In June Deltek announced iAccess. So what is iAccess? Deltek’s iAccess is a new, user-friendly interface that gives front office employees access to Deltek Vision information on-the-go. Users can access information from anywhere, anytime and the new interface is specifically built for tablets and mobile devices. 

I recently went on a trip and didn’t have internet access to my laptop, but I had cellular service on my iPad. I found the new interface a life saver as I needed to quickly access client data. Portions of the new feature may look familiar because iAccess was formerly called Navigator, but has received new and improved capabilities. It now also includes CRM related information. Best of all iAccess is free for all users. The Business Development component does require a CRM license. 

The new interface now provides users the ability to access three critical areas of Vision: 

• Employee Workspace: View, create and submit timesheets anywhere, anytime an employee has internet access. Provides a simplified way to manage and submit expenses with the ability to upload receipts from any mobile device.
• Project Management Workspace: Plan, manage, monitor and execute project in a centralized, easy-to-use tool. Quickly and simply view key project metrics and view alerts and warnings when projects are at risk.  
• Business Development Workspace: Manage clients, contacts and opportunities on-the-go. Business Development teams can review, add and update critical client data and add touchpoints after client meetings or calls.

As you can see, the tool is really intuitive and the sleek new interface provides a more modern look and feel. Vision iAccess does have to be set-up by your IT staff just like the Deltek Touch products. Users must have remote access capabilities. For more information, be sure to download the product sheet or view Full Sail Partners’ iAccess webinar. 

All too often, certain words and catchphrases are overused in business meetings to the point they have become trite and serve little to no real purpose. These words and phrases are used in business blogs, articles, websites, and day-to-day business emails. One such term, "client-focused", is thrown around as a marketing gimmick for professional services firms, but what does it really mean to be client-focused?

Before we get too far, here’s what you need to know:

1. There is a difference between saying you’re a client-focused firm and actually being client-focused.
2. Your firm’s culture dictates the level of service your clients receive. 
3. If your firm isn’t using technology to support your client relationships, you’re already behind.

The Firm-Focused vs. Client-Focused Professional Services Firm

Being truly client-focused depends on how your firm sees their clients. Sure, it is easy to talk the talk, but putting words into action is where things tend to get difficult.

When a firm places an enormous emphasis on the needs of their clients, they are firm-focused. A firm-focused business makes decisions based on the benefits to themselves and not with their client’s best interest in mind. 

On the contrary, truly "client-focused" firms make decisions that are determined by their client’s needs, as they are at the center of all such business decisions. They understand exactly what their clients need which helps to promote a symbiotic relationship between the firm and the clients.

Through the delivery of top-notch service aimed directly at the needs of their clients, a company will see a simultaneous rise in business performance. After all, the services provided were determined with the client and their needs in mind.  

Living the Firm’s Culture

Who are your clients? The answer might surprise you, but in the business world, there are two types: internal and external clients. 

Internal clients are members of your organization that rely on the help of other members to perform their job. These individuals can fall anywhere on the spectrum of your chain of command, from coworkers to upper management and executives. 

On the other hand, external clients are clients in the traditional sense of the term. They are the buyer of the services your firm provides. 

Do you feel you receive great service from the other internal customers within your firm? If you’re not receiving great service from within your own organization, imagine the service your external clients are receiving. Your firm’s culture is a reflected by the employees, and your clients can see if you live by the values you market.

If you’re not satisfied with your internal customer service, start communicating and living the values that define your firm. Your clients will notice the difference.

How Technology is Changing Playing Field  

Keep up with the Joneses - In order to be competitive and effective within an industry, your firm needs to ensure it is using innovative technology that helps promote success. Failing to innovate hinders a firms’ ability to adapt and grow while the "Joneses," aka your competitors, employ the use of industry leading technology enabling them to leave you in the dust. 

With a Client Relationship Management (CRM) software, you can take your company to the next level by keeping the functions of your company in a centralized system. This helps promote a conducive work environment in which the sales and marketing teams, and administration and finance teams can better work together to achieve client-focused results. To learn more about the basics to Deltek Vision CRM, click here.

