What's in it for me?

"Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are asking, What’s in it for me?"
Brian Tracy

Spending some time trying to help another person is normally not a big effort. What could 15 minutes to respond to a serious mail or survey from a student mean? (I insist on the serious side of this, you won't be doing anything else if you responded to everybody ;-) )

What usually happens when you make the little effort is that you get more than compensated for the interaction. Maybe not today, but you will for sure.

One example? A student asked me a couple of weeks ago about Translation Memory tools and utilities.  I needed to help a client to process a huge +500 pages document that could not be handled by his processing tool. I immediately remembered the okapi (http://okapi.sourceforge.net/) utilities and the rtf splitting feature. If I had not responded to the survey a couple of weeks ago I would probably have spent much more time resolving the issue.

Doing things differently can bring new audiences

I'm definitely not a fan of Car TV Shows.
However, I get hooked each time I see an originally presented, mixed with fun and creative approaches  car show: BBC's Top Gear: http://www.topgear.com

The point of the post is to show that new ways of doing things, can get you to a new level. The show mentioned above has a wide global presence unconceivable for any other car tv show.

Emphasizing what makes you different is important if you don't want to be perceived as a commodity.

Future of work is flexible

Stop whatever you are doing that goes against allowing flexibility in any area of your work life.

For team collaboration whatever boundaries you put will at the end be a problem. Lack of productivity, lack of commitment are some of the consequences.

Make it flexible.

"A man who...

"A man who has committed a mistake and does not correct it, is committing a new mistake" Confucius

Step back, it can only get worse...

You do your best but sometimes you screw up.
It happens to everybody.

If your counterpart is "above the red line" of mistrust, step back, be there, listen, but don't overreact.

Look at the situation, establish a plan, and only when things calm down and can still be ammended, show you did your homework.

New SEO strategies: more disperse, less controllable

Traditional SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is knocked out.

If you want to be found and retain customers online, a new strategy is needed. The acronym can remain: Social Engine Optimization is the way to go.

This makes the situation much more complex, also bringing new opportunities to stand out. Extra complications for having a multilingual presence by the way, simple translation will soon be completely irrelevant.

Why the complexity:

1. More personal:
It's difficult for a brand to have a personality. People like to follow other people. Groups of people could be the way to go for Business. Corporations need to trust their teams more and involve them at all levels in their strategy. 

2. Less visual, more disperse:
Web identity is not a simple web layout located in a server you chose. I start to have real doubts that trying to host blogs and alikes on your own server is a good strategy. Less controllable could make nervous more than one corporation, still a presence in several platforms brings automatically much more visibility. The issue is that probably more content is necessary to generate positive effects. Content that is interesting, sharable and still maintaining a certain identity. Companies accept videos to be hosted on Youtube, Vimeo and similar sites. Why not the rest of the content?

At the end, online identity is becoming similar to offline identity: a personal touch and interesting content is the way to go.

What is your strategy?

Good Customer Service is an opportunity for future sales

After the excitement you get from opening presents, comes the "returns" period. 

How you treat these customers who want to return your presents, or if we stick to B2B, how you treat customers when they have complains or doubts about your deliverables, is crucial for the future of your business. 

In fact it is your opportunity, to regain their confidence in case the deliverable was faulty, or even win more business if you show, not only that you are open to improve, but you also accept complains and are ready to do whatever it takes to satisfy the customer.

Returns and complains need to be considered as a marketing opportunity and a way to win happy customers. 

 

Excitement...it's all about attitude

These are for many, days of excitement: kids waking up nervous and anxious, parents enjoying the hapiness of giving and trying to share joy and hope.

When dealing with projects we may need to try to have a similar attitude. Excitement to approach new challenges for all. Providing the necessary atmosphere to the team for stakholders and project leaders.

Don't judge and you won't be... On capacities and capabilities

It's difficult to anticipate the performance of a team, a professional or new team member.

Often we focus on trying to find the exact same skills for the too specific tasks we are performing at this specific point in time, and have difficulties to look beyond what a person would be able to do, being part of a project or team at the necessary moment.

I was confronted with this situation once: a person joined a team I was part of, a couple of years ago. I judged only the technical skills and not the capability to learn new things and was not happy. That person turned out to be a very smart and good professional and was really quick to adapt and learn the necessary skills, completely new, that were needed by the team.

Today when I try to work with a new team or client, I do not try to demonstrate that I know how to do what they do, or that I immediately know all about their industry. I simply focus on showing I'm listening, learning from them and sharing my point of view.

Normally the exchange shows to be much fruitful this way.

Daily chart: Running out of steam | The Economist

Interested in global economy?
Wonder what the middle- income could be?

Go read this small article:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/12/asias-middle-income-trap?fsrc=nlw|newe|12-23-2011|new_on_the_economist

Nothing urgent... No work?

