I bring this up in case anyone on the fence is worried that there is a hidden agenda to promote Sage Software products, policies or programs. That’s not the case.

The SLA mission is to evolve leadership and promote strategic thinking among professional service firms (or professional knowledge firms if you prefer the new age terminology). This mission has nothing to do with your company’s relationship, or lack of relationship, with Sage Software. If you have a hunger to grow your business and collaborate with other thought leaders, SLA is a great place to be.

(I suggested to the SLA board that they consider a new brand push – including a new, clearer name – as a way to spread the message. We’ll see where that goes.)

Putting aside the name confusion, let’s talk about what SLA has to offer.

If you are like me and love to “sharpen the saw”, you might find yourself on information overload these days. There are an overabundance of books, videos, conferences, retreats, events, etc. these days to help you scratch that itch.

I have a stack of books and attend a lot of conferences and other events so I know how it can be. In fact, sometimes attending these conferences can be stressful because you hear so many great ideas that you simply don’t have time to implement when you get back to your office.

And that’s the difference between SLA and those other options: at SLA, they present the information in a focused workshop format so you can actually work on the topic at hand during the day and a half long retreat.

To me, this is a huge benefit.

You are not just committing the time to learn a great new concept at SLA. You will be given time and guidance to start to flesh out tactics to apply what you’ve learned. And you will hear comments and suggestions and questions from other business leaders doing the same thing.

It’s very interactive, very hands on, very beneficial. Particularly if you are feeling starved for time in your normal day-to-day back at the office.

If this type of event appeals to you, you should consider SLA.

I strongly recommend it.

If you have questions, take a look here or comment below and I will do my best to address the questions.

Making work look like fun

Tom Miller has announced that he will retire from Sage North America on March 29, 2013.

This is not new news – it’s been out there for a while now. It took me a while to figure out what I would like to say.

I would like to use this space and honor his legacy.

Personally I’ve always been the type of guy that likes to sharpen the saw by reading smart ideas by smart people presented in new and interesting ways. Yet, while reading these sources of information and inspiration, I’m always reminded of the classics – Zig Ziglar, Dale Carnegie, Peter Drucker, Napoleon Hill – which, to me, are the fundamental sources upon which most other business philosophies are built upon.

I am not going out too far on a limb to say: Tom Miller is the embodiment of these fundamental sources of business inspiration.

He’s a living, breathing example of those classics.

I would challenge anyone to name a time where they interacted with Tom and didn’t come away richer for the experience. Whether it’s direct advice or, more likely than not, you walking away thinking you came up with a great idea even though he skillfully planted it, fed and watered it and helped it grow.

Tom has mastered the unbelievably difficult skill of helping others reach their potential. He’s not in the fish-handing-out business, he’s in the teaching-people-to-fish business.

He embodies the positive thinking, get ‘er done, 1 + 1 can equal 3 mentality that I aspire to maintain. Tom doesn’t see obstacles and problems, he sees opportunities and exciting challenges. Tom believes in the power of free enterprise and the ability of sharp business owners to find ways to create value for their customers, their partners and themselves.

And, as a software reseller, you can rest easy knowing that Tom has walked a mile (or two) in your shoes. He understands what it means to hump for sales and to motivate teams and to struggle to find talent and to keep customers happy.

He’s been there and done that. He knows your pain and, when he commiserates with you, you believe it and you feel it.

As such a staunch channel advocate, he has overseen a very difficult transition as Sage has made controversial (some would say necessary) moves to a more aggressive and more self-deterministic future that has changed the Sage channel dynamic. During this period, he has continued to advocate for Sage and the future of Sage while also continuing to provide a rich and deep set of partner services to help Sage channel partners transition to become Firms of the Future and learn self-sustaining skills in the Sales, Marketing and Consulting Academies.

Partners that have taken advantage of these – and other – programs provided by Tom’s team have come away stronger for the experience. I know that my company has.

Tom is also sharp as a tack. He understands the big picture and can dive down into the details when necessary. Present him with a problem that has been plaguing you for a while and he can distill it to its essence in a single conversation.

And he’ll have you walking away thinking you solved it on your own and the two of you just had a nice long chat.

