The Agile Scaleup

Top 10 Factors for Getting Salespeople to Over Achieve

"...keeping you great" Ten Minutes with the Growth Guy

HEADLINES:

"How I Work" -- this is my favorite feature in any business magazine -- if you only read one business article every couple weeks, tear this one out of your FORTUNE magazine when it comes in (before placing   the magazine on your "tower of guilt" -- everything you want to read when you get the time). Here's a link to the two-page Bill Gates "How I Work" feature, the one I've been referencing in my Rockefeller Habits workshops

"How I Work" for growth firms -- examples needed! I was excited to learn this week that FORTUNE Small Business is launching a   similar feature and they need stories. They are looking for stories of entrepreneurs who have found a creative way to manage their work and time. In the first column,   appearing in March, they feature an industrial designer who plans to manage his business from a sailboat during a trip around the world -- send story ideas to [email protected]

Top 10 Factors for Getting Your Salespeople to Over Achieve -- this is Dave Kurlan's latest blog that is getting a lot of attention -- check it out Dave is the creator of the #1 licensed sales organization assessment tool. He's also author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling. He's one of the most knowledgeable gurus on sales organization effectiveness and we're excited to have him keynoting our Sales and Marketing Summit April 24 -25, Atlanta.

Miner Corporation reaches the "End of the Trail" -- in a final update, Jeff Schmeck with Miner   sent me a photo of his team taken Jan 27th in front of a statue of Lewis and Clark in Seaside, OR -- here's a link. Notes Schmeck, "this was the reward to the company for achieving (exceeding) our annual theme of ‘On to the Pacific.' The financial results were remarkable, but the real gold was in the focus and the esprit de corps that was built up all year long." And the video they created from the weekend will be used in upcoming employee recruiting trips and during orientation. This is a BRILLIANT way to multi-purpose a quarterly or annual theme. We'll get a copy of the video and post it.

BOWA Builders' CEO Council -- thank you to all that sent me examples for my upcoming column. Notes CEO Larry Weinberg "My CEO Council has had lunch every Monday for the past few years. In fact, we have found the informal strategic discussion time so valuable that we no longer consider lunch once a week enough. With the pressures of the day and the interruptions of the waiter, we sometimes come away frustrated. As a result, this year we have scheduled quarterly CEO council retreats. Sometimes   we combine them with an industry conference or an educational event. We have planned one around the Gazelles Growth Summit in Vegas this October. Two of the retreats are just all day talk time away from the office." Remember, this is in addition to their strategic planning and weekly management meeting rhythm -- this is more time to just talk.

National Remodeler of the Year -- BTW, all of this "talk time" is paying off. BOWA was just received this prestigious award from Professional Remodeler magazine on the heels of Larry Weinberg being selected as one of the "Best Boss" winners in the U.S. One key to winning this   latest honor was their On Time guarantee, a way to put teeth in their Brand Promise. See more about why BOWA won under DETAILS below. Congrats BOWA -- see your team in Las Vegas.

Inform middle management first -- Dave Steeves, CEO of Vancouver-based IT services firm Steeves and Associates, notes "we've always made sure we inform middle management first, before making a general announcement. In addition to having mid-managers prepped for questions, it also gives us front line perspective so we can fine-tune our message. This helps us make sure we are hitting the target and we are framing it in a way that the front-line and mid-managers can work with it (and clients)." Exactly!!
 
Another Vitamin C story -- notes Zane Safrit, CEO of Conference Calls Unlimited "I've been taking 6 grams of Vitamin C ever since I heard one of your presenters in Houston describe its benefit. I've avoided many of the colds and flu's that are so common in Iowa at this time of year."

Australia and New Zealand tour -- I'm heading out Saturday -- looking forward to seeing everyone "down under" over the next two weeks.

DETAILS:

BOWA Named National "Remodeler of the Year" by Industry Magazine
   
   

 

• BOWA Builders is pleased to announce that the company has been named the 2006 national "Remodeler of the Year" by Professional Remodeler magazine. The December issue of the magazine includes a feature article on the company.
• "This is a tremendous honor for BOWA," said Larry Weinberg, CEO and co-founder. "Our team has worked very hard to improve our processes and practices over the past 18 years. While our top priority will always be serving our clients and earning their respect, it's encouraging to receive this recognition from our peers."
 
• Professional Remodeler is a national industry magazine that sponsors this competition annually. The prestigious award "recognizes the remodeling firm that is showing the rest of the industry a better way." The review committee seeks out companies that are excellent in all aspects of remodeling, including various areas of operations, being highly reputable and employing the best and the brightest personnel.
 
• "To be honest, BOWA could have been named our top remodeler almost any year," says Michael Morris, editor of Professional Remodeler. "But this year their accomplishments demanded recognition."  
• When the magazine's editor called Larry in late September, he specifically cited some of the reasons BOWA was chosen as this year's "Remodeler of the Year." Among them were BOWA's continued growth, the recent launch of an on-time guarantee program and the firm's newly launched team handbook, which serves to document the company's best practices, construction processes and policies in an effort to better serve its clients.  
• "I'm excited about what this means for our business," stated BOWA's president and co-founder, Josh Baker. "I truly am very proud of every member of the BOWA team and thankful for their help in making this honor possible."  
• To read the full "Remodeler of the Year" story, please visit the Professional Remodeler web site.

