The Growth Guy

Inside Apple; Freaky Friday; Goals for Glory; Best Biz Book 2011

"...keeping you great" HEADLINES: (Happy Chinese New Year!) The 2011 Business Book of the Year goes to...see below, but first: Inside Apple -- with a record $46 billion quarter; $13 billion profit; and $100 billion in cash, it's worth taking a detailed look inside the workings of Apple. That's exactly what Adam Lashinsky, Sr. Editor at Large of FORTUNE magazine, has accomplished with his book Inside Apple: How America's Most Admired - and Secretive - Company Really Works, just released yesterday. So far Chapter 3 entitled "Focus Obsessively" is my favorite (I'm on Chapter 4 as I write this). Lashinsky has managed to provide details about specific compensation, management, and communication systems that will be insightful for many of you and it's a quick read. One overall key - Jobs kept major teams under 100 employees and isolate people so they kept that start-up feeling as a giant company - he hated giant companies. Again, read the details. Freaky Friday Management Technique -- faced with two functions at war, Customer Support and Sales Engineering, Ben Horowitz borrowed an idea from the movie Freaky Friday. In the film, mother and daughter grow completely frustrated with each other's lack of understanding and wish that they could switch places and they do. Ben had the heads of each function do the same - and problem solved!! Read Ben's excellent blog post, including fun film clips, for more details. "Goals for Glory" -- FH Canada used a hockey-related theme to re-engage lapsed donors last quarter. A not-for-profit dedicated to "graduating a community from poverty in 10 years" (to date they've helped 34 communities become self-sufficient in areas like nutrition, education, and agriculture), the goal was to lure back 150 lapsed donors. By the end of the "match" they re-engaged 198 donors totaling $70k in initial donations, and more importantly, created a new stream of ongoing donors. Simple Scoreboard -- the board in the picture below shows the hockey pool they created with goals (directly engaged a donor); assists (helped someone else engage one); and penalties (mostly for fun). They're having a skating party as a celebration. Noted Gazelles coaching partner Trevor Throness, owner of Strategy for Business. "The whole thing was simple, cheap and very motivating. One of their core values is 'pinching pennies' so that the money can go to people who really need it!" Do you have your next theme in place? Keep it simple - nothing fancy. The 2011 Business Book of the Year...Jim's Collins Great by Choice (Jim is keynoting our FORTUNE Leadership Summit May 15 - 16). Chosen by the highly respected 800-CEO-READ organization, they note "It is a book perfectly suited to our times, containing the extensive research and free-thinking Collins is known for, while also being able to impart confidence in the knowledge that, despite the chaos and uncertainty, it is still your choices and not chance that control your fate." The Leadership Summit is a rare opportunity to spend 4 hours with Jim Collins. Jim Collins Australia -- our National Business Growth Summit '12 will also host Jim Collins 14 - 15, March in Sydney. Other keynotes include Fred Reichheld, author of Ultimate Question 2.0; Jack Daly, consummate sales trainer; and several thought leaders from Australia. I'll also be there to present and lead a one-day workshop.

Last Insight; Undercover Boss Dina Dwyer; SOPA

"...protecting our freedoms" HEADLINES:   Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.   Benjamin Franklin Dina Dwyer "Undercover Boss" -- Long time Rockefeller Habits practitioner, The Dwyer Group, will be featured on CBS's hit reality series "Undercover Boss," this Sunday, January 22, at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (7p.m. Central Time). Notes CEO and Chairwoman Dina Dwyer, a.k.a. Faith Brown, "I accepted the chance of a lifetime to see how The Dwyer Group Code of Values is taking hold across our franchise family as we celebrate more than three decades of business success and a focus on putting customers first." Tune-in to see "Faith" work in 118-degree heat in a uniform that includes a wig, long fingernails, colored contact lenses and steel-toed boots! No More Insights -- some random government employee hired to police the internet, pressured by a top government official taking payoffs from Big Pharma, claims my insights "endanger public health" because of the piece I wrote on Vitamin C IVs and Stem Cell 100. So they are pressuring Rackspace, the company hosting our website, to shut us down without notice and hinting to Google they should no longer point to my blog or website. Since I'm a small fish in a big pond, they're doing it "voluntarily" and I have no reasonable recourse. Believe it can't happen? Section 105 of SOPA -- entitled Immunity for Taking Voluntary Action Against Sites that Endanger Public Health, this is just one of many sections in SOPA which have nothing to do with protecting music, movies, and other IP that seem legitimate on the surface but open the door for all kinds of abuse down the road - the same way the "general welfare" clause in the U.S. Constitution has been used to encroach on a myriad of freedoms. Who is to say what is and isn't endangering public health when it comes to mere public speech? Do you trust a handful of people to make this decision? I've always felt the number one right we must defend, to the end, is free speech. Those who trade freedom for safety end up with neither to paraphrase Franklin. What About Piracy -- iTunes proves that most people, when given a reasonable option, prefer to honor intellectual property. In turn, when an industry is taking ill-deserved gains and trying to preserve its monopoly, the market is going to react. I'm in the Intellectual Property business myself, doing business in Russia, China, etc. and recognize that it's better to go with the flow, making our tools open source. Like it did for the Grateful Dead which became one of the most successful bands by letting audiences record and distribute their music freely, 21st Century companies are figuring out powerful new business models based on the ubiquity of the internet. It's the old guard trying to hold onto the past and governments in yet another power grab that support SOPA. Insights Return Next Week -- I'll get off my soapbox and return with a regular insight next week (no, I've not been shut down -- yet) - but keep the heat on your elected officials.

