The Agile Scaleup

20 Billionaires Interviewed

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

HEADLINES:

How Top Companies Breed Stars -- I'm a huge fan of whatever Geoffrey Colvin, FORTUNE Senior Editor, writes. Take five minutes and scan his latest article that came out yesterday -- it accompanies this week's release of FORTUNE's list of the Top Companies for Leaders. No surprise, GE came out on top!

"Your competition can copy every advantage you've got -- except one," notes the subhead of the article. "That's why the world's best companies are realizing that no matter what business they're in, their real business is building leaders." For growth firms, it's good to look at the list to see where you might poach some talent!! Here's a link to the list and the article specifically on how GE develops leaders.

Job Flexibility, Development, and Community Involvement -- these are the top three reasons new employees give for staying with Capital One Financial. In my personal experience, these three ring true for employees in growth companies as well. Job flexibility is almost a given in growth firms since employees often have to wear multiple hats and deal with daily changes. And I know that community involvement inspires my team. From sponsoring one of our employee's daughter's soccer team to the ongoing support we give to the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship to the young man Joanne Costello and her family is helping (they found a dentist to donate his services this week), the community piece is powerful. It's the development piece that is most difficult, given time constraints.

Seven Traits of Entrepreneurial Employees -- Jeffrey Dennis, serial entrepreneur and president of Toronto-based Cale Financial Corporation, sent me yesterday his latest monthly column published in Profit Magazine entitled "The Blue-Chip Blues." Jeffrey notes that leaders from big companies might not work out and lists seven traits he looks for in employees for entrepreneurial firms. Here's a link to download this quick-read column.

Twenty Billionaires Interviewed -- instead of developing talent, growth companies often have to hire talent. Geoff Smart (Topgrading fame) and his team just completed a 2-year study on hiring, which is the most thorough and most expensive research ever done on the topic. He interviewed over 20 billionaires and 30 CEOs of large and small companies to listen to their best advice and stories on the topic of hiring. His insights will be released in his forthcoming book StreetSmart Hiring: A Solution to Every Manager's #1 Problem (Random House, 2008).  Geoff is also going to share his insights during his annual Topgrading: Interviewing and Hiring A Players workshop Nov 6 in Denver.

Five Powers

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

HEADLINES: (Deadline to get discounted hotel Growth Summit rate next Monday Sept 24 -- info below)

"In times of change, learners inherit the earth while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists."  Eric Hoffer

Making "blink" decisions -- I've heard executives tell me that they don't want to overload themselves or their teams with new ideas/knowledge. However, the key to creativity (Edison read or scanned 10,000 books in the Detroit library) and making right decisions fast is having a brain full of knowledge (often competing knowledge) that lets patterns and trends be quickly discerned. And if an executive can't sort through ideas and stay focused, that's a whole other issue.

Five Key Market Powers -- I had my one hour conference call with Geoffrey Moore to outline the details of his 3 hour presentation at the Growth Summit -- and I'm stoked!! Besides covering the classics (Inside the Tornado, Crossing the Chasm) in terms of new product/service introduction and how you cover your backside from competition (the biggest mistake companies make is not providing a 100% solution on their existing offerings), Moore has evolved a "powers" model of the marketplace and provides a detailed matrix of specific marketing activities a company must drive in order to maintain these five key types of power in any niche market. As a VC, consultant to Silicon Valley, and famous author, Moore is one of the top five most respected thought leaders in the world -- your entire team should know his frameworks inside out (and his significant modification to "The Discipline of Market Leaders"!

Six Principles of Persuasion -- Dr. Robert Cialdini's book Influence is a classic and the only book I've ever seen highlighted on Jim Collins website. A professor of psychology at Arizona State University, he's spent decades devoted to the scientific investigation and research of persuasion techniques. Out of this work he's identifies six basic social and psychological principles that form the foundation for successful strategies used to achieve persuasion. He's the two-hour "People" presenter at the Growth Summit -- persuasion tools applicable in all areas of your business.

Handful of Rules -- Steven Johnson is the one "stretch" presenter at the Summit. Unarguably one of the five brightest minds of our time, Johnson's new "emergence" approach to leadership is spawning an entirely new management discipline. In essence, leaders don't make decisions; they set the rules and the right decisions emerge. BTW, the very best web strategies work this way as well as Johnson will explain.

The Ultimate Question -- I covered this extensively last week. In essence, the only way to break through the noise of any market is to nurture advocates -- however, you can only manage what you can measure and Fred Reichheld has provided the formulas through his "Net Promoter Score". Customer focused strategies are back!

Thirty-Six Stratagems -- though there are only 36 known strategies to win, Kaihan Krippendorf knows how to make them practical and has created a tool that helps a company, given a specific competitive situation, pick the handful of strategies most likely to succeed. Microsoft, GE, and other major firms are booking all of this ex-McKinsey's time.