Eliminating Competition

"...keeping you great" Ten Minutes with the Growth Guy

HEADLINES:

Any CEO Council examples I can feature? -- my next "Growth Guy" column will be on CEOs embracing the formation of a "council" -- the weekly breakfast or lunch meeting giving you talk time around the important issues driving the business -- the kind of "council" Jim Collins outlines on pages 114 -- 116 in his book "Good to Great." Please let me know if you have one and the impact it's having on the business. I believe this is the MOST important meeting of the week.

Inform middle management first -- this came up during my first monthly conference call for Rockefeller Habits DVD owners (a great way for me to stay connected to our most active customers). It's key, when you have something important to announce, that you brief any and all middle managers first. Include anyone between you and the frontline employees -- from supervisor up to senior executive. Entrepreneurial firms tend to mess this up by announcing things broadly, only to have frontline employees ask their immediate manager "so what's this all about" and them saying "I don't know, I'm hearing this for the first time just like you." Difficult to grow the business if you don't respect, honor, and grow a middle management team.

Jack and Suzy Welch weekly podcast -- one of the other participants on the conference call (my apologies for forgetting who) suggested I check out the free weekly 5 to 7 minute podcast featuring Jack Welch of GE fame and Suzy Welch, former editor-in-chief of Harvard Business Review. Each week they answer two specific questions from readers. The latest podcast (listen via your computer   or download to your iPod) deals with how an entrepreneur chooses their successor. To sign-up to receive the audio podcast each week go to http://www.businessweek.com/search/podcasting.htm   and scroll down until you see the "The Welch Way" link. Good stuff from a savvy business leader -- and its something you can listen to while answering emails.

Vitamin C case study -- Vernon Menard III, COO of Charlotte-based Choice Translating, emailed me   after my last Insight "I've been taking 6 grams of oral C every day for a year with amazing results...I have severe hypothyroidism and I was catching every virus and bacterial mess that came within a mile of me. I even resorted to wearing surgical masks whenever I traveled on planes. After starting the vitamin C treatments I have rarely been sick at all."

Dubai success story -- congratulations to Spencer Brod, long time client and close friend, who left the comforts of his Colorado home and moved to Dubai, where it was just announced he's joined premier Dubai developer, Nakheel, as Senior Development Manager of the Dubai waterfront project. Dubai Waterfront is a master development covering 72 km of the last remaining coastline of Dubai and eventually will be home to almost 1 million people, once fully completed--this is a massive project!

Eliminating competition from Australia to Asia -- and this   note from Alex Koo, who is chairing this year's "Taipan: The Making of   Asian Giants" May 16 -- 18 in Kuala Lumpur "I'm sold on the Gazelles   Growth Tools...while being part of a family business, I started a new animal health business. By applying your Rockefeller Habits I took it from $0 to US   $8 mil in 5 years. Not just outperforming, but eliminating competition from Australia to Asia! I can't wait to take it to $50 mil in the next 5 years!" The firm is called Tallahesse which operates in and out of Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Australia, including 6 retail stores called JC Milton & Co. throughout Australia. Congrats

Alex.

Christchurch, Auckland, Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth -- speaking of "down under," I'm touring New Zealand and Australia in a couple weeks. Hope to see many of my friends and Insight readers when I'm in your town.

Disastrous Employee

"...keeping you great" Ten Minutes with the Growth Guy

HEADLINES:

Michael Dell back at the helm -- most of you probably saw the news yesterday -- Michael Dell is back as CEO after Kevin Rollins resigned effective immediately. HP has surpassed Dell in computer sales, which has rocked Dell's world. Michael has faced far worse setbacks. Hopefully we're going to see a Tiger Woods-style turnaround in Dell's game.

Disastrous employee situation -- FORTUNE Small Business magazine is doing a story on difficult employees. They are looking for situations where an employee damaged your business through inappropriate behavior (i.e. hostility   to customers) or deliberate sabotage. If the situation has gone to court and is on the public record, that's preferred. If not, are you still willing to share names? Please email Elaine Pofeldt, [email protected]

Quick update on Nick Arrigan's walk with his children -- I reported last week that Arrigan, Vega Consulting, was going to start a weekly walk with his kids in addition to launching a "CEO Council"-like meeting at his company. Nick emailed this week "I wanted to let you know that week   one (with the kids) was like a typical sappy Broadway review. We laughed, we cried, it was amazing." Nick, keep on walking!

FDA approves Vitamin C trial for cancer -- this after Dr. Mark Levine published new evidence that suggests Vitamin C can work like chemotherapy, only better. Those that have read my insights for years know that I'm a huge proponent of regular Vitamin C IVs (I get one every six to ten weeks). My 2004 "Insight" about Vitamin C is republished under DETAILS below. And here's a link to the Chicago Tribune report on the latest FDA trial.