Exactly 100%; 50% First Day; 1 Priority For Year; Fortune Leadership Summit Agenda

"...keeping you great"

HEADLINES:

Fortune Leadership Summit Agenda Published -- with just one more celebrity CEO slot to fill (invitations out), the agenda for the May 15 - 16, Atlanta, FORTUNE Leadership Summit is complete - Jim Collins, Jim Stengel, Brad Hams, Brian Souza, and Kevin Daum - authors of a dozen important books combined. Just $250 deposit per seat required -- earliest and biggest teams to put down a deposit get the best seats for the event as always. This mini Think Week helps you "out-learn" the competition!

Exactly 100% -- a large Canadian law firm (the lawyers' lawyers didn't want us to mention their name!) set a 4th quarter goal to open 600 new client files. With a theme "600 to Summit", their Gazelles coach Trevor Throness, Strategy for Business, noted "I was there last week as we reviewed the last quarter, and I asked about the theme results (Trevor had brought the law firm CEO to the Growth Summit where he got excited about launching a theme). They opened 600 files on the nose, exactly, for the quarter. Not 598, not 604. I thought it was fascinating that obviously folks did what they had to do to win the game." Here's a link to some photos that show their scoreboard and some of the theme related items they used throughout the quarter to remind their staff of the #1 priority. What is your theme/priority for this quarter/year?

50% Improvement First Day -- Jim Tobin's company, Research Triangle, NC-based Ignite Social Media, achieved a 50% improvement of its critical number, unassigned tasks, in one day! That's the power of focusing on just one priority. Jim brought his team to the mid-November Rockefeller Habits workshop. Rather than wait until 2012, they announced a priority Thursday, Dec 1 (why wait to start!) comprised of two metrics: one improved 20% the first day; the other over 50%. Here's a Picture.

Nothing Fancy - Just Do It -- notes Jim "Basically, we grew from 35 people to 75 people in 2 months. So when we asked ourselves your question of 'What one thing should we work on in the next 90 days to be a better company,' it was 'Getting everyone on the same page in terms of what needs to be done and how we do it.' We then asked ourselves your second question, 'How will we know if we've done that? What can we measure that shows us we're on the same page?' And we knew we had this project management system that we're supposed to live in (and we do) and we knew we had gotten sloppy with making sure it could be 100% trusted. So we decided to track late tasks because those are evil in our business and I know they're rare, but our system made them look common. And then we added unassigned tasks, because how can a task assigned to nobody ever get done?" How did Jim execute? A simple email announcing the daily results and updating a white board - nothing fancy, but it works!!! Here's his email:

From: Tobin, Jim
Sent: Friday, December 02, 2011 9:58 AM
To: Ignite NC 365; Ignite MI 365
Subject: RE: New corporate goal
Importance: High

Nice job folks, we've significantly cut both the late tasks and the unassigned tasks in just the first day.

Late tasks: Were 241. Now 193 (down about 20%)
Unassigned tasks: Were 728. Now 353 (less than ½!).

Keep up the good work. Another update coming tomorrow.

Author of the book, "Social Media is a Cocktail Party: Why You Already Know the Rules of Social Media Marketing"

One Personal Priority for 2012? -- after hearing one of our pastor's, Jim Chandler, this past Sunday talk about the importance of a single priority for the year (the family tunes in online from Barcelona), we sat down and updated our individual vision boards. Only this time, rather than create a collage of images, each of the family members chose a single theme for the year and found one image to represent that theme i.e. our oldest son Cameron chose "Learning Mandarin" and picked a hilarious image which he's posted above his study desk. Looking back over our past vision boards, we realized we had each achieved only one of our "visions" anyway, so why over commit.

