Israel Business Management

Well, never say never. I am sure that someone will point out to me that there have been successful companies that have taken "short cuts" on a process and been successful.

My premptory response - that is the exception that proves the rule. I would hardly call the "short cut" a strategy. Like the Hail Mary pass in American football, it may work once in a while, but you never see a coach call the Hail Mary play in the middle of the 1st quarter. It only comes into play when a team is losing and has only one option left, the short cut to victory, the Hail Mary.

Sometimes the process can seem long, but one of the things that following the process does is build repeatability. If you take a short cut, you may or may never find it again, but following a well-thought out and defined process will produce the ability to repeat the results time after time (at least until market dynamics will change and you need to redefine the process).

Process comes about because of agreement of many people from different points of view. We had mentioned, in an earlier post, that one of the dangers of employees all attacking a problem the same way, but process should come from all people coming at a problem from a different angle.

Once consensus is reached, then the process can be put into place and executed upon. Refining it will require testing and modification based on results.

Now that I have finished my tirade, here is an example of a Hail Mary that worked, when Doug Flutie was in Boston College (and it is still the exception that proves the rule, just look at how shocked they all were when they scored):

So, last week, we focused on the employers that are making a mistake by ignoring those that bring qualifications and experience beyond the job description and opening they are looking at today.

Now, let's see how you can fight the label of "overqualified":

1. Do not give up. If you have received a response from an HR person in a company that you are overqualified for a specific post, try getting in touch with someone else in the company. We will discuss in the future methods for finding the executives. The HR person is doing their job - they are looking to fill a specific post, not to look for jobs that may not yet be available or a post that does not exist.

2. Explain in more detail. There are a number of valid reasons why you may want this job. You may be looking to get involved in a new industry, but from the job title, this may look like a step back. For example, a number of years back, I worked with someone, who had been a vice-president of sales in tools and plumbing. He now wanted to "crack" into the hi-tech space and was willing to, therefore, take a pay cut and what appeared to be a demotion, but for him and his career path made sense. The company hired a great employee, willing to give it his all, teach from his experience and they paid less than market value.

3. Develop a skill-based CV. The standard chronological CV has titles that stand out (usually in bold typeface) and this might scare off the HR contact. Focus more on the skills you have developed that are in line with the posted job.

4. One of the major concern that the hiring company has is the expense of hiring someone that may leave if they find a better post that matches their level and career path. Make them feel that you are a loyal employee that is not going to leave at the drop of the hat. Point to any extended employment you may have held at a single company.

5. Be honest. The same way you are expected to be honest in your dealings with the hiring company, you have to expect the same from them. So, if you can get to the hiring manager, ask him/her how you can convince them that you are right for the job.

I look forward to your comments.

Overqualified - one of the dirtiest words in the English language. The word that an experienced job seeker never wants to hear.

You see a posting for a job that looks perfect for your personality, for you skill set and even for where you feel you are in your career and personal life. It is the "dream job".

The response from the company's HR department (as I will give executives the benefit of the doubt in today's blog entry) is, " We are sorry. You are overqualified for this job. we will keep your CV on file and be in contact if we have a relevant opening in the future."

First, in a court case in the US, the term "overqualified" was determined to be a "code word for too old. This would be age discrimination and companies need to be very careful where they are using the term overqualified.

Second, from a piece of white paper with black text, can you really tell that the applicant is overqualified. In the case of a former CEO applying for a janitorial services position, I can agree, but in most cases, without at least a phone conversation, this is very hard to tell.

In fact, I would define overqualified as three things (according to the HR rep's view):
1. Made too much money in the current or last job

2. Has too much education (we want a BA and this is a PhD)

3. Has too many years of relevant work experience

Word of warning to the HR rep: You could be missing out by coming up with assumptions from the above.

Let's look in more detail:

1. Made too much money in the last job - maybe the person is not looking for more money. Maybe they need to cover their expenses and would take an alternative form of compensation (equity, options, commission on sales, etc.)

2. Has too much education - The key question is do they meet the minimal requirements for this job. After that, you may be able to hire someone that can help in more than one area. You may be able to tap into a theoretical system from their schooling that you have not thought of.

