The Yahoo! Effect

In light of the recent headlines created by Yahoo!, I thought it would be best to take a step back and review certain aspects of how one views their daily work.  Working from home is nothing new.  The nomadic sales person has been doing it for centuries.  Add to that the daily contractor that is on job sites by day and crunching numbers by night or the home-based business person selling everything from cosmetics to jewelry, the home office is nothing new.

What is new, are the personalities and tools that have found their way into the home office/telecommuting environment.  One must have a sense of his/her own personal discipline and work in an environment conducive to their needs.  Sales people of all personalities have found ways to prosper.  However, now we have a rise in a relatively new animal known as the consultant.  Consultants are found in every field and most are not accustomed to being their own boss or the freedom, for better or worse,  that comes with working from home.

For many, this has been modified to give them the best of both worlds; the tether to a corporate office or employer with the freedom of working from home.  That being said, if the personality of the telecommuter is not conducive to an at home work environment, then the work and the company suffers.  What Yahoo! did could be in reaction to the wrong personalities working outside the office environment.  So the approach is to bring everyone back to the company office, evaluate personalities, possibly create training initiatives to help all personalities work better off site, then open the company back up to telecommuting.

It only makes sense that with so many tools at ones disposal that overcoming any personality or complementing personalities should be possible.  But without understanding how to make maximum use of the tools, they go underutilized.  I could load up my truck with all kinds of tools from Home Depot but without the knowledge of how to use them, I can’t make, build, or fix anything. 

In conclusion, the issue boils down to the need for evaluation and training.  Perhaps other firms need to do the same thing as Yahoo! and maybe some firms have already found solutions to create a “best practices” training approach to the issue.  Either way, it is easy to poke fun at an internet based firm doing away with telecommuting.  But there is always more to the story than just the headline or late night joke.

ROI on Face to Face Personalization, Part I

The other day I came across an article on CMO.com written by Nick Corcodilos entitled “Is Face Time the New Personalization?” that summarized the findings by Geoffrey James.  It is somewhat profound however if one thinks about the main points it is also not very surprising.  Having said that, it doesn't mean that companies and individuals have changed their behaviors or modified their approaches to adapt.

Without going into much detail on any one point, I will try to make a quick summary to move onto the logical, natural progression and implication of these points.

First, cold calling is out.  That is putting it mildly.  Cold calling is dead.  To be honest, who didn't know this?  Years ago you had to go through a switch board, then a receptionist, then an administrative assistant or “gate keeper”, then came voice mail, automated systems, and caller ID.

Second, technology is more portable.  With smart phones, tablets and abundant WIFI, sales personnel along with other job functions are no longer tied to an office.  So even if cold calling wasn't dead, the chances of the person you are trying to contact actually being there are slim.

 

Third, data driven management opens the doors to a more diverse personality in sales.  No longer is sales relegated to the “Herb Tarlicks” of the world.  With data, a typical underperformer can be turned into a good sales person.  This broadens the personality spectrum and, with good training and good data, creates opportunities for more candidates.

All this leads to, as the article states, a “known person to known person” interaction. 

I said all that, to branch off into two lines of thinking:

1:            Making the most of Social Media

2:            What is the ROI?

Whether in sales or job searching, this flattening of information and need for personalization relies more on whom you know rather than what you know.  A recent stat from the Wall Street Journal shows that over half of all jobs are never posted before they are filled.  In this environment you need to find ways to network and expand your personal network.  One way is through Social Media.  Facebook is great to connect with old friends, but LinkedIn is where you can connect with not only other professionals, but with companies.  Most of the services are free, but you can opt for a membership of about $50 per month or $600 per year.

 

This brings me to my next inquiry about ROI.  If you are seeking a new job, how much are you willing to invest in finding that job?  If all this leads to personalization then it tells me you will be spending a lot of time at Starbucks, a chain restaurant, or even a local bar or pub to meet people.  And if the meeting is at your request, which most likely it is, you are probably going to be on the hook for the tab.  It is safe to say that each interaction is going to average $15; from two cups of coffee to two adult beverages and maybe the occasional lunch.

Moreover, these interactions are not a one and done deal.  The first meeting is an introductory one, the second is follow up, and the third is one of appreciation for efforts.  So each new found relationship is a minimum $45 investment.  How many of these do you want to have?  How many of these do you think you will need?  And again, what is the ROI?

Let’s say a person “exited”, for lack of another term, a job that paid, on a monthly basis, $5000 per month before taxes; basically $60k per year.  Now they want to find something similar.  They net $45k per year or $3750 per month.  Now how many of these $45 relationships per month are they willing to go through?

Now let’s say you are a sales person with 15 meeting slots a week, half of which are in a formal office setting.  This leaves about 8 meetings a week in the setting from above.  Will your employer expense your $120 per week coffee and drinking habit?  Or are you self-employed?   That is a $6k per year or $500 per month expense.  How much is that commission again?