September 2, 2009 | Tom Suddes
Nick and I just had a shorthand, fast and furious, conversation on how to present projects (buildings or otherwise) that don’t have all of the details complete. This could mean final cost estimates, but it could also be around no final design, no final square footage, no architect… and perhaps even no site!
Here’s Nick’s great line for leadership investors: “We are working on (all of the above), and will have (final numbers or whatever) at some point.”
“Today, we’re LINING UP THE FINANCING… to ensure that we can make this project happen.”
After that, it’s all downhill, so to speak. They’re either IN or not. They either GET IT, at the HIGHEST LEVEL, or not.
We have raised an awful lot of money and gotten some serious leadership commitments with no final cost, no final design, and on a number of occasions, no final site or land!
Special Note: Here are 3 synapse, tangential thoughts.
- The CONTINGENCY CLOSE. “Based on all we talked about, can you make this leadership commitment CONTINGENT on (final estimates, final design, etc.)?” This actually works for just about any ‘objection’.
- Mark McCormack, Founder if IMG, now one of the largest firms in the world representing athletes and artists, simplifies the entire secret to sales success this way:
“Always sell at the highest level.”
He would love Nick Fellers. Nick is always coaching around the presentation: “When you get in trouble, when things seem to fall apart, when there are questions… ALWAYS GO UP/BACK to 30,000′.” - “You’re not in the real estate business.” This is my favorite line for anybody trying to do buildings, capital improvements, etc. It’s not about the place, the building, the real estate… it’s WHY you need it… and WHAT goes on in there.
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August 28, 2009 | Tom Suddes
After I did this week’s WOW email on WOMEN RULE, I came across an article from Sunday, August 23rd, New York Times entitled THE POWER OF THE PURSE.
Read it and weep. (Because we in this Third Sector are still just talking about making our brochures ‘PINK’… instead of having meaningful dialogue and conversation with women investors who want to make an IMPACT.)
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August 27, 2009 | Tom Suddes
It’s official! HBR (Harvard Business Review) for September 2009 has ‘confirmed’ that women really do rule.
The article was titled Understanding the “Female Economy”.
Here’s why I find this both funny and sad.
In 2003, Tom Peters was somehow turned onto to this whole ‘WOMEN’ thing. He wrote about it. Spoke about it. And I picked up on it.
I tried to apply this WOMEN RULE thing to the Third Sector and the For Impact World. In 2003, I wrote Women Rule. In 2005, I added Women & Philanthropy, calling it the $1 Billion Idea. In 2007, I gave you Lions, Mice, Antelopes… and Women.
Here are some ‘gems’ from the FEMALE ECONOMY and HBR, along with some of my thoughts (Circa 2009).
- HBR: WOMEN NOW DRIVE THE WORLD ECONOMY.
- Control $20 Trillion in Annual Consumer Spending.
- $13 Trillion in Yearly Earnings.
- In aggregate, women represent a growth market bigger than China and India combined. (More than twice as big, in fact.)
FI: So who do we ‘call’ on? MEN!
- HBR: THE WORLD’S LARGEST OPPORTUNITY. The authors proclaim that “Women represent the largest MARKET OPPORTUNITY in the world.” Income will rise $5 Trillion in the next five years from $13 Trillion to $18 Trillion, etc.
“But despite women’s dominant buying power, many companies continue to market mostly to men and fail to explore how they might meet women’s needs.”
***Their shorthand metaphor for what not to do is “Make it pink.”
FI: So who do we ‘call’ on? MEN!
- HBR: WOMEN MAKE THE DECISION IN THE PURCHASES OF:
- 94% of Home Furnishings
- 92% of Vacations
- 91% of Homes
- 60% of Automobiles
- 51% of Consumer Electronics.”
FI: And, we’re guessing at least 50% of philanthropic decisions.
OG (The Old Guy): The HBR article by Michael Silverstein and Kate Sayre, both partners in the Boston Consulting Group, is based on their book Women Want More: How to Capture Your Share of the World’s Largest, Fastest Growing Market.
The thrust of the book and the article was really around CONSUMER SPENDING, purchasing, retail, etc….
