55 Questions - Answers to Grow your Business

As today’s consumer becomes increasingly complex, marketers need to find new and creative ways to better know and understand their customers. Not just their average customers, but their best customers.

When people have positive emotional experiences, it anchors them to your brand, your product or service, and to you. When they have a negative experience, they tend to vote with their feet and their wallets and head straight to your competitors.

Customers are people, not companies:

The one thing that business leaders overlook is customers are still people: emotional, irrational, humans who make buying decisions based on feelings, not companies, departments, org-charts, just…People.

The XYZ Company doesn’t buy products from you; a person at the XYZ Company buys products from you.  That person is making the decisions to buy and then secondly making the decision to buy from you.

These days, competitive advantages stemming from unique products or services are short-lived because competitors are able to easily and quickly duplicate or match your offering.  Real competitive advantage in the business-to-business marketplace is created through human relationships. This is where the rubber meets the road for creating long-term revenue and profit streams.

All people have wants, needs, goals…and so does the person who is buying products from you on behalf of their company. 

So, what really do they buy from you? And, most of the time we’re buying solutions from the provider.  Whether we’re buying a widget or a service, it’s a solution to a problem we have.  Whether that’s a part that goes to a machine that we’re making or a piece of a process that somebody else provides the service for, it’s usually a solution for one of our issues. 

So, who else could use those solutions that you provide much like your best customers use those solutions?  Find those people and make sure they are aware of your goods and services and how it solves problems for others and how it might be of benefit to them. 

Are you customers buying 3/8” drill bits or 3/8” holes?  Are you sure?

Dave Baney is the founder and CEO of 55 Questions, LLC.  We work with successful top executives with a driving ambition to crush their competition.  We help CEOs and Entrepreneurs improve alignment, communication and accountability throughout their organization. www.55Questions.com

There are many factors to consider when growing a successful business. However, without customers, your business will wither away and feed your competition.

Start with…first and foremost, keeping your current customers and secondly attract your competitor’s customers.  And the way that most of us can do that is by having a product or service that’s bigger, better, faster, cheaper…some very discernible difference between us and the competitors and one that the customers will value.

Why do I say attract competitor’s customers?  Well it’s easier and cheaper than finding new users for the category. 

You already know there are people out there buying a product similar to yours; it’s probably easier to attract them than it is to convince a non-user that your product or service is important for them to take advantage of. 

Customers that currently use the products or services of your competitors may be unhappy.

Perhaps a product is not performing as expected, a price increase looms on the horizon, or support is unacceptable.   A disgruntled competitor’s customer is a new opportunity for your company.

An excellent way to understand your market is to spend time studying your competition.

• Who are the main competitors?
• What are they selling?
• Who are their customers?
• Who are the industry leaders and why do they stand out?
• What marketing strategies are competitors using?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of competitors?

Keeping your current customers:

You market to your customers for one important reason ... to grow.

Grow your company, reputation, customers, brand, and influence in your market and your community.

So focus on your customers and why they buy…and then serve the customers’ needs better than your competitors. 

Keeping your current customers happy and serving your competitors former customers better than they did.

It’s the quickest route I know to grow your business.

Dave Baney is the founder and CEO of 55 Questions, LLC.  We work with successful top executives with a driving ambition to crush their competition.  We help CEOs and Entrepreneurs improve alignment, communication and accountability throughout their organization. www.55Questions.com

Management is the art of encouraging people to do their best work to achieve their best results, in order to achieve success.

In every organization, there's a hierarchy of management that keeps the whole operation running smoothly and there are many different viewpoints concerning how to best operate a company.

Mine was always challenge people to do their best work, be firm, and be fair. 

I have four simple expectations…

1. Your best work always
2. No surprises
3. Spend a few minutes each day thinking about how to do your job better
4. Go interview on the outside at least once a year

My approach was to grow my people to be the best that they could be.  I believed in them many times more than they did and I wanted to maximize their potential.  To do that you have to challenge them and then hold them accountable for what they agreed to do. 

