In advance of the Fortune Fall Growth Summit, Gazelles coaches gather to sharpen our plowshares [so to speak] and learn new best practices and ideas from the thought leaders. Today included a new tool from Verne Harnish to help identify the 4-9 critical processes that drive a success as well as Verne’s new concept on Strategy. He specifically provided a best practice example from one of our Gazelles clients, Build Direct, that’s applying the Seven Strata of Strategy with great success. More on these in future blogs and newsletters.
Strategic Discipline Blog
Douglas A Wick
Recent Posts
The Drama Triangle or Empowerment Dynamic - Orlando Growth Summit
Posted by Douglas A Wick on Tue, Oct 19, 2010
Topics: employee engagement, Growth Summit, stress
My wife, youngest son and I journeyed to Kennedy Space Complex on Friday ahead of the Fortune Fall Growth Summit. Witnessing firsthand the size of the rockets and the place where so many historic space launches took place was inspiring. It was also fascinating to learn all the products and services that developed directly from the space program. [Did you know that grooved highways came from NASA’s determined efforts to learn how to slow the Space Shuttle?]
Quarterly Strategic Discipline – Priorities & Developing Metrics
Posted by Douglas A Wick on Wed, Oct 13, 2010
Topics: One Thing, priorities, priority, top priorities
I promised to provide nineteen questions your sales people should be asking to qualify prospects. These questions are provided to me through our Gazelles partnership association with Objective Management Group. When I first started selling I recall being excited anytime I got someone who wanted to speak to me about my service. Radio sales was a tough business to start a sales career, and someone who would actually speak to you generated a lot of enthusiasm. As time evolved I recognized that my time was as valuable as my prospects and I learned that if I spent time with someone who wasn’t qualified it meant I had less time to invest in a good prospect. I can recall having a great debate with another coach, who was my mentor, over the value of qualifying for price. In his opinion you shouldn’t qualify for price at the outset because the prospect wouldn’t be able to appreciate the value our service provides until after we discovered their frustration. My view wasn’t it didn’t do any good to explain value if the prospect didn’t have enough money to pay for our services.
Topics: Sales Process, Sales Training, Sales Discipline
Sales Pipeline – Why Your Sales People Forecast Too High
Posted by Douglas A Wick on Mon, Oct 4, 2010
Do you have trouble anticipating what your sales will be from month to month? Do your sales people have difficulty giving you an accurate forecast on what they will produce each month?
Topics: Work Process Flow Charts, Dave Kurlan, Sales Discipline, Baseline Selling
A weekend ago I was in Port Washington spending time with my oldest son, his wife and my grandchild, Sophia Daniela . I’m a grandfather for the first time, with two sons at home twelve and fifteen. Watching my two youngest boys, my wife, my oldest son, and his wife enthralled with this young darling of 6 weeks was amazing. It brought back emotional memories of when my three sons were all little and how important they were to me at that time. For my oldest and his wife Kim, Sophia was all they could talk about. If you’ve had children you know a baby completely changes your life, not only your schedule but how you prioritize. Can you remember how children changed your life? Chances are you can’t now. Become a grandfather, and you’ll suddenly be enlightened again. It was what this visit was about. To meet her. To get to know her. To give her our love.
Topics: One Thing, Top Priority, priorities
Who helps our children to make good choices? Every one of us is touched by a story of a young person who’s been involved with a tragedy caused by texting or using a phone while driving, alcohol abuse, teen pregnancy, or drug dependency. Young people, especially middle school and high school students, are impacted by so much in the world today that the impression we as parents or adults can make on them is more limited than ever. How do we reach these young minds about the importance of making good decisions in their lives?
Topics: Discipline, Strategic Discipline
Good is the Enemy of Great: Failed Strategic Discipline
Posted by Douglas A Wick on Thu, Sep 23, 2010
Good is the enemy of great. That’s the first chapter of Good to Great. So what’s the problem with being good? Nothing. Except it limits us. Except that it means we are vulnerable to others that decide to be great. Except that it means we are okay with mediocre. Do you want to be okay with being mediocre, or simply just good? I don’t.
Topics: Good to Great, Strategic Discipline, Jim Collins
A recent article from Gallup Management Journal on What Really Drives Financial Success? reminded me how valuable the book First Break All the Rules is for determining strength in the workplace. If you employ five or more employees I strongly recommend you pick up the book or its more recent version 12: The Elements of Great Managing. It reveals the following 12 rules as being critical to having a well engaged and performing workplace:
Topics: Good to Great, employee engagement, Strategic Discipline, Pearsons Law, Q12, First Break All the Rules
Employee Engagement is a critical factor in getting maximum performance. I’ve pointed to this before and the work Gallup has down developing their Q12 [12 questions from the book First Break All the Rules that gauge engagement in the workforce] and how Best Buy uses these questions for their Core Score. You can read more on how just a 2% increase in employee engagement at Best Buy resulted in an additional $70 million in profitability here.
Topics: employee performance, productivity, stress, Key Metrics