Paul Orfalea -- founder of Kinko's, he's a mad man, that's all. He says some of the most outrageous, yet insightful things, like how he set prices at Kinkos (he would walk in and ask store managers if they had received any complaints about prices; if not many, he would have them raise prices!). Above all else, he's a simple and practical leader/entrepreneur who failed miserably in school and knows how to have fun along the way.

Hotel situation -- our $145/night conference rate and block of rooms goes away next Monday, Sept 24. We picked the Luxor because of its proximity to the airport and we're the only event in the hotel (EO, on the other hand, is sharing their hotel with sheet metal workers and bull riders!). And because of the nature of the market and deal we received on meeting space, if an attendee chooses to stay at another hotel, there will be a $145/night surcharge to the conference registration fee. Here's the hotel info:

Luxor Hotel and Casino
  3900 Las Vegas Blvd S
  Las Vegas, NV 89119
  www.luxor.com
  800 288 1000

"You are what you repeatedly do. Excellence is not an EVENT - it is a HABIT."

           

Aristotle 384-322 BC Philosopher and Scientist

I hope you and your team will make the annual "Growth Summit" a habit. My commitment to you is to hand select the faculty best geared to growth firms.

 

 

 

Raise Prices

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

HEADLINES:

Raise Prices!! Take a few minutes to scan this latest FORTUNE Small Business article entitled "Raising   Prices, Keeping Customers" by Justin Martin (many of you have helped Justin over the past year with his various articles). Pricing is one of the most important decisions you'll make in business and raising prices is the quickest way to profitability AND forcing you to improve your value proposition.

An upside from the wars -- leadership talent! Combat produces young leaders that are resourceful, quick thinking, and calm under pressure. Many of them will be entering the workforce over the next few years. When you've had bullets whizzing by your head, facing an irate customer is a piece of cake!!

Hire-a-Hero -- Dan Caulfield, CEO of HQ Group, and a long-time client of Gazelles, has launched Hire A Hero. Dan has been in the business of helping firms hire military personnel for years. Recently featured on CBS, his interview is running on American Airlines this month. Here are links to the stories CBS   News Interview: CBS   Evening News Story:

Orion International -- is another Gazelles client which has been in the business for years helping firms hire military personnel -- in fact, you'll find their case study in the Appendix of "Mastering the Rockefeller Habits." There is always a shortage of management talent and the men and women returning from the Middle East will be an excellent source for many of our companies.

Anita Roddick in Top 3 -- in an interview yesterday I was asked to comment on Anita Roddick, the pioneering founding of The Body Shop, who passed away earlier this week. It's my feeling that Anita Roddick is among the top three most innovative entrepreneurs of our time -- Steve Jobs and Richard   Branson being the other two.

Four "seats" left for Miami, FL Rockefeller Habits 2 workshop -- four teams signed up after my announcement Tuesday, there's room for just four more. If you want to take your implementation of the Rockefeller Habits to the next level, join me in South Beach, Fl January 17 -- 18, 2008.

Warren Buffett's Guy

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

HEADLINES:

Complex Negotiation Workshop Sept 28, DC -- Dr. Victoria Medvec, the Northwestern U star faculty member who wowed our Sales & Marketing Summit participants, is producing a DVD program based on her 10 tactics -- the taping is Sept 28, 8am -- noon, and you're invited to attend for the cost of food/facilities -- $99/person -- let us know if you want to participate -- limited to 50 participants.

Warren Buffett pulled Jim Kilts out of retirement to turnaround Gillette -- Kilts then created a bidding war and sold Gillette to P&G for $57 billion!   One of the most disciplined old-school CEOs, every morning Kilts and his senior management team received a report tallying up precisely how many razors, batteries, and toothbrushes Gillette sold the day before -- good, old-fashioned basics.

Jim Kilts's long awaited book came out this week -- entitled Doing What Matters: How to Get Results That Make a Difference -- The Revolutionary   Old-School Approach, it immediately jumped to #2 on the Leadership best-seller list, right behind Good to Great. I've NOT read the book yet, but have followed Kilt's career for over a decade and have quoted from him extensively in past insights -- and I've been pursuing him to speak at our Growth Summit -- hopefully next year. Warning: he's NOT loved by all!

Maddock Douglas discipline -- speaking of old-fashioned basics, Mike Maddock, founding partner of Chicago-based Maddock Douglas, sent me a quick note last week endorsing the daily huddle. Notes   Maddock "we started our '9@9' about a week after we had Patrick (Gazelles' President) in to speak to us in June. The title of the meeting is a promise; we'll never go past 9:09 am. We use your recipe, discussing good news, numbers and 'stucks.' Occasionally we'll slip in a birthday cake or some other surprise."

Invite potential clients to huddle -- further notes Maddock "The meetings have been a success and have brought with them an unexpected benefit. We've seen greater focus and momentum since we've brought back the daily huddle. We've also garnered some real financial feedback from our clients and potential clients. You see, since we often have clients in the office first thing in the morning, we invite them to watch our huddle. We've received amazingly positive feedback on the huddle highlighted by two clients who hired us when   our new business pitch was started with the 9@9. Who knew? Anyway, thanks for the great idea. It's working." Potential clients love to see disciplined suppliers!!!

