How many of us set goals? A New Year’s Resolution is a great opportunity to set new goals for yourself and your business. Some of you may already benefit from the value of setting goals and read from Gurus like Brian Tracy about the importance of goals. Some of you may be familiar with the study done by Harvard regarding the drastic difference between those who set goals ad those who don’t.

In my quest for constant improvement, I had a recent paradigm shift. I give up goals! I now have Desired Outcomes with deadlines. Goals inherently imply pressure and finality. Desired outcomes on the other hand, has a more fluid feel; a continuous movement.

One of the things I learned from attending the Disney Institute is to Keep Moving Forward. A thought that strengthens this belief and creates the positive actions and desired results is – Continuous Massive Action combined with Constant Corrections. This is reinforced through my involvement with The National Business Experts and the 2% Club.

The Bottom Line – Clearly define what you want in 2012 and make sure you have a passion for achieving it.

Are you committed to outcome Mastery?

Here are some things to consider as you develop a mastery of desired and positive outcomes.

• Measurable – How will you know when you have succeeded? A good friend of mine once said that the challenge of doing nothing is that you never know when you’re done.
• Meaningful – It’s gotta be important to you otherwise, what’s the point? What has stopped you in the past?
• Achievable –If you believe you can or can’t do it, you are correct. Make it bite size to assure success. Try chunking larger outcomes into smaller, more manageable pieces to create momentum. Note that others don’t need to know nor believe what you can achieve. Where are you now in relation to your outcome and, what are the steps to get where you want to be?
• All areas of your life need to be in alignment. It is important to live as if you have already achieved your outcome.
• Specific and simple. We all know about K.I.S.S. If it’s not specific or simple, how will you be able to measure it, let alone remember it or know when you are doing it? State the outcome in positive terms.
• Timed – Anything worth doing is worth having a deadline on a specific date.
• Toward what you want– Whether you believe it or not, you get what you focus on. Have you ever noticed that when you think negative thoughts, life gets crappier? Now is the time to focus on prosperity and success.
  • 3 ways to work toward what you want:
  • Stop blaming. Take responsibility for your outcomes.
  • Stop justifying. This almost always follows blaming. We try to justify our incorrect thoughts by rationalizing and justifying our actions and beliefs.
  • Stop complaining. Life isn’t fair. Get over it. Complaining only keeps the negative feelings and keeps others away.
• Ecological – Make sure your outcome is in alignment with your values and think through any impact and, possible unintended consequences on those close to you such as friends, family, co-workers, etc.
• Realistic – Is this outcome realistic according to you? Have you seen others achieve similar outcomes? If others have done it, so can you!
• Yearning – Without this, all you have is a page of words. Without the passion and determined drive followed up with continuous action every day toward the outcome, why lie to yourself.

I hope this helps you to make 2012 a more prosperous year!

Sadly, if I did that I would be lying and you would know it. This doesn’t mean that I don’t keep trying to improve every day. This leads me to how companies and business people grow their businesses. We go out and get leads. Salespeople go prospecting door to door and cold calling and attend networking events. There is an industry created by the need for business people to connect with other like minded individuals. You have groups such as BNI, Enterprise Network, Raven’s B2B, Power Networking, and in Phoenix Arizona there is Networking Phoenix. There is a relatively new organization called THE NATIONAL BUSINESS EXPERTS which has chapters in every city in the Phoenix valley area, Tucson and now Utah and Los Angeles.

The typical networking event is filled with several types of professionals all attempting to grow their business and some of these events charge a fee to attend or to become a member, so it could be argued that if I am spending money to be a member then I should get value (i.e. business or sales) for my money or why bother attending and paying the fees; right? It sounds logical on the surface, but I will address this in a moment.

In the Phoenix Metro area, it is a wide spread metropolis. There is Scottsdale, Tempe and, Fountain Hills on one end and Glendale, Surprise and Avondale on the other. There can be quite a resentment between the residents of these cities when it comes to networking and other business events. Heck The location of the Cardinal Stadium (University of Phoenix Stadium), was contentious because residents in the East Valley thought it naturally had to be in the east, even though, the vast majority of attendance and season ticket holders were in the West Valley. So, I am just setting the backdrop so you have a perspective.  There are a lot of new business owners in the market since the economy tanked in 2008, and it takes an adjustment period to move from a W-2 mindset to a 1099 or self employed Millionaire Mindset as my good friend Jeff Fagin would say. These folks, God Bless ‘em are looking for the quick turn around on their investment of time, energy and money. Some of these new entrepreneurs are so out of necessity. They can’t find work and, since they aren’t working they can start the MLM that their neighbor or relative have been bugging them about, or look into sales.

remember, some of these folks are entrepreneurs out of necessity, so they are working with ZERO budget and don’t understand appreciative marketing to the fullest. They only understand sales = food on the table. These folks will attend an event and start off talking about you and your business but find a way to push their business. They think they are going to help you because they are selling a great water filter that will make you healthy or have the service that save you money on your mortgage etc. But all you know is that you are not interested and want out of the conversation.

