Be a Rock Star

I’m a big fan of music. It’s the old school stuff that is most often blaring from the nearby speakers, and my tastes range widely. On any given day you might hear a tear in my beer country ballad, an obscure Chicago blues tune from Muddy Waters or even mid-70’s disco from the Bee Gees. But the main go to is rock music. Bands like ACDC, The Clash, Metallica, Van Halen, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Golden Earring bring me back to my younger days when my bank account was empty and my body didn’t hurt all the time. The so-called simpler times.

In 1973, two moderately known British pop stars (one of whom, Ronnie Wood, would later join the Rolling Stones) penned a cute little song about the per

ceived wisdom of a grandfather as it applied to romantic relationships. Two decades later, Ooh La La was popularized by the raspy voiced British pop rock star Rod Stewart, with a notably memorable refrain. The lyric “I wish that I knew what I know now, When I was younger” has become an earworm as a result of a wide swath of commercial use, from the movies Wiseguys and Without a Paddle to TV ads for Mitsubishi and Budweiser. Hmm, I just caught myself singing it now.

Aside from the inspiration for a popular song lyric, being able to apply the knowledge I have today to my younger self would indeed have been a big advantage. Jobs. Relationships. Parenting. Community involvement. All of them would have been improved if I had access to some not yet gained experience and learning that would take years to unfold. Instead, I walked the path of many millions of people that have come before and after me, namely relying on what I knew, or thought I did. Put more eloquently, as did the writers of the pop song:

Poor young grandsonThere's nothing I can sayYou'll have to learn, just like meAnd that's the hardest way

It has been hard, particularly when one is consumed with the arrogance of youth, thinking I knew more than I did. Although my career has been littered with various job titles and activities, my first professional job had one thing in common with all the rest.

I didn’t have a clue what I was supposed to do.

Which is actually OK when you are guided with a patient, wise mentor that can both support and control your actions. With time in the saddle, experience and good counsel, you will learn the ropes, make a bunch of mistakes that won’t cause a lot of damage (refer back to the patient wise mentor) and eventually start adding value. Shout out to a few of the really great people that have helped me – Don D, Dennis S, Doug R, Ed F. What a mess I would be without you.

That said, it’s more of a challenge when you have more control and less guidance. A large majority of senior executives suffer from imposter syndrome, and I understand why. At this organizational level, you are expected to know what you’re doing, yet most have to learn, and often the hard way while on the job.

Of all the roles I’ve had including field technician, operations manager, safety leader, system planning project manager, substation director, vice president, president and business development executive, the last one was far and away the hardest.

Why, you may ask? Business development should be easy. Lunch, golf and conferences? What’s so hard about that? Sounds like life on easy street. And it does sound like that’s a gifted life. So why is it so difficult?

It’s fairly simple actually. There are many ideas about what the job entails and most of them are wrong. Couple that with the business reality of translating relationship development into monthly and quarterly sales targets, which is something tangible that many executives will demand, and you have instant conflict. Allow me to explain by way of example.

Recently, I had a chat with a good friend and business colleague on the subject. I offered to jot down my thoughts about why business development is a must for every business. This is what flowed from the keyboard, mildly edited to protect the guilty.

“Hi _____,

With respect to the whole marketing and business development thing, I've found it's a necessary facet of business, even when you have existing contracts. These are rules I operate by, for what they are worth:

• It's not sales. My focus when it comes to positioning a company for success in a particular market or with a specific corporate prospect has been on relationship development. It can take a while, months or even years to get to the point where you are top of mind, but when the organization of interest is finally in a position to pull the trigger on a project or contract, I want to be who he/she thinks of when they reach for the phone. Sales is pushing a product or service. Effective business development is setting yourself up to solve problems for someone when they need a solution.

• Identifying the specific markets and/or companies you want to target is critical. It's impossible to satisfy everyone and it's definitely possible to burn a lot of time, money and goodwill chasing things that are low potential or have barriers to implementation that are unrealistic. Firming up where you DON'T want to operate is as important as knowing the markets to focus on.

