If you are not seated by 8AM - don't bother showing up!

I was in DC this week and had lunch with a good friend. He works for one of the larger regional firms. Business is down. Fuel costs eat at their profits to the tune of a couple of million dollars more than last year, and rising. Smaller competitors are cutting their prices just to keep revenues flowing.

I like the tact his VP of Sales took. He called a meeting. He sent out word, be here at 8 AM on Friday - no excuses. If you have an appointment reschedule it. If you are not seated by 8 AM then don't bother showing up at all. When my friend told me the story I could feel my own blood pumping harder.

True to form the doors were closed and locked at 8 AM. The VP of Sales got up and said - business is tough and then provided a clear set of priorities for everyone to focus on. He said if you are producing - no problem. If you are not - then you need to figure out how and let us know how we can help. That took less than 10 minutes. The remaining 50 minutes was spent letting people share ideas, ask for help and reflect on what each person can do better. True to his promise the VP dismissed them at one minute to 9AM.

The bottomline is that it got back to fundamentals.

1. Set time and relationship priorities.
2. Develop and work your network.
3. Have a plan, set goals, measure results, make corrections...
   
4. Ask for help.
5. Don't waste time or money - be smart.
   
6. Find ways to save.
7. Thank your customers in a personal way.
8. Operate or of the company's strength and your personal strength.

My friend said it was the best sales meeting he has been to in his long career. He was motivated and doubling back on the fundamentals. The VP of Sales knew what he needed to do. Not its up to the rest of us to do what we need to do.

Enjoy this video by Brian Tracy. It will reinforce the lesson.

I will be hiking for the next two weeks with my oldest son - so no blogs for a while.

As a bonus blog here is a link with 8 steps for achieving exponential growth.