So, what do we do in order to grow our

T op

O f

M ind

A ppreciation

T hrough

O others

garden?  (This is from the book Appreciation Marketing. Read it)

Step back and take a deep breath. For full disclosure, I belong to The Phoenix Business Experts which is part of The National Business Experts. I have attended many networking events over the last several years and thought that I was good at it. I learned from a Master Networker who taught me to get in and out of a conversation. Don’t waste time. If there is not a good connection, ask what a good referral would be for him/her and leave. The objective should be to get a minimum of 25 cards at the event. This approach made sense when I was paying $75 for the event. REMEMBER THIS: People want to be appreciated not treated like they are on a casting call for you looking for your next conquest.

Where The National Business Experts is different is that the emphasis is on giving value through Social Media training and nationally recognized guest speakers. Networking chapter groups are where members develop and nurture one on one business relationships and promote other businesses and the events of the larger group.  The key to success in networking, or life and everything else for that matter is 98% showing up. Ya need to show up and be TOP OF MIND. Talk with people about the other things in your life or how you can help them with a referral. Don’t give them a birthday card with your business card in it. They know what you do. They don’t need that extra reminder. Try sincerely promoting other people to your network. Using Social Media to grow your business and show appreciation to others and help others grow is taught by The National Business Experts, but you gotta put it in practice and you gotta show up. If an event is clear across town, you may not be able to attend it, but first ask yourself if that event will help change your life or grow your self and your business. If it will, why are you not attending? Is it because it’s too far? You can’t find a babysitter…?

Here is where I answer the situation mentioned earlier. Yes, one side of town may be too far and you resent that events are not held closer to your side of town, but is it better to opt out and miss a growth opportunity or step up and do something to improve the situation? The ultimate question here is – Is it worth it? The short answer is YES. Things don’t change by us sitting on the sidelines. If you are thinking that you are paying to be a member just to promote another person and in your mind you think that’s just stupid – YOU ARE PAYING TO PROMOTE OTHERS’ BUSINESSES AND EVENTS!

WHY? Because it will come back to you; maybe not directly but it will eventually.

If you aren’t networking consistently and showing people appreciation consistently, and showing your charming personality consistently, and sharing other peoples content on Social Media consistently, then how can you expect to be TOP OF MIND of the next person who could be your next best customer or referral source? How can you expect others to be moved to promote you?

Who knows? You may meet them at THAT event that is an hour’s drive away. So, for the brand new entrepreneurs out there, please understand that developing your network takes time and if you don’t see a return right away, just keep at it, you will. Lastly remember this. SOCIAL MEDIA is but ONE SPOKE in your marketing wheel and no business was built with zero investment. Find money somewhere to invest in your business so you don’t have to worry so much about making the quick sale over making a lasting partnership.

Tell me if this was you as well. All of your life I was told that I need an education. If I was going to be anybody, I needed to do good is school, which would lead to college, which of course is also what I needed if I am to amount to anything. Did you hear that from your parents? That is what I was faced with, because neither of my parents went to college. Yet, early in life I started reading books about successful people who never attended a day of college and yet they were millionaires. Imagine what that does to a young fertile mind full of mush that is looking for an easy route to the promised land.

Fast forward to now. I eventually bought into the dream of what a college degree will do for me, so much so, that I even earned an MBA, when I felt my Bachelor’s wasn’t getting me into the doors I wanted to get in to, or better yet what I believed that I deserved. This was even after I heard my college professors tell me how my undergrad degree would grant me a $50k a year job upon graduation, easily which turned out to be $30k.

There are several issues that need to be addressed regarding a college degree. First, if everyone is being pushed to have one, who will perform the skilled labor jobs that are being undermined, devalued and denigrated by this push. College isn’t for everyone and it shouldn’t be either. There is another push to make it “free” for everyone which would only further devalue the college education. Another problem is that an education from a regionally accredited college or university prepares you to be an employee at best. At worst, getting a humanities degree doesn’t prepare you for anything, although it can be argued that a degree in classical studies will make you more literate, however, that should be learned at the high school level. There is only one school in the world that truly prepares you for business ownership and entrepreneurship. That school is Life and Hard Knocks.

