Whch of your products or servces s seng we today? My saes sks and Empower Network Whch of your products and servces are the most protabe? My saes sks and Empower Network Whch ones are dong poory? Whch ones do you ose money on? Drnkng too much achoho Is your current busness stuaton, postve or negatve, n any area? More capta requred Temporary or part of a ong-term trend? Longterm How can you know for sure? Acton How can you nd out? Re|on Empower Network wth BIM/Vck Strzheus+Lke Hobbs+Pro|ect AWOL What shoud you then do? Make $10,000 rst 30 days Clarity Is the Key Why has your busness been successfu n the past? My study of busness What have you done we n the past that has been responsbe for your success to date? My study of busness, marketng and saes. What are the most mportant sks and competences that your company possesses today? My study of busness, marketng and saes. What are the very best products and servces that you oher rght now? My study of busness, marketng and saes. Look at the peope around you. Who are your most vauabe peope? AFH Shoppette and Unversty of Maryand BAH money Who are no onger as vauabe as before? Who represents a net oss or detrment to your busness? Be prepared to ask and answer the bruta questons. The Customer Is the King Who are your best customers today? Koreans, snge maes, and busness opportunty seekers What and where are your best markets? Asa and the nternet What do your customers ke the most about what you do for them? Make them happy What do they compment the most of what you oher or do for them? Make them happy, tak aot and very smart n busness and fe What s your number one area of customer satsfacton? Saes and presentaton What do your customers ke the least about what you do? When I'm angry or tred What do they compan about the most? Not havng what they want avaabe for purchase What s t that you se that your customers and potenta customers prefer to buy somewhere ese, rather than from you? Identify Your Personal Strengths Look at yoursef honesty. What are your own persona best sks, quates and abtes? Engsh, Studyng, strategc pannng, marketng and saes What are the most mportant thngs that you do at work, and for your company? Day facty mprovement, strategc pannng, marketng and saes What are the most vauabe contrbutons you make personay to your busness? Increase saes, customer servce, and customer retenton Start Where You Are: 1. What s workng the very best n your busness today? Saes and marketng What parts of your busness make you the happest? Marketng 2. Whats not workng n your busness? Watng on capta What causes you the most aggravaton and frustraton? Watng on capta 3. What are your most mportant products and markets? Me (saes/marketng/engsh sks), Empower Network n th US/South Korean markets What accounts for the argest porton of your revenues? AFH and Empower Network 4. Who are your most mportant peope? AFH and Empower Network Who are the peope who account for most of your resuts? AFH and Empower Network 5. What are your speca taents and sks? What s t you do that accounts for most of your success? 6. What are the ma|or changes takng pace n your market? What changes shoud you make to compensate for them? 7. What are your most treasured assumptons about your peope, customers, markets, products, servces and yoursef? What f one of them wasnt true? What woud you do then? Imagine Starting Over Zero-based thnkng requres that you appy ths "scraper" mentaty to every part of your busness. You do ths by askng ths key queston: Is there anything that you are doing in your business that, knowing what you now know, you wouldnt start up again today, if you had it to do over? Instead of struggng to determne how you mght modfy, change, x, revse, mprove or ater some busness functon, you nstead ask, "If I was not dong ths today, woud I start t up agan today, knowing what I now know? To start wth, s there any product or servce that you woud not brng to the market, oher or se, f you had to do t over agan, startng today? Snce 80% of your products and servces are probaby gong to be obsoete wthn the next 5 years, there may be products and servces you are oherng today that, because of changed market condtons, you woud not ntroduce agan today, f you had to do t over agan, knowing what you now know. These products or servces are prme canddates for dscontnuaton or dvestture. Is there any person n your busness that you woud not hre, assgn, appont, go to work for, or become assocated wth f you had to do t over agan today? Most of your probems n busness w come from attemptng to work wth or around a dmcut person, who knowng what you now know, you woudnt get nvoved wth agan today. Who does ths brng to mnd? Is there any supper, banker or vendor that you are deang wth today that, knowng what you now know, you woudnt get nvoved wth agan today, f you had to do t over? Since many of your business relationshis !ill not !or" out over time# you must be reared to continually reevaluate them# esecially if they are causing you any roblems or frustrations$ Analy%e Your Customers Is there any customer that you are seng to or servcng today that, knowng what you now know, you woudnt take on agan as a customer? Many companes are askng ths queston about ther dmcut customers and decdng to et them go. Sometmes, one of the smartest thngs you can do s to "re your customers." Encourage them to go and dea wth someone ese who woud be more approprate for them. Assess Your &usiness Oerations Is there any expenditure n your busness that you woud not authorze agan f you had t to do over? Is there any process, procedure or actvty that, knowng what you now know, you woudnt start up agan, or get nto, f you were makng the decson today, knowng what you now know? Is there any advertsng, marketng or seng methodoogy or expense that knowng what you now know, you woudnt start up agan today, f you had to do t over? Keep askng, "Whats workng?" and "Whats not workng?" Pay Attention To The Indicators You can aways te when you are n a zero-based thnkng stuaton because t causes you contnuous stress, aggravaton, frustraton, negatvty and unhappness. You thnk about t contnuay. Often you brng t home at nght and dscuss t at the famy dnner tabe. Sometmes t w even keep you awake at nght. Whenever somethng s not workng, or not workng out the way you expected, or causng you stress, nanca osses, aggravaton, or rrtaton, ask, Knowing what I now know, would I get into this again today if I had to do it over? If the answer s "No!" then your next queston s How do I get out and how fast? The 'ecision Is Inevitable Heres an mportant pont. If somethng s not workng, eventuay you w have to get out of t. You w have to et the person go, dscontnue the product or servce, emnate the actvty or expense, or change the method of operaton. It s ony a matter of tme. It s not gong to get better a by tsef. And every snge executve who nay decdes to get out of an unhappy stuaton says afterwards, "I shoud have done ths a ong tme ago!" Aly This Aroach Continually Practice %ero(based thin"ing as a )go for!ard* method for the rest of your business career$ Aly it to everything you do# to every art of your business# every single day$ Aly it to every roduct# service# rocess# rocedure and erson and be sure that# "no!ing !hat you no! "no!# you would get into it again today if you had to do it over $ If not# get out# and as fast as you can$ 'ra! A +ine ,nder the Past: 1. Imagne startng over agan n every part of your busness; s there anythng you are dong that, knowng what you now know, you woudnt start up agan today? 2. Is there any person n your busness fe who, knowng what you now know, you woudnt hre, assgn, promote or otherwse get nvoved wth agan today, knowng what you now know? 3. Is there any product or servce that, knowng what you now know, you woudnt brng to the market agan today? 4. Is there any nvestment that you have made that, knowng what you now know, you woudnt make agan today? 5. Is there any busness actvty or process that you are usng that, knowng what you now know, you woudnt start up agan today? 6. Is there any customer or market that, knowng what you now know, you woudnt take on or get nto agan today, f you had t to do over? 7. Is there any career decson that you have made that, knowng what you now know, you woudnt make the same way f you had t to do over agan today? Start With The &asics The startng pont of busness anayss s for you to ask: "What busness am I n?" What busness are you reay n? What busness are you reay, really n?" I soon reazed I was n the "goal achievement business" (Me TOO! _ERG). My busness was hepng peope to acheve ther persona and busness goas faster by provdng them wth practca deas that they coud use mmedatey to get better resuts. Ths nsght ed me from taks and semnars nto audo and vdeo recordng, books, tranng programs and Internet based e- earnng on a varety of sub|ects, ncudng the deveopment and presentaton of the Turbostrategy Process. The Customer As Centeriece "Who s my customer?" Who s the person who buys from you today? Descrbe your customer n deta. What s the age, ncome, educaton, poston, atttude, ocaton and nterest of your dea customer? Many companes are not exacty sure of the answer to ths queston. They have at best an uncear pcture of the psychoogca and demographc characterstcs of ther customers. Who will your customer be tomorrow, f current trends contnue? Who should your customer be, f you want to be successfu n the markets of tomorrow? Who could your customer be f you were to change, mprove or upgrade your product or servce oherngs? 