I love going up to my home in central Florida. I'm writing this newsletter as I sit in my office facing the window to the front yard. We cut down a tree that had died and I use the stump for a feeder for all my critters. We have a three acre lot that backs up to a preserve so we get squirrels, a huge assortment of birds, rabbits, ducks, turtles and other wildlife that are just incredible. When we first moved here our new neighbors told us the best feed to use to attract the "kids" as I call them. They told us what would be the healthiest treats and the feed store where I could get a supply. Now we have a huge diverse group of regulars who stop by on a daily basis and I don't think I'll ever tire of their antics.

While daily critter visits may not be your thing, what if someone could tell you how to attract what you want? See, my neighbors gave me "best practice" information and when I followed their directions I got the results I wanted.

Whatever it is that you want, be it more customers or a new job, there are best practices to help you get there and do it faster and more profitably. This issue is Focused On Your Success through the use of best practices. I hope it feeds your mind and keeps you coming back for more too!

To your continued success,

Jeannette

As executives and small business owners we are faced with on-going business challenges as well as opportunities. Securing a job or running a company requires the ability to use an assortment of skills and experience that are often outside of our comfort zone and /or area of expertise. So what's a person to do?

We can all take a lesson from big business about benchmarking best practices and how to effectively beg, borrow or swipe proven ideas, tactics, and strategies.

When you use a best practice you're essentially learning from other people/companies experiences and eliminating the need to "re-invent the wheel." So right off the top you increase the potential to reduce costs, and time. Learning from others will also allow you to avoid pitfalls, improve performance and expand your stash of implementable solutions to a broader range of issues.

Here's more good news - best practices aren't hard to come by. It just takes a little research and some good communication skills.

First, look for people/companies who are already doing/achieving what you want to do. Who just landed a great job in record time? What company is enjoying double-digit growth in this economy? Who got loans and backers for expansion? How did someone make a successful transition from one industry to another?

The Internet makes this kind of research easy to do. Ask your network on LinkedIn for referrals and introductions. Read business journals, do a key-word search on Goggle. The success you want is out there.

Here's an example... You hear about another small business running in-store seminars to drive traffic and sales. Ya think - no problem I could do that. But hold on a minute - what do you really know about the objective, process or the outcomes?

If you dug a little deeper you might discover the in-store seminars increased traffic and sales by 6% and 12%, respectively. You might also learn that a critical step was the need to make attendance confirmation calls to all the seminar attendees the day before otherwise attendance drops to zip. Only after finding all the steps to success are you ready to effectively implement the idea in your career or your company.

You're going to get this additional information much the same way you got the initial information. Here's a few simple rules to follow:

• Do targeted research
• Do ask specific questions
• Do get help from your network
• Do go to the source and listen carefully
• Do be open to change
• Don't assume
• Don't prejudge
• Don't skip steps

Now it's time to implement. Here are a few best practice tips about using best practices:

• Pick ONE career or business process/service to improve. (i.e. product delivery or elevator pitch). Don't try to do everything at once. Take it one step at a time.
• Look for one metric to measure. (i.e. Late shipment % or Network to referral conversion )
• Find competitors and companies within your industry and outside your industry. (i.e. FedEx or Someone vying for the same level or type of job)
• Collect information on the successful, best practices of other companies. (FedEx spoke and hub system; ability to generate great referrals)
• Modify the best practice for your situation. (Have one retail store per city act as central hub for shipments; Revise your pitch to be solution oriented vs responsibility focused)
• Implement the process then measure the results.

Consider this - the time to complete a best practice study doesn't have to take months. A couple of weeks of research and telephone interviews will often provide what you need.

Anthony Robbins put it pretty simply when he said, "If you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the results you want and copy what they do and you'll achieve the same results." Success is all around us in good times and bad. Stay alert to the changes, take the time to learn from it and watch your career and business excel.

Do It Now: Best Practice Resources to Get You Focused on Your Success

 

Thanks for reading our FREE "Opt-in Only" e-publication Focused on Your Success.

If you enjoyed this issue, please email it to interested friends and associates. They can receive it directly at my newsletter signup at my website. My goal for 2010 is to grow our subscriber list to 10,000 readers, so I really appreciate your help in passing the word about this newsletter.

If you are a newsletter editor or ezine publisher, Focused On Your Success offers articles to use as FREE CONTENT for your company newsletter or website as long as you keep the copyright and by-lines in tact.

Privacy Policy: We respect your privacy. Our ezine is opt-in only and we protect our subscriber list.