3. Has too many years of relevant work experience - Do not assume. Maybe the person is looking at a change of pace, so you can get that experience for a lot less than you would think. Maybe they are now going from a single life to a married on and therefore, would like less work pressure. Maybe they have had a lot of work related travel and now would like to be at home with the kids more, so you can get all that experience for the same price as someone that does not have the relevant background.

This is just from the employer's view. In the next post, we will look at what you, the applicant, can do to help minimize the chances of this happening to you.

As Michael Jordan's famous quote goes, "I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life."

Arguably the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan realized that to succeed, you have to fail. But, to fail, you must be willing to take the chance.

When you have a tough decision to make, what is the process in your company? Do you, as a senior executive, agonize over that decision? Do you invite the executive team to help in the process and, if so, how much are they involved?

Do you find yourself with a slow trigger finger, where you are unable to make the decision?

It is a necessity in companies to clearly define the process for decision-making, so you can figure out who should have the ball with the game on the line and who will, hopefully, make that shot.

Analyzing the steps in the process will help make you a better decision maker under pressure and going through the process will reduce the chance of a miss in your decision.

Let's look at the steps:
1. What is the decision that needs to be made? For Michael Jordan, this was whether he would step up and take the shot or pass to one of his teammates?

2. When does the decision need to be made? Again for MJ, this was dependent on the clock and how much time was remaining. If he waited too long, the buzzer would have sounded and the game would have been lost. Too early and the other team has a chance to win the game with a shot at the other end of the floor.

3. Who needs to be involved in the decision making process? For the Chicago Bulls, this was the team on the floor (5 players) and the coach.

4. Think of any alternatives or what if no decision is to made - This is a challenge in the NBA. It is binary. You score, you win. You don't, you lose. Business may offer alternatives to this decision that were not yet considered. This is where "thinking outside of the box" comes in.

5. Communicate and implement the decision - The Bulls team returns to the floor, inbounds the ball and Michael Jordan hits a jumper of Craig Ehlo for a win. Click here to see it in action.

How do you handle decision-making?

We always learn new things, so when I heard that there are a number of vendors that are looking at new ways to categorize and prioritize their sales leads, I was interested in understanding further.

The method that was always the most logical to me was take a lead that was going to close the fastest and assign it the highest priority. Then, came the sorting method by size of the opportunity. The bigger the deal, the more resources may get assigned (pre-sales, executive sponsorship, etc.)

Now, I am hearing about other methods being used, like vertical markets.

The more I thought about it, especially in a down economy, this makes sense. Despite what a client may tell you about the budget approval or your sales rep about a specific deal closing imminently, according to this system of prioritization, this is not weighted to these metrics.

Instead, you can gain a vertical market proficiency that will give you repeatability in selling over and over again to that one market. This will involve an analysis on your current forecast and the closed deals (that you won and even some that may have been lost).

Focusing on one vertical market can also help identify the ones that have money according to the media or analysts and you can adjust your spending accordingly.

For example, you may find that your product or service answers a need of companies in insurance and they may have budget, whereas finance may not have any budget dollars this year.

How do you categorize or prioritize your leads?

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In discussions with a senior executive of a public company last week, I learned that they were looking for a sales executive, but wanted someone specifically with direct sales experience and they would not even consider someone who had worked in sales, but only through a channel (indirectly selling to a client through a reseller, OEM, consultant or some 3rd party).

This started me thinking - is sales one category or do areas of expertise matter?

I believe that sales is all about understanding the needs of the client and finding a way to solve those needs with your product or solution.

If this theory is true, then it should not matter whether you have sold to an end-user directly or sold to the needs of the partner and convinced them to sell your product/service.

The end-user wants to make sure that their needs are met, they can pay for the product or service from an existing and approved budget and that the support will be there after the sale to help them with any issues that may arise.

The reseller wants to know that their clients (existing and new) need this product, they need to make sure that there is margin in selling the product (that they can pocket some money on the transaction) and that the vendor is there to support the product or service if any issues arise.

Does that seem to be so different that a sales rep experienced in one area would not be able to adapt?