'etermine What You Sell Your next queston s: "Why does my customer buy?" What vaue, benet, resut or dherence does your customer seek or expect to en|oy as a resut of dong busness wth you? Of a the varous benets that your products or servces oher your customers, what do your customers consder to be more mportant than anythng ese? Do you know? Your abty to dene and promote ths unque benet s the rea key to compettve advantage and market success. You next queston s: "What do we do especay we?" What do you do better than any of your compettors? Where are you superor? Customers ony buy from a partcuar company because they fee that, n some way, that company ohers somethng that s superor to that of any other oherng. What s your area of exceence? |ack Wech of Genera Eectrc was famous for sayng, "If you dont have compettve advantage, dont compete." Hs phosophy was that Genera Eectrc woud be number one or number two n every market segment n whch they competed, or they woud get out of that market. Are you number one or number two n your market? Can you be? What s your pan to acheve ths market poston? 'e-ne Your Cometitor The next queston, whch we w dea wth extensvey n Chapter 10, s: "Who s your competton?" Once you have dented your competton, you must ask, "Why does your potenta customer buy from your competton, rather than from you?" What vaue or benet does he perceve that he receves from someone ese that he does not fee he receves from you? How coud you ohset ths percepton? Set Clear .oals In performng an examnaton of your busness, you must ask contnuay, "What are my goas?" What are you tryng to accompsh? If you are cear about your goas, what s hodng you back from achevng them? You need cear, wrtten, measurabe, tme-bounded goas for every part of your busness and persona fe. You need short-term, medum-term and ong-term goas. Each goa must be n wrtng, wth pans for ts accompshment. You cant ht a target that you cant see. Anayze everythng you do n the course of a day or a week. What are the 20% of your actvtes that coud account for 80% or more of your resuts? Sometmes, |ust 10% of your actvtes, f you were to pursue them aggressvey, coud account for 90% of your resuts. What mght they be? &ecome Action(Oriented What actions shoud you take mmedatey n response to the answers to these questons? What s the very rst thng you shoud do rght now to ncrease your saes and mprove your market poston? Another good queston you shoud ask yoursef s: "Why am I n busness at a?" Why do you exst? What soca purpose does your company serve? What oss woud occur to socety f you ceased to do busness atogether? Imagne that you had to go n front of a government trbuna each year to |ustfy your contnued exstence. What woud you say to the trbuna n terms of how you serve, hep, or make a dherence n the ves or work of your customers to |ustfy stayng n busness? These are key questons that you need to ask and answer for your busness on a reguar bass. You shoud ask and answer these questons for yourself, as we. If you are uncear or naccurate n your answers to any of them, the heath of your enterprse coud be n |eopardy. Conduct A &asic &usiness Analysis: 1. What are your goas for your busness? What are you tryng to accompsh? 2. Who s your dea customer? Descrbe hm or her accuratey. 3. Why does your customer buy from you? What speca benets or advantages do you oher that your compettors dont have? 4. What busness are you reay n? Descrbe your busness n terms of what you do for your customer, what resuts you get. 5. What are the 20% of your actvtes that coud account for 80% of your resuts? 6. What s your compettve advantage, your "area of exceence?" In what ways are you superor to 90% or more of your compettors? 7. What specc, measurabe actons shoud you take mmedatey n answer to the above questons? Chater /our 0 'ecide 12actly What You Want he world has the habit of making way for the man whose words and actions show that he knows where he is going! (Napoeon H) Turbostrategy begns wth your decdng exacty what you want to accompsh n the key areas of your busness fe. Once you know your goas n each area, you can then decde upon the best steps you can take to get there. The .OSPA 3odel You can use the GOSPA Mode as a gude for strategc pannng. These ve key thnkng toos form the bass for successfu busness operatons. &egin With The 1nd In 3ind The rst etter, "G" stands for .oals. These are the utmate resuts that you want to acheve. Your goas are the end targets that you am at throughout your busness year or pannng perod. Your goas are your saes, prots, growth rate, market share, or percentage of return on assets, equty, nvestment or saes. Goas are aways measurabe. What are yours? Stes on the Staircase The second etter, "O" stands for Ob4ectives. These are the steps you w have to take to acheve your goas. They are ke the rungs on the adder to get to the top. Your busness ob|ectves can be specc rates of return from advertsng, eves of saes of certan products and servces, number of tems shpped and bed, mones coected and cost eves for certan actvtes. A ower defect rate or a hgher sae amount per customer can be ob|ectves on the path to achevng the man corporate goas. What are your nterm ob|ectves? 5o! to .et There The etter "S" stands for Strategies. These are the dherent approaches that you can take to acheve your ob|ectves and reach your goas. For exampe, achevng a specc eve of protabty w requre producng and seng specc quanttes of products or servces to a specc market n a specc way. There are many dherent ways to go about accompshng these ob|ectves. The way you choose s your strategy, and may determne the success or faure of your enterprse. Do you produce, market, se, dever yoursef, or do you outsource some part of the process? Do you se drect, va reta, drect ma, cataog or Internet? Do you charge more, charge ess, up-se, cross-se or dscount? Do you enter certan markets and abandon others? What s your strategy? Is t workng? Planning /or Success The etter "P" stands for Plans. These are your bueprnts for achevng your goas. Your pans are composed of step-by-step sts of exacty what you w do, day by day, to get from wherever you are to wherever you want to go. Pans are aways broken down by sequence and prorty. Some thngs have to be done before others can be done. Some thngs are more important than others n achevng the goa or ob|ectve. When your pan s organzed by sequence and prorty, you can accompsh much more n ess tme. Busness fe conssts amost entrey of pro|ects, one after the other. A pro|ect can be dened as a multi"task #ob, a |ob made up of many sma |obs, each of whch has to be done propery to compete the arger task. Your abty to pan, organze and compete mut-task |obs, ever arger and more compex, s the most mportant snge eement of your success, n any ed. 'evelo a &ias for Action The ast etter n the GOSPA process, "A", stands for Actions. These are the specc tasks that you are gong to compete to carry out the plans to mpement the strategies to accompsh the ob#ectives to acheve your goals. Every mportant task must be cear, measurabe and tme bounded. It must be assgned to a specc person who s quaed to perform the task correcty, on tme and on budget. $hat gets measured gets done! /ocus on Pro-tability The centra purpose of Turbostrategy s to boost your cash ow and prots, and to ncrease your return on the money nvested n your busness. The am of strategy s to generate a hgher eve of cash ow and protabty than you woud reaze wthout the strategy, or wth your prevous strategy. In short, t s to make more money than you are makng rght now from the way that you are dong busness today. The essenta resources of peope, money and taent that you need to succeed n your busness are aways mted. They must be focused and concentrated for maxmum resuts. Ths s what a good strategy enabes you to do. /our Ways to Imrove Your &usiness Settng strategy requres makng hard decsons n four areas: Frst, you must decde what you are gong to do more of. Whats workng? What s seng we? What products, servces and actvtes are the most protabe? Second, you must decde what you are gong to do less of. Whats not workng? What contrbutes very tte to growth and protabty? What shoud you dscontnue or emnate based on the reates of todays market and todays customers? What can you do to reduce costs n areas where they contrbute very tte to resuts? Thrd, what are you gong to start doing that youre not dong today? What new products, servces or actvtes shoud you ntroduce f you want to ncrease your saes and protabty, or mprove and streamne your actvtes? Fnay, what are you gong to stop doing atogether? Remember, the crtca resources of tme and money are aways scarce. The ony way you can mprove resuts s by dscontnung certan actvtes atogether. You can then channe those resources nto areas where they yed hgher eves of busness resuts. Clarity s the key to strategc success. The more tme you take to be absoutey cear about who you are, and what you want to accompsh, the more successfu and protabe you w be. 'ecide 12actly What You Want: 1. What are your specc, measurabe ong-term goals for saes and protabty n your busness? 2. What are the specc ob#ectives of saes, stamng, producton, devery and customer deveopment that you w have to acheve to accompsh your goas? 3. What are the varous ways that you can meet your ob|ectves and acheve your goas? What s the best strategy for you n todays market? 