My point to everyone reading this is about WOMEN ‘IN’ PHILANTHROPY! It could also be WOMEN ‘AND’ PHILANTHROPY!
- WOMEN ARE GREAT PROPSECTS!!! They actually have a heart. They really want to help people in need. They are great prospects solo (as individuals)… and they need to be brought in as part of a couple, parents, spouse.
- WOMEN ARE GREAT PROSPECTS for Legacy Gifts. One of the biggest laughs I get in speaking is when I ask the question: “Who’s going to end up with the $100 TRILLION of WEALTH TRANSFER in the next 30 years?” The laugh comes around my answer: “WOMEN!”
They outlive men… and, therefore, become great prospects for both cash and Legacy Gifts.
- WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS. I don’t have all the “numbers” right at hand, but this market segment/sector is also growing by proverbial leaps and bounds.
CLOSE: You can read all this… and more. Or, you can just GET IT… and go VISIT with WOMEN!
THE WEEKLY CHALLENGE:
- Identify 3 women champions (either already committed to your cause/org or great potential) and VISIT WITH THEM !
- Get 30 minutes. Ask for nothing but feedback and counsel. Listen. Tell some stories. Touch the ‘heart”.
- You’ll be amazed at the results.
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August 27, 2009 | Tom Suddes
Note: I’m posting a series of nuggets on ‘women and philanthropy’ so some of these are from previous years that I want to bring to the top of the pile. — below from 2005.
- HOW DO WE MELD THIS MARKET INTO OUR VISION AND OUR PLAN?
- WHERE DO WE FIND THESE QUALIFIED (WOMEN) PROSPECTS?
- HOW DO WE BUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN THIS MARKET?
- 10.2 million women earn more than their husbands!!! (One out of four women)
- Women equal 43% of Americans with assets greater than $500,000 !!!
- Women own 60% of all assets in the U.S. !!!
- Women-owned businesses total nearly 8 MILLION !!! (vs. 400,000 25 years ago); and post $2.3 trillion in annual sales!
- This year, 50% of all small businesses will be woman owned.
- More than half of the new jobs created in this country since 1992 are attributed to women-owned businesses !
- Women control over half of commercial and consumer consumption.
- American women… by themselves …are in effect the largest “national” economy on earth!!!
- Women control about 80% of household spending and, using their own resources, make up 47% of investors.
- Women buy 81% of all products and services, buy 75% of all over-the-counter medications, make 81% of retail purchases, and buy 82% of groceries.
- Eighty percent of the checks written in the United States are signed by women.
- Forty percent of all business travelers are women; they are responsible for 61% of all travel and consumer-electronics purchases.
- Women influence 85% of all automobiles purchased.
- They also head 50% of all U.S. households with incomes over $600,000 and own roughly 66% of all home-based businesses.
- Women have been the majority of voters in this country since 1964.
- The inter-generational transfer of wealth in the next 20 years will be between $8 and $14 trillion … and women will handle most of it!!!
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August 27, 2009 | Tom Suddes
Lions, Mice, Antelopes & Women
Note: I’m posting a series of nuggets on ‘women and philanthropy’ so some of these are from previous years that I want to bring to the top of the pile. — below from 2007.
One of the most important reasons we’re trying to IDENTIFY and PRIORITIZE our best prospects is so that we can FOCUS on the very TOP.
Here’s a wonderful story about LIONS, MICE & ANTELOPES to help you understand this principle/concept of RETURN-ON-ENERGY.
A lion can actually capture, kill and eat a field mouse.
However, it turns out that the ENERGY to do that is greater than the caloric content of the mouse.
If a lion spent his whole day hunting and eating field mice … it would slowly starve itself to death!
A lion cannot live on mice. Lions need antelopes. Antelopes are BIG. While they take more speed and strength to capture and kill… once killed, they provide a huge feast for a lion and its pride.
A lion can live a long and happy life on a diet of antelope.
It will die “chasing mice”.
If you’re spending all of your time and energy going after “field mice”, your short-term reward is a feeling of ‘ACTIVITY’, and maybe even ‘ACCOMPLISHMENT’.
However, in the long run, you’re going to die .
(This is a story. It’s meant to convey an idea. Don’t take the whole “kill” or “antelope” thing too literally.)
