Business Ideas

Top practices of green businesses

2008-04-05T10:21:00.000-07:00

Green business has shifted from a movement to a market.” That was the conclusion of the first annual State of Green Business 2008. The report issued by Greener World Media examined the most common green practices among U.S. companies. The study assesses these practices to measure the state of green business as a whole.

The report highlights the top practices that small and mid-size green businesses implement. Here’s a description of those practices with the report’s advice:

Energy efficiency – Search for ways to make your products and processes more energy efficient. Depending on your industry, you may see great opportunities here. Check with your local utility company to see if it has audit programs to help you assess your business’s energy usage.

Green office space – Buildings are responsible for 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified engineers can assess the energy efficiency of an existing building and determine which retrofitting projects would lead to substantial cost savings. Rebates and tax incentives may be available to make the initial investment more reasonable.

Paper use and recycling – Train our employees to pay attention to the amount of paper they use and how they dispose of paper. Implementing standards for purchasing recycled paper, using paper and recycling will have a positive impact on your bottom line.

Toxic emissions –If your company’s facility emits toxins into the air, water or land, you are most likely familiar with federal and state Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) mandates. Consider evaluating your TRI to set specific goals for improvement in this area.

Quality of management – How well does your management take the environment into account as they lead your company? Are your company’s environmental policies published? Does you company have a senior environmental officer or environmental staff members? Have you conducted lifecycle analyses of your products and materials to understand their full impact on the environment?

Alternative fuel vehicles – If you have fleet vehicles, consider transitioning to alternative-fuel or hybrid vehicles.

Employee commuting – Examine your employees’ commute habits to determine whether the company can provide benefits to encourage employees to carpool or take alternative transportation to work. Some cities have established programs that companies can offer their employees.

Employee telecommuting – Allowing employees to telecommute can reduce a company’s environmental footprint, greenhouse gas emissions and travel-related emissions. Studies show teleworkers tend to be more productive and have less absenteeism and turnover than those required to work from an office.

Green power use –Many local utility companies have renewable energy options that companies can request.

Packaging intensity – Excessive product packaging has a detrimental impact on the planet. Can your business change how it makes and packages products to help decrease the amount of waste that is produced?

Corporate reporting – Customers, investors and stakeholders are becoming more interested in understanding what companies are doing and not doing for the environment. Companies that use a lot of fossil fuel may soon see pressure to report on their carbon emissions.

Environmental management systems – What systems can you put in place to reduce waste, energy consumption and raw materials? ISO 14001 certification is available to companies that identify and control the environmental impact of their activities. The certification program establishes methods to measure and improve a company’s environmental performance.

Pesticide use – Landscape and agricultural businesses can phase out pesticide use to decrease ecosystem impact. Organic produce, plants, flowers and landscape services reduce impact and tend to fetch higher prices than conventional options.

E-waste – Any discarded device with an electric cord is termed “e-waste.” These devices can be recycled. Although most federal and state laws do not yet enforce such recycling, some large electronic companies have instituted take-back programs. To ensure your equipment waste does not end up in a landfill, look into take-back programs.

Carbon neutrality – Companies that measure their carbon output and then purchase carbon offsets are considered “carbon neutral.” In the future, the U.S. may establish a cap or tax on carbon emissions that compels companies to buy and sell emission rights. If these policies take effect, carbon-neutral companies will be positioned to take advantage of unaware competitors.

Carbon transparency – Large companies can publicly disclose their greenhouse gas emissions to investors and other interested parties. This information can lead to a continuous improvement process to reduce company inefficiencies

Green for Business

2008-04-05T10:07:00.000-07:00

We think green means green. This is a time period where environmental improvement is going to lead to profitability.”– Jeffrey R. Immelt, CEO, GE

Did you know?

Toyota’s hybrid technology helped make it the #1 foreign car manufacturer in the U.S.
Walgreen’s leadership earned distinction for installing solar panels on the rooftops of 96 retail stores and two distribution centers.
Whole Foods measured $1.4 million in earned media after going 100% renewable powered.
IBM saved $17.8 million worldwide in one year by encouraging employees to turn out the lights.
BP unexpectedly saved $650 million by reducing CO2 emissions in its factories.