Experiences vs. Stuff -- and this heartwarming note from Jamie Birch, CFO of Nurse Next Door, "Janice and I took an insight you shared at our annual conference and used it this Christmas with the kids. You said you and your wife were changing the focus to 'experiences, not things' with your kids. We tried it with our gifts this year and it went over smashingly!"

Even Works with 6 Year Olds! -- Jamie continues "The kids each got a hand written card from Janice and I with some money to start a bank account and a recreation pass for the local pool. They got to take their certificate to the pool and get their first rec ID card (they all decided to do funny faces for the picture - they had a ball) and then we went to the bank and opened up their first account and got them each a debit card and PIN # so they can use it (even for the 6 year old twins - they cannot stop saying the PIN numbers so they won't forget it - hilarious). Although it wasn't a trip skiing or a charitable deed (both of which are on the horizon), the "experience" part of these gifts were the highlight of Christmas and was fun for both us and the kids! And we didn't even have to wrap a single gift - Santa doesn't wrap - so the environment also won in a very small way..."

Speaking of Experiences -- Barcelona won again the top spot for "Quality of Life" in the 22nd edition of the European Cities Monitor published by Cushman & Wakefield. And it received 2nd place in the "Familiarity with Cities as a Business Location." Think about spending a year in Barcelona learning Spanish - the ex-pat community is fabulous. Or a few weeks this summer. Or at least visit - we would love to host you for dinner with our family.

1st Book 2012; Jack Daniel's Magic; 4 Key Questions; Healthcare Cost ideas

"...keeping you great"

HEADLINES:  

I'm a professor, so I only know how to ask questions, not answer them. To students: I get paid to ask the questions and you pay to answer them.

Prof. Noam Wasserman sharing two famous lines among the Harvard B-School Faculty

Healthcare Costs -- my latest Fortune column will tackle this critical topic. Any creative ideas to stabilize or reduce your healthcare costs I can include in my Venture column? More details below...but first:

Strategic Thinking vs. Execution Planning -- my January "Growth Guy" syndicated column splits apart the term "strategic planning" into two distinct activities, each requiring a different team and focus. Take four minutes to read the piece and see how it will improve your strategic planning process.

First Critical Book of 2012 -- Jim Stengel, former Global Marketing Officer (GMO) of Proctor & Gamble, was recently chosen by Fortune as the ideal marketing head for its first Executive Dream Team. Stengel also released last week his book entitled Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World's Greatest Companies. Given the critical importance of marketing this decade, Stengel's insights into how his list of the world's 50 best businesses have dominated their markets will be highly useful to you (Gazelles 200 members will receive a copy next week).

Jack Daniel's Marketing Magic-- my personal favorite whiskey, it was Fortune's excerpt of Stengel's book highlighting the power of the Jack Daniel's brand (one of the top 50 companies) that turned me on to his book. In what is one of the most competitive niches, Jack Daniel's has been able to break out of the pack and establish itself as a powerful global brand. Take 3 minutes to read how the founder of Jack Daniel's set the company up for long term success (yes, his name is Jack Daniel). And how a one-page marketing plan in 1955 propelled the brand for the next 50 years.

Sheryl Sandberg, COO, Facebook -- Sandberg's endorsement of the book, along with other luminaries (plus a quick read of an advance copy), convinced me to also invite Stengel to keynote, along with Jim Collins, the Fortune Leadership Summit in Atlanta May 15-16. Sandberg about Stengel's book "... A new, powerful model for business. ... A must-read ... for all business leaders." Again, marketing is critical this decade as more competitors emerge while the middle class expands globally - read Stengel's book then learn from him directly in Atlanta. Collins and Stengel will provide a nice one-two punch to your growth plans.

Palmisano's Four Questions -- Warren Buffett has amassed $10 billion of IBM stock; IBM's market cap is four times that of HP; and IBM was the second best performing stock this past decade. What's going on? It started when Sam Palmisano chose greatness for IBM. Palmisano stepped down as CEO of IBM this past Sunday. Take 2 minutes to scan the NY Time's latest interview with Palmisano where he outlines the four questions he posed to the top 300 managers at IBM in 2003. "The hardest thing is answering those four questions," Mr. Palmisano says. "You've got to answer all four and work at answering all four to really execute with excellence." The four questions:

·         "Why would someone spend their money with you - so what is unique about you?"