4. What shoud you do more of and reay focus on to ncrease your saes and protabty? 5. What shoud you do less of, based on your current experence? Whats not workng? 6. What shoud you start doing that you are not dong today? What opportuntes are avaabe to you? 7. What shoud you dscontnue, and stop doing altogether, so that you can free up resources for more protabe actvtes? Chater /ive 0 'esign Your Ideal /uture $e have been endowed with the capacity and the power to create desirable pictures within and to %nd them automatically printed in the outer world of our environment! (|ohn McDonad) Some tme ago, I conducted a strategc pannng sesson for the senor executves of a $172 bon doar company. The organzaton was gong through a perod of consderabe turbuence, change, competton and new government reguaton. There had been ay-ohs, rngs, downszng and dvestments. My cents were the top executves who had survved the recent turmo, and the bood ettng was not yet over. In these crcumstances, they were both worred about the future and dstracted n the present. Create A /ive Year /antasy To get them centered and focused, I began the strategy sesson wth a process that I ca )Ideali%ation$* In ths process, whch you can use yoursef, I had the members of the top team create a "ve year fantasy." "Let us put asde the current stuaton for the moment," I suggested. "Instead, te me what ths company woud ook ke ve years from now f t was perfect n every respect?" Ths exercse forced them to take ther attenton away from the probems of the present and focus ther thnkng on the possbtes of the future. As we went around the room, each person contrbuted an dea about what the company woud ook ke f t were perfect. I wrote each dea on a p chart and taped the pages onto the was where everyone coud see them. In ess than haf an hour, we generated 27 dea descrptons. We then voted on these deazed goas and organzed them by prorty. We ended up wth a seres of cear ob|ectves, ncudng "hghy protabe, tremendous market reputaton, hgh stock prce, top eadershp, fabuous customer servce, great pace to work, best management, rapd growth rate and top reputaton n the ndustry," among others. Thin" In Terms Of Possibilities I then asked them, "Are these goas possbe?" One by one, they agreed that a of these goas were possbe n ve years. They mght not be achevabe n one or two years, but n ve years, every one of them coud be accompshed wth w and determnaton. We came out of that sesson wth everyone revtazed and commtted to workng on achevng one or more of those ve-year fantasies. Over the next two years, the company competey reorganzed. They dd more of some thngs and ess of others. They started dong thngs that they had not done n the past, and they stopped certan actvtes atogether. They took compete contro of ther corporate destny and changed t. Peter Drucker once wrote, "We greaty overestmate what we can accompsh n one year; but we greaty underestmate what s possbe for us n ve years." Thin" About The /uture /uture(orientation s a key eement of strategc pannng and strategc thnkng. It s a ma|or responsbty of eadershp and top peope n every area. Ony the eader can thnk about the future. Ony the eader can pan for the future. There s no one ese n the organzaton who can do t, and f the eader does not thnk about and pan for the future as an ongong part of hs |ob, t w not be done. As they say n Aaska, "Ony the ead sed dog ever gets a dherent vew." How often and how we the top peope n the company thnk about the future argey determnes the success or faure of the busness. "If you dont know where youre gong, any road w take you there." The deveopment of the quaty of future-orentaton requres that you contnuay create an dea mage of your company some tme n the future. You ro4ect for!ard in your mind 6(7 years and imagine that your comany is erfect in every resect$ You decide e2actly ho! much you !ould be selling and earning at that time$ You imagine your ideal stoc" rice# your ideal reutation in the mar"et# your ideal !or" situation and your ideal human environment$ &ac" /rom The /uture Thin"ing Once you have a cear pcture of your dea future, you then return mentay to your current stuaton and thnk about what you woud have to do, startng today, to turn your future vson nto a current reaty. Ths s caed, "back from the future thnkng." Make a st of a the thngs that woud have to happen for you to reaze your fantasy sometme n the future. It s amazng how your perspectve changes when you ook back from the future, exacty as f you were ookng back from the top of the mountan to yoursef down n the vaey, and seeng the exact route you w have to foow to get to the top. +eaders 5ave 8ision In 3300 studes of eaders revewed by |ames MacPherson, searchng for the common denomnators of eadershp throughout the ages, the one quaty that a the studes had n common was the quaty of vision. Leaders have vson; non- eaders do not. To become a vsonary requres that you deveop the abty to magne, dene, artcuate, share and nspre other peope wth an exctng pcture of the future. You get everyone n your busness commtted to fung ths vson, and to workng toward t every day. Ths s the key to eadershp, and to budng a great company. Arstote wrote, )We become !hat !e reeatedly do$* You become a eader by thnkng the way eaders thnk, both n your busness and n your persona fe. You become a eader by thnkng about the future, and how you can make t a present reaty. 9o!# 3ore Than 1ver But t s n tmes of rapd change, and turbuence n the market, that an exctng vson of the future becomes more mportant that ever before. A vson can become the force that bnds peope together nto a sod team. It can gve meanng and purpose to work, even when tmes are tough and pay ncreases are not possbe. There are many ways you can approach the deveopment of a vson for your organzaton. Perhas the very best vision for your comany includes t!o "ey comonents$ /irst# it is focused on your customers and on doing something for them that changes and imroves their lives or !or" in some !ay$ Second# it contains a commitment to excellence # to be the very best at doing !hat you do for your customers$ These are the "eys to vision$ Your vson s to "be the best!" at the most mportant thng that you do for your customers. Your vson s to serve your customers n such a way that you are seen as superor n a partcuar product, servce or actvty. Imagne that you coud be known as outstanding n any one thng that you do for your customers. What woud t be? Your answer can be the startng pont of a vson for your busness that changes your future competey. Your Personal 8ision You need a vson for yoursef as we. Pro|ect forward 5 years n your magnaton. If your future were perfect n every way, what woud t ook ke? If your ncome, your poston n your company or ed, your famy fe, your heath, your |ob and every part of your fe were dea n every way, how woud t be dherent from today? Once you are cear about your vson, for yoursef and for your busness, the ony queston you ask s, &ow do I make it a reality? Top peope thnk contnuay n terms of how? They thnk n terms of takng acton, of what can be done. Once you have cared your vson, and determned what you w have to do to make t a reaty, you then do somethng every day to move you toward the creaton of your dea future. You take compete contro of your destny. As Drucker wrote, "The very best way to predct the future s to create t." And the startng pont s vson. 'esign Your Ideal /uture: 1. What s your vson for your company? Pro|ect forward and magne that your busness was dea n every way. What woud t ook ke? 2. What s your vson for yoursef? If your fe and career were dea n every way, what woud t ook ke? 3. Ideaze n each area of your busness. If your products, servces, sae and protabty were perfect, what woud they ook ke? 4. Ideaze wth regard to your peope. If your stah were dea n terms of sks, abtes, personates and resuts, how woud they be dherent from today? 5. Imagne that a ma|or magazne was gong to wrte a story about your company. What woud you want them to say? 6. Pro|ect forward ve years and then ook back to today from that vantage pont. What woud you have to change today to create your dea future? 7. In what one area woud t be most hepfu to saes and protabty f your company were wdey known as "the best?" What steps coud you take mmedatey to begn earnng that reputaton? Create A 3ission Statement: 1. Determne your persona reasons for dong what you do. What gves you a sense of meaning and purpose n fe? 2. Decde upon the 3-5 key vaues upon whch your company s based. Invove other peope n the dscusson. 3. Dene the actons and behavors that peope w engage n, both nsde and outsde the company, that are consstent wth your vaues. 4. Desgn a msson statement, an dea descrpton of what your company wants to accompsh for ts customers sometme n the future. 