I have a sailboat and on the back of it is, I mean, was, a 9.9 Yamaha outboard motor.  It appeared to be more than my boat needed but the original owner was at Lake Texoma and to me, compared to the lakes around Dallas, that is an Ocean!  I bought the boat with the Yamaha motor on it….it probably was worth more than my boat.  It weighs almost 100 pounds.  It requires maintenance from time to time.  And, when you don’t go out very often, you have to be careful about water or whatever getting into your gas tank (or snakes in your cockpit, which happened!).  You also have to worry about water circulating through your propeller into the engine to keep the engine cooled (I didn’t know that).

Several months ago, the motor was stalling and I went to the marine shop (they had tuned the engine three months before) and they said that I had not used the motor enough and should let it “blow out” for about 30 minutes….that varnish from the gas clogs up the carburetor.   So, I went back and tried to “blow it out.”  After a few minutes, it started smoking, shaking and died.  It would not start again.

I went back the following weekend and it still wouldn’t start.  Now, I’m irritated at the marina and I go to a marine retail outlet and ask them if they know anyone who can work on motors.  Ah, there is a new kid who just started his own shop, he’s good and cheap.  I got his address and after about 15 voice mails (that should have been a tell-tell), he called me back.  He said it would be a lot cheaper and easier if I would bring him the motor.  So, I went to my boat, and (by myself) lifted the motor out of the boat and almost dropped it into the lake…almost a 100 pounds, remember?  I somehow carried it up the dock and then up the pier and loaded it into my trunk.  I took it to the “kid.”  I then would call periodically and only get voice mail….and, then the call came:  the motor is burned up….water was not circulating from the propeller to the motor….would be better to just buy a new motor (that’s almost $3,000!).  No way!

I went into hibernation….and, then I finally went back to pick up my motor and it was in three pieces and had been raised with a fork truck into his attic.  He no longer had the fork truck.  So, each piece of my motor was lowered with a rope.  We put the pieces into my trunk and I asked if I could pay something for the trouble….he said sure, how about $75. 

I drove around and found another marine shop, went in and they said, “oh, no, we don’t work on foreign engines but the guy across the street does.”  I went over there and sitting in a cage, smoking a cigarette was a canterkerous, older man.  I told him my story (or is it stories) and he started laughing.   He started ranting about “sailors.”  You all are alike.  You go out and buy expensive motors and boats and you take them out, what?  four or five times a year?  And you let the gas get old and it breaks down and corrodes your engine…and you don’t change the oil…and you don’t change the filter in the propeller so that the water won’t clog and burn out your engine.  I protested and said that I always put STP in my gas and he started lauging again.   He said STP only helps if the gas is less than 60 days old.  He said I should keep about one to two gallons of gas in the gas tank (I always keep about five gallons) and then I should replenish it every 30 days (I didn’t know that).  He also said that even if I wasn’t going to sail very often, I should go out every week and simply run the engine (I didn’t know that).   And, during the winter, the motor should be drained and stored…..(what a pain!).  But he thanked me for coming by and said if it wasn’t for “sailors,” he wouldn’t survive (financially).  He laughed about all the sailboats at the lake that never went out and how many came to him and didn’t understand why “their motor burned up.”   

He now has my motor and (right now) thinks he can repair if for $350….we’ll see.  But, it’s been two weeks and all I’m getting is voice mail.  I wonder if he is still sitting there in that cage, smoking a cigarette and laughing.

As I thought about the cantankerous, older man, I started laughing.  How many times have I wanted to counsel someone, not in regards to a sailboat motor, but on how to do the the 10% to 20% of their business that they don’t know to do………

They were a relatively new client and had retained me to help them seek out groups that they could acquire.  And, then the phone call came:  they wanted to liquidate their partnership and have one partner buy out the other.  They asked me to facilitatie the buyout.

Even to this day, they are one of the best groups I’ve worked with:  they liked and respected each other, paid their vendors early, had great clients and served their clients well. They treated their employees with respect.  It appeared to be a model partnership.