·         "Why would somebody work for you?"

·         "Why would society allow you to operate in their defined geography - their country?"

·         "And why would somebody invest their money with you?"

Interestingly, it was question 3 that led IBM to sell their PC business to Lenovo vs. Dell or HP. It secured their relationship with the Chinese!

Ideas for Containing Healthcare Costs? -- please email me at vharnish@gazelles.com if you have found a creative way to stabilize or reduce your healthcare costs in a way that does not hurt your relationships with employees who are depending on health benefits? If so, I'd love to know what you're doing, for potential inclusion in my next Fortune column. Fortune is very detail oriented, so please tell us in 1-2 paragraphs: What your company does, where it's located, how many employees you have, approximate revenues (if you're able to disclose that), and what you're doing to keep your health care costs in line. Fortune is very finance-driven, as you might imagine, so we would love to have details (in dollars) on how much you're spending, saving, etc.

Updated One-Page Tools (English, Spanish, Hungarian, Dutch, German, and French) -- thanks to Maureen Chan-Hefflin on our GI team for organizing all the various language versions of our one-page tools, including the updated One-Page Strategic Plan. Here's a link - just expand the various sections. It also includes our complete "vook" (video book) that walks you box-by-box through the various tools.

Rockefeller Habits Workshops in January -- Seattle Jan 10th; San Diego Jan 19th. Mark Lee, President of Baker Roofing (one of the nation's largest roofing contractors), "I have been working on implementing your tools this past year. We made a huge jump after the Rockefeller Habits workshop. Your management team needs to see, hear and understand the process first hand to truly get it implemented, which is why the workshop is so important."

