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"We would like to thank you for your presentation at our recent conferences sponsored for our distributors. The content was outstanding and right on target!"
Hewlett Packard
Who Is Willing To dare to TRI™?
By: Dirk Beveridge
The last several months have again brought together two passions in my life - business and Ironman triathlons.
First business - there seems to be an increase (maybe it's the softening economy) in our clients requesting we "challenge the organization to raise the standards."
 And second, after a three year absence, I have again committed to compete in the Ironman Canada triathlon (a 2.4 mile swim, 112 miles of bicycling, immediately followed by a 26.2 mile marathon run - all of which has to be completed within seventeen hours) on August 27th. Interestingly, I have over the years learned that there are parallels between leadership and completing an Ironman. Let me explain...
As we continue to hear the recent news - dot.com failures, layoffs, softening economy and the like I remember the advice the CEO of one of our clients years ago gave to his organization - "Good times camouflage poor performance.
The founder of IBM, Thomas Watson Sr. was found of saying "It is harder to keep a business great than to build it."
And even closer to home, I was in Washington D.C. several years ago and passed a men's clothing store going out of business. It was a very profitable and very successful business for many years. It was closing within the week. The owner evidently felt his experience had a valuable message for others so he had a sign painted and hung in his window. The sign simply read - "Adapt, Evolve or Perish."
I like to relate these business lessons to my quest for competing in and completing Ironman distance triathlons. I like triathlons because in many aspects they mirror life and they mirror business. In a triathlon you are totally accountable for your own success, for your own performance. There is no one to blame but yourself. It is you against the course. You against the elements. You against the competition. If you try to rely too much on others, you get penalized for drafting. It is a battle of ability, of course, but more importantly if is a battle of desire. Triathlons force you to ask yourself - "how bad do you want it?" Triathlons force you to dare to TRI™!
Through our consulting activities we have been exposed to hundreds of organizations and thousands of individuals, some who are willing to compete, others who would just as well allow the competition to succeed rather than them. We have identified at least three criteria relative to what successful businesses - and individuals do to stay successful in triathlons, business, and life too. See if you agree.
Those Who Consistently Succeed Are Conscious
Now I don't mean that those who don't succeed are asleep (literally) on the job. But those that are successful and remain successful are in a constant state of honest self-evaluation. They know very clearly, where they are today and where they need to be. They are very aware of their markets, their industry, their vision, their mission, their skills, their weaknesses, their strengths, their opportunities, and their challenges. They are conscious.
We find most organizations are aware of the overall performance in today's softening economic environment.
The question however, is every individual aware - conscience - of what they can and must do to meet and exceed established goals. If you will, "what is it that I at the individual territory level, must do to significantly and dramatically to increase sales within my area of responsibility."
 When I attempted my first Ironman distance triathlon I unfortunately ended up in intensive care for twelve hours, partly because I did not yet know how to read my body. Throughout the 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and half of the marathon I completed, I was not conscious of what the pain in my gut meant, or what the cramp in my thigh was doing to me, or even what the consequences of failing to urinate would be. I knew these things were happening, but being aware of what they meant to my success was as foreign as what it takes to increase market share in business for many people.
When I hear sales representatives in any business shouting that they need better pricing, a better product, shorter delivery times, the economy's impact, or even industry figures, I am afraid that we have lost "consciousness." That we are in fact, falling into the same trap that I did with my first Ironman attempt. We know something is not right - but we fail to look for real solutions.
Growing market share for example, significantly growing market share in today's environment is not only possible its probable the day we begin looking inward and become very aware - or conscience - of our own individual performance issues. We must in fact, begin asking ourselves tough - very tough questions.
- Are we truly focused on meeting our customer's needs, or are we still product focused in most everything we do?
- Are we implementing a strategic plan to develop a customer for life, or are we simply trying to win individual projects that we become aware of?
- Are we truly differentiating ourselves through the delivery of a customized value added solution, or do we still compare "apples to apples?"
- Do we demonstrate our expertise and commitment to the customer through customer focused proposals, which focus on the real needs of the customer and our creative solutions, or do we primarily deliver quotations, which focus on product and price?
- Are we truly developing the skills of our channel partners, or are we acting as super salesmen, which guarantees our expertise leaves the local market when we go to the next distributor or dealer?
- Are we functioning as an orchestrator who facilitates the expertise and resources of the entire channel to grow market share, or do we continue to react to the "crises of the day?"
Successful businesses and successful individuals do not stay successful because they are afraid to ask the tough questions.
Sales growth is not only possible, it is probable if we are not afraid to ask the tough questions. And maybe the toughest questions of all, yet those that will insure we are conscious to the point where we remain successful are: Where are you today? Where do you need to be? How long do you have to get there? And, are we willing and prepared to dare to TRI™?
We must be conscience and prepared to dare to TRI™?
Those Who Consistently Succeed Have The Courage To Set Bold Goals
Most individuals in business, anticipate, expect, and accept marginal performance levels. That is why we get no growth or at best the likes of four percent growth rather than twenty percent growth.
