The Agile Scaleup

What Every Company Needs; Holganix Theme; Franchise Funding; Perfect for Children

"...keeping you great" 

HEADLINES:  

During the last three years of the recession (2009-2012) we have continued to grow revenue, we've been one of Utah's fastest-growing companies and we've won multiple awards as a 'Best Place to Work.' Having 94%+ 'A players' at Access is one of the key reasons for this success. TopGrading has been the foundation to help us attract, hire, and retain these 'A players.'
	Larry Maxfield, CEO, Access Development

Holganix's Baseball Card Theme -- below are photos of Barrett Ersek's new quarterly theme they've rolled out - and in just the first month they are 300% ahead of plan on their critical number. Theme's work!! More below, but first...

How Samsung is Beating Apple -- and the one article I would read this week is how Samsung, smartly jumped on the back of Apple's publicity (something all of you can do with your competitors) to become the smart phone rival to beat. Take 1 minute and read the first two paragraphs of this outstanding Fortune article. This is another reason I featured Samsung in my new book The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time.

Every Company Needs One -- everyone company needs one person certified and deeply knowledgeable in the Topgrading methodology, the only interviewing methodology proven to provide 90% plus success in hiring or promoting the right person for the job. Who is that person in your company that can teach everyone else? How can they get trained easily from the comfort of their desk? Here's how.

Topgrading Certification Starts February 14 -- we're enrolling right now executives to participate in 6 webinars (recorded if you miss the live session), 3 hours of online video training watched at your own pace, a 90 minute private coaching session scheduled when you're available, access to specific Topgrading tools, and a personal coach - spread over three months -- a quick and easy way for someone in your firm to learn and become certified, in-depth, the Topgrading methodology. No time for amateur hour. Enroll someone in your company now. Hiring is one of the two most important executive skills. 100% Money Back Guarantee. For more info.

Google Docs Version of One-Page Strategic Plan -- and thanks to Floyd Marinescu, CEO and Co-founder of C4Media and his colleague Kevin Huo, Co-founder & CEO of InfoQ China, for producing a Google Docs version of our One-Page Strategic Plan. It was actually a gift to Howard Shore, their Gazelles' coach, with permission to share with all the insight readers. Thanks Floyd and Kevin.

Franchise Funding -- Peter Thomas, founder of Century 21 Canada and key figure in building EO throughout Canada in the early days, has a new fund to support franchise opportunities. If franchising is your growth strategy in the consumer space here's their qualifying criteria. In general, they are looking in the health space and franchises that solve specific consumer needs, like their first investment in doggy day care - Dogtopia. However, not interested in the food space. Email him at [email protected].

$59 PC for your Wrist -- StormFly just launched their Kickstarter campaign yesterday. Designed by an ex-Apple guy, it's perfect for children, schools, execs who want their PC with them, etc. In essence, the wristband carries its own operating system so you can plug it into anyone's PC and it just uses the hardware and doesn't mess with any of their software, not even their operating system. This is perfect for keeping children from messing up your computers at home or school. And everything is backed-up in the cloud. Clever entrepreneurs are going to figure out a ton of ways to use this!!

Minecraft Users -- are your children addicted to Minecraft? Stormfly was the rage at the first Mindcraft convention in Europe. Because Minecraft stores info on a specific PC, children are not able to play it on anyone else's PC. With Stormfly they can essentially bring their game with them and play on any computer. And, again, you're not going to risk viruses messing up the computer. FYI, I'm a tiny investor because the founder/CEO of Now Computing is a dear friend in Barcelona - Feargal Mac Conuladh. Stormfly is their first consumer product. Check out their Kickstarter campaign.

Holganix Theme -- many of you might recognize Barrett Ersek as the X-Factor example we use (Happy Lawns). He's now building another rocket ship of a company, Holganix (organic fertilizer). Always a fan of quarterly themes, he launched a theme where every employee has a personalized baseball card with their picture on the front and the specific number of RADs (patented machine for dispensing the fertilizer) they need to help place on the back. # of RADS placed is their Critical Number for the quarter and as mentioned above, they are already 300% ahead of their goal just after the first month. Themes drive focus!!

Infusionsoft Raises $54 Million; Best Places to Work; Influenza Help; The Photo!

"...keeping you great" 

HEADLINES:  

Infusionsoft Raises $54 Million From Goldman Sachs -- our CRM provider, that delivers these insights each week, continues to garner more great support. But it's the photo CEO Clate Mask sent me that put a smile on my face - see below, but first...

Raising Money: Conference Call Etiquette -- 5 of the CEOs that requested help raising money, after I put out the request a couple weeks ago, were 8 to 12 minutes late for the conference call the funder set-up to discuss. They have a policy of being on time and abandoning the call if the parties are more than 5 minutes late. If four people are on the call, waiting for the fifth for 10 minutes, that's 40 minutes of lost productivity. Dial in a few minutes early and work email while waiting. Courtesy matters.