Innovation & Strategy workshop

2008-03-10T23:24:00.000-07:00

Thank you Innovation & Strategy - Special management program attendees -- it was another amazing event. For a quick review , We have compiled list of key insights from the program .Here you go

Begin with “Winning moves”: Kaihan showed three great examples , How Kola Real came up winning moves where coke choose not to respond , Outfitter vs GAP and Finally Grameen bank’s winning moves against traditional banks. Reflect back on these three examples, think and come up with some winning moves where your competitors might prefer not to respond. Plan your winning moves on three fronts “Who” “What” and “How”.

Ultimate question: Kaihan walked you through this exercise in the workbook page number 16. He shared a story about an old monk and a young monk going in the forest, they saw fox chasing rabbit –Young monk asks the old monk who is going to win? And the old monk replies Rabbit .The reason: Rabbit is fighting for life where as Fox is fighting for lunch.
Using the following 5 questions, come up with a challenging situation and nail down your ultimate question:

1. What is your current situation and how do you keep the score?
2. If I keep doing what I am doing, where will I be (near-term)?
3. Where do I want to be in the long term?
4. Where must I be in the near-term to realize my long-term goal?
5. What question arises in the gap between #2 and #4?

Once you have your ultimate question, brainstorm for ideas to achieve your ultimate business objective using top 10 Stratagems.

1) Await the exhausted enemy at your ease: This stratagem talks about your current battleground (Industry, marketplace) and what might be the future battleground. What actions you can take today to position yourself for this next battleground.

Examples: Frontline, Nokia, Mittal steel, Walmart.
To implement this strategy, ask the following question

Key Question: Where is the next battleground in your industry?

2) Befriend a distant enemy to attack on the enemy nearby: This Stratagem is about listing out all your direct and indirect competitors and analyzing with whom you can partner to achieve common objectives. Visualize how will it look if you achieve your vision and how this competitor might benefit?

Examples: EA’s alliance with Sony Playstation and Hero Honda’s alliance with Hero Cycles.
To implement this strategy, ask the following question

Key Question: Who else benefits if you win?

3) Remove the firewood from under the pot
This stratagem talks about sources of fuel that you and your competition depend upon. Spend sometime thinking about this. Some of the inputs could be- capabilities, resources, technology, people etc. Ask yourself what resources can you lock up for yourself ? Or what would be the impact of your move on your competitor, if it has no access to that resource. Which option is more attractive to you?

Examples: Softsoap, Apple, Gitanjali, Pepsi, Outback steakhouse

To implement this strategy, ask the following question

Key Question: What inputs can you control?

4) Besiege wei to rescue Zhao
This stratagem is about forcing your competitor to battle on multiple fronts. This flusters you opponent and multiplies your chances for victory.
What gives Kingfisher a meaningful advantage is the competitive dynamic Mallya has created. Just as Branson forces British Airways to compete on multiple battle-fronts (to compete not just with Virgin Atlantic but also with Virgin Radio, Virgin Railroads, Virgin Cola, etc.), Mallya flusters his key adversary, the former leading Indian business airline Jet Airways, with a multi-front attack. When Mallya sells Kingfisher beer, for example, he builds brand awareness with someone who may later buy a plane ticket. When he launches TV commercials for his planes, he simultaneously builds brand awareness for beer, something no other beer company can do since this is illegal in India.
This pattern of competition - forcing your adversary into a two-front battle - is a powerful one. Sixteen per cent of the world’s most competitive companies cite using it in some way to build an advantage. Starbucks, for example, forces local coffee shops into a two-front battle by sandwiching them between two Starbucks shops. Wal-Mart achieves greater scale economies by keeping its stores within close proximity to each other and thereby making it less expensive to ship goods. Microsoft famously did this by bundling Word, Excel, and Powerpoint into Office and thereby forcing pure-play software makers (e.g., Harvard Graphics) into a multi-front battle they could not win.

To apply this stratagem
Apply this stratagem to your business today by asking the question:
• Who could force your competitors into a multi-front battle?
• If you were Kingfisher Beer, what would be your Kingfisher Airline?
Examples: British Airways vs. Virgin, Jet Airways Vs Kingfisher
Key Question: With whom can you launch multi-front battle?

5) Create something out of nothing

This stratagem plays on the fact that you and your competitors get entranced with the current players in the game. We play business like we play chess, forgetting that unlike in chess we can add new players to the board. If you look at what players you wish were in the game because their presence could tilt the dynamics in your favor, you may find an interesting new opportunity to create this new player.

Examples: Coke, Reliance, etc

To implement this strategy, ask the following question

Key Question: Who do you wish you could add to the game or have in the game?