7$ Wrte out a st of your vaues, and what they mean, pus your msson statement, and share them wth your stah and customers. :$ Create a persona msson statement for your career. What do you want to accompsh, and how do you want to be known? ;$ Create a msson statement for yoursef and your famy. What s t that you want to accompsh or acheve wth your famy n the years ahead? Chater Seven 0 <einvent Your Organi%ation 'very man of genius sees the world at a di(erent angle than his fellows! (Haveock Es) |ack Wech of Genera Eectrc once sad, "If the rate of change outside your organzaton s greater than the rate of change inside your organzaton, then the end s n sght." In tmes of turbuence, you shoud be prepared to renvent your busness as often as necessary as your externa word changes. As an exercse, magne that you were startng your busness over agan today. What woud you get nto, or not get nto? &undle of <esources For greater perspectve, stand back and vew your busness as a bundle of resources and capabtes, ke a re hose of taent and abty that can be amed n many drectons to acheve dherent resuts. Instead of mtng yoursef to seeng your busness as an organzaton that s desgned to perform specc functons, producng and seng certan products and servces, thnk of t as beng capabe of dong a varety of thngs competey dherent from what you are dong today. The .reat /ire As you thnk about renventng your busness, magne that your company burned to the ground whe you were away. When you arrved at the scene, you found that a your stah were safe and standng around n the parkng ot. As t happens, there s unoccuped omce space avaabe across the street. You can mmedatey move nto the new space and start your busness anew. Here s the queston: Whch of your products and servces woud you begn producng and dstrbutng rght away, and whch ones woud you not start up agan, knowng what you now know? 12amine 1very <elationshi If you were startng your busness over agan today, competey free from any encumbrances of the past, whch customers woud you ca rst, and whch ones not at a? Whch vendors, suppers, bankers or other peope woud you mmedatey get n touch wth, and who woud you ca ater, f at a? What woud you do rst? What woud you do second? What woud you not start up agan, knowng what you now know? <einvent Your Sta= <elationshis Now, ets go back to the parkng ot. Let us assume that a of your peope are safe and standng around watng for nstructons. Whch of them woud you take across the street wth you to the new busness, and whch ones woud you eave n the parkng ot? Who woud be the rst and most mportant person whose servces you woud want to secure? Who woud be the second most mportant? Who woud be thrd? And so on. 12amine Your Organi%ation If you coud renvent your busness, what woud you do more of? What woud you do less of? What woud you start dong that you are not dong today? What woud you stop dong atogether? In renventng your organzaton, ask yoursef, "What are my most mportant taents, sks, abtes and core competences, and what else coud I do wth them? Who are my best peope and what ese coud they do? Keep thnkng about how you woud renvent your busness f you were startng over. Ths w keep you on the cuttng edge of creatvty and nnovaton. Thin" In Terms of 12cellence The key questons n renventon are, "What coud you be absoutey exceent at dong n todays market?" Where coud you be the best? Where coud you acheve wordcass quaty? Where coud you be better than 90% of your compettors? " The market ony pays extraordnary rewards for extraordnary products and servces. Where and how coud you do what you do n an extraordnary fashon? <einvent Your Career Fnay, thnk about renventng yoursef and your career on a reguar bass, as we. If you were startng over agan today, what woud you do more of, less of, start or stop? What woud you get nto or get out of? If you were startng your career over agan, what addtona knowedge and sks woud you want to have? What can you do, startng today, to acqure those key sks? Imagne that you coud do a varety of |obs. What woud you really ke to do wth your fe? Snce you were gong to have to renvent yoursef reguary throughout your career, t s very mportant that you thnk about how you woud do t we n advance of when t becomes necessary. <einvent Your Organi%ation: 1. If you were startng your busness over agan today, what woud you do dherenty? 2. If you were startng your career over agan today, what woud you get nto, or out of? 3. If your busness burned to the ground and you coud ony oher one of your products or servces, whch one woud t be? 4. Who are your most mportant customers, the ones who you woud mmedatey move to take care of, f you were startng over? 5. Who are your most mportant peope, both nsde and outsde of your busness? 6. What are your most mportant contacts and busness reatonshps, the ones you woud want most to preserve f you were startng over? 7. If money were no ob|ect, what steps woud you take today to renvent your busness? Chater 1ight 0 Select the <ight Peole &ere lies a man who know how to enlist into his service people better than himself! (Andrew Carnege -eptaph) The peope n your company are the most mportant parts of your busness. A work, a performance, a resuts come from them, both as ndvduas and when they work together n teams of some knd. The managers output s the output of hs or her team, and of the ndvdua team members. In busness, peope come rst. |obs, actvtes and resuts are ony acheved after the rght peope are n pace. |m Cons says n hs book, )ood to )reat, that the key to budng a great busness s, "rst, get the rght peope on the bus, and second, get the wrong peope oh the bus." Any other approach s bound to fa. T!o Key >ualities to +oo" /or The best peope have two quates. Frst, they can be counted on to get the |ob done, to get t done we and to get t done n a tmey fashon. Second, they get aong we wth others. They are good team payers. You shoud appy *ero"based thinking to each person who reports to you on a reguar bass. Contnuay ask, "Knowng what I now know, woud I hre, assgn or promote ths person agan, f I had to do t over?" If the answer s "No," then your next queston s, "How do I remove or repace ths person, and how fast can I do t?" What do you want and need those resuts to be? Once you are cear about the resuts you desre, set specc measures of performance on each |ob, and each task. How w you and the canddate know whether or not the |ob has been done propery? Remember, "What gets measured, gets done." And, "If you cant measure t, you cant manage t." Select the <ight Peole: 1. Rank every one n your company on a scae from 1-10, wth 10 beng the hghest, on ther competence at ther |ob. 2. Resove to bud a team of hghy motvated, competent and postve empoyees to hep you get the resuts you need. 3. Thnk through each new |ob or hre carefuy n advance. Wrte out the descrpton ceary. 4. Intervew at east 3 canddates for a new poston. Intervew the canddate you ke at east 3 tmes, n three paces, and have hm or her ntervewed by at east 3 other peope. 5. Check references carefuy; seek the fata aw or weakness that woud make the canddate unsutabe. 6. Hre ony postve, kabe peope; they make the best team payers. 7. Resuts are everythng; contnuay emphasze and expan exacty what resuts are expected from each person. Chater 9ine 0 3ar"et 3ore 1=ectively +ecause its purpose is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two , and only these two" basic functions- marketing and innovation! .arketing and innovation produce results/ all the rest are costs! (Peter Drucker) A busness strategy s utmatey marketng strategy. Whenever you are worred about the heath or future of your busness, get back to thnkng about marketng and seng. Focus snge-mndedy on ncreasng saes and revenues. Cuttng expenses and controng costs s an ongong necessty, but you cant cost-cut your way to busness success. You have to ncrease cash ow, and ths ony comes from seng more of your products or servces. 9o matter ho! challenging or cometitive the economy aears# as much as ?@A of your mar"et is still untaed$ There are amost aways hdden opportuntes around you. Your abty to uncover and take advantage of those opportuntes s the true test of competence as an executve or as a busness. 'ecide Who You Are and What You 'o 0peciali*ation requres that you focus on specc products or servces, specc markets or specc customer needs. You must ght the temptaton to try to oher too many products and servces to too many customers n too many areas. You must specaze, both n your own mnd, and n the mnd of your customer. What s t exactly that your product or servce s desgned to acheve, avod or preserve for your customer? What are the core competences or propretary methods or technooges that enabe you to specaze n ths area? What specc probem or need can you sove or satsfy for your customer? And of a the dherent resuts you can get wth your busness, where do you, shoud you, coud you specaze? See Yourself As A &usiness In your persona fe, you shoud ask the same questons of yoursef as we. What s your persona area of speciali*ation? In what way s your work superior to your compettors? What s the ideal poston or area of responsbty for you to appy your taents? Where shoud you be concentrating your energes to get the very best resuts and greatest rewards possbe? Especay, you shoud contnuay ask yoursef, $hat is it that I do very, very well? What s your persona area of exceence? What coud t be? What shoud t be? +oo"ing Ahead Lookng nto the future of your busness or ndustry, what new competences do you need to deveop to ead your ed n the months and years ahead? What addtona knowedge and sks do you need to acqure? What are those few tasks, whch, f you dd them n an exceent fashon, woud have the greatest postve mpact on your career? In what areas coud be pad the very most for the appcaton of your speca taents and abtes? Ths queston s |ust as reevant for you as t s for your company. 