So now in walks the nationally accredited “Career” Colleges – which see the folks who don’t fit in with the traditional model college from a mile away – and provide empty promises of grandeur and real world job skills and a degree that will transfer to a “Real” college. Ri-i-i-ght.

Couple this with a generation that has been coddled and pampered and given a sense of entitlement from their parents and society at large and is it any wonder they are protesting in the streets, angry at the wrong people for the mess that the economy is in? Nor are they well equipped to do much about their situation.

A good conspiracy theorist would tie this together with the Russian cold war tactics of placing sleeper agents here to destroy us from within back in the ’50s; but I am not that person.

So, for what it is worth people. This is yet another wake up call.

College and education ARE extremely valuable for the formulation of well rounded thinking/ problem solving skills but is in no way a golden ticket or guarantee for the dream job or wealth, etc.

You go to college. Get a useful degree. Get an entry level job for experience. You grow your work experience and get another job making a little more and so on and so on. If no one will hire you, then hire yourself. Find another solution. No one ever solved anything feeling sorry for themselves and blaming everyone else for their situation.

For the rest of us, learn a trade and/or start a company and hire others. The pie isn’t a finite size to be distributed. Wealth and opportunity is created by your individual actions and attitude. The question is how big of a piece do you want to create and how much effort are you willing to put in to create it?

That’s all I have to say about that.

Imagine a young woman with an amazing voice, an innate ear for music and a love for creating, writing and performing. Will she make a living as a musician? Will she be famous? Will she touch the world with her voice? Imagine…if she leaves her talent left to its own devices, will she be discovered? We all know the answer. She must create the music and then go out and perform, sharing her talent in whatever venue she can. She has to canvas the music industry to get her name and music recognized. Only then, by her own actions, will she be a star.

Are you leaving your life to its own devices? Are you moving and shaking to get results? Building your business, growing your team, becoming more successful both professionally and personally requires action. Action brings progress. Progress means results. Results bring success. Follow these simple tips and start taking action now…start directing your own life to its success.

Action Tip #1…Be Decisive

Decisions shape all of our actions.

The ability to make a decision, whether right or wrong, is always the right decision. Make a good decision and you are headed in the right direction. A wrong decision is better than no decision…every decision we make leads us towards our destiny.

Action Tip #2…Start Anything (have a bias for action. Where have I read that before?)

Start any project.

Starting projects creates momentum for yourself. Taking action and creating momentum will bring you energy to keep going and going. Have you ever decided to clean out your car and the next thing you know you’ve cleaned your car and your entire garage? How good does THAT feel? It feels great, doesn’t it? It makes you want to clean your closet, doesn’t it? Your momentum is carried by your feeling of personal satisfaction. Now you can easily translate that to your career…What if you set an appointment with one person about your product/business and it’s a success? Do you sit home and say “Great! Cool, now I’ll watch some TV”? Of course not. What you say is “Great, that worked! I can do it again. And you do…you talk to someone else and then someone else. Start anything and you’ve started your success.

Action Tip #3…Get Uncomfortable

A mind expanded never goes back to its original size.

If you are uncomfortable it means you’re experiencing something new or different. If you are uncomfortable you are stretching yourself past what’s familiar. Getting uncomfortable means your growing. (And we’re not talking about gaining weight and stretching your clothes out) Picking up the phone to make that call a prospect that is your dream client feels awkward…like a turtle on its back that can’t flip over. Getting uncomfortable, going ahead and making that call, means you now have more experience and the next call is easier. Every time you do something uncomfortable, that very same action is more comfortable the next time around!

Action Tip #4…Gamble a Little…

Take a risk on something challenging.

The definition of “gambling” is to take a risk in the hope and expectation of a desired result. And I am not talking about throwing money away at a poker table. If you “take a gamble” on your business you are moving in the right direction! Yes, you are taking a risk of getting rejected, but who cares? Your risk may payoff and your business grows! Getting out of your comfort zone and learning to take risks will build your courage and ultimately… make you more successful.

Action Tip #5…Control your Mental State (Taking a daily dose of PMA to cure CCS.)

Prepare yourself mentally for the task ahead.