Holiday Miracle; Key to Sustained Energy; Kezia vs Jobs; Happy Holidays

"...keeping you great" HEADLINES: (Happy Holidays!)   The first wealth is health.   Ralph Waldo Emerson Vitamin C IVs, Stem Cell 100, and Meditation -- during this holiday season, I'm most grateful for my family's health. If you are healthy (sufficient energy), everything else is manageable. Three things have helped me the most - regular Vitamin C IVs with glutathione (cleanses the liver); taking Stem Cell 100; and meditation. More below, but first... O'Rourke's "No Squares" -- following up on last week's insight about doing business in December, Mushahid Khan, President & COO of Houston-based O'Rourke Petroleum, noted "One of our leadership team members, Tony Garcia, implemented a fun and interesting way to fill our December sales pipeline. It's called 'No Squares.' It's a creative way to challenge the notion that during the holidays it's hard to get people to make decisions to do business with us!!" More Yes's than No's -- Khan continues "Each sales rep is given a grid on a piece of paper and they have to call on Customers. Each time they get a 'No, we don't want to do business in December' response, they fill in the grid with that customer's name. We have a competition to see who can get the most No's. Here is the interesting thing; it is really tough to collect lots of No's because Customers say Yes! And when we do get No's, we have a readymade pipeline of follow up calls for January." To their point, I landed several critical pieces of business for Gazelles this week alone and the time between Christmas and New Years is the best time to connect with decision makers. Stem Cell 100 -- two years ago I volunteered to start taking a product called Stem Cell 100, produced by a firm in which a dear friend from my college days is involved (one of the smartest guys I know). In essence, recent research indicates that the ends of chromosomes (i.e. telomeres) play a key role in aging. Carl's firm has found a way to reverse this process naturally. I've noticed the benefits (without any adverse effects so far), so I've been encouraging several of my friends to try it out - it's especially useful for those engaged in an active lifestyle. One Friend's Results -- Notes David Meerman Scott, top marketing guru and author of the New Rules of Marketing and PR, "I've been taking the magic stuff since you told me about it in Barcelona. Maybe I just decided to get fit. Maybe it's unrelated. Or maybe this stuff really works. But I've lost 10 pounds since you saw me last and I feel much better. I feel stronger and I have more stamina. Two weekends ago I surfed nonstop for 2 hours which is something that would have been tough for me at age 30! Many people who I've known for a while tell me I look great. I am actually stronger and fitter than 30 years ago when I was in university! Anyway, thanks for that. Even if it is a placebo, it works!!" Here's a link to more info. Kezia Lives! -- over 125 Vitamin C IVs later, one of the greatest blessings of 2011 is that 5 year old New Zealander, Kezia, survived her Stage IV Neuroblastoma and is alive - healthy, growing, and full of energy. I wish I could say the same for Steve Jobs. I tried every channel I could to get his team to consider high dose Vitamin C IVs to fight his cancer, to no avail - let me explain the journey for those interested. Request -- For those that have read enough already, here's my request: I've been personally funding Kezia's IVs ($60 - $150 each) and now there are other children (a 13 year old next) who want the IVs but insurance won't pay for them. If these insights have benefited you and your company in 2011, please consider "paying" for the insights ($1/week?) 100% of which will be used to fund Vitamin C IVs for other cancer patients in 2012 - your help is greatly appreciated. Here's a link to pay for the insights. Now for more of Kezia and Jobs stories... First Kezia's Story -- In June 2010 Kezia (4) was diagnosed with Stage IV Neuroblastoma - she had multiple solid tumors in her abdomen and cancerous cells throughout her bone marrow. She underwent six months of painful chemotherapy at Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland. By November her parents were given two options - continue with chemo with only a 30% chance of survival with permanent disabling side effects or go to palliative care with a 10% chance of survival. Her parents decided on a third option - prayer, rigorous healthy living, and high dose Vitamin C IVs. Here's a link describing her 12 month journey - please share with others with cancer and other chronic diseases. Using Riordan Protocol -- Kezia's father had read about my enthusiasm (and personal use of) Vitamin C IVs for general health and as nature's own cancer-fighting chemo and contacted me. For those new to my insights, I've been receiving 50 gram Vit C IVs for over a decade, as have many of my family members and friends. My dear friend, the late Dr. Hugh Riordan, picked up the torch from two time Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling, and continued his work with high dose Vitamin C IVs the past 30 years. Today, it's Riordan's protocol that is the standard practice used by the National Institute of Health and others in their research and application of Vit C IVs to various chronic illnesses including cancer (and prevention, which is why I do it). Here's a link to The Riordan Clinic's info on Vit C IVs and the official protocol for proper use. Steve Jobs Story -- when I first heard about Steve's cancer, I reached out to several close friends of Steve to encourage him to explore high dose Vit C IVs. Universally there was huge pushback. Only after reading Steve's biography did I understand why. When Steve first found out he had cancer (but not announced), he refused traditional approaches and decided to pursue an alternative approach mainly based on diet (you just can't get enough of the right nutrients orally, in most cases). Anyway, his approach not only failed, but his closest friends and wife felt it gave the cancer a chance to spread - and it closed down all approaches except those recommended by his traditional oncologist. It was just a matter of time after that. I've wondered ever since if I really did all I could to reach Steve. The Bigger Story -- you can't imagine the roadblocks Kezia's family has faced in NZ, getting the traditional health care system to even allow the Vitamin C IVs. The "system" supports our present cutting, burning, and poisoning approach (exact words used by Isaacson in Jobs biography) which nets the system $350k to $1 million for each cancer patient. And now big pharma wants the FDA to become an independent agency like the Federal Reserve so it's free from oversight. And my apologies, but this is also why I've not signed on to support the various traditional cancer fundraising initiatives (American Cancer Society, Dana Farber, etc) when asked by many of you - these organizations just continue to reinforce what I consider a bad system that has caused such massive pain and suffering that is unnecessary. Dosage is Critical -- while high dose Vit C isn't the whole solution, it's a critical component in almost every chronic disease (including your everyday viral or bacterial infection). The key is getting the dosage right. It drives me nuts when I see all these studies (most funded by big pharma) that claim Vit C ineffective for this or that when the dosage used in the study is totally inadequate. Big Pharma knows dosage is critical when it comes to their own drugs, but ignores this fact when it comes to Vit C (and other natural cures). Quite simply, you can't get enough Vitamin C to maintain sufficient health and energy, long term, without taking it intravenously (which is 60 times more potent than taking it orally). Biggest Benefits -- Vitamin C is critical to the production of collagen - necessary to prevent wrinkles, problems with arteries, etc. And it's the key "drug" for reversing all the oxidation that occurs daily within our bodies - the slow rusting of our innards. Like squeezing lemon on an apple to keep it from turning brown, Vitamin C does the same internally. We now fully understand how Vitamin C kills viruses and cancers, so none of this is a mystery. It's only big pharma and the FDA that stand in the way (and their counterparts in other countries). Where to Find a Doctor -- for those living in the DC area, my doctor has a clinic in Bethesda and Ashburn - Dr. Mahsin Habib -- 703-724-4000 - he's done hundreds of these IVs now (I just had another one from him a few weeks ago when I passed through Ashburn for a few hours). For those outside DC, here's a link to find a doctor that will administer the IVs -- most everyone can find a doctor within 20 minutes of where they live in the US. And when there are options, I tend to pick a doctor that appears to come from another country outside the US. They are much more open to these ideas than US trained docs. My doctor, for instance, is from Bangladesh. Energy -- again, it's all about energy management. Entrepreneurial firms with the most energy win! And to handle the stress on the body which comes from growing a business, you have to address the ongoing rusting and aging of the body and maintain high energy levels. Thank You, Again...for all of you willing to help me fund more Vitamin C IVs in return for the help my insights have provided you and your firm. Wishing You a Healthy and Prosperous New Year! (no insight next week).

