Waterhouse Weekly Graphics

"What Got You Here Won't Get You There" with Marshal Goldsmith, PhD

2012-02-01T09:00:00.000-05:00

I know this is a long video but it is great to the core. About a year ago I read the book and it was a great read. If you like the video, buy the book, support Marshall and learn something.

How Top CEOs Cope with Constant Stress

2012-01-28T22:03:00.002-05:00

Whether you are a CEO or not, this video will give you some techniques for coping with the constant stress of today's world. It's encouraging that all of us can improve how we cope. Enjoy the video.

The Rewards of Delayed Gratification

2012-01-15T10:33:00.001-05:00

What is delayed gratification? What are the rewards of delayed gratification? Why is this something worth spending time thinking about?

Delayed gratification is nothing more than putting off the reward until the work is complete. This is as simple as not eating the cookie until the homework is done. It's as simple as doing your exercise today instead of tomorrow. It is doing what you should before what you want. Many people, as evidenced by our national debt and by our personal debt, can't save first and spend second. They can't wait to buy a new flatscreen after they save the money. It's too easy to just put it on the card.

When you practice delayed gratification it isn't fun to begin with but is sure is fun to reap the rewards. A few years ago our family bought a new boat. It was a boat we had wanted for a while and it was an upgrade over our current boat. It took some time but we saved the money to buy the boat. When we were finalizing the purchase of the boat we were asked if we wanted to use the sellers financing. It felt good to tell the seller that we couldn't afford his interest so we would just pay for the boat. It would have been fun to have the boat sooner but it was better for us to save and then spend.

Below is a cartoon I found online the other day that I thought told the story of delayed gratification better than anything I could do so I have added it below.

Overpowering Your Lizard Brain - Seth Godin

2012-01-10T19:43:00.002-05:00

Don't let the lizard brain send the wrong messages to your thoughts!

Focused Communication

2012-01-06T13:28:00.000-05:00

Currently I am reading a book by Cameron Herold called Double Double. Chapter 5 begins with the following statement about communicating that I thought would be good to share.

"Communication is difficult. To prove my point, try reading the next sentence six times, and put the emphasis on a different word each time.

"I Didn't Say You Were Beautiful"
"I Didn't Say You Were Beautiful"
"I Didn't Say You Were Beautiful"
"I Didn't Say You Were Beautiful"
"I Didn't Say You Were Beautiful"
"I Didn't Say You Were Beautiful"

If this set of six words can mean so many different things, it's no wonder that communication within a company can be so confusing and frustrating at times."

When working with a group of people make sure what you are saying is what is being heard. A great tool for this is to ask someone to repeat back what you have said in his or her own words. When doing this I have saved a tremendous amount of trouble.

Planning for the Future

2011-12-28T09:31:00.000-05:00

How well do you plan your future? Towards the end of a year is a good time to look at and plan for a new year. For our company we have just completed our 2012 Strategic Plan and one of our big goals for next year is a sales goal of $16 million in sales. This will be a slight increase over this year.

We know from our history that we can do OK if the economy is good and we treat our customers right but in an unstable economy and a shifting marketing mix - we have to do more. We are looking at existing clients that we have more opportunity with and are spending more time working on those opportunities. Our main focus though is adding new clients with net new business. We know as a sales team we need to push hard for next year and add a group of good customers in order to hit our goal.

To hit our goal, we as a sales team are focusing on three primary areas. We are tracking a certain number of business development calls, we are tracking new customer aquisition and we are tracking technology sales. We know if we hit our weekly activity goals our sales goal will happen.

On a weekly basis we meet and report this data. We then use the time to share stories of what went well and what we need to improve.

Take your goals for next year and break them into actions and smaller goals and push hard every week to win. This will make for a great 2012.

One More Push

2011-12-23T09:21:00.000-05:00

Being in an economic slowdown gives us all a new opportunity to do more. It seems that most, if not all, parts of the economy are experiencing some sort of slow down. We are now seeing it in our small part of the universe - it's not just a problem for other country or the other part of the US.

If each of our sales people is able to add one or two medium jobs a week, then we are back on track. That is well within the scope of our sales force. The amount of quoting is steady, so the business is there.

I'm sure this is true in many industries and parts of the country. Just a little extra effort each day will bring the level of business back to a point of sustainability. It's time to quit listening to the news and use that time to look for and land new business.

How We Learn

2011-12-16T09:19:00.000-05:00

"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand" is a saying credited to Confucius. Here is a saying capable of driving everything this blog is about. From sales to marketing to personal effectiveness to lean principles - this saying hits them all.

Without doing there is no sales. No one can help others sell a service or a product unless s/he has been in the trenches and has dealt with the disappointment of making a call, having a first meeting, making a presentation and then delivering the presentation to find out the business has been lost.

Without doing there is no marketing. The most ideal marketing plan is almost bound to fail if the team building the plan has never been part of successful team. Ideas that happen in a meeting room may be spectacular, but they don't have the backing of real life experience.

Without doing there is no personal effectiveness. I remember in the past reading book after book on personal effectiveness thinking this will be easy - my troubles are solved. Then the implementation happens and all the "what if" problems arise. It's after dealing with the "what if" problems that a real system can be developed.

Without doing there are no lean principles. In the lean philosophy, there is a concept called PDCA (plan, do, check, act) which is a system of trial and error with continual feedback and improvement. This is what Confucius was talking about. It takes real life to test any belief and then to improve on that belief.

All of these examples say to just get on with it - just start doing something. And then realize that forever the parts and pieces and systems will be changing and improving.

Our Future Customer Base - Worth Viewing!

2011-12-06T10:00:00.001-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-23T06:00:00.001-05:00

This is Thanksgiving week and it's one of my favorite weeks of the year. Living in a country that is full of blessings and having a life full of blessings it can be easy to take things for granted. I thought it would be worth sharing what I am thankful for.

I am thankful for my beliefs. When I think of how this country was founded and how the founders made sure each person could worship in freedom, I am incredibly thankful.

I am thankful for my family. My wife and kids are the main reason I get up every day and go to work. They are the driving force behind me trying to improve as a husband and dad.

I am thankful for my country. We live in a free country with incredible opportunity. We can chose where we live and we can chose what we do.

I am thankful for my job. I enjoy being able to help others and see them improve and grow. All of this and a paycheck - not bad.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Do You Work Hard - Not Like This!

2011-11-20T06:47:00.001-05:00

How many times have you heard someone claim s/he works 60 hours per week? How many times has that statement been true? Often times people have a way of exaggerating what they do. They will calculate the longest week they have ever worked, round up the number a little, and then use that as the average. To work a 60 hour week means working from 7 am to 8 pm, with a 1 hour lunch, 5 days a week. That would be an intense load. When I saw a headline about Jack Dorsey claiming he worked 80 hour weeks - I thought to myself that this can't be true. So, obviously, I had to read the article.

If you're in the technology world you know that Jack Dorsey was one of the co-founders of Twitter who ended up leaving the company. After leaving Twitter, Jack founded another company called Square. Square is a payment processing company that allows a user with a mobile phone to collect credit card payments on the fly. It's an innovation that is helping small business start ups collect payment via a mobile phone. It's an incredible development.

It takes Jack 40 hours a week to run Square - not a huge leap since Square is a fast growing technology company. Earlier this year Twitter came back to Jack to lure him to run Twitter. Jack decided to do both. He works 5 days a week - 8 hours in the morning with Twitter and then walks to Square and works another 8 hours. He is able to keep this going with both companies because of his disciplined schedule. He developed a theme for each day and focuses only on what is most important.

When I read this article about Jack Dorsey I had to wonder "What more could I do with this kind of perspective and focus?" How much more could I get done with that type of focus on doing only what is most important? Jack has developed teams of people to get the daily work done and then he focuses on the big picture items like strategy, recruiting and culture. Take a few minutes and read this article then ask yourself what more you can do.

How To Leverage Your Brand

2011-11-17T14:01:00.000-05:00

When someone thinks of Hopkins Printing, I want certain thought to happen. My goal is for them to think of superior service, honesty, technology and that we are easy to work with. There are many ways for this to happen but the fact remains that if a brand is built on purpose then that brand will be more powerful.

How do you want your business to be branded? How do you want "you" the brand to be know? How much time do you spend working on this? A recent article in the Multichannel Merchant magazine helps shed some light on this topic. The article was titled 9 Ways to Leverage Your Brand Difference. The first way is to decide to become the very best you. The article explains how you don't need to be anyone else - you need to decide what you want to do and become the very best at that. Sometimes we like to see a good competitor and then look for a silver bullet fix to be more competitive. Great companies just do the right thing over and over and in the end they win. Rarely are there ever true silver bullets anyway.

Another way is to tell your story well and to tell it often. At Hopkins Printing we have some great stories about how we were founded, how we are run and what we are doing for clients. I am always amazed at how clients love to hear these stories. There are even times when I will have a good client repeat back a story that they heard years before. It's true that stories make more of an impact than the greatest equipment sheet.

Spend time thinking about who you are and who you want to become and build a great company and a great brand.

How To Grow People and A Business

2011-11-14T19:09:00.001-05:00

How often do you leave a meeting hoping that you are not burdened with getting a task? How often do you come to a meeting and find that one or more of the participants has not done what s/he committed to at the last meeting? These are two reasons why meetings are often exercises in futility. How can you run a meeting and have it be productive?

One simple technique was recently written about by Cameron Herold. Cameron was the COO of 1-800-Got-Junk during the formative years when it went from three to one hundred million in sales. This tells me when Cameron speaks, I should listen.

Cameron says before a meeting ends, the meeting leader should have each participant verbalize to the group what s/he is committed to doing and make sure there is total agreement. This greatly improves the chance of the work being done. This also acts as a self correcting tool because the group will put pressure on the non-producers.

Try this in a meeting that you run and see the quality of the meeting and the quality of your team improve.

Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

2011-10-31T06:21:00.001-04:00

Putting the Bulldozer in Park & Removing the Earplugs

2011-10-26T10:12:00.004-04:00

Putting the Bulldozer in Park & Removing the Earplugs

A wise man who was a member of The Ohio State University faculty, was known to preach "you have two ears and one mouth and that ratio exists for a reason. Remember, you should listen twice as much as you speak." Listen twice as much as you speak. It seems that this nugget of wisdom is not entirely embraced by the business world. How many companies go through each day with a bulldozer mentality? They have an agenda in mind, they know what is going on, and they are here to execute their plan. The bulldozer mentality is a lethal one. While at the end of the day the company may have cleared the path they planned to, they may have also failed to see or consider all of the opportunities that were thrown under the two ton roller.

The opportunities that lie crushed in the bull-dozers wake of destruction are often customers. Instead of focusing on executing a drawn-up plan, businesses should be focusing on their clients. "Customer-centric" is becoming one of the biggest buzzwords in marketing for a reason. The evolution of technology and increased access to knowledge has resulted in an empowered consumer. There is nothing preventing the customer from pulling out their smart phone, Googling "company who can XYZ" and having a list of thousands of businesses who are eager to offer their services. The power now lies in the hands of the consumer and companies need to put their bulldozers in park and listen up. A company who takes the time to listen to their customers knows what they want and can more easily produce it to satisfy the customer's needs. Satisfying customer needs to their exact specifications can give companies an advantage over of the thousands of other companies on the Google result list who would just offer a generic solution.

At Hopkins every one of our employees strives to make the customer the priority. From our conscientious CSR teams to the direct point of contact of our sales reps, our every move is made with regard to the customer. In an effort to increase this relationship with our clients we sent out an email a few months back to check in with them. We asked questions: why are you buying from us? What are your expectations and are we meeting them? What benefits do you derive from working with us? What could we do to better your experience?

You can see some of the responses on our website.

To Get Results, You Gotta do the Work

2011-10-13T16:14:00.000-04:00

All to often people want the outcome without the work it takes to achieve the goal. Within a company the leadership has to drive the change and the improvement. Often companies hire consultants or coaches and then hope that the outsider will do the work. There is a blogger I read called Got Boondoggle. Recently he wrote a blog entitled To Get Results, You Gotta do the Work. Below is an excerpt from his post.

Don’t hire Lean consultants to do the work for you and expect to become lean. Any improvements we might see will not stick. Lean consultants can teach, motivate, influence, demonstrate, coach, yell, scream and cuss, but you will only get results by doing it yourself.

Don’t delegate continuous improvement to your lean department. Kaizen is everybody, everyday, everywhere. A culture change towards becoming lean MUST be led by the top, no other way!

Just like you can’t sit on the couch eating ice cream and expect to lose weight, you can’t sit in your office looking at the computer screen and expect to improve your processes.

Too many executives don’t want the labor pains, they just want the baby.

YOU have to get up and get moving. Go to gemba. Don’t say I can’t, I don’t want to hear I can’t. Do what you can. Go, Go Go. You better toughin up. Improve something every day. Again. (Wow, I could get used to this!)

This tells me that no matter what type of organization you are a part of - the change comes from the top. If you're at the top make sure the improvements are part of the overall corporate strategy and then get in the process and drive improvement.

Steve Jobs - A Legend Is Gone

2011-10-06T05:45:00.001-04:00

Below is a letter from Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, to the employees of Apple.

Team,

I have some very sad news to share with all of you. Steve passed away earlier today.

Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

We are planning a celebration of Steve’s extraordinary life for Apple employees that will take place soon. If you would like to share your thoughts, memories and condolences in the interim, you can simply email rememberingsteve@apple.com.

No words can adequately express our sadness at Steve’s death or our gratitude for the opportunity to work with him. We will honor his memory by dedicating ourselves to continuing the work he loved so much.

Tim

Who Needs College? 7 Core Success Skills of “Self-Educated” Billionaires

2011-09-30T13:06:00.000-04:00

In the accompanying video, the author and Forbes blogger discusses the common traits and the 7 Core Success Skills he gleaned from these titans of industry:

Learn How to Sell
Learn Marketing
The "Right" Way to Network with Big Wigs
Define Your Vision
Invest in Yourself
Build the Brand of "You"
Take an Entrepreneurial Mindset

Steady Drip Marketing

2011-09-27T11:59:00.000-04:00

Drip marketing is a great concept that basically uses a steady touch program to get your product or service in the top of mind position with your prospects and customers. Unfortunately this part of marketing is easy to drop when times are bad and easy to ignore when times are good. Here is a link to a great blog post which shows the value of consistent drip marketing to help even our the peaks and valleys which results in more consistent cash flow.

Do yourself a favor and keep the drips going so your company can better weather the current turbulent times. At our company we have been on an aggressive new customer development program this year and about 9% of our sales for 2011 will be from customers we didn't have in 2010. During busy months and during slow months we have kept the pressure on and it has paid big dividends. This has been our drip program and it has been a tremendous help this year.

We are currently working on the ideas for 2012 that will keep us moving in the right direction. Our plan is to grow no matter what the national economy or our industry does. Drip marketing will definitely be a part of the program.

