Burying your head in the sand, will bury your business!
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Some people say that numbers are just for sales guys. I say to them that if you’re in business then you’re in sales. Cold, hard measurements are central to Serious Business Growth and it’s usually the winners that know this instinctively.
Here’s a game you can play that will show how focused you are on the numbers in your business. Play it now and keep playing it. Go into a room every three months with your management team and play it. As games go, it will be either terrifying or reassuring. It depends how well you’ve got the numbers going for you.
Hope for the best plan for the worstr
I learned this game many years ago from a man who was incredibly successful. He was the chairman of the Santiago Padres, he owned half of Pier One and he launched over 50 successful companies on the stock exchange. He taught me to play What If? It’s essentially a scenario-planning activity. You’re supposed to imagine all kinds of events, likely and unlikely, and think about how they would impact your business, your marketplace and your position in it. For example,
• What if the price of oil went to $200 a barrel?
• What if the stock market went below 10,000? OK 5,000?
• What if the President’s ratings were low?
• What if the Dollar was weak?
You can’t avoid disaster but you can prepare for itr
Take each scenario and spin it out to see how it would impact your business and whether your numbers stand up. Personally speaking, playing “What If?” could have saved me a lot of trouble. I might have asked: “What if General Foods, my biggest client, got bought by Phillip Morris and their accountants decided to start paying their bills in 120 days instead of 30?” I might have realized that my cash flow situation wasn’t robust enough and remedied it. I might have realized I was over-reliant on one client and remedied that.
Bury your head in the sand and bury your businessr
Play What If? and you might realize your numbers aren’t as great as you think they are. If I’d had this knowledge ahead of time, if I had been more forward-thinking, I might not have gone to the brink of disaster. Frankly if it was not for some great suppliers, some wonderful employees and a very understanding wife, this scenario would have shut me down.
The ‘Kick Our Own Butt’ gamer
A variation on the “What If?” game is the Kick Our Own Butt game. Take your senior management team somewhere for half a day and say: “If we were a start-up company competing with us, knowing what we know, what would we do to kick our butt?”. Because the truth is that someone out there is thinking that way, and they just might actually do it of you are not forward-thinking about the numbers!
Guys if you take just one thing away from this article, this is it, PLAY WHAT IF!
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About the Author
YOU DON'T KNOW JACK!!!
"It's not how much you want, but how much you want it!" - Jack Sims
Jack Sims - Founder and CEO of America's largest marketing agency, author of business growth books and highly regarded Professional Golf teacher, was recently voted as one of meeting planners favorite keynote speakers in a poll in Meetings & Conventions when they were asked "Who is the best keynote presenter you have ever heard or used"?
Jack knows after founding and growing successful international corporations that its all about making businesses profitable first, then its abut the motivation, passion, people, industry related product and promotion to keep it that way. It his experiences and on stage performance of information, motivation and humor that makes him one of today's in demand motivational keynote speaker.
He started his business education, by working in his parents Mom & Pop store in England at the age of eleven. That's where he learned the importance of customers, keeping your promises and developing a brand that people will go out of their way to get, and pay a premium price for, this of course led to profit making.
This business strategy stood the test of time and enabled him to create America's largest marketing agency with some of the biggest companies in the world as his clients. Brands like Polaroid, British Airways, Burger King, Lever, General Foods, General Electric, Nestle and many more signed on as retained clients. His company won the promotional marketing industries highest awards, not once but twice, on the way to becoming the #1 ranked and largest marketing agency in the United States.
Jack's motivational vision is all about inspiring people to be the very best they can be, moving the business, brand, market share or growth needle towards making a serious profit for the long haul.
"He is a brilliant strategic thinker when it comes to marketing, branding, customer service and the analysis of the customer experience". Brian Pogee - GE
After selling his business to Wall Street, Jack wrote business growth and branding books and began motivating audiences with information and humor with his unique success stories, and how they can apply this thinking to their businesses. He has given highly acclaimed motivational and informational keynote sessions for corporations like Harley-Davidson, Panasonic, Novartis, LexisNexis and dozens of associations that range from Photo Marketing Association, National Frame Building Association to the American Perfume Society and everything in between.
He also became a Professional Golf Teacher and wrote the book "How to Seriously Win at Business & Golf" which is based on his experiences as a professional golfer and combined with his lifelong experiences of founding and growing businesses.
When he is not on the road speaking he enjoys singing in a "Blues/Rock" band and spending time with his family.
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