I have only known Tom for a few brief years and – mostly due to his personal charisma and style – I consider him a teacher, a mentor and a friend. I feel fortunate to have met him, to know him and to see such a class act firsthand.

Tom epitomizes the ability of one man to create a cascading positive influence in the world.

Thank you, Tom.

Rich Heidal of Azamba and Tom Miller of Sage

The Sage Summit Partner Appreciation Night is always a lot of fun and this year was no different.

The centerpiece of the event was the partner bands – bands comprised of various folks throughout the channel and Sage that come together to get up on stage and rock out. It definitely seemed that the groups had more practice time this year as they gelled together well and produced some great music. I tip my hat to all the performers.

Another related form of entertainment was watching the dance floor as attendees jumped up and got down to the music.

A particular highlight and subject of the Twitter-sphere was Sage VP of Channel Management, Tom Miller, decked out in Nashville style regalia topped off with his cowboy hat. It looks like Mr. Miller has gone country on us.

Should channel partners expect like minded channel programs in the future? The Fast Track program held at a rodeo? Complementary lassos included with every Solution Partner renewal? Channel calls led by a sing along to the latest country hits? Time will tell …

For me, one of the best components of these events (and Sage Summit as a whole) is the chance to catch up with Sage employees and other Sage partners face-to-face. It’s always great to get different perspectives and hear how people are doing in a relaxed, casual environment.

It’s like catching up with thousands of your closest friends.

My general impression this year has been that most people are more optimistic about the market in general and with Sage specifically. People seem to be busy helping their customers in all capacities – upgrades, additional functionality, reporting, etc.

This is a very good thing and hopefully will remain on course in the coming months and years.

I hope all the attendees had as good of a time as I did.

I knew it was bad when they gave me an emergency locator panic button during check-in. Apparently if you get lost, you can push the button and emergency services will send a rescue team to guide you back to the main path.

Ok … that might be a bit of an exaggeration but it is big.

In fact, I was speaking to one Sage partner (please comment below if it was you – I apologize but I can’t recall who it was) and said that any hotel that needed Directory Assistance signs is big. She replied any hotel with it’s own freaking river running through it is REALLY big.

Yes – there is actually a river in the hotel. You can even take a canoe ride around the property.

Sage, recognizing the enormity of the venue, has put together some handy videos starring Greg Tirico to help you get around. They are worth a quick look-see.

Click here for the videos.

And as you move from event to event if you come across a poor, tired traveller who looks lost and confused, please take pity and help them find their way back to civilization. That would be most kind.

A river runs through it

The class, led by marketing gurus Dan Kraus and Laura Lorenz of Leading Results (if you need marketing coaching, I strongly recommend them), covered many topics and we did many practical exercises. One of these exercises was teaming up in groups of three to critique each others business cards.

This was very useful and telling and led me to reconsider our card design at Azamba. Particularly because our card had a flipping typo in it!

Luckily, I’m not that beholden to my business cards these days since I discovered this thing called the Internet and have found that I can connect to people easily through handing out my LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter handle. Not a lot of use for cards these days really so it makes it a good opportunity to stretch your creative muscles and do something “fun.”

In that vein and with the upcoming Sage Summit 2012 conference, I thought it was a good time to revist the cards and get a new batch printed.

One route to go with keeping it fun is the collectible, baseball-card like approach with MeetMeme which I was introduced at Sage Summit 2011 by Jess Vento (read more about these cards here).

My group decided to explore a more minimalist version of our previous cards and came up with this:

Since I am not able to avail myself of my peers in the Sage Marketing Academy, I throw it out to you dear readers to let me know what you think.

Good, bad, ugly? What do you like? What do you hate?

While I am deeply in love with the minimalist look and feel, one thing that I somewhat regret is the lack of the LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter handles. The saving grace – in theory – is that our website should have a contact us page that allows people to connect to us via the various social media mechanisms. (We don’t have that page yet but we should before the upcoming Sage Summit conference – stay tuned.)

Hopefully this approach gives others the courage to try something new with their cards. If you have an interesting take on your own cards, stop by and show me at Sage Summit next week. I am always looking for new, creative ideas.