• People buy from people, not companies. You can have the best product/service in the world, but if the procurement person or project manager doesn't like or know you, it's a very tough hill to climb. Meetings, lunches, golf, whatever...keep on their radar. Even though we like to believe they are thinking about us all the time, they aren't. Even when you have an existing contract, these things remain just as important. I've had long term contracts snatched away because I was complacent and didn't pay attention to the fact that the competition was busy entertaining the client and offering better pricing, terms, scope, etc. If you aren't paying attention to them on a regular basis, they will soon forget about you and think you aren't interested.

• For prospects you haven't worked for previously, do them a favour, something they need and can't easily get. To do so you have to know them, know what they need and have them trust you. When a need arises, be the first to help in a meaningful way. Provide information they are looking for, perform a free assessment for a critical asset, guide them to someone who can help them even if you can't, etc. They will remember. But of course you won't be able to do this without a good relationship in place. 

• Be present, as in face to face. Do you remember the people you had video chats with over the past year? Maybe a few. What about the ones who came to see you in person? The odds are that your memory retention is much higher. There is something tribal and respectful about taking the time and making an effort to go and visit someone. In this regard, conferences don't count as you didn't focus specifically on them, but they are a great method for finding people and arranging a follow-up meeting.

• Deliver results when you are given the chance. It's much easier to get repeat business from a happy customer as opposed to getting business when you are untested. I know one company what was great at securing customers but not wonderful at delivering what they promised. The endless change orders, missed schedules, shoddy equipment and other issues caused them to be blacklisted in many of the jurisdictions they targeted. Word of mouth between customers works for the good stuff as well as the bad stuff.

• On that note, only promise what you know you can deliver. Promises ultimately turn into contracts and if you are overly eager to obtain a contract and become too optimistic about workforce availability, pricing, skillsets, bonding and any other item that appears in a contract, it will end badly.

I could go on, but by now you get the drift. Happy trails.”

OK, you still may asking why it’s so hard. All of it looks intuitive.

Imagine this scenario. Forget about the job title for a second; I’ll just provide the details. You are given a job for a medium sized company. You are tasked to go into the world and offer the services and/or product your company produces but you will have no control over the employees, schedule, pricing or contract terms, although the prospective customers will ask you about all of them. Your CEO, CFO, operations managers and others will demand to know how much revenue you’ve generated along with graphs and reports showing the prospects for the next quarter, when in fact the big opportunities are two years away. Cash flow and relationship development don’t always go hand in hand.

You’ll get beat up (figuratively), discounted, questioned, demoralized and spend most your time feeling like an outsider. But when the phone rings and the customer reminds you of the time you helped them out when no one else would, when the contract is signed and everyone is all smiles and high fives, it’ll be worth it. Then you’ll start again.

If I was told all of this when I first accepted the job, I’m sure I would have turned around and looked for another source of income. But I didn’t know, and in hindsight it was for the best. I was sharply focused on helping customers fix their problems, and I’m glad to have been a part of doing that, despite the challenges.

Now, as an entrepreneur running a business, I’m able to spend all of my time helping people in the power industry solve problems, large and small. The lessons learned along the way have been invaluable – what works, what doesn’t and how to move things forward. But the biggest lesson of all?

Be helpful. In whichever ways you can. Share experiences you feel are useful. Point people in the right direction even if you don’t immediately, or ever, benefit. Be that person others can reach out to when they need some help. Because they, and we, all need some.

I’ll leave the last words to a couple of music stars that highlight my record album collection (yes, I have one of those) that are far more eloquent than me. From the late great Tom Petty:

Well I know what’s right, I got just one lifeIn a world that keeps on pushin’ me aroundBut I’ll stand my ground…and I won’t back down

Be true to yourself. And if you are experiencing self doubt, worry or are just plain scared, remember the immortal words of Bill Withers:

“You just call on me, brother, when you need a hand

We all need somebody to lean on”

Happy trails.