November 2, 2012 | Tom Suddes
World’s Simplest Management Secret
We (our team at For Impact/Suddes Group) spend a ton of time on ‘BUS’ issues. Here is the World’s Simplest Management Secret… when it comes to getting the most productivity out of your talent:
I got this wonderfully simple tip/secret from Geoffrey James at Sales Source through Inc. magazine’s blog. (I love my iPad. I love Flipboard. I love Inc., Fast Company, Success Magazine).
Read the article but here’s the essence:
- You can’t manage ‘people’.
- You can manage individuals on your team.
- However, they are all different… and need different styles.
Thus, apply the World’s Simplest Management Secret: JUST ASK (THEM)!
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November 1, 2012 | Tom Suddes
Impressive Presentations? Less Is More
Here is the ‘Presenter’s Paradox’: More is not actually better in the eyes of the beholder (audience). This is definitely a huge challenge for me… and probably all of you.
We have soooo much good stuff, content, frameworks, etc. Whether I am presenting at a 25-minute keynote last week at ASU’s Lodestar Centers Annual Conference or an entire day with Catholic Health Initiatives National Development Team… the challenge is the same: not what to put in, but what to take out.
Here’s a short post at Inc. that quotes a series of studies and Harvard Business Review that summarizes this problem as follows:
“We all face the important task of deciding what information to include in our presentation. However, the present analysis suggests that we often inadvertently DILUTE THE VERY MESSAGE WE SEEK TO CONVEY simply by our efforts to strengthen it.”
Many of you who follow our Daily Nuggets are out making visits and presentations using our template and ENGAGEMENT TOOLS.
This ‘Less is More’ philosophy on presentations is manifested in this simple Framework and Flow of the presentation.
Here is a great example of less is more, simplicity, the power of an Engagement Tool and more.
This was the exact Engagement Tool/handout at a transformational visit between a great For Impact organization and their huge working partner. Name and logo removed. Four people on the For Impact side. Seven people from the prospect/partner side. Total request of the partner was $3.5M to fund all three circles. Gift history to that point: $0.
End result: $21M commitment. This is not a typo. Twenty-One Million.
Again, Less is More.
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October 30, 2012 | Tom Suddes
Been dealing a lot lately with this whole concept of CHANGE. *Was even thinking of hiring a Director of Change Management until I saw this Scott Adam’s Dilbert yesterday.
Putting together a Guidebook ON CHANGE, but wanted to get you thinking about this topic with a story about one of my favorite ‘thought leaders’, LDV.
“IL SOLE NO MOUVE”
Forty years before Copernicus revolutionized the world view, Leonardo da Vinca said, “THE SUN DOES NOT MOVE.” Both were born on a flat, unmoving planet in the center of the universe, around which the SUN CIRCLED.
A century after their deaths, that same planet was a rotating sphere orbiting around the sun somewhere in a universe too vast to even have a center! The church tried to suppress this as heresy. All of the best ‘THINKERS’ of the times thought this concept absurd.
The planet/solar system did not ‘CHANGE’, but the paradigm for understanding it had been turned inside out.
This story might help you re-think some of your own ‘systems’ and processes.
.
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October 22, 2012 | Tom Suddes
“Man is made by his BELIEF. As he BELIEVES, so he is.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“When you BELIEVE a thing, BELIEVE it all the way, implicitly and unquestionably.” Walt Disney
“What the mind of man can conceive and BELIEVE, it can achieve.”
W. Clement Stone
Wanted to share these 3 thoughts with you as you begin your week. I’ve been doing a lot of ‘BELIEVING’ and ‘SFPing’ in the last week.
It works.
*’SFP’ is Self-Fulfilling Prophecy… the result of BELIEF!
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October 16, 2012 | Tom Suddes
This video comes via Alex Bogusky who made (what is called) ‘advertising history’ as Founding Partner of Crispin, Porter + Boguski.
He shares this video from Alan Watts, who asked the question every young person should ask:
“WHAT IF MONEY WAS NO OBJECT?”
It’s a strong video for young people starting out in life. (Also works for ‘middle’ and ‘end’ of life.)
I’m sharing with For Impact world because I think it’s also a GREAT question to ask your organization:
If money was no object… WHAT KIND OF IMPACT COULD YOU HAVE?
Once you’ve answered that… you simply take that ‘IMPACT’ and bundle it up and communicate it to your very best INVESTORS/PROSPECTS.
They fund… because IMPACT drives INCOME!
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October 11, 2012 | Tom Suddes
If You Can’t Explain What You Do In A Paragraph, You’ve Got A Problem
Brad Feld writes some great stuff for Entrepreneurs. His recent post should be read by everyone in the For Impact world, not just Entrepreneurs.
Pay special attention to his 3 sentences:
- 1. WHAT we do.
- 2. WHO we do it to.
- 3. WHY you should care.
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October 10, 2012 | Tom Suddes
Cole Wilbur is an amazing ‘voice’ in the For Impact world. He is a Trustee and former President at the David & Lucille Packard Foundation. I have met Cole through our new partner, Steve Elder, when Steve was VP for Advancement at Colorado College and Cole was on the Board of Trustees.
Mr. Wilbur has written a new book with Fred Setterberg called GIVING WITH CONFIDENCE.
There was a great Opinion piece excerpted from this book in the latest Chronicle of Philanthropy entitled The Most Crucial Gifts Are Often the Ones that Keep the Lights On. If you are in the For Impact world as an investor, trustee, leader… you need to read this.
Here’s a very short overview of why this is such a great article.
