Tom Clements

I wanted to write a book for almost as long as I wanted to own my own company. It seemed like there were a lot of books on business skills and very few on processes. Originally, I was going to write a book on selling (my background). As I was researching and writing, I realized that there were many books on sales (including overcoming objections, closing, benefits, etc.) but very few on why buying your goods or services made sense for the purchaser. Every time I put pen to paper (that’ll tell you how long ago that was), I found that understanding sales and the sales process was only part of the problem.

Over the years, I noticed that a lot of people have misperceptions on many aspects of business. People struggled with not just the more complicated issues like capitalization or balance sheet analysis but also with common issues like why it’s important to focus investment where it will get the best long-term return, why it’s important to keep accounts receivable low, or even understanding what gross margin is. In today’s world of reduced headcounts and empowering local employees to make decisions, it is apparent that in many cases, these employees did not have the skill set or training to execute the plan. Even “run of the mill employees” do not understand the implications of many of their activities and could be so much more productive if they did.

When I entered the nonprofit world, I even found key stakeholders unaware of the implications of their decisions. They never had the exposure to either business concepts or prioritization of tasks. It blew me away the amount of “do-gooders” out there that are trying to run a business—because that’s what a nonprofit is—without a clue about how to do it. Now, don’t get me wrong. I am a firm believer in that God will provide. But He asks us to put on the armor, to go out to the field and engage the enemy. He doesn’t say, “Sit in the tents doing nothing while I dispatch your enemy.

And so I wrote this book. Truly, this was a collaborative effort. I want to thank the many managers through the years who taught me the skills mentioned in this book:: Steve Tonissen and Steve Olson at the Service Bureau Company, a division of Control Data Corporation; Paul Parrish at Honeywell; and Rodger Johnson and Richard Brock at Brock Control Systems. A special thanks goes out to Charles Johnson of my first venture capital investor, Noro-Moseley, who took an interest in me while his company invested in my little software company. It is amazing how much you can learn about business and life when you have to make payroll at 2:00 p.m. and don’t have any money at 8:30 a.m.!

I also learned much from customers and prospects and as much, if not more, from those who didn’t buy. But it was when I got to raise money for nonprofits that I got to dialogue in a transparent manner with donors who would tell me very directly why they would or would not donate to the cause that I was promoting. They helped me see what I was doing wrong and how I could appeal to their desires. I want to thank Nick Bain, David Hanna, Frank Hanna III, and Chris Donahue for their honest feedback and “gentle” prodding.

Friends like Greg Palen, Gordon Drake, John Maguire, Chris Lee, Greg Erbs, Ivens Mendońca, Vince Koehler, and Mark Valentino answered seemingly out-of-left-field questions and gave me direction on how to proceed with difficult concepts—thank you.

I want to especially thank Fr. John Connor, territory director for the Legionaries of Christ, Inc., for all of his and other members of the movement’s time and advice.

Of course, most of these experiences happened because I had the full support of my wife, Julie, and our children to go off and do all of the crazy projects that made up my education. Your love and encouragement has given me the confidence to try new things. God bless you all.