Your brand will quickly fade from the audience’s memory if they do not hear what’s at stake if they chose someone else other than yours. Define what can be won or lost if people don’t engage in the story you are inviting them into. Your story will become interesting if there are stakes, and therefore remembered. - Content comes from Bu...

Thinking the hiring of a salesman will automatically increase sales is wishful thinking. In addition to having a salesman, understand the steps your customer takes to make a purchase and monitor the progress of each lead. Your sales team will be motivated to lead customers down the path to the sale when there is a system. - Content com...

Even though we may not think much about managing our time, it gets managed and may not be spent in the most ideal way since it is not proactively managed. Know how to block your time by writing down what meetings you have for the day and times you do not want to be distracted. Leverage the rhythm you create when you plan your day so yo...

The chapter on leadership in Business Made Simple covers: mission statement, key characteristics, critical actions, telling a great story and theme. Some mission statements leave out their why. Consider including your “theme” as part of your mission statement. Define a theme for your company as it will help those internal and external ...

Back to chapter one in the Business Made Simple book, on character. This will be the final pass through each chapter and then finish the book with 5 days back on character. So for today’s observation regarding character, those who may have a tendency to avoid conflict are less likely to attract followers. Know how to navigate conflict ...

If you expect the team to win and fail to give a way for them to determine progress or weakness, you will likely be disappointed. Having rules and showing they are supported by providing measurements are key. Create scoreboards, for each division. Employees will know how they are doing and it does wonders for morale. - Content comes fr...

As a manager, avoid using people. Don’t praise them for the good things they do and then get rid of them when they fail. Provide both praise and helpful feedback to members of your team. People will succeed over and over when you show them the care they deserve. - Content comes from Business Made Simple book (Chapter 10: Management)

Some negotiators get carried away by their emotions, especially when they are wanting one thing and only that one thing. Leverage is lost. Have more than one option you would be satisfied with at the end, before you enter a negotiation. You will avoid being emotionally hooked and there will be less chance your emotions will control you...

Good offers can still be rejected if a simple format or formula is not followed. The prospect may not understand enough about the transaction or may not know the benefits of doing the deal. Provide a proposal to remind the customer of the story you are inviting them into. This sales document will remove confusion so they can make a dec...

Does your audience know how to respond, when you are communicating? Inspiring communication will motivate people to respond and they will want to contribute. When giving a presentation, know the action you want your audience to be challenged to take and include it as a call to action. Those hearing the challenge will be able to share o...

When money is spent on marketing before resources are invested in e-mail marketing, the money could be spent on more effective and less expensive marketing tactics. Obtain emails by suppling a solution in a lead generator. The lead generator could be a pdf, e-book, or video and should provide free value. Prospective customers will move...

Remember from a previous post from Chapter 5 on Messaging in the book Business Made Simple, a business must position themselves as the guide. The guide gets the name guide by guiding the ‘hero’ into action, right? The guidance must be firm, to maintain authority and for the customer (hero) to trust it will work. Customers may not be bu...

Companies are mistaken when they think their great product will get the attention it should just because it is now available. Gauge interest in a product before it exists by creating a sales page to test marketing language. You’ll attract people to the great product or service you are selling when you develop good marketing. - Content ...

As people succeed, options and the number of decisions increase because more opportunities come their way. Time becomes more and more of a precious and scarce resource. Focus becomes increasingly critical, especially in an atmosphere of news always at our finger tips, urgent e-mails, and the shiny thing over there. Say no to distractio...

Most companies mistakenly tell their history because they are not aware of a different way to tell their story. History entails things that have happened in your past while your story can be a way to explain what you do that get people interested to join you. Utilize the appropriate story formula to tell your story so you attract more ...

People put themselves at a disadvantage when they do not listen to and accept feedback. Get feedback from people you trust, invited feedback and uninvited feedback. Grow in your career using feedback. - Content comes from Business Made Simple book (Chapter 1: Character)

In execution so far, the Business Made Simple book covered a launch meeting (see my post #11) and a one pager (#22). Even with a launch meeting and the annual goals listed out in a one pager, many initiatives die right after they begin. E-mails and meetings bring up urgent items and easily distract. To ensure the items listed on the on...

‘Productive’ people may think they are productive because they are doing, doing, doing. Studying and adjusting the process must take place to increase productivity; productivity defined as getting more output from the level of activity. Find out what you and the team determine to be limiting factors that may be holding things up. Effic...

Those negotiating may miss out on the ability to leverage a powerful force in negotiation. Make the initial offer to establish an anchor for the negotiation. Once an anchor is there, the conversation and negotiation will gravitate to that initial offer. - Content comes from Business Made Simple book (Chapter 9: Negotiation)

Potential customers choose not to purchase when the salesperson fails to guide them to resolve their problem. Salespeople do not realize the lost sale root cause. You need to develop talking points to invite customers into a story, and repeat the points again and again. Your customer will see you as the guide they need since you are re...

And we are back to the chapter 7, helping create great communicators. Presenters give advice but when they don't provide a vision of a better future, the presenters lose the opportunity to give the audience a reason to take said advice. You can (and you should) inspire your audience by foreshadowing a climactic scene in your presentati...

Three items any organization will find useful for marketing purposes are a one-liner, a website, and an e-mail campaign. For more information on a one-liner, look at #17. Those having a website created may think the point is for people to read the site and be informed and that is about it. There is more of an opportunity. Your website ...

Those trying to sell miss the opportunity to gain the interest of prospects because they start off telling their own story so people do not know why they should continue to listen. Define the problem you solve so your marketing message is clear. You will get more attention because your audience will be interested in the conflict you in...

With endless options on what items to sell, business owners and executives make the wrong choices on which items to send their sales resources to. Products and services receiving these limited resources are being counted on to bring in cash to support future spend to create more demand. Analyze the products and services you are selling...

Last time I posted on the topic of productivity in #14, the recommendation was to create a list of 3 primary tasks and have a separate list of secondary tasks (or to do’s). If we were asked what part of the day would be the best time to work on those primary tasks, we may say working on it first thing is best but is it common knowledge...

A lot of core values are written in a handbook but remain just words if employees don’t do anything because of them. Define critical actions employees can do daily that supports success and accomplishing the mission. Employees will move and do it daily and the actions the employees take will be aligned throughout the organization. - Co...

Unnecessary drama exists and is even used as a tool by people. Drama costs energy and costs the organization money. Determine the level of drama a situation ought to have and react a little under this level. Bring value to a project and team by having the skills to de-escalate drama. Keeping your cool will gain the respect of the team....

E-mails, phone calls and direct messages may determine how you and your team decides what to work on and the items that should be getting done take a back seat. Balls sometimes drop but the most important ones should not. To stay reminded of important priorities, have your team members fill out a one-pager that lays out personal and de...

A manager who does not measure critical performance indicators will not be able to tell the team how they are doing and the team will not have a clear idea of expectations. Determine what key performance indicators lead to your successful finished product or deliverable and make sure you can measure the important indicators. The team w...

The term “below the line” refers to items outside of the direct cost of the transaction. Some negotiations could go differently if items outside of the apparent financial terms were considered. A deal could get done quicker or possibly cheaper with some further work. When involved in negotiation, look for things you can offer below the...