Tear Up Your Priority List -- this is my first LinkedIn "Influencers" piece for those who already feel their list of biz goals and New Year's resolutions are history - just week 4 into 2013! Take 2 minutes to see what you should do instead!

100 Best Companies to Work For -- Fortune's annual list is out and Google is #1. Perks around health and wellness are a key trend - from SAS's organic farm supplying their cafeteria to Google's 3 wellness centers to Dreamwork's fresh juice truck. Take 2 minutes to click through the list for ideas.

Influenza: Dosage Matters -- speaking of wellness, so many leaders I know are suffering from the influenza. In a new study, HIGH dose Vitamin C and D reduced symptoms 85%. With the onset of symptoms the researchers administered 1000 mg orally (1 gram) per hour for the first six hours and then 3 grams per day thereafter, a protocol I've followed for years, even with our children (I take 9 grams per day normally; dogs and cats produce a body equivalent weight of 15 grams per day as a comparison). Most studies that claim Vitamin C has no impact on the common cold use such small dosages I'm never surprised of their poor results. Dosage matters with traditional pharma products, same with vitamins.

Infusionsoft Raises $54 Million -- using the money to improve product, invest in greater services, and expand their customer base, Infusionsoft grew 53% last year, on a $50 million run rate, and has plans to grow to $200 million with 100,000 small business customers by the end of 2016. Their #1 priority for 2013 is to increase their NPS (Net Promoter Score).

The Photo! -- notes Clate Mask, CEO of Infusionsoft, "one of my team members took a picture of me while I was signing the deal (with Goldman Sachs). At the time, we were at our monthly off-site meeting, working on our 2013 and mid-range plans. We were frequently referring to your book that day and it happens to be in the picture. You and The Rockefeller Habits are discussed on a weekly basis among our leadership team. Your work has made a big impact on our company." Clate, thank you and your team for being such great students of business - your results speak volumes. Congratulations!

#1 S&M Book; Scoreboards Everywhere; New ABC; Coastal.com Rings Bell

"...keeping you great"

HEADLINES:  

Scoreboards Everywhere -- Many of you have seen photos of the huge scoreboard RedBalloon prominently displays in their HQ providing real time tracking of their BHAG. Now they have electronic scoreboards everywhere (why doesn't everyone do this!!), more below including photos and video, but first...

Coastal.com Rings NASDAQ Opening Bell -- congrats to Gazelles200 member Roger Hardy and his 700 teammates at Coastal.com. Last Monday they rang the bell to celebrate going public (COA). Building the world's leading provider of eyewear, take 1 minute to watch Roger appear on the big screen in Times Square as he introduces his firm and rings the bell. What a milestone!!

#1 Sales and Marketing Book -- since its release two weeks ago Dan Pink's book To Sell is Human has shot to the #1 sales and marketing book and is outpacing his huge bestseller Drive. Just a few minutes ago I received confirmation that Dan is diverting his travel and is going to be our opening keynote at the Leadership Summit in Orlando May 9 - 10. And given that he's one of the top 5 biz speakers in the world right now, it's a big deal. Book club members will be getting two copies - one for you and one to give to someone in your company.

ABC of Selling - we're all in sales, especially raising children or managing people! As Pink notes in his book "one adage of the sales trade has long been ABC - Always Be Closing." In Part Two of his book he introduces the new ABCs - Attunement, Buoyancy, and Clarity. All of us can master these three attributes of people effective at moving others to action - and as I noted in an earlier insight, Pink suggests introverts might have an advantage this century. BTW, Part One is great (the opening story in chapter 1 strangely brought tears to my eyes), but if short of time, go right to the first chapter of Part 2 to quickly get the essence of ABC. Then come hear Pink and a half-dozen other bestselling biz authors speak in at the Leadership Summit.

Transaction Every Two Seconds -- speaking of selling, RedBalloon expects to reach their BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) 2 years ahead of schedule. Australia's number provider of gifted experiences, offering over 2500 experiences, Naomi Simson and her team set an aggressive goal to sell 2 million experiences at a time 8 years ago when they had only sold 7500. Currently at just over 1.6 million, they expect to hit their target sometime in May this year. So it's time to update their BHAG.

5 Million 'Good Times' By 2020 -- take 2 minutes and watch their new BHAG launch video. Notes Simson, "We have started talking about the 'beyond' BHAG' and our theme this year is all about Customer Love -- we are teaching our team and suppliers about NPS (Net Promoter Score). This way we will roll into the new BHAG...getting people 'dreaming' already so we don't fall in a hole when we achieve the 2 million." Exactly!!