PS. The first 500 to stop by will get a free card as a thank you. You lucky dogs!

Ably led by Greg Tirico, the common message that I heard coming from the group was: be prepared. Know what you are looking to get out of the conference before you go and that will maximize the value that you receive.

It’s easy to see why being prepared is so important.

The Sage Events team has assembled a lot of activities, content filled sessions, networking opportunities and squeezed in some (a small bit) of free time so you can do some informal networking and knowledge sharing. If you don’t go in with a plan, you might find yourself like a kid in the candy store – not knowing which way to turn.

Taking that advice to heart, I have created my own Action Plan! to coordinate my activities. I have highlighted must-attend meetings and sessions in a certain color and my internal team meetings in another color and used a different color for nice, but not essential activities. This way, if I run into someone that wants to share ideas or swap stories, I can immediately see my schedule and make sure I’m not creating a conflict for myself or another pre-arranged appointment.

I am also including cell phone numbers on the Action Plan! for everyone that I’m meeting with to ensure we can text or call to connect. In previous years, I have been running late or waiting for the other party who was running late and had no way to reach out to them.

Which brings up another tip that falls under the “be prepared” bucket: load up your phone with common contacts. So many times in the past, I receive a text message saying “hey you want to meet up?” – or something similar – from an unrecognized number. This year I have done my best to pre-load all the cell numbers of common contacts so I’m not left scratching my head wondering who I’m meeting up with.

And, countering my earlier advice, my final tip that I will offer is be prepared to go off-plan. No, you don’t want to miss any of your must-do things but if, in your travels through the conference, you encounter somone interesting with a lot of great experiences, don’t be in such a rush to move along.

I personally find that it’s the chance, informal encounters that act as the glue for the entire conference and help firm up the overall value.

If you have any tips that you would like to share, please add them in the comments – people would love to see them!

Disclaimer: while some of my best friends in the world work at NetSuite, this article is not a paid endorsement of NetSuite or their tactics.

Sage Summit 2012 is mere weeks away and I personally am very excited to once again be meeting up with the diverse and talented pool of people that make up the Sage ecosystem - the employees, the partners and the customers. It’s a necessity for anyone that wants to sharpen the saw and find out what’s coming down the road for Sage.

Looking back to last year, the entire events team really outdid themselves (search this site for the numerous articles – it was a blast) and they set the bar high for themselves.

No worries though!

Not content to rest on their success, it seems that the events team took feedback from last year to heart and have made some improvements in key areas. One area in particular that seems to have received a shot in the arm is the formal content. There seems to be a lot more in the way of valuable sessions in all areas – including marketing and business development which are my favorite tracks.

In addition, they are trying out some new, innovative ideas to help attendees actively network and get information from their peers with the Sage City concept. Sage City addresses some of the concerns of networking in such a big crowd and it allows like-minded people to come together to talk and share ideas.

I can’t wait to see how it plays out.

For me, like many who attend, the value is in the informal get-togethers in between the sessions and the structured events to share war stories with other like-minded business owners. If Sage City improves on those experiences, that’s a good thing.

In general, the event itself is always well organized, fast-moving and over too soon.

I struggle organizing lunch for my small business so I can only imagine all the challenges that it takes to coordinate something of this scale and make it seem so effortless. The entire events team deserves a lot of respect for pulling this feat off and continuing to up the ante each and every year.

With all that in mind, I saw that one of the Sage competitors, NetSuite, has decided to crash the party and piss in the punchbowl.

I suppose the management at NetSuite has seen some of the changes at Sage and in the Sage channel and felt that this is a great opportunity for them to pick up some business. I have to ask if this is the impression that they want to make?

In my head, I’m imagining a lawyer chasing an ambulance
… or a desperate fan stalking a celebrity
… or boiler rooms calling on old folks with their latest pump and dump scheme to defraud them of their life savings
… or a used car salesman in their prime trying to fleece an earnest buyer.

Fill in your own image.