Imagine the singer we talked about in the beginning of this article. Picture this talented girl as she enters the building for the most important audition of her life. What’s her mental state? She’s a bundle of nerves and can worry and fret and fray her nerves so badly that when she starts to sing she misses a note, bursts into tears and runs out of the room! Or, she can control her mental state by taking her brain where she wants to go by recalling a scene or event or a place that feels good and makes her feel strong. Get yourself in a place that feels good before a task so that you are in a great mood to “get it done”. Generate a positive state from the past. Think of a time you took action and followed through on anything. Work, kids, home, a special project, in business. Picture that time, feel that same feeling now – getting you in the right frame of mind to take more action. When you are in a positive state you are more inclined to take action and get it right.

Practice these 5 Massive Action Tips and watch how your life changes for the better. Consistency is what separates the talkers from the doers. Consistently taking action will get you where you want to go…and fast.

By and large, what makes us truly fulfilled and joyous is not so much what we have achieved in our lives, but who we have become in the process. Lasting fulfillment comes from the knowledge that each day we can grow and expand as people, with a capacity for love and caring that affects others in a positive way.

Your Partner in Success,

Michael M. Bernoff

www.michaelbernoff.com

“Within you is all you require to now live the life of your dreams.”

1.Keep it short. Many e-marketers consider ideal subject line length to be under 35 characters with a 50 character maximum. However, the relationship between the sender and receiver can dramatically skew this rule. For example, if your insurance agency is well known by those receiving your emails, and your subject lines pertain to complex topics (for example, health-care compliance and mandates), longer subject lines can perform admirably. The best subject lines offer a glimpse into your important topic, whetting the appetite to learn more and resulting in an opened email.
2.When possible, target by segment. Targeted messages will improve open rates. Targeting a specific message of key importance to a specific segment will yield results. For example, “New OSHA rules for heavy equipment operators” or “Hours of service changes effective January 1st” will speak to specific audiences that understand this message is specific to them. These types of subject lines will be deemed relevant.
3.Make it relevant and interesting. Relevant and timely messages increase email marketing open rates (and click-through rates). From my perspective, this is often more about education and less about selling. Insurance agency e-marketing should revolve around rapport-building. Agencies or marketing organizations that spew out tens of thousands of emails, touting their new product, program or new-and-improved pricing will result in greater opt-outs, spam complaints and potential black listing from ISPs. Consistency, relevancy and frequency should be the mantra for your insurance agency e-marketing subject lines. For most agencies, you should allow at least a week between emails to the same prospect.
4.Make it informative. Arguably this tip could also fall under a tip called “make it educational.” The subject line should be able to promise informative and educational content and fulfill that promise within the email body. Your first goal should be to offer interesting and educational topics germane to your target prospects. Once you are engaged in an ongoing web dialogue, your agency will have many opportunities to further engage with your prospects, and they will be more likely to buy since you have established this rapport.
5.Make it honest and keep it simple. We all know about the “KISS” rule—simpler is often better. When it comes to emails, we want the subject lines to be simple, to be easy to quickly understand and to fulfill the promise of the subject line. Agencies should never indicate one thing in their subject line (PPACA updates) and then discuss another in their email body (how they can offer the best service and rates for health insurance). If your agency is offering a webinar or case study for contractors, the subject line and content should match, delivering on the commitment of your subject line.

Military leaders attain focus in battle through gathering and concentrating men, material and firepower at opportune times and places where they are the most effective. Focus is what allows/enables a smaller and inadequately supplied force achieve victory over superior forces and overwhelming odds.  We see examples of this throughout history – King Leonidas and The Battle of Thermopylae. Israel in the battle with Egypt. Our country’s battle with England for our Liberty.

We also see how the power of focus empowers business leaders to win against the odds. People like Henry Ford, Richard Branson, Oprah Winfrey, Bill gates, Steve Jobs, Herman Cain and, a person that you will be hearing a lot about very soon across this country is the visionary leader Gia Heller, the founder of The Social Media Experts and The National Business Experts. Focusing resources in one area, obviously reduces resources for other areas and inevitably creates weaknesses.

The Marines have a high degree of proficiency in operational focus. They use contingency units which borrows personnel across several other units to focus on a main effort. These special units, called Marine Expeditionary Units (MEU) are ready for rapid deployment at a moment’s notice.

Another military example is the battle of Trafalgar in 1805. In this battle, British Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson totally annihilated the combined forces of the French and Spanish fleets off of the Spanish coast. This was done by focusing his firepower at specific points in the line of French Admiral Pierre Villeneuve. Admiral Nelson faced 33 ships to 27. Nelson divided his fleet into 2 columns and defied conventional naval warfare and focused the attack in a perpendicular direction.