An additional benefit of using innovative technology and software is that it enables you to access your work on-the-go. Today we have access to everything on our smartphone devices. From banking to entertainment, email to ordering pizza and everything in between, we can do incredible things with just one, single device. Having mobile access to your CRM allows you to -update client information on-the-go and enables other members of your organization access to the most up-to-date information about your clients. 

The Takeaway 

The importance of understanding what it means to be "client-focused" cannot be overstated. Your firm should define itself by its actions and not by catchphrases.

The goal of being client-focused is to nurture client relationships to retain clients and win more work. Remember, your existing clients are the lifeblood of your organization. According to Bain & Company, it cost 6 to 7 time more to acquire a new customer than retain an existing one. It seems smart to try to keep the clients you already have.

Ultimately, when push comes to shove, there are really only 3 ways to increase profits:  Sell more, improve margins or decrease overhead costs. While these principals may sound simple on paper they are often difficult to execute in the real world. But have you ever thought about the role client feedback plays in your firm profits? Perception is reality and understanding how your clients perceive you can uniquely position your firm to fuel the bottom line and increase profits.

The Breakdown: 3 Ways for Increase Profits

Sell More | Simply put, there are only two ways to sell more: Add new customers and increase sales to existing customers. In my experience, sales discussions tend to focus on adding new customers. But research has shown that it costs at least 8 times more to sell to a new customer versus an existing client. Ideally we want to ensure long term stability with existing relationship and leverage those relationships to win new work.

Tip for selling more:

• Avoid losing your least expensive prospects – existing customers. The best way to ensure long and meaningful relationships with clients is to (gasp!) create real relationships. Developing a client feedback process allows your firm to build trust between you and your clients, continuously strengthening your relationships and building client loyalty.

Improving Margins | The Pareto Principle states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Consequently, many businesses have glaring opportunities for improvements to their bottom line by simply eliminating or refocusing areas of their business that do not fit company goals. Regardless of the area of business you target, strong client relationships are proven to make a positive impact to your bottom line.

Tip for improving margins:

• All opportunities are not created equal. It’s a dog eat dog world and as clients are receiving more proposals than ever, identifying strategies to increase your win rate becomes increasingly important. Successful professional services firms are implementing tools and processes to create an RFP feedback strategy.

Decrease Overhead Costs | While expense management is an important element to every successful business, it is imperative to understand where to cut costs in your business. Is re-work eating away at your profit margins? Are your project managers delivering more than the scope of work in the contract to try and ensure their clients are satisfied? By using client feedback to guide these decisions we are able to cut fat from our budget – without cutting bone!

Tip for decreasing overhead costs:

• Develop a corporate culture that embraces automation. Although automating processes and procedures sounds like something only for Fortune 500 companies, automation is actually perfectly suited for  small- to medium-sized businesses where the focus is on being lean and mean. Start decreasing your overhead costs by focusing automation on processes and tasks that are menial and time intensive. Doing so will free up your employees to focus on tasks and assignments better suited for humans such as responding, tweaking, evaluating and navigating complex social issues. 

So Where’s the Magic Template? 

Ultimately there is no golden brush for improving profits. Your firm needs to make decisions based on your own set of criteria. However, as you look to continue to set yourself apart and differentiate from your competition, consider the value of keeping your clients at the center of everything you do. Many firms claim to be client-centric, but do words often meet reality? The Client Feedback Tool can help you integrate a proven process into your project delivery system to keep your clients at the center of your business and give your firm the winning hand. 
 

Full Sail Partners, a Client Feedback Tool and Deltek Premier Partner, recently announced it has earned a spot on Accounting Today’s 2015 Top Value-Added Reseller (VAR) List. Accounting Today is a leading provider of online business news for the tax and accounting community, offering breaking news, in-depth features, insightful editorial analysis, and a host of web-related resources and services.

Each year a select group of 100 organizations are honored for their accomplishments as VARs. The top VARs are selected from organizations focused on sales and implementation of accounting and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. Criteria used to determine the winners include 2014 revenue, number of offices, and staff size.