The process is the same:
1. Identify the right person in the client or partner
2. Identify the needs of that person within the larger organization
3. Fit your product or solution to the needs of the client or partner
4. Work the pricing or margin to meet the requirements of the client or partner, respectively
5. Support the client or partner in using the product or service

So, are companies limiting themselves by only looking at sales people with experience in one route to market? Are they missing out on that great sales person that could sell ice to the Eskimo just to look for someone with the right type of CV or resume?

The phenomenon of the remote worker or virtual employee is one that cannot be ignored. The high cost of a physical office is a huge expense on a corporate balance sheet. Finding the best talent may fly in the face of hiring locally.

I recently spoke with a CEO, who claimed that his business was successful due to their virtual office structure. It did not allow for people "dropping by" to say hi during the day or "water cooler talk".

On the other hand, I have worked with managers that felt if the employee was not in the office, they could be doing anything. I have a fundamental problem with this as you must trust your employees. If you cannot trust them, there was a problem in your hiring process.

In today's global economy, can you afford to only have people that are working in your facility?

I look at this in two ways:

1. Can you manage the remote worker?

Companies have had managers managing employees that are not seated in their eyesight for years. If you had a sales manager that had local sales teams in multiple countries, they had to be managed remotely. This brought about challenges of communication and collaboration. I believe tha email, cell phones, Microsoft SharePoint (a collaboration system) and more have made this much easier.

A skilled manager still knows how to motivate an employee not in the headquarters. He/she can write emails that require action to be taken and can then analyze that action for results. The manager is a leader that does not require eye contact, but can still instill the feeling that the employee will want to follow him/her into the market.

2. Can the worker work in a remote setting?

First, I do not believe this is for everyone. It requires discipline and scheduling.

The employee must make their own work space in the home, where they cannot be disturbed. I remember running a conference call a number of years ago and hearing a dog barking in the background. My immediate response was how would a customer or partner feel if they had heard the dog barking in the background.

Some people will tell you that you need to get dressed for business each day. Though I am more of the laid back dress mode, I could see how some people can gain from this discipline.

In yesterday's post, we mentioned the use of webcasts within a call center setting. This can be a great tool for those working from home as well. Use the virtual tools to create the illusion of the office, where traditionally someone would meet you.

There is so much more to add to this post, that I will break it into multiple blog entries over the next few weeks. I also believe that if you learn to be a good remote manager, your local management style and skills will improve as well.

Is selling over the telephone for you and your company? In today's world of globalization, can you afford to hire sales people from around the globe? Do you have the necessary infrastructure to support multiple languages in multiple countries? How can you get to the required number of leads and sales needed to grow and hit your targets for this year?

One of the benefits that Israel has to offer is the multitude of people that speak multiple languages on a mother-tongue level. Those that have come here as olim or were born to those that had come here from their native countries. We can use this to our advantage on the global playing field.

But, managing telesales and building the infrastructure is not easy.

1. Measurement - There are two philosophies about measuring telesales. One is quantity - the number of calls in a day or talk time. The other is quality - how many of the calls lead to closed business. I believe a combination of both is necessary. Sales reps should be held to a minimum number of dials and talk time, but you cannot sacrifice the quality of the calls just to hit the allotted time on the phone. They also need to be accountable for closed business as well.

2. Working hours - It is imperative for your folks on the phone to call the clients during the local business hours. This may seem obvious, but the easiest times to catch someone without getting their voice mail is when the person first arrives in the office to start their day.

3. Infrastructure - How will you show the client the value of your product or solution? Today, with WebEx and Microsoft LiveMeeting, you can demonstrate the value over the web easily and with little cost. If these cannot be used, do you have a trial version that can be downloaded and used by the client? Do you have some type of pre-sales technical support that can help the client through the trial process? Without making this simple for the client, you will have a longer sales cycle than necessary or will not succeed at all.

4. Defined Process - Are your telephone based assets selling or just setting meetings for your sales team? At what point do you move from the phone to the field? Is it a size of a deal? You will need a string operation person for this task and it must be backed up by a system (like Salesforce.com).

