I was looking back on the great ideas I have sent through the years; there are hundreds of them. Anyway, when reading through them, I came across one I sent from January of 2004; please read it right here and tell me what you think.

Are you ready?

Many signs that I have seen and read of late point to the economy picking up and finally recovering. My two businesses have done fine (we’re still going to hit our numbers!), but it does seem that folks have been hesitant to spend money like they have in years past. For my landscaping business, I firmly believe that this has to do with the stock market and what my clients and prospects feel comfortable spending. While I am not an economist, I do think things are on the upswing.

In the last week, these are some of the headlines I have read:

U. S. economy finally takes off

Best Growth Since Reagan Boosts Bush

7.2% Gross Domestic Product;
Annual Rate of change since 1980

Compelling Signs Of Resurgence
Dramatic Acceleration in Q3

Consumers and business both pitch in
to generate better-than-expected gain

Furthermore, the companies that provide temporary help are also picking up. My friend and client Doug Barry, CEO of Barry Staffing in Dayton, Ohio, says his business is booming and he is usually at the front end of a recovery in the economy. The thought is that firms bring in temps to fill the immediate need for production and this usually means things are getting better. Also, many firms are looking to temporary help more and more as they make economic sense. Temporary workers don’t get benefits and that alone makes them very attractive. Anyway, last week in Fortune magazine, Richard Curtin, an expert on researching consumer behavior, shared the findings of his work at the University of Michigan. Here’s the short version of what he has found:

He thinks that with all the new homes that have been built in the last few years, consumers will be out to purchase things for those homes. He also thinks that vacations will be taken and sees many dollars being put in that category. His conclusion is based on consumer confidence. Americans are starting to feel better about their job security and future potential income.

While Curtin acknowledges there is a lot of consumer debt, he says that as long as people have jobs and are optimistic about their future, they will not be as concerned about debt.

He sees no reason to be concerned and thinks that the economy is headed in the right direction, or at least that’s what his research shows.

What matters most are jobs. If people have jobs, they will spend money and will borrow money for big purchases. So, if I were you and I owned a landscaping, remodeling company, or any other type of business that sells to homeowners or business owners, I would be ready for a good 2004. I really think you’re going to see some folks willing to spend money. And that gets back to the basic ingredient to succeeding in business –GREAT SERVICE! While the struggling economy may have put some poor performers out of business, there are still a lot of options for your client’s money, so you better be ready! Be honest, would you be completely impressed with the service your company offers if you had to hire them? If the answer is no, then you’ve got some work to do!

What do I think this means 8 years later? Today the lack of jobs is a much bigger problem than it was in 2004, but much remains the same. So, we must conclude that some things never really change; stick with it, folks; good service helps; GREAT SERVICE makes them come back for more. And I do think there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic for 2012, but you can’t sit around; you have to get to work, as when you do nothing, what happens? Nothing!

So, this week, make some phone calls to some old clients. Take a good client to lunch and ask them if they know someone you could do business with. I don’t care what action you take, but take some action. Make that phone ring; don’t wait for it to ring!

The more things seem to change, the more they seem to stay the same; too many of us know what we should do to make our businesses successful, but sadly, we just don’t do it! Go do it, folks, and do it NOW!

Last week I shared some great ideas from my pal Mark Sanborn; this week, I reach out to another brilliant friend who is a heck of a teacher – Joe Calloway. Recently I have come across a lot of people who proclaim to be “branding” experts. I am not sure people really understand what a brand is, or what branding is. One person who understands what a brand is is Joe.

Read this most recent work from him. It’s fantastic and will help you. Let’s have a discussion; what is a brand? What does that word mean? Here’s Joe:

You don’t win because of your strategy. You win because your culture made your strategy work.

Some people look at employee engagement as a project…something that they need to occasionally do.

If employee engagement is a “project” to you, then it’s doomed to fail.

Is employee engagement important enough to demand your constant time and attention? Some make the mistake of thinking that engagement is part of that “soft stuff” that they don’t have time for. Hey – that “soft stuff” is what drives your bottom line. Get your culture wrong and you don’t have a chance.