We tend to be in urgent mode most of the time: deliver, call, prepare, plan...

But there could be days where you can go at a slower pace. This is typical from the pre-holiday season (Christmas for instance). Deadlines tend to be pushed for a couple of days, many are out on a break...

Those days could be essential for planning, updating processes or braistorming on marketing ideas.

Get advantage of the positive mood and create new revolutionary ideas.

Unsuspected opportunities: SaaS means training

Change tends to be perceived as a threat to established concepts, procedures, business models.

I hear some consultants and partners of technologies like ERP implementations, CMS (i.e. Sharepoint), CRM systems, even TMS (Translation Management Systems) arguing against SaaS (Software as a service) initiatives.

Under my point of view moving to the cloud means a big change in perspective, too many benefits outperforming the existing risks.

Where there was secrecy and unflexibility from some, I see openess and communication.

Where some tended to customize a little too much and inflate the bills accordingly, I see a higher interest in standards.

Those who built their business model in taking advantage of the lack of knowledge of their clients, instead of finding the best solution for their concrete needs will fail.

Consulting agencies who focused on building trust and engagement with their clients will have more opportunities for training and providing services: more companies open to adopt technologies they could not afford in the past, more outsourced training and services for a larger portion of the staff...

Change your lens, apply filters: Balance stakeholders' interests

We need to change our point of view if we want to leave a positive imprint in our interlocutors. There is a balance of interests that is mandatory to maintain: your interests, your client's interests, your vendor's interests, final user's interests...
If there is no balance there will be no business at the end.
In order to manage that, we need to change our lenses, apply different filters from time to time, in order to try to observe the reality with a similar perspective to the one each of your stakeholder has. 

If no use, no learning...or the importance of immediate applicability

"Come on!!! You went through a complete training on this!"

Have you ever heard this or similar questioning? Sure you have.

We learn when we do, we forget when we don't use the knowledge. Of course we could still remember pieces of what we've gone through, but it's really not the same.

I'm sure our inconscious mind needs to select and priorize and the tendency to relegate is simply a survival behavior.

The lesson: training needs to relate to shortly coming needs.

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." Benjamin Franklin

Consulting and dealing with consultants

Consulting is a business, consulting is a philosophy as well: getting the right information your clients need and try to anticipate the solutions to the right issues, all mixed up with a real interest to share as much as possible with the client.

When you deal with a consultant for whatever undertaking, you also have a role to play, as a client.
It is your duty to provide as much information as possible, also to accept that the people you are dealing with does not need to have all the answers, and still require the capacity to find them. It is crucial also to do your homework: defining exactly what your problem to solve is.

A succesful consulting project needs both sides to collaborate.

Negotiating is not arguing

Presenting your needs, convincing stakeholders and balancing their different interests (clients, users, management, etc....) is part of your job, whatever your actual position is.

Negotiating is not arguing, is not imposing your idea. It is asking questions, explaining what the problems are, what issues you are facing and looking for a positive output from the interaction. Being open to adapt your idea is part of the deal. Open your eyes, ears and broaden your perspective. By interacting and showing what you really care about is a satisfying project deliverable for all, new solutions will probably come up.

And the Book of the Year is: World 3.0 by Pankaj Ghemawat

And the Book of the Year is:

World 3.0
Global Prosperity and How to achieve it  

by Pankaj Ghemawat

Published: May 3, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 400 pages
ISBN-10: 142213864X
ISBN-13: 978-1422138649
Publisher: Harvard Business Press

The publication of the year for us needed to be a book on globalization. This book is a must read for anyone interested in global economy, globalization strategies, or simply in how a globalized world is affecting us in our small silo.

The book is written in a scientific and backed up by analysis and data. It might not be as fun to read as other books about globalization targeting maybe a much broader audience. But once you start reading the relevant information that is provided, it is very difficult to stop wanting more.


The author offers a new approach to globalization, proposing ideas on international trade strategies, regulations, raise of protectionism.

The data that surprised me the most was the part of international activity, calculated at only 10-25% of the capital flows.

The book is divided in 3 sections: The possibilities, Seven possible problems of globalization and the proposed choices to address the challenges a globalized world is facing.

Definitely a must read for decision makers of all levels (from governments to companies) for defining and implementing international strategies.

Visit the author's site to learn more: http://www.ghemawat.com/

Being creative in a spectacular way

John Bohannon: Dance vs. powerpoint, a modest proposal

Could you please "fit" in my template?

Many projects don't accomodate to templates. 

Many resources don't fit perfectly in preestablished plans. 

You have to play the game of course if you want to be in the market.

Your clients want to exactly anticipate cost, your potential employers in the future want you to fill in their preconceived system. 

There is a important counterpart to this.