I’m reminded of a story that I heard about Vince Lombardi of the Green Bay Packers during the Ice Bowl, the famous game in the 60’s between Dallas and Green Bay. 

It was near the end of the game, Green Bay was at the Dallas 2 yard line and if they scored they would win.  Bart Starr their quarterback called timeout and came to the sidelines and asked Coach Lombardi….Coach what do you want me to do?  And Lombardi looked at him and said “Score, damn it”, turned around and walked away…Putting the responsibility clearly on Bart Starr’s shoulders so that there was no one to blame but himself if they didn’t do the job.

When Bart Starr got back into the huddle, all pro guard Jerry Kramer said to Bart Starr…”What did the coach say?”  “He told me to score by running right behind you in the end zone.”  And Bart Starr instantly had learned that lesson from Lombardi…make Jerry Kramer accountable as well.  Needless to say, they scored, they went on to win and the rest is history.

Some experienced business people actually believe management philosophy to be a good dose of common sense combined with education, experience, practical application, and drive to succeed.

What’s your management philosophy?

Dave Baney is the founder and CEO of 55 Questions, LLC.  We work with successful top executives with a driving ambition to crush their competition.  We help CEOs and Entrepreneurs improve alignment, communication and accountability throughout their organization. www.55Questions.com

We have all had the rapid knock on the office door flowed by the questions "Got a minute?” as the knocker strolls into our office. 

Got a minute is never truly just one minute; it's usually five or more minutes.  But that is just the beginning studies show that it takes 15 to 35 minutes to regain the focus we had prior to the interruption. 

If each got a minute costs you five minutes plus only 15 minutes to regain your focus how many 20-minute interruptions can you afford?  That would be a maximum of 3 per hour. 

How many “gotta minutes” do you get per day?  It’s no wonder that our productivity suffers.

So how can we overcome this problem…

  1.  Hide when you need to focus, find a place to work that is not your office.  A conference room, your home, a Starbucks, the library, etc.

2.  Schedule meeting time with yourself to provide whitespace (freedom to work uninterrupted) on your calendar

3.  Create a clear signal that when the door is closed ( or some other signal if you work in a cubicle) that this is a time that requires your undivided attention and focus.      Please do not interrupt me!

4.  If your phone or computer beeps or buzzes every time you get a message, those distractions are no different than somebody knocking at your door and popping      their head in asking if you've got a minute.  The Distraction will cause you to lose significant time while you try to regain your focus.

Give yourself the freedom to have a calendar that offers you the time you need to be productive.  It should include time for the following items:

1.  Time for reading and replying to mail, e-mail and voice mail

2.  Focused work time

3.  Meeting Time

4.  Time for returning calls

5.  Gotta minute time

Estimate how much time you need each day for these 5 categories and then revise your calendar to reflect your estimates.  Track the time for a week or two to find out where you were right and where you were wrong with you estimates and adjust your calendar accordingly.

Try it for 30 days, you might be surprised at how much more you can accomplish and also learn where your time was disappearing before.

Dave Baney is the founder and CEO of 55 Questions, LLC.  We work with successful top executives with a driving ambition to crush their competition.  We help CEOs and Entrepreneurs improve alignment, communication and accountability throughout their organization. www.55Questions.com

The world has been and continues to be full of great and poor leaders.  We have all witnessed examples of each and everything in between. 

I thought that I would examine, more closely, some famous leaders who have inspired others and me during my life. They have all achieved great things and have traits in common and I thought it would be interesting to look at them one by one.

George Washington, known as the founding father of the United States of America, was the leader of the American Revolution and the first president of US. He was a true visionary whose vision has endured for more than 200 years. What made Washington great were his foresight, vision, strategic planning and his ability to lead people to success.

Julius Caesar was easily one of the greatest military leaders of all time; Caesar was also one of the best political leaders the world has ever seen. He led several campaigns with numerous victories and was single handedly responsible for the expansion of the Roman Empire. He was also responsible for reforming the Roman government and thus laying the foundation to a great empire. His greatest traits were his decisiveness, boldness, eagerness, motivation, opportunism and strategic planning.

