Never Take on a Major Undertaking without Doing this Self-Assessment. (Part 3)

Before you begin a major venture, ask: (3) Do I have the skill, quality and ability to succeed? (Conclusion.)

Never Take on a Major Undertaking without Doing this Self-Assessment. (Part Two)

Before you begin a major venture, ask: (2) What is my motive for being involved? (To be continued.)

Never Take on a Major Undertaking without Doing this Self-Assessment. (Part One)

Before you begin a major venture, ask: (1) What experiences in my life indicate that I should be involved? (To be continued.)

You Need a Marketing Plan if You Can’t Answer “Yes” to These Questions: (It's Not Optional, Conclusion)

Test Yourself

You Need a Marketing Plan if You Can’t Answer “Yes” to These Questions:

Q. Do you have a detailed step-by-step plan for how you will succeed in the next 12 months?

Q. Have you defined what constitutes success by establishing measurable goals?

Q. Can you refer to a “game plan” when things get rough?

Q. Does your team know where they are headed and their specific responsibility to the organizations success?

Q. Do you have summary “talking points” that provide a rallying point that focus and motivate your team?

Q. Have you stepped back, gone on retreat, taken in the “big picture” and questioned your current level of performance?

If you can say “yes” then you have done your job.  If you cannot, consider seeking the help of a competent marketing consultant who can help you get the job done and allow you more time to focus on your day-to-day responsibilities. Doing so will help you meet the demands of leadership and get the added benefit of an outside look and a professional plan.  Do this and you will have Your Best Year Ever!

The Marketing Plan Allows for Top-Level Reflection: (It's Not Optional, Part 5)

The Marketing Plan Allows for Top-Level Reflection:

It is leadership’s job to paint the big picture so that everyone in the organization sees the destination.  It is essential that you question whether you are getting all you can out of your products and services, your sales staff, support staff and your markets. Writing the marketing plan is the best time to do this high-level thinking.  Go away to a retreat, go to the home of a principal, or plan at a local hotel so that you can devote yourself to thinking hard about the immediate future of your organization.  (To be continued.)

The Marketing Plan Gives Your Team Purpose and Something to Rally Behind: (It's Not Optional Part 4)

The Marketing Plan Gives Your Team Purpose and Something to Rally Behind:

Companies often undervalue the internal impact of a “marketing plan”. All employees from the most senior to the most junior want to feel they are a valued part of a team engaged in an exciting endeavor. If you want your employees to feel committed to your organization, it’s important to share with them your vision of where the organization is headed. 

A great marketing plan needs input and feedback of your full organization.  Finance, manufacturing, personnel and marketing need to be considered because it will take all aspects of your organization to make your marketing plan work. When it is completed, consider releasing a summary version so that every employee feels involves. (To be continued.)

The Marketing Plan Documents Your Game Plan: (It's Not Optional, Part 3)

The Marketing Plan Documents Your Game Plan:

Sports teams have a game plan so that they stay on course when challenges occur.  In making the game plan they spend many hours and days researching the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses.  One reason they do this is so that in the heat of battle, when confusion sets in, they can refer to the plan for steady direction.  (To be continued.)

The Marketing Plan is a Step-by-Step Guide for Your Organizations Success: (It's Not Optional, Part 2)

The Marketing Plan is a Step-by-Step Guide for Your Organizations Success:

The marketing plan is the primary roadmap for business success.  Because of competitive pressures and changing customer needs, organizations are constantly making course corrections and sometimes going in new directions to unfamiliar destinations. Would you take a trip to a place where you never had been without doing some research, downloading a map or knowing how long it takes to get there? Of course not. That is why a marketing plan is so essential.

The marketing plan assesses your company from top to bottom and makes sure all the pieces are working together. Consider it a to-do list on a grand scale. It assigns specific tasks, with accountability. It tracks results and objectives such as sales volume, return on investment, etc.  It is a systematic roadmap to the near future destination of the organization. (To be continued.)

The Marketing Plan Defines How You Intend to Succeed (It's Not Optional, Part 1)

The Marketing Plan Defines How You Intend to Succeed:                        

It was President Dwight Eisenhower, the architect of D-Day and planner of our interstate road system that said “Plans are useless but planning is essential.” Because conditions are never static, Eisenhower was pointing out the importance of a plan so that no matter what happens there is a foundation point to make changes and build upon. 

The marketing plan is the pathway to your organization’s destination.  It demonstrates the steps that will be taken and the results that are expected.  It is not positive thinking but practical tactics. It is the record of how your organization intends to succeed.

It's Not Optional (Introduction)

“Would you take a trip to a place where you never had been without doing some research, downloading a map or knowing how long it takes to get there?”

It’s Not Optional:

I’ve heard many of the excuses for not having a marketing plan:

“Our business is evolving and changing too quickly.”

“I know where we are going and that’s good enough.”

“We don’t have the time and resources to plan and draft one.”

“I don’t come from a marketing background.  I wouldn’t know where to start.”

Seem like reasonable objections; right?  The only problem is that the primary attribute of all successful companies, both large and small, is planning.

Let me counter those objections with several great reasons to have a written marketing plan.  (To be continued.)

