I was BLOWN away when I found this resource a couple of days ago and have started using them. My problem is that with everything I’m doing, I only have about 15-20 minutes every night to read. Reading a 200-300 page book, it ends up taking me a MONTH.

Yet, my interest list keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Soundview Summary actually allows you to get key summaries for almost every book that may be on your list. The other nice thing is that you can get the summary however you want, print, audio or even online. I prefer print still, but slowly am moving over to audio.

It’s only about $119, but worth every single penny…give them a try - Click here…

Popularity: 44% [?]

BTW, product managers and PROJECT managers are the same thing to me.

Recently, I’ve started to really see the value of having strong (detail-oriented) product managers in a company. Until a year ago, “I” or my “second-hand woman” product managed everything. We were certainly bottle-necking our business.

Then, earlier this year, we launched our first product that I had personally had ZERO involvement in. The launch went through flawlessly and the product was far better than what I could have made it. It was then that I learned the importance for product managers.

Since then, we’ve slowly been growing and focusing in on product managers. Something happened though and as of the last month, product managers have engrossed my life!

About 2 weeks ago, we were able to successfully hire a part-time contractor to now become a full-time, on-site product manager for one of the most important products we’ll launch this year (Q4).

Then, about 3 days ago, I get a series of e-mails from our lead technical outsourcing team that they TOO are implementing project managers. I was pretty excited to hear this because it was going to start making communication easier. Easier communication means faster work!

As if that was not enough, TODAY, we just brought on another amazing product manager to start managing a new product we’re launching soon that has tremendous un-charted territory value for our long-term business.

The more great product managers I bring on, the easier MY job (as a CEO) becomes and so do the jobs of everyone else in the company (since things get organized).

However, hiring the WRONG project manager can also be a nightmare leading to MASSIVE losses. I’ve hired a few of those too in my time

Here are some tips to hire top-notch project managers:

1. Make sure they are detail oriented.

2. You’re looking for OPERATIONAL people, not really strategic or marketing (although sometimes you get lucky and get both).

3. Have past experience (CRITICAL).

4. Versatile. The person must be at least somewhat familiar with many aspects of the project.

5. People Person. A product manager’s main job is to manage people and the delegated tasks. If they don’t get along with the team, that’s a miserable failure waiting to happen.

6. Firm & Authoritative Personality - This is critical because in many ways, they’ll be the “true boss” of the project. If team members can easily fool them or “push them around,” the project will never get done.

To know if they’re firm enough, ask yourself this question: “Would I promote this person to top management?” If your answer is no, I’d think twice about their ability to be a good product manager.

Moral of the story? If you run a company with many product offerings and you really want to see growth, get yourself and your business organized with product/project managers.

Popularity: 43% [?]

As you know I don’t do much corporate work (yet), but our company is getting into it more and more.

I recently wrote a sales proposal and the feedback I had to it led to an “AH HA” moment.

Business or Sales Proposals Are Really Sales Material…

What do I mean by that? Just because a company agrees and says “send me a proposal” does NOT mean that they are convinced or sold.

I recently made that assumption. All I sent back on the proposal was “what they’ll get” and “how much we would charge.”

The response was… “wait…what exactly are you doing and how does this help me?”

It was then that I realized a sales proposal is really just another addition to your arsenal of sales materials. Even though it’s a proposal, you can’t forget to SELL in it.

The proposal we are re-doing now has the following:

- Detailed list of BENEFITS from what we’re doing (not just what we’re doing).

- A complete detailed picture of HOW we’re going to do it (so they understand that it’s not really all that easy).

- ITEMIZED costs (this is critical, you can’t just throw numbers at them, make sure they understand why the numbers are there to begin with).

FINALLY…(my biggest tip).

We did our OWN “cost/benefit analysis” FOR them. How?

A good sales person is one who gets as much data from his potential customer first. You should have enough data to fully understand how your service will impact that company.

Let’s use an example to really understand:

Assume the company you’re selling to currently has $10,000,000 in sales and they convert at 10% at an average sale price of $100,000.

So, this means they’re talking to 1,000 companies, they close 100 of them and that’s how they hit $10,000,000 in revenue. Now, let’s assume YOUR service can help they close 20% better (of course you have to have some proof to back this).

** ANOTHER BIG TIP: Pick VERY conservative numbers. Numbers that even they cannot argue with. This way, they see it and say “WOW, if just this LITTLE change can have such a large impact, imagine if…” SOLD!

Now this means that with your service, they’re conversion rate will go up to 12%. If they went back and talked to the same companies, they should now close 120 at $100,000. That would mean that they’re total revenue would be $12,000,000.

An increase in revenue of $2,000,000!

Let’s assume that your service cost $100,000. If IN your proposal, you were to provide this example, can you imagine how much more powerful your proposal would be?

How can someone say no to a service that costs $100,000 but returns $2,000,000 (worst case scenario)!

If you really want to close the sale fast, have a face to face meeting, gather as much data as possible and do as much of the “cost/benefit analysis” for the company as you can.

You’ll shave weeks if not months off the sales cycle.