Richard Branson on Branding

2011-09-19T14:33:00.001-04:00

How do you define the image of your brand - whether it be a corporate brand or a personal brand? What is it that you want people to think of when they think of you or of your company? When you think is Coke - you think of soft drinks. When you think of Dell - you think of computers. When you think of Xerox - you think of copiers?

Entrepreneurs Magazine recently had an article about how Richard Branson views branding. He believes when a person thinks about the Virgin Group s/he thinks about a fun experience that is easy to do. Whether it's a phone, a plane ride or a health club - the message is that dealing with the Virgin Group will be run and easy.

The article states that a brand, like Virgin, "must be focused" to succeed. Branson and his team spend hours working on keeping his brand focused and keeping the fun in the game. He also says that if "you don't define what the brand means, your competitors will". This really struck home because all of us know how our competitors would like to brand us.

The Hopkins Printing brand is all about being honest and easy to do business with. We work every day to make sure our customers know that and that we are living up to the standard. Make sure you define your brand and then work to keep it on track and alive.

For Great Leadership, Clear Your Head

2011-09-14T15:01:00.000-04:00

Clear your head! What a great concept. How many times do we gut sucked into the day and then before we know it we are spit out other end and can't remember what went on during the day? How often do we stop, take some time to think and then get back to the rat race. The more I read about and study people who accomplish great things - the more I read that they take time to clear their heads and just think.

In a recent HBR blog I read about clearing your head. Joshua Ehrlich covers five strategies to give you more time to just think. The blog post is well worth reading.

A friend of mine who is a VP of Sales for a $40 million printer helped his company develop a strategy years ago that became the basis for the tremendous growth and success that the company has experienced over the last decade. At one point the C.E.O. of the company asked him to spend more time thinking and less time doing. We joked about this many times but the concept makes sense. Scott has great ideas and his company can benefit from those ideas, but the only way the ideas come is if he spends time thinking.

Schedule "thinking time" to ponder the next 5 to 10 years. This time may yield the ideas you need to really succeed during the next decade.

Tim Cook - The New Apple CEO

2011-08-29T10:17:00.000-04:00

It's a sad day when Steve Jobs steps down as the CEO of Apple. Steve is considered one of the greatest CEO's of all time which means the new CEO has very large shoes to fill. Why would Steve Jobs recommend Tim Cook to be the new CEO? What type of person is Tim Cook?

In a recent article at cnet there is a story that starts to paint a picture of why Tim may be the guy for the job. Tim was running a meeting and during the meeting it came up that there was an issue with a problem in Asia. About 30 minutes later during the same meeting Tim looked at one of the participants in the meeting and asked "Why are you still here?" This person got up, went straight to the airport, boarded a flight and started working on the problem. I don't know of many people who think this way and are this driven.

Another story I read was about meeting that was called after a keynote address in New York. The team had a party planned for a Mets game that night but Tim wanted to meet first. The meeting ran so long the game ended before the meeting ended. Tim is definitely a focused and driven executive. This is required to lead a company like Apple. I wish him all the best.

The Paddle Wheel Method

2011-08-26T08:53:00.000-04:00

Several years ago two of our sales people attended a seminar by Sean McArdle. He has a sales method called the Paddle Wheel Method that we have used and benefited from. Below is a video explaining this concept that I thought was worth sharing.

Paddle Wheel Sales Method by 5minBusiness

Zig Ziglar - Attitude Makes All The Difference

2011-08-18T08:43:00.000-04:00

TechCrunch Video of David Allen

2011-08-12T14:10:00.000-04:00

TechCrunch video of David Allen. In only 5 minutes you can get an overview of David's methods.

Leadership and a Lean Transformation

2011-07-29T16:47:00.004-04:00

Below is a blog post I read this week that I thought was well worth sharing. We are a couple of years into a lean transformation and at first it seemed that the tools were the main thing - now it is clear that the people are the main thing.

Leadership and a Lean Transformation

By Al Norval,

As I work with various organizations on their Lean transformation, it amazes me how many organizations start out believing that Lean is all about implementing a set of tools. They believe that if we only implement these tools, then we’ll be Lean. Often times, I see this develop into implementation lists and audits which check to see how well the tools have been implemented. Sometimes companies carry this one step forward to sending out “Corporate Auditors” with the goal of having a standard set of people to calibrate the audits so the audit scores are valid.

What these organizations miss is that only 10% of Lean is about the tools. The remaining 90% is about people and culture. It’s about engaging people at all levels of the organization to solve problems so that every day we get a little bit better and drive more value to our Customers.

What does this have to do with Leaders?

Tools can be managed but people need Leadership if they are going to change their behaviours and truly start to change the culture.

Leaders need to exhibit these new behaviours. This follows the old adage “What you do is what you get.” What Leaders do is amplified many times over in the organization. Small changes in Leadership behaviour can have an enormous impact on changes in Team Member behaviour in the Value Stream.

But how do Leaders know how to behave in a Lean world?

Their behaviour needs to be based on Lean Leadership Thinking which is based on Lean Mental Models. There are six primary Lean Mental Models:

- Leader as a Sensei
- Go to Gemba to see for yourself
- Problems are gold, make them visible
- Don’t pass junk down the Value Stream
- Simple, visual standards for all important things
- Everyone solves problems using simple methods

As Leaders begin to change their behaviours based on these Mental Models, the rest of the organization picks up on it and more and more people become engaged in solving problems to root cause rather developing work arounds. Business results start to accelerate and Lean becomes locked into the culture of the organization.

Mulally: It's OK not to be OK

2011-07-26T15:40:00.002-04:00

Alan Mulally is an incredible executive. He is credited with keeping Ford out of the doghouse during the past couple of years. Below is an article from USA Today which shows why Alan is so effective - he brings problems to the table and deals with the problems. This sounds like an obivous tactic but it is not often used. Enjoy the article.

Ford CEO Alan Mulally recounts an episode that makes him certain Ford has broken unworkable old ways and is locked and loaded for the future.

In one of his Thursday management meetings, where managers are supposed to show color-coded charts, red for serious problems, yellow for lesser issues, green for all OK, "all the charts were green and I know — we're going to lose $17 billion. I stopped the meeting and I said, 'Is there anything that isn't going well? We're losing $17 billion.' Eye contact goes down to the ground."

Mulally: "The next week here comes Mark (Fields, now president of Ford's North and South America operations) and the charts are all red. Everybody else's were green. I started to clap, and I said 'That's great.'

"I looked around and said, 'Is there anything we can do to help'" resolve problems Fields was having launching the Ford Edge.

A dam burst. Other managers started tossing out solutions to similar problems they'd had.

Even so, managers took two weeks to follow the Fields example. "Next week everybody still was green, but (two weeks later) the entire 320 charts (of all the managers) looked like a rainbow. Everybody knew it was safe" to ask for help.

"At that moment I knew, and everybody else knew, that we had a chance now. You can't manage a secret. It was all out in the open. And everybody was committed to helping everybody else."

Readers Are Leaders

2011-07-22T16:49:00.000-04:00

Recently at a conference I heard a speaker say that "readers are leaders". During his talk he mentioned multiple CEO's he had worked for and how each of them liked to read to broaden his horizons. It got me thinking about the people I know who are readers and they are typically the leaders. It doesn't make sense that a non-leader can become a leader just by reading but someone who is interested in leading others is generally interested in self improvement. One of the greatest self improvement tools is reading.

A typical manager will read one book a year that relates to his/her job. A typical CEO/COO/CFO will read six books a year that relate to his/her job. This stat came from the same speaker and seems to make sense to me. To rise to a leadership position a person must me interested in self improvement/learning and a metric for that would be reading.

Are you wanting to grow and improve? Make it a habit to read on a daily basis. Google the top ten business books of all time and commit to reading them and using at least one or two items from each book in your business. You'll be amazed at the benefit.

We Are All in Sales

2011-07-18T06:22:00.000-04:00

Interesting blog post from Jack Daly. I think we all need to train our people to realize everyone is in sales in that we all impact the customer.

We Are All in Sales

Airlines losing money, as normal course of biz.

I recently sat on a flight that was 30 minutes past departure time, and there was zero communication to the passangers (also known as customers, the people who create the revenue). 4 flight attendants were standing 3 rows up from me in the bulkhead, having a jolly good time with one another, catching up with who knows what.

Meanwhile, the customers (many who missed connections the previous day due to weather and were anxious to get on to their destinations) are ignored. I wondered if the owners/managers of the business were present if the flight attendants behavior would have been different?

What if the flight attendants were outside their business and were now the customers, being ignored by the store they were considering shopping in. Would it affect their purchasing attitude? Would they share their negative experience? Is it any wonder the airlines as an industry are losing money?

So, now, let’s look to your business. What messages are the people in your company sending to their customers on a regular basis? Create a system to ensure you know regularly and that all can be consistently aware.

We are all in sales, just don’t realize it enough.

7 Amazing Lessons from 7 Distinguished Billionaires

2011-06-30T05:46:00.000-04:00

Below is a post from Dumb Little Man that I thought was well worth sharing.

They say that a million dollars in $100 bills is 43 inches high, but a billion dollars in $100 bills is almost three times the height of the Empire State building. A million dollars in $100 bills would weigh 22 pounds, but a billion dollars would weigh 11 tons.

Suffice it to say that the accumulation and maintenance of a billion dollars requires much wisdom. Today I want to look at seven amazing lessons from seven of the world’s most famous billionaires. These billionaires range from Bill Gates to Mark Cuban and each of these individuals have accomplished amazing things.

There are many things that we can learn from them so enough with the monologue; here we go!

7 Amazing Lessons from 7 Distinguished Billionaires

1.Look for Opportunities

“It's through curiosity and looking at opportunities in new ways that we've always mapped our path at Dell. There's always an opportunity to make a difference.” – Michael Dell, Founder, CEO, and Chairman of Dell Inc.

If you never look for an opportunity, you will never find one. The Wright Brothers were looking to see if it was possible for man to fly, they didn’t stumble upon it, they were looking for it. What are you looking for? The Scripture says seek and ye shall find, knock and the door will be open to you.

2.Believe in Yourself

“I always knew I was destined for greatness.” – Oprah, Media Mogul

As the famous poem goes, “If you think you’re outclassed, you are, you have to think high to rise, you must be sure of yourself, before you can ever win a prize.” You must believe in “you” before anybody else will. Oprah believed that she would be a success, and she is. What do you believe about yourself, whatever it is, that’s what you will become.

3.Create an Atmosphere of Success

“It's better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you'll drift in that direction.” – Warren Buffet, Investor

You can’t soar with the eagles, if you spend your time hanging with the chickens. Find people who are going where you want to go, and “conspire to aspire before you expire.” Atmosphere is critical, diligently guard who enters your inner-circle. Your friends are a prophecy of your future.

4.Empower Others

“As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.” – Bill Gates, Co-founder and Former CEO of Microsoft, currently the 2nd richest man in the world behind Carlos Slim.

Who are you empowering, who are you helping, who needs you. You can’t go forward without helping others go forward. Instead of being concerned about how you’re going to get ahead, find a way to help others get ahead, and you will get ahead in the process. Empower others and you will empower yourself.

5.Focus

“In the end, you're measured not by how much you undertake but by what you finally accomplish.” – Donald Trump, Real Estate Investor/Developer, TV Personality

Don’t be a “jack of all trades” and master of none. Don’t bite-off more than you can chew. Decide what you want to accomplish in your life, and spend your time accomplishing it. Work hard, take breaks, and in the end, if your focus is single, you will have accomplished it.

6.Learn From Your Mistakes

“I'm the type that thinks if you don't learn from history, you're doomed to repeat it.” – Mark Cuban, Internet Entrepreneur and NBA Team Owner

It sounds simple, but many people live a life of repeating the same mistakes over and over again.

The “cow in the ditch” example below gives us a pattern for how we should deal with our mistakes.

Here are the three steps you should follow whenever a "cow ends up in your ditch:"

Step 1: Get Cow Out of Ditch
Step 2: Find Out How Cow Got in Ditch
Step 3: Make Sure Cow Does Not Get in Ditch Again

Using these three simple steps, you can solve many of life’s problems (from debt to relationship issues).

7.Only Go Forward

“We will go forward, ... We will never go back.” – Michael Bloomberg, current New York City Mayor and Founder of Bloomberg LP

You can’t make much progress forward if you keep on taking steps backwards.

Make a decision to go forward, never settle, never stagnate, life is about growth, it’s about development. You are supposed to grow, you’re supposed to become all that you are capable of becoming, so go forward and never look back!

Thank you for reading and be sure to pass this article along!

Time Management by David Allen

2011-06-26T17:51:00.002-04:00

DAVID'S FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Time management is not the issue

Most everyone these days admits they could use better "time management." But the reason it has not really been addressed to any universal satisfaction is because time management isn't about managing time. If it was, just buying and using a calendar (and a good watch) would handle it.

The savvy among you will usually acknowledge that it's really self management—what we do with ourselves during the time we have.

Many people these days talk about "information management," because there's so much of it, and many consider themselves roadkill along the information superhighway. Too much information is not the problem though—if it were, we would walk into a library or do a web search and die.

So, what is time management, really? It's dealing effectively with the things we have and want to do. It's the latest industry publications sitting in a stack on our desk, about which we told ourselves we could/should/ought to do something. And the hundreds of hours of undone "stuff" sitting in most people's brains (in psychic RAM) and on their desk and on the floor of the back seat of their car.

That's why my flagship seminar is called Managing Workflow, Projects & Priorities—because that's what time management really is. It's about capturing things we collect and create, deciding what (if anything) we want to do about them, organizing the results of that knowledge work into a trusted system we can review appropriately, and making intuitive strategic and tactical choices about what to do at any point in time from our options.

It's hard to manage your workflow, projects, and priorities though, when you don't really know what they all are, or if they are still unclear. "Projects" are results that require more than one action step to get done, and they need to be defined and reviewed as stakes in the ground to keep us moving toward their goal line. And the "moving" needs to be defined ("What's the next action?"), so we can execute elegantly and intuitively when the ball is snapped, instead of continually thinking that we should be thinking about what to do.

When I ask people, "What's the next action?" on big projects they're procrastinating about, the answer is often, "Find time to...." Well, you won't ever have time to change your corporate culture, write the book, or lose weight. Until you define the very next action, you don't know how much time you really need. "Pick a date and email my assistant to set the senior team meeting about changing our culture" only takes two minutes—less time than it took to read this essay.

QUOTABLES

"There's no such thing as not enough time if you're doing what you want to do."

—Robert Half

Great Goal Setting Blog Entry - Jack Daly

2011-06-24T16:16:00.000-04:00

Below is a great blog entry from Jack Daly.