Many opportunities to find great vendors, find great people to work with, find new solutions are lost because that specific value is not considered in a predefined database.

If you add that often there is no time, or there is a certain laziness to negotiate, you can bet that you could have found better resources and have signed better deals by not trying to fit everything in a fixed template (Resume sections, Company descriptions, Price Lists, Requests for Proposals....). 

Risk Management approach to coming year forecast

Planning the next year is an important...."guessing" game.

In order to get an interesting output of this activity you need to establish at least 3 scenarios:
1. Worst Case scenario
2. Best Case, still plausible scenario (don't worry if you win the lottery, you will figure out then how to cope).
3. No Change scenario

I insist on the [No Change] scenario concept. Many, when drawing the "realistic scenario" (that could have been the 3rd name also) tend to confuse it with the [Best Case] scenario (I'm surrounded by optimists, I know... well not all of them are :-). 

Specially in these turbulent times I advise to use the [Worst Case] to put things in perspective. If you have a really bad year, maybe things should not be completely disastrous. The normal tendency would be to tend to get close to the [No Change] Scenario if things don't go as expected. Just plan for the 2-3 main things you should be careful with, design a backup plan and put it in the drawer: you will probably not need this.

The space between [No Change] and [Best Case] scenarios is for me the "investment" environment we should be all aiming to. Get a balance between them and think you will be getting somewhere around there. If you just plan for the [No Change] scenario, I can bet you won't be seeing lots of changes since you won't be pushing positively. If you plan too optimistic you will probably be frustated for not achieving your goals. 

You can of course make estimations as complicated as you want (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Carlo_method#Finance_and_business) but you probably won't be needing this on a corporate or personal level. Getting some idea of your plans ahead is a good start and a good exercise. 

 

On Quoting fairly

Quoting is a risky business, no doubt about it. Nor too high, nor too low will make you win the projects. (Well sometimes too low will make you win the project, but make you lose on the long term for sure).  

The most important is to quote fairly and find the balance between your interests and the ones from your client. 

There are two main strategies under my point of view. An inflexible one, but with some positive implications too, which is: this is my pricing for the service, you take it or not. 

A more flexible one that considers the volume and overall project conditions and, still considering the cost of opportunity, can provide a competitive pricing to the client. 

Some could consider the second as undermining your own fundation and image. However, if both parties win in the deal (for instance considering that as a vendor if you are receiving lots of volume of a similar task, your speed while maintaining the quality will increase) the balance is close to being found. 

Always think win-win and you will be on the good path to find real partners on the client side (same for your vendors actually). 

Squeeze them first: On actual and future tools

Seeking for efficiency, we might be continuously looking for new tools.

It's actually one of my best assets and a dangerous behavior. On one hand I am usually an early adopter of new technology, but I also need to be careful to concentrate on the tools I already have and not go to the next one before I explore and put in practice all the possibilities.

There are moments when you need to advance in what you are doing with what you have.
Hoping for easier, quicker is good, but squeeze what you have first.

Management Tools & Techniques and Project Management Software is where I see this most often: first concentrate on the concepts, understand and apply them. Then you are ready for the next step: use a tool to visualize what you have in your head. Don't go too far still. It could be nice to implement a complicated tool on a corporate level, but make sure the practical knowledge is there so the potential benefits are not completely lost while you try to figure out how to use it.

Global Reach: Plan your content first

You may want to reach as many people as possible with your product or service. 

Are you prepared for the challenge? It is easy to forget that if you are selling in multiple languages, you will also need support and customer service in those languages. And these are simply the most evident first steps. 

It might be attractive to see the whole global market as a potential, but you need to have a strategy for it that includes serving your clients the way they deserve. 

Think ahead, plan your content, then plan all the necessary unavoidable surrounding services you need to provide.

 

Don't let fear stop you

We are all more confortable with some situations and naturally tend to repeat those "easy" actions.

Specially if you want to grow your business, work differently or increase your workload, you will need to put yourself often in uncomfortable situations. This person you don't know enough, that team that seems to do amazing things. Forget your fears and go for it. Find the trigger that would make them want to work with you and don't limit yourself.

Language industry: you need to watch this: Luis von Ahn: Massive-scale online collaboration

http://www.ted.com/talks/luis_von_ahn_massive_scale_online_collaboration.html

Perturbing and very interesting. Could this be also the future of our industry?

You are different, aren't you?

We all have interesting peculiarities that make us different. We have different styles, different priorities, different behaviors and hopefully different solutions.
When I see the kind of sales and marketing material I get, I wonder where everybody got the same template (emails offering services, resumes & CVs, company profiles & brochures). We all have education, experience, and bla bla bla... but why should the reader care? Specially when we all receive lots of these communications per day. No...yours is not different, sorry.
It looks like a stupid statement but at the end it turns out to be the only thing that works in this information age: get into the conversation, share, discuss, add value with your interactions, let people know who you are, and you will be rewarded both with richer engaging relationships and increased business.
Get involved, forget about the rest.