Resending (BOG/EMP Reunion; Five Management Metrics; Fill Pipeline in December; Power of Pricing)

"...keeping you great" HEADLINES:   A wise man's questions contain half the answer.   Gabirol (ca. 1070) MIT BOG/EMP Alums -- block Oct 25 - 28, 2012 on your calendar for the 20th anniversary of EO's premier executive program. With over 1300 grads, we're expecting a fantastic turnout on the campus of MIT. I've been invited back to emcee and we're putting together an outstanding program of learning and fun. Come meet your fellow grads. Here's a short invitation video -- please spread the word to your classmates. Five New Management Metrics -- Notes James Slavet of venture firm Greylock Partners, "most managers only measure outputs, not inputs, which is like telling a Little League team to score more runs, rather than actually explaining how to swing a bat and make contact with the ball. Similarly, most companies measure traffic, revenue or earnings, without considering how to improve the company at an atomic level: how to make a meeting better, or an engineer more productive." Slavet's investments include Coupons.com, Groupon, One Kings Lane and Redfin. Greylock Partners has invested in Facebook, LinkedIn and Pandora. Flow State Percentage -- Slavet's first recommended metric is Flow State Percentage looking at how much "flow" time those doing brain work (programmers, designers, etc) are getting. Take four minutes to scan through the other four entitled: The Anxiety-Boredom Continuum; Meeting Promoter Score (James was kind enough to give me a shout-out on that one); Compound Weekly Learning Rate; and Positive Feedback Ratio. Ratio of Questions to Statements -- another key metric is the ratio of Questions to Statements you make i.e. why I love the opening quote above. Implementing Value Pricing -- and this note from Toby Jenkins, GM of Australia-based Bluewire Media: "On your recommendation I read Implementing Value Pricing by Ron Baker. I loved it and blogged about it. We applied it immediately and managed to increase our price for a single piece of work by 100%, then delivered every bit of the promised value in our best project in 7 years of business. As always, a huge thanks for pointing us in the right direction and making fantastic recommendations." Not enough thought is given to pricing! BTW, here's one of my favorite newsletters on pricing -- consider signing up for it. Fill Your Pipeline In December -- below is Caryn Kopp's latest tips for driving sales - and why late December is a great time of the year to reach decision makers. By: Caryn Kopp, Chief Door Opener® Why spend the last two weeks of December cleaning out files when you could be filling next year's pipeline with new business? Most business owners and salespeople believe that trying to reach prospects at year-end is pointless and instead spend time getting organized for the coming year. In doing this, they miss out on one of the best times of the year to reach decision makers live. Here's what we've learned about prospecting in December... Companies have fewer internal meetings during the last two weeks of the year due to employee vacations and mid-day holiday parties. This means decision makers are more likely to be working at their desks and available when you call. Many assistants take year-end time off (especially if they have school-age children), leaving decision makers to answer their own phones...without gatekeepers. Decision makers who are in their offices at this time of year are more relaxed and chatty. Your competitors don't think this way. They usually stop calling prospects the 2nd week of December. Your "share of voice" when leaving voicemails and reaching prospects live will be higher and you will get more accomplished with each call. Decision makers will typically not accept a meeting from mid to end of December. However, if you request a date to meet NEXT year (which is just days away), their calendars are usually wide open. Ask for a meeting in early January and watch your calendar fill up. This works especially well with hard-to-reach and senior level decision makers.

