A great place to start is with the full title of this book!

“Getting Naked: A Business Fable about shedding the three fears that sabotage client loyalty”

Like the title, this isn’t your typical business book.  Mr. Lencioni challenges all of us in the service industries to put our pride aside and replace it with the best interest of our customers.  And, he does it in the form of a novel, an interesting touch for a business book.

The Story…

…is about the acquisition of a boutique consulting firm by a big corporate firm.  Jack, is the man set up to manage integrating Lighthouse Partners into the prestigious, international, full-service management consulting firm of Kendrick and Black. Along the way he learns some of the secrets of Michael Casey, founder of Lighthouse Partners.  What Jack later terms “Getting Naked” with the client is the technique of putting aside corporate and personal pride to be more effective and build tremendous client loyalty.  I won’t spoil the end of the story for you, but will hit on the key business points – the “Three Fears”.

Fear of Losing the Business

The premise to this fear is that when we are afraid of losing the business, that becomes our focus and drives our actions.  Actions driven by keeping the account are often contrary to actions focused on helping the client.  An example is when we are tempted to tell customers what they want to hear rather than our true thoughts based on the experience and education for which they hired us.  Although this might help keep the account for the short term, when it doesn’t work out we become part of the problem and lose credibility.

Fear of Being Embarrassed

This fear is what causes us to walk away from meetings wondering.  Instead of speaking up and asking what might sound like a dumb question, or suggesting something that might be laughed at, we decide not to speak up.  Patrick’s take is that naked service providers are so busy putting the success of their client first, they are willing to speak up with ideas and questions even at the risk of being embarrassed.  Otherwise, you wonder what it was you didn’t understand or what would happen if they tried your idea.

Fear of Feeling Inferior

At one point in the book a group of executives are asked which of these fears are they most susceptible.  For me it was this one.  As a business management instructor and service provider at Sigma College of Small Business, it seems logical that if you aren’t continually demonstrating superiority, clients will start thinking you aren’t important and adding value.  However, the case is made that by purposely putting ourselves in a lower position than our clients (which equates to putting them on a higher level), the naked service provider will gain trust, respect and loyalty with their clients.

“Shedding the Three Fears”

Mr. Lencioni completes the book with a set of principles for overcoming the three fears.  Instead of working through those here, I highly recommend that you pick up and read the book.  It’s a very enjoyable read with a great message for anyone who provides services.  Caution: When reading in public, expect some strange looks and people avoiding you as they look at the title:-)

Tomorrow morning the Greater Warrenton Chamber of Commerce is hosting a seminar “Doubling Your Profits” at the Warrenton Visitor Center.  Angela Smith from Fauquier Springs Country Club will be sharing her personal experience of doubling profits by following the guidance from Bob Fifer’s book, “Double Your Profits in 6 Months or Less”.  At Angela’s recommendation I read the book and am looking forward to hearing which of the 78 steps she used and found most useful.

Be Serious About Profitability!

There are some great ideas on how to both cut expenses and increase revenue in this book, but it is not for the faint of heart.  In the first “step” Mr. Fifer warns the unsuspecting that the book is written for those who are serious about profitability, and if you aren’t serious, many of the steps will seem harsh, especially the ones that deal with suppliers and employees.  However, I would recommend it for small business owners because it will seriously challenge many of the discretionary “needs” that we have.

A Teaser! Some of My Favorites

Step 4: What Does “The Best” Mean? – 1. Never settle for status quo  2. Be a Meritocracy, i.e reward based on performance, period.  3. We’re here to make a profit, don’t apologize (step 5)  These are culture changing definitions of being the best.

Step 7: Strategic vs. Non-Strategic Costs – He recommends categorizing every cost into “Strategic”, those that clearly bring in business and improve the bottom line, and “Non-Strategic”, the rest.  Once categorized, outspend your competition for strategic costs and ruthlessly cut non-strategic costs to the bone.  I love this attitude, and although Mr. Fifer later bashes accounting reports (for the sake of reporting), he might agree that using Quickbooks categories to help identify these would be useful.

Step 25: Go to Bid, Frequently – He uses frequent bids or the threat of frequent bids as a tactic for draining price concessions from suppliers, and it will work.  However, it also forces suppliers to review their own costs and helps identify the new techniques and technologies that may be available from the last bid.

Step 39: If You Never Fire an Employee, You Can’t Have an Excellent Business – This one may surprise those that know me, but if you are going to be the best and a meritocracy, you can’t tolerate poor performance and the reality is that it will happen.  Putting up with it is not fair to the top performers and it’s not fair to the poor performers who are probably in the wrong job – help push them to the right job. (See “Straight From the Gut” by Jack Welch of GE fame)

Step 75: Invest in Your Sales Force-No Investment Will Yield a Greater Return – Enough said.

This is only a teaser in comparison to what you can learn by reading the entire book.  I can’t wait to hear Angela’s direct experience of implementation and have the opportunity to ask questions tomorrow morning.  If you are local to Warrenton, VA don’t miss this opportunity!  See you there.

To be perfectly honest, I almost put the book down after the first ten pages, but because it received a strong endorsement from social networking guru Chris Brogan I endeavored to persevere.  I’m very glad I did, because once I got through the universal connection philosophy stuff, with several references to “The Secret” that drag down the first chapter, I found a great networking philosophy and some wonderful tips for improving anyone’s networking game.

The book is broken down logically to discuss the preparation, execution and follow-up for networking events and for networking online.  As someone focused on educating small business owners and not just giving them quick tips, I especially liked this outline.  By laying it out in this way Terry followed the foundational steps for starting any marketing effort – Audience, Objectives, Message and Delivery/Follow-up.

“Understand What You Seek”, is one section title but also an overarching theme in the book.  It was a good reminder that as my business grows and changes, I need to review what it is that I want my network to do.  Terry touches on this concept throughout the book and then brings it home in the last section where he summarizes “The ASK”, his version of that 30-60 second self introduction that we all struggle to perfect.  He also does a great job rolling this concept into the choices and decisions of who you should be targeting to meet, both in person and in your online networking.

“How to Work a Room.”  This is one of the most practical pieces on networking that I have seen.  Terry gets to some of the core concepts of meeting people in a large group setting.  Being approachable with a smile, how to remember names, polite ways to enter and exit a conversation and even what to say, oops, I mean ASK, when you meet people.  The ideas and suggestions he uses are especially good for those folks who are over the fear of working the big room, but not sure how to make it most effective.  WARNING, shameless self promotion: For those still petrified of the big room, check out “Business Networking for the Non-networker”.

“How To Separate Yourself From Most People You Just Met”  What a great way to start a chapter on follow-up!  Terry even points out in the opening sentences that we all know the answer is follow-up, and yet it is probably the biggest point of failure, not only in networking, but in our general marketing efforts.  Thank-you Terry for letting me off the hook and not insisting that a hand-written thank-you note is the only acceptable follow-up!  The “After You Network” chapter provides a great process for timing, method and content of follow-ups, including one of my favorite lines from the book – “Here’s the reality, following up with someone 2 weeks after you met them, is still better than not following up with them at all.”

Overall, Terry has provided a pretty good guide and an easy read for improving your networking skills.  The ASK approach is an interesting and unique way of looking at that 30-60 second self introduction that we all struggle to perfect.  But more importantly it lays the foundation for adding value to a network that will then add value to you in return.  Maybe that’s where the “universe” fits into the discussion?!?  I recommend this book for any small business owner who has decided that personal networking is an important part of their marketing strategy.

Learn more about Terry Bean and his networking techniques at http://terrybean.magntize.com