3ar"et 3ore 1=ectively: 1. Decde today to dominate your ed, to be the best at marketng and nnovaton n your product or servce area. What s the rst step you shoud take? 2. Determne your area of specazaton, by product or servce, market or type of customer. What shoud t be? What coud t be? 3. How do you dherentate your product or servce from those of your compettors? In what ways are you superor to anyone ese? What coud t be? What shoud t be? 4. What are you best market segments? Where are your hghest probabty customers? Who can benet the most from usng what you se? 5. How can you organze your busness so that you concentrate your marketng and seng ehorts on those customers who can buy and pay faster than any others? 6. What addtona products, servces, knowedge or capabtes w you need to domnate your markets n the months and years ahead? 7. What shoud you mmedatey start dong more of, ess of, start or stop to ad|ust to the current market? Chater Ten 0 Analy%e Your Cometition 1oncentrate your strengths against your competitors relative weakness! (Bruce Henderson) Kno! Your 1nemy Here then s a queston for you: Who s your competton? Exacty? Your choce of compettor determnes amost everythng you do n your market, |ust as the choce of an adversary determnes everythng a genera does n the process of conductng mtary operatons. 'etermine Their &uying 3otives Once you have determned why t s that peope buy from you, you must then ask and answer, "Why do peope buy from my compettors?" What vaue or benets are your potenta customers convnced that they receve when buyng from your compettor rather than from you? What are your compettors key strengths? What are hs areas of specazaton, dherentaton, segmentaton and concentraton? What does your compettor have that you dont have? What does he oher that you dont oher? What s he dong more of or better than you? What s hs unque seng proposton? O=set Their Advantages As you study your compettors, ook for ways to ohset or neutraze the advantages ther customers perceve them to have. What are your compettors weaknesses? How can you expot these weaknesses? What do you do better than they do? In what ways are your products or servces superor to ther oherngs? In what areas do you have a dstnct advantage over your compettors? What can you do to ohset your compettors strengths and maxmze your advantages? How can you better poston yoursef aganst your compettors n a tough market? The more tme you take to study and understand why and how your compettors are successfu n seng to your customers, the more key t s that you w nd an opportunty to take away ther market share. As Sun Tzu says n he 2rt of $ar, "If you know both yoursef and your enemy, you w preva n a hundred battes." Analy%e Your Cometition: 1. Who s your competton for what you se, wth the exact customers you are tryng to attract? 2. What woud happen f you changed your oherngs n such a way that you targeted a dherent group of customers, one that woud be easer to se to? 3. Why do your potenta customers buy from your compettors? What advantages do they perceve? 4. What s your compettors unque seng proposton? What speca feature or benet does hs product or servce have that yours does not? 5. In what ways are you superor to your compettors? What can you oher that they cannot? How can you emphasze ths advantage n your saes and marketng ehorts? 6. Where s your compettor vunerabe? How coud you expot ths to your advantage? 7. How coud you ater your marketng strategy n such a way that you coud acheve domnance n a partcuar area, wth a specc customer or market segment? Chater 1leven 0 'o It &etter# /aster# Cheaer he man who comes up with a means for doing or producing almost anything better, faster or more economically has his future and his fortune at his %ngertips! (|. Pau Getty) The most mportant snge determnant of your success s your area of competitive advantage. It s more mportant than a other factors. It determnes the rse or fa of your busness, your eve of protabty, your poston n the marketpace and everythng ese you accompsh. Your compettve advantage must be crysta cear to you and to everyone n your company, as we as to your prospectve customers, Lack of cear compettve advantage eads qucky to dmnshed saes, oss of market share, ower protabty, prce cuttng, and utmatey to busness faure. Your 5igh Concet Your busness was started because you or your company had an dea for a product or servce that was dherent or better from other products and servces. It ohered to satsfy the same need or sove the same probem better, faster or cheaper than anyone or anythng ese then avaabe. Your abty to dherentate your product n the mnds and hearts of your customers s the key to wnnng them n the rst pace, and then keepng them after the nta sae. To buy from you, a customer must be convnced that, a thngs consdered, your oherng s dherent and better than anythng ese that s currenty avaabe at the same prce. |ack Wech was famous for sayng, "If you dont have compettve advantage, dont compete!" Three Areas of 'i=erentiation To succeed n a tough market, what you se must be superor to your compettors oherngs n at east three ways. It must be better# faster# cheaer# and easier to use in some !ay that ma"es it more attractive than rival roducts or services$ It must be sod more professonay or servced wth greater senstvty, speed or emcency. It must be better n at east three areas. One of your key |obs n strategc thnkng s to dentfy the three areas where you are better and then to emphasze those areas of superorty n a your marketng and saes How coud you acheve operatona exceence n your busness, or some part of your busness, n such a way that you coud be the ow-cost provder n your market? How coud you dramatcay reduce your costs of dong busness and use ths ow cost advantage to ncrease your saes and protabty? +ead the /ield The second area where you coud acheve compettve advantage s n the use of innovative technology eadng to the producton of hgh quaty products and servces. Companes ke Mercedes and Roex fa nto ths category, as does Sony and Lexus. Customers are wng to pay a premum for a brand name that represents hgh quaty and cuttng-edge technoogy. Where are there opportuntes for you to dstngush your products or servces by usng your magnaton to become the quaty eader n your ed? Close to the Customer The thrd area where you coud deveop compettve advantage s n beng "cose to the customer." Ths requres that you nvest the tme to deveop hgh quaty reatonshps based on "customer ntmacy." Customers w pay more and reman oya onger to companes that seem to know and understand them better than others. Provders of specazed servces, such as consutng rms, aw rms and accountng rms fa nto ths category. In what ways coud you deveop hgher eves of trust and credbty wth your customers? What coud you do to demonstrate to your customers that you reay care about them and ther nterests? Ths strategy can oher a breakthrough opportunty, especay n the sae of expensve products and servces where resaes and referras are possbe. Pic" Your Targets To ead your ed and acheve hgher eves of protabty, you have to be outstandng n one of these three areas and very good n the other two. One of the most mportant decsons you make s to choose your area of compettve advantage, and then to dedcate your company to achevng t. Strive /or Sueriority Your area of exceence s the key to your success n a compettve marketpace. Ths s where your product or servce stands out n comparson to your compettors. It s a vaue or benet that you oher that no one ese ohers. Wth regard to your products or servces, what s t? What coud t be? What shoud t be? Your area of superorty s dened as an area of performance where your product or servce s superor to that of your compettors. Ths performance dherence s sgncant enough that your customer w buy t, and even pay you more for t. In what way does your product perform better, n terms of gettng resuts that your customer cares about, than your compettors? How coud you mprove the performance of your products or servces n some meanngfu way? Fnay, your uni3ue selling proposition s somethng that you and ony you oher to your customers, and s somethng that they reay care about. No one ese does as we as you do n ths area. No one ese acheves the same benet or resut. What s your unque seng proposton? What coud t be? +oo" Into Yourself On a persona eve, you must contnuay ask these questons of yoursef. What s your persona area of exceence? Where are you superor to your compettors? What s your unque seng proposton? In what ways do you do your |ob better or faster than others? What s t that you and only you do n an outstandng fashon for your company? What coud t be? What shoud t be? Perhaps the most mportant area of superorty you can deveop s your abty to do your |ob qucky and we, n an exceent fashon, consstenty and dependaby every tme. Ths s the key to success as an ndvdua n a compettve marketpace. 'o It &etter# /aster# Cheaer: 1. In what ways are your most mportant products or servces superor to those of your compettors? 2. What s your recognzed "area of exceence?" If you were to conduct a survey, what woud peope say that your company does especay we? 3. In what ways are your products or servces faster to acqure, use and en|oy than your compettors? 4. What s your unque seng proposton? What s t that your products or servces oher that no other company can match? 5. In what ways are your products or servces cheaper to buy and use, or acheve superor nanca resuts for your customers for the same cost? 6. If you were known for beng outstandng n any one area of your product or servce oherngs, what one dstncton woud have the greatest postve mpact on your sae and protabty? 