It’s not a flattering picture frankly and it’s downright disrespectful to a lot of hard-working folks who have put a lot of effort in to making Sage Summit 2012 a success. I don’t think any more needs to be said about what many are calling despicable actions except to leave off with this:

“We are our choices.”
―    Jean-Paul Sartre

[UPDATE: I have had some individuals approach me via forums and privately and ask me what the beef is here and what is unethical about this behavior. Some feel that all is fair in love and war (and business).

I agree but I also feel - as the final quote sums up nicely - we are defined by our choices and actions. I think this is a question for each of us to decide individually: how do you want to be defined?]

Luckily for all involved, Sage leadership has seemingly woken up to these new, and growing, set of expectations and now it’s a matter of proper, disciplined execution on the road ahead. There is no doubt that this journey of transformation will continue to experience bumps in the road with some painful ramifications for many involved.

But it’s completely necessary if Sage wants to survive in the new economy.

If you don’t believe this, consider companies like Blockbuster Video, RIM, Sears, Best Buy and others that – not waking up in time to the transformations in their particular industries – have been either put out of business completely or dramatically crippled.

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW

For my own part, I believe that Sage will not only survive but come through this transformation stronger than ever. This belief is built primarily on what I see occurring in Sage North America as a Sage partner – I am not close enough to the situation in the UK to comment on Sage UK except from what I can glean from analyst discussions.

Since the arrival of Pascal Houillon, the Sage North America president and CEO, in early 2011, Sage NA has been undergoing significant changes on a path that they have dubbed their “Transformation Journey.” Some of these changes have been difficult to understand and downright impossible to reconcile with the image of the Sage of old.

Maybe that’s a good thing though. Because the old ways just aren’t working any more for software publishers.

Grasping this fundamental need to shift away from the old, Sage has steadily been developing a stronger sense of self-reliance and determination. They are increasingly showing a resistance to going “gentle into that good night.”

I applaud this new tenacity and feel that it is long overdue.

ONLY THE STRONG WILL SURVIVE

The unfortunate side-effect to this new posture has been serious alienation of the extensive Sage channel which is one of the key assets in Sage North America. My personal opinion is that this has created friction and un-productive actions and consequences that possibly could have been avoided.

The good news is that recent overtures by Sage have shown a willingness to reach out the channel and be more inclusive. Time will tell if this fence-mending is here to stay and if it will be effective.

Whether that manifests or not, in a different article, Dennis Howlett makes the following point regarding the channel:

There is a large channel of resellers who have become disillusioned in recent times. But so what? Where are they going to go if Sage turns around and says ‘game over?’ This is a problem for all software vendors that have a reseller model. Sage just happens to be the big dog in many markets.

As a partner, these are painful words to hear – particularly because they ring true. If Sage isn’t strong enough to weather the storm and emerge victorious, what happens to the channel, the customers, the employees? It would be a lose-lose-lose situation for all involved.

It’s absolutely essential that Sage makes the moves necessary to survive and thrive in the new, Internet-fueled, Cloud-based world and it’s just as essential that individual Sage partners do the same for their businesses.

For some partners, the road ahead will include combining forces with other resellers – either through mergers and acquisitions or through formalized partnerships. For other partners, the path will include diversifying their product portfolios and taking on other vendor solutions – a huge expense and undertaking that may prove that the grass is not greener on the other side of the fence.

At the end of the day, the age-old adage, “only the strong survive,” will play out for all involved – Sage and partner alike.

CORE VS NON-CORE

Regardless, for all involved, Sage has laid down a clear shift in policy with their recent pronouncement of separating product and business lines into “core” vs “non-core” categories. While the specifics of what these designations means is unclear to many at this point, my gut and my brain tell me this move makes sense.

By applying these designations, Sage effectively helps individual employees – management and rank-and-file alike – identify which products should receive which amount of attention. It helps define organizational structure and focus throughout the organization.

There is some unfortunate confusion from the use of “core” and “non-core”.

For many people, ”non-core” might signify products and business lines that are ready for sale or sunsetting (essentially a starvation of research and development dollars in a planned march to obsolescence). Sage executives have said that this is not the intent and, given the customer base, value and revenue for many of the “non-core” products, I will take them at face value.

Perhaps better designations would have been “core” and “select” or even ”strategic” and “specialized”? My opinion wasn’t asked during the naming so I will leave it at that.