Winston Churchill was Prime Minister of Britain from 1940 to 1945; Churchill led Great Britain against the Nazi Germany during the World War II. He teamed up with allies and consequently led to the defeat and downfall of Hitler. His tenure as the British Prime Minister was in a time of fear and destruction caused by Hitler and his allies. Churchill was known for his fearlessness, determination, unyielding perseverance and undying devotion to his goal.

Mahatma Gandhi was born an ordinary boy and became the most important part of the Indian freedom struggle against the colonial rule.  His policy of non-violence and protest through civil disobedience eventually succeeded when he led his country to freedom in 1947. His main characteristics were resilience, knowledge, people-skills, motivational approach and leading by example.

Truly, there have been so many leaders who managed to change the face of our world as it is today. Although times have changed, the contributions of these great leaders cannot be forgotten.

I hope you’ve gotten an insight into some famous leaders that I respect and no matter where you work or what you do, I'm sure you can get some leadership lessons from these people.

I've certainly been inspired by them, their traits, and what they managed to achieve during their lives and hope you did too.

Dave Baney is the founder and CEO of 55 Questions, LLC.  We work with successful top executives with a driving ambition to crush their competition.  We help CEOs and Entrepreneurs improve alignment, communication and accountability throughout their organization. www.55Questions.com

Every day there are a lot of people that get promoted.  It is exciting, a great feeling, fulfilling and then a couple of days later terrifying.  “I’ve never been trained to manage other people, some days it’s just a struggle to manage myself”  “I have worked with a number of managers in my life, some good, some not so good” “I wish I would have asked the good ones some questions about how they manage” Here are a few lessons to share with your newly promoted manager…

As leaders, we are responsible for getting things done, so focusing on tasks is important. However, most of what you’re responsible for getting done is actually accomplished by others, so focusing on relationships is even more important.

Here are some terrific strategies to help your new manager become a stellar leader.  They all are dedicated to giving actual approaches and ideas to improve leadership skills and get results.

Our main focus will be on relationships because your new manager needs to act quickly to establish credibility and engage and align their team. 

The ability to build and leverage a network of relationships is the best predictor of success. Your new manager should learn to focus on relationships:  connect, convey importance, and be fair…

• Meet one-on-one and with each member of your team:  Listen, Listen, Listen… Ask open-ended questions to get a deeper understanding and clarify others’ points of view, and then listen some more.
• Enhance employee engagement: Ask your team members about the top things (other than money and benefits) that get them excited about coming to work, whether or not they currently exist.  Also, be aware of how your behavior impacts others; choose purposeful actions that create a sense of connectivity and fairness.
• Get a mentor: One of the greatest benefits of having a mentor is having someone to talk too confidentially and ask for advice.
• Recognize and relieve your stress: Regular exercise, six to eight hours of sleep each night, two-minute breathing breaks are all great ways to help controlling stress, just commit to it.
• Commit to learning a new lesson every day: Becoming an exceptional leader is a process.  It requires discipline, practice, patience, curiosity, and a sense of humor.

Let’s face it, every new manager is going to make mistakes – we all did.

These leadership strategies will help your new manager communicate with their team effectively and be successful with the change in leadership and relationships. 

Dave Baney is the founder and CEO of 55 Questions, LLC.  We work with successful top executives with a driving ambition to crush their competition.  We help CEOs and Entrepreneurs improve alignment, communication and accountability throughout their organization. www.55Questions.com

Can you state in one sentence why people buy your goods or services? 

• Is it because of better quality?
• Is it because of lower prices?
• Is it because of superior service?
• Is it because of a more convenient location?
• Is it because of faster delivery?

One of these five reasons could very well be the competitive advantage that causes people to buy from you.  Or possibly it could be your sales and marketing efforts. 