7. Lst the three areas where your products are, or can be, superor to any of your compettors. What s your pan to acheve ths area of market superorty? What shoud you do rst? What 'o You SellB The rst part of the marketng mx s your 4roduct or servce. Aways dene your product or servce n terms of what t "does" for your customers, versus what t "s." Heres the queston, "Is your product or servce, as you are oherng t today, deay suted for your current market and customers?" 5o! 3uch 'o You ChargeB The second part of the marketng mx s your 4rice. Is your prce the rght prce for what you are seng? Shoud you change your prce n some way? Shoud you ncrease t, decrease t, combne your prce wth other tems, or add tems to your prce? Shoud you change your terms or oher somethng dherent for the same prce? 'ouble Your PriceB Is there any pace n your busness that you coud ncrease your prces and st hod onto your market? 5o! 'o You Sell ItB How are you currenty promotng and seng your product or servce? Whats workng? Whats not workng? Shoud you change your methods of advertsng, marketng, seng or acqurng customers n any way? Sell 3ore Stu= Especay, shoud you upgrade and mprove your drect seng methods, peope, presentaton, and capabtes? Is Your Phone <ingingB Ever after, when I thnk about the ehectveness of advertsng, I aways ask, "Is your phone rngng?" Where 'o You SellB The fourth eement of the marketng mx s the 4lace. Ths s the specc ocaton where the sae of your product takes pace. Where exacty do you se your product today? Do you se n homes, omces or n your own reta estabshment? Do you se n a partcuar cty, state or natonwde? Do you se n stores or by drect seng or by drect ma? Most mportanty, shoud you change the pace at whch you oher your products? A change n the ocaton where you oher your product or servce coud change the drecton of your busness. What coud t be? 12amine Your Assumtions Whenever you have dmcutes seng a sumcent quantty of your product or servce, you shoud examne a of your assumptons n the areas of product, prce, promoton and pace. You shoud be wng to consder the possbty that your method s competey wrong n one or more of these areas. It often happens that a snge change n one of the "Ps" n the marketng mx can change the entre nature of your busness, boost your resuts, ncrease your protabty and move you toward market eadershp. Keep an open mnd. The Ans!ers Are Changing What s the correct marketng mx for you to se the very most at the hghest cost, and earn the greatest prot? What assumptons are you gong on that may no onger be true? Change Your 3ar"eting 3i2: C$ Be prepared to chaenge every aspect of your marketng, especay f t s not workng as we as before. What areas cause you the greatest frustraton and dssatsfacton? D$ What exacty do you se, dened as what t "does" for your customers, versus what t "s?" 6$ What prces do you charge? How coud you change the way you charge to make buyng from you more attractve? E$ How do you promote your product? Coud there be better ways of advertsng your products or servces that woud gve you better resuts? 7$ How do you se your product or servce? Is every person who deas wth your customers fuy traned n every key resut area of seng? :$ Where do you se your product or servce? Shoud you be exporng other ocatons or methods of sae? ;$ Shoud you change more than one of the eements of the marketng mx at the same tme? Chaengng market condtons often ca for bod departures from the methods of the past, especay f they are no onger workng. What Words 'o You O!nB Deberatey or accdentay, each product or servce deveops a reputaton that postons t aganst ts compettors. What s yours? Create Your O!n Cheat Sheet Here s the queston. What words do you own? What words should you own n the hearts and mnds of your prospectve customers? What words could you own f you were to reorganze and redrect your marketng ehorts? As an exercse, magne one of your prospects meetng wth one of your customers. Imagne that your customer caed you and asked you what you woud ke hm to say to your prospect to convnce your prospect to buy from you? If you coud put together a "cheat sheet" wth the exact words or phrases that you woud ke your customer to eave n the mnd of your prospect, what words woud you choose? Woud you choose words ke excellent 3uality, high integrity, friendly service, nice people, 3uick responses to problems, easy to work with, great prices? How do you want to be descrbed by your customers and potenta customers? Of a the words and phrases that customers coud use to descrbe your products and servces, and your company, whch woud be the most helpful for you and your busness? What Is Your &randB How are you descrbed and thought about by others when you are not there? What s your personal brand? What s your reputaton? How do other peope thnk and tak about you, both as a person and as a contrbutor to the organzaton? Position Your Comany /or Success 1. What s your companys reputaton n your market? How do customers and compettors thnk and tak about you? 2. What words do peope use when descrbng your products or servces to others? 3. If you coud "own" certan words that appy to your company, your products or servces, whch words woud you choose? 4. What words, f they were automatcay assocated wth your company, woud have the greatest postve ehect on your saes and protabty? 5. What changes woud you have to make to assure that every customer contact renforced the message that you wanted to send to your customers about dong busness wth you? 6. What are the most mportant promses that you make to your prospects to get them to buy from you for the rst tme? Do you keep these promses after the sae? 7. What are the most postve thngs that your customers say about deang wth your company? How coud create a system to assure that more customers say these thngs? Examne your compete range of products and servces, especay the newer ones, and ask, "Whch of these has the potenta to be a bg seer?" What woud you have to do or nvest n o hep make t a ma|or source of saes and revenues? Keep askng yoursef, "If I had not aready commtted tme and money to ths product, knowng what I now know, woud I start nvestng n t agan today?" Appy the SBU concept to yoursef and your career. You have severa areas of taent and abty, core competences, experence, knowedge and educaton. What are your cash cows, the sks that are centra to your vaue to the organzaton? What are your "stars," the emergng areas of actvty, or new sks and knowedge that can make you extremey vauabe n the future? What are your potenta areas of great success? What are the pro|ects, responsbtes and areas of opportunty, whch, f you expot them fuy, can enabe you to move ahead more rapdy n your career? Fnay, what are the "dog" areas of your work fe? These are the tasks or sks that you may have mastered n the past, but whch dstract you from your future. These are the |obs and actvtes that take up a ot of tme, but whch are nowhere near as vauabe as other thngs you coud be dong. What are they? 'evelo Strategic &usiness ,nits 1. Begn today to vew each product or servce as a separate busness, responsbe for generatng a certan amount of prot every month. 2. Group your dherent products or servces by smar characterstcs, smar customers, or smar markets. 3. What are the cash cows of your busness? What are the core products or servces that are essenta to your overa protabty? 4. What can you do today to safeguard and nurture your cash cows to assure that they contnue contrbutng saes and cash ow far nto the future? 5. What are the "stars" of your busness? What are the products that are seng we, ncreasng n market share, and generatng hgh prots? 6. What coud you do to ncrease the saes and protabty of your stars? 7. What are the "queston marks" of your busness? Whch of your current products or servces shoud you dscontnue, knowng what you now know? What Is To &e SoldB The rst queston s, )What is to be soldB* To answer ths correcty, you have to dene your product or servce n terms of what t does, and how t benets your customer. How does t mprove hs or her fe or work? Of a the benets that a customer en|oys from purchasng your product or servce, what s the prmary benet, the one thng that you oher that makes you superor to any other compettor n the marketpace? Do you know the answer to ths? Who Is .oing To Sell ItB The second queston s )&y !homB* Who s actuay gong to se the product or servce and get the check from the customer? How are you gong to recrut, tran, manage, ed and support the saes person? How s ths saesperson gong to uncover the necessary eads and get face to face wth the prospectve customer? Who Is Your CustomerB The next part of the queston s "To !homB* 5o! 3uch Are You .oing To ChargeB Is there any prce you woud rase, ower or modfy n some way? Collecting Payment The next queston s How is it going to be paid for? Do you requre payment n fu, n advance? Do you requre a depost when the sae s made and wth the baance to be pad at a ater tme on certan terms? Do you oher credt or nancng? Especay, what do your compettors do? Often a change n the way you charge, or n your prcng structure, can dramatcay ncrease your saes. What coud you do dherenty n todays market that woud make t easer or more attractve to buy your product or servce? 