Daly News, January 2011

January 2011
Volume 42

TURNING GOALS INTO REALITY:
It’s January and the traditional time for people to adopt new year resolutions or take it to another stage and go with goals. Regardless of what they are called, the results are typically abysmal. Often times, whether personal or business related, by the end of the first quarter they are long forgotten and bear no relationship to reality. As such, I’ve often wondered why then do people even do them. I think the answer is we would “like” them to happen but are stuck on the “how”.

I’ve been hooked on the goal setting process since I was 13 years old and have found the process one that delivers great success. Over the years I’ve converted many to the system and process I use to achieve my goals, albeit I recommend to most to not go as deep as I often do. Going deeper in the process can better come over time, and needs to be tailored to one’s personality.

For many who have been to my “delivered live” presentations, you have seen and heard this goal setting process. To you I say, “So, what did you do with that process in 2010? If anything!” Congrats to those who have taken action, and I hope you found the process to be of value. My 2010 was one of great fun and accomplishment, and my 2011 looks to be even more so! For a look at my Year-end report to the Board of Directors of my life as well as my 2011 Personal Goals, click here http://www.jackdaly.net/content/jack-daly-goals. My business goals and plans are handled on a separate document but the process is a similar one and I feel people universally can relate to the personal side better, so they can then deploy it for both their business and personal sides of life.

Here is the condensed version of the “process” to “turning goals into reality”.

1. GOALS IN WRITING- If your goals are not in writing, they are dreams. Dreams don’t often come true, but goals in writing do.

2. WRITTEN PLAN- Number 1 is what you want to accomplish; number 2 is the “how”. Detail out more of the how, and lace it with specific activities that will be necessary to get number 1 completed. Then, just work the activities! The more “non-refundable” commitments that can be made in advance, the higher the likelihood that the goals will be achieved. Example- if you lived in Washington, DC and your goal was a family vacation in San Diego for a week, just writing this down (#1) would be much less effective than: picking the week, getting vacation approval, locating the airline/flights and paying for the tickets, locating the lodging and prepaying for the week, reserving a rental car, identifying activities such as Sea World and again buying the tickets, etc. Imagine doing all of the above; sounds like that vacation is actually going to happen! Well, we can do something similarly in generating more sales. For each of our businesses, the specific activities can be well defined beforehand and then put into place so that the results materialize.

3. SYSTEM OF MEASUREMENT- Once the activities are identified as to “how”, we then need to track if we are actually doing those activities. I find a daily log of such actual keeps my momentum going and should I slip, gets me right back at it the next day. Regardless of what the “fires of the day” are, the successful sales professional works hard to be sure the key activities are completed as this is the lifeblood of consistent sales production.

4. SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTABILITY- For most of us, having someone watching over us is a great motivator to getting things done. Many people heading back to the fitness centers this month (seems a frequent resolution) will stay with their program longer if they engage a Trainer. Well, it is true a trainer will help with technique and designing a program initially, the continuance of a Trainer at the health center typically has more to do with ensuring one gets up and goes to the gym, since the Trainer is being paid by them and is waiting for their appointment. Again, it’s about accountability. I have 5 people on my Board of Directors for my life, who I sit down and review my goals and activities with about 4 times each per year. Rarely does a month go by without one of them holding me accountable. Beyond that, I’ve gone to publishing my goals for the year on my website, so thousands can now “call me out”. As such, I find I am more determined to “making things happen”.
One of my Facebook friends shared this quote recently: “Opportunity doesn’t knock. You knock, opportunity answers.” Perfect- start knocking with this goal setting process!

Inc Leadership Conference

2011-06-21T14:56:00.000-04:00

Last week my wife and I were able to attend the Inc Magazine Leadership Conference in Dallas, Texas. There were two and a half days of speeches, lectures, breakout groups, meals, mixers and an awards dinner. Our company, Hopkins Printing, was recognized as one of the 50 Best Small Workplaces in the United States. This was a tremendous honor for us to receive a national award.

During this conference there was a change in my mindset. It was amazing to spend time with so many successful people from so many successful companies. It seems that when you spend day after day in a private manufacturing firm that it's easy to think the world ends with the four walls of the plant but then when you get out and meet people and hear what they deal with you find out we are all in the same boat.

I heard people talk about how to grow sales, how to drive down health care costs, how to get people aligned with the vision of the company, how to resolve conflict and how to energize people to serve the customer. It didn't really matter what the business was - almost everyone deals with the same issues. By spending a few days with others who were dealing with the same issues we are - I have become more energized to tackle some issues we have. It is clear that if others can do this then we can as well.

If you ever have a chance to spend a few days with other people in the business world, don't let the opportunity pass you by. The experience may mark a change in your life.

Inc Magazine Top 50 Small Company Workplace In America

2011-05-24T09:51:00.000-04:00

For Immediate Release

HOPKINS PRINTING NAMED A TOP 50 SMALL COMPANY WORKPLACE IN AMERICA

COLUMBUS, OH (May 23, 2011) -Inc. magazine and Winning Workplaces announced today the winners of the 2011 Top Small Company Workplaces competition and awarded Hopkins Printing one of the 50 coveted spots. The Top Small Company Workplaces competition is an annual contest that has recognized the nation's best small and mid-sized company work environments since 2003.

Winning Workplaces and Inc. received nearly 350 completed applications for the 2011 contest. A national panel of experts in leadership and small to mid-sized business judged finalists on employee engagement and development, company mission, rewards and recognition, management effectiveness, and benefits.

"These firms represent some of the finest privately held companies in the world," states Bob LaPointe, president of Inc. "Their stories, appearing in the June issue of Inc., clearly demonstrate that taking an innovative approach to creating the right culture-one in which human capital is embedded in a company's value proposition-can create real competitive leadership. Each of these Top Small Company Workplaces offers an environment in which people flourish and, as a result, profit follows."

Hopkins Printing is committed to creating an environment where employees can thrive and one way they do so is through a "three-deep" training agenda. 75% of all positions are trained 3 Deep at Hopkins, which means that at any one time three people are capable of operating a particular piece of equipment or covering for a certain position. Cross-training of all employees to cover other positions increases productivity, creates flexibility, and allows employees to become knowledgeable authorities in multiple areas of business and production.

"It is a true honor to be named one of the best small workplaces in the nation and a greater surprise to have Hopkins as one of the featured companies in the Inc. magazine article. Winning Workplaces reviewed each of our programs, policies, and benefits before they surveyed all of our employees. It was a thorough process and we're pleased that everyone was able to contribute their thoughts. Hopkins employees care about the success of our company and together we all make it a great place to work!" said Michelle Waterhouse, HR director for Hopkins Printing.

About Hopkins Printing

Founded in 1975 by Jim and Arnie Hopkins and located in Columbus, OH, Hopkins Printing is a leading provider of comprehensive graphic communications and technology solutions for North American businesses. Hopkins Printing is a 100% Employee Owned company that treats others as they would like to be treated. Hopkins has been named Best Workplace in America by Printing Industry of America and has received the Better Business Bureau Integrity Award.

About Inc. Magazine

Founded in 1979 and acquired in 2005 by Mansueto Ventures, Inc. magazine is the only major business magazine dedicated exclusively to owners and managers of growing private companies that delivers real solutions for today's innovative company builders. With a total paid circulation of 708,450, Inc. provides hands-on tools and market-tested strategies for managing people, finances, sales, marketing and technology.

About Winning Workplaces Winning Workplaces is an Evanston, IL-based not-for-profit, whose mission is to help the leaders of small and mid-sized organizations create great workplaces. Founded in 2001, Winning Workplaces serves as a clearinghouse of information on workplace best practices, provides seminars and workshops on workplace-related topics and inspires and awards top workplaces through its annual Top Small Company Workplaces initiative.

# # #

For more information, please contact:

Roy Waterhouse

Hopkins Printing

614.509.1080

rwaterhouse@hopkinsprinting.com

Quick Links:Our Website | Hopkins News | Roy's Blog | YouTube

Please visit our website "About Us" section for a complete Hopkins Printing Fact Sheet

Hopkins Printing

2246 Citygate Drive · Columbus, OH 43219 · 1-800-319-3352

Throwing The Last Dart

2011-05-20T20:08:00.001-04:00

Below is a great post by Jason Fried of 37Signals. He puts an important concept into simple words.

I’ve been working out with a trainer for the past few years, mostly because I’m too lazy to go to the gym on my own. But also because I want to get better at working out. I want to be more efficient and not waste time doing stuff that doesn’t matter, etc. It may sound counterintuitive, but you can actually waste time by doing things too quickly.

My biggest problem has been slowing down. I tend to work out too fast. Lift too fast, do crunches too fast, do pushups too fast, etc.

I haven’t been able to catch myself when I’m going too fast. I’m certainly capable of slowing down, and I fundamentally understand the benefits of slowing down, but I just couldn’t come up with something that pops in my head to encourage me to slow down when I find myself going too fast.

Then my trainer asked me what I would do if I had three darts, had already thrown two, and I only had one shot left at hitting the bullseye.

I told him
I’d slow down. I’d take a deep breath, measure the distance, mock a few practice throws back and forth, settle in, focus, and throw. I wouldn’t rush up there and just toss the thing.

And it clicked for me. When you really want to do something right, which is usually what you should be striving for, you tend to slow down.
Of course it’s all relative as some things are more important to get right than other things, and there’s often external context which may make slowing down impossible, but in general, given the opportunity, you’d slow down to get something right.

And while some things really do require split-second decision making, the worst thing to do is to invent artificial urgency and cheat yourself.

The Alphabet Soup of Green Graphic Communications

2011-05-16T13:25:00.001-04:00

The Alphabet Soup of Green Graphic Communications

April showers bring much more then May flowers. The 30 days of grey drizzle are all worth it when a full canvas of pantone green 356 emerges come May 1. [If you are unfamiliar with the pantone matching system - or if you just want a visual of green 356 - check out this link]. With so much green cloaking the surroundings, even the allergy sufferers don a slight grin when the sun shines through some oak leaves blowing in the first warm breezes of the year. Over the past 20 years there has been a concerted effort to participate in sustainable practices to preserve the green that everyone loves. The graphic communications industry has embraced the eco-friendly mindset and adopted a variety of programs, certifications, and awards to ensure the longevity of Mother Nature. Below are some of the ABC's which encourage sustainable practices at every stage of the graphic communication process.

FSC = Forest Stewardship Council Certified

The Forest Stewardship Council is an international labeling and certification system for directing responsible forest management and sustainable outcomes of paper and wood products. Fiber harvested from FSC certified forests is tracked with the Chain of Custody system from the tree, all the way to the consumer. The FSC label informs the world that the printed product in their hands was made by individuals who support the highest social and environmental standards.

PCW = Post Consumer Waste Fiber Content

The three arrows comprising the universal recycling symbol, also known as the mobius loop, inform the paper purchaser that their paper was made using recycled paper. It is suggested that the percentage of recycled paper used in the production of the new paper be displayed beneath the symbol.

AGFA GreenWorks

GreenWorks awarded printers must meet a required set of criteria that confirms

they are integrating sustainable technology and participating in additional green movements. For example, all AGFA GreenWorks awarded printers use low chemistry and chemistry free plates, which have a significantly lower impact on the environment. Hopkins Printing is proud to be awarded AGFA's Greenworks award.

From the tree, to production, to the offices the products are used in, it is evident that the graphic communications industry is making every effort to preserve the natural pantone 356 for this generation and many more to come.

Quick Links:Our Website | Hopkins News | Roy's Blog | YouTube

Hopkins Printing

2246 Citygate Drive · Columbus, OH 43219 · 1-800-319-3352

The 12 Rules of Time

2011-05-12T08:18:00.000-04:00

Time management is a topic that has always interested me. When I see a link online to anything on this topic I find myself unable to resist clicking on the link. I recently found a link to a website that had a simple list of 12 rules of time that I found to be good reminders and helpful. Below is the list.

Have goals
Analyze how you spend your time
Keep a to-do list
Prioritize your list
Control procrastination
Organize
Delegate
Master efficiency tricks
It's OK to say no
Focus
Build your efficiency bank
Take care of yourself

This is a list from Jim Estill. He has an article that discusses each of these points in greater detail. Anytime we can improve our ability to get more done and to get more of the right things done - we are better managers and leaders.

Stop Chasing Too Many Priorities

2011-04-29T10:26:00.000-04:00

Why do we allow ourselves to have so many priorities? Why do these priorities often conflict with one another? What can we do about this? In a recent study, it was found that 64% of executives report they have too many conflicting priorities. This came from a HBR article.

This same study followed different companies and found that companies with only 1 to 3 priorities had more instances of performing ABOVE industry average.

This study argues that companies, or individuals, with a more focused set of priorities perform better than companies with long lists of priorities. I think this is because humans perform better when there are fewer things to think about. When I discipline myself to a few focused goals - I always know what to work on. When the list gets too long then I have to remind myself to read the list which means the goals are not in my head. The subconscious mind can work on goals that are in your head even when you're not aware that's what is going on.

Keep your priorities and goals on a short list and you'll find that you can get more done and be more successful.

Why Blame?

2011-04-26T19:40:00.000-04:00

It seems that every day I hear someone blame the economy or the price of gas for his or her bad results. Without thinking about it, to look for someone or something to blame for poor sales is the easy way out.

Then I look at a salesperson that is doing well and I hear the same things. "I'm making more calls." "I'm setting up more appointments." "I'm reading a new book on sales." "I'm listening to a set of CD's on improving my mental outlook." These are the activities that the winners do on a regular basis.

Everyone has the opportunity to improve. It doesn't even cost money. Books and CD's are available at public libraries and almost every car has a CD player. With the slowdown we are experiencing, there may even be more opportunity. The excuse makers are sitting in the office waiting for the phones to ring. What the winner is doing is going out and making something happen. We owe it to ourselves to be part of the group that is called winners.

Post on Rejection by Katlyn Kugler

2011-04-22T08:49:00.000-04:00

Monopoly & Rejection: The Real Game of Life

Stop. Go directly to jail. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. When you were a kid, how bummed were you when you landed on that ONE space out of all FORTY? Pretty bummed, especially if that $200 was what was going to enable you to purchase Park Avenue on the next go around. Similar to the 'Stop Space' on the Monopoly board, there are forms of rejection people readily acknowledge when they experience them. However, there are also daily interactions with rejection that individuals do not consciously register. Consider the following:

Your roommate drank the last of the milk

You hit every red light on the way to work

Your professor does not call on you in class

The parking meter does not accept bills

Maniac in the minivan won't let you merge onto 270

These items are usually grouped together and labeled as a bad day, but they are all forms of rejection. The forms of rejection people consciously recognize in their personal and professional lives are associated with experiences that carry greater consequences. Whether you are a sales rep at a B2B company making cold calls, or an account manager at an advertising agency pitching new campaigns, every professional faces rejection. We went around the office at Hopkins and asked some employees to recall a few of their bigger moments of rejection and how they dealt with them. After speaking with everyone two things were obvious. 1: Everybody has had a bad high school dance experience and 2: Sales reps encounter rejection far more than anyone else.