6) Deck the tree with bogus blossoms

This form of competition is emerging across industries. It has become one of Microsoft most critical threats. If you look for uncoordinated, individual agents in your environment and you coordinate them you can approximate the power of something much larger. This could mean coordinate customers, coordinating experts, or coordinating suppliers. But do not stop there, look further. Look for any agents that are uncoordinated.

Examples: Ohmynews, Linux, Wikipedia

To implement this strategy, ask the following question

Key Question: Who could you coordinate?

7) Borrow a corpse for the soul’s return

This stratagem talks about what has been abandoned in your industry or marketplace .What business models, ideas, technologies have been abandoned? What if you could adopt any of these to your advantage?

Example: Blackberry used abandoned text network. Southwest used the abandoned point to point model when all other airlines moved to Hub and spoke

To implement this strategy, ask the following question

Key Question: What has been abandoned in your industry?

8) Hide a Dagger #33 Behind a Smile

This stratagem plays on that your competition, customers, distributors, and markets and general will generate less resistance to your growth if you are, or at least appear to be, helpful

Example: Google’s initial alliance with Yahoo, Intel’s licensing of early microprocessors to convince IBM to build the first PC around Intel technology.

To implement this strategy, ask the following question

Key Question: How can you be helpful to your competition or to your industry?

9) Shed your skin like the golden Cicada

This stratagem talks about focusing your competition and/or market on a façade while moving the real action (profits) somewhere else.

Examples : Thomson Travel, Circuit city, U-Haul.

To implement this strategy, ask the following question

Key Question: If you had to loose money on your current business, where would you move the action to?

10) Exchange a brick for a jade

This stratagem talks about finding the bricks that exist in your company. It plays on the fact that value is relative: what your customers value may cost you little and what you value (e.g., loyalty) your customers may not value at all. Bricks are the things that you place low value but to your customer find valuable. Figure out where you can give these bricks away and in return lock your customer for the long term.

Examples: Xbox & Playstation consoles, Xerox machines.

Key Question:

What “bricks” can you give away in exchange for customer captivity?

Insights from Micheal Dell

2007-11-02T10:19:00.000-07:00

"It takes years of consistent execution for a company to achieve sustainable competitive advantage...the key to our success is years and years of DNA development within our teams that is not replicable outside the company."

"I founded the company over 20 years ago with $1000 in starting capital. By contrast, Compaq had been launched two years earlier with $100 million in capital. That's an unbelievable difference. Dell bubbled up through a kind of Darwinian evolution, finding holes in the way the industry was working. We didn't become asset-light just because it was a brilliant strategy. We didn't have any choice."

"We don't tolerate businesses that don't make money. We used to hear all sorts of excuses for why a business didn't make money, but to us they all sounded like 'The dog ate my homework.' We just don't accept that."

"The worst thing you can do as a leader at Dell is be in denial -- to try to convince people that a problem's not there or play charades. A manager is far better off coming forward and saying 'Hey, things aren't working, here's what we think is wrong, here's what we think we're going to do about it.' Or, even, 'Hey, I need some help, will you help me?'"

"We have a strong bias toward action and a strong bias toward data. Any Dell presentation -- it doesn't matter what part of the company it's from -- will have lots of data. That's just the way we manage. Our number-to-word ratio is very high."

They also emphasized the importance of leadership development and that their own executives do the teaching. In addition, Michael meet with the top 10% of the managers (400) every quarter to "give them a dose of teaching." In addition, they each teach 3 days at an intense ten day leadership training program Dell has developed. "Developing people is part of the job at Dell -- our senior managers are measured and compensated on it."

10 Marketing Ideas

2007-09-02T03:37:00.000-07:00

) Meet Weekly to Drive Marketing – This is from the great marketer, Regis McKenna (Intel, Apple, Genentech). When asked what it takes to drive successful marketing Regis simply said “one hour per week.” In essence, get the right team in a room for one hour each week and ask the question “how do we reach more prospects with our message?” Brainstorm and act on some idea each week and you’ll drive marketing. Regis’s other key is to identify the “influencers” in your market and nurture relationships with them. Is there a key industry association executive? Is there a potential customer that is also the member president of your key industry association? Is there an important media personality? Is there a key lead supplier that can reference you? For business-to-consumer businesses it’s why they use celebrity spokespersons.

