What is the Secret to Business Success?

Is your business already killing it this year or have you fallen behind and now have some steep hills to climb as you get back on track?

Or maybe a better question is, do you know where you are really at?

It may be possible that you are not measuring the proper indicators or that the tools that you are using to measure your results are not giving you the “story behind the story.”

One of the secrets to business success is knowing what to measure and how to interpret the results!

For this post, I will assume that you have selected the correct indicator. So the question that we need to address is; “How will you report, view, and interpret this key indicator?”

Although there are many answers to this question, one great solution is to use a Rolling 12 Month Trend report.

Rolling 12 Month Trend

How To Be Amazing And Make The Sale

Customer first service mantras have been around so long that we are sick of hearing about them . . . until we personally go through a new dismal customer service experience and are reminded how important the customer experience really is!

The truth is that business leaders must not only build a customer centric culture in their organization but they must constantly maintain this culture. It only takes one bad experience to tarnish a company’s reputation which can take years to rebuild!

My Honda Experience

WTF?: What’s the Future and Why It’s Up to Us

The book review for this week is What’s the Future by Tim O’Reilly.

O’Reilly outlines the process he uses to understand and successfully identify developing trends that will make an impact in the future. He explains how to build this set of tools and mindset in yourself and in your organization. There are many great examples and personal stories provided to illustrate the concepts that he is teaching.

The last section of the book identifies a number of societal shaking trends that are developing and how we can position ourselves and our businesses to leverage these trends successfully.

My takeaway from this book is what O’Reilly calls the business model map for the new economy which consists of the following seven components outlined below and shown in his graphic:

How to Boost Your Business with a Powerful Tool!

Every now and then you come across tool or a process that provides a ton of value in a simple and effective package. This tool or process is easy to understand, easy to integrate into your existing systems, and it provides an extraordinary level of value to you and your business.

The EAC – ITD chart is one of these tools. You need to leverage this tool into your business! Download it from the Business Tools tab on my website.

The Tool

I originally built this tool as a method to track project health when I was responsible for overseeing a large portfolio of projects. It is a simple little graph that tells you right away if your project managers really understand their projects and if their projects are going to meet the organization’s financial expectations.

So, what is it and how does it work?

What I Learned in 2017 and Why It Is Critical to Your Success

This past year was a great year of learning for me! Transitioning out of the big corporate world into my own business consulting has given me the opportunity to adjust my “point of reference” and to see the world from yet another very valuable perspective!

In addition to this monster change, I was also able to either consult or serve in a board role in two not-for-profit organizations, a landscape company, a drywall company, a home renovation company, an equipment sales company, and a start-up engineering company. In the middle of all this, I started a Mastermind Group of senior level business leaders.

It was definitely a year full of change, learning, and growth!

And, as I have in done previous years, this post shares my biggest lessons learned over the past year.

What I Learned in 2017

The most important things I learned in 2017 are: