07.11.2005
From the Wizard's Tower
In honor of British Open week, let me address the golfers in the house:
You’ll get this.
Remember when it was relatively easy - with effort - to go from shooting 120 to 100? Then, you blew past 100 and hovered around 90 for a while? Then, breaking 90 was pretty easy and your goal was to break 85?
Then, it got tricky. Progress slowed.
Your business will progress along the same course - with effort - as routed along through this week’s Monday Morning Memo by Roy H. Williams:
| Marketplace Realities |
| ~ Is There a Limit to How High You Can Climb? |
Last
week a client achieved 42 percent of his market potential. Never before
had I seen a business break the 40 percent barrier. It was kind of like
seeing someone run a four-minute mile. I knew it was possible in
theory, but I never thought I’d actually see it.
Ben had come to Austin for his annual marketing retreat. After the
usual pleasantries, he said, "Traffic is flat, sales are flat, and I’m
not happy."
"Ben, you’ve done everything that can be done. You’ve trained your
staff, created a tantalizing compensation structure for them,
advertised relentlessly, added every conceivable product line that
might increase your attractiveness to your customer, refined your
purchasing methods so that your prices are visibly better, built a
fabulous new store f… |
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07.04.2005
From the Wizard's Tower
Maybe someone in your company has brandished a copy of The Art of War as referenced in this week’s Monday Morning Memo by Roy H. Williams.
Someone I know keeps and uses (and occasionally even threatens to throw at his troops) a book about a famous American General.
Same theatre, different foxhole.
As you choose your tactics on the road to independence, you must ask yourself:
Are your troops behind you? Are they willing to take one for you? Are they lining up in ranks because they, too, share your strategic plan for dominance?
Or are they just following orders?
Maybe it’s time to mix metaphors …
| Will He Read The Art of War? |
If
you want to glimpse the inner forces that drive an organization, you
need only observe their methods and listen to their words. Especially
when they’re not paying attention.
Words and methods reveal motives. Listen to a person carefully and you
will hear the beating of their heart. Do what they do and you’ll become
who they are. So be careful whose advice you take and whose methods you
adopt.
You cannot use the tools of another without placing your hands where
their hands have been. Desire their outcome, adopt their methods, and
you embrace the values that are hidden beneath.
Advertising in America got twisted and bent when it became fashionable to read The Art of War.
The most commonly used words in marketing today are "target… |
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