The responsibility of generating all of the company's cash inflows creates a great deal of pressure. In order for the company to grow, sales reps must actively strive to acquire new clients, often through cold calling, meetings, networking, and scheduling appointments. On average, for every 100 calls a sales rep makes, one will produce a new account.

With a 1% success rate how do sales representatives go seemingly unaffected by rejection? What runs through their minds when they've made 99 calls and have no new accounts? "Some days you know it's all part of the equation, other days it starts to get under your skin a little bit. You do what you've got to do" commented Hopkins Sales Representative Ed Nikodem.

"You do what you've got to do." What Nikodem touched on is resiliency. In business resiliency separates the red from the black and in life resiliency separates the winners from the losers.

Let me throw some numbers your way:

9,000+: shots Michael Jordan missed in his career

1,000+: attempts Thomas Edison made before inventing the light bulb

600+: times Jack London was rejected before selling his first short story

7: times R.H. Macy failed before his store in NYC was accepted

5: times Henry Ford failed & went broke before Ford Motor Company

We can all learn a lesson from the above icons as well as sales reps; they know that rejection is a necessity in obtaining victory. The trick is to treat more recognizable forms of rejection as if they were as inconsequential as hitting a red light. The next time you can't pass go and collect $200.00, in any area of life, don't give up, because if you want the monopoly, you have to stay in the game.

America’s Toughest CEO Coach

2011-04-20T12:30:00.000-04:00

How would you like to train with the toughest CEO coach in America? What type of person is this and what does he do to get such a title? Rob Roy is a former Navy Seal and the self proclaimed "Hammer" to his clients. I learned about Rob when reading an Inc magazine article entitles America's Toughest CEO Coach. One day I plan to be a CEO so these types of articles always attract my attention. Even if your goals don't include being a CEO, the article is worth reading because anyone can improve.

If you have every read about Navy Seals and the training they endure, then Rob's training won't seem so different. His training includes night swims in 57 degree water and that's just the beginning of the 72 hour intense session of training. Rob said "the purpose is to tell them that they can walk into any situation and come out ahead". He philosophy is that if you can endure what he puts you though physically, then you can endure much more emotionally in the workplace. Rob puts people in situations where they are wet, cold and tired and then pushes them to make leadership decisions. Then when the person is back in a dry, warm office - the decisions come quicker and better.

Not everyone can spend $6,000 and take three days to get training like this but it's still possible to get some of the results. Just doing something, pushing the limits and seeing how you react can bring some of the same benefits. In the last couple of years I have done two triathlons. I in no way was a competitors to win any group but I was able to do something more than I had ever done before. This opened me up to a stronger belief that I can do more. Anytime you push yourself and learn more and can then do more - you are better off.

What's Wrong With Lists?

2011-03-28T13:20:00.010-04:00

Every few weeks I will get an email blast from David Allen. He is the author of Getting Things Done which is one of my top 10 books of all time. This one was worth sharing. If you've never read Getting Things Done - BUY IT and read it multiple time. I can change your life.

Enjoy.

Hi Everyone!

When I share the details of my own personal system in my presentations, as I did in a webinar for our GTD Connect members recently, someone always says, "You've got so many LISTS!" with a tone of voice that really translates into, "How silly and stupid! There's no way keeping track of all that in that way could work for me." I understand their negative reactions. Most people don't have a reference point of success with lists. They are more repelled by their lists, in whatever form they are in, than attracted to utilize them.

This month's essay explores three reasons why "list" is often considered a dirty word and three things you can do to change that for yourself.

All the best,

DAVID'S FOOD FOR THOUGHT

WHY "LIST" IS A DIRTY WORD

What's wrong with lists? Most people haven't had a lot of success with lists, especially the ones they've tried to use to "get organized."

You are either attracted or repelled by your lists and everything on them. There is no neutral territory. When you look at any one item you will either be thinking to yourself, "Hey, when can I mark THAT off?" or "Yuck! Back away!" My educated guess is that 98 percent of people's responses are some version of the latter.

Why? Because 1) they're hard work and/or 2) they're scary and/or 3) they're disappointing.

1) Hard work

If you know your list of calls to make doesn't include every single call you have to make about any and everything in your life, you will feel that you still should be remembering things that aren't on the list. That's low-level and hard work for your psyche, so it's not really getting the relief from the list it is seeking. If you don't have everything out of your head, it hardly feels worth trying to keep ANYthing out of your head. Also, most big to-do lists have things grouped together on them that cannot be done in the context you are in at the time, and a lot of repetitive re-thinking (wasteful mental effort) is required to figure out what you actually have the opportunity to do in the moment versus what can't be done until another place and time.

2) Scary

If a to-do on your list is not the very next physical visible action to be done, there is a gap between current reality and what you are looking at, and it can trigger a subtle but very real sense of being out of control with what to do about it, every time you glance at it. Some part of you knows that there is more thinking and decision-making required, and you don't feel you have the energy or capability to do that well, in this moment. Simply having "Mom" on a to-do list reminds you that her birthday is coming and that you should think and decide about what you're going to do about it... but, oh my... I don't have the juice to deal with that right now!

3) Disappointing

Ever had to rewrite a list of things you didn't get done when you thought you should? People who try to work daily to-do lists usually have undone things at the end of the day that create guilt and the trouble of having to transfer them to the next day.

So, to change your relationship with "lists" to a more positive one:

1) Make them complete, so your brain gets to graduate from the job of remembering; and organize your action reminders by context (phone, computer, errands, at home, etc.) so you only need to review what you actually can do at the time.

2) Make sure every actionable item has the very next visible physical action identified along with it, so you don't freak out about unknown territory between here and there.

3) Only put items that cannot be done any other day on your calendar, and everything else hold in "as soon as I can get to them" lists.

I suppose "love your lists" could be a little too radical an admonition for some of you. But how about at least "be good friends" with them?

QUOTABLES

"If you aren't yet at the point of clarity, then make that your first goal. It's a big waste of time to go through life being unclear about what you want. Most people wallow way too long in the state of "I don't know what to do." They wait for some external force to provide them with clarity, never realizing that clarity is self-created. The universe is waiting on you, not the other way around, and it's going to keep waiting until you finally make up your mind. Waiting for clarity is like being a sculptor staring at a piece of marble, waiting for the statue within to cast off the unneeded pieces. Do not wait for clarity to spontaneously materialize—grab a chisel and get busy!"

-Steve Pavlina

Are You Making Something?

2011-03-23T06:36:00.000-04:00

Below is a great post from Seth Godin. Seth is one of the marketing thinkers of our time and also has the occasional personal effectiveness post. To read more from Seth - go to his blog.

Are you making something?

Making something is work. Let's define work, for a moment, as something you create that has a lasting value in the market.

Twenty years ago, my friend Jill discovered Tetris. Unfortunately, she was working on her Ph.D. thesis at the time. On any given day the attention she spent on the game felt right to her. It was a choice, and she made it. It was more fun to move blocks than it was to write her thesis. Day by day this adds up... she wasted so much time that she had to stay in school and pay for another six months to finish her doctorate.

Two weeks ago, I took a five-hour plane ride. That's enough time for me to get a huge amount of productive writing done. Instead, I turned on the wifi connection and accomplished precisely no new measurable work between New York and Los Angeles.

More and more, we're finding it easy to get engaged with activities that feel like work, but aren't. I can appear just as engaged (and probably enjoy some of the same endorphins) when I beat someone in Words With Friends as I do when I'm writing the chapter for a new book. The challenge is that the pleasure from winning a game fades fast, but writing a book contributes to readers (and to me) for years to come.

One reason for this confusion is that we're often using precisely the same device to do our work as we are to distract ourselves from our work. The distractions come along with the productivity. The boss (and even our honest selves) would probably freak out if we took hours of ping pong breaks while at the office, but spending the same amount of time engaged with others online is easier to rationalize. Hence this proposal:

The two-device solution

Simple but bold: Only use your computer for work. Real work. The work of making something.

Have a second device, perhaps an iPad, and use it for games, web commenting, online shopping, networking... anything that doesn't directly create valued output (no need to have an argument here about which is which, which is work and which is not... draw a line, any line, and separate the two of them. If you don't like the results from that line, draw a new line).

Now, when you pick up the iPad, you can say to yourself, "break time." And if you find yourself taking a lot of that break time, you've just learned something important.

Go, make something. We need it!

Unlocking the Art of Persuasion

2011-03-17T14:38:00.004-04:00

Another great pieces by our Marketing Coordinator Katlyn Kugler.

Et tu Brute? Unlocking the Art of Persuasion

With the Ides of March approaching it might not be a bad idea to brush up on some basic persuasion skills. Had Roman Emperor Julius Caesar executed the art of persuasion better than the Roman Senate and supposed close friend Marcus Brutus, he might have had a livelier fate. The elements of persuasion have not differed over these many centuries, but the ability to decipher them has. Advertising is often the platform which will persuade consumers to purchase or avoid a service or product, so the need for persuasive advertising is crucial.

The first step in persuasion is deciding what kind of strategy to use for the given product. Reference the Foote, Cone & Belding Grid (Richard Vaughn) to determine if the product is high involvement or low involvement and whether it is rational or emotional. Where the product falls on the grid influences what creative techniques should be administered in the ads.

Along with determining where the product falls on the FCB grid, the customer's motivation and ability to process an ad should be assessed. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (R.E. Petty & J.T. Cacioppo) can be referenced to determine the customer's situation. Motivation to process an ad is decided by factors such as the customer's interest in the product being pitched. People are more motivated to process ads of products they are passionate about. Ability to process an ad is dependent upon issues like external distractions, location, and timing.

By considering product category and the customer's circumstances, a more effective advertisement can be produced. More effective ads will cut through market clutter, resonate with the audience, and inspire purchase. Take one from the history books and avoid Caesar's fatal mistake; by knowing your product and customer you can preserve good standing in the market simply by being more persuasive than the competition.

The Thank You Economy

2011-03-11T13:35:00.001-05:00

One of the blogger/online experts that I follow is Gary Vaynerchuk. He is well known for his family business www.winelibrary.com. He is also well known for http://tv.winelibrary.com/ which is his video blog about the wine industry. He has also developed a media company and has written two books. The latest book is the Thank You Economy which has been widely reviewed. One review was in Entrepreneur magazine.

I have not bought the book yet but I will. Gary has been sharing the Thank You ideas now for a few months and this article in Entrepreneur magazine seems to do a nice job summarizing some of the key ideas.

Gary believes with the increasing use of social media that companies are now going to have to return to the one-on-one approach to communicating with customers. This is similar to the small town business who knew the customers and treated them with respect because in a small town a bad reputation can spread easily and a business can be hurt. Business at one point became more mass marketing and large companies didn't need that one-on-one relationship. With social media exploding as a communication device - it's easy to turn off a person and then have that person Facebook or Tweet a negative comment that can spread like a wildfire. Social media is changing how companies have to interact and treat clients.

In our business we are fortunate enough to be small enough that personal contact is much easier. We can interact with each customer on a personal basis during each project. I believe this puts us in a wonderful position as our economy continues to change and evolve.

I am looking forward to reading Gary's book and I am sure it's a book that every person in business, sales or marketing should read and share.

Rest & Rejuvenation

2011-02-28T08:41:00.001-05:00

I am looking forward to this coming weekend. The last couple of weeks have been busier than normal so having two days to rest andrejuvenate will be a great time.

Many experts believe that everyone needs down time. It is the downtime that allows our batteries to recharge and ideas and thoughts to crystallize in our minds. Many times people have some of their greatest thoughts during sleep, the shower or driving down the road. When the mind has time to process what it is doing, it can come up with great ideas.

David Allen in his book Getting Things Done talks about getting all of our to do lists out of our minds and on paper or on the computer so we can use more of our mind for thinking. He believes many people have so many issues flying around in their minds that they can't focus on what is critical and important. One of my goals for this weekend is to go back through his book. I read it about four years ago and I go through it occasionally to get the concepts and ideas back into my mind.

Here's to having a weekend and getting into next week more relaxed and focused.

How to Make Money in 6 Easy Steps

2011-02-25T16:44:00.000-05:00

Below is post based on an Inc magazine article by Jason Fried called How to Make Money in 6 Easy Steps. It sounds like a late night infomercial or web banner ad, but this article has some great points.

First Jason teaches that understanding the buyer is key to being a good seller. Most of us want to pitch the great details of our product or service because we believe that the buyer will be convinced by all the details. In truth people buy for their own reasons not ours. I sell graphic services and I enjoy talking about our equipment. We have the greatest equipment and it would seem to me that it's important to the buyer. But years ago I learned the customer in almost all instances just doesn't care. If the product helps him/her do a better job, then they are buying. The goal should be to find out the motivator before trying to sell the features and benefits.

How and why to sell real products for real money is another of the steps. Jason is a big believer in charging money and making money. So often we don't believe what we do has real value so we are constantly trying to lower the price - even to the point of not making money. If what you do has value and is well done - charge a fair price. There are plenty of people willing to pay for something worth while. There are also a large number of people who want to drive down your price even if it's not justified - don't let it happen.

The true value of bootstrapping is another of Jason's steps. I know from reading other things from Jason that he is not one to grow for the sake of
getting bigger and bigger. He would rather have something that is smaller but profitable and even debt free. Many companies have seen during the recent economic downturn that banks have the power to call loans and many have paid a steep price. Don't always run to the bank or the VC firms to get money. Sometimes, and often times, it's better to grow a little slower and finance the growth yourself. There is nothing like not needing the banks and VC firms - you'll sleep much better.

This was a great article written by an interesting businessman. Google him and listen to his many speeches - it's well worth the time.

3 Business Lessons From Brand Bowl 2011

2011-02-23T13:57:00.000-05:00

Below is an email blast from our Marketing Coordinator, Katlyn Kugler, that I thought was worth sharing. Enjoy the read - Roy

3 Business Lessons From Brand Bowl 2011

When you hear the words "Super Bowl ads" you probably start to cringe a little bit. We know what you are thinking: "Enough with the analyzing and ranking of the Super Bowl ads! That was over two weeks ago!" Don't worry, we are not about to grade the ads or assign them gold stars. Instead, we are going to take a closer look at some of the Brand Bowl's stand out spots and pull three important business lessons from them.

Lesson # 1: Extras can derail the original agenda.

Who didn't love Volkswagen's "The Force" spot? The commercial was a huge hit filling whole living rooms with "aww"s and "how adorable!"s. But how many of these people know that this commercial was specifically for the Passat? Very few. It could be that Volkswagen was simply trying to foster a positive brand perception for the company, but if that were the case the mention of the Passat would be unnecessary to begin with.

Moral of the story: Don't let fluff detract from your priorities. More people remember the 5 year old Darth Vader in the Volkswagen commercial than the model of the car. At work, don't let distractions interfere with what you need to accomplish. Incorporating flashy extras into projects will only confuse your audience and detract from the intended message. Concentrating on original objectives will ensure successful communication.

