Knowing your market

No matter what business you are in, it is essential that you know your market.  If you are in sales, you need to know what your customers are interested in and capable of buying.  If service is your business, it is necessary to know what services your customers want and can afford.

It is not enough to simply state your goals at the beginning of the year claiming that you will increase sales by 10% or 20% without a roadmap of where the sales will be because of the needs of your customers.  Don't plan to sell a $20,000 product or service to customers that are only capable of buying $5,000 things.

If you are a manager of an organization or a teacher, the same rules apply.  You must know your market and know what they want, need, and are capable of acquiring.  Then and only then can you set about achieving your goals.

I would call this market intelligence and this kind of information needs to be observed, recorded, and passed on to other members of your organization.  Your marketing plan, sales plan, and management plan must be based on the knowledge of your market.

From a Business Perspective

I have learned many things during my 30-plus years in private enterprise aka business.  One important lesson is that it takes a business perspective to run a business.

In its simplest formula, you have to ask, how much revenue will be make at this enterprise and what will it cost us to do it.  The difference is what we commonly refer to as EBITDA, or earnings, or -simply stated - profit.

Without profit, you really don't have a business enterprise, you just have a activity.  I have had many mentors actually in my business career but the best one is probably the one who goes by the name Common Sense.  After all, we do live in a capitalist free enterprise system - a good one too - and the rules are fairly simple.  Make a profit. 

Making a profit, while sometimes it costs jobs, is also a provider of jobs.  Maintaining a profitable enterprise does preserve some jobs.  It also preserves your business.

20 Mile Marches

Fanatic discipline sounds kind of bad. In the book Great By Choice by Jim Collins, co-author of Good to Great, fanatic discipline is one of the foundations of a sustainable great companies.

But, it is good in the context of a 20 Mile March. This is an anaolgy of a walking trip from San Diego to Maine by taking 20 miles per day and toleratiing no less but venturing no more each day. If a company sets a 20 Mile March goal for the performance of their company and tolerate no less even in difficult economic times, then they have an excellent opportunity to become a 10Xer, a high performer in this book's description.

If a company or organization can set an attainable goal for every year, do everything in their power to reach it and never rest until they get there, this is a fanatic discipline, one that leads to financial success.

More to come.

Keep on learning

In my study of sell-improvement ideas and concepts, one theme that is clearly obvious is that continuous learning is essential in both your professional life and personal life. One example for me is that I knew that I needed to learn how to use social media because it is only growing and expanding as a communication source.

Another technology that has become so prevelant is the usage of tablet devices. I have been using an IPad for about three weeks and I will say that it is a game changer. The laptop was nice but the tablet has replaced it.

Adapting to technology is part of continuous learning and this is why I reccommend it.

Great by Choice by Jim Collins

Ever since I read Good to Great by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras several years ago, I have commented that it is the best business book that I have every read, and I mean it. In this book, there are many key strategic business concepts explained.

I specifically remember Getting the Right People on the Bus, The Stockdale Paradox, Level 5 Leadership, and The Hedgehog Theory. I have thought about and tried to apply these concepts ever since reading (and listening to) the book. Now I am reading Great by Choice (and on my IPad of all things) and I love the book so far and I love reading on the IPad.

Early in the book, three new concepts (new to me at least) are introduced and they are Productive Paranoia, Empirical Creativity, and Fanatic Discipline. In this book, similar to Good to Great, there are comparisons between very successful companies referred to as 10Xers and their comparison companies.

I will be adding more later.

The IPad is a really handy tool

I am fortunate to have a new IPad. I am learning more about it every day as it is a very useful tool. I am an active user of Social Media for business and this new tool allows me to have increased access to Twitter, Facebook, and this blog. In fact I am entering this post on my IPad.

Here is a very amateur video that I took with the IPad. While it is not good quality content, it demonstrates the ease of use.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD8KFsAtC1o

I hope to continue finding more ways to be productive with my new IPad. I recommend giving it a try.

Communication continues to change

I have heard it said that we are moving to a post-PC world. The argument can be made that tablets have become more popular than PCs.

That may not be the case yet. However, the tablet device with apps sure make it easy to access informaton and locations on the web that previously could only be accessed through the internet.

It seems to be moving in that direction and the continual improvement of the IPad really helps. That is where this message is being input.