I pride myself in being sensitive and fair when it comes to a group dissolving or merging with another group.  When one is talking about a simple partnership breaking up, it’s not really that simple.  Historical earnings, gross margin, what was brought in, what was won and by whom, all play a role in trying to determine fair value beyond the equity value on the balance sheet.

After several weeks, we had agreement from both parties.  I felt very comfortable with the document from the attorney and the liquidation process (I have a special attorney relationship that I cherish.  He lets me write the draft and then he cleans it up!  It reduces my client’s attorney fees and allows me to keep the people issues front and center; not just a money deal).

I met the partner who held the greatest number of shares at a local restaurant late in the afternoon.  He and his wife were sitting at a table drinking tea.  Although he was the majority owner, he was willing to walk away from the client relationships and start over.  And, then…another surprise.  His wife asked an interesting question:  “If it is a good deal for both parties,then, if we decided to keep it, wouldn’t it still be a good deal for the other partner as well?”  Needless to say, I was taken back.  I paused, expressed kind of a nervous, awkward giggle and said, “yes, it should be.”  The husband and wife then said, “well, we want to keep the agency.”

I went back to my office and called the other partner, who thought by the end of the day that he would be moving forward with the client relationships and single ownership.  After I told him that his partner did not want to sell but was interested in buying him out (instead), he, too, expressed a nervous, awkward giggle and said, “well…if it was a good deal for both parties, then it is still a good deal for me.”  He signed the papers later that night.  All we did was change the name of the buyer and the seller…and, that was it.

I have come behind many acquisitions/mergers that were poorly done.  Hard feelings, law suits or threats of law suits occurred.  I have a series of tests and intuitive guidelines that I ask both parties to consider in processing their buy/sell agreement.  If you find yourself in a similar situation someday where you can benefit from some sage advice and counsel, I would like to help you.

I am still struggling with what is and what is not appropriate to share on the internet.

I think my stories of lessons learned are helpful and provide insight into communicating with other professionals.

I think my stories of business problems and embarrassing moments are probably ok; they reflect humanness and a genuine effort to help a client who is upside down.

I think my dachshund, Casey, stories are probably ok and bring some level of humor and hopefully endearment.  After all, if you can’t love a funny looking dog….

I have been to some sites that are considered social networking and would prefer to not see clients or friends or business associates “acting that way.” 

Which reminds me of a great story that was once shared with me by a very successful manufacturer’s rep; he was in his 60’s and had worked all his life to build his business which was selling luggage.  He had a beautiful home and was prosperous.  He and his wife were able to retire and enjoyed traveling; and, they, too, had a dog.  But, he told me about the time that he had gone to visit his #1 customer, a customer who represented over 30% of his income.  They had never met and had talked by phone for years, shared pictures and always talked about getting together.  Then, one summer, they got together.  My friend and his wife went to California to visit his #1 customer and stayed with them for a week.   He thought that              “a good time was had by all.”  Three weeks after he returned from the visit, his #1 customer cancelled his account and would not take his phone calls….  He never knew why.  But he gave me some sage advice:  “keep professional relationships…professional.”

If you would like to talk about affinity building through online marketing and communication, feel free to contact me at tom@tomirwinconsulting.com.  We can talk about how you can move people from suspect to trusted client (or friend).

It was about noon on a Friday, sometime late in the summer, in Fairfield, New Jersey.  In the auditorium, there were over 150 sales persons singing songs about their company and the products that they sold.  It was almost cult-like (one of the executives after playing my cassette of “The Eyes of Texas”… turned to me and said, “Irwin…what in the hell is this…..”working on the railroad?”). 

I was in the office and an electric company guy came in and asked for me.  Turning to him and introducing myself, he then told me he was there to turn off the lights because my client had not paid the electric bill….I think they were three months delinquent.   I asked for the electric company’s phone number and talked to the billing office.  I knew we did not have the money to pay them.  I asked for time and the lady said “no.”  I explained that there were salespersons in the auditorium and if the electricity was turned off, the salespersons would probably quit.  She said she was sorry but without a check brought to the office….right now….there would not be any electricity.  I thought about giving her a hot check but that never really works, it just creates other issues….like district attorneys and future payments will be cashier checks, etc. (today it would be wire transfers).

