The top picture is from 1990 and the bottom from 2010.

The projects I’ve had of which I’m most proud have all started with the client trusting me enough to give me the leeway in determining how I could best add value. They let me discover where their staff was experiencing pain, what processes were broken, and what was being overlooked. It’s not that they didn’t know what was happening in their companies; it’s that they had enough confidence in their colleagues and in their own leadership to let an outsider poke around. They knew that a little extra investment up front would pay dividends at the end of the project. If they had wanted someone to come in and simply perform a set of tasks, I’m guessing they would have hired a temp.

I know that this has a strong whiff of arrogance, but I mention it because you could, right now, be getting a lot more out of your vendors by simply asking them, “How would you do this?”

1. Start with your month-batch report (aka step-down, 12 by 12, and others) – this report will tell you the liquidation of each month’s placements over the past twelve months.
2. Create a graph with Months on the x-axis and Recovery % on the y-axis and plot the point for each month.
3. Connect the dots; the result is your liquidation curve.

Generally, it will rise sharply for the first 2 or 3 months, before leveling and then slowly dropping off. You can use this curve to determine when to return accounts, whether you’re applying resources early enough, and the lift you’re getting from reporting to credit bureaus, receiving info from skip vendors, or other stages in your workflow.

Adding to the irritation is the usual statement by the CEO being profiled that his success is mostly due to being in the right place at the right time. While there’s no doubt that a certain amount of luck is helpful; successful people have a tendency to create their own luck – they keep their eyes open to opportunities and are pretty good at applying their skills in unique ways to create additional value. The thought that it’s all owed to luck really cheapens the work and energy that went into the endeavor.

You can be successful, too, and luck – or the lack thereof – is a really lame excuse for inaction. There is no playbook. You have to figure things out. It’s hard. Go get started.

When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.

- Paulo Coelho, from his book The Alchemist. Perhaps my favorite book of all time. This line always reminds me how important it is to be sure of what you really want – because you might get it.

• The old model of one-size fits all education is broken.
• Education systems use technology at a lackluster, laughable level.
• Teachers are not the problem – the ones I’ve met have, without exception, been motivated, intelligent people who have a deep and sincere desire to give children the very best education possible.
• Unfortunately, the very best education possible is often not all that great (see bullet point 1).

My wife and I spend a considerable amount of time, money, and effort supplementing her school-based learning because she’s capable of so much more than she’s given. This raises a common conversation for us; should we not do that? Should we somehow try to keep her at the prescribed educational level so she won’t be too bored in the classroom? Of course, we recognize how ridiculous a notion that is. I mention it only to point out the absurdity inherent in a system that treats every child the same, and focuses the majority of attention on the children who are struggling to the detriment of the capable, but bored, children.

Everyone should watch this video. If you know anyone on your local school board, send them the link.

Agencies serving the healthcare market enjoy a unique marketing advantage: Most of your customers and potential customers know most of your customers and potential customers. The healthcare industry tends to be well organized, and groups such as HFMA, MGMA, and AAHAM allow for frequent conversations between decision makers at healthcare facilities. So when you provide outstanding service, your customers will tell others and you will get more customers.

But that sword cuts both ways; when you provide lousy service, they also talk about that.

The trouble in most agencies is that you’re not giving your customers anything at all to talk about – not good nor bad. You have become a back office commodity. This is not news to you. Discussions about commoditization have been around for as long as I’ve been in the industry. Be assured it remains a serious issue. I have on my desk six brochures from six different agencies. They’re all very well made and professional. And they all have exactly the same message – We’re ethical; We have better technology; We collect more. I bet I could black out the company names and other identifying information and even the people within the organizations represented would not be able to pick out their own brochure!

If you’re a human being, right now you’re thinking, “But Shawn – we ARE different. Our systems ARE better than the competition and we are PROUD of our ethics. We DO collect more and we can prove it.” Fine, I’ll concede all of those points. Here’s the thing – your customer doesn’t really care. Every agency says the same thing, so the customer just tunes it out in the same way pig farmers get used to the smell of pig shit.

The solution is to be different! Stand out from the crowd and give your customer something to talk about. Those qualities mentioned above are great and necessary, but they’re just the baseline. They’re the minimum requirements for playing.

If you want your customers to become your best sales staff, follow these steps. It will not be easy, but the rewards are well worth it:

1. Read Purple Cow by Seth Godin
2. Figure out what makes you different from the competition. If your differentiators mention systems or processes or facilities, start over. Think people, not purchases. What are the unique qualities of your team that would make a customer want to do business with you?
3. Differentiation is not enough. What story do you want your customer to tell about you? What can you do that’s so remarkable, so out of the ordinary, that your customers can’t help but talk about it? Go do that.

Need help? Call me.

Not only should connoisseurs of Bourbon not read this article, neither
should persons preoccupied with the perils of alcoholism, cirrhosis,
esophageal hemorrhage, cancer of the palate, and so forth–all real dangers.
I, too, deplore these afflications. But, as between these evils and the
aesthetic of Bourbon drinking, that is, the use of Bourbon to warm the
heart, to reduce the anomie of the late twentieth century, to cut the cold
phlegm of Wednesday afternoons, I choose the aesthetic. What, after all,
is the use of not having cancer, cirrhosis, and such, if a man comes home
from work every day at five-thirty to the exurbs of Montclair or Memphis
and there is the grass growing and the little family looking not quite at
him but just past the side of his head, and there’s Cronkite on the tube
and the smell of pot roast in the living room, and inside the house and
outside in the pretty exurb has settled the noxious particles and the
sadness of the old dying Western world, and him thinking: ‘Jesus, is this
it? Listening to Cronkite and the grass growing?’

- An excerpt from Bourbon, an essay in Signposts in a Strange Land by Walker Percy, 1975 (full text here).

Objection: “But I manage people and it won’t work for me to manage off-site or as a contract worker.”
This method won’t work for everyone, but there are usually creative solutions. For example, you can agree to be on-site for 3 or 4 days out of the week or take a pay reduction commensurate with the responsibilities you relinquish as you transition roles.

Objection: “I need the group health insurance provided by my employer.”
This one is tricky. When I became a freelancer, I contacted a local friend who has a small insurance brokerage and he was able to set up a teeny tiny group policy for my wife and I as separate employees of our company. It isn’t all that expensive, but I’ve talked to lots of people who have had considerable difficulty for one reason or another. On the other hand, I’ve talked to lots of people who have had great success with individual policies, which are often less expensive than group insurance. We had some pre-existing conditions and wanted the ability to offer benefits to any future employees, so were pretty much forced to go the group route. My best advice is to find someone who knows or sells health insurance and go through some scenarios with them.

Objection: “I’ll need to set up a website, design business cards, market myself, etc. Also, I’ll have to perform all business functions; sales, admin, support, etc. That would be too hard, too much time, too little pay.”
This is all true, but the real objection here is usually, “I’m scared. I’m scared of doing something meaningful, of putting my ego on the line, of attempting to make an impact on the world, and failing.” Yep. That’s the risk. It’s worth all the frustration, all the anxiety, and all the heartache, but you can’t know until you try it for yourself. There’s a whole world of excitement and opportunity that never reveals itself until you break out of the corporate grind and start controlling your own time. That’s what it all boils down to. Time is by far the most precious commodity all of us have – why give it away unnecessarily?