EXPANDING SOLUTIONS TO MEET CUSTOMER NEEDS

With a stronger focus on their core mission – providing excellent software solutions to help small and medium-sized businesses (SMB’s) reach their goals - Sage is delivering much-needed additive solutions to customers’ ERP application. This presents opportunities for current partners and customers alike.

These solutions include – but are not limited to – a wide variety of software applications including: CRM (Sage CRM), credit card processing (Sage Payment Solutions), business intelligence (Sage Intelligence formerly Alchemix) and other products designed to deliver key functionality required by the typical SMB.

The prevailing thought goes “why not stick with good products from a proven vendor”? If you are happy with your Sage 100 ERP (aka MAS) or your Sage 300 ERP (aka Accpac), why not take a look at one of the Sage family products that deliver additional functionality that you most likely need (even if you haven’t quite yet identified that need yet)?

THE NEW OPPORTUNITY

As part of their new, more self-determined approach, Sage is no longer content to sit back and hope customers get the message about the expanded family of products. They are implementing plans to spread the word directly to uncover existing needs, build awareness and drive demand.

Before Sage takes the reins on this, Sage partners are being given the opportunity to participate by either becoming certified on individual products and conducting their own campaigns to introduce the products (and increase the attach rate among their existing customers) or by formally establishing an official affiliation with another partner that specializes with the selected product.

Partners can also choose to opt-out of introducing any of these add-on products and Sage will perform the necessary work. If Sage identifies interested customers, they reserve the right to align those customers with partners that represent the product filling the particular need.

As previously mentioned, the Sage channel is strong and brimming with extremely loyal customers. Many of these customers will look to their chosen partner for guidance on selecting those specific solutions so it will be telling if the channel and Sage re-align in common interest to assist the customers in evaluating their choices.

INITIAL (ADMITTEDLY ANECDOTAL) EVIDENCE IS ENCOURAGING

From my own perspective as a dedicated reseller of Sage CRM, I have already begun to see activity in the channel embracing the new opportunities. In the scant two weeks since the Sage announcement of the new drive to introduce Sage CRM to existing customers, I have been approached by close to a dozen partners looking to work together to help spread the gospel of the power of Sage CRM.

I imagine that this will continue to grow over time as partners evaluate their options. A huge driver of this will be the newly instated Sage Regional Growth Managers who are dedicated to working with channel partners to help them engage in the process.

Given the choice of controlling their own destinies and directly advising their customers – either independently or via a partnership – or deferring to Sage to spread the word, most partners will naturally prefer to remain involved. Again, time will tell.

WHERE TO FROM HERE?

While all of the moves described above are long-term positive for customer, partner and Sage alike, they don’t directly answers the growing demands for Cloud-based solutions. Regarding this need, there are plans in the works that offer viable choices – some already in place (such as Sage CRM Cloud, Sage 100 Online and Sage 300 Online) and others to be unveiled over the near-term.

While it’s understandable to be wary of traditional software vendors’ attempts to transition existing product sets successfully to the Cloud, I recently met with several key Sage executives and was reminded of the talent in the Sage management team. This is particularly true on the product side and I came away with a deep respect for the talents of Alok Tyagi, Senior VP of R&D, and new Sage addition, Doug LaBahn, Senior VP, Mid-Market ERP and CRM Solutions, Product Management and Marketing (where do they think up these titles?).

Both of these gentlemen displayed great insight, strong vision and solid understanding of the marketplace and customer needs. I was suitably impressed – and that takes a lot of doing.

Of course, we’ll see if the execution can match the vision over the coming months and years. I, for one, am in the hopeful optimistic camp.

In two weeks time, I imagine all of these topics will be fodder for conversations – formally and informally between sessions and in-the-halls – at Sage Summit 2012 and I am looking forward to it. If you are a partner or customer (I don’t think prospects are invited but they should be) and haven’t already signed up for Summit, I encourage you to do so immediately.

If you are going already, stop by the Azamba booth and share your thoughts!

Just wipe it off and good as new!