5. Training - Just like any sales force, the reps need ongoing training. Listen to their feedback as well as they are a frontline group touching many customers. You will get a return on your investment of training through this invaluable feedback.

Call centers can be very beneficial and profitable if run correctly. Are you running yours correctly?

Over the last few weeks, there have been a number of articles written about finding a job and how to hunt for employment in these tough economic times. Some of the lessons below are first hand experiences, some have been from people I know and some are just a collection.

1. When hunting, make sure to be thorough in your work. If a company asks that you refer to a job code or the title of the position in your email, make sure you do so.

2. Make sure you can do the job - Living in Israel, a lot of jobs are for those speaking Hebrew. If you cannot speak Hebrew, do not apply. The same holds true for jobs asking for Mother-Tongue English. Do not waste your time or the company's time.

3. Sound professional - When responding to a job ad, make sure that your letter is laid out like a business letter, like we learned in our elementary school years. Do not start with a "Hi" or any other informal greeting.

4. Make sure you attach your CV. There are plenty of times that people hit the "Send" button on their email only to realize that they did not attach their CV first. This frequent error can cost you the hiring person considering you for a job. Take your time and do it right.

5. Have multiple versions of your CV. Though you may know what your ideal job is, that opening may not be available now. If you are in marketing, have separate CVs that address Marcom, branding, lead generation. If you are in sales, maybe one for account management and another for business development.

6. Consider different formats. Though a lot of people use a chronological CV, a skills (or milestone) based CV may be best if you have held jobs in multiple disciplines over your career. Use the one that is best for you.

7. Keep your CV focused. In Israel, employers, in general, do not want to see your hobbies or skills unrelated to the job. Focus on how you can make their company better or more efficient.

8. Make your cover letter compelling. Most potential employers will not make it to your CV unless the cover letter (or email to which the CV is attached) "sells" you to the company. Do not restate your CV in the cover letter. Instead, focus on the requirements that were listed in the ad and how you can fulfill those corporate needs.

9. Use spell check before sending out the cover letter and CV.

Good luck.

Yesterday, Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu, the Prime Minister, delivered arguably the most important speech of his life. The address was focused on three key areas of his policy: Iran and its nuclear capability, the economic crisis and the peace process (both with the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world at large). Each word was measured and considered before being inserted into the text of his speech.

Bibi had to speak to multiple audiences with various wants and needs: the Americans - wanting to hear how Netanyahu would tackle the settlement issue, where President Obama has stated that no settlement building is allowed (inlcuding "natural growth); the Arabs - would Netanyahu use terminology about a Palestinian State, which he had not done before; the Kensset members outisde of his coalition - to hear if the peace plan would have any difference from what had been laid out by former goverments; and the members of the coalition and people that voted for him - would he stick to his stated beliefs and writings that any Palestinian entity would, in short order, end up as a violent neighbor to Israel.

Though in business, we try to segment our markets, so our messaging can be more conise and clearer, do we analyze and weigh our words in our messages?

Take a press release for example:
Does your heading and sub-head attract the reader, journalist or client?
Do you get your key message(s) across by the end of the first paragraph?
Are you handling too much material in one release?
Is all supporting material (client quote, company executive's quote, analyst quote, etc.) below in the following paragraphs as proofs?
Is there a call to action (maybe the web site, phone number, etc.)?

If you think about every word and how it can be taken by the client or customer, you probably can fine tune your messages for your key market segments.

The economy is tough. There are a lot of people out of work. Companies have had to trim benefits as well as personnel.

But, yesterday, Globes ran an article that stated "50% of workers in high-tech and 57% of workers in manufacturing and construction reported a difficult work environment as a result of the crisis." Those employed are reporting that they have worries about retaining their jobs.

How can a worker that is constantly worried about job security perform their job adequately? At this time, we need them to do more than an adequate job to make up for those cuts in personnel we have made.

What can a manager do to make the employees feel safer and concentrate on the task at hand?

First, communicate clearly. It may not come as a surprise that there are layoffs coming, but you still need to tell the workforce why the cuts are needed. After all, the people being dismissed are friends, neighbors or even family. Make sure that all managers downstream have the same message.