Scaling up, plan for it

Professionals and companies of all sizes should be prepared to scale up. But how much anticipation is necessary? 

The first step is to have a correct current production setup. You need to consolidate your process and be sure you know how to do things. 

If you have a solid ground, you can think of scale.

An interesting analogy on how to proceed could be the bag you bring when going on holidays. We all have a certain tendency to get a bag at least a little bigger than necessary in order to fit the little things we could be bringing back (souvenirs, presents, shopping). Same applies to our preparation to scale, a little room is better than no room at all. 

And then you need a backup plan: scaling up big. If you are bringing back lots of stuff on your holidays, stuff that will never fit in your bag. Simply buy a second bag over there... If you suddenly need to double or triple production, you probably don't need to have all settled, but you will have a solid ground and a plan in case it happens. 

Keep confidential what really needs to be kept confidential...but not more

Keeping information confidential is necessary for many projects. The greater the innovation, the greater the need for keeping information secret and being careful with the content, data and assets you are trusted. 

Some industries are more inclined to maintain secrecy around their projects: lifescience, game and entertainment, financial...

One of the concepts I mentioned on yesterday's "Essentials of Project Management" webinar at http://speakingoftranslation.com/ is that we still need to keep the teams we work with involved and at least getting the information they need to perform correctly they work. Projects can really turn bad if a team member works with the wrong assumptions and advances in the wrong direction. 

The balance is difficult to define, but is important to find if we want to deliver quality work. 

Your ideal client is maybe...already your client

Often we do not see the accomplishments and do not realize that what we could take as granted is also a big accomplishment. 

One of the most common situations in this sense are not to acknowledge that your inconscient focus has been in mantaining and growing business with the actual clients. I tend to see companies not celebrating as a success business growth within the existing client base and only considering the new clients. Both are important, but understanding that a solid client base that is growing and is mantained during time is a big success for any company or professional is important and a sign of success. 

Partnerships, trust and confidence, could be as important as agressive strategies. 

 

Don't hide issues, be transparent

One kind word can warm three winter months. ~Japanese Proverb

Things do not need to go perfectly all the time to prove you are a good professional. Actually you prove professionalism and being a valuable resource when you need to tackle errors, resolve difficult situations and conflicts.

Open communication, true facts, proposed actions and solutions are what will make you different. Looking for perfection 100% of the time is simply non-sense.

Being open, educated and gentle can warm the coldest situation.

Scope Definition Secret

When communicating  needs, we might have a clear idea of the result we want to get. Transmitting correctly the idea you have in your mind is a necessary effort.

Listing the requirements expected and accepted, will force the requester to draw a fixed picture of the idea in mind. That list will also prevent conflicts at the end of the project. 

Changing the scope during execution or at any point in time is acceptable, but all stakeholders need to acknowledge there is a change to address: plan and deliverable will change if the scope changes. 

All clients are not created equal

Understanding what triggers each client satisfaction is key.
If you get what is really reducing stress for your clients, the usually small thing that makes her feel like she is working with the right vendor, the right partner, you have a lot.
Of course the overall quality of your deliverable is necessary, but that is the basis. If you can't deliver you won't be in business.
For some it's responsiveness. You may have a client that you feel needs almost inmediate response to emails for instance. It's maybe as easy as filtering the emails and sending them to your mobile or colleagues whenever you are in a meeting or need to travel.
For others it's status information 24/7. You may have a client that needs to know any time what is the status of the project you are working with...then simply setup a password protected web site or wiki with the status and keep it updated....
You get the idea.
Finding that trigger is what guarantees continues business. You may not get all the business (that is usually not really possible), but you have to aim being that vendor they compare performance against when they are obliged to work with someone else.

The most difficult is...

It's maybe not rocket science but you still have to do it.
We have a certain tendency to admire those who perform complicated activities. Still most often the complicated and more admirable part is effort sustainment.
It may not be too hard to run 10km. Still if you want to do it under 45 minutes you need continuous training and effort.
If you want to succeed in your market or profession,you need to mantain the effort, deliver consistently and get better each day.

Do not stop planning for change and risks

There is no chance you won't be needing a backup plan.

Unexpected things always happen. What was the last time a project worked from beginning to end without any change?

It is the management of risks and changes that make the difference. But do not misunderstand the idea: in order to adapt and continue delivering you need a solid ground to rely on.

You need to plan, but that's just a small initial part of the work.

Make it simple, make it easy

If you need to explain how to navigate in your site, how to contact you, how to get a quote... then you are probably losing business.

Simple is always better than complex. Specially for client communication.