With a deep sigh, I turned to the “electric man” and asked him to leave without turning off the lights.  He apologized and walked out of the room to the electric box.  I followed.  When he got to the handle to unlock it and turn it off….we looked at each other.   He paused…smiled….put his key back in his pocket and walked out the door without turning off the electricity and without saying anything.  I said thank you as he walked out the door.

In my opinion, the electric man was a brave and caring soul.  He knew he was dealing with more than an electric bill.

My dachshund stories are now #2 to the blog about the failure of us to connect to those who reach out to communicate with us, either through a telephone call, voice mail or letter.  Nothing….black hole….silence.  “Hello…is anybody there?”

Reflecting on the state of the business environment as it is today, I thought: it’s the last work day of the week.  Some will work on Saturday and/or Sunday and go back to work on Monday, tired and still behind.  Others will leave work on Friday at five o’clock and simply think about other things.  Some have their to do lists in order, some never do. 

I am reminded of a good friend who had a high level position at Frito Lay when I worked there.  He normally left between 5:30 and 6:00 while others stayed until 9:00 or 10:00.  But, he was as productive or more so.   I once asked him “how so?”  He said that it was simple.  His manager always had a to do list that could not be achieved and instead of taking responsibility (and guilt) for trying unsuccessfully to complete it, he went to his manager with his list and said, “ok….here’s my list of things to do….which ones have priority?” 

That sensibility also reminds me of the story I heard about Tom Landry when the Cowboys lost to the Green Bay Packers in what is referred to as “The Ice Bowl” when the temperatures were thought to be near 50 degrees below (chill factor).  The Cowboys lost on the last play of the game; and, what did Tom Landry do on the way back to Dallas?  He sat in his airplane seat and read a book.

Another time, I can address the issues of priorities and reconciling one’s self with what has been done and what is still unfinished.  I can quote Robert Peck, Stephen Covey, Wayne Dyer, Tom Hopkins, Gandhi, Jesus, Bill W. and all the others, even Peter Drucker!  But it is interesting how we often saddle ourselves with feeling incomplete with unfinished business and we leave work on Friday without leaving work.

I have a new client who intimated that he owed it to his staff to create a work environment where they could leave work at a normal time, not look back into the evening at what had not been finished and did not have to think about work on the weekend.  I think that is quite a challenge; after all, some of us carry it with us …anyway.  It’s sometimes about us and not about our bosses or management.

At the end of a game or project or difficult client situation or simply at the end of the day….are you able to sit back and simply read a book, if not, maybe I can help you.

A close friend read this blog to be and said: ”kind of a downer.  Can you reverse-engineer it so there’s a story of someone who returned a call promptly and something great happened?”  I emailed back that “sometimes a downer is good for people.  It may help them reflect on their own behavior….”

It has been my experience, that there are far too many instances to recount of people not reaching out to each other, even in business situations….

Having worked in the service industry so long, especially marketing communication groups, I‘ve seen the human mistreatment up close.  It always reminds me of the comment by Charles Dickens when he was talking about children:  “aren’t they people, too?”

It goes both ways.  I got a voice mail the other day:  “Tom, are you mad at me?  I have called you three times and you haven’t called me back nor have you responded to my emails.”

But, oh, there are so many times that I have reached out and it is as if the voice mail, the email, even the letter went nowhere.  Hello?

What has happened to us?  Is it because at one time we had secretaries or assistants or the desk next to us (or the mom and dad) that had to answer the phone and take a message that compelled us to communicate “back?”

And with email, it takes….s-e-c-o-n-d-s….you hit reply (or type in their email address) and simply say “got your message, am tied up, let me get back to you, thanks.”  Communication is reciprocated.

I remember once trying to set up a new business appointment for a client who had been the college roommate of an owner of a large Dallas corporation.   “Tom, Dan said for us to call Joann, who is the Marketing Director, to set up an appointment for me to show our capabilities.”  I called and called and, of course, I referred to the owner’s request for her to visit with my client.  All these calls went to voice mail.  No return phone calls for weeks, yes….weeks.  I then called Dan, the owner, and indicated that I was having trouble reaching his Marketing Director.  He put me on hold, walked down the hall and then came back and said, “how about next Tuesday at 10 o’clock?”   When my client and I met with the Marketing Director, I noticed that she did not have a phone on her desk.  It was across the room on a conference table.  I asked her about that and she proudly said, “oh, I never answer my phone and sometimes I never check voice mail.” 