In the various social networking groups that I belong to I often see people talking about “strong” products. The argument goes that success in the marketplace is reliant upon the importance of having software with strong feature sets using current technology.

I always find this to be an interesting point of view.

Interesting, but wrong.

In general, customers don’t purchase products solely based on strong features and current technology. Most companies routinely select products that are not considered the best on features alone because of other considerations in the decision-making process.

These considerations usually involve evaluation upon the 5 Ps:

• Product – This is the solution and focuses on benefits and values.
• Price – This is fairly obvious but can be subtle by including different pricing options to make it easy to purchase. Pricing needs to be competitive and reasonable.
• Promotion – This is the amount and type of information that you provide for prospects to ease decision making.
• Place – This is where and how you get the product into the customers’ hands and can include a channel, direct sales and retail among other options.
• People – This is the factor that defines the relationship between the customer and the product.

If we evaluate a company (and product) such as Salesforce.com, you will find many folks that believe in the superiority of their product because of their success. The argument goes “they are successful, so their product must be the best”. Their success as a company has led people to believe in the strength of the product.

This logic is inverted and, with some digging under the hood and comparing Salesforce.com at the product feature level with comparative products, people quickly find that is not the case.

This is not to say that their product is defective but rather, like all other software products, it has value and benefits in certain areas and deficiencies in other areas.

Salesforce.com as a company grew quickly not because of reliance on the single P of product  but because they performed extremely well on the other elements - in particular, price, promotion and place.

Think about this: most software purchases are run by accounting and IT groups who get invovled to slow down the process and introduce barriers to any single vendor.

By pricing and placing and promoting the Salesforce.com product the way they did – in a time where others were selling software in a traditional fashion (requiring accounting and IT group input), Salesforce positioned themselves to have a quick go – no go decision made at the departmental level within departmental spedning limits.

No accounting or IT involvement needed and, most likely, those other departments only found out about the purchase after the fact and entrenchment had begun.

This allowed Salesforce to turn sales faster and make more sales possible in a compressed amount of time as compared to the traditional solutions.

As an interesting aside, because of their tremendous success, Salesforce has created a situation where they are now at a crossroads as they continue their drive for bigger and more. Will they transition outside of their core business successfully (like Nike) or will they fragment into a confusing mess (like Microsoft)?

Putting aside Salesforce’s current challenges, let’s talk about the flip side to how Salesforce acheived their success.

What happens to a company that has so-so product and they fail to execute exceedingly well on the other 4 Ps?

As a specific example, what would happen to a company that had such so-so products (either by missing the mark of customer desires or by not keeping product features and technology current) but instead of executing like Salesforce, they:

1. Priced themselves too high (price) – either by price increases or simply not paying attention to the competition.
2. Dramatically shifted how customers are introduced to the products (place) – this could be by eliminating or alienating a current distribution method (retail stores, channel partners, etc.).
3. Replaced quality support with untrained staff (people) – this could be a result of shifting distribution methods or not investing properly in customer service.

I think in this type of situation, a vendor might see some short-term bottom line gains until the marketplace adjusts to the new reality. After such time, the long-term outcome for this company would begin looking bleak.

Let’s focus on just one of the elements above – specifically how a weak placement would impact a vendor. In particular, let’s say a vendor organization decides to restructure their current distribution method and start using direct sales efforts that either completely replaces their channel or actively competes with it with no regard to properly communicating their plans with their channel.

The immediate impact should be a short-term revenue increase as the shift reallocates monies that formerly went to support channel activities in to the vendor’s coffers.

I say “should be” because changes of this nature can create a short-term downfall as well during the transition as existing channel members would be distracted, confused and otherwise spending too much time absorbing changes as opposed to traditional activities such as marketing, selling and servicing new accounts.

And long-term? The situation is less certain for the vendor.

This all hinges on the fact that channels exist for many reasons – most of which are economic in nature. (Some might naively feel that the channel is only in place to show brochures and conduct sales demonstrations but this is a short-sighted view at best.)

Channels serve many critical functions – particularly with vendors that are weak in multiple facets of the 5 Ps. A strong channel supplements and complements the vendor’s activities to ensure proper penetration and exposure of the products.