The business example: The entry of Lexus into the American auto market during the mid ’80′s took their competitors by surprise. The growing segment of “yuppies”, the upwardly mobile professionals who were getting into their 40′s and more affluent but still not quite ready for the higher priced BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes, etc. was noticed and courted by Toyota. Toyota focused half a billion on this emerging market of quality conscious affluent consumers. The American luxury market (Cadillac and Lincoln) hardly gave consumers a quality product for the price.

Toyota chairman Eija Toyoda wanted to design and build the best vehicle in the world and focused resources to do so. He wisely sent professionals to the US to perform valuable market research. The insights gained from this foundational step has made Lexus a premier brand even today. In fact, people who were able to afford the more expensive luxury vehicles were choosing to purchase a Lexus because it had the features  and benefits that American consumers in the target demographic were looking for. The focus for the new Toyota flagship included the design engineers as well as the quality control teams and test drives. Chairman Toyoda’s commitment was evident by the amount of financial backing as well.

The two examples illustrate two methods to achieve focus. With Admiral Nelson, he used the weakness of his opponent to focus his efforts to gain an advantage and win against the odds. Chairman Toyoda relied on the information gained from his team to develop a superior performing vehicle in the luxury car market.

One last quick example is Steve Jobs and his single focus to create technology that was fun, easy to use and personal. He went against the odds, against conventional wisdom, often times coming from his own accountants and engineers. He maintained his focus with the end in mind and the world is better for it.

That is the one common link, whether in military or corporate application, an unwavering focus of the end result in mind is the key to success and one of the things that the Marine Corps taught me about business.

It should be no surprise that surprise is one of the very important tactics of maneuver warfare. Even though it is an obvious lesson learned by almost everyone in their early childhood, I include it here in my list of what the Marine Corps taught me about business. Quite simply put it is hitting the competition when and where they aren’t looking. There are countless examples of this in warfare. D-Day is one example that most Americans know without going to a history book. Referring back to the Israeli-Arab war, the preemptive air strike against Egypt is another example. Using ambiguity, Israel concealed their attack as just another training exercise by setting a schedule of flights every day at the same time for two years before the actual attack launch. Egypt thought it was just another training exercise.

Use of information about the competition to weaken and hamper their decision making ability is attained through three methods: stealth, ambiguity and deception.

If you recall; in the 1990′s commercial airlines started developing websites that offered consumers general information and later expanded to what we now have as full ability to reserve and purchase tickets online. Well Delta made a surprise move to slash commissions to a flat rate of $50 per ticket and eventually zero. Because travel agencies were caught unaware by this new paradigm; that industry was severely hurt by Delta’s move. This alone should be a shining example of the paramount importance of information and it’s central role to any organization. Those with the most current information on Critical Vulnerabilities, market trends, the competition, legislation, etc., will be able to use that data in maneuver warfare to take Bold actions and Surprise  the competitors  and take the lead in the market place.

Look what happened in 2007-2008. The world of marketing changed. It went social. Consumers always talked about your brand or your product or service; but now the scale of that consumer talk became a force multiplier with the use of blogs, web video, and social media. Consumers don”t want messages pushed on them. We have the power to decide what when and how the marketing message is delivered to us. We now have the power to influence more than ever before. We know when a company is sincere in their efforts to “listen” to us. Companies that aren’t getting on board with the new paradigm will be left in the dust of last century.

So, how do you Surprise your competitors? To achieve true Surprise, the student of maneuver warfare takes initiative and takes the necessary steps to lower the quality of information that is available. This can be tricky in today’s world as we want to be more transparent to our consumers. I get that, but it can be done and it has been done. The result in this tactic is inequality in situational awareness. Once the decision making ability of the competition is impaired, his responses to the new market conditions will be increasingly to late and ineffective.

The method of Stealth is essential. You never want your competition knowing what your next move is. Take Sam Houston at San Jacinto in the battle that took place on April 21st, 1836. Using an army of just 783 men against Santa Ana’s 1500, Sam Houston ordered his cavalry to destroy a bridge which was the only access to the battlefield of the surprise attack. The attack commenced during the Mexican siesta at 3:30 in the afternoon; a good argument against taking afternoon naps. The battle lasted 18 minutes and Santa Ana surrendered. The use of stealth and element of surprise allowed Sam Houston to overcome resource constraints.

