http://www.financealley.com en-us editorial@financealley.com The Ben Franklin Program for Focusing on What's Important. Here's a curious question: Do all your daily efforts push your business towards your objectives? For most businesses, the answer is no - executives and employees s... http://www.financealley.com/article_36725_15.html 16th March 2006 Rather than view strategy as a selection of options, here is another approach: creation or invention. Strategic planning is not strategy Strategic Planning, often synonymous with Annual Planning, details how you are going to get ... http://www.financealley.com/article_36722_15.html 16th March 2006 Back in the 19th century, an Italian economist quantified the general relationship between a minority of producers and a majority of output. Sound familiar? The simplified version of Vilfredo Pareto's ratio, known as the 80/20 rule or the Pareto Principle... http://www.financealley.com/article_36719_15.html 16th March 2006 How much time do you spend just thinking? Take a guess - how much during any given day, week or month? I'm don't mean the kind of thinking you do while driving in your car, commuting on the train, during your morning run, or even in the shower. I'm referr... http://www.financealley.com/article_36718_15.html 16th March 2006 Like many of my clients, I am always looking for ways to speed things up - to produce more results with the same or even fewer resources. We probably agree on this. The key is certainly not about working harder; it may not even be about working smarter. B... http://www.financealley.com/article_36717_15.html 16th March 2006 Many entrepreneurs and executives play the role of Chief Cook and Bottle Washer on the job. They feel that it is their responsibility to do everything and anything to expand their business. Although this is often appropriate in start-ups, there comes a ti... http://www.financealley.com/article_36716_15.html 16th March 2006 If you can't track it, don't do it. Every high-performance venture needs a tracking system. A tracking system with well-designed metrics lets everyone know how well they are doing relative to their commitments. It is a guide t... http://www.financealley.com/article_36714_15.html 16th March 2006 "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." -- George Bernard Shaw, Maxims for Revolutionists It is probably ... http://www.financealley.com/article_36713_15.html 16th March 2006 How can you get more done? Can you really do more than you already do? Is there still room left on your plate for even one more thing? The truth is I don't know anyone (successful) who has too little to do. Not one of my many clients--nor any of my fr... http://www.financealley.com/article_36712_15.html 16th March 2006 Have you ever had a terrific idea which you didn't act on? Of course you have. I don't mean anything fancy either. Nothing earth-shattering. Just a plain old-fashioned good idea which would have made you more money. But you didn't get moving on it. Oh ... http://www.financealley.com/article_36711_15.html 16th March 2006 Let's talk about values... Yours. What kind? Family values, personal values, corporate values. So what are values - and why are they important to creating breakthroughs? Values are things we strive to gain or keep. They are the expressi... http://www.financealley.com/article_36710_15.html 16th March 2006 Do you ever try to predict the future? Are you usually right, or wrong? If so, then read on. Can you predict the future of your industry? Can you predict the future of your business? No one can say with certainty what will happen next week mu... http://www.financealley.com/article_36709_15.html 16th March 2006 Want to make an immediate and dramatic increase in the overall performance of your company? Try creating a set of Specific Measurable Results (SMR) for each department or functional unit. Specific Measurable Results? Of course, your sales force has the... http://www.financealley.com/article_36451_15.html 15th March 2006 Most discussions of management and leadership talk about what to do to help people be their best. Here are six ways executives and entrepreneurs routinely do the opposite. 1)They don't provide a vision for the company. Today, m... http://www.financealley.com/article_36428_15.html 15th March 2006 Many entrepreneurs have worked their way into a box. They started a businesses to provide freedom, but in reality what they have is job plus financial risk. They have placed themselves at the center of their business universe, and although in theory th... http://www.financealley.com/article_36337_15.html 15th March 2006 I'm amazed at how each year slips by just a little more quickly. Only a few weeks ago I was running the San Juan River in Utah - blazing sunshine and ninety degrees in the shade. Now it's Fall already. And hey, I live in Southern California - in some p... http://www.financealley.com/article_36281_15.html 15th March 2006 New Year's is a good time for strategic planning or re-planning your business. But don't think that's the only time. If you feel the need to re-consider your strategic plan - by all means - go ahead. Whatever time of the year it is, you h... http://www.financealley.com/article_36214_15.html 