Hans Stoop wins the first "Verney" -- this note from Kees de Jong, Survey Sampling International (www.surveysampling.com) "At this year's YEO Gala in Amsterdam we had a "BEST VERNE IMPLEMENTATION" award. Really! This was won by Hans Stoop, who made his daily metrics as a visual Formula 1 race on this company intranet, thanks to you." Congrats Hans (www.dfk.nl) and thank you YEO Netherlands. Here's a link to a photo from the event.

The guy with the mike is YEO Netherlands co-President Xander Heijman (Axoft)
The guy with the glasses is the other YEO Netherlands co-President Pieter Vos (Alertinfo) and the third person is Hans Stoop (DFK), the winner.

DETAILS:

"...keeping you great (and healthy!)"
 
HEADLINES:
 
"...it takes much more than logic and clear-cut demonstrations to overcome the inertia and dogma of established thought." Dr. Irwin Stone
 
Year after year I would come down with the flu around the holidays and on vacations -- almost as if my body knew I couldn't get sick during the busy times, but had permission to "let down" when I had some time off. I wanted to understand why this happened to me and to many busy entrepreneurs and executives I know.
 
Year after year friends and acquaintances would come off a high stress period in their business and develop chronic illnesses, some severe including cancer. And friends I've known that have been relatively healthy would start developing various chronic problems in their forties and beyond -- back and joint pain, fatigue, depression, etc.
 
Three to four times a year, most recently just before Thanksgiving, I receive 30,000mg (30 grams) of vitamin C intravenously. I use a protocol created by Dr. Hugh Riordan over the past 20 years -- I had him share the protocol with my doctor so I can get it locally. And the U.S. National Institute of Health (NIH), in an April 2004 study, is finally validating Dr. Riordan's approach. The study showed that much more vitamin C gets taken up when it is given via the intravenous route than when the vitamin is taken orally. The authors of   the study include Sebastian J. Padayatty, MD of the Molecular and Clinical Nutrition Section at one of the NIH institutes, and his chief, Mark A. Levine, MD (Harvard   Medical School). Both are highly regarded figures in academic circles.
 
More importantly, the study shocked the medical community when it found   blood plasma levels of Vitamin C could be achieved 60 times what was thought possible through intravenous Vitamin C-- breaking down one of the huge myths about large doses of Vitamin C. And there's a study being led by the University of Kansas Medical Center to study the impact of large does of intravenous Vitamin C on cancer (80 -- 100 grams of C). Remarkably, there are no side-effects of   large doses of Vitamin C, as opposed to what has been found with Vitamin E. And the intravenous method bypasses the impact on the digestive system, going straight into the blood stream to replenish cells, boost your immune system and refill your adrenal glands, etc. But do your own research -- I'll share some references below under DETAILS.
 
Stress dramatically reduces your plasma levels of Vitamin C. Pumping adrenaline dramatically reduces your plasma levels of Vitamin C. Sitting on airplanes on runways (and taking in the engine fumes) dramatically reduces your plasma levels of Vitamin C. Firefighters, after a fighting a fire, or policeman, after engaging in a chase, will see their plasma levels of Vitamin C drop to zero. A simple cut consumes massive amounts of Vitamin C. Environmental factors all around us are causing our bodies to consume massive amounts of Vitamin C, which the body robs from cells over time since we are one of only two mammals that can't produce Vitamin C. And over time our cells and immune system are compromised to the point that flu and cancer and other chronic illnesses are able to grab a foot hold in our bodies. Joints actually start bleeding when you're low on Vitamin C (thus lots of early back problems with firefighters, not from the work as they had thought). Bleeding gums is actually a sign of low Vitamin C. Vitamin C is needed to maintain the strength of artery walls.  
 
In addition, I take 8 grams (800 times the Recommended Daily Allowance) of C orally a day. I've come to learn this is the right amount for me (different for each person). I've learned from research why you have to increase your tolerance slowly, why you need this much, how enzymes are produced by the body to aid absorption, how this impacts you if you skip a day, how it DOESN'T make you dependent, etc.
 
After exhaustive study and first hand experience, let me state emphatically here that we'll look back on chemotherapy as the equivalent of bloodletting. We'll look back on all the pills we're consuming as the equivalent of poisoning ourselves. Traditional medicine is effective at treating acute problems, but has been largely ineffective at dealing with chronic problems. The long term   research is conclusive that most of the infectious diseases can be cured with large doses of Vitamin C. And rather than heal us through cutting, burning, and poisoning (present approach to cancer), IV Vitamin C will both kill the cancer while strengthening the immune system and building up the cells to prevent its spread. I'm going out on a limb, but I've done my homework.
 
The biggest obstacle is economics and inertia. It takes forty years for the medical community to come around to new ideas. And it's not in the interest of the medical and pharmaceutical industries to find inexpensive cures. I could go on and on, but happy to talk with any of you privately if you have questions. Maintaining our health is critical to having the energy and desire to run our   companies.
 
"Vitamin C should be given to the patient while the doctors ponder the diagnosis."
 