I have a client in Houston, a large agency, and he always seems to take my calls, even leaving a conference room to say, “hey, Bud…can’t talk now….can I call you back?”   That is special.  And, as I understand it, he has always been that way and this has kept him in high esteem with all those that know him.

The people’s  touch….where has it gone for so many of us?

When I graduated from the General Electric Financial Management Program (Aerospace Electronics, Utica, New York), I was transferred to Charleston , South Carolina as a financial analyst for Large Steam Turbines.  One of my first assignments was to work with the Diaphragm people.

They were in Building #3 and they were from Schenectady, New York.   They were skilled craftsmen, worked with metals and used an automatic template cutter (a process borrowed from the textile industry) and would cut huge plates of steel within 1/16th of a precise specification…automatically.  Looking back…it is kind of amazing and renews my pride in American manufacturing….as it was then. 

They were older and perhaps overly proud, now living in the South but being from New York.  They were working with many former tenant farmers who had been trained at a local technical school to become machinists.

FINANCE, yes, in all caps, is GOD in the General Electric world and I was one of them.  I also was a FMP and that was a very special person in the General Electric world.  I had been recruited and paid by Corporate while “stationed” in Utica, New York.  My new assignment was to work with the Diaphragm people and get them to meet FINANCE’S budgetary guidelines.  They had balked for three years and had not achieved “their numbers” for three years.  An adversary relationship existed between Buildings #1, Building #2 and the Diaphragm people in Building #3.

“Tom…go meet the Diaphragm people and give them their budget numbers….it won’t be a pleasant experience; but, you’ve got to do it.  We have a deadline to report our budgets to Corporate.”  I have always carried a legal pad, so with pad and pen in hand, I walked down the cement road to Building #3.  As I walked in the door, a sense of anxiety overcame me and I took a deep breath.  It was late in the day and a summer shower had just finished (very often in Charleston….a thunderstorm and then everything was sunny and beautiful).   They knew who I was and escorted me into the conference room.  But they began talking and I just listened…and listened.  Three hours later, I had ten pages of notes (but had not given them their budget numbers to sign off on).   I, then  simply said:  “I have some numbers to go over with you but instead, if you will make the time, I will take your lead and see what numbers you feel you can meet and, once we both feel comfortable that those are the numbers you can commit to and meet, I will help you sell  it to FINANCE.” 

We stayed til midnight and then, the next morning at 6:00 a.m., we started again.  This was before lap tops and electronic spreadsheets.  Yes, pencils, calculators and long green sheets taped together!  When we finished the numbers, I understood how they were developed and the reasoning that supported them, I quickly compared them to the FINANCE budget numbers.  They were lower. 

Later that day, I went with the Diaphragm people to the Plant Manager and the Controller and I presented the Diaphragm numbers as if I was one of them.  I explained the logic, the standards and how they would achieve those numbers.  It was quiet and then everyone smiled and said, “ok….these are your numbers….we will hold you to them.”   And the manager of the Diaphragm people then said, “we want to keep having access to Tom and we want him to work with us to make sure we hit our numbers.’

It’s been many years and I am sure most of the Diaphragm people have passed away; but, a sense of pride, respect and friendship was achieved and lasted until I left Charleston three years later.   It was born out of talking, listening and caring enough (on both sides) to achieve a realistic solution that could be embraced, fought for and was achievable.  But probably the greatest value came out of the mutual ownership that was achieved through collaboration.

Is this how you work with your staff and your clients?  If you need help, I can retell my Diaphragm People story (and others that came out of that learning experience).

I was really proud of myself!  I had just started my consulting career after years with General Electric, Frito-Lay, Hunt Electronics, Northern Telecom, G.D. Searle and Regal Cookware and had a new client.  My client was taking me to meet his banker in hopes of acquiring a line of credit. I met him at his office, was handed his Financials (prepared by his CPA) and we rode together to his banker’s office about five blocks away….