According to Seth Fineberg, Technology Editor of Accounting Today, “The Accounting Today VAR 100 list is comprised of top accounting and ERP software resellers throughout the country, ranked by revenue. This select group represents those in the world of accounting software resellers that are truly ahead of the pack and we are pleased to honor them in this special report.”

Full Sail Partners provides on-premise and cloud-based solutions for architects and engineers, energy and environmental consultants, and professional service firms across the United States. Full Sail Partners' team, collectively, brings more than 200 years of experience with Deltek solutions. The firm represents unique technology solutions that integrate with Deltek Vision including Deltek’s Kona social collaboration platform, the Client Feedback Tool, and Vision Unleashed.

"Last year Full Sail Partners was listed as one of the VARs to watch and we are extremely honored to make our return to the Value-Added Reseller Top 100 List," said Sarah Gonnella, Vice President of Marketing and Sales of Full Sail Partners. "Our firm continues to deepen our bench strength with Deltek Vision experts, allowing us to be the go-to firm for consulting, customization and integration. Jumping to number 85 in Accounting Today’s Top 100 Value Added Reseller list is a great accomplishment and demonstrates our ability to engage our existing client base, as well as, target new project-based firms beyond the AEC industry.”
 

I recently sat down with Ken Higa, Marketing Director for the Atlanta office of Perkins + Will to learn more about how he approaches budgeting for marketing in professional services. As a trained architect with an MBA, and whose other roles have included Principal and Studio Director, Ken is a very savvy budgeting guy. This article summarizes our discussions related to the historical context of marketing AE services, establishing a more integrated approach to financial management and improving the firm’s ability to track returns on its investments with the help of tools like Deltek Vision.

Hebblethwaite: What was the context behind your interest in finding a better way to budget for marketing?

Higa:  I’ve always been intrigued with the relatively short history of marketing professional services. AIA’s 1909 Principals of Practice forbid architects from doing most familiar marketing activity as another form of “advertising.” No proposals, no job signs, no free work, basically just a firm name and number in the Yellow Pages. That changed in the early 1970’s when the Justice Department sued AIA for violating the Sherman Antitrust Act because of its structured fee schedule. The legal profession also had its own battle in Arizona claiming violations of free speech. Long story short, that got the ball rolling. Things are obviously very different today, and marketing is a very complex strategic function of the successful practice.

Hebblethwaite: Our tools are much better these days too, right?

Higa: Well, yes - both for delivering our work and managing business information. These business tools allow us to plan, manage and leverage our marketing activities more effectively – no matter how big or small the firm is. Embracing those tools is essential for running a successful practice today. Young entrepreneurial designers are recognizing this.

Hebblethwaite: You went back and got your MBA. What kinds of budgeting improvements were you looking for in the roles you’ve occupied?

Higa: The typical way accounting looks at expenses just didn’t tell the whole story. Knowing how much we spent on paperclips and printer ink can’t help me plan the strategic activities that will win work. Marketing costs live in lots of buckets – computers, supplies, vendor services – and it’s hard to fully analyze the return on those individual costs. Using a more activity-based approach allows us to take a more project-focused look at how we’re spending money and time. That project approach actually makes sense to most design principals – and it’s a known methodology in systems like Deltek Vision.

Hebblethwaite: What are some good starter “projects” using this type of approach?

Higa: Start with the premise that you’ll track what you REALLY want to measure. Pursuits/Opportunities will likely be a third or more of your budget. Photography is a common one for architects – the obvious expense of the service plus tracking your staff’s coordination time. Other common examples include conference attendance and public relations. Come up with good pneumonic naming conventions – most people can remember things like “BD” for business development, and it’s easy to pull that up on your timesheet.

Hebblethwaite: Are you able to use this approach for multiple business units or studios?

Higa: Absolutely. You should cross that project list against whatever your firm’s meaningful groups are: Offices, Profit Centers, Studios, Practice Area. These marketing projects then can be used to track real time and real expense just like your revenue-generating projects. That really enables you to get good snapshots for analyzing specific marketing investments and determining their value, like the healthcare studio’s attendance at industry conferences during the past year.