Scoreboards Everywhere -- Simson continues "and we now have electronic scoreboards of everything in every corner of the office (as well as the big main score board)." And during the holiday season their consumer marketing team set-up a war room in which they huddled every hour, keeping them laser focused on maximizing sales - if you want to move faster, pulse faster. Here's a link to photos of the scoreboards. And don't let the first photo fool you - it's a large flat screen and those are electronic images of paper charts.

Biggest Weakness -- I was visiting a client's offices over the holidays - one of the coolest facilities I've seen. However, what were glaringly missing were scoreboards. Think of a sports stadium - everyone is within sight of the scoreboard. Great companies do these kinds of things.

Friday Complimentary Webinar -- 1pm ET January 18 "Be Sure Your Annual Plan Stays on Track" Register Now.

Hire Great Advisors; Friday Webinar; Lessons from Branson, Jobs, Trump; Australian Growth Summit

"...out-learning the competition" HEADLINES:   Australian Growth Summit -- March 6-7 Sydney, more info and discount code below, but first... 5 Keys to Hiring Great Advisors -- my latest Venture column in Fortune is on the newsstands and online - 5 quick tips for hiring the right lawyer, accountant, consultant, or coach. Take 1 minute to scan through the 5 tips. Tip #3 is my favorite, using a two-tier system of advisors to save money, increase power/prestige, and lock up key talent. Friday Webcast "Be Sure Your Annual Plan Stays on Track." Are you are using The Rockefeller Habits Checklist in your firm? Our Coaching Experts at Gazelles Systems are here to help, having facilitated over 3,000 coaching sessions with high growth companies to help execute their One-Page Strategic Plan. We are happy to share practical tips and insights in our Ask the Experts Webcast (no charge). Bring your questions and ask us what you need to know to stay on track for 2013. 1:00pm EST January 18. Register Now The Productivity Strategies of Superachievers -- So many of you asked us to make Success magazine publisher Darren Hardy’s presentation from our Fortune Summit available to show your teams (and families). Thanks to G200 member Stuart Johnson, who owns Success, we obtained permission to offer it online. Subtitled How Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Donald Trump and others have produced far more in less time than the rest of us, Hardy’s presentation is chunked into bite sized pieces timed to his slides, letting you zip to whatever part interests you. Fee-based. Overwhelmed, Overworked, Overscheduled -- Darren Hardy, author of The Compound Effect (the best book on changing habits) identifies the 3 distinctions that make the difference between being an overwhelmed, overworked and overscheduled overachiever and being a superachiever who produces stunning results with less effort, less stress in less time, leaving lots of time to experience your hobbies and be with your family. Perfect for your January monthly management meeting or to watch on your own - the equivalent of reading one book this month. Australian Growth Summit -- March 6 - 7, Sydney, the Summit hosts a huge lineup of best-selling authors and full day workshops. Speakers include: Dan Pink, author of Drive and To Sell is Human Alexander Osterwalder, author of Business Model Generation John Warrillow, author of Built to Sell Joe Pulizzi, author of Managing Content Marketing Verne Harnish, author of The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time Discount code for insight readers is "Gazelles" - and our partner The Growth Faculty is producing an excellent online magazine, the latest issue featuring the speakers for the Growth Summit - excellent overviews of each speaker's books. See you in Sydney!.