2) Articulate Your Three Strategic Anchors –At the heart of your marketing message must be a delineation of the three reasons you truly matter to a customer yet makes you different from your competitors. For instance, McDonalds’ strategic anchors are consistency of product, fun for kids, and speed (which the new CEO is back to measuring aggressively). Two words not allowed to be strategic anchors – value or quality. In turn, something like cleanliness was an early strategic anchor for McDonalds but today, though it still matters to a customer, it doesn’t make them different – cleanliness is considered a “table stake.” It’s something you have to have just to be in the game. What’s disturbing is how many businesses are competing at the table stake level and failing to raise the stakes with a strategy that makes them different.

3) 5 P’s of Marketing: What do Starbucks and JetBlue and KrispyKreme and Apple have that you don't? How do they continue to confound critics and achieve spectacular growth, leaving behind former tried-and true brands to gasp their last? Face it, the checklist of tired 'P's marketers have used for decades to get their product noticed -Pricing, Promotion, Publicity, to name a few-aren't working anymore. There's an exceptionally important 'P' that has to be added to the list. It's Purple Cow. Cows, after you've seen one, or two, or ten, are boring. A Purple Cow, though...now that would be something. Purple Cow describes something phenomenal, something counterintuitive and exciting and flat out unbelievable. Every day, consumers come face to face with a lot of boring stuff-a lot of brown cows-but you can bet they won't forget a Purple Cow.. In Purple Cow, Seth Godin urges you to put a Purple Cow into everything you build, and everything you do, to create something truly noticeable. It's a manifesto for marketers who want to help create products that are worth marketing in the first place.

4) Every CEO should write a book -- It's the single greatest marketing tool you can create to attract customers, employees, and industry attention, besides making your children and extended family proud!!!

5) Bold "marketing events" make for big companies : Horace Hagedorn, founder of Miracle-Gro, A former adman, Hagedorn offered a $100,000 prize for a world-record tomato grown using his product. A boat-load of money in the early '50s, this bold event put Miracle-Gro on the map and led to a $350 million a year business that continues to dominate the home garden fertilizer market..

6) Marketing is everything! What the best form of marketing ...was it any particular form of advertising or promotion or was it logo or branding or something else? Marketing is everything you do. It's the brand of coffee you serve your customers; it's the music you play in reception; and it's how many rings the phone is answered on." A key marketing exercise for every business is to take a good look at every single thing that you do: every form and document you use, the presentation of your staff and premises, your phone manner, how you relate to customers...take a look at every little thing and ask yourself if it could be improved to better serve your customers' needs"

7) What's Your Story? -- This is the single most important question we must answer if we're going to drive sales in the next decade. How did Fiji water become one of the bestselling brands of bottled water in the U.S? Is it because it tastes that much better or is more nutritious? Nope. Fiji is a winner because of the story the bottle tells. What's your story? And just as important a question if you're selling business to business, running a political campaign, heading up a non-profit, or selling yourself

8) The Big Moo : Do Something or create something that make people "remark" about them so word-of-mouth advertising drives your success. create a big moo—an insight so astounding that people can't help but remark on it, like digital TV recording (TiVo) or overnight shipping (FedEx), or the world's best vacuum cleaner (Dyson)?

9) Raise prices -- Joe Papalia did it and profit went up 60% -- Joe's story under DETAILS. Of Philip Kotler's 4 P's of marketing, price is the only one that provides direct revenue, the other three (product, place, and promotion) are expenses hoping to drive revenue.

In summary, Do you want to dominate your market? Pick a handful of key people, a time each week to meet, and get your brain trust focused on how you’re going to do it. Now is the time to trump your competition by out marketing them – it just requires discipline and rhythm.

Your top 10 to-do list to improve your professional life

2007-08-22T22:53:00.001-07:00

Seek new opportunities. Discover how you can be more involved with the things you love to do for others. It will be your key differentiator and make daily life more meaningful.
Go green: at home, at work. Then tell as many people as you can about how you've turned to more sustainable energy sources, recycled, and conserved. Seek out green vendors and green buildings. Make it your corporate culture.
When you see a problem in the world, something inefficient and clunky and done simply because it's always been done that way, ask yourself, "How could this be improved? Is there an opportunity here?"
Identify your passions. Really dig. Then channel your resources and stick to your mission.
Be transparent.
Toss the corporate hyperbole and be open with your employees, your consumers and your vendors about your vision, the obstacles and plans for the future. They will be more likely to help you reach your goals.
Build an ecosystem that empowers and educates the people around you
Think globally. No matter how small your business, you are not limited to local talent, resources or consumers.
Turn philanthropic. A philanthropic culture creates a positive environment both at the office and within you.
Consider the whole life cycle of your product or service. What's missing? How could it be better for the environment or community?
Keep it super simple. Whatever it is