Hebblethwaite: How did you go about convincing your leadership to change the budgeting approach?

Higa: They knew this process would help identify where the real value was (or wasn’t) in certain marketing activities – and educate the staff about the cost implications. They also liked taking accountability for marketing activities to the individual timesheet level. Each person can stop and think, “What marketing activity am I really doing right now?” This helps reduce the tendency for marketing to become a big bucket with a hole in the bottom. I also had to help them understand that we needed to collect data for a period of time before meaningful analysis would occur – that took about a year for us initially.

Hebblethwaite: How do you approach analyzing and sharing information that you’ve collected using activity-based budgeting?

Higa: After collecting data for a while, showing people meaningful information really wasn’t that difficult. I would regularly hear from other principals, “Wow, you know all this stuff?” It helps them realize the cost of their efforts and decisions in a non-threatening way. You have to be careful not to give people all the data all the time. Like any other important business communication, take stock of your audience and determine how they like to digest information. For some, a summary list of bullets is all you need; for others, the prettier the graphic the better. Human interpretation really helps others see meaning.

Hebblethwaite: This approach must need at least a conversational relationship with other departments. What do I do if that’s still an “opportunity” at my firm?

Higa: No question. None of this would be possible without partnerships with accounting, as well as your Deltek experts and firm leadership. One unifying goal is getting the budget in-line with your strategy and annual goals – that helps everyone. When people realize there’s both quantitative and qualitative meaning in this process, they quickly see how they can be involved and contribute. It’s really important to develop some one-on-one relationships to help move things forward. I approached our head Deltek Vision expert and showed him my ideas – he was thrilled and said, “Wow, a marketing person that understands Vision, that’s AWESOME!” Things went very smoothly after that, but someone had to make the first effort. Marketing professionals are typically good at that.

Hebblethwaite: Agreed! So what’s the big takeaway?

Higa: At the end of the day, we’re all people just trying to get our jobs done. Getting the team on the same page about mundane topics like cost analysis and budgeting really helps you focus on what’s important: the strategy you started with, understanding the facts, and making better decisions about future investments and initiatives. It’s a team sport and marketing professionals can be great coaches!

Ken Higa can be reached at Ken.Higa@perkinswill.com and Kevin Hebblethwaite can be reached at khebblethwaite@fullsailpartners.com.

The other day I was having a discussion with a client about the challenges of owning a consulting firm. It’s funny how these types of conversations force you to reflect on your own experiences. I quickly realized I made some mistakes along the way as all business owners do when they first start out. I’ve also been witness to mistakes by other consulting firms that have reached out to us for help. From these past experiences, I have identified 9 deadly sins owners of consulting firms should avoid.

