Is Your Leadership The Excuse?

When Frank and I first met, he expressed concern that his company’s growth strategy was not achieving its goals because his organization was not acting in a coordinated manner to produce results. Once Frank refined his approach to this challenge, organizational behavior changed and strategy execution improved. Follow the link below to learn how Frank removed the behavior excuse. Leadership and management are not synonymous. Leadership is a mandatory ingredient of transformational change; management is …

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The Three Most Common No-Growth Excuses

When frustrated by lack of sales growth, business leaders tend to cite one of three excuses. To deal with the three most common no-growth excuses, try the following: “If we don’t offer the lowest price, we don’t get the order.” If you make no effort to learn about your customers’ business, and offer nothing novel or compelling to strengthen their competitive position, then they will focus on getting the lowest price from you.Your customers don’t …

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Three Drivers For No-Excuses Performance

“Love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness.” ~Sigmund Freud If work is such a significant part of our lives, why do so many of our employees see their jobs as a burden? Is it possible to build a business on passion and trust instead of fear and stress? Resolving the gap raised by these questions produces no-excuses job performance. A Gallup poll recently discovered the leading determinant of happiness. It isn’t wealth, or …

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The Peril of Vulnerability

To build trust with a customer or prospect, demonstrating a sense of vulnerability – seeking first to thoroughly understand rather than to recommend – is a productive method. But most business vulnerability can be destructive. If you are growing your business solely because you make a unique product, offer an exclusive service or do one thing very well, your business is vulnerable. Don’t bet your business on just the one component or skill that is …

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“They Won’t Buy…They Don’t Need Us”

Those who have not yet bought from you or your competitors are not waiting for a better product or service.  They’re not busy evaluating options 1 and 2 while waiting for 3. These prospects are not in the market right now.  They think they have everything under control and have no compelling challenges…at least none that’s worth the time and money they think would be required to resolve. To capture the attention of these folks, …

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The “Doing What We’ve Always Done” Excuse

Joe complained that his customers care only about getting the lowest price. “We struggle to be competitive and still offer more than our competition. But when push comes to shove, we do what we’ve always done and wind up negotiating only our pricing. We can’t grow by operating like this.” I asked why he was convinced that price was his customers’ primary decision driver. It turns out that Joe never asked his customers why low …

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Capitalism is Dead!

So began a conference that I recently attended. I knew the speaker was a committed capitalist, a co-founder of an investment capital firm and a staunch believer in the power of businesses to build sustainable value in a no-excuses manner, so what did he mean by proclaiming an end to capitalism? The speaker, Sunny Vanderbeck, co-founder of Satori Capital, quickly clarified that capitalism and the free-enterprise system continue to be the proven, most potent system …

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The Worst Excuse Ever Heard

  Bob Schultek Ben owns a services business and was convinced that the performance of his employees was the primary reason that his business had stopped growing. He believed that his employees cared only about how much they were being paid and that they should focus on doing their jobs the way he wanted them done. He saw no value in engaging with his folks or encouraging them to continue developing their skills. “If they …

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Are You The Excuse?

In our work, we hear many different excuses for why a business isn’t growing. Often, it’s the leader of the business who is the primary excuse. Why? Bill owns a small manufacturing business that provides some insight into why he was the main reason that his business was not achieving its growth goals. When Bill purchased the business, he had a vision for what he wanted to accomplish. After a few years of keeping his …

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Make Friends With Hephaestus

Hephaestus is the God of the forge, armorer to the Gods (Vulcan in the Roman Mythology), the forger of the armor of Achilles which is invincible and the creator of Athena’s shield which is invulnerable. Hephaestus works the magic of the smithy and produces the brightest, illumined arms from dross material. He works in the bowels of the operations. He is lame, having been dropped from heaven by his mother (Hera). So what business lessons …

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