When discussing the effectiveness of a channel, it is important to start by understanding the fundamental idea that channel business owners have a high economic interest to sell and service their selected vendor’s product. This is their livelihood and their financial and personal goals are intrinsically tied to doing a great job in representing the selected vendor’s products.

Typically, this vested interest goes far beyond those of a standard employee in a similar direct sales role. In fact, most vendors actively discourage consolidation in channels as one plus one usually equals less than 2 as former owners become employees.

In such a situation where consolidation is actively or passively encouraged by vendor policies, a fragile situation can occur in which big channel partners are dramatically impacted by even the smallest shifts in the vendor’s channel.

In such situations, such partners built upon consolidation can be placed in precarious situations that jeopardize their solvency if the vendor makes moves such as cutting margins or shifting to direct sales. This is a dangerous situation for everyone involved – the channel partner, the vendor and the customers.

The other long-term consideration is that when you eliminate (or being competing with) a channel and do not consider the costs of replacing these functions, there will be unintended consequences across the customer’s perception of the vendor and the vendor’s products.

This will quickly start to erode efforts in creating or continuing vendor brand development as new employees at the vendor with less education and understanding of the products are placed on the front lines in replacement of long-standing channel partner employees with countless years of real-world experience and understanding of customer business needs.

Ultimately, the results of this type of shift is robbing tomorrow for today’s gains.

These types of situations look good for the short-term but the long-term is uncertain at best and a train wreck at worst.

This is just one example and, of course, many companies without strong products exist without a channel or a weak placement component. However, their success is contingent upon them executing exceedingly well on the other elements.

In our example above, the hypothetical company is looking at deficiencies in four of the five Ps: product, price, place, people.

If I was a shareholder of such a company, I would be concerned.

In summary, the five Ps have been a long established tenet of successful businesses. Ignore them at your own peril.

She has taken excellent care of him and their family.

She took on the responsibilities of being a homemaker – handling the finances, keeping up the house, cooking the meals, taking the kids to school, ensuring the kids grow up healthy and strong.

It’s a lot of work to make those tasks look easy.

If you ask her, she would say that she did it willingly – knowing that she fulfilled an essential role in the partnership. She took on these responsibilities and chores to ensure the overall well-being of the family.

She’s no saint though and wouldn’t suggest that she is. Just as he has benefitted from her taking on these tasks to free him to pursue other responsibilities for the family, she has benefitted as well.

He appreciated her playing this role and I can tell you without revealing any big secret that he wouldn’t be where he is today without her.

And man oh man … let me tell you – he has come a long way from his humble beginnings.

A lot of our mutual friends have commented for years on what a great relationship it is. A true partnership where they have built a wonderful life together.

Sounds perfect, right?

It was.

Early last year, he came to me and said he was re-thinking their relationship. Apparently she isn’t fulfilling his needs any more. Upon pressing him, it goes further than that. He feels that she is actively holding him back from reaching his life goals and objectives.

I can see how that happens after 20 years. Particularly in this fast-changing world we live in.

The problem is that instead of talking to her and figuring out a game plan that they both could live with, he has slowly started making changes in their lives to improve his own situation with no regard to her feelings or her life goals and objectives.

He changed the limit on their credit cards to ensure she is in line financially with his expectations. He replaced her leased car with a bicycle. He took over some of her closet space as his own.

Sure … he has his reasons for these moves ranging from sensical to downright bizarre (such as “other wives are asking for smaller closet space”).

Regardless.

The list of changes goes on and he isn’t done yet. He keeps making these unilateral moves that seem designed to weaken her and strengthen him.

Some of our mutual friends suggest that this all started when he began hanging out with a new crowd of single guys – most of which have not been in a mutually beneficial relationship for any real length of time.

And these new advisors don’t really understand why he can’t do whatever he wants however he wants whenever he wants to achieve his goals. They don’t see why he should have to consult with her – after all, they are *his* goals and dreams and they don’t see why her goals and dreams would impact that.

These guys are great, smart guys but, because of their backgrounds, our group of friends don’t think they have a solid understanding of the mutual benefits of what can be accomplished with a strong partnership and why he still needs her around. They speak the language but they just don’t seem to have the proper perspective.

