Build a better business by closing the gaps.
The gap between the bonuses available to those working on the front desk and those sitting around the board table. The gap between what the list of company values says and the behaviours you see in meeting rooms when the sales figures are down. The gap between what the chairman says about valuing people and the number of personal development training days per head.
Special. It's a lovely word and has some magical uses: giving a loved one a special day; cooking a special meal.
But in business we need to be careful of its overuse. When we begin to think we're special and we're different. And we can break the rules.
No. All organisations, firms, corporations need to remember they are just like all others. And need to offer great service, pay the bills, train employees, show up on time, develop great products (and price those for profit and investment), chase the bills. And go home on time to family.
Special should never become a rationalisation.
Take a successful business, any successful business. Do they all go into decline? No! Do many ultimately go into decline? Yes.
Is it the competion? Market forces? Lack of funding? No, no, no!
It's when the number of meetings held exceeds the number of strategic-business building-actions taken.
This January sales conference. Anybody know the objective? The measurable objective? In seven simple jargon-free words or less?
Mmmm. Don't just be worried. Be scared.
Your stuff isn't their stuff: we all have our own passions. And our irrational dislikes. Listen to understand.
No electron ever had a heart. Don't mail. Don't text. Don't tweet. Talk.
PPT induces trance. Don't lecture, converse.
Add one, drop one. Another initiative won't fix it if the old one is still running. Clear up and start afresh.
Marketing communication (e.g twitter ) is not marketing strategy (e.g marketing segmentation). Be one of the few on the planet to understand the distinction.
Brain always beats brawn in business in the long game. Stop and think. And then leap on the competitor from a great height.
Identify the vital few. Fix the trivial many. Get rid of those fu*king distractions.
A number that expresses how many pounds/dollars/euros you need to transfer to us to enjoy our product or service.
Price expresses position in the market, it indicates (perceived) value, it ensures sufficient margin and consequent profit to pay for air-conditioning, product innovation and training for the sales team. And that's just for starters.
Give discount and all those subtle factors are nicely messed up.
Price is not a number; price is a strategy.
2015 is going to be tough, very tough.
You know it. Your clients know it. Your competitors know it.
Some of your competitors are going to play dirty. Slash prices, do deals. And pray.
Not you. You are going to assemble an elite team and book an upstairs room in your local Starbucks.
Make time: what is more important than your profitable survival?
In that room your best minds are going to come up with a plan using clear marketing thinking: segmentation, analysis and differentiation. Yes, a really good plan.
And then you're going to have a fabulous Christmas.
But the first working day after New Year your crack team will be back.
And that plan will be implemented: 100%, full-on. And your rivals will never know what hit them.
Sure, lack of money demotivates.
But rarely does the promise of money alone release the very best from a person.
For that they must feel they have a place on the planet, that they can be good, really good at something.
As leaders, we must spark that feeling until it is self-sustaining.
Companies have problems, of course. The worry is when those working next to or with the problem-because of a toxic organisational culture -are fearful of mentioning it. As problems ignored rarely self-heal.
A spreadsheet does not generate a target for next year's growth. That comes from an intimate understanding of the market, customers and where the two overlap with your products.