How You Can Focus and Finish Strong (Conclusion)

5. Commit to Reflect and Reward.

Once the task is completed, stop and observe what has been accomplished.  Take some time to enjoy the “fruits of your labor.”  Allow yourself to feel a sense of triumph and pride.  Next, evaluate what you learned and decide what you will do differently on future projects.  Conducting a postmortem will improve your future performance.  Finally, what was the nice thing you planned to do to reward yourself or your team?  This “reward time” is where you celebrate the great work done by all.  Having a reward before you at the start is also useful throughout the project to provide motivation and encouragement when things are not going well.

The next time you seek out “new worlds,” no matter how big or small, first work through these five steps.

·          Commit to Prevail.

·          Commit to Plan a Strategy. 

·          Commit to Manage Distractions and Interruptions.

·          Commit to Set “Time Frame” Goals.

• Commit to Reflect and Reward.

If you do, you will stay focused and finish strong and like the explorers before you, you will “unfailingly arrive at (your) chosen goal or destination.”

How You Can Focus and Finish Strong (Part 5)

4. Commit to Set “Time Frame” Goals.

A strategy requires deadlines as well as interim dates for progress checks.  Whether you use a project tracking program or a good old fashioned pert chart, determine a completion date for every component of the project.  Remember that some dates established at the beginning of the project will be unattainable and will need to be adjusted because of unexpected delays. (To be continued.)

How You Can Focus and Finish Strong (Part 4)

3. Commit to Manage Distractions and Interruptions.

Many articles have been written on how to eliminate and avoid distractions and interruptions. Unfortunately, elimination and avoidance doesn’t work.  Distractions and interruptions will come. It is the job of leadership to analyze them and determine their importance.  Based on your goals and objectives decide if something should be dealt with immediately, set aside with a future date assigned or simply ignored.

Competing priorities can also be very distracting; not to mention frustrating.  In this present economy, almost everyone is doing the work of more people then they were a couple of years ago.  So what do you do when you are already overwhelmed and someone asks you to take on an additional assignment?   The most productive way to handle this is to lay out the predicament with someone you trust or report to.  Whether you discuss it with your board of directors, consult with a management coach or talk to your boss, get advice on where your time is most valuable.  Many times you are not the only one who can handle the assignment.  With counsel and coordination, the need can be transferred or delegated to some other capable person. (To be continued.)

How You Can Focus and Finish Strong (Part 3)

2. Commit to Plan a Strategy. 

The strategy is best planned with the participation of everyone who will be involved in the project.  As a group, write down the steps necessary to be successful, who will be responsible for each part and who will be the project leader.  Also, predetermine when and where you will meet to update each other on progress. Be ready to make changes too.  While we try to anticipate obstacles, we inevitably face unexpected detours.  (To be continued.)

How You Can Focus and Finish Strong (Part 2)

1. Commit to Prevail.

The word “prevail,” that Columbus used, means “to be greater in strength and influence.”  While many of us ultimately rely on a strength greater then ourselves, success still calls for an unqualified personal dedication and determination. Don’t start anything significant unless you are committed to prevailing.  Like the explorers, there will be too much invested and too many lives involved for you to turn back. 

Prevailing also requires a commitment of time and energy.  The reality is that most ventures require more time and energy then anticipated.  To prevail means that we will invest the time, no matter how much it takes, to reach the goal.  You must believe that the benefit is worth the cost.  Remember also, that in order to prevail the project must be in agreement with your personal values. The benefit of succeeding must be meaningful to you and those that labor with you.  Ask yourself and those you will be relying upon whether life will be better as a result.  You must believe that the benefit is worth the cost.  (To be continued.)

How You Can Focus and Finish Strong (Introduction)

“That is where the explorer Vasco de Gama learned to sail.” 

That’s what my friend told me as we looked down on a small sandy bay filled with colorful fishing boats in Sines, Portugal. Later that day, we traveled north to Lisbon where the Sea Discoveries Monument honors the voyagers who, 500 year’s earlier, departed Lisbon harbor and set-out in search of places no European had ever been before.

No other professional has faced more risk and uncertainty then an explorer.  Christopher Columbus, reflecting on his exploits said, “By prevailing over all obstacles and distractions, one may unfailingly arrive at his chosen goal or destination.” Concentrating on what these travelers faced can give us insight for our own challenges and help us focus and finish strong. So what were the obstacles faced by Columbus, de Gama and the other “original entrepreneurs”?

Small ships on a big ocean.  Columbus’s favorite ship Nina was 65 feel long. That’s only a few feet more then the distance from home plate to a pitchers mound.

Not enough money.  If not for the King and Queen of Spain, Columbus’s journey would never have happened. 

Lack of provisions.  An explorers first expenses went toward obtaining ships and crew.  Whatever was left was used to purchase food and drink.

No maps.  That’s right…nobody had ever been there before.

Productivity lost to sickness.  Cramped quarters were stressful and promoted a breeding ground for disease.

Frightened crew.  “So Captain, since you’ve never been there, how do you know that you know what you’re talking about?”

Crew revolt.  Months of not seeing the fruits of success made for tense times to say the least. Mutinies or near insurrections were not uncommon.

Each  of  the  obstacles  that were  faced by these voyagers parallels the challenges we encounter in starting our new ventures or growing our organizations.  So, like the explorers, how do we prevail over obstacles, and distractions and focus and finish strong?