I mean, let’s face facts here.

I love my buddy but he’s kind of let himself go to pot in a few areas.

He is grossly overweight these days, he smokes like a chimney and has developed a nasty, persistent cough. Even more dangerous to his future well-being, he’s never been a believer in keeping current on anything.

Don’t get me wrong – he’s a great guy in a lot of areas and has a lot to offer but I think he needs to do an honest assessment. And part of that assessment will show that she has been a key part of helping him succeed in spite of any perceived short-comings. And I would guess that she is critical to acheiving his new ambitions as well.

And what about her?

Well … it’s true that she has let herself get a little complacent over the years. She settled in to a comfortable rut and seems pretty happy with the status quo even though the world around her is changing (although she doesn’t like to hear that).

Putting that aside, she is still fit, looking great and sharp as a tack.

A lot of guys would love to be in a relationship with her and she regularly gets propositioned out of the blue. (I’m not suggesting these other guys are any better than my friend but the excitement of the pursuit and the chance of something new and better is very appealing to her.)

I don’t think he or his single friends that have not have a long-term partnership experience have thought that through all the way.

And with all the changes that he has been forcing upon her, she has become extremely uncertain about their future together. I’m sure that he’s heard it same as me – she is beginning to respond to some of the overtures and is flirting around with other guys. It’s just a matter of time before she does something irreversible.

Putting all that aside, I’m worried about their kids. I asked him point blank about this – what is he going to do about their kids they’ve had together?

He was pretty clear that he feels that they are his kids – not hers. That was shocking to me.

I’ve been to their family functions. They have a LOT of kids together. Some of the kids love their mom deeply. And, for sure, some love dad better. Regardless, the kids are going to be effected by these changes and I’m not sure it will turn out the way he thinks.

I guess we’ll see.

One thing is for certain though – if things keep going the way that they have been, it’s unlikely that she is going to have any more kids with him. As I said, odds are that she’ll be taking up with another guy and probably wind up with kids with her new man.

Look – I’m not naïve about the difficulties of marriage. I completely understand my buddy’s fear of the future and his desire to change in response to what he sees coming. I get it.

But … I think he’s going about it all wrong. Because he hasn’t had the courage to sit down and talk with his wife about his fears and his goals, he is risking losing her completely.

And it’s going to happen soon. Very soon.

Putting all appearances aside based on his actions, I know he truly doesn’t want that. Ok, he may not love her like he used to but he is the first one to admit that he still needs her to keep up the household and take care of the kids so they are happy and healthy.

(As an aside, I get the sense that he doesn’t understand exactly how much work it is to keep the current set of kids happy and healthy. He thinks she should be cranking out new ones all the time and can’t understand how she can have a fulfilling life without a regular batch of new kids. It seems to me that there is a lot of work just taking care of existing kids and plenty of opportunities to nurture them but I’m not sure he understands or believes.)

Do things need to change for both of them to have a prosperous, happy future? Yes. Absolutely. No doubt about it. Both sides will need to change and adapt to the current realities.

My recommendation to my friend is pretty simple: sit down face-to-face and plan a future together … or expect a future apart.

And don’t just talk.

Listen too. And be prepared to change your plans based on what you hear.

It’s simply not reasonable to re-define the relationship at this stage without any consideration to her dreams and goals.

Bare minimum, he has to understand that adopting a policy of steadily changing the rules without explaining or discussing them makes him seem insensitive, irrational and irresponsible. It really paints him in a bad light to her and to all their mutual friends and to the kids.

Personally, I wouldn’t treat anyone like that – particularly someone that has stood by me for years. I think it shows a serious lack of character on my friend’s part and it flies in the face of the great guy that I know he is and strives to be.

Either way, I can guarantee that if he keeps acting as if her views don’t matter, she will leave him. Soon.

I hope that doesn’t happen. I believe strongly that the two of them can achieve more by staying and working together than they can by drifting apart.

The ball is in his court now. Let’s see what he does with it.

For all I know, maybe he really doesn’t care. Maybe he has grown set on succeeding without her?

We’ll see.

If you have any advice for the troubled couple, please share it below.