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
 
The American College for Advancement of Medicine is a medical society that educates health-care professionals about alternative therapies. It teaches vitamin C infusion protocols as part of training in chelation therapy. It has a physician referral phone line (1-888-439-6891) and a searchable online physician directory:
 
Contact the Center for Human Functioning 316-682-3100 to get the protocol for intravenous Vitamin C -- it is the standard used by NIH and the various research institutions studying the impact on various infectious diseases.
 
I just finished the 452 page book "Vitamin C, Infectious Diseases, and Toxins" by Thomas E. Levy, MD, JD. It summarizes the over 1200 medical and scientific journal articles on Vitamin C over the past century.
 
Check out this link for a concise update on the NIH, University of Kansas, and the history of why Vitamin C was bypassed as a cure for several decades:
 
Go to www.cforyourself.com for additional links to resources and studies on Vitamin C.
 
And for an interesting letter from Dr. Irvin Stone, who authored the opening quote, go to http://nutri.com/stone/

Extreme Service

"...keeping you great" Ten Minutes with the Growth Guy

HEADLINES:

Extreme customer service examples -- FORTUNE Small Business is on the hunt for a company under $200 million that seriously messed up with a customer and then went way above and beyond to fix the problem, converting a furious customer into a deeply loyal one. They want a very vivid and interesting example -- email Justin Martin at [email protected]

The Ultimate Question -- this is one of the hot new business books written by Fred Reichheld, also author of the hugely popular book "The Loyalty Effect." In essence, he provides formulas for calculating your Net Promoter Score. Customer loyalty is more important than customer satisfaction, and customer advocacy (are your customers actively telling others) is more important than   customer loyalty. You need to both actively encourage and measure how much customer advocacy you're getting.

Chairman of P&G gets more energy -- A.G. Lafley, also   CEO, notes in FORTUNE "I've learned how to manage my energy...in a program called the Corporate Athlete (based on the book "The Power of Full Engagement" that I've been encouraging all of you to read!) that we put on for P&G managers. I did the two-day program, where I also learned to change the way I eat. I used to eat virtually nothing for breakfast. Now I have a V-8 juice, half a bagel, and a cup of yogurt. And I eat five or six times a day. It's about managing your glycemic level. You don't want to boom and bust." Here's a link to the short, powerful article (note -- you must disable your pop-up blocker)

Single biggest contribution I make...Lafley also notes in the piece "On Sunday nights, [HR chief] Dick Antoine and I get together at his house or my house or on the phone and go through some part of our leadership development program. We started doing this shortly after I became CEO, because I know that the single biggest contribution I will make to this company is helping the next generation of leaders become the best that they can be." It's why we've launched two Summits this year -- an opportunity for you to provide your executive team with the best leadership development worthy of the FORTUNE 50. See you in Atlanta and Las Vegas.

Walk (and talk) with children -- Nick Arrigan, Vega Consulting Solutions, a NJ-based IT Services firm, noted "after your workshop I plan on taking scheduled weekly walks with my kids individually and have requested a recurring lunch or breakfast time with the owner of my company. I'm looking forward to them all." I've been going on an early morning walk around our lake with my two sons for over a year now and it's been a wonderful way to get "talk time" and get energized for the day.

More talk time -- Brad Geddes, CEO of Magi Seal Corporation, a London, Canada-based provider of extended warranties in the furniture industry, sent me the following note "just wanted you to know that our management team recently adopted the Rockefeller Habits -- what a tremendous start to bringing our organization closer together! Our "Daily Huddles" have been a real eye-opener for our leadership team -- and the enthusiasm is still very high -- even after a number of weeks having adopted an improved way of doing business."

LESSON -- Daily: eat breakfast, go for a walk, huddle with your team. And make your customers want to tell others!

Negotiation Myths

"...keeping you great" Ten Minutes with the Growth Guy

HEADLINES:

The power of purpose -- George Lucas, Film Director and Producer -- "You have to find something that you love enough to be able to take   risks, jump over the hurdles and break through the brick walls that are always going to be placed in front of you. If you don't have that kind of feeling for   what it is you are doing, you'll stop at the first giant hurdle." I love this quote. What jazzes me is finding the best, most practical, resources for   growth firms. Read on!

Whoever names price first, loses -- right? Wrong! This and many other "standard" negotiation strategies I learned have been challenged successfully by one of the brightest and insightful negotiation gurus on the planet -- Dr. Victoria Medvec, professor at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. The leading scholar in negotiations and decision-making,   she advises top M&A and FORTUNE 500 firms like GE where huge money is at stake. More about her strategies in a moment.

Negotiations are at the heart of almost every big decision we make, whether you're the CEO, COO, CFO, VP Sales, etc -- and as Dr. Medvec points out, in most of the key negotiations with partners, suppliers, customers, government agencies, etc. we have to maintain a strong relationship with them after the negotiations are concluded i.e. we need to win on our key points without irreparably   damaging the ongoing relationship. What you do to negotiate a great deal on an automobile are not the tactics that apply well to ongoing relationships!