Second, be honest. Let the employees know that a certain percentage is being cut (and as above include the reasons why), but beyond that, no other cuts are expected (if performance stays in line). Once, the cuts have been made either you or the in-line managers should meet with their teams to enforce this message. If you do not do this, your superstars may bolt for other companies before they think the layoff can hit them. And remember, good people can always find jobs or promotions. Average people stay in jobs where they can hide.

Third, make them feel wanted and appreciated. Although, it may sound simple or even childish, after a round of layoffs, I once instituted a quarterly MVP (with and award plaque and gift certificate) and an honorable mention (free dinner for the employee + 1). Yes, this is a small token, but it was different than any other group at that time and our productivity was the highest of any division.

We live in a difficult situation, but our companies greatest assets, the people, need to be treated well to produce at the expected levels, or if motivated correctly, exceed our wildest dreams.

Yesterday, CalPERS, the largest pension fund in the US, announced that it will be increasing its investment into venture capital. The percentage now stands at 10% and will grow to 14% of its assets.

This is good news for companies here in Israel looking for a first round of funding or additional money from the VCs. CalPERS has invested in many of the local Israeli VCs. Now, that CalPERS has commited to increased funding, the VCs should benefit and the money should drip into the local market of start-ups.

It is also a good indicator that the economic crisis may be coming to an end. CalPERS is looking to get in on the bottom of the market and the lowest possible valuation of these companies. Investments made at the lowest point, obviously, generate the highest rate of return.

We will have to wait and see if other large players in the market follow suit.

Companies are always looking for new sales channels for their products or services. Almost every industry relies on some type of channel to deliver or sell the product.

Insurance has agents to sell the policies. Car manufacturers have dealerships. Food makers have supermarkets. The IT industry also has a channel - agents, distributors and resellers.

What are the key advantages to a channel?

Low Cost - The cost of hiring and maintaining a direct sales force is prohibitive for most start-ups and mid size companies. Using a channel means they only make money when you make money. They typically take an upfront margin on the product or service sale, again leaving you with minimal cost.

Market Penetration - The channel should be used to get into the market faster and get to more clients than you could possibly do through your sales force. With more "feet on the street", your company will gain more branding opportunities and potential clients.

So, what does a channel want from a vendor?

The obvious answer is the product or service, but what else do you need to supply?

Training - Just as you would educate the internal sales staff, you will need to train the channel on your product, the market and your differentiators from the competition.

Margin - Obviously, we are all in business to make money and the channel is no exception. How much money can the channel make on selling your product or service?

Support - If your product requires support from the vendor, the partner will need some way of receiving this support as well. You probably want to set up a unique number for the channel. This allows them to receive priority as well.

Leads - Today, the channel wants to see that the vendor is supplying something other than just the product or service. Can you provide leads to the channel that they then will close into sales?

Remember that a good channel program requires constant retooling. A profitable program will take up to 8 quarters to create and build.

There have been a number of times in my career, where an employee has come up with a great idea or an improvement on an existing idea that helped boost revenue or cut unnecessary fat.

I like to call this acting like a consultant. It is a fantastic way to get more out of the existing staff. I think this is also a benefit of hiring multi-talented people.

As employees, we sometimes lose our way in the forest and only see the trees. Our day to day work dulls us to the point where we find it hard to come up with that next great idea.

Companies engage with consultants because as they are unattached, they can be objective and can have a very fresh outlook on an "old" business.

The problem with a consultant is they have no "skin in the game." They are paid for a specific function and usually leave before execution. If they are there for the execution, they are not the accountable party. After all, they came up with the novel idea; it must have been someone else that ruined it in the execution phase.

It is management's job to get the most out of the employees and this is one way to maximize the investment in your workforce. Encourage them to give you great ideas and reward them once they do.

For the employees, if we can think like a consultant and and then take action like an employee, we can grow businesses faster and more profitably.

Over the last few days, I have heard that, here in Israel, employers desire employees to be extremely focused or experienced in a specific area, instead of broadly experienced.

On Rusty Mike Radio last week, there was a discussion (that can be heard here) about finding employment in Israel. The interview was conducted with Chaim Emet, the founder of IsraEmploy.