I recently talked with two masters of building great cultures and employee engagement, Scott Kriscovich and Heather Scheiderer of TrueBridge Resources.

Here are 10 great ideas on engagement that emerged from our conversation:

1. It’s about being engaged. Engagement isn’t something you “do” – it’s something you are.
2. It’s not about acting like you’re interested. It’s about being interested. There’s a difference.
3. Don’t underestimate the value of the water cooler. It’s where relationships get developed by just talking about things every day.
4. You can do our business virtually, but we’re big on being present. Technology is great, but unless you are physically in the same space, it’s hard to get past the business piece and get to forming relationships.
5. If you are physically present, you can sense that someone is struggling. That’s when you can show that you care.
6. As a leader, do my actions and interactions reinforce our purpose? Engage by example.
7. You have to take the pulse of your people all the time.
8. When we hire, we look for people who demonstrate characteristics that show they engage with others naturally. The people who we’ve hired who didn’t show those characteristics – didn’t work out. When we hire that way then engagement becomes self-perpetuating.
9. One of our challenges is our growth, which is good. But the accompanying complexities make it even more important to be sure we’re engaging all employees at every level and be mindful of it.
10. Look again at idea #1 – it’s about being engaged. Engagement isn’t something you “do” – it’s something you are.

What does your culture drive?

Thanks, Joe. You always have great information to share!

PS – Don’t forget you can sign up now for the Selling Symposium in Dayton, March 23, 2012. It is a small group experience where we will focus only on Selling and how to do it better for 2012. Check the website for the details and if you have any questions, please call the office and if I’m in town, I’ll be glad to talk to you personally.

Do your people read your marketing? That’s somewhat of a silly question but I run into companies all the time that don’t seem to have their own team read their marketing or understand the mission and the vision. You have to share what you are trying to do with the people that can help you get there. If you don’t, you run the risk of clients saying, “They aren’t who they say they are,” and then they lose trust in you and when trust is lost, you are in big trouble.

Recently I was at a grocery store with my family to get pizzas for dinner. They make great ones. My son asked for a pepperoni pizza; the clerk said, “Sorry, we’re out of pepperoni.” I found that odd but I was tired and didn’t say anything. When we sat down to eat the pizza at the store, my youngest daughter said, “Dad, how can they be out of pepperoni? It’s a grocery store!” She was right; they were out of the upscale pepperoni but sell tons of other kinds in a case. So, yes, they could have made Grant a pepperoni pizza if they were thinking. Yeah, I’m being tough. But there’s a point I’ll get to in a minute.

That same day two hours earlier, my wife was frustrated beyond belief when the clerk at the drugstore she went to to get some passport photos taken said, “We can’t do any photos; we lost the memory card.” My wife left and went to another store. When we met at the library to get our passports, she told me they had to go two places to get the photos because the first store lost the memory card for the small camera they use. She said she didn’t understand that as that store sells memory cards for the camera they use to take the passport photos. Gee whiz, ladies and gentlemen.

Here’s the lesson. We have to teach our team what we are trying to do. And you have to do it with passion, clarity, and exactness. No lip service! The young lady making pizzas at the grocery store should have thought to offer the lesser quality pepperoni for my son on his pizza but she didn’t. The lady at the drugstore should have thought about the memory cards for sale 20 feet from where she was standing but she didn’t. We can’t expect our people to always think of these things; we have to teach them to think like this and you do this by saying things like, “Take care of the customer; do whatever you need to do up to $25 without asking me to make sure they are happy.” Or something along these lines. Train them to think, trust them and then brag about their efforts to the whole team so the rest of your folks see the examples of the things you expect your people to do.

It takes time to get an organization full of people who think; it takes time to have a culture that fosters and empowers a team to take care of the client. How about starting on that quest today?!

My Great Idea this week comes from my pal best selling author Mark Sanborn. I have read a lot of pieces on business in the last year; this piece written by Mark on the “Best Brands” is the best I have seen. Please take a moment and read it and, by all means, sign up for his weekly ezine. Thanks, Mark.

(I started running this series at my blog (www.marksanborn.com/blog) and it has been so well received I will be featuring it in this and the next two ezines.)