15th March 2006 "Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity. " - General George S. Patton Many people think they have too many important things to do, but thats not the real problem. The real problem is eit... http://www.financealley.com/article_36213_15.html 15th March 2006 A provocation for the coming year, decade, century or millennium. It's a cliche of executive life: you don't have time to do everything. Whether you use little slips of paper, a planner, scheduling software or a Palm Pilot, all attempts at... http://www.financealley.com/article_36211_15.html 15th March 2006 Here's a provocation for the coming year, decade, century or millennium. By now, you've set a working direction for the year, established clear-cut objectives. Your first-iteration plan to reach them should be in place. This n... http://www.financealley.com/article_36209_15.html 15th March 2006 Need more business? Who doesn't? Thankfully, new business is pretty easy to get, but you do have to do something to get it. Usually something you aren't currently doing. Here are 25 ways you can bring in more business, and if you do things right, more... http://www.financealley.com/article_36208_15.html 15th March 2006 How much of your marketing is reaching your prospects where it counts? Are they acting upon your call to action? Are they thinking about your message - at least a little bit? Are they even reading it, at all? A lot of what passes for advertising an... http://www.financealley.com/article_36206_15.html 15th March 2006 Once you get your streamlined sales force up to speed, it's going to need more people to talk to. You already have a lead generation program in place. But is it working? Is it sufficient? Probably not, otherwise you wouldn't be reading an article calle... http://www.financealley.com/article_36204_15.html 15th March 2006 Rest assured that no matter how smart you are, you do not know everything about marketing. You don't even know anything about marketing your product! You can't figure everything out yourself, or see all the angles, or provide every bit of critical thinkin... http://www.financealley.com/article_36202_15.html 15th March 2006 Are you planning your business or are you planning your growth? If you are like many high-performing business people, you have an annual ritual to set your plans for the coming twelve months. Some people do it in December, others at weird, miscellaneo... http://www.financealley.com/article_36200_15.html 15th March 2006 In the first part of this series we looked at the effect prices have on profits. A change to the upside can have a wonderful effect on profits while reckless discounting and careless price reductions will surely have a disastrous one. If you don't fully ... http://www.financealley.com/article_36199_15.html 15th March 2006 Promoting risk taking and eliminating fear of failure. It would be a mistake to try to avoid all mistakes. Indeed, it would be a colossal blunder to attempt doing things right the first time, every time. In today's light spe... http://www.financealley.com/article_36190_15.html 15th March 2006 A step-by-step guide to creating a growth strategy based on your current situation and future possibilities. I'll bet you think you already have a strategy. And well you may, but strategy as a concept is just like love: much used and little unders... http://www.financealley.com/article_36189_15.html 15th March 2006 How to Create Strategies That Work In Today's Markets. Of course you've heard that when you do what you've always done, you'll likely get what you've always got. In this case that means playing the tactical game: coming up wi... http://www.financealley.com/article_36181_15.html 15th March 2006 Strategic philanthropy is a unique and powerful way to combine your company's marketing goals with a your desire to increase the well-being of mankind. We call it strategic philanthropy. Two of the more popular names are cause -related marketing or com... http://www.financealley.com/article_36177_15.html 15th March 2006 Aren't you tired of sitting around waiting for something to finally happen? I just got off the phone talking with my friend James. We spoke about how his business was doing, and I asked what he planned on earning this year. His response surprised me: ... http://www.financealley.com/article_36176_15.html 15th March 2006 What does an old Russian joke have to do with getting new business? Did you increase your business in the past 12 months? Don't discriminate between more new clients or old clients spending more money--count the increase either way. If you didn't, you... http://www.financealley.com/article_36174_15.html 15th March 2006 Right about now, you've made the discovery that if you intend to push your company beyond its current plateau, you will have to change the way you relate to your work. You have doubtlessly concluded this next level mandates you to let go of things like hi... http://www.financealley.com/article_36173_15.html 15th March 2006 (Note, although this article was written in early 2002, it is totally relevant. Right now.) About three weeks ago I was surprised by this headline in the morning paper: "Fed says September 