BOG/EMP Reunion; Five Management Metrics; Fill Pipeline in December; Power of Pricing

"...keeping you great" HEADLINES:   A wise man's questions contain half the answer.   Gabirol (ca. 1070) MIT BOG/EMP Alums -- block Oct 25 - 28, 2012 on your calendar for the 20th anniversary of EO's premier executive program. With over 1300 grads, we're expecting a fantastic turnout on the campus of MIT. I've been invited back to emcee and we're putting together an outstanding program of learning and fun. Come meet your fellow grads. Here's a short invitation video -- please spread the word to your classmates. Five New Management Metrics -- Notes James Slavet of venture firm Greylock Partners, "most managers only measure outputs, not inputs, which is like telling a Little League team to score more runs, rather than actually explaining how to swing a bat and make contact with the ball. Similarly, most companies measure traffic, revenue or earnings, without considering how to improve the company at an atomic level: how to make a meeting better, or an engineer more productive." Slavet's investments include Coupons.com, Groupon, One Kings Lane and Redfin. Greylock Partners has invested in Facebook, LinkedIn and Pandora. Flow State Percentage -- Slavet's first recommended metric is Flow State Percentage looking at how much "flow" time those doing brain work (programmers, designers, etc) are getting. Take four minutes to scan through the other four entitled: The Anxiety-Boredom Continuum; Meeting Promoter Score (James was kind enough to give me a shout-out on that one); Compound Weekly Learning Rate; and Positive Feedback Ratio. Ratio of Questions to Statements -- another key metric is the ratio of Questions to Statements you make i.e. why I love the opening quote above. Implementing Value Pricing -- and this note from Toby Jenkins, GM of Australia-based Bluewire Media: "On your recommendation I read Implementing Value Pricing by Ron Baker. I loved it and blogged about it. We applied it immediately and managed to increase our price for a single piece of work by 100%, then delivered every bit of the promised value in our best project in 7 years of business. As always, a huge thanks for pointing us in the right direction and making fantastic recommendations." Not enough thought is given to pricing! BTW, here's one of my favorite newsletters on pricing -- consider signing up for it. Fill Your Pipeline In December -- below is Caryn Kopp's latest tips for driving sales - and why late December is a great time of the year to reach decision makers. By: Caryn Kopp, Chief Door Opener® Why spend the last two weeks of December cleaning out files when you could be filling next year's pipeline with new business? Most business owners and salespeople believe that trying to reach prospects at year-end is pointless and instead spend time getting organized for the coming year. In doing this, they miss out on one of the best times of the year to reach decision makers live. Here's what we've learned about prospecting in December... Companies have fewer internal meetings during the last two weeks of the year due to employee vacations and mid-day holiday parties. This means decision makers are more likely to be working at their desks and available when you call. Many assistants take year-end time off (especially if they have school-age children), leaving decision makers to answer their own phones...without gatekeepers. Decision makers who are in their offices at this time of year are more relaxed and chatty. Your competitors don't think this way. They usually stop calling prospects the 2nd week of December. Your "share of voice" when leaving voicemails and reaching prospects live will be higher and you will get more accomplished with each call. Decision makers will typically not accept a meeting from mid to end of December. However, if you request a date to meet NEXT year (which is just days away), their calendars are usually wide open. Ask for a meeting in early January and watch your calendar fill up. This works especially well with hard-to-reach and senior level decision makers.

Jobs Fielded Service Calls; YPO Europe Event; Employee Savings; Political Request