How do we top Jim Collins and Marcus Buckingham, our faculty headliners at our last two Summits? It took us two months, but we landed Dr. Victoria Medvec this past week for our Sales   and Marketing Summit in Atlanta April 24 - 25 -- she's in huge demand -- whew!!! What I know you want are practical tools that will make you huge money fast -- skip the theory, skip the platitudes, just give you four hours of the best advice to make the Summit worthwhile right from the start and justify the time and expense. I know my ongoing credibility with you is at stake each and every time I decide who to place in the opening workshop (and the rest of the program). They must be both insightful AND an effective presenter.

Some highly respected YPOers and business leaders turned me on to Dr. Medvec -- these are seasoned CEOs and executives who utilized Dr. Medvec's tactics and reported back to me that they made/saved hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars. I then attended her program and have since saved/made over $100k the past several months myself that I directly attribute to using her approaches. And the mistakes I avoided are mistakes classic to entrepreneurial firms.

Keep the negotiations focused and simple -- right? Wrong! Again, it's our instincts as entrepreneurs to want to "boil down" a negotiation as quickly as possible. Again, Dr. Medvec shows how this considerably weakens your position and why (and how) it's important to fractionalize the   issues as much as possible, driving up the complexity.

Winning RFPs -- hey, they are still a reality for many companies. Unless you're the supplier that helped script the RFP (best position), you're at a disadvantage. Dr. Medvec shows how to change the leverage point and regain an advantage. And if you're the supplier that did help write the RFP, you had better know these tactics as well!

Move appointments, rearrange your schedule, but get to Atlanta   April 24 -- 25 -- Dr. Medvec is providing the opening four hour workshop. Remember, the best tables go to the biggest teams that register the earliest. The rest of the faculty include the famous brand and PR guru Laura Ries; Randy Schwantz, creator of The Wedge as a way to separate a customer from their existing supplier; John DiJulius, one of the hottest new gurus in Customer Service; and a half dozen other gurus and guest CEOs are listed under DETAILS below.

Successful CEOs of growth firms will share the stage again -- feedback from the last Summit is that you loved hearing from those that are "doing it." Cameron Herold, 1-800-GOT-JUNK will share the specifics on how one of North America's fastest growing franchises garnered over 300 articles   and a place on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

Barrett Ersek, Happy Lawns (yes, the entrepreneur I reference that found the X Factor in the lawn care business) will show how he's using MapPoint more than Excel spreadsheets to drive the business. I still maintain, and Barrett is proving it, that the first companies in any industry to fully   utilize MapPoint will dominate the industry. Come learn why I say this!

Faculty,   logistics, and registration here and information on faculty under DETAILS below.

DETAILS:

Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit Faculty

Dr. Victoria Husted Medvec
 
High-Stakes Decision Making and Negotiation Skills

Whoever names price first loses – right? Wrong. This and many other myths about high stakes negotiations have been challenged by the pioneering work of Dr. Medvec. Her ten steps for maximizing success in complex negotiations, especially where the relationship must be maintained after the sale, has brought her acclaim among top M&A and FORTUNE 500 firms. Growth firms spend a great deal of their time negotiating deals --mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, and key contracts all capture the attention of top executives. How do you construct the best possible deal? How can you negotiate effectively and secure value for your company while simultaneously building the relationship with the other side?

This seminar will help you to improve your effectiveness in all types of negotiations. This will be a highly interactive seminar where you will have the opportunity to share your own negotiating challenges and create strategies for critical upcoming negotiations. Through her consulting, Professor Medvec has helped many executives and sales leaders achieve incredible success in high-stakes negotiations. In this session, she will highlight the ten tactics that have led to her clients' success and teach you how to use these strategies.

Bio Info:
Adeline Barry Davee Associate Professor, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
Founder and Executive Director, Center for Executive Women

Dr. Medvec is a leader on the Northwestern University campus, winning five of Kellogg's premier teaching awards and serving as the Associate Vice President for Research for the University. What's more, she serves as an advisor to companies around the world on strategic decision-making, high-stakes negotiations and partnership agreements. General Electric, Kaiser Permanente, Motorola and United Healthcare are among the high-profile list of clients she advises. She is a renowned scholar in the areas of negotiations and decision-making, and her research has been published in top academic journals such as Psychological Review. In addition, her wisdom has been highlighted in business media including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post and on the Today  how.

John DiJulius
www.johndijulius.com
 
Creating World Class Customer Service

President, John DiJulius ConsultingFounder and CEO, John Roberts Hair Studios and Spas

Author of: Secret Service: Hidden Systems That Deliver Unforgettable Customer Service.

Customer Service is back with a vengeance. It’s the key growth concept for 2007 --because word-of-mouth marketing can make or break your business. John DiJulius has literally written the book on creating a world-class service experience. Take your business to the next level using the same proven strategies he has used to grow his John Roberts Hair Studio and Spa to an award winning, $4 million business. DiJulius will share: The 10 non-negotiable principles of customer service vital to growing your business; strategies to identify what customers really want -- not what you think they want; and ways to ”walk your talk” 24/7, to exceed expectations during every customer contact. John’s dynamic, insightful session will give you the tools you need to deliver service so superior, it makes price irrelevant.

