Happy 2008!!! Well, another year and another college football season goes by with its intrigue, excitement, and parallels to business. Congratulations to LSU. As in our world, hard work, persistence, some good breaks, missteps by the competition, and tenacity won the day and closed the deal. So what should we take away from this year's collegiate gridiron? Here are a few items:
* USC, Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, Ohio State and Michigan will re-load and win their share, just like the big companies in our arena. But...
* There is always room for some new blood if they are creative and aggressive - a la Missouri, Kansas, South Florida, and Connecticut.
* Teams that appeared to be invincible ten years ago have fallen from the top spots when they have struggled to find the right leadership - Nebraska, ND, and Miami.
* Lesser thought of teams, when not being taken seriously by the big guys, have a great game plan, believe in themselves, and execute to perfection, can have huge wins (Stanford over USC, Colorado over Oklahoma, Pitt over West Virginia, and Appalachian State over Michigan). Relish the role of Underdog!
* Georgia Tech, Houston, Texas A&M, UCLA, and Arkansas reinforced the importance of leadership by losing their bowl games under interim head coaches.

Happy Hunting - Good hunters (traditional and salespeople) go where the game is. They scout the territory, look for signs that indicate activity, assess who might be hunting the same patch, set a strategy (AND a back-up plan), then follow the plan knowing they may have to improvise or adjust along the way. To go in blindly dramatically reduces the odds of success. Have you taken some time to reflect on your hunting strategy? If you didn't (or even if you did), here are a few big-picture considerations for 2008:

The companies in our markets (insurance and financial services) look like they will have similar I.T. budgets as they did in 2007. Good for you that they are not shrinking in the face of economic concerns, an election, and the sub-prime issue, and may even loosen up some on projects that have been on hold. Unfortunately, it certainly won't be a technology spending free-for-all. To make the most of the opportunities that will be there, be prepared by paying attention to how different tiers may have different priorities. Mid tier companies seem to be looking for more customer-facing technologies while upper tier members seem to be more focused on transaction processing, compliance, and modular replacement of legacy functionality. Smaller companies, as usual, seem more focused on complete solutions that enable them to leverage their high-touch reputations into higher margins or expanded markets. Make use of your marketing departments - they should be doing more than creating brochures and web pages. Get them to do some focused research or surveys around specific prospects' project priorities.

It is not the shortages of the late 90s, but most companies seem to be having trouble staffing projects. What an opportunity!!! If your company does work offshore, proceed with caution. Companies look like they will work to balance their need for people with stake-holder perceptions. Have you noticed how "outsourcing" is now a bad word? Your customers have noticed and while outsourcing will continue, be prepared to address the concerns that to your prospects see translating into employee anxiety (instability), a suspect employer image, and the desire to do more work on-site.

Moody's Sophia Koropeckyj thinks the 2008 economy is likely to have a tougher 1st half than 2nd. She estimates 73,000 jobs per month being created in the first half (down from 127,000 per month in 2007) and 100,000 per month in the second half. This can translate into a lot of things - at first blush a continued slow housing market on into 2008, conservative spending, ongoing pressure on consumer-centric products (mortgage and insurance rates) and thus a tougher environment in which to find deals. However, a pick up in Qs 3 and 4 could mean rapid movement if good news starts to trickle in over the summer. This could turn into even more staffing issues for your customers if the expected job creation pulls workers from an already stretched I.T. team.

Succession Planning - not your's though. The Baby Boomer retirement wave is upon us. Yeah, this is more strategic than tactical, but you are too smart to ignore the issue, right? Well-healed early Boomers are hanging up their logo-embroidered Polo's already. By 2010, a third of the US will be over 50 and 20% will be over 65. Some estimates indicate that when it is all wrapped up, there will be about 14 million middle management openings for which companies do not have any idea how to fill. Poses a couple interesting questions does it not? First, what opportunities does that mean for you (increased efficiency requirements and more easily managed operations come to mind)? And, second, those cozy relationships you have with certain customers and prospects could vaporize. Are you building connections with the people that might wind up in a major influencer or decision-maker's spot? They are going to need trusted advisors, market conduits, and vendor partners. Psst... this is also called network management.

Separating Yourself from the Pack: I would bet that if I asked 100 senior executives to think of the sales person, past or present, for whom they have the most respect and the greatest desire with whom to conduct future business, they would talk about a sales person that they believed had the most genuine concern for their own (the customer's) success. Good sales people demonstrate this concern in a variety of ways - diligence, creativity, candor, shared knowledge, etc. But these means of demonstrating the concern are really the result of the underlying caring itself. Do you truly care about your customers' success? Here are a few tests: Do you know the circumstances under which your product is not right for a customer? Do you invest time in understanding your prospects' businesses beyond how it relates to your solution? Do you take the time to make your customers aware of other solutions, tools, or business opportunities they should be aware of? Do you stay focused on the real impact of your solution or simply on the messaging about the value of your solution?

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