"...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.