Laura Ries
www.ries.com
 
Exploiting Divergence To Achieve Market Dominance

President, Ries & Ries
Co-author of The Fall of Advertising & The Rise of PR and The   Origin of Brands.

What’s the most effective way to create a new brand in today’s marketplace? Laura Ries, together with her father, partner and co-author, renowned marketing strategist Al Ries, made the marketing world sit up and take notice with a startling answer to that question. Their controversial work, The Origin of Brands, forms the heart of Laura’s riveting presentation. Using thought-provoking logic and impassioned delivery, Laura Ries will reveal: How to push beyond gaining mere market share, to creating profitable, new markets; the five immutable branding laws you must use to focus your business and increase your profits; ways to narrow the scope of your business – for surprising revenue gains; and what best-practices branding shares in common with the pioneering work of Charles Darwin. After this lively, informative session, you’ll see why Ries has established herself as a go-to voice on marketing matters for Fox News Channel, CNBC, CNN and ABC World News Tonight.

Randy Schwantz
www.thewedge.net
 
Driving Organic Growth with The Wedge Sales Culture™

Author, The Wedge: How to Stop Selling and Start Winning and How to Get Your Competition Fired (Without Saying Anything Bad About Them) Founder, President & CEO, The Wedge Group

In demand as a speaker, coach and consultant, Randy Schwartz has taken the sales training world by storm with The Wedge®, his innovative selling system based on winning business away from incumbent vendors. He has coached hundreds   of companies and thousands of sales professionals in the US and Canada to take sales growth to a higher level. In a lively, colorful style unique to this West Texas native, Schwartz will reveal why conventional sales methods fail to cut   it in today’s complex market. Boost your firm’s sales – and   profits – by understanding: the 3 relevant players in every single sales   scenario; how to generate more revenue from top clients; and ways to unseat   incumbent suppliers (without resorting to criticism). Randy Schwartz will equip you with the best practices and actionable tools you need to achieve increased sales in a forward-thinking, growth environment.

Erik Darmstetter
www.salesby5.com
 
Innovative Sales Growth Strategies

Founder and CEO, Sales by 5
Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year
San Antonio Business Journal’s “40 Under 40”

What’s a truly new idea worth to your business? Chances are it’s priceless when you want to sell more, increase profits and dominate your market. Erik Darmstetter shatters the ceiling of tried and true with his innovative and creative take on growing your small or mid-market company. Erik will share: Surefire, new ways to turn “warm leads” into hot sales; how to forge an unbeatable service team ready to exceed customer expectations – even in the face of increased demand; and how re-branding and “secret shopping” could catapult your business growth by as much as 200%. Gain critical insights that will turbo-charge the power of every sales and marketing strategy in your   arsenal.

Cameron Herold
www.1800gotjunk.com
 
Turning Junk Into Profit

COO, 1-800-GOT-JUNK?
Cameron Herold needs no introduction. As one of the principle architects of the 1-800-GOT-JUNK? brand, Herold is COO of company now known as “the FEDEX of junk removal.” His unique understanding of brand marketing and PR has helped grow this entrepreneurial venture into the $119 million company it is today. Herold has overseen the company’s exponential growth from a modest, Vancouver-based business to one with a presence in nearly every major North American city. A sought-after speaker among entrepreneurs worldwide, his high-energy approach to growing a business is contagious. Herold’s innovative strategies have received attention from Associated Press, Bloomberg, the Wall   Street Journal, New York Times, Fortune and many others.

Dave Kurlan
www.objectivemanagement.com
 
Raising Sales Expectations, Elevating Sales Performance

Founder, Objective Management Group, Inc.
Author of:
Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling: How to Become a Sales Superstar   by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball.

In today’s uncertain economy, can your sales people step up? If not, you risk losing market share, profits and hard-won growth. With more than 30 years of experience in all facets of sales training, management and consulting, Dave Kurlan knows how to identify and coach sales superstars. His eye-opening presentation reveals exactly what it takes to build a top-flight sales team who will grow your company’s profits. In this engaging, interactive session, Kurlan will shed new light on: Hiring sales professionals who can overcome the increased resistance in today’s marketplace; how the hidden strengths and weaknesses of your salespeople influence profit; and ways to accurately   predict future sales revenue, once your A team is in place. Leave with tools you can integrate immediately – at any size business, in any industry.

Verne Harnish
www.gazelles.com
 
Marketing Savvy for Fast-Growth Firms

CEO of Gazelles, Inc.
Founder, Young Entrepreneurs Organization (YEO)
Author of Mastering the Rockefeller Habits: What You Must Do to Increase the Value of Your Fast Growth Firm

Sales and Marketing are not one in the same. Sadly, many fast-growth companies ignore marketing strategy entirely, in favor of immediate – and sometime  overwhelming – sales demands. It’s a shortsighted error you can’t   afford to make. To grab and keep new customers continuously, a dedicated marketing effort is crucial. Based on insights from many of the world’s top marketing experts, Verne will share ways to launch a powerful marketing effort that yields long-term success. Discover: The key approach Regis McKenna used to drive marketing during meteoric expansion at Apple, Intel, and Genentech; how to distinguish key sales metrics from key marketing metrics; and must-have technologies that will turbo-charge your marketing process. An engaging, dynamic   speaker, Verne will offer a use-it-on-Monday plan for enhancing marketing strategy in your fast-growth environment.