Popularity: 47% [?]

I was just listening to the Audio Book - Good To Great and had an amazing idea at the beginning of CD #3. The chapter talks about the concept of putting your best people on OPPORTUNITIES, not problems.

The example he uses is Phillip Morris, back when they were not doing much business internationally (only 1% of their business was international), the CEO decided that it was time to grow the business world-wide.

The CEO took the company’s BEST executive who was leading the US operations and put him on the international project. He took him from where the revenue is 99% of the company and put him where it’s only 1%!

It almost felt like a demotion to some…

However, a few years later, Marlboro was the #1 selling brand world-wide (3 years before it ever became #1 even in US). The moral of the story is that put your strongest people on the opportunities that have the potential of having the most impact on your business and you double, triple or even quadruple your chances of the opportunity materializing.

Wasting quality people on “solving problems” can become a big waste. Your best people are your biggest asset, use them properly!

By the way, I highly recommend Good To Great. Click here to pick up a copy yourself, I recommend the audio series because he goes into much more detail and you can listen to it in the car or pop it on your ipod.

The idea was so good that I’ve been forced into looking into my own organization to see if I’m making any mistakes?

Popularity: 42% [?]

Yesterday, I completely forgot to mention the second most important role of a CEO!  Let’s recap:

#1: Provide the team with the necessary resources.
#2: Build shareholder value

#2 is the one I’ve known the most. Really a CEO works for the Board of Directors (who directly represent the shareholders). A CEO’s job is typically summed up in the 40,000 foot overview definition of “build shareholder value.” Meaning, always focus on increasing the valuation of a company.

This is obviously all encompassing, since everything from your team hires, technology development to revenue generation directly impact the valuation of a company.

So, there you go - that’s the best way to describe a CEO…

CEO = The head of an organization responsible for building shareholder value and facilitating all the resources necessary for the company to act on it’s business plan.

Popularity: 48% [?]

I know I’ve been quiet as far as posting, just been working on many projects. Plus, rather than post regular random thoughts, I thought I’d write mostly USEFUL things that you can actually learn from!, so those only happen once in a while

Over the last month or so, I’ve had another epiphany where I figure out more about what a CEO’s job really is - big company or small.

Here’s how this started…

My mentor just recently accepted the CEO position at a company that is 100% out of his industry understanding - pretty amazing company though. As we were teasing him about his new position in a brand new industry (for him) he made a comment that really hit home with me, he said:

“It really doesn’t matter since the main role of a CEO is to just gather the resources so his team can do what they do best - he’s just there to make sure they have what they need.”

That one sentence probably taught me more about business than an entire semester in college and the funny thing is that he said it in passing in the lobby of our building while we were joking around…

I have thought about what he said for a while now and it makes total sense. That one statement alone also describes the major difference between a CEO and an entrepreneur. An “entrepreneur” has subject expertise so he/she works IN the industry. But a CEO is really a manager - someone who makes sure that the wheels are turning.

So go on and be the CEO, make sure everyone on your team has what they need!

Popularity: 48% [?]

One of the things I have had to learn the most and am still learning is the importance of a poker face in executive management. You can’t get overly excited or disappointed - EVER. I’ll give you a perfect example…

Let’s say you’re on a sales call and it seems to be going well, the other side says “they’re excited and ready, just a few steps left and let’s get this deal sealed.”

Your reaction?  WOO HOO!!! BIG one, I gotta go and tell EVERYONE, this is huge. Ok, let me start planning around this, I can hire 10 people, I can do this and that and this and that and I can go around bragging about this to everyone.

Guess what? If I had a nickle for every sales call that went well and I thought I was going to close but ultimately led to ZILCH revenue, well, I wouldn’t need to be in business right now

Bottom line is a CEO needs to be stable (something I admit I’m still working on). The best example is a cooooool poker face. Take good news at strides. The rule that I made 2 years ago and am getting better at day by day is to NOT get excited or even think about a sale until the check arrives, cashes and clears - NOW, I have a sale and can start spending the money!

No worries, when anyone is new at this it’s only human nature - but eventually after years of getting slapped around, it grows out of you.

Again, I start to understand why CEOs always look so serious, resolved, calm and well they look like good poker players!

Oh, by the way, a good poker face really helps in sales too.

Popularity: 52% [?]

Sunday night my friends and I had a “wing it” moment where we just decided on the spot to go see a movie. On the way TO the movie, one of my friends started complaining about a certain aspect of his company/job. He’s a Director level position at a Credit Union.

Well, it just so turns out that what he’s complaining about, our company has an expertise in! Perhaps not *specifically* in the “banking” industry, but the general technology and know-how of how to resolve his big pain-point, we have it!

That immediately got me thinking…why not?

Could this be another way to use our existing technology and team talent to access a completely different market with a completely different service?

- In short, that was Sunday night, it’s now Tuesday morning, 11:30 AM - I’ve had 5 phone calls between advisers and team members.

- I’ve met with that friend TWICE since then to iron out bringing his company has a possible beta test client.

- I’ve spent countless hours researching the market - even found some competition (which is a good thing).

