January 16, 2012

3 Ways to “Bloody-Up” Your Plan

6 Mistakes Business Start-ups Make
Guest Blog - Frankly Speaking / The Power in Saying Hello.
3 Ways To Be An Un-Perfectionist

Your Strategic Plan document is NOT to look pretty. Pristine. Like the pages have been bleached and ironed. Like you haven’t looked at it since it was created. Probably a year ago.

Rather, the document should look like it has been used. Used a lot. To record what you have learned while trying to execute your Strategy.

How to make your Plan an Execution Learning Guide?

1. Record Results Constantly. As you implement your strategy, what worked? What didn’t? Why? Write it down: in RED if the outcome was NOT on Plan; in BLACK if things worked out as planned. Clarify the implications of falling short of your objectives so you can take corrective action. Evaluate what worked well with reasons so it can be repeated.

2. Work in the document Daily. Refer to your Plan everyday. Make a point of commenting on some aspect of it. Study your notes. Call a meeting with colleagues to problem solve an important matter.

3. Shout out the Negatives. Executing any Plan is neither nice nor tidy. It’s a messy business. Progress is extremely Inelegant. People get hurt. They get frustrated. They sometimes get stressed out. That’s the way it is. And it needs to be told that way. People can’t go along that The Plan is going along well and that there are no bumps being encountered. Keep it real and honor those Heroes who been relentless in squeaking out progress in the face of painful odds.

And, after religiously adhering to these 3 tasks you have not messed up the Plan Document - blood stains from paper cuts, coffee stains, dog-eared pages and barely legible notes on every page - THEN it’s clearly of no value to you and you are getting nowhere implementing it.

Get Bloody!

Cheers,
Roy
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Posted 1.16.12 at 05:00 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 9, 2012

3 Resolutions for 2012

If you have the bandwidth to do only a few critical activities in 2012, these three will pay you back in spades:

1. Adopt BE DiFFERENT in your Leadership vocabulary. Start asking “How will this make us DiFFERENT?” when someone presents a proposal to you. Make this the test you apply to all new investments.
If a $10,000 new investment doesn’t make you Stand-out, why are you making it?
In addition, replace Best in Class conversations with “How do we Stand-out?”
Have a Stand-out Workshop every week to continually explore opportunities to breakaway from The Herd.

2. Focus on your Fans. Trust that if you take care of the people who are loyal to you and CARE about what you do, they will return the favor by spreading your word to others.
This is the real source of long term GROWTH.
Resist the temptation to offer special promotions to try and entice people to leave their current suppliers and come to you. “New Customer Acquisition Programs” that reward switchers and not your loyal Fans have no long term value.
In fact they insult the people who have supported you over the years.

3. Create The ONLY Statement for your organization as your competitive claim. “It’s not good enough to be the best of the best. You need to be the ONLY one that does what you do.” said Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead. Amazing insight from the world’s most successful touring band. Uniqueness is the name of the game. If you’re not Relevant and Unique you will be common, invisible and ignored. And eventually dead.

Make these 3 strategies your priority for the coming year.

You’ll never look back.

Cheers,
Roy
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Connect with me on LinkedIn

Other Articles You Might Like
6 Mistakes Start-ups Make
3 Ways To Be An Un-Perfectionist
The Herd’s Brain Has 5 Parts

Posted 1.9.12 at 05:31 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 5, 2012

6 Mistakes Business Start-ups Make

Guest Blog - Frankly Speaking / The Power in Saying Hello.
3 Ways To Be An Un-Perfectionist
The Herd’s Brain Has 5 Parts

Got an idea you think can make you lots of money? Good. Chalk one up to you for coming up an innovative thought.

But the REAL challenge you have is to figure out HOW to monetize it. If you can’t turn your “Brave Idea” into a “Crude Deed” by getting people to buy it, your idea is wasted.

So…here are 6 mistakes entrepreneurs absolutely MUST avoid:
1. Not determining how your idea is DiFFERENT than your competition. Ultimate success will be determined by staking a unique claim in the market. If your idea is the same as, or similar to something already out there, it will be invisible. It won’t attract attention and no none will buy it.

2. Not clearly identifying who the POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS for your idea are. Winning is all about targeting your idea to very specific groups of people and giving them a reason to buy from you. It’s NOT about flogging your idea to the masses and hoping it will stick to some of them. If you can’t define your potential customers, STOP.

3. Not involving people who have a strong MARKETING and customer SERVICE background. Ultimately, the success of your idea will depend on “go-to-market” effectiveness. Better have people on board who have experience in serving customers and providing value-based solutions to people. Technology and finance expertise are needed as well, but in a supportive role. People responsible for customers must be your anchor.

4. Not TESTING your idea with potential customers. It’s not about how excited you and your friends are about your idea,  it’s about what your potential customers think. Get them in a room and present your idea. Ask them to evaluate it. Do they think it satisfies a real need they have? Do they think it’s different than other stuff out there? Would they buy it? How much would they be prepared to pay for it? Would they likely tell their fiends about it? Does your idea excite them?

5. Not defining the unique VALUE you are creating with your idea. Business success comes from supplying value to people. Figure out how you are satisfying a want or desire that your potential customers have. This will form the basis of your marketing efforts and your pitch to potential investors.

6. Thinking that technology will sell itself. It’s not about a product or service. It’s about VALUE. People don’t buy technology, they buy what the technology creates for them. Happiness. Joy. Pleasure. Solution to a problem. Make it easy. This kind if stuff.

Then there is the potential investor. What will it take to convince her to part with some of her money and help you launch your idea? If you fall into the above traps, your audience with her will likely be short and unrewarding.

Cheers,
Roy
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Posted 1.5.12 at 05:01 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 2, 2012

3 Ways To Be An Un-Perfectionist

The Herd’s Brain Has 5 Parts
Are You Flawed?
3 Colossal Time Wasters

Everyone seeks perfection. The perfect body. Smile. Manuscript. Product. Business Strategy. Problem is, “P” doesn’t exist. It’s like pursuing The Holy Grail. For some reason we drive on to squeeze the last 10% of what we think is perfection out of whatever we are doing.

The consequences of chasing the illusive “P” are significant. We burn time. And the ROI on extra time spent is ZERO. But the real negative is that it keeps you from doing stuff.
Bre Pettis says it well: “Perfection is boring. And it keeps you from being done.” Seth Godin talks about the importance of Shipping stuff. And that if you waited until is “complete”, you would never deliver anything.

Try these 3 things to avoid the Perfection Trap:
1. Force yourself to get stuff “just about right”. And then do it. The reality is, that anything more is a waste of time given the unpredictability of the world today. It is impossible for you to accurately account for the unknown so why bother? Get a 70% solution and “Ship It”.

2. Give yourself a deadline to finish your work. When your time runs out You’re Done. Get it out the door. Get used to doing what you can in the time you have given yourself.
3. Track the results of your Imperfection with your customers. Get feedback. Determine if they are ok with what you’ve done or not. Satisfy yourself that you CAN produce good work in less time.

In business there is no such thing as The “Right Answer”. It’s what people are prepared to accept. Solutions to 6 decimal places have no role here.

Round up or down and get on with it. Ponder no longer.

Cheers,
Roy
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Posted 1.2.12 at 05:00 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)