Mr. Emet made it clear that Israelis want the person to have the experience necessary for the job, but that anything more is not necessarily desirable. Through discussions with local job placement agencies, I have heard his words echoed.

For me, this has come as a surprise. I would think that companies would want employees that are well-rounded. They can access the resources that the employee possesses, but may not be the reason for which they were hired.

It is crucial that companies can conduct an audit of those talents and experience that the organization has on staff, but could be overlooked. This can be done by executive management or an outside consultant. The result is a good overview of all talents that are inside of the company and can be used effectively.

Another key point is that grooming an individual for a senior executive position means that the employee must become comfortable and experienced in all facets of the company. Without this type of effort, CEOs would not be able to understand, change and fix departments within the company, never have been exposed to each group's challenges and day to day operations.

I believe that people with rich experience can be used in companies to their fullest, if the management team is open-minded and not threatened by these individuals.

Let me know your thoughts.

In order to make up some of the deficit in Israel, one proposal is to levy VAT (Value Added Tax) on all purchases made by tourists in Israel. Currently, tourists are exempt from VAT on purchases of products and services. The current VAT rate for locals is 15.5% (but this may soon go up to 16.5%).

Yesterday, Globes reported that, according to the Tourism Minister, Israel will net about NIS50 million next year as a result of this proposal. However, he stated that the GDP will lose about NIS2.4 billion due to loss of jobs, as tourists look for cheaper alternatives to coming to Israel for a vacation. This will also mean a loss of 290,000 visitors and 12,000 tourism related jobs.

This got me thinking. How many times do we make a decision for the short term benefit of our company, maybe just to hit a quarterly goal? Do we think through how this may impact the long term health of our business?

I believe that it was Lou Gerstner, former CEO of IBM, who said that he would not go back to working for a public company, due to the impossible task of reporting quarterly numbers and the long term health of the company.

Think about the pros and cons of each decision. Yes, a price cut may get you a deal this month, but when other clients find out that you succumb to pressure, can you possibly demand higher prices from them? Does that change the average transaction size for your deals? Does that mean you have to sell more units? Does that mean hiring more people to still net the same amount of revenue? How does that impact your business plan?

Obviously, this is just a simple example, but each short term course change can be very damaging to the long term health of your corporation.

Israel is in the middle of its largest ever Home Front Command war drill. Today, the air raid siren sounded and each citizen was supposed to react as if it were a real war, instead of just an exercise.

It made me think of significant events and planning during the course of business. How many times do we hear the "siren" during business and how do we react?

Some companies have the discipline to write a business plan. Others have well-documented processes for everything from hiring employees to the issuance of a press release. But, how many take these plans off the shelf to validate them and see how real performance matches to plan? Are the processes run through and tested for efficiency?

Who should be in charge of this activity? If the board of directors has been chosen carefully and is active, they should be demanding it. Any investor in the company should be asking for these details. Certainly, the executive team should be carrying this out.

Does your company hear siren and act or just ignore it?

In past entries, we focused on strategy and plans. I find that too many times CEOs have little to no focus on driving the business, but instead get distracted by the latest buzz word or fad.

As yesterday's post focused on the social media and Web 2.0, I thought that we would focus on how easily a company can get sidetracked by social networking, if it is not an integral part of the strategy.

Over the last 24 hours since the last post, I have heard of one Israeli company where the CEO wants the whole company to be trained on Web 2.0. While I encourage ongoing training and education for your staff (which we will speak about in the future as a critical investment for your company), I am quite sure that the development staff's time will be better spent on the company's future products or services.

In the case of this particular company, there is no dedicated headcount to developing social media, but the CEO wants to train the entire company. This shows that the CEO is trying to grasp at the latest fad, but without it being core to the corporate strategy or even dedicating the appropriate investments of headcount and money. If you want to succeed at any business initiative and it is core to the corporate business, it must be funded.

This company, if serious, would hire a consultant or full-time employee for social media. They would plan before acting as we laid out in yesterday's post.

Plan for your business needs, execute the plan and stick to the plan. Do not get off course with buzzwords and fads. You will never succeed this way.