Lesson # 2: When you goof up, say you're sorry and move on.

Groupon's ads raised a lot of controversy and left the majority of audiences offended. Groupon CEO Andrew Mason responded the next day via blog post opening with "I've been spending the day listening to the negative feedback about our Tibet Super Bowl commercial, and want to take a crack at explaining why we created this campaign." The blog post is five lengthy paragraphs which try to shift attention to other Super Bowl spots that were "truly offensive", list excuses for the ad's execution, and worst of all, there is not one mention of an apology. Groupon decided to pull all three commercials from broadcast and issued a "we're sorry" five days after the initial backlash.

Moral of the story: When you mess up (because we all do at one point or another), don't pass blame, spit out a list of excuses, or provide an 'explanation' as to why you are not wrong. A quick and direct apology not only displays professionalism but allows the company to move on to more positive efforts and be viewed in a more respectable light by customers.

Lesson # 3: Customer and communication are top priority.

The Chrysler 200 spot stole the show in Super Bowl 2011 because it kept the viewer in mind and tied the product benefit to ad execution. Heavy emotional appeal was used in the unheard of 2:00 minute commercial. People do not remember the spot's poetic verse word for word and they may not remember every image flashing across the screen, but what they do remember is the feeling of inspiration at the end and the last thought they are left with: Chrysler 200.

Moral of the story: When executing business strategy keep the customer in mind. Your customer might not remember verbatim the phone calls you've had with them or small favors you have done for them along the way, but they will remember that you made them feel like a priority. If you put your customer's needs first they will feel positively about you. Additionally, if you can communicate product benefits during positive customer interactions the customer will remember the product and parlay positive associations to it.

Now that we have gained some knowledge from the yearly phenomenon, the subject of Super Bowl ads can finally be laid to rest - at least until 2012 when the rankings, gold stars, nacho dip, and plasma screen televisions emerge once again. In the mean time stay focused on business goals, apologize when necessary, and keep customers and communication your top priorities.

To Help Others Develop, Start With Yourself

2011-02-09T16:47:00.000-05:00

Often times when I have a few minutes to invest in reading something short but with meaning I find myself going to Marshall Goldsmith's website and picking an article for a little self development. Recently I came across an article entitled To Help Others Develop, Start With Yourself which I found helpful. The article starts with this statement, "Great leaders encourage leadership development by openly developing themselves." This single line gives the core element of the article which is to get improvement out of others, a goal of leadership, you much improve yourself.

One tool Goldsmith uses is the 360-degree feedback review. This allows a leader to get data on how those who report to him or her feel about how the leader's work has been done. Then the data is collecting later and compared to the original to find areas of growth or areas where more work is needed. This is difficult but it's something that can result in great improvement. Even if you are not in a position to do this with a large team it can be done with co-workers, family or friends. Any group of people who care about you getting better can help with this exercise. The hard part is to listen, learn and change.

The end game is to lead by example. Improve yourself through measured consistent feedback and others will get on the bandwagon.

The Iron Man: Jordan Zimmerman

2011-01-30T12:56:00.000-05:00

If you want to radically improve what you do it is important to look for examples of other people and how they perform. Inc magazine has a story about Jordan Zimmerman, the Founder of Zimmerman Advertising, that is filled with ideas for improvement. Zimmerman Advertising has 22 offices around the world and bills $2.6 billion each year. That in itself is amazing but it's also amazing to read about what Jordan does on a typical day.

Jordan wakes up at 3:30 am every day and hits the gym by 4:00 am. He does this because he believes that being in good shape gives him a competitive advantage. He's home by 5:30 am and then takes a 25 miles bike ride. During this time he is thinking about the day and leaving messages for his assistant to begin planning his meetings for the day. He then spends time with his family before heading off to the office. This is just the beginning.

During the day Jordan talks to the CEO of each of his 20 major clients and he does this every day. He has just a short conversation to make sure
he is on the same page as his major clients. Again - this is an amazing habit because it keeps him in close contact with the clients who matter most. What would happen if you and I did this - we had a conversation each day with our most important clients asking them what went well yesterday, what needs done today and what could be improved? Would we stand out from the crowd?

This article shows what can be done when the most important clients are treated in a way that our competitors are unwilling to emulate. Take time every day and keep in touch with the people, clients or employees, who have the biggest impact on what you are trying to get done. Stay focused on improving and bringing new and better ideas. This is a sure way to success.

How Do You Work?

2011-01-27T15:14:00.001-05:00

I really enjoy learning how others work? I enjoy learning from others how they structure their days and their time. This week I met with a prospect from Germany who lives in one city and works in two other cities. He works at one office on Monday and Tuesday and the finishes the week at another office in another city, then back home on the weekend. In a recent article in Inc magazine I learned how Gary Vaynerchuk spends his time and how he structure his days. Again, he is someone who travels and maintains multiple offices.

When I read about people who do so much I get encouraged because I see how much more I can get done in the same amount of time I
invest today. It seems the best way to improve is to look for models to copy and then study your own time. A couple of times a year I will track my time in fifteen minute segments and then after about a week of tracking I can see where the bulk of my time is spent. I can see where I spend too much time and where I don't spend enough time.

Try something new to improve yourself. Read how others are living - track how you are living - and then make changes to improve. Today's world is rapidly changing and if we stay on the front edge of that change we can succeed.

Lone Survivor

2011-01-21T14:27:00.012-05:00

Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 is a new book written by Marcus Luttrell.

This is one of the top ten books I have ever read. Navy Seals have always been a group that has interested me. I heard about this book on the radio one day and then took it on a trip. During the trip home I began reading the book and was engrossed. This is a book about a small group of four Navy Seal soldiers who trekked in to the Kush mountains in Afghanistan looking for a enemy leader. The goal was to capture the leader and return him to U.S. Forces.

During this battle Marcus and his three fellow soldiers were attacked by over 100 enemy fighters. During this battle three Seals were killed and Marcus eventually made it to safety. The book does a great job recounting the battle and the time between the battle and when Marcus made it back to safety.

The reason I think so highly of this book is
because it demonstrates what a human is capable of doing. The book takes the reader through the Seal training and through the battle Marcus endured in Afghanistan. After reading this book I am more and more aware of the fact that I can do much more than I am doing now. When I encounter a battle at work or when one of the people I work with is doing something difficult, it is easy to think about what Marcus endured and then realize there is nothing too difficult in any office. This is a great book and well worth buying a reading.

5 Business Killers

2011-01-13T16:18:00.040-05:00

If there was a list of five things that could kill a business - would it be good to know them in order to avoid them? Verne Harnish, the author of Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, wrote an article for Fortune Magazine that outlines these five killers.

Stop paying attention to bad news. Quit watching so much news and quit going to online news sites during the day. This activity takes time which means we have less for improving business and growing sales. Second this activity puts negativity in our minds. I'm not saying that watching the news is bad or that understanding what is going on in the world is bad but we don't need excessive amounts. To know that a tragedy happened and to donate some money to the Red Cross to help is a good thing. If that tragedy begins to bring you down to the point you are not taking care of customers is the problem.

Quit selling some or part of your services. This means that we need to use the Pareto, or 80/20, Principle to focus on the products or services that are key to our future and where we make most of our profit. Focus on theses and let the others go. In a hypercompetive world it is tough to be all things to all people. Just do what you do and do it well. We have some friends who opened a restaurant in our local city called Village Crepe. When they first opened the restaurant
and it was a limited menu and only served breakfast and lunch I was a little worried that it wasn't enough. We were there last weekend and the place was packed and we had to wait to get a table. They have focused on what they do well and not tried to be all things to all people and are finding great success.

These are only two of the points from Verne's article. Click the link and read the rest. Your future may be better for it.

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

2010-12-29T13:24:00.001-05:00

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing are a list that has been around for a long time. One author I follow, Tim Ferriss, says he reads these laws each time he is about to come out with a new project like his two books. Thought I would share them along with a link. Hope at least 1 of the 22 helps you in some way.

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing (1993) is a book by Al Ries and Jack Trout.

These are the chapter heading from The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, by Ries & Trout, Harper Business.

1. It is better to be first than it is to be better.
2. If you can't be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in.
3. It is better to be first in the mind than to be first in the marketplace.
4. Marketing is not a battle of products, it's a battle of perceptions.
5. The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospect's mind.
6. Two companies cannot own the same word in the prospect's mind.
7. The strategy to use depends on

which rung you occupy on the ladder.
8. In the long run, every market becomes a two horse race.
9. If you are shooting for second place, your strategy is determined by the leader.
10. Over time, a category will divide and become two or more categories.
11. Marketing effects take place over an extended period of time.
12. There is an irresistible pressure to extend the equity of the brand.
13. You have to give up something to get something.
14. For every attribute, there is an opposite, effective attribute.
15. When you admit a negative, the prospect will give you a positive.
16. In each situation, only one move will produce substantial results.
17. Unless you write your competitor's plans, you can't predict the future.
18. Success often leads to arrogance, and arrogance to failure.
19. Failure is to be expected and accepted.
20. The situation is often the opposite of the way it appears in the press.
21. Successful programs are not built on fads, they're built on trends.
22. Without adequate funding, an idea won't get off the ground.

60 Tips for A Stunningly Great Life

2010-12-27T13:20:00.001-05:00

To have a great life takes time and work. To get up each day and push for improvement takes a relentless drive to do better and better each day. Occasionally I come across websites that offer great tips. Recently I found the following list on Robin Sharma's site and I thought it was worth sharing.

Enjoy.

1. Exercise daily.

2. Get serious about gratitude.

3. See your work as a craft.

4. Expect the best and prepare for the worst.

5. Keep a journal.

6. Read “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin”.

7. Plan a schedule for your week.

8. Know the 5 highest priorities of your life.

9. Say no to distractions.

10. Drink a lot of water.

11. Improve your work every single day.

12. Get a

mentor.

13. Hire a coach.

14. Get up at 5 am each day.

15. Eat less food.

16. Find more heroes.

17. Be a hero to someone.

18. Smile at strangers.

19. Be the most ethical person you know.

20. Don’t settle for anything less than excellence.

21. Savor life’s simplest pleasures.

22. Save 10% of your income each month.

23. Spend time at art galleries.

24. Walk in the woods.

25. Write thank you letters to those who’ve helped you.

26. Forgive those who’ve wronged you.

27. Remember that leadership is about influence and impact, not title and accolades.

28. Create unforgettable moments with those you love.

29. Have 5 great friends.

30. Become stunningly polite.

31. Unplug your TV.

32. Sell your TV.

33. Read daily.

34. Avoid the news.

35. Be content with what you have.

36. Pursue your dreams.

37. Be authentic.

38. Be passionate.

39. Say sorry when you know you should.

40. Never miss a moment to celebrate another.

41. Have a vision for your life.

42. Know your strengths.

43. Focus your mind on the good versus the lack.

44. Be patient.

45. Don’t give up.

46. Clean up your messes.

Competitive Advantage

2010-12-19T17:47:00.000-05:00

Do you know your company's competitive advantage? Is this something you spend time working on, researching and sharing with your customers and prospects? Most, if not all companies, have competitors who spend their time trying to take your customers. These same customers are making decisions on a regular basis as to whether they will work with you or with your competitors. Often these decisions are made on the basis of competitive advantage.

Without a clear competitive advantage it will be more and more difficult to win business in the future. There is more competition today and with the growth of buyers using online sources to find supplier, the competition will get even tougher. With that in mind - it's a good exercise to think about and work on a competitive advantage.

Bnet has an article entitled Do You Know Your Company's Competitive Advantage that gives some good points to consider. This article states
"Competitive advantage is a function of what game you’re playing. Not only that, in business competitive advantage is defined not by some abstraction and not by your rival, but by your customers." Sitting in a room with co-workers and trying to determine a strategy will be tough to do and possibly doomed to fail. The client is who determines what your advantage is and it's the customer who should be part of the process.

Spend some time with your best customers and ask them why they work with you and not with your competitors. Take this information and develop a strategy that shows why you are different and better than the other companies in your market. Then take this and repeat, repeat, repeat it to your customers and prospects. In the end you can end up with more business and life will be much more enjoyable.

Time's 2010 Person of The Year

2010-12-13T15:57:00.021-05:00

The Time Person of The Year for 2010 has been named and it's Mark Zuckerberg. Can't say this is a total surprise because of the incredible story that is Facebook. The Time article is full of great information and interesting images that help tell the story. The story begins with a description of the Facebook offices and the fact that no one, not even Mark, has an office. There aren't even cubicles. If you want privacy to make a call or have a conversation, you have to go into a conference room. This begins to paint the picture of the openness of the company. For a company only seven years old it is an incredible success story. There are now over 550,000,000 users on the service and they are adding about 700,000 new members each day. This is about 1 out of every 12 people on earth.

Mark, described as socially awkward, has
also been much discussed. When he is talking to someone it feels more like an exchange of data than a conversation. But those who are close to him see him as personable and friendly. At his age and with he has accomplished, it's surprising he has time for anything other than running and growing Facebook.

He is also extremely focused. He is a billionaire but he lives in a modest rented home, drives a modest Acura TSX and vacations in Orlando at Harry Potter World at Disney. On his Facebook page he lists one of his interests as "Eliminating desire". To me this shows who he is as a person - the money and fame are not the primary goal.

Overall this article is very well written and is full of great information. Printed out it's 15 pages and is well worth the read.

Brainstorming

2010-11-30T19:31:00.014-05:00

Twenty years ago there wasn't a consumer internet. There wasn't Google, there wasn't Facebook, there wasn't Twitter, there wasn't YouTube. All of these great ideas are new ideas that were once only a thought in the brain of a creative person. In the last three years Groupon has grown from nothing to doing two billion in sales - the fastest growing company in the history of the world. So many of these ideas were developed in brainstorming sessions.

What is the next great idea for you? For your family? For your job? For the new business you may start? For the new product your company needs to develop? For the new service your company needs to develop? The topic of brainstorming is always worth spending some time on.

Inc magazine recently ran an article with the title of How To Run A Brainstorming Session and there is much to get from this article. One point from the article is to "Check Your Title At the Door"
or in other words - when in the meeting give everyone a chance to participate. Often when the CEO begins an idea, everyone wants to tag on to that thought. This is dangerous because the outcome is a myopic organization. If the CEO has great ideas, then it works. But if, or once, the CEO has a bad idea or a string of bad ideas, then trouble happens. Just because someone doesn't have a title doesn't mean s/he can't have a great idea. Often times the people closest to the work have some of the best ideas. Ideas that improve the service level to the customer can, and often do, result in some incredible new products or services.

Another great point is to make "ideas a part of the culture." There is a concept in a Lean Manufacturing organization that encourages ideas from everyone. In our company each person has a goal of submitting one improvement idea per month. With about 100 people, we are getting between 1,000 and 1,200 ideas per year. Obviously, not all of the ideas can be used but it has been amazing the number of great ideas that have come from this one tool.