1. Not Staying True to the Purpose – When you started the firm you had a purpose, your mission, vision and principles. Don’t lose sight of how you became a successful consulting firm, even through the tough times. It’s important to diversify and be innovative, but it must always fit what you stand for. When you leave your core business, you also lose your core loyal clients.
2. Failing to Innovate – When firms fail to see the changing tealeaves and adapt to their client demands and the competitive landscape, the business can become stagnant and may even die out. Innovation opens your firm up to the next big success. Ideas may fail, but continually innovating and adapting will keep a consulting firm growing.
3. Not Planning for Growth – Alan Lakein said, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” This couldn’t be more true when it comes to thinking about how you will grow your firm. The demise of any consulting firm is hoping to stay where it is and not planning for future growth. Change is constant and you can rest assure that your competitors are looking at ways to grow their staff, revenue and client base.
4. Misunderstanding Profitability – You would think this would be a no brainer for consulting firms, but you would be surprised at the excuses made by Project Managers and Owners about why the profit number is declining. Most consulting firms watch profitability for the company, but are you watching the profit on each project? Even worse is when you make the same mistake with the next project. It’s important to take those lessons learned and circle them back to the proposal process.
5. Not Tracking Cash Flow – Firms that do understand profit often forget that it is only half the problem. Clients that do not pay can derail the best profit and growth program and impact cash flow. Having a consistent feedback program with clients can decrease payment issues. By constantly collecting client perceptions about the service delivery, firms can quickly resolve issues and reduce the firm’s payment issues.
6. Misguided or Lacking Process Improvement – Processes deteriorate over time for all kinds of reasons, including addition of new technology, employee turnover, and cutting expenses or resources. Periodically reviewing your processes - whether technological or how staff approach clients or issues - keep staff trained and technology up-to-date. Technology that allows for automatic workflows is an easy way to improve efficiency, decrease redundancy and create consistency. Keep in mind that pursuing too many process improvements at one-time can also be detrimental to the goal. Process improvement must be clearly defined, have an internal champion and sometimes done in stages.
7. Treating BD as a Part-Time Lover – For smaller firms especially, business development can be a challenge to juggle getting the business and doing the work. However, if your firm isn’t constantly selling to existing and new clients, your sales pipeline will eventually run dry. Setting goals and monitoring those goals through a CRM system, for example, can provide visibility to ensure business development is consistent.
8. Ineffective Risk Assessment – The moment we start a business we run into unpredictability and risks every day. Sometimes leaders don’t even know there is a risk issue. Understanding the risks facing your company – from professional liability issues to growing into a new market – allows you to minimize the risk while still being able to “take a chance”.
9. Improper Planning of Disasters - Failure Happens! However, many firms don’t realize until it’s too late that they don’t have an effective backup and recovery solution for their database, email, and network. Even if your firm has a back-up method in place, many times it can’t be deployed quickly. The scary stat is that 60% of all firms that lose their data will close in 6 months. Instituting a Disaster Recovery System that allows for redundant offsite storage and system restoration within a 36-hour period can greatly reduce the chances of complete loss.

Ask yourself, if your consulting firm is committing any of these deadly sins? If so, what can you do about it? Albert Einstein is quoted as saying, “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”  It would be insane to keep repeating any of these deadly sins.  

Deltek Touch Time and Expense for Vision provides flexibility for employees to easily capture, track and manage expense reports on-the-go. A Recent Aberdeen Group study shows the following research concerning mobile-enabled expense programs:

• Visibility is a prime concern for the majority of organizations in regards to travel and expense management.
• Mobile applications and technology are considered a ‘link to the future’ and will help business travelers and executives enact key expense management processes via smartphones or tablet devices.
• Analytics is a prime means of enhancing travel and expense management visibility, gaining intelligence into the ROI of business.

Deltek Touch Time and Expense for Vision enables your firm to operate as a Best-in-Class organization and operate at the forefront of the industry. Enabling mobile expense reporting in your organization will allow users to: 

• Document transaction data at the time the expense is incurred
• Quickly add cash expenses (such as tips) to an expense report
• Capture receipt images with a smart phone’s camera
• Provide historical back-up data on-demand, in real time

Watch the below video and take a tour of Deltek Touch Time and Expense. See how quick and easy creating expense reports on the go should be. Never miss another expense again by shedding the old restrictions of a desk and going mobile with your expense reports! 

As a Deltek Vision client, you may have heard the terms FILESTREAM and TDM thrown around and may be wondering what they are. To clarify, FILESTREAM and TDM are two different things but work hand in hand to provide the desired functionality in Vision.

FILESTREAM is a SQL technology introduced in SQL Server 2008 to facilitate the storing and management of unstructured or Binary Large OBject (BLOB) data (image files, word documents, pdf documents, etc.), and ensures transactional consistency between the unstructured data stored in the network file system and the structured data stored in the tables.

Transactional Document Management is a Deltek Vision feature that facilitates the uploading of supporting documents (Expense Receipts, Vendor and Sub-Consultant invoices, etc.) and the ability to attach those supporting documents to transactions within Vision. With supporting documents uploaded to Vision it also gives the ability to easily review and print those supporting documents automatically when processing expenses or invoices. You can also attach several supporting documents to a single transaction or a single supporting document to multiple transactions for more flexibility.

So How DO I Get Started with TDM?

