5 Questions You Should Ask Yourself Right Now

"People who have too many distractions to actually do any real work are in that bind because they haven't invested enough time, effort or risk in their people, their organization and their processes." 

- Seth Godin

Five Questions You Should Ask Yourself Right Now

Borrowing from a Vern Harnish article, recently in Fortune Magazine, here are my 5. I'll give you a bonus #6:

1. Write down each employee on a piece of paper. Now ask yourself: "If each one of my employees walked in today and quit how hard would I fight to keep him/her?"
   
   A 10 would be "give it all you got" and 1 would be "man I'm happy about that". (This a theoretical question, as we know employees that come in to quit are usually already gone and trying to bribe them into staying usually doesn't work out over the long run).
   
   Any less than 6, you better start building your Virtual Bench (watch this 25 minute presentation), if you don't have one already. People, A Players in every position, is the single biggest factor in leading a great company. I cannot stress enough how important this is to a company's success and to building a company that does not rely on you to make it work every minute of every day.

"There's something rare, something finer far, something much more scarce than ability. It's the ability to recognize ability..."
 

- Elbert Hubbard

2. Who is your Ideal Customer/Prospect?
   
   Do you have a written document that profiles them? The Markets, Size, Characteristics, Wants and Needs and Pains and Fears they have in common?
   
   If not, you will never be able to create an effective marketing and sales plan and the messaging that goes with it. People don't care about you or your company, they care about themselves and you need to understand them to be able to effectively communicate with them.
   
   Not everyone out there is an Ideal Customer because not everyone values what you do in your own unique way. Profitably growing companies are built on the foundation of ideal customers.
   
   "If you want to be the best in the world - make your world smaller."
                                               - Seth Godin
   
   "Defining my Ideal Customer was the single most important thing I did. Once we knew that we focused on people just like them and our growth and profitability took off."
                                            - Keith Koetting
3. What can I do to double and triple the number of conversations the company has with prospects and customers on a daily basis?
   
   Wake up! The customers/prospects aren't like they were even 5 years ago. They come to you much more educated and knowledgeable about you and your products and services. Even in markets where we all believe "you have to meet them face-to-face, do demos, etc.", there is a place for Inside Sales People. They can double and triple the good "conversations" your company has each day and work in tandem with your outside people. Think how much you could increase your sales if you tripled the number of conversations your company had with customers and prospects every day.
   
    
4. Are we following up and executing ideas, solutions, plans as a company? I believe strongly this is the big problem of all businesses.
    
   Are you getting too busy, starting and stopping and forgetting about projects and actions you know you need to finish? If you are, don't feel like the lone ranger. A recent Harvard study found 85% of companies fail to execute their plans. What process do you need to start using to ensure you are in the other 15% that do it well?

5. Have you set and communicated key goals (measurable ones, numbers or ratios) for the business to everyone on the team?
   
   Do you track and discuss the results on a weekly or biweekly basis with the team? If you don't set goals for the company and your team, no one else will. See #3 above - if you don't take action to reach those goals they will end up as dreams. 
6. Bonus - Who are the 20 people we need to build a relationship with this year that can have a major impact on our revenues and profits?
   
   Write them down. They could be prospects, customers, a banker, accountant, consultant, non-competing owners in your industry, etc. Start scheduling some lunches and start building those relationships.

Regards,

Rick