This reminds me of the concept of “time tellers” vs. “clock builders”. I’ve taken these terms from Jim Collin’s book, “Built to Last”.
If you’re the type of leader that is not engaged in the daily details of your business, but constantly live at the 50K foot level trying to pump up your staff, you’re a “time teller”. You’re a “five hour energy drink”. He're the problem, people can’t live on five hour energy drinks. They need to see the connection between the vision you’re casting and boots on the ground implementation.
Collins contrasts of the “time teller” and “clock builder” leader reveals that what is needed for true long term growth.
I say all this to remind you that running a business is hard work (I’m sure you know this). It takes focus and diving into the dirty details. It’s not fun all the time and can be challenging. It takes discipline of time and focus.
If you’re frustrated that your staff is not implementing your vision, ask the following questions:
(1) Are you a 5 hour energy drink or a satisfying balanced diet?
(2) Do you connect the dots of your vision with the details of implementation?
(3) How much time do you spend with your key staff helping them grow and improve?
(4) Are you concerned with building a long term business (clock builder) or just swooping in from time to time (time teller) and slapping backs?
]]>One quote from his book really struck me. It focused on the concept of making sure you have the right people on your team. Sports teams know how important this is. They have a whole staff dedicated to recruiting the RIGHT team members. Once on the team, the coaching staff ruthlessly MEASURES each team member. If the player doesn't produce or measure up they’re gone.
Here’s the quote from Harnish’s book, “The first question you must ask is, “Do I have the Right People?” And a quick way to discern the answer is to ask yourself if you would enthusiastically rehire each person on your team if given the opportunity”
Wow. That is powerful. Sports teams are wired to think this way because there is always a NEW season. A time to re-tool and re-build, but if you want to be the best, you must think this way too.
]]>That brings me to my next point. Not ALL email messages are created equal. There’s a great rule you can apply to email marketing (and all marketing for that matter) called the 40/40/20 rule. The rule states that the bulk of response opportunity in any marketing campaign comes from:
(a) The List (40%)
(b) The Offer (40%)
(c) The Creative (20%)
That means if you get a and b right, you’re going to have a successful email marketing campaign. Where people go wrong is by blasting out email (the offer) to people (the list) that really have no interest in their product or services. These campaigns typically have a low open rate (< 1%) and even lower click through rate.
You’re much better off focusing on building a targeted email list. The more targeted you can be (i.e. the more you know your audience) the better you’ll be as hitting your target audiences’ hot button points.
]]>I also ran across this great interview with Matt Cutts who heads up the Webspam initiative at Google. Seems like something you’d want to pay attention to in regards to link building. Check out the interview here http://www.stonetemple.com/articles/interview-matt-cutts-061608.shtml.
]]>To get started go to http://www.google.com/alerts and enter your search term (keyword) and your email. Google will begin delivering these alerts the next day.
This a great tool for SEO to see if your site is getting indexed for certain keyword terms or for reputation management (see what others are saying about you).
]]>“Mastering the Rockefeller Habits” by Verne Harish is one such book. Harish describes three habits which Rockefeller applied to help Standard Oil grow.
There are so many truths in the book to choose from, so I’ll just pick a few that really spoke to me.
Habit #1 – Priorities
As a company grows, the owners must work harder and harder to communicate the major priorities to its staff. Harish provides some great tools to aid in the communication process. He boils business down into six major areas to focus on. Harish calls this his, “Right Things Model”.
Get, Keep and Grow (i.e. get customers, keep customers, grow employees or any other combination)
Better, Faster and Cheaper (sell better, sell faster, produce cheaper etc.)
Habit #2 – Data
This is something I’m especially passionate about. As your company grows, it is impossible to speak to every employee each day or even each week. Metrics become the primary way to monitor and predict what’s going to happen. At Astonish Results, we’re continuing to flesh out metrics for each department. Metrics allow you to make the necessary adjustments. Each of the six major areas of your business should have their associated metrics.
Habit #3 – Rhythm
This habit speaks to making sure all major areas of business are meeting regularly to review the metrics and make sure they are in alignment with the priorities outlined by the owners. Harish says this keeps everyone, “informed, aligned and accountable”.
]]>I’m taking this time to reflect on the events of the year.
I’m extremely grateful for the people in my life and the opportunities I’ve been blessed with. My involvement in Astonish allows me to interact with some incredible people (both employees and customers). Their positive attitudes and desire to grow motivate me to continue to give 100%.
I’m looking forward to an incredible 2010, filled with more growth, challenges and excitement.
]]>We’ve developed and incredible set of tools which automate hundreds of tasks and save agencies considerable time and money.
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Our new system is designed to be highly scalable, flexible and accommodate the incredible growth we’ve been experiencing.
Agencies are literally doubling in size in less than two years by using the Astonish Results system.
This upgrade is only the beginning. We have monthly meetings with our customers base to make sure we are providing them with a system that meets their needs and helps them grow.
You can take a 180 second tour of the Astonish Results system by navigating to www.astonishresults.com .
]]>Now think about your company. Does everyone on your team know who you are and what you do? If asked, would each employee give the same answer? Can they clearly articulate the benefits of working with you (i.e. why should a customer “vote” for you?).
Realize this; every employee is part of your sales team whether you like it or not. One of the principles at Astonish Results is “Everything Speaks”. Your company inspires trust, when everyone “speaks” from the same talking points.
Start today by giving each employee a cheat sheet which states what you do. Don’t just give it to them; train them on the importance of why they should use it.
There’s no reason why you can’t have a HUGE sales force on your side.
]]>The first on the list is competence. Bethel defines competence as, “doing the right thing, the right way, at the right time”. What a great definition!
At Astonish Results, I’m always looking to improve my leadership skills. Bethel gives some questions you can ask yourself to judge your competency. I’m going to begin using these to judge the results of my leadership.
#1 Can I clearly describe the competencies we needed to implement the project?
This is a great question aimed at making sure we actually have the gifts and abilities needed to accomplish what we’re trying to accomplish. There’s no use in beating yourself up about something you’re not competent to do. Great leaders find someone else to do “it” (whatever “it” is).
#2 What could I have done better or differently and why?
This is HUGE. So often we just go through our lives without taking a CRITICAL look at ourselves. This is where the REAL growth comes from. The only way to improve is to be brutally honest with yourself about your performance.
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