I am not sure if the couple did really want to get married or not. It is hard to know. We want to do a lot of things in our business that we don’t get around to doing. However, if we use a method to prioritize, we will be able to do what is important than what is urgent.

http://www.savagechickens.com/2006/04/life-is-good.html

Here is an example (a screenshot) of a method of prioritizing.

I’ve considered Impact as what it will do internally – loss of revenue, or gaining new revenue. The severity is what will happen in the customer organisation. Each task is given a rating for impact (1 to 5; 5 being the most impact) and a rating for severity. Then, these ratings are translated into dollar figures. When we add the dollar amounts for impact and severity, we get the total dollar figure, and we can use that to determine the priority.

You can make changes to Impact and Severity with something that will make sense for you.

Sometimes we have all these systems, but it takes time to input the details, and therefore we just stop using them.

Mother’s Recipe for Prioritizing

My mother taught me a simple method for prioritizing. When growing up, we were not given a choice of what we liked to eat on the plate. We had to eat different types of vegetables that were on the plate. I always used to eat what I liked, and then had no interest or space in the tummy to eat what I didn’t like. My mother suggested eating what I didn’t like first, so that I can look forward to my favourites. I always found enough space to eat my favourites. So, with this technique, I ate everything on the plate.

Naturally, we always want to do what we like, first. What we don’t like, usually involves something difficult, or it moves us out of our comfort zone. If we form a habit to do what we don’t like first, then perhaps we will be able to achieve better results.

So, if you don’t want to use a tool to prioritize, try simply doing what you don’t like, first.

There are certainly great advantages of being in mastermind groups. At least, theoretically, these are the benefits:

1. the group provides different perspectives and feedback on your road to success;
2. the group can make you accountable to accomplish your tasks;
3. the group members can help you get the connections and resources you may need.

Perhaps that is why we used to believe that we needed to “win” the customers as opposed to serving them and supplying them with products and services to fulfill their wants. With the Internet making the information and reviews freely available for the customers, marketers are now slowly becoming aware that they should be “helping the customers buy,” rather than “winning them,” as we would win in a war against an enemy.

Clausewitz, a Prussian military philosopher, that the authors of “ Marketing Warfare” referred to in the book, said that war is “the continuation of politics through another means” and “an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will.” It may be so in a war, but we are not at war with customers, and nowadays we are not even at war with our competitors — we are fierce with the competition, but not necessarily at war.

Really, what is strategy?

One of the ideas we borrowed from the military is strategy. The idea of strategy makes practical sense. There is, however, a lot of confusion among marketers about strategy and how to implement it. I’ve been seeing this confusion since my academic days. However, what we are discussing here is not for any academic exercise.

Some see a strategy as a plan or a roadmap on “how to get from where we are to where we want to be.” Clausewitz defined it as “the use of engagement for the purpose of war,” and therefore, it translates as follows, in our business lives:

Strategy is the choices we make about how to deploy resources and the choices we make about tactics — which tactics to select and how to use them to achieve our overriding end.

Whichever version of the strategy you use, remember that there is one strategy for the business. You implement that strategy through tactics. The tactics always involve subsystem or business functions. Each business function will have a strategy that will support the main strategy. Each strategy in the business function will be implemented using specific and related tactics.

The business strategy for the year is to increase the revenue from existing customers. That is implemented through various tactics — presented in the boxes for each functional department. What is given as a strategy in the functional department, is in fact a tactic at the “business level” or top level. Makes sense?

Why the written plan won’t work!

Many experts ask that we write a “strategic plan” so that we can follow it during the year.

Clausewitz talks about “fog of war.” Physically, there is fog in the battlefield. If you see the old war movies, you can see smoke from firing canons in the background. On top of that, men and material moving towards each other, you can’t see them very well and there is confusion about what is going on.

The same type of fog happens in the marketplace as well. How can you write down and follow a plan, when there is “fog of business,” even if the external environment does not change much during the financial year ( it rarely stays the same for most of us except for the good Economists).

A year ago, our accountant completed his Chartered Accountancy (CA) in Australia and decided to go back to India to manage his father’s accounting practice. When he landed there, he found out that he was not allowed to practice in India, because he didn’t get his CA from India. In the past, the Indian CA institute didn’t have this policy.

