My friend and colleague, Henry Osborne, CEO of online backup provider, DCSBackups (www.dcsbackups.com) and I were talking recently about how the Katrina disaster is still impacting people in the New Orleans area. The conversation came around to businesses and how they did or did NOT recover from the disaster. Henry's company does online backup for businesses. Not to sound too much like a commercial, but this is a service that EVERY BUSINESS MUST HAVE. We use it here.
It's easy to get distracted from important things like backing up your data. Every day brings a whole new list of fire drills and crises that take our time and attention. But, think about it. More and more of our businesses are founded on access to important information.
What are you doing about backing up your critical business information? Have you ever actually tested your data recovery procedures? If you had a fire, or your sprinkler system went off would you be out of business?
Make an appointment with yourself and get this taken care of. You have life insurance to protect your family. Get "life insurance" for your business.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Monday, February 20, 2006
Shoot for Sustainability
Professor David Rainey, the Dean at the Lally School of Business at Rensselaer Polytechnic in Hartford, CT is working on a book on sustainable business development. After a recent conversation with him, I got to thinking about sustainability as it pertains to managing a consulting business (or even a sales territory).
Many consultants, (and sales exectives) live in a world of "feast or famine" where they are either workign flat out to close sales/process transactions/deliver services OR they are in a slump where they are working hard to scratch out that next sale. This results in the sterotypical "roller coaster" of revenues or commissions that makes life frustrating, trying, painful and draining.
A professional is someone who recognizes this pattern and takes steps to at least lower the amplitude of the wave. One way to do this is to manage your time is such a way as to always leave some time for filling the hopper with new opportunities. I do that by scheduling time each week to new business development, regardless of how "busy" I am.
By booking time in Outlook, when someone calls, I can schedule around that critical time. My customers get time and I get time to make sure I keep having customers!
What are you doing to make sure your pipeline is always full?
Many consultants, (and sales exectives) live in a world of "feast or famine" where they are either workign flat out to close sales/process transactions/deliver services OR they are in a slump where they are working hard to scratch out that next sale. This results in the sterotypical "roller coaster" of revenues or commissions that makes life frustrating, trying, painful and draining.
A professional is someone who recognizes this pattern and takes steps to at least lower the amplitude of the wave. One way to do this is to manage your time is such a way as to always leave some time for filling the hopper with new opportunities. I do that by scheduling time each week to new business development, regardless of how "busy" I am.
By booking time in Outlook, when someone calls, I can schedule around that critical time. My customers get time and I get time to make sure I keep having customers!
What are you doing to make sure your pipeline is always full?
Friday, February 03, 2006
CEO Confidence Reaches New High
Led by four consecutive bullish months, the Chief Executive CEO Confidence Index hit its highest level of all time in January. The leading economic indicator currently stands at 182.4, up 9.8 points this month and 31.5 points since October. The Employment, Investment, and Business Conditions indices also reached historical highs this month.
Chief Executive magazine has the ear of many executives nationwide. This news bodes well for those of us who sell our products and services to the business community. What are you going to do about it?
Now is the time to capitalize on this sentiment. Stretch yourself. Enter new markets. Try new approaches, new product offerings and make new connections. Spending the time now will pay big dividends NOW and in the future when the market inevitably softens.
Chief Executive magazine has the ear of many executives nationwide. This news bodes well for those of us who sell our products and services to the business community. What are you going to do about it?
Now is the time to capitalize on this sentiment. Stretch yourself. Enter new markets. Try new approaches, new product offerings and make new connections. Spending the time now will pay big dividends NOW and in the future when the market inevitably softens.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
