You’ve 60 Seconds to Make Up Your Mind

You must make up your mind in 60 seconds.

No time to think. No time to change your mind. Answer Yes, or No.

What are you going to do?

Has anybody ever given you a choice where you had to make a decision almost instantly?

How did that make you feel?

What if it was a $41 billion decision?

I’m asking that question because the feature story in almost every newspaper in America this past week was the high-stakes poker game being played by Cingular and Vodafone over AT&T Wireless.

The winner would become the largest wireless communications company in the United States. The loser. Well, you know what happens to losers.

As you go through life you must capture the opportunities that come your way. Do so and you can become a HUGE success.

Let them slip through your fingers, and you’re an alsoran.

The payoff for making this strategic acquisition is huge. If Cingular, which is jointly owned by SBC and BellSouth, were to win the AT&T Wireless auction it would extend its reach to 97 of the nation’s top 100 markets, and would have 46 million customers.

It’s late Monday night. The Cingular team has yet to hear from AT&T Wireless as to who has won the bidding war.

At 9:30pm, James Kahan, the head of SBC’s mergers and acquisitions department, called his lead attorney Joseph Frumkin. He suggested that Mr. Frumkin contact Steven Rosenblum, his counterpart at AT&T Wireless’ law firm, to ask if they would be open to receiving one more bid from Cingular.

Mr. Frumkin had one more requirement: Cingular would offer $15 per share – $41 billion – if AT&T Wireless would make its decision within 60 seconds of receiving the revised offer.

They said yes.

SBC and BellSouth went to work. Midnight conference calls were scheduled for the boards of directors of both companies. By 1:40am both boards had approved the offer.

At 2:15am on a cold February night, the Cingular legal team walked the four blocks to meet with AT&T Wireless’ executives, board members and attorneys. At 2:30am the deal was signed.

In London it was 8:30am. The board of Vodafone was about to meet to approve the deal that Chief Executive Arun Sarin had negotiated the night before. Just before the meeting was about it begin he received a phone call informing him that Cingular had already closed the deal.

I can only wonder what the members of his board of directors had to say to him when their meeting started.

Three Lessons Learned
There are a three lessons we can learn from these events.

1. Capture Your Opportunities.
As you go through life, there are some opportunities that you can’t allow to slip through your fingers. You must do everything possible to close the deal.

But that means you must see the opportunity in the first place.

Unfortunately, most of us are too busy looking at the knots in the trees to see the tree itself, let alone the forest.

We’re doing things that keep us busy – but offer little or no payoff – instead of being productive.

We’re so busy putting out fires, many are the result of arson, that we don’t have time to think about – let alone – execute our strategic goals and objectives. Then we wonder why we’re working so hard, and have so little to show for it.

2. Don’t take anything for granted.
Dot your I’s and cross your T’s. You can’t take anything for granted.

Create a sense of urgency.

Vodafone ‘assumed’ they had a deal. But they forgot the #1 rule in sales: A deal isn’t a deal until the contract’s signed. Apparently, they weren’t in a hurry to get it done. They hadn’t given AT&T Wireless an agreement to sign.

The Vodafone board of directors was going to consider a sweetened offer at 9:00am London time, 3:00am NYC time.

By then they were too late. The deal with Cingular was signed, sealed and delivered. It was DONE! The champagne was flowing.

3. Pick up the telephone.
Don’t be a wall flower. If you want to talk with someone, pick up the phone.

If you’ve got a question, pick up the phone. If you’re looking for new customers, pick up the phone.

What would have happened if James Kahan hadn’t called Joseph Frumkin. Nothing!

The telephone is the most efficient way of finding prospects and creating opportunities.

Cingular acquired AT&T Wireless because they decided not to sit around and wait for AT&T Wireless’ attorneys to tell them if they had won or lost. James Kahan picked up the phone and changed the rules of the game.

He gave Cingular one last opportunity and they walked away with the grand prize.

– Jeffrey