Daily rituals

2007-08-14T19:19:00.000-07:00

“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just stand there.” – Mark Twain

Daily six rituals : willingness, daily quiet time, service, love and forgiveness, and gratitude

Others-First Actions
“Others-first actions” will help move you from “What’s in it for me?” to “What’s in it from me?” Gratitude, love, and service to others is the best way to pull your focus off your own self-interests. When you act to benefit others, it’s not about what you’re going to get from others; it’s about what you’re going to give to others. Here are several examples:

· Let the first five people you meet everyday who are wrong about something be wrong (in other words, don’t challenge them or rub it in).
· Say “Good morning” to someone on the elevator or on the street.
· Pay the toll or fare for the person behind you in line and bask in their smile (or their shock).
· Really listen to people. This is a big one. Start with listening for one minute without saying anything on your agenda.
· Spend 5 minutes alone before your weekly staff meeting. Consider what you might say or do to build up others in the group.
· Start each staff meeting by expressing gratitude for specific strengths each person brings to the group. Use this same people-building technique with family members before the evening meal.
· Be willing to say “I’m sorry” if you make a mistake. Avoid thoughts of retaliation and let the mistake go. Thank the person for bringing it to your attention. Learn from the experience.

Me-First Actions
“Me-first actions” are also important to a balanced life. Always putting others first can eventually lead to feelings of burnout, exhaustion, and often resentment. Taking time out allows you to give from a position of joy and inner strength as you are rested and revitalized. If you
86 87 have trouble finding motivation for self-care, remember that it’s only by nurturing ourselves that we can positively nurture others. Consider the following “me-first actions”:

Get 8 hours of sleep a night, even if you don’t think you need it, and eat smart. Your body is an organic machine that needs downtime and fuel to restore itself to optimal operating efficiency.

Take three deep, lung-expanding breaths after you step outside in the morning.

Go for a 10-minute walk alone before you get to your office

Establish the limits of what your responsibility is, as well what the responsibility is of others, and draw your line before taking on more projects.

Drive to a parking lot with a cup of tea or mineral water and read an inspirational or humorous book for 15 minutes.

When someone asks you to volunteer, simply say, “That sounds interesting. I will check my schedule and call you back.” Then take a quiet moment to look in your heart and see if this is where you want to spend your time.

Sign up with an online message service to have something uplifting or humorous sent by email daily.

Three laws of entrepreneurial gravity

2007-08-12T13:12:00.000-07:00

First Law of Entrepreneurial Gravity -- Growth Sucks Cash

Second Law of Entrepreneurial Gravity -- Buy Low, Sell High

Thrid law -Visibility Equals Credibility

#1 capability of Brian

2007-08-02T20:39:00.000-07:00

The #1 capability of the brain? Why we can learn? Hit a golf ball? Read this insight? Race a car?

The answer is: Pattern Recognition. Our brains are uniquely wired to do this one thing brilliantly. Therefore, the key to mastering anything (and making great decisions fast) relies on you feeding your brain appropriate data and then letting it do its thing -- find the patterns within the chaos!

Whoever learns faster wins! You need a certain frequency and amount of data to recognize appropriate patterns. If you only get data once a month, it takes several months for your brain to see certain trends; if you get data weekly, then it will be several weeks; and if you get and discuss data daily, your brain will see critical patterns within days. It's not any more complicated than this, which is why companies that huddle daily and track appropriate data will out-decide firms with longer learning cycles.

Gather data from customers/employees daily or weekly. This is the power of GE's Quick Market Intelligence (QMI). This is why I strongly recommend executives talk with one customer per week and have lunch with one employee. This is why Lou Gerstner, the famous CEO of IBM, required the top 240 executives of IBM to talk with five customers per week and five employees per week. These are all mechanisms for feeding key decisions makers' brains streams of data that aids in identifying trends quicker than the competition.

90% hiring success rate -- pattern recognition is also the power behind the Topgrading interview process. The structured interview process that Brad and Geoff Smart have perfected over the decades provides the kind of consistent chronological data that helps the brain rapidly establish patterns of performance

2007-07-31T21:22:00.000-07:00

What Every Good Marketer Knows from Seth Godin -Good Marketing checklist..