What are the world’s leading brands and how do they achieve that leadership? Are there lessons that we mere mortals can learn from the titans of global commerce?

Each year, publications like Forbes, Barron’s, and Money, and organizations like Interbrand and BrandZ, compile rankings of the most admired, respected, and popular brands in the world. Looking back over the various 2011 rankings, I started to think about what goes into brand leadership and what we can learn from it.

For starters, I noticed that a few companies turned up on every list even though each ranking uses a different methodology. For example, Barron‘s polls investors while Money surveys business people and Interbrand, like BrandZ, measures brand value to consumers. Of course, it makes sense that investors would value a brand that’s attractive to consumers. But the lists are not identical, so there’s more to it than that.

What are the real “uber-brands”? Well, the list probably won’t surprise you – top brands are always and obviously familiar names. Apple, Google, Coca-Cola, and McDonald’s turned up on every top-10 list I reviewed. Apple was ranked number one on most lists and Google was in everyone’s top 5. Microsoft and IBM were included on every list but one. Amazon ranked highly, too, and was the fastest riser on most lists.

So, a current master list of top brands looks like this:

• Apple
• Google
• Coca-Cola
• McDonald’s
• Microsoft
• IBM
• Amazon

One temptation would be to notice the prevalence of tech companies. However, a successful tech company doesn’t automatically create a top brand. Remember Atari, Compaq, and Wang? Moreover, companies like Apple, Amazon, and Google are not merely tech companies, they are among the world’s leading entertainment and content brands. On the flip side, McDonald’s is now one of the leading Wi-Fi hotspot providers in the world.

For me, what ties these brand leaders together are the common threads of continuous innovation and an astute feel for consumer sensibilities. These companies are continually changing, growing, and improving – that’s the innovation part. And they always seem to grow in a direction that appeals to consumers. Specifically, consumers today increasingly want to see “passion before profits.” By that I mean that while consumers surely appreciate value and success in a brand, they also prefer responsible corporate citizens with sustainable and healthy products and practices; they respond to sleek design and ease of use; and they will line up for excellence in quality and customer service.

Believe it or not, even investors rank some of these qualities ahead of profits. In the Barron’s survey, investors ranked business strategy, ethics, competitive distinction, and quality of management over revenue and profits when sizing up top brands.

In the case of Apple, Google, and Amazon, success has been meteoric following some bold innovations. In the case of McDonald’s and Coke, the story has been more about maintaining brand status by continuously adapting to changing consumer needs.

In Part Two of What Leaders Can Learn from the World’s Best Brands, we’ll look at some of the specific innovative strategies and “passion before profits” principles that have guided these brands to the top. In Part Three, we’ll look at the leadership of these companies and their stewardship of the world’s best brands.

Matt Caruso
www.decrascape.com

This week’s Great Idea comes from Matt Caruso who will be at GROW! 2012 for the entire three days to teach and share with you.

HOW CAN YOU CREATE THE VISION OF YOUR COMPANY?

I like many of you am a practitioner. I am out there every day just like you are working hard to create the vision of my company, Decra-Scape, Inc. I understand what it takes to be in the trenches and go at the everyday challenges we as business owners face head on. It’s not easy being at the top, and there are not many people out there that understand the challenges we do face on a regular basis as business owners or key players in our organizations.

At GROW! 2012 you will be surrounded by achiever mind set individuals that are looking for new and invigorating ways to propel their businesses forward. Now while what I may be sharing is not rocket science, new, or even earth shattering, it may, most certainly, be something you haven’t thought of; it might, quite simply, be reinforcement to what you already practice in your business; it may be just the solution you were looking for to complete something strategic you are working on right now; or it may be the gateway into a new endeavor you are looking to tackle. Either way I would be hard pressed to believe that there isn’t something in it for you. If nothing else, you will meet some great people that are willing to share their experiences to help you grow your business and you theirs. I have met some great people through the years at these events who have become great friends too.

I will personally be sharing some of the things we do at DSI to hire, develop and retain our key people. At DSI we have a big vision; DSI has become a reproducible entity that creates premier hardscape systems that work. In order to achieve such a big hairy audacious goal, you need great people. However, if you have experienced anything like I have over the years of building my business, you too may have found that great people are hard to come by. So, at DSI we rely on systems. That is what I will be sharing with you at this year’s awesome GROW! 2012 event.

I certainly hope to see you there…Matt!

Marty’s note: Do you know how you are going to create the vision for your own company? Do you know how to get the right people on your team? These ideas alone are worth your registration cost. Invest in yourself. Come to GROW! 2012 in Dayton, from February 9-11 and hear Matt’s teaching. Sign up now! Thanks, Matt; you have been a valuable member of the MGI team and I couldn’t do this without your help!

Larry Winget, author,
You’re Broke Because You Want To Be

This week’s Great Idea comes from Larry Winget who will be at GROW! 2012 for Friday’s VIP dinner and Saturday morning.

We all talk a pretty good game. We say the right words either to impress ourselves or others. The problem is that most people don’t follow through with the actions to make their words come to fruition. In fact, our actions often contradict our words completely. We say we want to be successful in business, yet don’t call people back immediately, don’t show up on time, don’t give service that is beyond expectations and sometimes, we aren’t even nice! How do you become successful doing that? You don’t. Your words don’t really matter much; it’s your actions that will determine your success! Get your actions in alignment with your words. Want more of the real truth about what it takes to be successful? Come to GROW 2012 and we’ll talk about it. See you there!

Marty’s note: Think about what Larry said. How do you plan on becoming successful in 2012? One way to start would be to come to Dayton from February 9-11 and see what you can learn about changing your business for the better for this year. Sign up now! Thanks, Larry; I can’t wait until we hear you speak in Dayton!

Joe Calloway, author
Becoming A Category of One

This week’s Great Idea comes from Joe Calloway who will be spending all 3 days of GROW! 2012 with us.

You’re over-thinking it. You’re banging your head against the wall trying to figure out how to “think outside the box” and come up with a “WOW Factor” that will differentiate you from your competition. “What can I do that’s really different and exotic that no one else is doing?  Hmmmmm……”

You want a WOW Factor? Here’s the ultimate WOW Factor:  deliver on the customer’s most basic expectations better than everyone else and do it every single time.

The sad, cold, hard truth is that people and companies who are chasing the wild goose of WOW Factor are doing it because they can’t win on the basics. Because they can’t differentiate on price, quality, delivery, or service, they have to find a gimmick that they hope will pull their butt out of the competitive fire and win customers.

Thinking outside the box is all well and good. But here’s the deal:  if you win INSIDE the box – if you can actually do a better job on your customers’ basic expectations – you win it all. Game over. You get all the money and you live happily ever after.

You may be thinking, “No, Joe, it can’t be that simple.”  YES!  It is that simple. The reason you’re not doing it is because it’s not easy. In fact, it’s hard as heck to be better on the basics than the other guy. But it’s where you get your greatest return.

Look at Zappos.com. Their sales are over a billion dollars a year. Their customers are wild, raving fans. And here’s where they win:  speed of delivery, free shipping, a great return policy, and fantastic customer service from their call center. They win inside the box. Nothing exotic. Nothing edgy.

B-A-S-I-C-S.

Want more?  In-N-Out Burgers (great hamburgers and sparkling clean restrooms), FedEx (dependable delivery), Southwest Airlines (low fares, friendly employees), and the list goes on and on.

List the three to five most basic things that your customers expect from you. Pick one. Improve your performance on that basic expectation by 20%. Then move on to the next expectation and improve on that by 20%. Do this constantly and forever.

You win. Game over. We’ll carry on this discussion and many more at GROW! 2012; see you there!

Marty’s note: What a great idea! You need to sign up for GROW! 2012 today and come to Dayton to spend time with Joe Calloway and Larry Winget so you’ll be prepared to make 2012 your best year ever.

At our upcoming GROW! 2012 conference, we’re going to focus on the 3 most important things we feel entrepreneurs need to work on right now. They are as follows:

• Get More Sales
• Finding the Right People
• Being More Efficient

Let’s talk briefly about each one.

Get More Sales. Sales are to a company what gasoline is to a car. You must have sales to move an entity forward. So the question becomes: how do I do that? One quick idea would be to call on your current clients, the folks who have helped you get your business where it is today and see if all their needs have been fulfilled. Chances are they have not. And, please, don’t laugh at the simplicity of this idea. I’m going to bet you my 401K, every single person reading this Great Idea, including me, could improve in this area. Call and/or visit your clients and make certain you have exhausted all opportunities for sales with them before chasing after other prospects.

Finding the Right People. We all can find people. But can you find the “RIGHT” people? That’s the challenge. Finding the right people starts with having a profile of what you are looking for. Look at your current workforce. Your best people. Where do they live? Why do you like them? What are their hobbies? And so on. Get as much insight as you can so that you are able to paint a picture of what traits all future hires could or should possess. You cannot be successful in hiring without having a clear target of what you are looking for.

Being More Efficient. Man, I could talk for days on this topic. I think companies are so busy at times finding new work they lose focus on doing the work they have the best possible way. Here’s one simple idea. Get your people together for a brainstorming session. Ask them to come to a 30-minute meeting next week with any idea that can be implemented immediately that will save the company less than $50. Tell them if they can find 10 ideas that immediately save the company $50 each, you’ll buy everyone pizzas when the items have been accomplished. The logic here is to gain some momentum. I think it’s hard to go after big things until you have covered the small things, the low-hanging fruit.

If you liked these 3 ideas, wait till you see what we do and share with you at GROW! 2012. My teachers, Matt Caruso, Joe Calloway, and Larry Winget, are not the type of talent you see at your average seminar. Most of those are full of infomercials and people who haven’t had success themselves, yet think they can teach others. I don’t know about you but I’d rather not listen to a college professor who has never run a business in their life tell me what I should do with my business and hence my money. That’s advice and everyone has advice. What we all need is the voice of experience and that’s what GROW! 2012 is.

Sign up for GROW! 2012 today before we have a complete sellout!

As we start a new year, we all should focus on what we are going to work on to make 2012 better than 2011. You will hear some say New Year’s resolutions are worthless and so on and so forth. To be blunt, I think all that talk is silly. Now, one should never think they have to wait until the start of a new year to change habits or improve things; you can do that anytime, but if the turning over of a calendar motivates you to improve and change your ways for the better, that’s a good thing!

One of the best books I read in 2011 was Patrick Lecioni’s The 3 Big Questions for a Frantic Family. It’s a wonderful little book that speaks to something I’ve been saying for years. That something is my belief that we should use some of the things we learn at work at home. Anyway, I’m not going to share the whole book with you; let me just say if you have a family and you feel out of control at times, the book is a must read.

My accountability group that I run, Marty’s ACEs, read the book; and they loved it too. I made everyone in the group come up with a rallying cry, something Lencioni speaks of in the book. Just like a company needs a mission statement and/or some kind of focus for the season, families are well served to do the same. So, let me share with you my family’s rallying cry:

Spend more time together.

Sure, it’s simple, to the point. It’s easy to understand. My wife and I are going to work on this in 2012. Feel free to ask me how we’re doing as the year goes on. I hope you’ll read the book and I hope you’ll come up with a rallying cry for your family and, by all means, one for your business as well.

So, from my family to yours, Happy New Year and best wishes for a safe and prosperous 2012. I am really optimistic for this year and I think it’s going to be a good year for business…..I really do.

Look closely at this photo of a Grunder Landscaping Co shirt:

They fixed a button without being asked and for free!

What are you doing for your clients without being asked? What is something small you could do that would totally surprise your clients? Remember, you don’t want to give them a reason to go elsewhere.

By the way, I am not looking for a new dry cleaner and I don’t check their prices. Get it? If you do, you will make more money and lose less clients from this point on!

PS – Now that you know our special featured speaker for GROW! 2012, February 9-11, in Dayton, Ohio, what’s keeping you from signing up? Larry Winget AND Joe Calloway AND Matt Caruso AND Marty Grunder, all at one event! What more could you ask for? Sign up today! The price will go up on December 21st. We would love to see you at GROW! 2012.