Dave Kurlan, author of “Baseline Selling” wrote a white paper a few years ago titled The Modern Science of Sales Person Selection.  In which he states, 74% of employed sales people are average too weak at best.  Only 26% of the employed sales people in America can and will succeed in sales. 

Which sales people are working for you? 

If all members of your sales staff aren’t part of the 26%, what’s your plan to improve? 

My premise is…if you want only sales people that are part of the 26%, you need to find them and hire them.  Those top sales people are not usually looking for a job.  So you have to find them and once you do…you have to attract them. 

Some companies find it difficult to attract “A” sales people.  There are a variety of reasons for this.  Among them are…

• The company’s reputation
• The company’s reputation as a place to work
• The sales manager…”A” players won’t work for “B” managers
• Compensation and recognition plan that don’t  reward success

A good sales manager should spend their time as follows:

• 25% of their time coaching
• 25% of their time motivation their team
• 25% of their time holding their sales reps accountable
• 25% of their time developing their team

In addition, your compensation should be heavily weighted towards commission versus salary.  Great sales people want the opportunity to earn more and to control their own destiny.   

Your sales people should be continuously learning new methods to sell and differentiate your company and products in the marketplace. 

Why do people buy from you?  Great products or services priced fairly, with great follow up service and outstanding marketing…but usually the sale is the result of the good work by one of your great sales people.

So why do people buy from you?

Dave Baney is the founder and CEO of 55 Questions, LLC.  We work with successful top executives with a driving ambition to crush their competition.  We help CEOs and Entrepreneurs improve alignment, communication and accountability throughout their organization. www.55Questions.com

Most people look forward to the day when they no longer have to punch the clock.  Retirement looks great…Nothing to do, no hassles, do whatever you want to do each day. 

Ask yourself, how will you fill your days? 

Sure sleeping, eating & exercising will cover 10-12 hours a day but what about the other 12-14 hours.  If we say 13 hours for 7 days, just on average, that’s 91 hours per week to fill.  You need a plan, some interests, some hobbies, things that will not only fill the hours but your mind and heart as well. 

I love to play golf but physically I can’t play every day.  So let’s say I play 3 days per week at about 6 hours per round including travel to and from the course.  Well that knocks off 18 of the 91 hours. 

I like to read…so what if I read 2 hours per day, that covers 14 more hours.  So between golf and reading I’ve covered 32 of the 91 hours. 

Sounds like I need to get involved with a charitable organization but which one?  There are so many choices.  Find a cause with meaning and donate 10 hours of your time to that cause each week.  After the charity work I’ve used 42 of the 91 hours. 

I like to travel…if I take a seven day vacation every other month, those 42 days per year at 13 hours per day equal really about 10.5 hours a week.  So now I’ve used 52.5 hours of my 91 hours per week.

I also like to keep about 2 hours a day open for life necessities…showering, shopping, cleaning, etc… and a couple hours a day to talk with my friends, read emails, pay bills, etc…so that’s 28 hours per week. 

Now I’ve used 80 of my 91 hours.  I guess leaving an hour and a half a day for the unexpected isn’t so bad. 

So, golf, reading, charity work, travel, staying in touch, plus the basics of life sounds like the start of a plan to me.

Retirement is still a number of years off for me.  I have time to figure out which charitable organization has values that align with mine.  What places I want to visit for vacations and then the big one...where do I want to live and which golf club do I want to join. 

So that’s the start of my plan…what’s yours?

Dave Baney is the founder and CEO of 55 Questions, LLC.  We work with successful top executives with a driving ambition to crush their competition.  We help CEOs and Entrepreneurs improve alignment, communication and accountability throughout their organization. www.55Questions.com

Every brand makes a promise to its customers, whether implicitly or explicitly. 

A brand promise is what your brand stands for in the mind of the consumer, even if what the consumer thinks is not what you meant.

When someone says Disney, what comes to mind?  For many it’s happiness.  How about 3M…innovation.  What about Nike…competition.  How about McDonalds…happy meals and kids. 

What about your company?  What comes to mind for your customers and potential customers? 