After scrutinizing PwC for their role in the Satyam scandal, the institute decided that the rules were not followed because PwC had few overseas qualified auditors. So as a measure to stop such scandals in the future, it banned all overseas educated CAs. How smart! The problem was not that they were educated overseas, but that they were unethical, just like the top management in Satyam InfoTech. The auditors were supposed to expose the fraud, but they were unethical and turned a blind eye. So the management’s scheme went on for years. The Institute then decided to move the blame to the place of educational qualification. I suppose PwC is too powerful to be banned in India.

He appointed an internal salesperson to set up appointments for the “outside sales people.” He got the employee to call every known customer (past, present and competitors’) to let them know that the company is increasing its service level, providing repair services for the products the big competitor sold. Further, he offered “no questions asked” warranty services. The CEO then personally called the major customers of his top competitor and told them that if their loyalty is with the competitor’s salesperson, he would hire that salesperson. The competitor was an established company, with loyal customers.

He saw the opportunity, acted on it, and became a large competitor in the marketplace.

Earl Nightingale once suggested that, if you are not sure what to do in a situation see where the majority of people are going and go the opposite way. I don’t think he was joking. Future belongs to the brave. Make sure, though, that it is not your inflated ego that is taking you in the opposite direction.

Marketers are no different. They focus on getting new customers, new campaigns that help activate past customers, and so on. They assume that the current customers are happy and that the clients are actually doing a great job servicing the existing customers. But that is far from the truth. I learned a long time ago that the hard part in a service business is not the sales but the delivery. Every service business that I come across falls short in the quality of their service. Do you know why? Because they are busy doing marketing. They have the resources, and choose to focus on marketing. Even if they focus on delivery, the resources and training for their marketing are higher than they are for their delivery.

Walt Disney once said, “Do what you do, so well, that people can’t resist telling others about you.”

Marketing works when you have your delivery in order. What is the point of getting more customers into the funnel, when it is leaky? Marketers do regular referral campaigns, even though their service sucks.

Focus as much on your delivery as you do on your marketing. If you continue to focus on marketing without improving your delivery, you will be disillusioned very soon.

The usual scenario is: borrow the money (or use the retirement savings), and start a business.People who go to work and are bored (or frustrated), often think that they should start their own business, to have the freedom to do what they want and be their own boss. The truth is, when they start the business, they will have the freedom to work 80 hours a week for less than half of the what they were earning before; sure, there won’t a boss, but every customer (and sometimes the staff) is a boss.

If you really want to start a business, ask yourself why. If the answer sounds something like this:
• I want to be my own boss, or
• I want to make a lot of money,

you shouldn’t start the business. I don’t know if you will make a lot of money, but you will go through a lot of struggle.

If, however, your answer sounds something like this:
• there is a unique opportunity,
• there is a gap in the marketplace that no one is serving, or
• I can do this better than the others,

you have a good reason to start a business. Only when you do your work well, make a difference, create a loyal customer base, you can make a lot of money and be your own boss.

So, the study suggested that, since entrepreneurs think that they have strengths and skills they really don’t have, they take on new ventures that require higher strengths and skills. I laughed when I read it, because I could see myself overestimating my skills. One of the traits of this breed called entrepreneurs is their determination. They don’t give up anything easily; they will keep at it, discovering new ways of salvaging a situation. When they eventually succeed, they get the confidence and they start thinking that they can do the tasks that others can’t do, because they are tenacious. They usually see themselves as unconventional, and prefer not to follow a set path.

Two sides of a coin

The problem I often see is that entrepreneurs get a bit cocky because of their ability to make their own decisions and set their own times! Male entrepreneurs are cockier than their female counterparts, since women always understate their abilities. When they get cocky, they start believing their own press, and start losing the humility.

Every great trait has another side:
• If you are unconventional and don’t follow the rules, you are also chaotic. It will be hard to work for you.
• If you are imaginative, you are unlikely to pay attention to the details or be analytical.
• The other side of determination is pigheadedness, right?

Yet both qualities are needed for your success.

How do you solve this problem?

If you have a partner (that you can get along with) in your business, who has qualities that are on the other side of yours, then you are very fortunate. That will help you stay on course. They will bring you in line and help you focus.

If you don’t have such an option, work with someone like me, who can guide you, keep your feet on the ground, and twist your arm when needed.

Do you think entrepreneurs overestimate their skills? How can you help the entrepreneur? Let me know your views.