The basics of getting TDM enabled in your Vision database are as follows and take about an hour to setup:

1. Enable FILESTREAM on the Vision SQL Server
2. Create the Vision FILES database to store the uploaded documents
3. Enable the FILESTREAM functionality for Vision
4. Start using TDM inside Vision

Benefits of TDM

By enabling TDM you can:

• Reduce the work of keeping track of your supporting documents in the typical Folder/File structure on your network
• Streamline the process (especially for multi office firms) of allowing employees to scan and upload expense receipts directly to their Expense Reports in Vision instead of the typical procedure of scanning and emailing them to the main office or storing them in the Folder/File network
• A/P and Interactive Billing also allow the uploading of supporting documents to be attached to invoices, again saving the time and hassle of navigating the File/Folder network structure to find the associated documents

To go a step further when supporting documents have been attached to client invoices they can now be viewed by the appropriate project team members easily and also printed with the invoices as they go out to the client. TDM creates efficiency for accounting as well as staff by having the relevant project accounting documents easily accessible in a consistent location that is available to everyone that has access to the project. 

Caveats of TDM Implementation?

There are a few things to remember if you implement TDM in Deltek Vision:

1. Backup the FILES database at the same time as your Vision production database. So if you ever need to restore Vision to an earlier time you will also need to restore the FILES database from the same backup to maintain consistency between the two databases.
2. The other consideration is the size of the FILES database. Although there is no limit to the size of the database, if it grows too large you may start to experience performance issues. As of now there is no known way to archive or reduce the size of the FILES database. This can be somewhat mitigated by making clear that the files uploaded to TDM need to meet a certain criteria (e.g. All documents uploaded to Vision must be in a PDF format and no more than 200 dpi greyscale scans). Unfortunately there is no way to set limits on the files at this time that can be uploaded to TDM. So clearly stating some criteria will help.

Sometimes life’s not fair. We’ve all been told this before, and if you are part of the human resources (HR) department, I’m sure you hear about fairness all the time. But what about you - the HR professional performing manual processes and navigating through a sea of paper work. Why do the accounting and operations departments have sophisticated software to make their lives easier? It’s just another one of life’s injustices, but it doesn’t have to be. That’s right, talent management systems are now being integrated into those awesome Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions your counterparts in other departments are using and are changing the way companies manage their human capital.

So how does managing talent with an ERP benefit your company? Let me explain. The purpose of a talent management system is to attract, retain, and develop a skilled workforce to ensure a company has the talent needed in order to grow in the future. More specifically, these systems are integrated software suites that address the three core areas of managing talent: recruitment, performance tracking, and employee development. Let’s look at how a talent management system can ease headaches for the HR department and can increase workforce engagement. 

Recruitment – Talent Acquisition

Admit it, the recruitment process is a daunting task and selecting the best candidate isn’t easy. One job posting can generate hundreds of responses from candidates with varying levels of skills, and reviewing all those resumes is a time consuming process. Why continue spending precious hours on the tedious recruitment process when a talent management system can reduce these headaches.

Talent management systems can eliminate several of the time consuming and tedious tasks related to the recruitment process. For starters, advertising new positions over multiple job board sites and social media sites happens with just one click, therefore reducing the time to advertise new positions. Speaking of saving time, the most time consuming component of the recruitment process is reviewing numerous cover letters and resumes. Quickly reduce the resume review time by eliminating underqualified candidates using pre-screening questions, and using standardized resume templates to enable an apples-to-apples comparison of qualified candidates.

Performance Tracking – Employee Acknowledgement and Engagement

When a company has an inconsistent appraisal processes, employees have a tendency to lose motivation. It’s human nature to desire to achieve goals and receive recognition for their accomplishments. Even worse, no one likes giving or receiving an unexpected poor review. Put an end to the inconsistent appraisal processes and create a process that motivates employee improvement.

By utilizing a talent management solution, the employee performance tracking program can increase accountability and the entire process is documented within one system, which ensures that the appraisal process is consistent across all departments. Talent management solutions are also designed to make sure the business goals align with employee goals and these individual impacts on the company bottom line are measured. Additionally, goals are tracked throughout the year enabling a multistage approach to the appraisal process so employees are aware their performance throughout the year.     

