$.99 Book Today; Aflac Duck; John DiJulius; Nick Dancer’s Concrete Biz; See You Next Week

Dear ScaleUps, 

Hope it’s been a productive and purposeful week. Here are some insights/opportunities to help you outlearn/outthink the competition.

The most important component of a world-class experience is that the staff is not focused on selling stuff. They are focused on building relationships and trying to make people’s lives better.
	John DiJulius, The Relationship Economy

Latest ScaleUp News --
“Unleashing the Power of Encouragement” by Co-Founder and Chairman of Griffin Phoenix Capital; “The Secret Power of Showing Up and Doing the Work” by Nick Dancer - this news and more at ScaleUps.com, your one-stop weekly update.

Sleep Helps You Spot Good Ideas --
Surprise, surprise, but sleep is critical, especially for entrepreneurs, in spotting good ideas. This HBR article details out the research and outcomes. 

The Relationship Economy --
Subtitled Building Stronger Customer Connections in the Digital Age, customer service guru John DiJulius released his latest book this week, just prior to keynoting our ScaleUp Summit. Go to page 186 and read the Ch. 9 takeaways - here are the first three:

1. Your competitor has the same products and services that you do. So all things being equal, how can an organization tip the scale in its favor? Convenience.
2. If you want to win in business, figure out how to be more convenient than your competition by removing traditional bottlenecks that customers are sick of.
3. The key to mitigating disloyalty is reducing customer effort. Companies should focus on making service easier, not more delightful, by reducing the amount of work required of customers to get their issues resolved.

What I love about John’s books are all the practical examples - it’s because he runs his own chain of spas/salons, so he lives in the real world of scaling and serving customers in a very competitive marketspace.

Aflac CEO for 30 Years, Keys to His Success --
10x the revenue and 50x the market cap, Dan Amos, as a 2^nd generation CEO, has been an outstanding leader of $22 billion Aflac. Creator of their famous duck brand, he took a risk with this quirky character. Notes Fortune:

The popularity of that wing-flapping Aflac duck has been a big reason behind the company’s success. Amos says he took a chance on the duck idea even though the $1 million television commercial cost twice as much as any other ad campaign in the company’s history. Most of all, he feared that “we were kinda making fun of our name.” But the ad campaign was an immediate hit “We only had 5 percent name recognition,” says Amos about the Aflac duck launch nearly 20 years ago. “We jumped all the way to 90 (percent) in three years and our sales doubled. So taking risks is worth it.”

Take Care of People – They’ll Take Care of Customer --
At the 1:10 mark in this 7-minute Fortune interview of Dan Amos, he reflects on the most important piece of advice he received from his dad and uncles who founded the firm - take care of the people and they’ll take care of the customer. As an example, his first year as CEO he asked the employees what they wanted, and it was an onsite day care center. Even though his lawyers pushed back, I loved his line in the interview “why would I ask the employees if I wasn’t going to do what they wanted.” Aflac became the first corporation in Georgia, 30 years ago, to host a child care center. The entire 7-minute interview is worth watching - if nothing else to see how a seasoned CEO handles questions and to get his simple, yet profound, insights. 

Day In, Day Out – $.99 Kindle Today (ScaleUp Story) --
Owner of Fort Wayne, IN-based Dancer Concrete Design, Nick Dancer has scaled his business into a regional leader in architectural finishes. He’s taken a lot of what he’s learned and wrote and released his first book this week titled Day In, Day Out: The Secret Power of Showing Up and Doing the Work. With one to two-page chapters (Nick gets to the point), spend $.99 and grab the Kindle version - and go right to chapter 40 “Love the Sludge” - worth the buck. Congrats Nick!!!

CEO-BOOTCAMP: spend 3.5 days with Verne, serial entrepreneur John Ratliff, and 6 other CEOs in a beautiful retreat setting, addressing the constraints holding back you, your business, and your industry. Jan 14 - 17; Jan 21 - 24; Mar 10 - 13, 2020.

ORDER a BOX of 20 SCALING UP BOOKS --
Want to save 50% over the price on Amazon? Go to this link. 

EXITING: Looking to sell the business in the next 18 to 36 months? Want to avoid the traps many sellers fall into with today's buyers? You can download the white paper Seven Traps Sophisticated Buyers Deploy Against Unwary Sellers from align5 advisors here

Looking to take a deeper dive? Join the align5 team at the Exit Strategy Retreat Oct 21-24 in Marathon, FL - same amazing venue as CEO Bootcamp! This event is limited to 5 growth company entrepreneurs. All aspects of the exit process will be covered in depth. Additional benefits for attendees and Retreat amenities detailed at the Exit Strategy Retreat site.

COACHING:

Have you ever wondered if working with a coach might accelerate your company's growth, exponentially? Do you have what it takes to move the dial from good to great? The Scaling Up team is prepared to support you. We have helped 40,000 other organizations over the past 30+ years, in scaling up their organizations through coaching, workshops, online training and more.

We would like to offer you a complimentary, personal follow-up from our Scaling Up team to share how we can support you in scaling your organization.

YES! I WOULD LIKE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT COACHING & RECEIVE A COMPLIMENTARY FOLLOW-UP (CLICK HERE)

For questions or more information contact us at [email protected]

TECHNOLOGY:

Create Accountability - Drive Execution with Align, cloud-based software designed to scale up your Rockefeller Habits implementation. www.alignwithscalingup.com - on your computer, tablet or phone. Click here to watch an introductory video.

Better Book Club -- What's your team reading? Increase your books read per team member. Easy, Proven, and in the Cloud at http://www.BetterBookClub.com.