An example from the business world is Merryll Lynch and the introduction of the Cash Management Account (CMA) during the late ’70′s. Offering an interest rate of 12.5% and combining brokerage accounts, money market funds, credit cards, and checking accounts really infringed on the turf of commercial banks. Of course there were lawsuits from commercial banks. In a surprise move, Merryll Lynch brought more attention to the lawsuits in order to decrease the attractiveness of this concept to would be competitors. This sounds crazy, however, Merryll Lynch designed the CMA to NOT Violate federal securities law. The numerous lawsuits gained a great deal of coverage, but Merryll Lynch never highlighted or brought attention to the fact that they never lost a case. By the time competitors started to catch on to the CMA market, Merryll Lynch’s CMA’s held $32 billion in assets. Talk about the effective use of stealth and misinformation!

In the Marine Corps, we created a structured, formal method for the information management simply known as Information Operations. Using I.O. to deny, degrade, disrupt, destroy, or influence the activities of an adversary is it’s single purpose with dedicated personnel assigned to that endeavor.

How can you use this in your business? If you have an information officer, or a PR person or agency, and now days you had better have a social media person; you can use these people to conceal the intentions from competitors or coordinate them together so that you don’t announce your moves too early to warn competitors and make it more difficult for your future moves.

You can put out PR statements listing multiple moves and then select one AFTER your competition slowed by confusion and is preparing for all of them.

The effective use of all media channels in this effort is paramount. Spending appropriate time planning execution and vigilance on your information leakage will go a long way in using surprise in your maneuver warfare.

Now that I shared the concept of targeting critical vulnerabilities, I want to share the 2nd concept that the US Marine Corps taught me about business and that is the characteristic of BOLDNESS.

Being bold is acting without hesitation in the face of actual or perceived danger, uncertainty or, fear of humiliation, rebuke or failure. During the Arab Israel war of 1967, Israel risked the entire national security by committing most of it’s air force to a preemptive strike against Egypt.

During the Korean War, MacArthur took a BOLD move in the amphibious assault on Inchon. This risky yet rewarding move led to the U.S. capturing Seoul and isolating the North Korean forces to the south. What makes this a great example of BOLDNESS is that Inchon was the worst possible port to serve as an amphibious landing. It was this reason that it was also the least defended.  Now MacArthur meticulously planned for every eventuality. He faced immense opposition to his idea but at the end of the day his BOLD plan won support and was successful. MacArthur stood by his convictions and was able to persuade his detractors. He uncovered the a breakthrough opportunity for the assault and took decisive action. Third, his exhaustive planning mitigated many of the associated risks involved. Lastly, by attacking indirectly as apposed to head on, the move unlocked the front lines.

Here is a business example of contrasts in BOLD versus bland. Please forgive my microbrewery indulgence. You may or may not have heard of Victory Brewing Company, but they have developed two wildly different brews. One is called Hopdevil, which was introduced in 1996. Hopdevil is around five times as bitter and twice as expensive as your traditional Budweiser or Coors, etc. Now with this particular brew, people either love it or hate it. There is no in between. I was able to try a bottle while on a trip to Pensylvania. It was   very distinctive. Not as BOLD as, let’s say Arrogant Bastard Ale, but right up there. This small beer company has a cult following based on word of mouth because they have yet to grow large enough to afford much in advertising. Now their other beer; a very mild lager has not been met with the same level of success. Why? No one either loved it or hated it. It’s bland. It blends in with the other generic tasting beers. HopDevil has grown by 40% in sales per year since introduction. What is the lesson from this small company with two products launched at the same time? BOLDNESS, especially for small companies can be an essential ingredient for success!

A contrast in BOLD and bland from a bland industry comes this from a previous post – Insurance has you Covered. But do you care?

Another business example is Boeing. They have taken 2 very large, BOLD gambles that transformed commercial aviation. First they committed 25% of their corporate net worth to develop the 707 back in the 1950′s. With that BOLD step they became the industry market leader. They did it again in the 1970′s with the introduction of the jumbo jet known as the 747. It reduced per-passenger cost of transatlantic cost by 30% and redefined commercial aviation by opening up transatlantic air travel to a new market of customers. Another example from the business world is Cabi. It is a clothing line that was started with nothing in the late 1970′s and is now proud to have over 3000 + distributors. The owners are a clothing designer and her husband who knew nothing about the fashion/garment industry. With his wife’s incredible talent for designing womens clothing they started in their garage and have built a thriving business. Tell me that isn’t BOLDNESS. A more recent example of BOLDNESS is Rush Limbaugh and his foray into the tea market. He just launched TWO IF BY TEA with no consumer product experience what so ever. He has zero experience with this type of business. I don’t take anything away from Rush’s huge success as a talk show host; I am merely pointing out this hugely courageous act of BOLDNESS on his part to not only enter into a business where he has no knowledge or experience but, to also do so in this economic climate.