"...keeping you great" HEADLINES: (apologize for the warnings and urgencies!) WARNING: Political Request Below (PRB) -- but first... URGENT: Specific Story Needed Today -- did any of you work at a large company; decide, on the side, to make an angel investment in a company (friend, relative, etc); then end up jumping into the venture yourself? Please email me immediately - vharnish@gazelles.com. Thank You Readers ... Atlassian, Armenta Collection, Pixability, PropelGrowth, and LEFKO Renovations for contributing your clever marketing ideas for my latest FORTUNE column - I greatly appreciate my insight readers providing material for my various writing projects - keep those ideas flowing. Jobs Directly Involved in Customer Service -- given Apple's high customer service scores (ACSI), it didn't surprise me to learn that Steve Jobs got directly involved in customer service issues. Notes Mark Milian, author of Letters to Steve: Inside the E-mail Inbox of Apple's Steve Jobs, "He fielded e-mails about broken laptops and intervened on support calls." And Jobs proclivity for responding to e-emails led to Apple repurposing all the messages he personally received "to be used as data points for internal use, evidenced by a graph charting customer complaints about the ill-fated Internet service, MobileMe." Take two minutes to read this excerpt from Milian's book - and then figure out how you'll be more involved in fielding customer concerns more directly - a great way to learn and make improvements. FORTUNE's Blue Ribbon Companies -- 38 companies appeared on the most FORTUNE lists in 2011. My guess is a basket of stocks in these companies might do well over the next decade - but this guess is worth about as much as you pay for these insights! Anyway, worth one minute to peruse the list (and if someone wants to calculate the cost of owning 100 shares in each of these 38 companies, please send me the total and I'll publish!). Real Savings for Employees -- Jim Curcuru, an employee with Appletree Answers, just saved $138 on his Firestone repair bill. Appletree signed up for Abenity at the Fortune Growth Summit - it's a FORTUNE 500 quality employee benefit program where your employees get substantial discounts on many regular services they use - like car repairs. Notes Emily Ratliff, head of HR for Appletree "Great feedback about our new Abenity program! I have heard so much positive feedback! So glad we found them at Gazelles Growth Summit!" Get in touch with Brian Roland at Abenity - a great holiday gift for 2012 for all your employees. Real Savings on Books -- Mastering the Rockefeller Habits is part of a December Kindle promotion - just $3.99. If you've been wanting an e-version of the book, now's the time to grab a copy. European YPOers -- Prague 30th May - 1st June -- Gene Browne, Greater European YPO chapter, is Day Chairing a 2.5 day YPO "Rockefeller Habits" workshop I'll be leading 30th May (19:30) to 1st June (17:00) in Prague. Limited to 10 more YPOers and their executive teams. Here's a link to more info or just email Gene. WARNING: PRB -- Charles Koch, head of the largest private firm in the world, has been an acquaintance for decades (EO is headquartered in DC because of his help 25 years ago, for instance). Anyway, roughly 3% of all companies in the US are the real job generators (most of you reading these insights), but we have no voice. So Koch's foundation wants to help give us a voice and put several of you on tour, in short videos, etc. Here's a summary of what they want to do - email me if interested in telling your story: Because so often no one speaks for the entrepreneurs and business owners who drive economic growth, we want to launch a national and local campaign to showcase (1) positive stories of job creation and growth and (2) how government policies (such as overregulation and crony capitalism) prevent or make job creation difficult. Our research suggests that real stories told by real entrepreneurs are the most impactful. For example, we've all heard "regulations hurt business." Let's put a face on it. This campaign could entail some or all of the components below depending on the story, the spokespeople, the comfort level of the individuals involved, sensitivity to time constraints and ability of the story to resonate with audiences: Short video clip of story Local talk show circuit with the media National media tour Media training in DC office Leverage the story and add expert commentary from economics professors or others qualified to comment on the policy and economic ramifications of specific stories

Latest Fortune Column: 5 Clever Marketing Ideas

"...keeping you great" HEADLINES: Latest Fortune "Venture" Column -- take three minutes to scan through 5 clever marketing ideas for your business - something you might consider at your next weekly marketing meeting (you have one, correct?). Here's a link to my latest Fortune "Venture" column both online today and on the newsstand.

Senior Team Buried; Key to Leading; Latest Growth Guy Column

"...keeping you great" HEADLINES: Senior Team Buried -- the senior team will get crushed if their frontline supervisors and middle managers are not effectively developed. According to a recent McKinsey study, "while frontline employees receive extensive training and development, their managers - who may have had no previous experience leading others - do not. At all levels, executives believe that the little training they do receive fails to prepare them to take on leadership roles successfully." I couldn't agree more. Management Development: 3 Simple Strategies -- my latest "Growth Guy syndicated column outlines three simple approaches for developing your supervisors and managers: pay to read; virtual learning; and peer groups. Please take three minutes to read how several growth firms are applying these simple approaches to developing their management ranks. Peer Group Interactions -- Bill George, former CEO of Medtronic and now professor of management at Harvard, notes that the key to effective leadership development comes down to self-awareness. And gaining such self-awareness requires three things: Experience in real world situations, including leadership opportunities Reflection about your experiences Group interactions where you can share your experiences The missing link in leadership development is having a safe place where people can share their experiences, challenges, and frustrations and get honest feedback. That's why small, intimate groups of peers where people can talk openly in confidential settings are critical to management development and why Gazelles is pioneering an approach over the phone to fit this need. GE's Process for Management Development -- GE's Crotonville has been the standard for management development - so I visited them several years ago to get an inside look into their approach. Combing their best practices with other research, here's the recommended process: The senior team immerses themselves in outside learning -- the role of the Growth Summits and Leadership Summits - plus virtual monthly education. The senior team teaches and passes down their knowledge and DNA to the middle managers (GE is adamant that senior leaders should do this vs. outside instructors). This is the importance of a well structured Monthly Management meeting. The middle managers also receive formal training during the Monthly Management meeting - the role of virtual education, books, videos, etc. Senior leaders and managers are part of peer groups - the role of our new phone forums. 4 Step Process - it works! It's inexpensive. And it's not as time-consuming as most management development initiatives.