- I’ve done an expense chart to see what we would have to charge to be profitable.

- I’ve got a full t0-do list that I need to approach to finalize my market research.

Yes, THAT is a true entrepreneur right there. I got an idea and I MOVED on it, at least for research.

Now, the only part I have to be careful for is that my enthusiasm does not hurt us. I have to make sure I do ALL my research and strategize appropriately. Right now may not be the best time to get my team involved in something completely different. Also, one of my advisers was not excited about the idea at all, his exact comment was:

“These kinds of companies suck…”

He’s a very smart and well rounded businessman who has been on many boards and has helped raise money for many companies, so I do listen to his opinion. But of course, the entrepreneur in me still says “I’ll do my own research to see if I can’t change that …”

Either way, market research and taking your TIME to understand the idea is critical - don’t just jump off and start something.

In our case, we have our hands full with what we already do and a distraction could be a bad “CEO decision” - remember, my post about “The Conflict of an Entrepreneur and CEO.” However, at the same time, I’m excited that I got my head to think outside the box.

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THIS is how and why companies have “spin-offs” or “sister companies.” Your knowledge, technology and team could very well fit like a charm in a completely different field than yours - have you thought about that? 

Just remember, don’t spread yourself too thin - stick to a dedicated plan and work on that. But, if there is room/money/resources to expand, why not try it? 

Popularity: 50% [?]

I have an on-going joke in our company that it keeps being taken over by women. I joke about it, but it’s actually a bit true. 1 year ago our executive team was 2 men and 1 woman.

Fast forward to today and it’s now 2 men and 3 women. Every time I joke that I’m going to make sure the next hire is male (joking of course), I end up finding the perfect fit who just happens to be a woman.

If you look at our entire company, 60% are women. Now, you may be thinking, “what’s the big deal?”

The big deal is that in our industry this is incredibly STRANGE. Women are very hard to find and it’s very “male run.” But, I’ve personally never thought about it that way, hence, my team does not fit the convention.

Just as we were discussing this internally a month ago, I came across this article:

Entrepreneur.com - Why Aren’t Companies Cashing In On Women In Executive Positions…

“Women are real assets on the management teams of publicly traded companies, according to a 2007 report by Group and Organization Management, which found that women have a positive effect on a firm’s short-term performance, three-year stock price growth and growth in earnings per share.“

I was happy to see that I’m on the right track If just one woman can have positive impact on a firm, I guess I’ll just overload (kidding of course).

Reasons To Put Women In Executive Positions:

These are my own personal observations:

1. More logical - Women add the perfect amount of logic amongst a ton of “let’s take over the world” testosterone. They tend to think very methodically and can ask the right questions.

2. Promote balance - A company is not just about making money, it’s a culture and much more. Women are much better at promoting a “family” experience and making sure that everything is being considered with decisions - not just money.

3. Calm - During tough times, I find that women keep their calm much better - not sure why. They almost seem more confident or more optimistic (in cases). Men (including myself) can get my spastic and that’s when you make stupid decisions.

4. Better Team Players - This is my favorite because women have far lesser egos (for the most part) than men. They seem to be much more concerned about the company’s growth then they are about their personal growth.

Not to say they don’t compete to grow, but they’re the first ones to consider “what’s best for the company” - men tend to have bigger egos that get in their own way sometimes.

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I want to emphasize that I’m being “general” and there are always exceptions. I just want to push the fact that if you don’t have “the other side” in your team, you need to.

Whether that means you’re a women run company, well, then you need to bring on some male teammates.

In the end it’s all about BALANCE - men and women are different, they think differently and they react differently. Having both on the team allows you to have a good balance and “cross-check.”

How about YOUR team? Do you promote this diversity and make best use of it?

Popularity: 52% [?]

Ok, be honest, how many nights have you stayed up staring at the ceiling scared sh**less about payroll…

I’ve definitely had times in the past where “I” did…I remember the questions:

• Where is the money going to come from?
• Should I lay someone off? But, that’s horrible…
• Should I try to raise money? But that’ll take so long…
• Should I go borrow money? But, I already have so much debt…
• Maybe that big account will close this week?

I always used to tell myself, “this must just be a problem that ‘I’ have because I’m a small business, once I get bigger it’ll go away…” Little did I know, it gets worse!

I was recently talking to the CFO and VP of Business Development of a company that does over $20 Million in revenue a year and has 120 employees. I was cracking jokes about the days that I’ve scrambled to launch a product just to get enough money to make payroll…honestly, I was looking for a glazed look on their face.

What did I get?

I got a loud, “Oh man, we know how THAT feels…hahahahahahaha” as they smiled and winked at each other.

I thought to myself, “what the heck? are you serious, how in the WORLD can you guys have payroll problems doing $20 Million a year?”

The more thinking I’ve done, I realized that actually the faster you grow, the more you hire, the more your expenses go up. It seems that BIG corporations really do run quite tight most of the time.

It’s not even bad financial management, it’s just the results of aggressive growth.

So, tell me, have you ever stayed up at night thinking about payroll?

Popularity: 60% [?]