Brainstorming is essential to any company that wants to improve and stay in business over the long haul. Make this a part of your organization and enjoy the benefits of a company full of new ideas.

Thanksgiving

2010-11-22T19:37:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving Day, known informally as Turkey Day, is a harvest festival celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving was a holiday to express thankfulness, gratitude, and appreciation to God, family and friends for which all have been blessed of material possessions and relationships. Traditionally, it has been a time to give thanks for a bountiful harvest. (from Wikipedia)

Thanksgiving has traditionally one of my favorite days of the year. It's a time when my family is together and we are sharing the many blessings we have been given. We spend the day talking, watching sports, eating and then talking some more. This year we are celebrating the day on the beach in Florida with sixteen of our family.

I hope your Thanksgiving is a wonderful day and that you are able to spend the day with family and friends. Take the day off from work, from thinking about sales, from thinking about marketing or personal effectiveness. Just spend the day relaxing and hanging out with family and friends.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Giving A Great Presentation

2010-11-16T09:03:00.002-05:00

How many times have you had to give a presentation at work to a group, with a customer or in your life outside of business. In my work there are times I have to present to a group at work or more often to a client. There are even times outside of business that I need to present. I clearly remember my first public presentation - it was in speech class during my freshman year in college. I had never given a speech and I was terrified. This was something I had never done and I was sure it wasn't going to go well. The amazing thing was that once I was done I realized that I had no broken bones, no one had gotten up and walked out and that it wasn't as bad as I thought. Thankfully my school required four years of speech as well as speech clubs because now giving a presentation is no big deal.

Most people don't have the benefit of that kind of training but there are still tools anyone can use to improve. Shaun Rein recently wrote an article for Forbes that gives three great keys for improving a presentation. These are not nuts and bolts items but more big picture ideas for the overall message.

His first point is to tell stories. This is a great point. People are more interested in stories that bring home a point. Facts and figures are important but without some human element the data gets boring quickly. Shaun puts it this way, "Steve Jobs does not
talk about how the iPad is made of a million microprocessors; he shows the cool and creative things you can do with it. That generates excitement." When you have a presentation look for a good story to paint a picture and still make the point.

The second idea is to show passion. Without energy and a strong desire, your message will get lost. People listen to and follow people who have energy and a desire to do great things. If what you are saying is worth listening to, then make sure that comes across in your delivery.

Finally Shaun tells us to get the audience involved. This is something that is difficult to do because you are not sure what the audience is going to bring to the table. But in most instances, especially in a sales situation, you are better off getting all the ideas out and in the discussion so you can help direct where they go.

The article is well written and has more than I have shared in this post. If you have an opinion, leave a comment below. You never know, when the audience participates, there is usually a better outcome.

7 Leadership Must-Have Skills

2010-11-08T14:59:00.002-05:00

Marshall Goldsmith is the author of Mojo and What Got You Here Won't Get You There. He is an executive coach to many of the top leaders in our country and teaches at Dartmouth's Tuck School. On his blog this month he wrote about something that is required for leadership - self confidence. He believes this is something that is necessary to succeed. He doesn't mean someone who believes s/he is great without any proof - it is more the centered focus that comes with being able to do something well.

In the blog post he covers seven habits to improve self confidence. Here are a couple of the seven. "Make peace with ambiguity in decision making" which I see as meaning accept the fact that not all decisions are black and white. The business world is full of gray areas. Should we
launch a new product/service or not? Both decisions may work out OK but at some point a decision must be made. With the right research, advice and thought a person can generally make a good decision. Then if the decision turns out to be wrong - change it.

"Have fun! Life is short" is another point Marshall makes. He adds "why should you expect your direct reports to demonstrate positive enthusiasm, if they don't see it in you?" I work in the printing industry and we sometimes act as if the product is life or death important. Generally when we don't perform up to the customers expectations there is a good way to fix the problem. There is room for us to enjoy the day even when we are getting the work done.

The blog post is well worth reading and also bookmarking the blog so you can learn in the future.

Secrets Of A Great Salesperson

2010-10-31T09:29:00.005-04:00

Forbes has an article on their website called Secrets Of A Great Salesperson that covers five traits of a top performing sales person. One of the things I enjoy about sales is that all of the traits that bring success can be learned. Obviously there are people with natural abilities that with the right training will win in some situations but what I find is someone with average ability and a strong desire to learn and grow can beat the natural more times than not. That's partly because great natural ability can also become a crutch because natural ability can carry someone far without the extra hard work. So if you want to succeed in a field with a great return in time invested, sales can be a great option.

The five traits are good listening, integrity, teamwork, follow-through and swagger. A great salesperson has to work
on all of these traits and be willing to have a certain amount of self awareness to see where s/he is falling short and in need of improvement. I'm not sure what I think is the most important of these five traits because you can't really be deficient in any of them. My perspective of "swagger" would be better termed "self confidence". This self confidence is an outcome of better training, better preparation and a better perspective of how to help the client. Swagger could come off as an arrogant type presence that seems to turn people off. The author of the article called this a natural talent but I would argue the self confidence can be learned as long as the top goal is to serve the customer. When the desire to benefit the customer is at a high level then the sales person is working from a different perspective that comes across as self confidence.

Integrity is the one trait of the five that seems to be most lacking in the business world. Too many people are willing to cut corners to make an extra buck. The author does a great job describing integrity. She puts it this way, "I am using the word 'integrity' in the context of a person's qualities of honesty, trust and consistency of character. If your customer doesn't trust you as a person, he or she is not going to buy from you." This type of perspective helps develop customers for life instead of just single transactions.

The short article is well worth reading and then doing some self examination to see where you may be lacking and then working on improving any area of weakness.

Getting More Done In Less Time - Robin Sharma

2010-10-25T17:40:00.025-04:00

Robin Sharma is the author of The Leader Who Had No Title. In this book Robin teaches us how to be a leader even if we don't have a title and even if we don't have any power or influence. All leadership starts small and then grows over time AFTER a person proves himself or herself.

In a recent video, Robin gives three items that we can embrace that will lead to us becoming better leaders and better individuals. The first is the Daily Five. This is a technique where a person each morning thinks of the five most important goals of the day, writes them down and then finishes them by the last hour of the day. These are not major life goals but parts of goals or small goals. They are goals small enough that they can be started and finished in a single day. They also have to be small enough to be accomplished while still doing the normal work of the day. Five small goals a day, even if it is only done during the work week, gives us 1,300 victories over a years time.

The second item is the do daily exercise in the morning. Robin argues that this changes our metabolic rate and allows us to burn more calories and be more lean than the same exercise being done later in the day. This also changes our mindset
because we start our day doing something that we know is helpful. Personally, I find this very difficult. I get up at 5:30 am each day and to get up earlier in order to excercise is tough. But I am going to work on this by changing my morning routine so I can at least lift weights or do a mile or two on the treadmill. On the days I get this done in the morning, my days do turn out better.

The third item is to schedule time for the 3S's. The 3S's are silence, solitude and stillness. Robin argues that when a person blocks time for this type of thinking - big things happen. This is due to our mind having time to process ideas and thoughts without the grind of the phone, email or meetings. This is also difficult because many of our lives are so full it seems like we are wasting time by doing this. I do know from personal experience that when I do this, my mind can process and solve some of the bigger issues I have.

These three techniques are something each of us is capable of and are worth doing. Click the link to the video and see what you think.

Can An Employee Know More Than You?

2010-10-19T04:54:00.001-04:00

Everyone is aware that the people who do a certain job typically know that job better than anyone else. S/he perform the job on a daily basis and have to work through the issues and problems that arise day after day. That gives him or her more insight and knowledge of what is going on. Since most of us know this - how is it that decisions are still made without talking to the actual person performing the job?

Last Summer Marshall Goldsmith wrote an article for HBR entitled "When Your Employees Know More Than You" that addresses some of the ways we can rememdy this problem. Marshall encourages his readers to respect the time of their employees. He reminds us that everyone is busy today and time is critical to people. Therefore we have to not waste other peoples time by meaningless meetings or wasted idle chat. People want to
do their jobs and do them well but then go home and spend time with family and friends. We have to be willing to respect that. When someone realizes his or her time is respected it's amazing how much more they are willing to do for the company.

We also have to support the growth of everyone around us. By asking, "What can our company do to help you grow and achieve your goals?" will find it comes back tenfold, according to Marshall. We have to be interested in more than just what an employee can do to serve us or the company.

Marshall is a great source of information. His website is filled with articles and other resources that are well worth a browse.

Goldman Sachs Says I Need to Sell Harder

2010-10-06T08:20:00.000-04:00

In a recent Bloomberg article, Goldman Sachs was quoted as saying the economy is likely to be "fairly bad" or "very bad" over the next six to nine months. The optimistic view is 1 1/2 to 2 percent GDP growth and a 10 percent unemployment rate. The less optimistic view is another recession. Goldman Sachs is seen as having some of the best minds in the business and when they speak it's worth paying attention.

What does this mean for you and me? How can we use this information to our benefit?
Having a clear view of the future is one of the greatest tools available so this view tells me it's time to sell harder. It's time to make more calls, open more accounts and build more business. In any downturn there are companies that go out of business, companies that stagnate and companies that grow. There is no reasons to not be part of the third group.

If you have a sales force, now is the time to push harder to get more results. Our sales team knows that what got us where we are today will NOT get us growth in the future. Riding a strong economy is no longer an option. We have to work smarter and harder to make gains in the near future. Set some goals for dials, meetings, quotes and new customers and get started TODAY - tomorrow is not an option. Our plan is to be a part of the group that grows in the next year - you may as well also do that.

Khan Academy - Free Education

2010-09-28T14:20:00.002-04:00

How many people would like to have a free education? What if there was a place online to learn most of the basic concepts taught in high school and college and it was free? Would you be interested in finding the teacher Bill Gates calls his "favorite teacher"? The Khan Academy is that place on the web. I first saw a story about Khan in a TED video. Khan uses video to explain the world and is how each of us to can learn more.

The site has over 1,600 different videos on a wide variety of topics and all for free. Early on in his career Khan was asked to tutor some relatives in a couple of subjects he was familiar with. After doing this and then being referred to some other relatives, Khan began to feel this was something he was good at doing and something that helped other people.

He makes his money from donations. He is a 501 3(C) organization that is supported by the giving of others. I don't know if this is the best business model but he is without a doubt impacting the world for the better.

Spend a few hours looking over the videos to see what can be done when a person is trying to accomplish and do more that the average person is doing. You never know - you may also learn something at the same time.

How to Delegate Properly

2010-09-21T14:04:00.003-04:00

Delegation. It's a skill that can bring great rewards and can also lead to great pain. Delegate properly and you are able to do more, earn more and rise higher. Do it poorly and you can ruin a great career. Inc magazine has an article on this topic that brings some good points out for consideration.

You have to decide clearly what to delegate. From a managers point-of-view it's best to delegate the tasks that bog you down or that you are not good at performing. In my business there are many tasks and details that have to be nailed down in a very specific manner to keep projects going well. In the beginning of a project is not the time for me to delegate. Once a project is properly started then it's time to delegate. The routing of proofs or samples or changes in details are great to delegate. If it's core to my personal success then I need to be more hands on with the activity.

Another key point is
to match a delegated activity with the level of the person. If the task is to negotiate a large subcontracting job and the person is new or inexperienced, then that's not a good fit. If someone is a skilled person making a good wage, then s/he is the one to give the more critical task. If s/he doesn't want the task then it may be time to evaluate whether that person is key to the company.

Communicate clearly. A big mistake in delegation is when instructions or directions are muddy. If I don't give clear and measurable direction then I can't hold someone accountable for a specific outcome. Too often a leader gives vague direction while expecting specific outcomes.

Delegation is a key trait to any leadership role. This article offers much to absorb.

How to Manage a One-Person Sales Force

2010-09-17T09:42:00.000-04:00

All sales people have to learn and improve or the future will become bleak. Inc magazine recently published an article on "How to Manage a One-Person Sales Force" which has some great advice for any sales person, not just the one-person team.

Manage your time religiously. If a sales person is not in control of his/her time then days, weeks and months will pass by without much forward movement. You must schedule time in a planner for all of the key activities that need to be done. Researching new prospects, making
sales calls, meeting with prospects, following up on proposals, meeting with and nurturing clients are all activities that must be done to maintain and grow business.

Delegate, delegate and then delegate more. In our company we have found that when a person is promoted to a sales position s/he will usually want to slip back into a former role when times are stressful. When life gets tough people like to do what is comfortable. This is true of sales people in particular. When a customer service person is made a sales person it is easy for that person to avoid the hard activities of calling on new business and instead get bogged down in support duties. The typical excuse is that if I don't do the activities they won't be done well. To be successful in any area of business this tendency must be overcome. Without delegation, there will be no time for growth.

These are only two of the great tips from the article. Click the link to learn more.

Richard Branson: Five Secrets to Business Success

2010-09-13T08:39:00.000-04:00

Richard Branson is one of the best know business people on the planet. He is most notable for business stunts and reality TV but his success comes from leading and managing multiple businesses. In a recent article he lists five secrets to business success.

First is enjoy what you are doing. Any career that makes you dread Monday is not going to succeed. Branson says, "because starting a business is a huge amount of hard work, requiring a great deal of time, you had better enjoy it".

Second is to create something that stands out. I believe most people have heard of the Virgin brand. Just the image of the name and the bold red color makes this a brand that is easy to remember. In addition to that Branson uses his personal style to bring energy and spark to what he is doing.

Third is to create something that everybody who
works for you is really proud of. This is a little tougher. To stand out you have to take risks and push to the edge. Branson is able to do that and still have a respectable business.

Fourth is be a good leader. Branson believes one of the key traits to being a good leader is to be a good listener both to customers and employees. This opens your mind to what the company and the market is thinking. People do a better job when the boss listens and responds to what they are saying.

Fifth is to be visible. The company and the customers have to know you are there for them. You can't be in your chair behind a desk all day and expect the best out of people.

Not many can reach the heights of a Richard Branson but we can all improve from where we are today. This article gives us five clear ways to improve.

Seven Reasons Print Will Make a Comeback in 2011

2010-08-31T14:13:00.000-04:00

Print is not dead. For the past few decades printing has grown with GDP which has made it a good business to be in - a mature business for sure but still with opportunity. For the past couple of years and for the foreseeable future, print will shrink. Even with that being true, there are still reasons for marketing firms to use print as part of the mix.

Joel Pulizzi in Folio magazine recently wrote an article on the seven reasons print will have a comeback in 2011. Being a printing company, we like to see articles like this one. Two of the reasons given are print still excites people and people want to unplug. To be able to hold something and flip through the pages can still move a customer to buy. Being able to sit in a quiet room and read is still pleasant. In a wired world it is nice to have some time alone.