Anticipated, personal and relevant advertising always does better than unsolicited junk.
Making promises and keeping them is a great way to build a brand.
Your best customers are worth far more than your average customers.
Share of wallet is easier, more profitable and ultimately more effective a measure than share of market.
Marketing begins before the product is created.
Advertising is just a symptom, a tactic. Marketing is about far more than that.
Low price is a great way to sell a commodity. That’s not marketing, though, that’s efficiency.
Conversations among the members of your marketplace happen whether you like it or not.
Good marketing encourages the right sort of conversations.
Products that are remarkable get talked about.
Marketing is the way your people answer the phone, the typesetting on your bills and your returns policy.
You can’t fool all the people, not even most of the time. And people, once unfooled, talk about the experience.
If you are marketing from a fairly static annual budget, you’re viewing marketing as an expense. Good marketers realize that it is an investment.
People don’t buy what they need. They buy what they want.
You’re not in charge. And your prospects don’t care about you.
What people want is the extra, the emotional bonus they get when they buy something they love.
Business to business marketing is just marketing to consumers who happen to have a corporation to pay for what they buy.
Traditional ways of interrupting consumers (TV ads, trade show booths, junk mail) are losing their cost-effectiveness. At the same time, new ways of spreading ideas (blogs, permission-based RSS information, consumer fan clubs) are quickly proving how well they work.
People all over the world, and of every income level, respond to marketing that promises and delivers basic human wants.
Good marketers tell a story.
People are selfish, lazy, uninformed and impatient. Start with that and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what you find.
Marketing that works is marketing that people choose to notice.
Effective stories match the worldview of the people you are telling the story to.
Choose your customers. Fire the ones that hurt your ability to deliver the right story to the others.
A product for everyone rarely reaches much of anyone.
Living and breathing an authentic story is the best way to survive in an conversation-rich world.
Marketers are responsible for the side effects their products cause.
Reminding the consumer of a story they know and trust is a powerful shortcut.
Good marketers measure.
Marketing is not an emergency. It’s a planned, thoughtful exercise that started a long time ago and doesn’t end until you’re done.
One disappointed customer is worth ten delighted ones.

Obviously, knowing what to do is very, very different than actually doing it.

How Bill Gates works

2007-07-30T18:52:00.000-07:00

If you look at his office, there isn't much paper in it. On his desk he has three screens, synchronized to form a single desktop. He can drag items from one screen to the next.

Once you have that large display area, you'll never go back, because it has a direct impact on productivity.

The screen on the left has his list of e-mails. On the center screen is usually the specific e-mail he is reading and responding to. And browser is on the right-hand screen. This setup gives him the ability to glance and see what new has come in while he is working on something, and to bring up a link that's related to an e-mail and look at it while the e-mail is still in front of him.

2007-07-28T16:16:00.000-07:00

Blueprint to a Billion -- There are seven traits common among firms that go from zero to a billion -- based on the book by David Thomson.

Summarized the seven traits below under DETAILS.

$50 million is an inflection point -- Thomson found that these firms grew exponentially after crossing the $50 million threshold, reaching a billion within four to twelve years. That's why it's critical to get across the $5 million chasm and then the $25 million chasm.

1)Create and sustain a breakthrough value proposition – Identify 10-30 times advantage over your competitors.Focus on a promise that "only you" can deliver by finding an underlying 10 to 30 times advantage over your competitors.

2)Exploit a high growth market -- the key is picking a rapidly expanding market (Sandbox). You actually need to do this first before figuring out a breakthrough proposition.

3)Focus relentlessly on cash flow -- Continually improving your Cash Conversion Cycle

4)Leverage big-brother alliances -- think Microsoft's early alliance with IBM. Find a couple big players in your industry that can "walk you around" the rest of the industry.

5)Pack board with industry experts -- attract big named experts to sit on your advisory board.

6)Marquee customers to build credibility -- in the same vein as leveraging big-brother alliances.

7)Inside-outside leadership team -- if you weren't lucky enough to start the business with this kind of partnership, you need to find that key #2. Key lesson? Look for someone you've know for awhile -- a customer, school or childhood friend, family member, consultant you've gotten to know, supplier, industry expert -- and if you don't know them well, test drive them first by working on some projects together.

