’s P&L or the company’s balance sheet. When companies go to market uniﬁed, from presentation to vision, they garner quicker buy-in from prospective customers and partners. Shared information alone leads to better references, case studies and guarantees. Unity is convincing to a prospect and takes advantage of the 25/200 rule of sales: Reduce the time it takes for a customer to decide by 25 percent and double sales volume. In the end, here’s what I learned: When all the groups in a company share resources and align themselves, they ﬁnd synergy with size. Cost savings and closing power are the secrets to sustainable proﬁts. When the sales department previews coming ad campaigns for clients and advertising previews new products to their agencies, magic happens. This is the power of unity. But few companies pull this off. It’s not in our nature as humans. We create silos, focus on how “it’s different around here” and protect information as if we were hoarding nuts. Almost two years of budget and head count reductions pit divisions or functions against each other instead of bringing them together. This might be the case at your company. In the meeting industry, suppliers and partners at mid-size to large companies could use the power of unity these days. It sure beats cutting corners! Unbeknownst to us, we’ve likely built up services that are duplicative or don’t mirror the company’s vision or branding. We may not be inthe-know on upcoming product developments, because we’ve been reactive instead of collaborative (offering ﬁeld info to improve the result). For a company to come together, everyone has to play ball. That means you. To contribute to a unity movement at your company, you need to take advantage of common resources and coordinate market facing tactics for synergy. (By market facing, I mean events, advertisements, promotions, presentations, etc.) BIO 40 TIM SANDERS, a top-rated speaker on the lecture circuit, is the author of Saving the World at Work: What Companies and Individuals Can Do to Go Beyond Making a Profit to Making a Difference (Doubleday, September 2008). Check out his website at www.timsanders.com. one+ 08.10 http://www.timsanders.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of One + August 2010

One + August 2010
Contents
Energy of Many
Impressions
Know Thy Competition
Agenda
Focus
Overheard
It’s Easier Being Green
Sign and Trade
Thoughts + Leaders
Top Spots
Connections
Irrelevant
No Thanks, No Favors
All Together Now
It Was Always Social
The Shoe Did Not Fit
Deep in the Soul of Texas
The Big Green Apple
The City with a Thorn in its Side
The S Word
Sound Potential
Slick Business
Dan Pink Loves Work
Strategic Shift
Your Community
Making a Difference
Until We Meet Again

One + August 2010