The other five reasons are worth reading. Click this link and give Joel's article a read. Print, as one of the marketing channels a company uses, is still viable. Not everyone can be reached without using all the channels available. Hope you enjoy the article.

The First Step Is To Start

2010-08-27T16:31:00.000-04:00

People seem to hate to make something happen. Many of us spend days, weeks, months and years thinking about what we should be doing or how we should be changing. We want to build muscle, loose weight, start a business, begin dating or any of a host of things. But we just can't seem to get started.

I came across a blog entry from 37Signals.com that had some great insight into this problem. The blog reminded me of a quote I heard once that stated "Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly". When I repeat this line to people I often get negative feedback. Until I explain
that it means most of us wait too long to start something - believing we can make something perfect before taking the first step. Then we loose interest and life moves us forward without beginning the new task.

This blog entry goes over three areas of focus that are worth considering - start with what you already know, avoid self doubt and do-there is no try. If you have ever wanted to do something new and have found yourself putting it off for a long time - read this blog, use the tools and move to a better life.

How Do You Handle Change?

2010-08-19T09:33:00.001-04:00

Recently I came across an interesting article on managing change. Whether you are going through a personal change, a change in job, a change in responsibility or a change in any area of your life, this article offers some great insight and tools.

Initially almost all of us resist change. Most people don't view change as good because of the unknown. It is sometimes easier to stick with the current, even if it isn't optimal, than to step out and change. There is the risk that the change may not end up being for the better and that, I believe, is at the root of resistance.

The article included a quote that I thought was worth sharing:

“The world hates change yet it is the only thing
that has brought progress.” - Charles F. Kettering,
American inventor and holder of 140 patents

We all want progress in our lives and to have that we must be willing to step out and change. The author of the article discusses two parts to change - the Engineer side and the Psychologist side. One is the side that says
"yes, I want to weigh less" by eating better and working out. This isn't enough to change which is seen by how many of us battle with this concept. The other side is the "why" and how to look at why we overeat and don't exercise. This is the key. We have to look at the root cause of why we don't do the actions we know to do.

The article is a great source for tools and ideas to change and change is the only way to improvement.

David Ogilvy - Advertising Legend

2010-08-11T14:09:00.000-04:00

David Ogilvy is regarded as one of the greatest advertising executives of the last century. During a recent speech, Jonathan Salem used the quotes below to anchor his address.

"If it doesn't sell, it isn't creative."
"I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information."
"Every advertisement should be thought of as a contribution to the complex symbol which is the brand image."
"Ninety-nine percent of advertising doesn't sell much of anything."

The basic message is that if advertising does not build a brand or sell more products or services, then it is a waste of money. Each of us has to look at every dollar we spend on advertising, marketing and promotion and ask if that dollar is improving our brand or selling more products or services. If the dollar isn't helping us, we need to cut the expense and move that money to a more productive investment. These can be difficult decisions but if we don't make them and our competitors do, we can suffer in the future. By being proactive and moving the marketing dollar where there is a greater impact, we can be one of the winners.

David Sokol - Learn From The Best

2010-07-30T09:42:00.000-04:00

On great thing about living in the age of communication is that anyone can learn from some of the best in any field. Athletes can learn from the best - even watching how they train on youtube. Musicians can learn from the best by following them online and in print. And business people can learn from the best by reading about how they lead and what they do to stay on the front edge of success. David Sokol is one such leader that is worth learning from. Recently in a Fortune magazine article there was a description of how David manages and how he runs parts of his personal life.

To me the following quote says so much:

"Sokol has trained his team to measure every single thing the company does, from on-schedule service to bill collection to the quality of
catering. "When we make a mistake," he says, "we analyze why we made the mistake, and if there's a way to fix it, we fix it by putting a system in place that solves the problem."

When you have the right plan, the right training and you intensely manage that plan it is amazing what can be done. David is also disciplines on a personal level. Each morning at 5 am he get ups, runs five miles and then lifts weights. He feels he has to do this to keep his mind clear and sharp while maintaining a travel schedule that would bury many younger managers.

In a world of great information that is free for the reading there is no excuse not to be growing and improving.

Why Use Social Media At Work

2010-07-27T18:57:00.000-04:00

Most companies, ours included, don't want people spending time on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter during the work hours. This is because these social media programs can be such time wasters and don't contribute to being productive at work. Now some are touting the idea that if employees are using social media, then customers will see that and there is benefit to the extra branding for the company. Steve Patrizi in his blog wrote the following:

"But social media profiles take this to an entirely new level. Rather than simply featuring your people in your ads, social media profiles allow your customers and partners to see that these are real people, who have worked at real places, who have earned real degrees, with real recommendations, and who are connected to other real people. Maybe your customers will even see that they themselves are connected to your employees."

Steve recommends three ways employees can be helped in this area. Embrace and encourage social media, make it easy and be suggestive. You never know - maybe your customers will see your company as a group of humans that want to help and that will improve your brand. It may be worth a try.

Jason Fried - How to Bootstrap A Company

2010-07-25T06:27:00.000-04:00

After watching companies like Facebook and Google that grow at remarkable rates and have incredible investment it is easy, to believe that having huge financial backing is the only way to live. Then along comes a firm like 37Signals - a smaller company with profits from the early days of the company. The founder is with the company and involved. Below is a video interview where Jason shares his general philosophy.

Social Media

2010-07-20T15:05:00.000-04:00

Our company, Hopkins Printing, has finally entered the world of social media. This Summer we have a marketing intern that has done a great job setting us up on Facebook and Twitter. She has also improved our company page on LinkedIn and has linked our website to my blog. These are all activities I have been wanting to do but have never devoted the time and energy to getting it done.

Different companies have different reasons for using social media. For a business to consumer company, social media can be used to directly drive business and generate income. Being a business to business company our main goal with social media is to build a better connection with our customers and to communicate better with our customers.

It seems that no matter what type of business you are in, social media can be a help. Whether it is driving top line revenue or just adding a channel for communication. The critical factor is to make sure you keep it going. There is nothing more sad than looking at a site and realizing nothing new has been done for months. Stay active, communicate openly and often and see the relationships grow.

Delivering Happiness

2010-06-11T11:00:00.000-04:00

This is my third blog post to review Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh. The entire book is full of great ideas. Will discuss a few more here. If you leave a comment, you may win a free copy of Tony's book.

#1 Driver of Growth

For Zappos the #1 driver of growth has been repeat customers. This has been driven by the passion they have for customer service and the customer base has responded. In our business it always amazes me how much of what we do results from repeat customers that enjoy being told the truth, being treated fair and getting what was agreed upon at the price quoted. Such simple concepts but not followed often.

Culture Equals Brand

Many companies spend tremendous amounts of money on branding. At Zappos the belief is their culture is their brand. There culture centers around customer service and this has become their brand. Most companies have a brand and that brand is determined by the customer not the company. Customers decide what they think of you by how you treat them. If you want a great brand - have a great culture.

Humility

This is one of the ten core values for the company as well as how Tony lives his life on a personal basis. If you ever see video of Tony you quickly realize

he is a humble person. To me this is a great example of how someone with great character can also succeed in business.

This book is filled with wonderful insights into how companies can become great and at the same time care for employees, vendors and customers. It is a great investment to buy and read this book.

Delivering Happiness

2010-06-10T19:55:00.002-04:00

This is my second blog post to review Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh. As I worked my way through Tony's book I was amazed at the number of strong lessons. Here are a few more. If you leave a comment, you may win a free copy of Tony's book.

You Don't Need Too Much Money
Early on at Zappos there wasn't enough availability to money. Tony and his co-workers tried and tried to find additional funding but not until later in the company were they able to get the funding levels they wanted. This turned out to be a good lesson. They had to cut expenses and then when that was done they had to cut some more. This forced them to focus on what they could do for each other and for the customer that didn't cost money. The same spirit lives on at Zappos.

Have A Clear List of Objectives
Early on Tony and his other top managers focused on a small number of clear objectives. They knew they couldn't be everything to everyone, so they kept it simple. They focused on the brands that sold, they focused on training, they focused on strong customer service and they focused on a wonderful culture. Many companies spread themselves so thin they are weak at all skills instead of being great at a few things. It is almost always better to have a clear set of objectives and stay focused.

Never Outsource Your Core Competency
When Zappos was young, they experimented with outsourcing their warehouse function. On paper this seemed like a good idea because they could save money and
not have the hassle of managing a large warehouse. It turned out that they had to build and staff their own warehouse because no one would treat the customer the way Zappos wanted the customer treated. They also never outsourced their phone support - again they spent more money but it was the differentiating factor of the company. Zappos is all about great customer service so they keep that in-house.

Big Three for Zappos
Customer service, culture and employee development are what drives Zappos. They may love shoes but anyone can love and sell shoes. They are different because of the people and how they are trained and treated. This then spreads over into how the customer is treated. It's a win-win.

If you have any responsibility for managing other people or if you just want to improve yourself, this is a great book to read and study.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Lessons from Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh - Free Book Give Away

2010-06-07T08:39:00.000-04:00

There will be three posts this week about Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh. This will not be the typical book review with the standard info about Tony’s background, early successes and the selling of two of his companies. When reading this book it became clear to me that Tony is sharing a large number of success principles that are common in success literature. He doesn’t call them principles but they still are principles.

The publisher also gave me a second book to give away. I am going to give this book, I will pay shipping, to a random comment author to my blog. At the end of the week I will pick the winner.

Here are the principles from the first part of the book that I found enlightening.

Action
“There’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.” Morpheus, The Matrix. Tony teaches us that everything takes action – life without action is just theory and theory doesn’t accomplish much. You have to live life and be in the game to find and deliver happiness.

Humility

Humility is a theme and a core value for Tony and for Zappos. This has allowed him to endure many tough times personally and professionally because he was not focused on how he would look or how he would be impacted. When a person can separate himself or herself from the issue or opportunity, great things can happen.

No Man Is An Island

Early on Tony realized he couldn’t do everything himself. He knew he didn’t have the skills to cover everything in the business. One of his early businesses was website development and he was the sales person while his partner, Sanjay, was the programmer. Tony said about the two, “we made a good team.” He kept this mindset throughout his career – it takes more than one person to win.

Delayed Gratification

Tony had a chance to sell LinkExchange for $1 million when it was only 5 months old. When the company was about a year old, Yahoo offered $20 million of the company. Tony and his partners decided not to sell even though financially they would have been set for life. They know better things were down the road so they kept growing the business. To postpone pleasure into the future is a strong principle that has served Tony well.

Hire Right

Tony said “we hired a lot of smart, passionate

employees.” Notice he didn’t say they hired a lot of great programmers or great call center people. The focus was first on hiring right then getting them in the right position. This is what Jim Collins talks about when he describes getting the right people on the bus and then getting them in the right seats.

Tell Stories

Tony has shaped his marketing and branding by promoting certain stories that tell of the Zappos culture. Whether it’s paying someone $2,000 not to take a job offer or directing a customer to a different website to find the right shoe, Zappos has been able to use these stories to share what they are all about.

Do What You Know

Tony initially invested in Zappos via his venture capital fund. When he stuck to companies he knew about, he did better. When he started funding movies and other ventures he didn’t understand as well, he didn’t do as well. This is a strong lesson that a good business person needs to focus on what s/ he knows well and then keep focused.

I hope these principles are interesting to you. When reading this book I was constantly reminded so many great ideas I can use in my life and business. This is a book worth buying and reading many times over.

Delivering Happiness

2010-06-02T09:30:00.000-04:00

Delivering Happiness is a new book coming out next week. The author, Tony Hsieh, has lead Zappos.com for the last decade while growing the company from a small organization to over one billion in sales. An incredible feat considering their primary product is shoes which are a commodity. As a seller of a commodity, Zappos.com does not rely on being the low cost leader and that is the real essence of the company.

Culture and customer service drive
what they do. The company has been built around respect for the customer, employee and vendors. This respect is then seen through the culture of the company and the customer service attitude.

Stay tuned for a detailed review of the new book.

The Zappos Way

2010-05-25T14:10:00.000-04:00

How can a company go from close to a start up to over one billion in sales in 10 years? How can a company sell a commodity product online to a price sensitive consumer and still make money? How can a company hire thousands of people and still have a small handbook? If Zappos can is it possible you can as well? The video below shows the C.E.O. of Zappos being interviewed and it amazes me how humble he is considering all he has done.

Zappos early on focused on customer service and then culture as the driving factors that made them different than their competitors and it paid off in a huge way. Watch the video and then ask yourself how you can copy some of what Zappos is able to do and use it in your company or job. Enjoy the show.

SMART Goals

2010-05-19T06:20:00.003-04:00

Everyone needs goals - they are what get us out of bed in the morning. Most of the time people think they have a goal when they just want something. It can't be called a goal unless it is SMART. SMART goals are goals that have the following five characteristics.

S - specific

M - measurable

A - attainable

R - realistic

T - time bound

This year every person in our company has a
personal development program that consists of at least four goals that relate to his/her job and one goal that is a personal education goal. These five goals have to pass the SMART test and they are then part of a quarterly review.

The goals are also related to the companies Strategic Plan, so we have about one hundred people all working towards a defined plan. We believe this is going to make a positive difference in 2010. Even with all the bad we hear and read about, there are some good things to discuss.

When people have something worth working towards they are more energized and ready to grow and stretch.

5 Steps To Work Through Conflict

2010-05-11T15:31:00.000-04:00

Business is full of opportunities for conflict. Working through issues with customers, suppliers or co-workers can easily end in the wrong way. Often times the quick reaction is to lash out and attack. In a business climate that has been downsized and given more responsibility, many people don’t have the patience or the time to resolve issues so they head straight to conflict.

That doesn’t have to be the way. John Quelch, a Harvard Business Review writer, recently wrote on this topic. He covers five steps to work through conflict. He begins with the concept of “Frame Your Argument” which means don’t begin with attacking – begin with

explaining. Sometimes there are misunderstandings and they can be solved with discussion.

In our work with customers and fast delivery dates, it is easy to have conflict internally and externally. We find that if we begin the discussion with asking the other person for his/her desires, more often than not we can solve the issue without any conflict.

Secondly, he says to “Propose a Resolution” which helps move the difficulty forward. This puts the focus on the problem and not on the person.

The third point from the blog is to “Show Respect” which shows the other person that s/he is important to you and worthy of respect. It’s hard for someone to attack when they are being respected. Fourth, he says to “Keep Your Cool” which again shows the other person they are being treated well.

Only when these four techniques don’t work does the author say to “Escalate If Necessary.” Sometime it is worth it to go on the offense and push for what is right. The warning is to always save this as the last ditch effort because once this is done it is tough to turn back the clock.

Conflict is part of life and always part of doing business together. What separates winners from the others is that winners know how to successfully deal with conflict and still maintain a good relationship.