Employee Development – Succession Planning and Workforce Motivation

There’s nothing more demotivating at work than feeling pigeon-holed into a position. Sure, that recent raise was nice and even the bonus. But let’s get real, no one wants to be doing the same task day-in and day-out for an eternity and employees have aspirations of climbing the corporate ladder. Furthermore, employee development is a critical factor in succession planning. How does senior management identify the skills and talents of individual employees in rapidly growing organizations?  

The employee development component of a talent management system is critical for identifying top performing talent. For starters, these systems allow employees to build individual talent profiles where they add their skills and career goals to ensure alignment with their development plan. These profiles allow managers to create individual development plans based on the employee’s personal goals, strengths and weaknesses. As a result, employee learning and development are tracked within one centralized database where the employee and management can see their progress.  

Conclusion – Managing Talent by the Numbers

How important is it to have an effective talent management system in place? According to Josh Bersin, “Organizations with superior talent management practices generate 26% higher revenue per employee, 40% lower turnover among high potential employees and 29% higher employee engagement than their peers.” (Bersin by Deloitte 2013) Based on these stats, it only seems fair for HR to have a sophisticated ERP system. 

Today I felt compelled to speak to those that are struggling in the world. Whether it is your career, your home life or your past; we all have gone through hardship in our lives at some point and almost on a daily basis we have to overcome obstacles. What I’ve found is that everyone reacts differently during difficult times. Some better than others. Ultimately the choice you face is yours alone to make. That choice may be hard and something you don’t want to face it. Having the hard conversation or facing reality is nothing anyone wants to do. We must realize that ultimately the decision typically is made for you or by you.

Let’s face it, shit happens! You can turn it into a learning lesson, an opportunity or you can gripe about it and keep doing what you are doing. This is true in business and in our home life. Only you can change your circumstances. You hold the key to your happiness and success…no one else. The bigger challenge is picking your battles. My parents always asked me, in the big scheme of things does it really matter? Sometimes you just have to let things slide. Other times, the issue needs to be tackled quickly so it doesn’t become a bigger problem. There is a fine line and let’s face it, we all struggle from time to time with hard decisions.

However, when faced with challenges in your life, here are 7 tips I’ve learned to overcome obstacles:    

1. Don’t complain. People don’t want to hear woe is me over and over again, especially if you do nothing about it. However, do ask for help and for suggestions from others that may have been in similar situations. You have to be willing to help yourself. People can’t do it for you.
    
2. Face it head on. Don’t beat around the bush. If you are having an issue, do something about it. Burying it does nothing but eat away at you. Don’t know what to do? Seek counseling. Many companies provide free counseling services as a part of your HR package. Try something. If that doesn’t work, try something else. Do anything but the same thing that previously didn’t work.
    
3. Stay positive. When you are worried about something it’s hard to stay positive, but think about the good things that could come from the difficult decision you have to make or the hard conversation you have to have.
    
4. Be realistic. Realize you may not get the outcome you want, but rather we sometimes get what we need. Do you have some growing to do before you get what you want? Sometimes the timing isn’t right because there is something better and we just need to be patient.
    
5. Don’t try to out-do people. When someone expresses that they are struggling, don’t come back with, “You think that’s hard… let me tell you my story.” Everyone has had something hard in their life. It’s fine to let them know you can relate, but be helpful with your comments and stories.
    
6. Emotional side. When dealing with others, we sometimes forget that there is more than just the logical side. Most people make decisions because of emotions whether they believe it or not. Past experiences or fears can play a part. Sometimes in order to remove the obstacle you have to digger deeper into the real reasons for objections and overcome that issue first.
    
7. Break it down. Always keep in mind the end objective. Sometimes the bigger obstacle has smaller obstacles to overcome. When thinking about challenges, break them down and tackle them in smaller pieces. 

As a bonus eighth way to overcome obstacles, we have to remember that communication is the key to tackling any challenge. I’ve found asking questions is the best way to start. When a challenge involves others, we must first take the time to probe and understand their position. In business, it is best to have formal processes to overcome obstacles during projects or the sales cycle. Let us know what tips you have on tackling obstacles and be sure to check out our whitepaper to learn how your firm can improve communication with your clients.