The lesson as it relates to QUALIFIED PROSPECTS is about spending your day CHASING MICE or HUNTING ANTELOPE.
- Do we even know the difference?
- Do we know who our antelope are?
- Are we going to continue doing ‘special events’ that aren’t ‘special’, aren’t ‘events’ and are primarily focused on ‘MICE’?
Special Note: I told this story to a large training group a few days ago. A lady came up and told me that while the story was very meaningful and that she “got it”… the “facts” were wrong! And she was right!
The LION doesn’t really hunt for anything (mice or antelopes). He lays around under the ‘lion tree’ waiting for a ‘lion beer’ or watching ‘lion TV’!!!
The LIONESS does all the hunting for the family!
As always, WOMEN RULE!
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August 25, 2009 | Tom Suddes
Transformative Catalytic Philanthropy
Nick and I have recently been having shorthand conversations with each other and with some of the most impactful organizations and institutions in the country.
We have been communicating our For Impact Point of View and our Quantum Leap Framework.
We are hammering (in our usual nice way) on our best coaching clients to find CHAMPIONS who literally want to help CHANGE THE WORLD… through an organization, an institution or program.
Most importantly, we have been having high-level conversations with high-level leaders and high-level funders around one word:
TRANSFORMATION.
Anyone in our For Impact universe who truly gets this TRANSFORMATION word, especially as it relates to funding, needs to read an article in the most recent (Fall 2009) issue of Stanford Social Innovation Review called CATALYTIC PHILANTHROPY. Read more
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August 19, 2009 | Tom Suddes
For the last eight or nine years, I have tried very, very hard to make my BIRTHDATE a special day every month. March 19th is my birthday, thus today is my August BIRTHDATE.
I’ve been quietly trying to encourage everyone around me to CELEBRATE their own BIRTHDATE. And, not so quietly, I have challenged thousands of individuals at certain speaking engagements to do the same.
I encourage you to make your BIRTHDATE a special day for YOU. Do something SOLO. (Breakfast or coffee shop with a journal or a book. A motorcycle or bike ride. A yoga class. Whatever.)
Do something special with those you love. Spend a little time with the g-kids. Catch up with a sib or a child away from home. Have lunch the ‘girls’ or a beverage with the ‘boys’.
*I also use the 19th as the once a month review of my goals (lifetime, this year, upcoming 90 days, etc.) Read more
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August 18, 2009 | Tom Suddes
I’m just finishing up some reflections on LIFE and WORK, called 25 WISHES.
I started The Suddes Group 25 years ago, and I wanted to capture some of the things that I WISH… I would have known either earlier in my life or understood more deeply the essence and implication of the idea captured in the WISH.
WISH #1 is SEEK BALANCE. This is about the paradox, conundrum or supposed conflict of BALANCE in your LIFE and your WORK.
Yesterday I was reading FSB (Fortune Small Business) about entrepreneurs who started their companies during a recession/downturn, and who now run really big organizations.
The real ‘bummer in all of the articles was the following quote by the founders of Costco in Seattle: “We worked almost constantly… we didn’t see our kids. (We) were on the road almost every day for 10 years. It was a tough grind.”
You think?
To read more re: my thoughts on SEEKING BALANCE.
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August 18, 2009 | Tom Suddes
“Half the Money You Spend is Wasted”
John Wanamaker, the 19th Century department store magnate, supposedly observed, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The trouble is, I don’t know which half.”
After 36 years in this sector and more than 25 years of consulting, coaching and training… I believe the same thing applies to development and fundraising.
“HALF THE MONEY YOU SPEND ON DEVELOPMENT (FUNDRAISING) IS WASTED. YOU JUST DON’T KNOW WHICH HALF.”
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• When I see organizational development (fundraising) budgets, and then see how much net, net, net money is actually raised… it’s appalling.
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• When I look at the money, time and energy that goes into what is supposed to be SPECIAL EVENTS… I’m amazed that anyone would even pretend the Golf Outing is generating Income that is having any significant Impact.
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• When I observe the amount of money spent on people/staff with no clear goals, no measurement, no accountability… I think I know which half is wasted.
I could go on and on. Let me make this Jack Nicholson crystal clear: Read more
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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.
