The Wealthy Business - by EnergizeGrowth

The Power of New

It's that time again. The pied pipers of business performance beckon us to create new goals, forge new alliances, attract new customers, and hire great people.Unfortunately, we carry too many of our old habits, routines, and tools into the new year. How can we ensure that our new ideas and plans are not tainted by the old ones?

Lisa's Excellent New York Adventure

A change in your work environment can sometimes be the jolt that you -- and your teams -- need to find fresh new ideas.

Case in point: I just returned from a whirlwind three day trip to Southern CT and NY City. Book signings, client visits, and some tourist time kept me on the go.

The air was balmy, and the energy was electric. The bellman hailed our cab to Penn Station as if his life depended on it. Hotel staff answered their phones after three rings or less. Even the restroom line of 100+ women at the Hirschfeld Theatre moved swiftly during intermission!

As I traversed the potholes of Manhattan and its crusty old railways, I am still--after 27 years of visiting the Big Apple--pleasantly surprised by its unique qualities.

Customers, Kawasaki, and Crazy Weather

I am headed home from a dynamic series of Voice of the Customer sessions and book signing at the 2011 Allegiance Engage Summit in Deer Valley, Utah.

Amidst two days of dashing through snow flurries) and dodging slush puddles, I enjoyed learning about the rapid adoption of this new profit-producing technology space. In my upcoming posts, you will hear how companies such as ING Direct, JetBlue, and EMC Corporation are re-framing the definition of the customer experience, and its impact on the bottom line.

I was also excited to re connect with an old friend, Guy Kawasaki. Have you read his new book yet, Enchantment? If you have not bought your copy, get it now. It will shift your thinking about the ways in which you engage others in important causes--whether they be personal or professional.

Here is what Guy shared after our respective book signings yesterday (45 seconds):

 

I'm still blushing!

Here I am, enchanting a new friend at the conference:
 

copyright 2011, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.

 

Business After bin Laden

Ask any decorated leader — military or business — what keeps them focused and energized. They will echo what retired U.S. General Joseph Hoar shared with me a decade ago: a daily commitment to quietly reflect and re-evaluate our course. As world citizens discuss and debate the proper way to respond to the successful capture and killing of Osama bin Laden, we face the same opportunity.

Free strategic marketing e-courses – Offer expires May 10

Many B2B small business owners read my book and wonder “how will I ever implement these marketing strategies in my own business? This seems like a lot of work.”

And without a roadmap and a guide, they are right.

That is why I put together a complimentary set of e-courses to help you simplify the process.

We break down the marketing and business planning process into weekly lessons that anyone can complete. Sometimes they will take as little as 20 minutes.

Bonus Audio: How to Grow Mind Share and Market Share

Maureen Kedes' recently invited me to her Inside PR radio show. We had a great time together, and I shared some of my best strategy and marketing war stories.

 

In this replay, you will hear:

• Why some companies stagnate
• How a company's values drive top line revenues
• The seven wealth building principles for growth companies

Click on this link and enjoy his 1 hour show.

http://tinyurl.com/insidepr

Copyright 2011, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.

Book Recommendation: Rainmaking Conversations (and Time-Sensitive Special Offer – Expires Tonight)

Do you ever feel like your sales conversations don’t go as well as you would have liked? Perhaps you have walked out of an important meeting saying, “I could be doing something better, but I’m not sure what.”

No matter what you’re selling—technology, professional services, or other high-priced B2B solutions--at some point you have conversations with buyers. Much selling success is determined here. Over the past 28 years I’ve seen too many sales people, B2B business leaders, and professionals struggle to create sales conversations, build earnest rapport uncover needs, create enthusiasm with the prospect, and ultimately win business. Many of us make the same mistakes over and over again and we lose more sales than we should.

How to Turbo-Charge Your Growth Plan in One Hour or Less

In my previous post, I shared the most common obstacles to implementing your business development and growth plans.  Now that you have identified these saboteurs, and you have chosen to rally your most trusted advisors to keep you on track, how will you use their time wisely?

The EnergizeGrowth® Plan Review Process will help.  I have led over 100 plan reviews in the past decade using this approach.  Benefits far outweigh the time and effort you will invest. For example, teams have discovered vulnerabilities in their plans that they otherwise would have entirely missed. Within just a short time, the process gives you a holistic view of the company's growth potential from the perspective of customers, adversaries, and senior management.

View and download the EnergizeGrowth® Plan Review Process by clicking here.

Business growth reviews take discipline--and they can also be highly rewarding.  This process removes some of the fear and mystery.  Let me know how yours progresses and post your comments here.

[Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net]

[This post originally appeared in FastCompany.]

Copyright 2011, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.

Nine Common Obstacles that Derail Growth

As you approach the end of the first quarter of 2011, your growth plan and marketing activities are well underway.  How will you keep them fresh and relevant?

Launching and implementing your growth plan entails risks.  Plans often expose underlying conflicts within the organization. It may disrupt the status quo, the ways decisions are made, and strain the most established relationships among key players. How can you prevent current operating norms and B.S. (Belief Systems) from dictating, derailing, or delaying your growth plan?

The first step is to understand the main causes of plan derailment. Here are the most 9 common ones that I have observed over the past two decades:

1. Lack of communication -- The plan doesn't get communicated to employees or allies who keep on working in the dark.
2. Mired in the day-to-day -- Managers consumed by daily operating problems lose sight of long-term goals. Today’s technical outage, employee resignation, or client emergency will happen. The question is: how well are you structured to delegate some of these emergencies to others who can handle them?
3. Out of the ordinary -- The plan is treated as something separate and removed from the management process.
4. People perceive vision, mission and value statements as fluff. How did that limiting belief become part of your company culture?
5. The plan is reviewed too infrequently to stay relevant. If you are relying on one annual retreat to review your plan, you might as well not have one. It has already become obsolete.
6. Conducting business as usual after a live planning meeting. How often have you seen teams leave a planning session and quietly comment about “getting back to normal again?”
7. Failing to make the tough choices. A solid, well thought out plan will reveal deficiencies in your team, your marketing plan, your funding, or your capacity. Are you ready to fill those gaps and relieve people who are a poor fit in the new organization? Or, do you tend to hope they will leave on their own accord? Will you need to meet with your banker and request a higher line of credit?  These are challenges you must confront, not ignore.
8. Lacking a scoreboard: Are you measuring what's easy, or what is important?
9. Neglecting to benchmark your company against the competition. Remember that your biggest competitors may include Inertia, Inc. and Not Invented Here.

You can overcome these common planning mishaps.

For best results, regularly share the strategic plan with other stakeholders like investors, customers, alliance partners, etc. An "open book" approach will likely generate more helpful ideas and suggestions about the future of your business.In our next post, I will show you a process to guide the reviews and turbo-charge your teams.

[Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net]

[This post originally appeared in FastCompany.]

Copyright 2011, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.

The Secret Life of Customer Advisory Boards (CABs) – Part 3

Our last two posts, The Secret Life of Customer Advisory Boards, Part 1 and The Secret Life of Customer Advisory Boards, Part 2, showcased the definition and design of customer advisory boards. Let’s say you succeeded in these first two steps in your CAB strategy: Design and Recruitment. How can you keep the CAB vibrant for years to come?