The Point of Choice

When your customer is choosing to hire you, buy your stuff or not, or choosing between you and your competitors – what is really going on in their minds?

You need to know.  Find out.

St. George and the Dragon

Sometimes you slay the dragon and sometimes he slays you. 

Get a good night’s sleep. 

Get up tomorrow and go after him again.

MBWA

Management By Walking Around.  Get out of your chair and walk around your business.  Observe.  Talk to people.  Spend some time.  It’s amazing what you learn…

Damn good questions.

What are two or three most important questions before your business right now?

Maybe they aren’t new.  Maybe nobody has wanted to bring it up or talk about it.  Maybe it’s such an all encompassing, taken-for-granted cloud over your business that nobody called it yet.  Maybe it’s about now.  Maybe it’s about the future.

Ask the big questions.  What are they?

“A highly creative act”

Each day we get to mold this living multi-faceted thing called our business.  Each change, tweak, decision, and new actor changes the melody and reponse.

You’re the creator, and conductor.

The perpetually indispensable leader

Unless they’re in a crisis or new on the job, if a leader is always needed for all decisions, they haven’t done the job well.

Leaders must develop more leaders, not just followers.

Are you developing leaders in your organization?

What matters in growing a business?

All activities in getting customers to say yes to your product or service.  This could include many things.  All the rest is just internal processes.

The best companies focus more on doing what they have to do to get customers to chose what they offer.

How about you?

Too much for one person?

Often owners of businesses are overwhelmed with things they could or should do.  They have to cope with it by delegating, chosing the highest value activities, working hard, fast and long, and still leaving things undone.

But just because you are dealing with overwhelm, don’t do that to your people.  Set them up for success in their jobs.  As your business grows notice who needs help (and who can do more).  Make it just right for them.

Nothing works the first time

Until you have the key distinctions identified, the right people executing, and get better at it, it’s not likely to get great results the first or second time out. 

Before you make a decision to abandon something because it didn’t work, ask – “Was it that, or was it me (us)?”

We all have ADD

The new scracity is attention as it gets divided into ever smaller pieces.  People want to do what’s fast and fun.

Is your marketing “infotainment”?  Can it be?