3 Laws of Entrepreneurial Gravity

Visibility Equals Credibility -- it's my third law of entrepreneurial gravity (the other two under DETAILS below). It's why PR is better than advertising and why it's useful to take the time to win awards, make your way onto lists, and sign up for any opportunity to give the company visibility. As marketing guru Doug Hall describes, one of the three laws of marketing physics is giving people a "reason to believe" -- visibility does this. In addition, recognition validates the efforts of your entire company, giving your people another reason to feel proud of the company for which they work.

Three "visibility" opportunities (North American companies only) -- I've listed them in terms of ease of participation, with the easiest first -- I've also included the deadlines with information on how to apply following:

 

• The Private Company Index -- as soon as possible
 
• New Inc. 5000 (expanding the Inc. 500)-- March 1
 
• The Wall Street Journal's new small business award created in conjunction with Winning Workplaces -- January 31.

Bloomberg, the leading financial reporting organization, is adding tremendous credibility and visibility to the Private Company Index, agreeing to track and announce the PCI monthly starting this month. For the life of me, I don't know why every single one of your companies doesn't sign-up to participate. Gazelles has been a part of the index for two years. All we have to do is report   anonymously our revenues each month. And I feel it's all of our patriotic duties to participate in order to bring visibility to the mid-size company segment of the market. The PCI was up over 55% last year, outstripping the performance of the public market by a factor of 5! Sign up now

Badge for your website -- and the Private Company Index, now that it has Bloomberg's reporting giving the Index visibility, is issuing a "badge" for your website designating you a Private Company Index reporting firm (like being a part of the Dow or S&P 500). The badge will point back to the Index and visa versa. All of these links help bring visibility and higher search results for your website. Again, it takes one minute to sign-up and a few minutes each month for your accounting person to email just your revenue numbers -- again, anonymously.

Inc. 5000! -- (deadline March 1) yes, you're reading that correctly and no, I didn't accidentally add an extra zero. The Inc. 500 will still be featured in the Inc. 500 issue in September, but they'll be ranking   private companies from 1 to 5,000 based on revenue growth from 2003 through 2006 at their website, Inc.com. The preliminary application is now available at www.inc5000.com.

Top Small Workplaces -- (deadline January 31) The Wall Street Journal and Winning Workplaces are seeking nominations of exceptional small organizations -- private, nonprofit or publicly held -- for their first annual ranking of the Top Small Workplaces. They want to find small employers that foster teamwork, flexibility, high productivity and innovation while also treating their employees with respect, providing opportunities for professional growth and advancement, and providing benefits, both traditional and nontraditional, that make the employee experience better.
 
Each nominee must be a North American organization that:

 

• is independent -- not a unit of a larger corporation
 
• has no more than $200 million in annual revenues
 
• has 500 or fewer employees
 
• has been in business at least five years
   

Finalists will be selected in the spring, and the Top Small Workplaces will be announced on October 1, 2007, in a Journal Report on Small Business. Those named will be honored at a conference and celebration in Chicago in the fall of 2007.
   
To nominate an organization, StartupJournal.com 

DETAILS:
 
First Law of Entrepreneurial Gravity -- Growth Sucks Cash
 
Second Law of Entrepreneurial Gravity -- Buy Low, Sell High

Third Law of Gravity -- Visibility Equals Credibility

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Googles Hiring Approach

       

      