Upon arriving at the Bank, the Bank President escorted us into a small conference room and my client started bragging on me and how I was going to make a difference in his business management.  He went “on and on” and I was kind of elevated, if you know what I mean.   And, then….the Banker asked me a question:  “Tom, I was looking at the Net Earnings on the Balance Sheet and they are not the same number as the Net Earnings on the Income Statement…how can that be?”  (well, we know that those numbers are always the same….).  Never again did I simply pick up a set of Financials and hand them over to someone before I checked the net earnings on the Income Statement and Balance Sheet!

So much for being the White Knight!

Sometime in the future, I’ll share what I call “the bankers eyes” and once you work with a lot of bankers, you “just know” how their eyes go down a Balance Sheet and Income Statement; and, within thirty seconds, they know your financial situation and whether they want to work with you or just humor or patronize you.  The only thing is:  I already know.

If you need help preparing for a fateful meeting with a banker (or a financier), let’s talk.  I have some more stories to share with you….

I have found that certain entrepreneurs ignore business essentials and always feel that “things will turn out…ok.”  But sometimes, they do not.

My client had developed a significant business but experienced serious cash flow issues that could not be overcome, payroll liabilities, landlord issues….those kind of things  They were very talented and I sought another group for them to become part of.  I negotiated a buy out of their debt and they were to become part of another firm.  All employees (and clients) were out of harm’s way. 

In those situations, a consultant does not want to buy the day and give up tomorrow; i.e., sell short and lose the upside.  In negotiating, I wanted a long term agreement with an incentive built in for upside profitability and equity sharing.  The buyer said, “Tom, I’m not going to do that….this will be self-regulating anyway.  At the end of five years, if I want them, I will negotiate an upside for them; and, if they want to contintue to be part of us, they will negotiate fairly with me to achieve that.  If they don’t want to continue, then it doesn’t matter what I am willing to offer them……..whether it be today or in five years.”

He was right.  The group contributed significantly to the growth of the “buyer” but at the end of the five year period, negotiations broke down and they left.  Sometimes, someone thinks they can learn from their previous mistakes only to find that old habits (business practices?) are difficult to modify.  And what happened to the group that had been originally “saved” five years before and then chose to go back out on their own again?  Within a year, they were out of business (again).  This time….no one offered them an umbrella.

do you need help finding dry land, an umbrella or simply someone to talk to?

I was consulting a sales organization in Fairfield, New Jersey and the phone call came that my client’s payroll account had been frozen.  It was Friday morning and all the payroll checks would bounce by the following Monday.

I called the Internal Revenue agent and we talked for a while; and, I could not get a release.  I even begged!  I then got into a Ford Pinto (a hatchback, no less) and drove to New Haven, Connecticut where my client’s receivables were financed (I hoped to talk him into releasing some of his reserve so that I could wire it to the IRS).  It was a lonely drive, full of anxiety and “if you don’t get a release, their employees’ payroll checks will bounce….”  It’s funny sometimes when you are a consultant; even though it is not your fault, you feel like it’s your fault!

The Financier’s name was also “Tom” and I tried to use that to my advantage…no luck.  But we did like each other and he respected what I was trying to do (help my client stay in business!).  I could not get him to advance any funds to satisfy the IRS; and, so I got on the phone with the IRS agent and we talked “a while longer”. …to no avail.  And, then, I lost it…I started crying.

And, then…. the strangest thing happened.  “Tom,” the Financier took the phone out of my hand and started yelling at the IRS agent:  “you’ve done it now…you’ve done it now….you’ve made a grown man cry.”

There is an end to the story and it is a good one:  “the IRS agent released the hold on the payroll account and the company lived happily ever after!”  But, frankly, I don’t remember why the IRS agent released the funds…whether because the Financier sent him money or he gave my client another day to solve its problems.  I do remember “Tom” patting me on the head and saying, “it’s going to be ok….he’s going to release the hold on the payroll account.” 

Have a good weekend. 

Tom