The Salesby5 Blog

For about six years I have been the only Certified coach in South Texas for Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, an incredibly solid and arguably the best platform for new, old, slow growth or fast growth companies and organizations. This post starts some bite sized chunks that helped The Scooter Store grow to become a nationwide company 8 years sooner than their goal. It helped Rackspace become a fixture in hosting/technology.

The book is not one that you let others borrow, instead, buy them a copy. The book is not meant to be completely understood at first read.  You’ll not be able to put all the initiatives to work at once.  The reason for the bite size chunks is that these are habits to form for you and your team.

Three barriers to growth common among all growing firms: The need for the executive team to grow as leaders in their abilities to delegate and predict; the need for systems and structures to handle the complexity that comes with growth; and the need to navigate the increasingly tricky market dynamics that mark arrival in a larger marketplace.

Bite Size CHUNK #1:

Delegation: Most entrepreneurs actually don’t like working with anyone, including their own employees! This is the major reason why 97% of all firms have less than 10 employees and a vast majority of those have less than three. Therefore, the decision to grow isn’t an easy one. If you can’t afford the people to run the business for you, then all you have is a job. Understanding that many business owners feel they can do everything is true, but what should they be doing? What focus should they have to be able to grow profits, sales, and innovation?

Understanding what your strengths are, not just the activities you are good at but the activities you are the strongest at AND fulfill you, and using them as much as possible each day. The same goes for any employee. Don’t be afraid to try someone that is great at building relationships to be a sales person or a marketer, but measuring how that delegation worked with a simple test is how you know if it is the right delegation or the wrong.

Bite Size Chunk #2:

If you like what you read, imagine a one page strategic plan, yes, one page that provides crystal clear direction for leaders, managers and employees to follow, be guided by and use.  Not only is this a behavior meter but a road map on where your firm is going. We’ve used one for 7 years. The top growth firms even in tough times use this and we feel it is the kept secret in business. For more info on this visit: http://www.salesby5.com/services/strategic/

To purchase or review the book: Mastering the Rockefeller Habits

By Verne Harnish “Growth Guy” and Erik Darmstetter “Idea Guy”

Every year, since it launched in 1984, pundits have been predicting the demise of RIM, the famous makers of the Blackberry – most recently given the success of the iPhone.

Yet for all the attention Apple and the iPhone receive, the Blackberry Curve is the best selling smart phone in the U.S. in 2009 – and RIM, the famous maker of the Blackberry line of mobile devices, has 56% market share, up 15% over last year while Apple has lost 10%. This Canadian firm is also the fastest growing public company in the U.S. according to Fortune Magazine’s recent list, with Apple a distant #39.

One-Phrase Strategy

What is behind this crushing success? A profoundly simple strategy.

I still remember Jim Balsillie, co-founder of RIM, sharing with a group of us that “if you can’t state your strategy in a sentence, you don’t have one!!” And RIM’s? In essence, “Easy in, impossible out” i.e. RIM makes it very easy for corporations to install their email system, but because the way the proprietary RIM software and servers work, it’s almost impossible to extract – or at least a huge hassle. So even though a whole host of executives may love to get iPhones, there’s too much inertia to overcome for enterprises to switch, a market in which RIM commands a whopping 74% market share.

And the software and server side of the business commands 90% plus gross margins given the fees carriers pay RIM per customer for the ability to collect, in turn, data transmission fees. It’s these huge margins that dwarf the margins pure handset manufacturers earn fueling RIM’s continued market domination.

Though I’ve preached for years the importance of a one-page strategic plan, let me suggest that a precise “one-PHRASE strategic plan” must be the starting point.

“Wheels Up”

Also defying gravity has been Southwest Airlines thirty-eight year run. Identified as the best performing stock the first thirty years of its existence, today Southwest is the largest airline in the world in terms of number of passengers.

For Southwest, their one-phrase strategic focus is also an internal tagline – “Wheels Up.” If that expensive hunk of metal is in the air more than the competition, then they are going to make more money.

Though different than their more well known “low fare” Brand Promise, this one-phrase strategy underpins Southwest’s unique ability to keep their promise vs. the rest of their low-priced competitors. And this is why the one-phrase strategy is such a critical competitive decision.

Think of the one-phrase strategic statement as the focus for the underlying activities that differentiate your company from your competition. The key word is activities. As Michael Porter, Harvard’s famous strategy guru, emphasizes in his classic 1996 Harvard Business Review article appropriately entitled “What is Strategy”, it’s going about the business in a different way than your competitors that defines your strategy.

In Southwest’s case, no advanced reservation seating and using the same aircraft type for all routes are two key differentiating activities. In turn, these activities are crucial to getting the Wheels Up on their aircraft faster than the competition, allowing them to provide lower fares and more flights. And by choosing activities that are impossible or difficult for others to adopt, you maintain your competitive advantage, as Southwest has for almost forty years.

Additional Examples

One of the few successful IPOs this decade, Rackspace (I do own some stock) has built its business on a simple one-phrase strategy “it’s not about the servers, it’s about the support.” In their case, this one-phrase strategy is also their brand promise, though branded as Fanatical Support.

Supporting this strategy is a set of underlying activities that includes a live person answering the phone within three rings if there’s a problem with the service. I remember Graham Weston and his team making the tough decision to rip out the automated attendant systems and gearing up 24/7 to provide live support, at a time when it wasn’t easy for them to afford.

For SalesBy5, the phrase is “increasing sales no matter what it takes.”  That allows everyone to realize that everything matters from the clients dress, speed of returned e-mails and their tone to, of course, their marketing messages and materials. This comprehensive strategy is not for the faint of heart or the client used to giving orders. We do not take orders but instead self direct to increase sales. The outcome for the clients that listen is 300% to 550% growth which can be chaotic but also controlled and profitable chaos.

In all four cases, the companies have relentlessly focused on their one-phrase strategy – channeling all their innovations and energies on continuing to perfect its realization. And in the process have driven significant growth and dominated their industries.

Too often, it’s easy to get stuck in a rut, doing the same thing the same way over and over every day. But if we are going to live at our absolute best, we should constantly be growing and sharpening our skills. We should strive to learn and grow every single day because when you stop learning, you stop growing. When you stop growing, you stop living.

What are you doing to stretch yourself? What are you doing to improve your skills? Don’t get trapped into thinking that “good enough” is good enough. You are created for more than just average. Today is a new day, and there are new heights for you to climb. Pursue what you love and keep developing that area of your life. Take a class or find a mentor that will help you live skillfully. As you do, you’ll rise up higher and higher.

- Joel Osteen

photo by Tanakawho

Last week at Salesby5 was busy! This post will be very different from the ones you have seen and probably will see.

A week ago today, Nan turned 30 and my gift to him was stock ownership in SalesBy5. The certificate hot off the law office’s printer and it was given to him at a tweet up turned birthday party at the Roaring Fork. The rest is well played out on an unplanned video shot by our friend Alan Weinkrantz. After 2 years and 9 months with Salesby5 it is my honor, privilege, and pleasure to welcome Nan Palmero as my partner!

photo by Ashley Palmero