Now in the Marines; at least when I was in from ’92 to ’96, we were indoctrinated and continually encouraged to undertake calculated risks and exercises to build self confidence. This fosters a propensity for BOLDNESS. Now there are exceptions to every rule and I am sure not every officer or NCO fostered this to the same degree. Just as in the HBO mini-series Generation Kill showed glory hound officers, taking undue credit for success,  jeopardizing the overall mission and lives and the enlisted as kill happy idiots – THIS IS NOT THE NORM. There was an obligation for dissent in the decision making process as long it is done in proper channels with respect to the chain of command and process. It was my experience that mistakes were tolerated from decisions that were calculated and were from BOLD zeal. Mistakes are how we learn. It is often times our best teacher and should be tolerated accept in cases of indecision, timidity or lapses of integrity. This goes back to the ingrained behavior of making decisions in the face of limited information and exercising initiative with confidence. I remember once while serving at the Command Museum at the end of my term that we had a tour of recruits coming in and that day, the normal person who performed the tour and historical lesson/speach was out. Instead of canceling the tour; I took over. I have seen the tour countless times and knew the history lesson cold. Even as a Lance Corporal, I knew the importance of showing initiative and getting the job done. I didn’t want to disappoint the recruits either. A BOLD example from my time at Phoenix College is outlined in the post – Put an Edge in College Marketing.

Many times you want to have estimates of costs and benefits of such BOLD actions before resources are committed to an endeavor. This makes sense and would call for caution; however, there ARE times when the potential benefits are high enough to prompt the practitioner of maneuver warfare to take BOLD action despite sufficient data. This is where critical thinking and knowledge of the overall vision and mission of the organization and the leadership come in. It is also why it is so very important for Leadership to stay in contact with junior staff and continually offer their vision and goals.

A good rule of thumb is the 80% rule.

Delaying any decision until you have over 80% of the required information is hesitation and can lead to losses.

So, how can you foster BOLDNESS in your organization?

Create controlled training scenarios where employees can develop the propensity for being BOLD and taking initiative. Set up exercises where your people must make decisions in uncertain circumstances, where some information is missing. Invite them to initial planning meetings. Encourage your staff to “speak up” and actually listen to them.

Now we don’t want anarchy and belligerent insubordination so BOLDNESS needs to be calculated and in line with the organization’s goals and philosophy. Here is a calculation to assist with that.

(probability for success X potential results) – (probability of failure X potential cost of failure) = Results. So a simple benefit versus cost (risk/reward) analysis.

Good Luck! and remember – in none of my examples did anyone jump in fool hardy. They took deliberate, careful consideration and weighed their options before taking BOLD action.

I am not talking about insubordination. I am talking about about having the freedom to make decisions and take action that will benefit the company and customer when the situation falls outside of normal events or when a direct supervisor isn’t available.

For example: It’s your first month on the job. You and your team members are closing the car rental store (known for superior customer service). The manager left already for a family emergency. It is 10 minutes after closing and a customer comes to return a car. Now they know the rules and so do you and your team. The customer though is begging to return the car now so there isn’t an extra day charged. He is becoming more agitated and angry, explaining there was traffic, He doesn’t have the extra money etc…
What do you do?
The registers and computers are already closed out for the day, but how far will this good will travel if you check in the car now and waive the extra day? Could it lead to return business?
What about the other side of it?
You have a strict policy that everyone knows. Return the cars on time during normal working hours. You don’t know if this customer is just trying to take advantage of you. So do you go above and beyond for the customer and waive the extra day charge of $150, or do you gently explain the policy and apologize that you are already closed and even though it’s only 10 minutes, he’s still late.

There is a 3rd option. Offer to speak with the manager on his behalf in the morning and explain the situation and see if there is anything that can be done at that time.

Even though, I lean toward checking in the car, at this early in the job, I would stick with standard operating procedures and bring it up with the manager in the morning. I would then over a solution to close the computers and registers last to allow a 10-15 minute window for late arrivals.

But this 7 part post is going to focus on a term called maneuver warfare. This describes the tactics of attacking and paralyzing your enemies by avoiding their strengths and exploiting their vulnerabilities. We do this in business and is more important now than ever.

TARGETING CRITICAL VULNERABILITIES:

We see this from a military example of the 1967 Israeli Arab War. We saw it in business with MCI getting a foothold in the long distance telecom industry in the 80′s against the giant ATT. We see it today with Apple going against Microsoft attacking Microsoft’s vulnerabilities through funny and truthful tv ads and cornering the digital music player market.

