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1. What’s New At True North
2. Get Positive!
3. Database or Rolodex?

Bob Parsons 16 Rules for Success in Business and Life in General

1. Get and stay out of your comfort zone.
I believe that not much happens of any significance when we’re in our comfort zone. I hear people say, “But I’m concerned about security.” My response to that is simple: “Security is for cadavers.”

2. Never give up.
Almost nothing works the first time it’s attempted. Just because what you’re doing does not seem to be working, doesn’t mean it won’t work. It just means that it might not work the way you’re doing it. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and you wouldn’t have an opportunity.

3. When you’re ready to quit, you’re closer than you think.
There’s an old Chinese saying that I just love, and I believe it is so true. It goes like this: “The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed.”

4. With regard to whatever worries you, not only accept the worst thing that could happen, but make it a point to quantify what the worst thing could be.
Very seldom will the worst consequence be anywhere near as bad as a cloud of “undefined consequences.” My father would tell me early on, when I was struggling and losing my shirt trying to get Parsons Technology going, “Well, Robert, if it doesn’t work, they can’t eat you.”

5. Focus on what you want to have happen.
Remember that old saying, “As you think, so shall you be.”

6. Take things a day at a time.
No matter how difficult your situation is, you can get through it if you don’t look too far into the future, and focus on the present moment. You can get through anything one day at a time.

7. Always be moving forward.
Never stop investing. Never stop improving. Never stop doing something new. The moment you stop improving your organization, it starts to die. Make it your goal to be better each and every day, in some small way. Remember the Japanese concept of Kaizen. Small daily improvements eventually result in huge advantages.

8. Be quick to decide.
Remember what General George S. Patton said: “A good plan violently executed today is far and away better than a perfect plan tomorrow.”

9. Measure everything of significance.
I swear this is true. Anything that is measured and watched, improves.

10. Anything that is not managed will deteriorate.
If you want to uncover problems you don’t know about, take a few moments and look closely at the areas you haven’t examined for a while. I guarantee you problems will be there.

11. Pay attention to your competitors, but pay more attention to what you’re doing.
When you look at your competitors, remember that everything looks perfect at a distance. Even the planet Earth, if you get far enough into space, looks like a peaceful place.

12. Never let anybody push you around.
In our society, with our laws and even playing field, you have just as much right to what you’re doing as anyone else, provided that what you’re doing is legal.

13. Never expect life to be fair.
Life isn’t fair. You make your own breaks. You’ll be doing good if the only meaning fair has to you, is something that you pay when you get on a bus (i.e., fare).

14. Solve your own problems.
You’ll find that by coming up with your own solutions, you’ll develop a competitive edge. Masura Ibuka, the co-founder of SONY, said it best: “You never succeed in technology, business, or anything by following the others.” There’s also an old Asian saying that I remind myself of frequently. It goes like this: “A wise man keeps his own counsel.”

15. Don’t take yourself too seriously.
Lighten up. Often, at least half of what we accomplish is due to luck. None of us are in control as much as we like to think we are.

16. There’s always a reason to smile.
Find it. After all, you’re really lucky just to be alive. Life is short. More and more, I agree with my little brother. He always reminds me: “We’re not here for a long time, we’re here for a good time!”

If you want to visit Bob’s site, here’s the link.

Enjoy your day!

Ken

Related posts:

1. Effective Processes
2. Get Positive!
3. Thanksgiving thoughts.

So far we have talked about  3 of the 4 tools in the ultimate THRIVAL kit:

• Loyal Customers
• Economical Marketing Strategies
• Effective Processes

Along with each of these tools, we have provided tips and tricks and specific things you can do implement them in your own business. The final tip is a bit difficult because it all hinges on you. It is a positive attitude combined with a little creativity. With all of the negative news it can be hard to maintain a positive attitude. But being positive is exactly what can give you a competitive advantage and that little extra“oomph” to succeed.

History has shown downturns can be a great time to start a new venture. General Electric traces its roots to the Panic of 1873.  William Hewlett and David Packard founded HP during the Great Depression.  Microsoft launched during the recession of the early 1980s.  Disney, Oracle, and Cisco, and countless others took the leap during difficult economic times, and reaped tremendous rewards for their efforts.

You too can be a bright light in a dark market!

Downturns are actually a great time to sign up new accounts. Because companies are examining every expense for ways to save. If you can demonstrate higher Differentiating Values than their curent verndor, you will have a decent chance of winning their business.

Get Creative!

“Innovation is ultimately not an act of intellect but of will”
                 (Joseph Schumpeter)

All too often the first thing large corporations cut during tough economic times is R&D, making it a great time to get your hands on talented innovators or to escalate your idea before the rest of the market. During a time when everyone is playing it safe, creativity really stands out. Focus on experiments and innovation that have low impact on the bottom line but the potential to help you stand out above the competition. When budgets are cut it forces you to get creative with your marketing so use this time to test out-of-the-box concepts that don’t cost a lot.

Plan for the future!

Now is the time to act in the present while preparing for the future. What you do now will directly impact your business stability and long-term growth.

•  Those who have the customer in their back pocket when the purse strings loosen are more likely to come out on the other end with a post of gold.
•  Just because prospects are not buying now, does not mean they wont buy later. Maintain your relationships and realize your sales cycle may take a little longer.
•  Assemble a long-term nurture plan for prospects who are not ready to buy today
•  Show prospects how they can get value from you now, even if they don’t pay everything up front.