For most individuals and businesses today incremental growth is the norm - the expected. Yet incremental goals typically are not enough to generate better than average performance. Maybe we should define what I mean by a bold goal and having the courage to set a bold goal.
Since 1987 when I started consulting internationally and in the last several years since we had opened a branch office in Singapore, I have had the good fortune of being exposed to different cultures around the world. In Singapore they spelled out their bold goals for me as the "Five C's" - car, credit cards, condominium, career, and children. And the point in Singapore is, that when you get all five "you have arrived." Believe me, I am talking about more than that!
Unfortunately however, I go to many businesses and the owners, managers, and even the employees often perform as if they "have arrived." They point to their tenure with the company. Their earnings or paycheck. They might even show me the plaques they have won from previous sales contests. In a sense they are saying they have stopped their growth - that they are comfortable with where they are. No more stretch. No more growth. And certainly no more bold goals.
I tell them, "I hope the competition isn't getting tougher. I hope the competition isn't getting better. Because you're not!"
What is a bold goal?
Take the Coca-Cola Company for example. Everyone wants to look at their worldwide market share of 47 percent and suggest that there is not much room for growth - 47 percent is quite phenomenal. Not at Coke however. They believe that this is just their share of soft drink sales, and know they must set their sights on something greater, a bold goal if they are to achieve the brands true potential.
Coke's bold goal centers on the fact that most people can do without most things for an entire day. But every day, every one of the 5.7 billion people on this planet must consume roughly 64 ounces of fluid to live. Coke currently accounts for less than two of those ounces. Their bold goal is to focus on expanding their share of every human being's fluid intake - the one trillion gallons of liquid people around the world consume each year! Now that is a bold goal. They challenged themselves to dare to TRI™.
In the 1950's and 1960's American Breeders Service and the entire Artificial Insemination industry, as another example, saw production unlike it ever had in the past and now. The industry had studies, and was convinced that the world population would be so great that the worlds agriculture markets couldn't keep up and by the late 1970's that there would be millions of starving people. ABS thought they were feeding the world - they had a bold goal and nobody was going to stop them. They challenged themselves to dare to TRI™.
As I was training for my first Ironman, every week I would come home and tell my wife "I accomplished another first." In training I had swum further than I had ever before. I had run further and had biked longer. The setting of a bold goal - completing an Ironman distance triathlon forced me to set bold goals...to go further than I had ever gone before.
When is the last time in your business you have gone further than ever before? When you set your sights on something and made it happen? The fact is if you don't demand something out of the ordinary, you won't get anything but ordinary results.
We must have the Courage to dare to TRI™!
Those Who Consistently Succeed Make The Needed Commitment
One week before my first Ironman distance triathlon, my sister Diane called me to wish me luck and realizing the effort that would be required had said to me "you know Dirk you don't have to finish." Without thinking and without hesitation I immediately responded that "finishing was not an option - I had to finish." I felt that I had put in the months of work and training and that I could not walk away without achieving the goal."
Yet in businesses we visit, the commitment to achieve quantified and qualified goals is thin at best. In our businesses you hear about the consumer choosing to spend their hard earned dollars on alternatives to our offerings, increased competition, even government legislation, and of course price sensitivity. All in my opinion, built in rationale why we can't and won't achieve the achievable. When the focus is on these types of issues I have to ask myself where is the needed commitment to perform.
Let me explain - An interesting exercise is to ask yourself which of the four following definitions most adequately describe a goal.
- A goal is a guideline
- A goal is mandatory
- A goal is a target
- A goal is something the company would like to achieve
Think about it, which definition do you think is most applicable. Only nine percent of all individuals we have interviewed over the years perceive their goals to be mandatory and therein lies the commitment problem. Most individuals, upon hearing their organizations stretch goals, believe that goal is anything but "mandatory."
The next time you travel by airplane, upon boarding ask the pilot how she feels about the goal of getting the aircraft safely to the destination city. Is it a guideline? A target? Or something the airline would like her to do? If the pilot fails to immediately respond, "Mandatory!" get off that airplane! This professional knows that despite the weather, maintenance deficiencies, or other crises, she must land safely. The commitment is to make it happen.
That same commitment is needed in business - in spite of price, in spite of weather, in spite of legislation, in spite of competition, we must find a way to attain the objective. It is the professional's responsibility.
Goals are mandatory. The commitment must be to make it happen. The Commitment must be to dare to TRI™!
Following my first Ironman distance race, everyone wanted to tell me how good of a job I had done, when in fact I had not done as well as they were trying to tell me. I had to remind them that I did not finish - I did not achieve the goal and the goal was mandatory! That in fact when it came to achieving the goals - no one can tell me that I had done a good job. I hadn't.
In business, too often we minimize the commitment that is required by finding one of thousands of possible rational for not achieving the stated goal. Successful businesses don't stay successful when the commitment to winning, to achieving, to meeting goals wanes. Successful businesses remain successful when the mentality of If It Is To Be It Is Up To Me thrives.
It has been said, that the difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will. In my words a lack of commitment.
Success in business, not just today but in the future...are you willing to dare to TRI™?
This article is provided by The Beveridge Consulting Group
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