3rd Richest Man; Regrets; Learn Fast, Act Fast; Vision Boards

"...keeping you great" HEADLINES:   Some business owners are just smarter than others.   John Assaraf author The Answer 3rd Richest Man in the World -- ...behind Bill Gates and Carlos Slim is little known Amancio Ortega, founder of the Spanish-based global fashion retailer Zara (not everything is bad in Spain!). A super private individual, there was not even a published photo of him until 1999. Worth roughly $56 billion, Zara is opening one new store a day and has over 6000 globally. Take 7 minutes (you need a mental break) to read this Fortune Article about an entrepreneur who started from humble beginnings and bucked all industry norms (the only way to win big). 26 Seasons -- whereas all other retailers plan for four seasons, Zara has 26! The key to Zara's success is a rapid "learn-act" cycle. Monitoring DAILY what young people are wearing on the streets around the world, Zara will design and produce clothes the same day to match. Notes Fortune, "There is a firm 24-hour turnaround deadline for Europe, the Middle East, and much of the U.S., and 48 hours for Asia and Latin America." This is the essence of talking to customers each week and adapting accordingly -- only Zara has built this into their very business model!! Again, if you read only one article this week, take 7 minutes and read this one. Top Regrets -- David Rich, my forum mate in Barcelona, pointed me to a regular blog he follows called “Barking Up the Wrong Tree” -- lots of counterintuitive research on every topic you can imagine. A recent blog focused on regrets. Summarizes the research: You're more likely to regret the things you didn't do than the things you did. (The split is about 75/25.) Education was the biggest inducer of regret, followed by career, romance, parenting, the self, and leisure. You're more likely to regret purchasing things. You're more likely to regret not purchasing experiences. I particularly love the last one -- it's all about experiences vs. stuff. Spend wisely in 2013. And visit us in (or move to) Barcelona!! Vision Boards -- while our various Gazelles companies have been finalizing their One-Page Strategic Plans and updating their 7 Strata of Strategy, our family created our individual vision boards this week. First, having just a single focus each for 2012 was powerful -- and 5 of the 6 family members made significant progress on their #1 goal (the idea of the goal is to create momentum in an important area of your life). John Assaraf, whom I quoted above, has a book entitled The Complete Vision Board Kit. What's amazing is to look back at vision boards from several years ago and see how the very things we put on our boards happened so precisely -- so be careful what you wish for!! Peer Accountability Partner -- ...and nothing will help you to keep your New Year's resolutions and effect real behavior change better than having a peer accountability partner -- an idea Marshall Goldsmith, the top CEO coach in the world, uses and shared with us at the Fortune Leadership Summit audience (next Summit is May 9 - 10, Orlando). My partner, a fellow EO member, and I traded our lists this week and we simply send an email at the end of the day to each other reporting on our progress -- most are simple yes's and no's so it takes me literally 20 seconds to send this email. Yet it's so powerful!!! The key is picking behaviors. Three of mine:   One significant move in the business each day (name it) Number of push-ups (the number) Avoid all "white" foods - bread, potatoes, etc (yes or no) The two others are quite personal but probably more important than the three above. But you get the idea. #1 Focus/Vision Board, Behavior Change List, and Peer Accountability Person -- three steps to a great 2013.Simple, fast, powerful.Happy New Year.

 

 

Everyone a Salesperson; Dan Pink's Latest Book; 4 Keys to Economic Growth; Ft. Myers Jan 9

"...keeping you great"

HEADLINES:  

The only thing you got in this world is what you can sell. And the funny thing is, you're a salesman, and you don't know that.
	Arthur Miller Death of a Salesman

Need Acquisition Capital? -- I met up with a friend over the New Year who is distributing $100 million of capital for acquisition financing of private companies. If you need $10-30 million for acquisitions in Q1 or Q2 this year... shoot me a note and I'll introduce you.

Everyone a Salesperson? -- an insight reader asked me for a great book that all the non-sales people in their company could read that made the point that everyone is really in sales!! I struggled to come up with a book, though I thought Dan Pink's (author of the huge bestseller entitled Drive) upcoming book To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others might be the perfect read (Dan had mentioned he was writing this book to me a year ago after keynoting our 2011 Growth Summit). And it is!! Released Dec 31, it's already in the top 10 of all biz books and will surely be one of the smash hits for 2013.

1 in 9 in Sales -- this, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is the number of Americans in some form of sales position. In turn, as most growth firm leaders know, the other 8 play a role in sales as well. The key is helping them understand this and giving them the support and skills to be helpful. This is what Dan Pink's book does - in a highly entertaining and readable format. One interesting trend, not only in Pink's book but others, is the focus on introverts - and why they are able to "move people" in ways extraverts can't. The first review on Amazon provides a great summary of the book, but you'll need to scan it for the specific "how to's." This book is worthy of your book-of-the-month club.

Antifragile Children Part 2 -- if you're looking for an overseas experience for your high school student, without having to move the entire family, Pam Krulitz, Managing Partner of Isis Associates, sent two recommendations. Her daughter has participated in both - thus the references to her below:

1. School Year Abroad - Year-long programs with rigorous academics and living with families in China (where my daughter went), Spain, Italy or France. The program was founded by a consortium of boarding schools, and draws heavily from about 40 independent schools around the country, but anyone is welcome to apply. Its boarding school prices, but need-based scholarships are available.
2. United World College - 2-year residential IB program in one of twelve United World Colleges around the world. Over 130 countries, including the US, have national committees that select students to represent their country at the UWC's, so the kids literally live and study with students from around the world. 50 American students are selected each year to attend, and receive a full scholarship courtesy of Shelby Davis. 25 go to the school in New Mexico and the rest go to the other schools around the world (Wales, Canada, Norway, India, Swaziland, Singapore, Hong Kong, etc.). My daughter is finishing her second year at the UWC in Hong Kong. It's a fabulous program, and I'm always surprised that it's not better known.

Concludes Krulitz, "Both programs have a very good track record of college placements."Pam thank you for sharing this information.

Economic Formula for Growth -- my January "Growth Guy" column weighs in on four significant challenges countries and economies are facing around the globe - education, R&D, exports, and competitiveness. There's some surprising statistics and suggested best practices from economies/countries that are thriving.

Ft. Myers, FL Jan 9 -- this is the first Rockefeller Habits workshop in 2013 and our 11th year of offering the course.