Trends Taking Small Business Into the Future

• Small businesses will expand their use of online marketing tools because they’re effective and efficient.
• Small businesses will focus on customer loyalty to build lasting revenue streams
• Small business will drive new customer acquisition through creative, new business models
• Small businesses will need to turn to technology and automation in order to cut costs
• Small businesses will rely on developing relationships to stay competitive

I hope you were able to distill a nugget or two of useful insight from our discussion on marketing in a down economy. I would love to hear your thoughts on the following:

• What is your business experiencing?
• What have you tried?
• Who are you collaborating with?
• What resources are you going to use?

I look forward to your comments!

Enjoy your day!

Ken

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1. Make Your Business Thrive!
2. Effective Processes
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Today, I would like to talk to you about another techique that I use, that works particularly well when it comes to managing all those phone calls you need to return.

If your calendar is anything like mine, you tend to spend more time out of the office than in it. By the time you get back to your office, it’s time to catch up on voice mail and emails. When I clear out my voice mail, I make it a habit to schedule those activities right in my Contact Relationship Management (CRM) system. This way, I don’t have to manage multiple pieces of paper, and because my CRM synchronizes to my BlackBerry, the contacts and activities automatically end up on my phone as well. I try to do the same thing with my email. I triage my new messages and those that I can get delegated, deleted or responded to quickly with a short reply. Then I look for messages that require action on my behalf and schedule those activities in my CRM (often times, attaching the full email message to the contact record, or at least pasting the message into the history). Usually, by the time I am finished clearing out my messages from both my phone and email, I have a pretty good collection of activities in my database. Often times, a majority of those activities are phone calls that need to be returned.

Once my CRM is brought up to date, I’m back to my Task List to review the activities that require my immediate attention. As I mentioned yesterday, one of the tricks I use is priority management. Another trick I use is to take a look at my list of phone calls, and any calls that are of a high priority, I drag to a specific time on my daily calendar. While Im doing this, I also make sure I schedule the more difficult calls, (or the calls that require the most brain power) for earlier in the day. This way, I can make sure that I am getting the critical calls done first so in case something happens to my schedule during the day, I’ve at least focused my efforts appropriately. When I do this, I find that I tend to move from one call to the next without looking at the entire list again, and “cherry-picking” the next call. I can also be very sensitive about the amount of time I need to allocate to my activities and the time of day. If it’s “selling time” then I had better be doing the calls related to selling. By proactively reviewing and scheduling your list of calls, you’ll find that you are getting through more calls in a day, and achieving a much better connection rate.

I would appreciate reading your comments so if you have any feedback for me, please post them as a response below.

Enjoy your day!

Ken

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1. Monday Morning Kick Start
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By now, I expect everyone is making use of some type of contact management database system (for anyone who isn’t yet, read my earlier blog here). Hopefully, you are also using that systems calendaring function. For ease of illustration, I’m going to use the example of the ACT! Contact Management System (however, everything discussed here applies equally as well to the Infusionsoft system).

When I get in to the office in the morning, the first thing I do is fire up my computer and log in to my ACT! database (ok, this might be second only to getting my coffee ). Once in my database, the first place I go is to my Task List to review any pending activities prior to today. Sometimes, if I have a meeting late on Friday, or over the weekend, I may not get my database updated until Monday morning, so I want to make sure I don’t have any activities pending in the past. If I do, I either clear them as completed, reschedule them to another date and time, or erase them. Once that’s completed, I change the filtering on my task list to show me today’s activities. Now I go to work and review the things I’ve got scheduled for today.  Anything scheduled for a specific time gets reviewed to make sure I have the necessary details covered. For example, if it’s a meeting, have I confirmed the meeting and do I have the material I need for the meeting ready to go. Once I’ve reviewed the “non-discretionary” items (i.e. the tasks that are scheduled for a specific time), I take a look at the other tasks on my list. These are typically made up of phone calls that should be made and To-Do’s that need to be done, all scheduled “timeless”. Sometimes this list of “timeless” activities can be daunting as I’m one of those people that tend to put everything I need to do into my database. So the trick becomes, how do I manage this list of timeless activities to make sure I am using my time as efficiently as I can and be as productive as I can be.

Here is one technique I use that you might find helpful. As I review my list of timeless activities, I change the priority of any activity that needs to be done today to a status of “high”. I also color code this high priority to “red”. Now, when I look at my Task List, or my Daily Calendar, I can see at a glance the activities that are of highest priority and will focus my attention on those for the day. As I get each one completed, they are removed from my Calendar and Task List, and I can focus on the next one. If one of the activites need to be rescheduled to another day, I reschedule it right away. If I reschedule an activity to another day, I make sure and change the priority to either medium or low, so when that day comes, I again can review all the activities for the day, and determine which ones need to be bumped to a priority status of High. This technique helps me to stay focused on those items of greatest concern, and get the things done that absolutely needs to be done that day. My productivity stays high, and my efficiency stays high as I tend to get less distracted. In my next blog post, I will share with you another technique I use to manage my daily activities which is particularly helpful when I have several calls to make or return.

I hope this helps you get your Monday off to a great start, and helps to reduce your stress around too many things to do, and not enough time to get them done.  If you have any comments or thoughts you would like to share, please pass them along by posting a response below.

Enjoy your day!

Ken

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3. Database or Rolodex?