Office Recycling Program

2010-05-03T21:26:00.000-04:00

As part of our Lean Program, we have started an office recycling program that has a goal of reducing our office waste. Lean is a philosophy of reducing waste and one waste is office waste. In 2007 we put recycling tubs in each office and have been encouraging each person at the company to put all paper in the recycle bin. This bin is then combined with our paper waste from the printing operation and then recycled.

One interesting outcome of this program
has been that we have reduced the number of times our trash dumpster is emptied each week. We have gone from five times a week to three times a week that the trash company comes and empties our dumpster. This program has not only saved waste – it has saved money. It’s a double win.

A recent article in Inc Magazine gives multiple steps and various resources that can help any company start and maintain an office recycling program. If your office doesn’t have something like this – be the person to start. Any reduction in waste is a good thing. And when that reduction in waste also saves money it is even a better outcome.

Effective Google Adwords

2010-04-30T09:52:00.001-04:00

We have recently started using Google Adwords to drive visitors to our various websites. When I started this I just signed up for an account and then began picking what I thought were the best options. So far this has worked fairly well and we have gained some business as a result of the web traffic. As time went on I realized this couldn’t be the best way to use Adwords so I started looking for better advice on how to use Adwords.

One article I came across was very helpful. The article was called Top 12 Tips To Writing Effective Google AdWords Select Ads and was written by Michael Wong who has written three books on SEO. This is a great article for the beginner.

Two points seemed to be the most effective for our needs.
One was to sell your USP or unique selling proposition. The second was to provoke emotion and enthusiasm. Initially I used Adwords that were products or services we have. After spending some time thinking about this article I adjusted some of the Adwords to focus on our USP and on the emotion of what we sell. I am currently testing the response to these adjustments and am looking forward to the results. Our Alexa ranking has gone from over twenty million to six million with a goal of breaking into the top million which is an attainable goal for a company like ours. Based on this I know our SEO and our Adwords are helping our business.

Spend some time thinking about this article – adjust your Adwords – track the results. Let me know what you think of the article and whether it was helpful to you.

Is It Worth Printing?

2010-04-28T07:36:00.002-04:00

International Paper is one of the largest paper companies in the world. As part of what they do for their customers, they have a website used for education. On this site they ask the question: Is it worth printing? Being a printing company we have it in our self interest to promote print and the value of print. International Paper also has it in their self interest to promote print because printing is done on paper. That is why I found some of the recommendations on the sight interesting. IP, and most knowledgeable companies, realize that marketing and advertising has to be a multi-channel approach.

To only use print doesn’t make any more sense than to only use electronic advertising. They both support each other. The best mix is to

use print, internet, radio and t.v. to promote a brand. One channel can’t reach everyone.

This site also promotes sustainability by pushing the idea of recycled and FSC papers. IP also encourages readers to make sure mail lists are clean and up to date. There is no reason to mail to someone who isn’t a good prospect. The cost and the waste just don’t make sense.

Print is still a vital part of marketing and it appears that will hold true into the near and long term future. Customers are still the drivers of how companies advertise and as long as customers enjoy the feel and look of print then print will be a part of the mix.

Networking On LinkedIn

2010-04-26T09:53:00.000-04:00

LinkedIn is the primary social networking site for business people. I am constantly amazed at being able to use LinkedIn to connect to and network with people both in and out of my personal network. My experience with the site has been primarily through trial and error. Recently I came across an article with some great advice on using LinkedIn. Thought it was worth sharing.

The article starts out with how a beginner can build a profile and then how that profile can be used to enlarge a network of contacts. The average LinkedIn user

is well worth knowing. Their average household income is $109,000.00 so it is easy to see the site does allow primarily business contacts.

The article also includes advice on groups and how to use the groups to leverage more contacts. In the end any site is only as good as what you put into the site so get involved, answer questions, help other people and in the end reap the rewards that LinkedIn has to offer.

Gary Vaynerchuk - Go and GET IT!

2010-04-06T20:29:00.000-04:00

Below is a video from Gary Vaynerchuk. He is one of the leading authorities on social media. He built his families liquor store from 4 million to 60 million in sales and is now an author, speaker and owner of a media company. This video teaches people how to earn money from a blog but that's not what I think is most important. More importantly, this video shows what can happen when someone justs picks up the phone and prospects for clients. This, to me, is a sales training video. Just click below and watch the magic.

Cold Calling - It's Still The Right Thing To Do

2010-03-31T13:07:00.002-04:00

Cold calling is still a part of good business strategy. One of the reasons a sales person can make more money than many other professions is because some of what a sales person has to do is difficult. Cold calling is part of what is difficult. Inc. magazine back in 2000 wrote a great article on the many different skills needed for effective cold calling.

In the article, the writer profiled Pat Cavanaugh and his cold calling techniques.

He is an extreme example but worth reading about. Most sales people I know would be better off today if they made even a minimum amount of daily cold calls.

Many trainers, and I agree, believe someone needs to carve out time on a daily basis for cold calling. One friend told me once that cold calling was like oxygen, you need some every day. My advice is always to carve that time out in the morning because it is so easy to lose track of the day in the afternoon and then put off the work until tomorrow. So set a time each morning, put your phone on do-not-disturb, close your door, close your browser and dial.

Once you do this every day, it will become easier. Eventually this will just become a habit that will pay tremendous dividends. Read the Inc. article, set aside daily time, plan for the calls and DIAL, DIAL, DIAL.

Developing A Personal Brand

2010-03-23T11:12:00.000-04:00

Do you have a personal brand? Is there anything about you that stands out in other people’s minds? What do people say about you when you leave the room? How to people describe you to others? In Columbus, Ohio the big school is OSU and the President of OSU is Gordon Gee. When someone mentions Gordon Gee they almost always mention his bowties. That’s the surface unique element. Deeper down they mention his ability to raise money for the school. Those two things dominate the personal brand of Gordon Gee.

What about you? How can you develop a personal brand that sets you apart from the crowd? Mike Stenger wrote a guest blog for a personal branding website that has three great tools.

First, make your brand clear and concise or clear and precise. You can’t be everything to everyone. Pick what can do the most good for your brand for the next five years and focus. Second, he says to keep it simple. Our world likes to complicate so it is tough to keep things simple. Lastly, he says BE your brand. This means to spread yourself through the mix. Have a blog with your picture, Tweet with your picture visible, Facebook with your picture visible. This will allow people to associate you with your brand.

A personal brand will set you apart from the crowd. When times are tough only the stronger survive and thrive. You may as well be a part of that group.

Well-Oiled Sales Team

2010-03-16T12:50:00.003-04:00

“Sales needs to be managed just like any other business function” according to a Business Week article from 2008. In this article the author hits on three key areas that should be important to any manager or sales person. His first point is that sales is just another function of a company and therefore should be managed as such. Too often sales people are left to manage themselves. In some cases this is good, but in the majority of cases the end result is a frustrated company and a frustrated sales person. Setting goals, doing training and measuring results isn’t just for the non-sales area.

The author next discusses the need for a sales organization to have a formal sales process.
For our company this process centers on the Sandler Selling System. We use this system for the majority of our sales people and have found it to yield great results. Any system that is followed will be an improvement over no system.

Last, the author remarks on the lack of good data in a typical sales organization. Without good data, good decisions are hard to come by. This data can be collected by a job entry system, an accounting system or better yet a CRM system. To try a great system that also has a free option, look at Highrise from 37Signals.

These three keys, if properly focused on, can help a sales team improve and produce great results. In a time of recession and a general negative outlook on the future, it is good to look at some tools to help improve the future.

Print Is Still A Part of The Mix

2010-03-09T07:47:00.000-05:00

Print is still a part of the marketing mix for companies that do advertising. In reading a blog post on Junta42 it became clear that the printing business still has a future. Below are some factoids from a recent seminar:

The average time a reader spends with a custom print magazine is 25 minutes.
Custom print magazines get an average 44% response rate.
On average, custom print magazines see an 8% increase in sales (as opposed to those who don't receive the magazine).
18-24 year-old men and women who receive custom magazines from a corporation are the most engaged of any age group (yes, really!)

Click on the link to the Junta42 blog and watch the video from Fortune magazine. They talk about the future of the print magazine and how the magazine integrates into the complete marketing mix.

Seth Godin - PDCA

2010-02-26T15:58:00.000-05:00

Seth Godin always has good material on his blog. Below is a recent post that relates to lean thinking.
No more big events

Here are things that you can now avoid:

The annual review
The annual sales conference
The big product launch
The grand opening of a new branch
Drop dead one-shot negotiation events

The reasons? Well, they don't work. They don't work because big events leave little room for iteration, for trial and error, for earning rapport. And the biggest reason: frequent cheap communication is easier than ever, and if you use it, you'll discover that the process creates far more gains than events ever can.

Lean thinking advocates a practice called PDCA or plan, do, check, act. This means you come up with an improvement or new idea, then you test the idea, then you check for results and lastly you give feedback. This is a continual loop that allows constant improvement.

This works in your business life or in your personal life by always knowing improvement can happen and with a little work there can always be improvement. The big act and looking for the big results doesn't work as well because they are generally one time hits. One time hits give a quick result but are generally not sustainable.

What Is Your USP? Clean Restrooms?

2010-02-10T19:02:00.009-05:00

What is your USP or unique selling proposition? If you are a gas station on a lonely stretch of highway your USP may be clean restrooms. What is it that makes you special and stand out from the crowd. This thought started simmering in my mind because of two conversations I have had recently.

One conversation was with a customer who was considering moving to a new city but he still wanted to work with our company because of "the way we treat him" and he can't find that from other printing companies. In other words, his experience was unique.

The other conversation was with a different customer who was worried one of our CSRs was no longer with the company and she was worried about the person. When I told her that she was still with the company and was doing well the customer felt much better. She said the CSR was one of the best in the city. In other words, the CSR was unique.

Knowing we will never be the low cost producer, we have to find the reasons people want to work with us, or our USP, and constantly develop that and share it with more customers. The only way to find this out is to sit face to face with customers and spend time asking questions and listening. One of my favorite sales trainers, Jack Daly, says that the core of selling is "ask questions and listen" which is the only way to truly find your USP.

Strategic Plans & Personal Goals

2010-02-07T12:21:00.006-05:00

Our company is now in our second year of having a formal strategic plan. In the past we have always had annual, quarterly and monthly goals but they were not organized and connected to each persons personal goals. Each employee of the company now has a PDP (Personal Development Plan) that has four personal work goals and one personal education goal. These five goals are then connected to the department goals and ultimately to the company's strategic plan.

The first year we did this went well but the execution didn't happen the way it should have happened. When we ended the year there were many goals that were not completed or that were only partially completed. The second year we started looking at the goals from a perspective of what a person can focus on and decided that any more than 5 goals per person complicated the process.

I have five goals this year and I can share them and update the status of each goal at any time. Last year between personal, departmental and company goals I lost focus on my primary objectives. This year I have limited everything to five and now I am comfortable with keeping these five moving forward and being accomplished.

When setting goals make sure they are stretch goals and goals that move the company forward but limit them to a number that can be managed and tracked without loosing focus. 2010 is going to be a year of company growth in sales and profits as well as in some areas of new technology development. This is driven by clear and limited goals.

Lean Manufacturing Failure

2010-02-02T15:34:00.005-05:00

There is a blog I read on a regular basis called Evolving Excellence. This week there was a link from that blog to an article in the Wall Street Journal that discussed why lean programs fail. Specifically the author focused on why Six Sigma or Lean manufacturing initiatives fail and the conclusion is interesting. These programs start off with the best of intentions and then before long they loose steam and get put on the back burner.

The author states that "recent studies, for example, suggest that nearly 60% of all corporate Six Sigma initiatives fail to yield the desired results." After performing a five year study, the author, Satya Chakravorty, noted that generally these programs start with the help of an outside facilitator who is able to lead the groups to early and significant improvement. It is after the outside help has left the daily operations that the initiatives loose steam.

This was the case because once the facilitator was gone, the managers and supervisors became engulfed in the day to day activities and lost focus on the "lean program." Satya recommends that firms keep the outside support and also have internal support from upper management for these programs to remain successful.

Long-term the lean manufacturing process can help a company transform from a good company to a great company but it is not without pain. To get this culture of respect for people and continuous improvement part of the DNA of a firm takes tremendous time and energy. This is worth considering before taking on the Lean Journey.

MBA Program

2010-01-31T18:50:00.011-05:00

Two years ago I decided to pursue an MBA from Ohio Dominican University. During my time at ODU I have finished ten courses that include topics like Marketing, Accounting, Finance, Economics and other business related courses. When I started the program my goal was to finish and learn more about business in a formal setting. The last twenty years of my work life have been incredibly educational but not in a formal way.

My current course is Strategy which has been a challenge from a course load perspective. In a week and a half our class has been assigned to write six papers on six different topics. These papers are only two to three pages with four references each but it is still quite a bit of work.

Today, Sunday, I have spent the entire day working on these papers. In less than two months this will be over and I can start some new projects. Two primary projects for this summer are golf with my son and tennis with my daughter. I can't wait to be doing something outside and with the family. This program at ODU has been a great experience that have given me many positives returns, but it will still be nice when it is complete.

Continuing Education

2010-01-29T15:42:00.004-05:00

Living in today's world where the pace of change seems to be increasing every month there are times I feel behind the curve and unable to catch up. This is more true in the world of digital communication and education because I know there is so much to learn. Recently I came across a website that has lectures from Stanford. These lectures are in their business program and are given by many of the leading business people in the digital world.

There is a lecture by Larry Paige, one of the founders of Google, on Science as Inspiration. There is a lecture by Carly Fiorina on the Difference Between Management and Leadership. Carly was the former CEO of HP. Steve Ballmer from Microsoft has a lecture on the future of Microsoft and the future of technology. There are also speakers like Guy Kawasaki who has spoken on multiple topics.

The amazing thing is that all of these lectures are free. Stanford isn't the only major university doing this. There is the opportunity to learn from many of the leading business people, thinkers and educators from around the world - all for free and all online. What a great time to live in when we can learn for free, from our home at any time.

WSJ Says Direct Mail Not Gone

2010-01-22T08:47:00.004-05:00

In a recent article, the Wall Street Journal covered the movement many companies have made to online advertising from print advertising. This has been a trend in recent years to reduce the overall cost of marketing. Even though this has saved some money, it has also cost some returns on investment to drop.

One company saw a 25% drop in orders when they moved from traditional direct mail to online advertising. The annual marketing budget was reduced but the overall cost to the company was greater due to the loss in gross sales and bottom line profits.

The article goes on to say that targeted direct mail seems to offer the best return. Our firm is able to help with this approach by doing versioned mailings, 1to1 marketing and pURL pieces.

When a company adds targeted direct mail to the other forms of advertising then each customer is approached from a perspective that has a greater impact. Think of targeting your message next time you need to supplement your online marketing with focused direct mail.