Start asking people; hear what they have to say…and to get the most honest responses it’s best to have someone else ask instead of you. 

What do you want them to say?  It is important to craft your brand promises carefully so the consumer hears and believes your promise.  It is also important to measure how well you deliver on your promise. 

The quickest way to kill a brand is to establish that brand and its promises and then not deliver.  Think of it this way…would you hire a person that you know is a liar?  Of course not…you can’t trust them.  So too of a brand that breaks its promises. 

That process of developing a brand promise is pretty straight forward.  Start with a customer …

• Who is your target customer?
• What are their needs?
• Why would they buy your goods or services?
• Who else could they buy them from?
• Why would customers buy from those competitors?
• How do you fill the needs of those customers better than the competition?

Now write your promise to address your answers to the questions above.  It is very straight forward, but not necessarily easy.

Once your promise is written start to ask the following questions.

Are you delivering on that promise?  How do you know? 

Are you measuring your results?

If you want to keep your customers, you must fulfill your promise.

If you want to grow your business you must not only keep your customers, but grow your market share by taking customers away from your competition. 

Growing market share can be accomplished by delivering on a core promise better than your competitor does and then doing it consistently better than your competitor does. 

Have you kept your promises lately?

Dave Baney is the founder and CEO of 55 Questions, LLC.  We work with successful top executives with a driving ambition to crush their competition.  We help CEOs and Entrepreneurs improve alignment, communication and accountability throughout their organization. www.55Questions.com

If you listen in on business conversations you will hear lots of talk about breaking even.  “What is the break even on that project?”  “Will we break even on that investment?”

Who went into business to break even? 

The conversations have been about break even so that business leaders know what the minimum level of sales that needs to be achieved so that there won’t be a loss for the day, week, month, year, project, etc.

Here is a simple formula to calculate the Break Even Rate in Sales

        Fixed (Overhead) Costs  = Break Even Sales

               Gross Margin

Fixed or Overhead Costs refer to the ongoing expenses of operating a business, such as rent, utilities, telephone, internet, accounting fees, advertising, interest expense, taxes, travel, office supplies, employee benefits and wages not directly associated with the production of a product, etc.

In other words all costs on the Profit & Loss Statement except direct labor, direct material costs or other direct expenses.

If the ABC Company, a manufacturer of widgets has Fixed Costs of $750,000 and a Gross Margin of 25%, then the Break Even is $3,000,000 in Sales.

It is a little less intuitive for a service firm.  If the XYZ Law Firm has Fixed Costs of $750,000 and has a Gross Margin of 90%, then it has a Break Even is $833,333 in Sales.

Manufacturers spend a lot of money on direct labor and materials in the production of their products and therefore have a much lower Gross Margin and a much higher break even level than service firms.  Service firms have very little in Direct Cost so most of their expenses are Fixed Costs and so they have high Gross Margins.

Let’s go back to the original question, who went into business to break even?

Instead of Break Even set your targets for Acceptable Level of Profit, that is the break even plus an amount of profit that is acceptable to the owners of the business.

Here is a simple formula to calculate the Acceptable Level of Profit 

  Fixed (Overhead) Costs + Desired Profit  = Level Profit in Sales 

                       Gross Margin

So if the ABC Company, a manufacturer widgets, has Fixed Costs of $750,000 and the owner wants to make $250,000 in profit and has a Gross Margin of 25%, then the Acceptable Level of Profit Sales is $4,000,000.

If the XYZ Law Firm has Fixed Costs of $750,000 and the owner wants to make $250,000 in profit and has a Gross Margin of 90%, then the Acceptable Level of Profit in Sales is $1,111,111.

Start targeting your Acceptable Level of Profit instead of Break Even; you will be happy that you did.

** Dave Baney is the founder and CEO of 55 Questions, LLC.  We work with successful top executives with a driving ambition to crush their competition.  We help CEOs and Entrepreneurs improve alignment, communication and accountability throughout their organization. www.55Questions.com **