Targeting critical vulnerabilities is a top-down and bottom-up practice. Front line employees closest to the action have key insights to offer about the customer and the competition. You don’t want to compete head to head. You find weaknesses and go after them. For example Lowe’s going after Home Depot focused on customer service and the home improvement market rather than the contractor market and price alone. Home Depot was focused on the contractor market and do-it-yourself home owners trying to find help from associates were left frustrated. This was and to some extent still remains a critical vulnerability. Lowes understood that they could not attack Home Depot head to head on price. Anytime you focus just on price, you will lose. Now in the Marines from the Private to the Commandant, they search for critical vulnerabilities not just in opponents but also within our own organization. All leaders are expected to lead from the front and that is ingrained in all Marines. How else can you discover critical vulnerabilities? Please don’t misread leading from the front as micro management. The leader walks around and speaks with junior employees and supervisors often. This creates a comfort level for the employees to open up to the leadership, learn from them and provides invaluable insight to the leaders. Back to my example above; there is a bias for action in the Marines. In business you can create training activities to instill that in a safe environment. As the new culture is nurtured, please remember that people WILL make mistakes as they are taking initiative. As long as the action was based on solid information and sound business practices, don’t be too harsh. You want your people to feel empowered. It leads to loyalty and, cuts on new hire expenses. So another piece to employ is the recon unit. In business this is your market study, environmental scan, scenario/what-if planning and even succession planning. You can have regular meetings with front line staff, the sales force and customer service department to learn from their interactions and experiences and even the marketing department and employing social media; together this is your eyes and ears. Your operations team can then synthesize the information and build plans to make improvements and exploit weaknesses. This is not a one time deal. Set up reminders to emphasize the importance of knowing the competition. And when vulnerabilities are found – ACT QUICKLY to take advantage of it!

Lastly, continually look at your own organization for critical vulnerabilities and fix them before your competitors are able to exploit them.

1. Lead Management:

       Lost revenue is often a result of allowing prospects to fall through the cracks. With lead management, however, every lead is promptly routed to the right salesperson. What’s more, leads can be tracked and managed through the entire sales cycle, from initial identification to final sale.

2. Feedback Management:

        By capturing customer feedback across all channels of communication, salespeople can capture a better understanding of the needs, wants and buying patterns of their customers. Furthermore, armed with feedback from countless touch points, a company can establish the processes required to deliver an optimum customer experience.

3. Order Management:

        When more than one department plays a part in processing an order, the margin for human error grows, as does the mound of paperwork. With order management, however, quotes are easily converted to orders, modified and saved in a single system.

4. Territory Management:

        Keep your sales reps from stepping on each others’ toes with territory management, which easily creates sales territories and manages territory-based processes with workflow rules and reports.

5. Email Management:

        One surefire way to anger your customers is by failing to respond to their emails. These days, email correspondence is used to log complaints, issue requests and offer feedback. Fortunately, email management can chronicle customer-related communications with automated tracking of customer emails. As a result, emails can be responded to in a timely fashion, and end users can establish alerts if a message has not been handled within a predetermined time frame.

6. Contact Management:

         When it comes to staying on top of your customers,  Microsoft Outlook is simply not enough. That’s why most CRM solutions include a contact-management component to provide employees with a complete, 360-degree view of their customers. Sales reps can view all contact and account information, as well as a customer’s purchasing history, from a central location. And reps can better manage their to-do lists by establishing alerts notifying them of upcoming tasks and events so that each customer is treated in an individual manner.

7. Reporting:

        From standard templates to heavily customized documents, CRM tools can generate detailed reports featuring contact information, opportunity pipeline information, lead-status analyses and specific customer case studies. In the end, these reports are an ideal way to organize a company’s collection of customer information and insights.

8. Opportunity Management and Forecasting:

        Don’t promise what you can’t deliver. Opportunity management and forecasting provides a complete view of the sales and production pipeline so that businesses can accurately and quickly handle the orders they’re generating.

9. Marketing Campaign Analysis:

        How do you know if you’re getting the bang for the buck you’ve invested in a marketing campaign? CRM solutions can help monitor and analyze your advertising efforts, from trade shows to direct mail, so that every marketing dollar spent is spent wisely.

10. Marketing Revenue Tracking:

         So positive customer feedback isn’t enough to convince upper-management that a costly marketing campaign produced results? With marketing revenue tracking, a company can identify the marketing activities that generate the most sales revenue by directly linking every sales dollar back to its related campaign.