“Nothing tells you more about an organization than the way it makes decisions.”
“Feet on the ground, head in the clouds. That s how giants walk.”
“CHOAM is business and business follows profits.”
“Solving the problem means helping the customer to understand why you’re the best person for the job”
“My view of the charity world is that compared with business, there is too much talk, way too many meetings and expert panels and blue-ribbon commissions, and not enough action. Or as an Australian friend of mine once opined: Sometimes you just have to have a go and get on with it, mate! .”
“Everybody sells something to somebody every day, whether it’s a product, a service or just a case of making sure that they get their own way.”
“A person s right to a job is as specious as his boss right to success in business. There is no right to a minimum wage, just as there is no right to success in self-employment.”
“Each segment of the worm is directly reproduced as a whole worm, just as each cell of the American CEO can produce a new CEO.”
“Our customers are not our competitors. We compete for them, not with them.”
“Though you may be paid minimum wage, to the customers you are the face of the entire company.”
“The focus of the entrepreneur must always be on exchanging products or services for money, and anything that distracts from that like actually running a business, should be avoided where possible.”
“In many instances, the words “sell” and “influence” are completely interchangeable.”
“Asking the appropriate questions means understanding exactly what your customer is trying to achieve”
“Executing the solution means gaining customer commitment and delivering on your promises”
“Earn the Right - Ensure you put this chunk of Sales Tetris in place first and all the other pieces just take their own positions naturally.”
“You get to decide your company culture.”
“Some of these tasks are interesting. Tinkering with machines is fun. Marketing decisions, especially how to manage the Web site and AdWords, are an intellectual challenge. Some are unpleasant but lead to a satisfying conclusion, like nagging customers for past-due payments. (They ve always paid me, eventually.) Some are frightening, I can change an employee s life with my decisions about pay rates and whether to hire and fire. And many are just aggravating: the taxes, insurance purchases, legal issues, and some of the employee interactions. Each layer of government, each enormous and indifferent private bureaucracy, requires its own special knowledge: the right form filled out the correct way and filed at the right time. Learning how to complete on type of tax filing tells you nothing whatsoever about how to fill out the next form. One health insurer presents a quote one way, another in an entirely different way, and both require extensive study to determine the best choice. It s like stepping back to an old, old world where every tree, every rock, every stream is inhabited by its own resident spirit, and each needs to be mollified in the correct manner. Or very bad things happen. I didn t start my company to do any of this. I had no idea, when I decided that I would make furniture in exchange for money, that this was in my future. And the strange universe of administration expands as the company grows.”