Best Sales Tips

2007-07-27T20:24:00.000-07:00

Ask 15 times : Most inexperienced sales people give up after 1 or 2 approaches. Most experienced sales people after 5. If within your sales process you can create the opportunity to “ask for the sale” 15 times, you’ll have a close ratio of 90%.
Sales Happen before 10am – The early bird does catch the worm.And your best customers are going to be those that are up working early themselves
Meet Daily to Drive Sales :Sam Palmisano became the latest CEO of IBM because he turned around IBM’s Global Services. And his key - holding a daily global sales call and working a list of 100 top prospects. Anything less than daily and you’re leaving business on the table. Dig into why specific sales are stalled each day or whom your sales team is trying to reach that day (not just going over numbers) and you’ll accelerate your sales, period.
Meet Weekly to Drive Marketing : this from the great marketer, Regis McKenna (Intel, Apple, Genentech). -Regis simply said “one hour per week.” In essence, get the right team in a room for one hour each week and ask the question “how do we reach more prospects with our message?” Brainstorm and act on some idea each week and you’ll drive marketing. Regis’s other key is to identify the “influencers” in your market and nurture relationships with them. Is there a key industry association executive? Is there a potential customer that is also the member president of your key industry association? Is there an important media personality? Is there a key lead supplier that can reference you?

That's all for today..

Competitive advantage

2007-07-26T12:13:00.000-07:00

I read this week Jaynie L. Smith book "creating competitive advantage" .. Let me share you some key insights from this book.

Jaynie L. Smith asks, "Why should anyone do business with you, and not your competitor?"

Whether you are a retailer, manufacturer, distributor, or service provider, if you cannot answer this question, you are losing customers, clients and market share.

Smith say scores of companies substantially increased their sales by focusing on their competitive advantages.

What’s the number-one attribute Warren Buffet looks for in a company? "Sustainable competitive advantage," he told an interviewer. If Buffet examined your company, would he find what he’s looking for?

For her book, Smith interviewed the CEO of Jet Blue, David Neeleman who holds a weekly conference call with key executives in which he always asks:

What do we do better than the competition?
What do they do better than us?
How do we do more of that?

He asks these questions once a week.

Smith once worked with a financial advisory firm that decided to delve into this area. Before the in-house drill down, the team reported that its competitive advantages were:

Good reputation
Professional staff
Strong team and leader
Knowledgeable
Strong client relationships
Flexible

As Smith says, "Blah, blah, blah."

After the drill down, the group defined its competitive advantage this way:

Ranked in top 10 percent of money managers who beat S&P nationally
Fastest-growing Fidelity money manager in ’95, ’96, ‘97
Only firm ever featured by Fidelity in its advisory newsletter

For an interior designer, the competitive advantages were ultimately defined as:

The only design team chosen by the top 10 luxury developers in the state
We increased developers’ sales ratio by 35 percent
Our designers have an average 23 years of design experience and are available 24/6

Once you identify that measurable competitive advantage, refine your marketing message to reflect this characteristic of your company. Take responsibility for the marketing message that gets the bang—that answers: why us?

Put it everywhere, including on your:

Web site
Signs
Business cards
Letterhead
E-mail signatures
Publications/brochures
On-hold message for the phones
Don’t get too attached to today’s competitive advantage. It’s a moving target. Once you identify it, your competitors are likely to copycat it.

Be prepared to review your competitive advantage, so it can be refined and re-defined.

As GE’s celebrated former CEO Jack Welch once said, "If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete"

My quote for the day

"Procrastination and worry are the twin thieves that will try to rob youof your brilliance -- but even the smallest action will drive them fromyour camp."

stop doing list

2007-07-25T11:52:00.000-07:00

As Jim Collins emphasizes in his book Good to Great, we need "stop doing" lists more than we need "start doing" lists.

singer Tina Turner! "Sometimes you've got to let everything go...purge yourself. If you are unhappy with anything...whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it. Because you'll find that when you're free, your true creativity, your true self comes out."

Decide today on two significant "stop doings" in your life

Keep going heights in life

Focus

2007-07-25T11:37:00.001-07:00

The ability to focus helps separate the good from the great in all professions and disciplines.Asking right questions gives that focus .Knowing your "question" is 80% of the battle

If you've not figured out your business question, take 30 minutes at your next weekly meeting and have your executive team figure out THE question i.e. "how are we going to ..." this year. Then once you think you have the question, peel another layer off the onion and push for what is the real question underlying that question! Get with your family and do the same on the personal side.

Finally

What is your business and personal question for the year?