Extreme Entrepreneurship Education -- I've taken a personal interest in helping Michael Simmons, a National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurs (NFTE) graduate, who has launched Extreme   Entrepreneurship Education Corporation (you have to LOVE the name). He's focused on helping college students launch companies and could use some entrepreneurs to serve on college panels and as speakers to the students -- here is his upcoming schedule -- can any of you help? Email Michael at [email protected]:
 

                                                                                                                                                               

School	Date	Location
Reading Area Community College	September 19	Reading, PA
Utica College	September 29	Utica, NY
University Illinois Springfield	October 2	Springfield, IL
University of Rochester	October 3	Rochester, NY
Stark State College	October 4	Canton, OH
Bowling Green State University	October 11	Bowling Green, OH
Fox Valley Technical College	October 15	Appleton, WI
Saginaw Valley State University	November 1	Saginaw, MI
Saginaw Valley State University	November 2	Saginaw, MI

And I love a great student!! Michael was a guest in the DC Rockefeller Habits workshop in June and he's been extremely disciplined in implementing the habits. Here's his recent update:

Quite honestly, we've really launched forward as a company!! I'm not exaggerating when I say a lot of this is as a result of the increased disciple from the Rockefeller Habits seminar. Here are some highlights:

 

• We've signed contracts with and gotten verbal commitments from 20 schools who pay us $7,500
 
• We've closed $70,000 more in corporate sponsorship
 
• My partner and I have daily meetings using your format
 
• My partner and I setup a weekly meeting with a close-friend who is an entrepreneur using your format
 
• We have weekly meetings with our sales team using your format
 
• We've led group coachings of young entrepreneurs this summer using the weekly format
 
• We're working on getting a group of twenty-something young entrepreneurs in the Tri-State area together to bring in a Gazelles     coach.
 
• Sheena and I have been going off a quarterly theme to get 30 schools at a $5,000 gross profit per event and we're on track
 
• We just purchased a 30-foot RV

All very exciting. 

It's all about being disciplined! Congratulations Michael.

The Ultimate Question

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

HEADLINES: (Thursdays, regular Insight; Tuesdays Growth Summit highlights)

Dwight Cooper raises Net Promoter Score (NPS) 12 points -- and Cooper figures it added almost $4 million in net annualized revenue -- details   follow including a link to how to compute your NPS. Cooper is co-founder and CEO of Jacksonville, FL-based PPR, one of the world's leading nurse staffing firms.

The Ultimate Question -- NPS is the key Customer Advocacy measure highlighted in Fred Reichheld's latest book "The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth." Reichheld's previous best-seller is "The Loyalty Effect: The Hidden Force Behind Growth, Profits, and Lasting Value." Reichheld is keynoting our FORTUNE Small Business' "Growth Summit" October 23 -- 24 in Las Vegas. Cooper will also share his real world application of NPS to his growth firm.

The very best score 75 -- notes Cooper "thirteen months ago we benchmarked our NPS. We are very good at customer service and it has been a big reason for our growth over the years so we scored a 60. Great number. I felt we could do better. Reichheld says the very best score 75 or more. We set out to achieve a NPS score of 70 and gave ourselves a year to achieve the goal. Moving 10 percentage points in a year would be extremely difficult. It was our theme for the year."
 
PPR scores a 72 -- a few weeks ago Cooper conducted a new round of NPS surveys and the results were exciting. They scored a 72! "How has it helped us?" explains Cooper. "We had a 6 basis point increase in nurse retention. This results in an annualized increase in revenue of $3.75mm."

How PPR did it? -- "Let me share with you the things we did to impact our score" noted Cooper in a recent email update:
 
* We tied compensation to our NPS score. Not just the compensation of our sales people but everyone. BTW, if you do this it is important to build in protection against your sales force trying to influence NPS scores by discussing the surveys with their nurses. For us it was simple. The sales people were not   permitted to discuss it at all under threat of termination.

* We had a compensation piece for internal customer service (how they treat each other) and external (NPS score). My view is that they could not offer world class service consistently unless they were offering that service every day to each other.
 
  * We also:
 
  - Evaluated each employee on customer service quarterly
  - Did 8 hours of group customer service training
  - Did lots of call coaching on service
  - But the best thing we did is going to remain secret to your readers but I will share with you (or Fred) the next time we are together (OK, now we have something to ask Dwight about at the Growth Summit!!!)

How to calculate NPS -- here's a link to a quick guide on   how   to measure your company's Net Promoter Score (NPS), Bain, the leading consulting   firm for which Reichheld works, suggests that companies with the leading NPS   in an industry enjoy growth that is typically 2.5 times the average growth rate   of the competition.

Read the equivalent of 12 leading business books -- if you   don't have time right now to learn or think about all of this, register now   for this mini "Think Week" for your team (Bill Gates takes a couple   weeks each year to focus and learn) -- "Growth Summit" October 23   -- 24, Las Vegas -- here's   a link for more details