Three "Must Do" Priorities for 2007 -- this is the title of my latest monthly syndicated "Growth Guy" column reprinted   under DETAILS below. I open the piece with Lois Melbourne's (www.aquire.com) excellent alternative to simply hiring more expensive programmers, which you can apply to any of your key people. It's a win, win, win for everyone in the company. And it's a key approach to continually driving up revenue/employee over time -- please take five minutes to read the column or one minute to read Lois's approach. What is your business and personal question for the year? 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. Two "Stop Doings" for 2007 -- this is actually one of the three priorities for 2007. Until you close some doors, it's hard to open others! And I believe more strongly each year that great strategy requires saying "no" more than "yes" -- that your real success will be driven as much by the "no" decisions as the "yes" decisions. Commit  to saying "no" more often in 2007. Google's approach to hiring -- great piece in the NY Times this week, as Google wrestles with ways to streamline the hiring of 200 people/week. And their research has found less correlation between grades and SAT scores and more correlation with "biodata" -- my take, which I exchanged with Brad Smart, guru of Topgrading, that Google is simply automating the Topgrading   CIDS interview process. Makes sense since Google's key head of hiring came from   GE, which has been using Topgrading for decades. Here's a link to the article. Rate your discipline! At the beginning of each quarter I also encourage (beg) each of you to take 15 minutes and review the "Rockefeller Habits Checklist" of ten disciplines/habits critical to running a smooth operation. Pick two areas to focus on initiating or fine-turning this quarter.   Here's a link   to the complete Checklist. Turning revenue into profit -- nothing is more frustrating than growing the business only to be generating less profit. Strategy drives revenue growth; but its "relentless repeatability" that comes from the Rockefeller Habits that converts revenue into profit -- profit that is 3 to 5 times industry average. Save 55 hours per week of time. Poor execution also eats up a great deal of time. Alan Rudy, CEO of IntoGreat and former CEO of ExpressMed (subject of Chapter 2 in my book), said it best. "Before implementing the Checklist of habits, it took me literally 70 hours/week to run the business. After implementing, the time was reduced to 10 to 15 hours/week." Dallas Rockefeller Habits workshop March 20 -- 21 -- just scheduled and to be held on the beautiful SMU campus -- Toronto Rockefeller   Habits next week January 10 -- 11. DETAILS: Three "Must Do" Priorities   for 2007   By Verne Harnish, the "Growth Guy" As you prepare for 2007, here are three universal priorities that will have a significant impact on both you and your company: Focus on Strengths Instead of hiring more (and extremely difficult to find) programmers to keep up with the rapid growth of her HR software firm, Lois Melbourne, CEO of Irvine, TX-based Aquire, focuses on making her existing programmers happier and more productive. How? She's taken a page from strengths guru Marcus Buckingham. I had read his highly successful book, Now, Discover Your Strengths, but had never really understood the power of his ideas until we hosted him to keynote our Growth Summit in November. One of the finest communicators I've ever heard, Marcus drove home the point that we waste way too much time trying to fix our individual weaknesses and should instead play to our strengths, focusing on activities that energize and make us strong, while finding ways to delegate or eliminate those activities that drain us. To do this, Buckingham suggests taking a couple weeks and documenting all those activities you either love or loathe (I'm doing this right now as I write this column). This is precisely what Melbourne has her programmers do, noting all the activities that are energy draining and keeping them away from their primary strength -- programming. She then compiles this list, eliminates those activities no one should have to do (they creep into every job) and then uses the remaining list to create a job description for a new position. She then finds someone whose strengths and passion matches this combined list of activities. Result -- happier, easier to retain, and more productive programmers while minimizing the need to hire more.   Go to www.marcusbuckingham.com and spend $99 to get Buckingham's six DVD series entitled "Trombone Player Wanted." These remarkably produced mini-movies will have a profound impact on everyone in your company, helping to launch a strengths revolution. And for parents, these DVDs will fundamentally change the way you view your children's developmental progression. "Stop Doing" List A perennial New Year's exercise, I'll keep emphasizing the importance of saying "no" so long as I'm writing for and advising leaders of growth firms. As Jim Collins emphasizes in his book Good to Great, we need "stop doing" lists more than we need "start doing" lists. Along the same vein of Buckingham's strengths revolution, someone recently sent me a quote from the great management guru, singer Tina Turner! Notes 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." As part of your annual planning process, decide on two significant "stop doings" for 2007 -- product lines that need to be eliminated; activities that can be halted; customers with whom you'll spend less time; offices that need to be shuttered. Anything that's bringing the company down, purge from the organization. Until you close some doors, others can't open. And commit to doing the same on a weekly basis as part of your regular staff meetings in 2007. In the last year alone our team has eliminated our land lines and moved to just using our cell phones (one less voice mail box for each of   us to check); outsourced our product fulfillment to an outside firm, eliminating   daily trips to a shipping facility; dramatically simplified our corporate legal structure; automated the reporting of daily cash balances; and executed dozens of additional "stops." All of these simple decisions combined increased our profit/employee by roughly $30,000 in 2006. Three Concrete Objectives Circling back to Marcus Buckingham, in his presentation he reminded us of the brilliance of New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's clarity of objectives when   he first took office. Faced with a city wracked by a myriad of major problems, it would be easy for any leadership team to feel overwhelmed. Yet, Giuliani   stayed focused and picked one single priority and message -- a priority he believed   would be the first domino that would create a chain reaction of other good things to happen in the city. He decided to focus on enforcing the city's petty crime laws, enacting a no tolerance policy; his theory being that hardened criminals start as petty law breakers. Then he got even more specific, outlining three concrete and visible objectives: Rid the city of the squeegee guys using jaywalking laws (for those unfamiliar with these people, they would linger around tunnel entrances and major intersections and clean your windshield and then expect a tip)  Eliminate graffiti from the subways     Make the taxicab drivers wear collared shirts   In 2007, rather than babble on about generalities like improving customer service or driving revenue or reducing costs, get concrete and specific. Name three specific and measurable changes, like reducing turnaround time from 3 days to 1 day, you expect will create a positive chain reaction throughout the organization. There you have it: Focus on Strengths; Create "Stop Doing" Lists; and outline Three Concrete Objectives for 2007. Here's to a profitable and growth-oriented New Year!