11th hurt economy." Wow! "What did I miss here?" W... http://www.financealley.com/article_36172_15.html 15th March 2006 A step-by-step program for creating a strategic plan and tactical plan guaranteed to help you get more of what you want done. You are pursuing a strategy en route to your vision. Whether it is revolutionary or evolutionary does not matter. ... http://www.financealley.com/article_36168_15.html 15th March 2006 First decide what you really want to do. What would make work worth working at and life worth living. Then figure out how to do it. Most people look to what they know they CAN do as a guide to what they WILL do; I think to get anything important d... http://www.financealley.com/article_36155_15.html 15th March 2006 Good people are hard to find, the saying goes. For example, by the year 2000 over 190,000 computer programmer and other information technology jobs will be vacant, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report. (This is now a bit out of date, and altho... http://www.financealley.com/article_36154_15.html 15th March 2006 As a business coach I have written a great deal about building a higher performance venture, creating breakthroughs, inventing the future, and generally moving faster than the speed of change -- or at the very least -- moving faster than your competitors.... http://www.financealley.com/article_36153_15.html 15th March 2006 "The world we've made, as a result of the level of thinking we have done thus far, creates problems we cannot solve at the same level of thinking" - Albert Einstein Runaway success is never based on incremental improvement. I know this is a ve... http://www.financealley.com/article_36151_15.html 15th March 2006 10 Tips for having effective boards Customer Advisory Boards are a great source of information about your market and your business. Their advice is more valuable than any management consultant's. They provide real world counsel o... http://www.financealley.com/article_36149_15.html 15th March 2006 Last month, I wrote about positioning your company to attract and keep top performers. One very effective way to do both is to compensate your key employees with equity. Performance pay has become a critical factor in keeping top talent; combine it wit... http://www.financealley.com/article_36144_15.html 15th March 2006 Last week, one of my clients—we'll call him Rick—had a demo scheduled with a prospect. The standard "show up and throw up" they typically did early in the sales cycle. Trying to shorten the sales cycle, I asked naively, "Why does the customer want to b... http://www.financealley.com/article_36141_64.html 15th March 2006 As part of my continuing series on Value and Pricing, the following article shows you how to position your company's value contribution to support the highest value-for-value exchange. Too many business owners, when asked about the val... http://www.financealley.com/article_36140_15.html 15th March 2006 Have you ever heard the expression, "Throwing good money after bad?" Have you ever worked on something you knew was a bad idea, yet continued to pour time and energy into it? And every time you tried to stop yourself from going forward, you said, "but ... http://www.financealley.com/article_28325_15.html 09th February 2006 I just got off the phone with a friend of mine. Business is up he said, but he didn't know why. I asked him a few questions, but the more we spoke about it the more concerned I became. "What do you mean, you don't know why they're buying?" "We never... http://www.financealley.com/article_15097_15.html 11th November 2005 I have a friend named Gene, a serial entrepreneur who currently runs a software business. Like many people, last year was a tough one for his company. They survived largely by providing add-on services to existing customers - a decent response to difficul... http://www.financealley.com/article_15015_15.html 11th November 2005 You've made an unusual discovery - there's not enough time left at the end of the day. The corollary, of course, is your list of important things to do never gets smaller. In any company, the CEO's to-do list has the potential to grow infinitely. What'... http://www.financealley.com/article_15010_15.html 11th November 2005 A few weeks ago I asked my readers what the most important issue was in their business. Hundreds responded with a variety of answers, but one of the most common was, "How do I get everything that needs doing done?" Happily, I have an answer for this qu... http://www.financealley.com/article_15007_15.html 11th November 2005 It's the oldest sales tactic in the world... And one of the worst... Price cutting. Before you make your next price cut in the face of sales resistance, the question you have to ask yourself is not, "Does it work?," but rather, "Can you live w... http://www.financealley.com/article_15006_15.html 11th November 2005 Remember Chux? The disposable diaper that took the market by storm in 1932? Of course you don't. Chux saw its product as a luxury item, and happily kept its little throwaway business to itself for almost forty years. Then Pampers came along in the 196... http://www.financealley.com/article_14923_15.html 11th November 2005