'elivering The .oods The na part of the queston s How is going to be delivered satisfactorily? What s the exact process of gettng the product or servce to your customer n such a way, and at such a eve of quaty, that the customer both buys from you agan and recommends you to others? Sell 3ore 1=ectively: 1. What s the exact saes process necessary to se your product or servce, from the rst customer contact through to the cose of the sae? Do you know? How coud t be mproved? 2. What must your prospectve customer be convnced of before he chooses your product over that of your compettor? 3. If money were no ob|ect, what speca resuts or benets do you oher n your saes ehorts that make your product more desrabe than any other avaabe? 4. What s your process for recrutng saespeope? What meda do you use? What eves of educaton and experence do you requre? 5. What knd of a compensaton system do you have for saespeope? What s t based on? How coud t be mproved so that t motvates better saes performance? 6. How much of your busness comes from referras from happy customers? How coud you ncrease the number of referras you get as a percentage of your busness? 7. Why arent your saes twce as hgh aready? What saes ehorts coud you make to tap nto that 80% of the market that has never heard of you? /ollo! the /ormula "Why am I not at that goa aready?" What s hodng you back? What s the constrant, chokepont or botteneck that sets the speed on how fast you acheve your specc goas of saes, cash ow or protabty n your busness? Let us return to my earer queston, "Woud you ke to doube your saes and doube your ncome?" If your answer s "yes", then why havent you done t aready? Why arent your saes twce as hgh? Why arent your prots twce as hgh? What s hodng you back? What s constranng you? What s the mtng factor? Identify Your Personal Constraints Thnk about your persona fe and goas as w. Ask yoursef, "What are my most mportant goas? Why am I not there aready? What s t within me that s hodng me back?" Is t the ack of a partcuar quaty, attrbute or sk that sets the speed at whch I acheve my goas? Is t a partcuar atttude or beef that s hodng me back? And most mportant, what coud you do mmedatey to aevate your key constrants, startng today? 1liminate the <oadbloc"s: 1. Set cear, measurabe goas for saes and protabty. Now ask, "What determnes the speed at whch I acheve these goas?" 2. Use sentence competon exercses. Say, "We coud doube our saes f t |ust wasnt for.." and n the bank. 3. Identfy the ma|or bock to your achevng your most mportant goa? How coud you remove t? 4. Look wthn your company for the mtng factors that hod you back. What are the chokeponts n your busness? 5. Assess each person n each key poston. Are they competent and capabe of dong what needs to be done for you to be successfu? 6. Once you have dented your key constrant to busness success, ask, "$hat else s hodng us back?" Keep askng, "What ese?" unt you get to the rea probem. 7. In your own career and persona fe, what sets the speed at whch you acheve your goas? Look wthn yoursef for the answers. 3a"e /aster# &etter 'ecisions Whenever they brng you a probem or a queston, aways ask, "What do you thnk we shoud do?" <eengineer Your Comany: 1. Practce smpcaton as a way of fe. In what areas of work has your fe become too compcated, and what can you do to get t back under contro? 2. Practce zero-based thnkng wth every step and every actvty. If you were not now dong t ths way, woud you start dong t ths way agan today? 3. Take a snge compex process or |ob and make a st of every step from begnnng to end. How coud you reduce the number of steps by 30% the rst tme through? 4. What tasks or actvtes coud you deegate to someone who can do them 70% as we as you? 5. What parts of your busness coud you outsource to companes or ndvduas who specaze n that area? 6. What parts of your work coud you emnate atogether wth tte or no mpact on your bottom ne? 7. What parts of your persona fe do you need to streamne and smpfy? When are you gong to do t? Pum , Your Pro-ts: 1. Do a compete prot anayss on every product and servce you oher. Rank them from hghest to owest. 2. Identfy the 20% of your products that account for 80% of your saes. Whch are they? 3. Identfy the 20% of your products and servces that account for 80% of your prots. Are they the same as your answer to #2? 4. After deductng a drect and ndrect costs, whch are your most protabe products or servces based on cost and return on nvestment? 5. How much s your tme worth on an houry bass? Bud ths cost nto everythng you do to get an accurate measure of costs and protabty. 6. Attrbute a percentage of a genera and admnstratve costs to each product or servce you se. Ths exercse often turns prots nto osses. 7. If your company was facng serous nanca shortages, whch products or servces woud you focus your energes on, and whch woud you dscontnue? Thnk about dong t now. It Starts /rom The To Encourage each person to nd ways to do ther |obs better, faster, and easer. Aow them the freedom to experment wth mprovements, wth no fear of crtcsm f they dont work. Sometmes the greatest mprovements occur as the resut of a seres of sma experments that were not successfu. You shoud stand back reguary and examne every product, servce and process. How coud you mprove t n some way? How coud you make t better, faster or cheaper? How coud you get the same or better resuts faster, or at a ower cost? Never be satsed or content wth exstng quaty eves. Aways ook for ways to mprove upon them. Branstorm wth your team reguary to generate deas to cut costs, mprove quaty, ncrease saes and boost prots. Encourage everyone to thnk, a day ong, about how they can do ther |obs better. Make ths commtment to contnuous mprovement a part of your corporate cuture. Commit to 12cellence If everyone n your marketpace referred to you and your oherngs as the best in the business, what knd of a dherence woud that make n your saes and protabty? Wth that as your goa, what woud you have to do, startng today, to assure that everyone refers to you as "the best" sometme n the future? What coud you do, startng today, to begn ths process? What s the rst step you shoud take? >uality and Pro-tability "Whch of these companes do you fee s the best n ths partcuar ndustry?" Heres the queston: If such a survey were done among potenta customers for what you se, where do you fee your company woud rank n such a comparson? Woud you be ranked as "the best," or somewhere ower? What coud you do to move higher n the rankngs? What one step coud you take mmedatey? 5o! 'o Customers 'e-ne >ualityB What 'o Customers WantB Commit to Continuous Imrovement: 1. How do your customers dene quaty? What s most mportant to them n choosng your product or servce? 2. How do you rank aganst your compettors on a scae from one to ten? How coud you mprove your rankng mmedatey? 3. Set up a reward system n your company for suggestons and deas to mprove quaty and acheve greater customer satsfacton? 4. Do you have quaty and performance standards for peope, products and actvtes n your company? Does everyone know what they are? 5. What company do you thnk s the best n your busness, the most respected and protabe? How coud you benchmark yoursef aganst them? 6. What one step coud you take mmedatey to mprove customer satsfacton wth your company? 7. What coud you do personay to upgrade and mprove the quaty of your performance n the most mportant thngs you do n your |ob? 'e-ne Your Core &usiness What s your core busness? If everythng ese was strpped away, what woud be eft at your core? Identfy the 20% of opportuntes avaabe to you today that can be responsbe for 80% of your saes and revenues n the years ahead. These w amost aways be extensons of your current busness, your core competences, and your areas of exceence. Your choce of the opportuntes avaabe to you argey determnes the future of your busness. What are they? /ocus On 8alue What are the 20% of your work actvtes that account for 80% of your persona vaue and your contrbuton to your company? If you |ust doubed the amount of tme you spend on the 20% of your hgh vaue tasks, and dscontnued the 80% of ow vaue/no vaue tasks that you do, you coud become most of the most productve peope n your company. These are your core tasks. What are the 20% of probems, aggravatons, and rrtatons that account for 80% of your headaches n your work? Who are the most dmcut peope, customers or stuatons that you have to dea wth each day? What can you do today to mnmze or emnate them? Based on ths 80/20 anayss, what steps can you take mmedatey to mprove, ncrease, and strengthen your core products, servces, customers and actvtes? What shoud you do rst? Where 'o You 12celB In what areas of your products and servces are you, or coud you be better than 95% of your competton? Advance Planning Ths 1itadel s your core busness. What s yours? Whatever t s, practce "Scenaro Pannng" on a reguar bass. Ask yoursef, "What s the worst thng that coud possby happen n my market today?" Whatever your answer s to that queston, begn makng provsons today to assure that you w be abe to survve, shoud t occur. Your Personal Citadel Strategy As an ndvdua, you must be cear about your persona core competences, as we. How coud you mprove n each one of them? What core competences w you need to ead your ed n the years ahead? What s your pan to acqure the core competences of tomorrow? Concentrate On the Core: 1. What s your core busness? What products and servces are most responsbe for your success today? 2. What are your core competences? What s t that your company does extremey we? 3. What are the worst possbe thngs that coud happen to your busness n the next year? What are your pans to dea wth them, shoud they occur? 