My son’s day-to-day life is impacted by data points.  One of my sons has Type 1 Diabetes.  It’s a pain to manage.  There are numbers EVERY day!!!  Right now he is tied to a Continuous Glucose Sensor and an insulin pump.  (When I say tied…I’m not kidding…it’s really attached…by a 23” tube…24×7.)  We receive data points every 5 minutes.  On his pump, I can see a display that tells me what his BG is right now.  It allows me to make decisions right now.  What it does not tell me is how past decisions have impacted the current BG.  It doesn’t tell me how actions I take now will impact future BG.  I use my “gut” to determine what to do when his BG is high and requires insulin or low and requires some sugar.  There are some pre-programmed “rules” that help me to make my decisions (e.g. it takes 1 unit of insulin to drop his BG 90 “points”).  Displaying these data points on my son’s pump is great if he’s the only one making decisions.  However, his dad, me, our doctor, my son’s teachers…all of us need to see the data to make the right decisions.  More importantly, we need to see the historical data to understand the impact of past decisions.  A tool does exist from his pump company that allows me to upload the data and view pretty graphs in PDF reports.  But the data keeps changing…every 5 minutes…Isn’t the same true in business?

At a grocer…a shopper decides to buy Crest toothpaste and not Colgate (no offense to Colgate…but I’m in a P&G town).  The shopper does this despite being sent oodles of coupons for Colgate.  What does that data point tell me?  Should I stop sending Colgate coupons to that shopper?  If I start sending Crest coupons can I guarantee that the shopper will come back the next time they need Crest?  Where will that decision get made?  Where should the BI tool be?

At a utility company…right now, I get my bill at the end of the month and I pay it.  I’ve set my thermostat back to 67 in the Winter and 74 in the Summer.  I’ve seen a decrease in my bill over the last 12 months since I started doing this.  But last night was COLD!!!  I was so cold that I couldn’t sleep.  What’s the impact of turning up my thermostat to 72 while I sleep?  If the utility company decides to build me a BI app that sits on my PC and prints for me really pretty graphs, it does me no good when I’m lying in bed and want to make a decision on if it’s worth it to turn up the heat.

For a sales guy/gal…I enter all of my contact info in Salesforce.com.  I have to send out my forecast to my boss, typically in Excel.  Should the IT team give me Business Objects for me to see my past customer sales?  What about Cognos?

When I design BI solutions, I try to make sure that the solution is delivered in a tool that I need and that makes sense to me.  I don’t want my customers to require training just to look at their data.  The tool should be easy for me, cuz analyzing the data is HARD!!!  What are you giving your customers for data analysis?  Is it a tool that’s easy for you to build?  Or easy for them to see the data in the format that they need?

In reality it took months to determine that there were in fact numerous clusters of our best customers, yet no master list that everyone could agree upon.  Marketing had its list, and so did sales, and accounting, and finance, and operations. Everyone was pulling different points of data from different systems, and thus getting radically different results.  We had multiple versions of the truth.  Sadly, we never did figure it out.  A month into the project, the company was bought out and we were pretty much all downsized out within a couple months – this actually ended up being a great thing for me.  Still, that experience has stuck with me, and taught me a valuable lesson – to be useful, data needs to present one version of the truth.

Had we been able to create this list quickly and accurately, we could have spent time trying to determine the best ways to serve our best customers.  We could have examined ways to get new customers that were similar to our best customers, convert good customers into great ones, and improved the results of the organization.  Instead we spent time and money simply trying to figure out whose list was the right list.  What a waste!

As the “marketing guy” I am not the utmost authority at LUCRUM on business intelligence and data architecture.  Still, having gone through that experience makes me genuinely appreciate the services we provide our customers.  I have been in their shoes – seeking the truth, seemingly finding it, wanting to move forward, only to have everything come to a screeching halt because of inconsistent, incomplete information.  It is a frustrating situation to be in, and I smile every time we solve such a problem for a Client.

If you are spending more time debating the truth as described by your data than you are determining what to actually do about it, you should talk to us.  We can deliver one accurate, actionable, complete, and timely version of the truth for you – saving you time, money, and a whole lot of aggravation.

In reality – everything gets sold and bought. It’s part of free enterprise – of which our country is based.

Stop to think – a “salesperson” sold the ink to the company that manufactured the pen you are writing with. Someone sold the material to the furniture manufacturer for the chair you are sitting in. Someone sold you the Starbucks coffee you are drinking this morning, or the flour to the baker for the danish you are eating. Let’s face it – the selling and purchasing of goods is an essential part of life.

To many people the sales person is either some schmuck in a poor suit, using tactics and techniques to get you to buy something you don’t need or would rather not purchase…..or the person in the expensive suit, driving an expensive car, whose main “trick” is manipulation.

The fact – is that no one likes to be sold…..me included.

I do, however like to purchase items/services that make mine and my family’s lives easier, safer, healthier, and more enjoyable.

Sales is not, and should not be a craft of deception and manipulation. Instead it should be the ability to question, listen, consult and determine if your product or service will benefit the client. One of the most important traits of a good sales person is the ability to *listen*. It is also the job of the salesperson to educate and advise the client – this includes educating the client on the product/service the salesperson represents – and being honest with the client if his/her product/service is not a good fit.