“Anybody who wants to make a difference by giving OPERATING MONEY (my caps) would be smart to seek out:
- A Capable Executive
- Depth of Leadership
- An Engaged Board
- The Active Pursuit of a Realistic Development Plan
- Reliable Financial Management
- A Compelling Reason for Existence
- The Ability to Grow.”
WOW! These seven things work for just about any kind of philanthropic investment.
Mr. Wilbur closes with this:
“I’d much rather make a grant to a reliable stalwart in my community than fall into the trap of trendy giving dictated by whatever new theory, spokesman or intvestool has arrived on the scene.”
As always, well said.
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October 10, 2012 | Tom Suddes
I was thinking of my friend Pete Kunk this morning. Pete is amazing ‘business coach’ (at Built to Lead), and is always recommending ForImpact.org for his ‘business’ clients. (Primarily, I think, because of our ongoing emphasis on SALES.)
I believe the following version of our Roadmap works very well in Pete’s world.
I sometimes forget that many of our readers and followers are For Impact Organization board members and community/business leaders.
Here’s why I think this Roadmap works so well for businesses or entrepreneurs.
- The blue around IMPACT is still about the WHY/WHAT you are selling, how you SHARE the STORY, SIMPLIFY your MESSAGE, DEFINE your VALUE PROPOSITION and DESIGN the PRESENTATION.
- The red arrow is about the WHO, about engaging people, engaging leadership, how you train your sales team and (of course) WHO you are selling to.
- The green around INCOME is the HOW you generate sales and revenue, and HOW you present the opportunity. It’s about an actual COMMITMENT to SALES. And, certainly if you’re in C-Suite or high-end sales, it’s about getting out and making the VISIT.
- Most importantly, for anyone in the For Impact world (that’s not-for-profit or for-profit or whatever) it’s all about JUST ASK!
Brian Tracy and Jack Canfield say either 60% or 75% of sales people never CLOSE/ASK!
I hope this has some value.
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October 8, 2012 | Tom Suddes
The GOAL of Every Development/Advancement Team
In our work with one of the largest healthcare systems in the country, I’ve noticed a very interesting dynamic that I also talked about at the Association of Fundraising Professionals last week.
What really is the GOAL of any Development Office, Advancement Office, Development Officer, Hospital Foundation or College Foundation??? In my world, it’s to:
WRITE A TRIPLE NET CHECK TO THE (BLUE) ORGANIZATION!
I wrote a few days ago that the GREEN PEOPLE need to help the BLUE PEOPLE. I meant that literally (not figuratively).
Our role in ‘development’ is to provide as much GREEN INCOME as possible to help SCALE and GROW the BLUE IMPACT!
It’s that simple.
What does ‘Triple Net’ mean? I borrowed it from the real estate industry, where it’s usually referencing a triple net lease.
For us, it means that ALL COST OF FUNDRAISING is deducted from the REVENUE generated by the Development Team (Green People)… therefore, resulting in a triple net (actual check) being ‘written’/transferred to the organization. (Again, the Blue People.)
I don’t want to go too Jack Nicholson on you, but I do want to make this crystal clear.
- This has nothing to do with the IRS, accounting, 990 AR’s or whatever.
- This has noting to do with CASE (Council for the Advancement and Support of Education), AFP (Association of Fundraising Professionals), CRFE, etc.
- This has nothing to do with what you decide to ‘count’ or not ‘count’ relative to the cost of fundraising.
The only measure of success is determined by how much money (INCOME) you provide to your organization/institution to help them Save Lives, Change Lives, Transform Lives (IMPACT).
Put one more way, our job in ‘Development’ is to FUND THE VISION.
This is getting long, but it’s a really important topic to me at this moment. Here are 3 more BIG thoughts around this subject.
- 1. Everyone in our industry knows that the absolute best way to raise the most amount of money… at the least cost… is through ‘MAJOR GIFTS’. This is where we actually sit down, shoulder-to-shoulder, on a visit with a qualified prospect and make a great presentation and ultimately present the opportunity for them to help.
- The cost is a ‘nickle on a dollar’/5¢… while the ‘special events’, golf outings, mailings, etc. cost is ‘three quarters’/75¢.
- *I have to tell you that I have seen far too many Development Operations spending one dollar to raise one dollar in the last few months.
- 2. I can quickly show anyone reading this the way to raise $1M in the next year, and I will personally guarantee it!
- Hire 10 Major Gift Officers, paying them each $100,000 a year to ensure good quality people.
- Have them trained by The Suddes Group (on how to make a visit, how to present the opportunity, etc.)
- They will each raise $100,000 in real money over the course of the year.
- There it is. They just raised $1M for your organization. When you look at that silly scenario, you realize that raising money is not the goal/measurement of a Development Office.
- ***Note: In our world, a Development Officer should be doing a minimum of 10X and ideally 20X their respective ‘cost‘.
- 3. ‘Cost of Fundraising’ is not some fuzzy math issue. Again, it’s not how you decide to ‘count’. It’s actually a very easy and simple equation.
- R – AE = N³C.
- Revenue – All Expenses = Net, Net, Net Cash. (To be shipped over in a Brink’s truck to the BLUE PEOPLE.)
For what it’s worth -
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October 5, 2012 | Tom Suddes
Think Big. Act Now. Change Ireland.
Shout out to my friends at Social Entrepreneur’s Ireland! Big Awards Dinner coming up on 18th of October. (Last year I had privilege and pleasure of speaking at this.)
Good Luck! Miss you guys!
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Our Point of View, Our Message, and Our Commitment.We Lead, Facilitate, Train and Coach...Based on 40+ years in this 3rd Sector, 30 years in business, $1 Billion Raised, and $1 Billion Trained and Coached.
