Is a lack of complacency and fear that they are not as good as their latest product / service which is becoming obsolete when it hits the market. And they may not be as good as what others have under development.

Only enterprises with that mentality, who believe that even their most ostensibly successful activities can be improved upon, or should be dropped altogether, when a rival comes up with a potentially unbeatable offering in their market.  Those are the ones that have a chance at survival.

Rogers keeps adding sports portfolios, Loblaws adds a great offering with Shoppers Drug Mart, Canadian Tire has made their Mark’s and SportChek additions successful so they can entrench their unique brand and offering and beat back Home Depot, Lowes, Wal-Mart and Target. I really miss Canadian Tire when I am in the States.

TD Bank made their US operations work as some other Canadian banks sold theirs. OpenText in Waterloo made kindred spirited acquisitions to build revenue and profits and is surpassing Blackberry in market capture. Except for OpenText, these companies are old, big, and staid companies. You might think that change for them would come hard.  They are obsessed with getting their competitive offering right and more compelling.

No new compelling or updated sales methods will make a difference unless you get yours right.  Are you matching up with market motives and competition moves that allow you to create strategies and define opportunities to move forward?

But you must do the assessing, constantly re-think the business, determine what’s next, strive to get it right, despite setbacks and, of course, pull the trigger on decisions that seize opportunities. You can’t put this off or wait to re-think on the beach after reading the latest “Wake up your Business” book. Paranoia and fear are all good! Today it needs to be done now.

What I see is that most small to medium size companies are just too tired, getting through the grind of repeating yesterday, and trying to make old strategies and offerings work. They usually change the numbers to last year’s plan and call it a strategic plan, which is neither a strategy nor a plan. It is not that managers don’t know what to do, or lack information or up to date concepts of how to improve; it’s just that they are too overwhelmed, busy with the day to day challenges even though many of their processes and actions are from another time and context.

Some companies are very enthusiastic about their potential, and are on the way up with a great offering but need to get all the pieces organized and in place to capture more growth. They have many initiatives to fix things on the go but they can’t stop their world long enough to re-think and get them right, let alone worry about competition. For them, it is like trying to change a tire while the car is moving. It could be exciting, but way too hard and dangerous.

I feel the pain and in a tougher more competitive world re-thinking, re-strategizing and implementing new systems is imperative. New ideas, innovative strategies, offerings and messages need to be created from mindful team action.

Marketing has changed.  Customers are way ahead of the noise of blogs and content that doesn’t bring in sales.  Find out what to do instead.

Sales are different.  Many times the customer knows more than the sales rep.  They are just trying to figure out what to buy.  How do you sell today?

We can figure what is best for you and it may be easier and quicker to do it organically in smaller groups.

In 2014, we all need to re-energize and wake up our businesses to have clarity of direction and focus. And we can. Managers/ executives/ owners are successful people. They just need a structure to make their intentions work and be executed. The block time to assess, think through, with some outside objective business designer to talk through their strategies and most importantly to force them to get it all done quickly.

With a coach, they need to improve their skills to create change, build people and institute innovation into their team’s DNA. This winter, I plan to help with this.

I am promising to drag the potential out of a small group of people and their business/ division or team who have the fire in the belly, who are excited about the potential, or just want to make things better now. It will take some time (up-front coaching, a day a month in our Centre of Excellence for four months and coaching and follow-up in between meetings).

I have made this special, one-time only series inexpensive and all we will be mutually about is action – using very cool tools and my experience in building client companies.

You may want to join me. Let’s go beyond the inspiration, ideas and strategies and just get at building your business, your team and your leadership.

Give me a call or email me with your questions and see if we match: 905-826-7300.

MMM Action:

A)    Do it “yourselfers”:
Get with your team to objectively assess your customers, their motives, your offering, messaging, marketing channels and methods, your sales, what is required to match up with what is required and counter competition. Then meet to restructure all the above so it will advance your business. Plans and implementation follows.

B) Join me to give speed to your actions:
Get it analyzed, re-thought and implemented. Take coaching in making execution happen through an engaged and connected team. You can’t coach yourself.

Whatever way you choose, I hope next year you are more ready to create change because you are better at it and look back and say, “Wow! Look what we did!”

Have a great week!

Kevin D. Crone
Chairman
Dale Carnegie Business Group
kdcrone@dalecarnegie.ca
(905) 826-7300 / 1-800-361-2032
ca.linkedin.com/in/kevindcrone

________________________________________
Ignite Your Business With Focus and Direction
– Getting it Done!

New Coaching Series offered by: Kevin Crone, Canada’s Monday Morning Mentor

Lately, many of you have asked me for coaching. But, you may not feel you have the budget for it or the time, either. While you’re eager to discuss the future, I know that you can get caught up in reactive day-to-day issues that stop you from really moving forward. So I’m announcing a process for you that will all be about action.

It’s designed to streamline the practice of how to examine your reality about the key elements of your business. You’ll see how to pull these elements together so you can find customers, keep them, and make money from an effective operation with a connected team who are getting better.

“Not possible”, you say? I say it is!

You know your business, you have good people in place, and you’re capable of leading the action required. What this process will do is tug everyone into profitable action.

Here’s how it works.

• We will quickly review solid business principles of: change management, innovation, business systems design, people development, marketing, sales, and leadership!
• All this is practical knowledge – you’ll see how to apply it to the clear direction you get from your newly created vision and plan.
• You’ll get coaching until your plan is  complete and you, your team, and organization are really effective. I’ll take a small group of people who have a little fire in the belly to get better. In just one day a month for four months, we’ll accomplish our goal to wake up our businesses.

This is not a quick fix.  We all know that short-term diets don’t work. Long-term health habits do. Overall, we want you to put in place the systems you need to take you and your team to improved performance now – and set you up for long-term success.

Call or email me to discuss this new coaching system designed for you. I will talk to you in a direct, straightforward way to help you get into action – 905-826-7300 / 1-800-361-2032

________________________________________
A Special Invitation from Kevin D. Crone, Canada’s Monday Morning Mentor…

Don’t forget to join Kevin and other success-minded business people on Tuesday, January 21st  to discuss:

1. How to Innovate and create new wealth
2. How to build a system that ignites your people to create efficiencies, customer focus and a new way of business

These topics will be under discussion when businesspeople meet at our office with Kevin D. Crone, Canada’s Monday Morning Mentor.

Igniting Innovation and Team Enthusiasm
Tuesday, January 21st
3:00 – 5:00 pm
Dale Carnegie Center of Excellence
2121 Argentia Road, Suite 103
Mississauga, Ontario
Complimentary to attend

This discussion will cover:
•    The process of Business Change
•    The number one factor in making innovation work
•    The motivation system
•    Building a focused and more engaged team

Who Should Attend:
Business Owners, Executives, Senior Managers and Human Resource Professionals interested in learning about current trends and talent management.
________________________________________

Not a Monday Morning Mentor subscriber yet? Email to subscribe.

Read past issues in the Monday Morning Mentor Blog.

Contact us today to speak to one of our coaches about the one or two things you need to change to have a better life/career/business.

Check out our Calendar of Events