While the remarks made were in no way directed towards me personally, (in fact they were directed at some of my competitors), they did make me pause.

Here’s hoping the next sales call in which you participate, your sales person listens, educates and advises you correctly – whether that involves his/her product/service or not. If he/she does her job correctly, it will solve a problem, reduce some pain, and make your job/life easier. When that happens – and at the risk of sounding too cliché’ – everybody wins.

I was part of the 2^nd group for most of my sales career and I have done pretty ok without golf. I think Mark Twain said “golf is a terrible way to ruin a good walk.” For most of my life I was in total agreement with Mark on this one.

But I guess if I am brutally honest with myself I have always been curious about the “golfer.” I was probably even a bit jealous and here is why.

I have been on sales calls with coworkers or former bosses and I have witnessed with my own eyes a conversation between a potential prospect and the sales person go from lackluster to love when one asked the other “do you golf?” and the other said “yes!”

From that point forward, whatever these two individuals were discussing before this question was broached was just completely forgotten and the next hour would be spent talking about this golf course or that one, this new driver they just bought, or the “hole in one” they almost had on Tuesday and on and on and on…..I would just roll my eyes and wonder how in the world this happens? What is the allure of this sport?

Well, recently I had the chance to give this sport a chance. I was involved in a scramble with a bunch of girls who really didn’t keep score just wanted to socialize and get out in the sun and enjoy the day. It was very non threatening way to try it so I did.

Well folks, it has been a month since that first round and I will have to tell you that I have played almost every week and I cannot wait to do it again!

I guess there is something to be said for being on a beautiful course – no cars, no noise just trees and gorgeous grass for miles. It truly does have a way of taking your mind off the daily grind.

It is pretty tough too! I am amazed how on one hole on the course I can look like Tiger Woods (okay maybe not that good but not bad) and the next hole I am trying to figure a way to put 15 strokes on my score card without anyone noticing (yep – 15 strokes – did that!) I guess the unpredictability keeps you honest and it keeps the game interesting that is for sure.

But mostly I am excited that I can now answer yes when the golf question is inevitably going to be asked by one of my prospects over lunch.

Believe it or not, it is working – business and golf. I have a prospect that I have been working really hard to find common ground with and guess what – I have it – GOLF! He is spending more time with me now than he has in the past. I can talk the talk with him and it is fun!

So I guess as I move into the 2^nd part of my life I am going to have to disagree with Mark Twain on this one. Golf is actually making my good walk a lot less boring!

Then inspiration hit me. I thought about the Cincinnati International Institute for Business Analysts (Cincy-IIBA) chapter meeting. The last chapter event was held on Tuesday, 5/20 @ 6:30, the topic was “Information Visualization Techniques for the Business Analyst” presented by Keith Burtoft. His presentation talked about how to convey complex ideas with pictures, text, and spoken word to appeal to people who are psychologically positioned to understand information faster through visual, auditory, or kinetic inputs.

A quick synopsis…

Business analysts should not only be liaisons for IT and representatives for business, but also the missing link. As a BA you should be able to learn the business, build fantastic relationships with IT and the business unit(s), create fabulous and accurate requirements, and properly describe those requirements in terms that every stakeholder and developer can understand. To accomplish most of this, the BA usually drafts use cases, sequence diagrams, action diagrams, data flows, etc. However, the translation back to the business may be the thing that a lot of business analysts do not well but already know how to do well… draw a picture! Simply put, drawing the picture takes the “tech speak” and simplifies it into an easily digestible context that gets ideas across quickly and accurately.

Great topic… but could this also apply to business development?

Lynn Mcinturf Associates, certified trainers for Sandler’s Professional Development Program, teach a system of training that encourages business developers to understand the customer. So understanding the customer, is paramount in business development because you cannot sell YOUR solutions to a customer, you can, however, provide them with answers to their problems. In order to get to their problems, you need to listen, build rapport, and listen – all the qualities of a business analyst focused into development. Not development for coding or engineering, but development of relationships, of understanding, of business.

Business. The link between analyst and developer is business.

Should a business developer draw pictures and diagrams to ensure they understand the point/problem their prospect is trying to make? Maybe… in some situations… yes. I say drawing conclusions is suicide for a business developer, yet drawing pictures is worth a thousand…

To answer the question of this topic, I think a business analyst would make a fantastic business developer if they have the drive, patience, and toughness needed to be in business development… because they already have all of the other ingredients they need.

Just my 2 Cents…

- Paul Stephens

PS… Shameless plugs:

- If you are interested in learning more about business analysts, check out http://Cincinnati.theiiba.org (this site will look a lot better soon!)

- If you are interested in advanced business development training, take a look at www.lynnmcinturf.com.

I observed this first hand today while on a sales call with two of my colleagues. We had a great meeting that lasted well over an hour, very little of which was spent discussing LUCRUM. In doing so, we identified numerous business problems LUCRUM can solve through our understanding of technology. More importantly we took the first steps toward building a new relationship with them based on understanding of their unique business needs. No pushy sales pitch. No dog and pony show. Just having a real and meaningful conversation about them When we are talking about them… we win.