4. What are your non-core products, servces or actvtes? What woud happen f you dscontnued them entrey? 5. Who are your core customers, and what are you dong to assure that they never eave you? 6. Who are your core peope, the ones who are most mportant for the survva and growth of your busness? What s your strategy to keep them? 7. What are your core functons? What are the thngs you do that are centra to your |ob? What actvtes are perphera? /our Key >uestions When consderng buyng a product or servce, customers have four questons that must be answered before gong ahead: 1. What does t cost? 2. What do I get for the money? 3. How fast do I get the benets you promse? 4. How sure can I be that I w get those benets? Whchever company or saesperson answers these questons most convncngy wns the sae. 'eliver On Your Promises "What resuts or benets do my customers expect of my product or servce?" and "How consstenty do my customers get those resuts and benets when they buy my products or servces?" Ths s the true denton of "quaty." Ouaty can be dened as, "the percentage of tmes that your product or servce does what you say t w do, and contnues to do t." A quaty ratng of 100%, or perfect quaty, means that what you se always devers on your promses. A quaty ratng of 90% means that your product gets the desred or promsed resuts nne out of ten tmes. +ittle Things 3ean A +ot Federa Express has determned that f ts quaty ratng was 99.90%, they woud make mstakes n the devery of 44,000 enveopes a day. At 99.90% quaty, Federa Express woud coapse under ts own weght of confuson. That s how mportant quaty s n a busness. Your persona success s aso determned by how consstenty and dependaby you perform and dever on your responsbtes and promses. You shoud contnuay ask yoursef, "What resuts are expected of me?" Your eve of ehectveness s aways dened by others, by what they need from you. Leaders are aways askng, "What does ths stuaton need of me?" Once they are cear, they concentrate ther energes n those areas. Ask yoursef, "Of a the resuts I can accompsh, what are the most vauabe and mportant n terms of my rewards and my future?" Imroving Your Ability to .et <esults Here are seven of the best questons you can ask and answer to mprove your abty to get resuts: 1. "Why am I on the payro?" What exacty have you been hred to accompsh? Make sure that what you are dong every day s the answer to ths queston. 2. "What are my hghest vaue tasks and actvtes?" Of a the thngs that you coud be dong durng the day, what are the actvtes that you engage n that contrbute the greatest vaue to yoursef and your company? 3. "What are my key resut areas?" What are the core competences and key tasks that you must absoutey, postvey do n an exceent fashon to produce the most mportant and vaued resuts expected of you? Resove today to become a "do-t-toyoursef- pro|ect." For the rest of your career, dedcate yoursef to contnuay earnng and mprovng n those areas where top performance s most vta to your success. Gettng better at your key tasks s one of the best tme savng technques of a. 4. "What can I and ony I do that, f done we, w make a rea dherence?" There s aways somethng that ony you can do that can make a sgncant dherence to your fe and your work. If you dont do t, t wont get done. No one ese w do t for you. But f you do t, and you do t we, t can make a sgncant dherence. What s t? 5. "What one sk, f I deveoped and dd t n an excellent fashon, woud have the greatest postve mpact on my career?" There s aways one sk that f you deveoped t and dd t we, woud have a greater and more postve mpact on your career than any other snge sk. Your |ob s to dentfy that sk and then put your whoe heart nto becomng absoutey exceent n that area, whatever t s. 6. "What one resut, f I acheved t consstenty for my customers, woud most satsfy those customers and brng me the greatest number of addtona customers?" What must your customer be absoutey convnced that he or she w receve from you n order to buy your product or servce and to recommend t to hs or her frends? How coud you mprove your quaty and servce n that area? 7. The na queston for persona success, number seven, s ths: "What s the most vauabe use of my tme rght now?" Use ths queston as your gudng star throughout the day. Keep askng, What is the most valuable use of my time, right now? All 'ay +ong If you coud ony perform one task a day ong, what one thng coud you do that woud contrbute more vaue to your fe and work than any other snge task or actvty? FFFFI9T1<91T 3A<K1TI9. WIT5 13POW1< 91TWO<K &I3GP<OSP1<ITY T1A3GP<OH1CT AWO+FFFF Whatever your ans!er# ut mastery of that tas" at the to of your list of riorities$ 'edicate yourself to getting better and better doing the one thing that can ma"e more of a di=erence than anything else$ This is the "ey to getting suerb results at every stage of your life and career$ Once more# here then are the DC "ey ideas in the Turbostrategy rocess: 1. Start Where You Are: Do a compete and honest anayss of your busness as t s today, ncudng the current status of your saes, revenues, protabty and the market stuaton around you. D$ 'ra! A +ine ,nder the Past: Appy zero based thnkng to every part of your busness. If you were not dong t today, knowing what you now know, woud you get nto t agan today? 6$ Conduct A &asic &usiness Analysis: Examne your products, servces, processes, and actvtes as f you were ookng at them for the rst tme. Be prepared to ask yoursef the "bruta questons" about each one of them. E$ 'ecide 12actly What You Want: Set cear, wrtten, measurabe goas and ob|ectves for yoursef n each part of your busness. 7$ 'esign Your Ideal /uture: Pro|ect forward 3-5 years and magne that your busness was dea n every respect. What woud t ook ke? What coud you do, startng today, to make that future vson nto a current reaty? :$ Create A 3ission Statement: Decde exacty what t s you want to accompsh for others wth your busness. Make t measurabe. Make t exctng. Share t wth everyone. ;$ <einvent Your Organi%ation: Imagne startng your busness or career over agan today, wth your present knowedge and experence. What woud you do dherenty? ?$ Select the <ight Peole: Fuy 95% of your success n busness w be determned by the peope you choose to work wth and for. Take the tme to make good personne decsons. I$ 3ar"et 3ore 1=ectively: Thnk through every part of your marketng strategy by appyng the four prncpes of specazaton, dherentaton, segmentaton and concentraton to every product and servce. C@$ Analy%e Your Cometition: Decde exacty who you are competng aganst, and why t s that your prospectve customers prefer to buy from them. How coud you ohset ths perceved advantage? CC$ 'o It &etter# Cheaer# /aster: Contnuay seek ways to serve and satsfy your customer n a superor fashon to any one ese n your market. Never stop rasng the bar on yoursef. CD$ Change Your 3ar"eting 3i2: Imagne beng your own management consutant and askng yoursef hard questons about the approprateness of your product, prce, pace and promoton n todays market. C6$ Position Your Comany /or Success: Determne how you want to be thought about and taked about by your customers and prospectve customers. What are the very best words they coud use to descrbe you? CE$ 'evelo Strategic &usiness ,nits: Dvde your products and servces nto one of four categores: cash cows, stars, 3uestion marks and dogs. Make one person responsbe for saes and protabty for each product or group of products. C7$ Sell 3ore 1=ectively: Focus snge-mndedy on upgradng the quaty of your saes ehort. Hre more seectvey, tran more thoroughy, and manage more professonay. Saes are the febood of the busness. C:$ 1liminate the &ottlenec"s: Identfy the factors that determne how fast you acheve your goas of saes and protabty. Concentrate on aevatng these bottenecks n every part of your busness. C;$ <eengineer Your Comany: Contnuay seek ways to streamne and smpfy the process of producng and seng your products and servces. Learn to deegate, outsource, downsze and emnate the compexty of everythng you do. C?$ Pum , Your Pro-ts: Evauate every product and servce to determne exacty how much net prot you are actuay earnng from each tem you se. Resove to dscontnue products and servces that are not as protabe as others, and channe more resources nto those products that are the manstays of your busness. CI$ Commit To Continuous Imrovement: Insta the Kazen process of "contnuous betterment" nto your company. Fnd out how your customer denes "quaty" and then contnuay strve to exceed expectatons. D@$ Concentrate On The Core: Identfy the most mportant products and servces you oher, and then focus on gettng better and better seng more and more of them. Probaby 80% of the market potenta for your core products has not yet been tapped. 21. /ocus On <esults: Concentrate your best energes and resources on gettng the most mportant resuts possbe for your company. Set prortes n every area and then work snge-mndedy to compete the few tasks that are more vauabe than everythng ese put together. The most mportant part of the Turbostrategy s not what you earn, but the actons you take, and how qucky you take those actons. There s a drect reatonshp between how fast you move on a new dea and how key t s that you w ever move on a new dea. Resove today to become ntensey acton-orented for the rest of your career. |ust do t! The Turbostrategy Process