Dec 21 2010

DEFRAGMENT YOURSELF!

When you finally slow down for

                                          

(or from) the weekend,

                                      

DEFRAGMENT!

 

 

No need to explain why. You already know all the economy, industry or profession, marketplace and competition reasons.

So let’s get to the heart of it. Use this slow-down-time period to step back, adjust your glasses, put your hands on your hips, stretch, yawn, take some deep breaths, and defragment — put all the pieces out on the table.

                                          

Start with your business . . .

What’s been going on these past few months? Weeks? Where’s your business now, and where’s it headed?

~~FINANCES?

Management? Strategies?  Communications? Budgets? Investors? A/R? A/P? Cash flow? Payroll? Other overhead? Reimbursements? Taxes? Revenues? Charitable donations? Profits? Accounting systems? Bookkeeping services? Add your own here: _____________________  

~~OPERATIONS?

Management? Strategies? Communications? Equipment? Supplies? Storage? Shipping? Inventory? Warehousing? Operating systems? Work flow? Scheduling? Purchasing? Leases? Legal actions? IT? Add your own here: _______  _________________________________   

~~MARKETING?

Management? Strategies? Communications? Branding? Sales? (Yes, sales is a function of marketing.) Public and community and investor and industry relations (Also all marketing functions, including news releases, special events, blogs, BUZZ)? Advertising (another function of marketing, including online, traditional and direct media . . . as well as the creation and production of all of it) Pricing? Packaging? Promotion? Merchandising? Social media? Add your own here: _____________________________  

~~HUMAN RESOURCES?

Management? Strategies? Communications? Benefit programs? Customer Service? Referral values? Recruitment? Hiring and firing? leadership, teamwork and skills development training? Performance incentives? Motivational programs? Add your own here: _____________________________

                                                  

[So you noticed those 3 primary targets for each category, huh? Well, in my experience, poor management, poor (or no) strategies, and poor communications have consistently been the primary reasons for business failure!]

                           

That should give you a place to start. When you’ve exhausted your business thinking, switch gears to your SELF.

 

What’s been going on these past few months/weeks  with YOU? Where are you now, and where are you headed?

                                                       

~~HEALTH & FITNESS?

Are you squeezing in enough exercise every week to keep yourself in decent shape? You need not lift or jog for three hours a day and eat powered protein shakes with 37 raw eggs for breakfast in order to stay physically fit.

Many experts say 3 hours a week of brisk walking and avoiding overdoses of red meat and fatty foods will suffice for most people with busy schedules. Are you getting routine medical and dental health checkups as recommended? What do you need to do to motivate yourself in these directions?  

~~FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS

Are you spending enough quality time with children, parents, spouse or significant other and (get your finger out of your throat!) your in-laws? How can you combine some time-consumers more productively? Walk with family members or friends. Partner up for health tests (easier to deal with when you have company).

Get serious about sharing healthy food preparation ideas, recipes, and meals. Small specialty of handmade gifts and handwritten thank you notes work wonders as relationship cement. Add your own ideas here: ____________________

~~SELF-EXPRESSION, SELF-AWARENESS & SELF-DEVELOPMENT

Surely you know what you need to do in these categories to defragment yourselfand move forward with the adventures in creative expression and self and academic learning that you’ve always wanted to fit into your life, but never chose to make the room for. Now’s your chance to choose, and blame it on me!

The more you can learn about yourself, the better you’ll be as a leader and coach and role model . . . the better prepared you’ll be to inspire and motivate others to productivity and peak performances. Choose to make yourself make room for this. 

                                            

Weekend time slow-down periods are the perfect times to reevaluate and make commitments to yourself.

No, not token promises that never happen. Get serious here for a minute.

You have only one life, and the rest of it starts the minute you leave this blog post, so how about making the rest of your life make the kind of difference you’ve only ever dreamed of?

Hey, what’s to lose by trying?

 

 # # # 

www.TheWriterWorks.com

302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Apr 03 2009

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE BRANDING

“You Get Incompetence

                                     

In A Dirty Facility!”

                                                                      

     Just because you own or run a professional (medical, legal, accounting, mental health, etc.) practice doesn’t exempt you from the need to establish and consistently promote a branding theme line.

     That single statement that others will identify with you needs to fully describe everything important about your service in seven words or less.

If you’ve been thinking that you and your profession are above the clutter of fastfood/hi-tech/toilet paper/auto dealer hype, you are correct! 

But you are NOT above developing and publicizing a meaningful message and putting it out to the universe for consideration and, hopefully, acceptance.

                                             

     Why is that? Because our emerging societal norms are to expect every entity–professional or trash–to put a billboard in our collective faces, all day, every day!

     Seriously, we live in a competitive, consumer-driven world (despite existing economics), with the 9 or 10 million Twitter users rapidly adapting to 140-character length messages and any business worth anything (plus some that aren’t) relying on 7-word branding slogans, you and your professional practice need to be maximally represented in the hunt in order to survive.

     Your brand is not simply your name or catchy logo or label, though some involve one or both of these. In reality, your brand encompasses all aspects of your professional practice, and how you represent yourself to patients and clients, prospective patients and clients, and the circles you and your practice operate in.

     These operating circles widen every day with every new hi-tech communications development, with every encounter . . . between yourself and other staff and associates connected with your practice as well as between each of you and the rest of the world: families, friends, patients/clients, prospects, affiliate agencies and institutions, sales reps and vendors, professional and public communities, et al.  

     As a rule of thumb, your brand should be represented by a theme line of 7 words or less that says who you are, what you do, what the unique benefit is of your service, and ideally includes your name or location or other sales point . . . and accomplishes all that persuasively.

Actually, great branding lines are engaging, convincing 7-word stories — often with a double entendre included, and occasionally rhyming if you’re lucky.                                        

(“For The Best Of Your Life…” for LIFE Health & Fitness Centers; “Growing Internet Businesses With Real World Experience”for eHealthcare Ventures; “You Deserve A Break Today…at McDonald’s”; “Orthopedic Patient Partnerships – Adding Life To Years” for Medical Center of Ocean County, NJ; “”You Can Be Certain With I.G. Burton” car dealerships; “Backpackers Spine Health & Strength Training Program” for Dr. Ian Fries; “The Dog Kids Love To Bite” for Armour Hot Dogs; “Enhancing Life, Work & Sports Performance”for BioMotion 3-D Imaging and Physical Therapy; “The Medical Mark of Excellence” for board-certified neurologist Dr. Michael Mark, are just a few that come to mind)

_________________________

     There are plenty more, including some I’m sure for those typically even less-creative professionals in law and accounting. But what you need to know is that it IS important to have a strong branding identity and that it IS best done by a professional, not by whimsy, chance or a creative cousin. Remember there is no second first impression. What you say you’re all about the first time around is what sticks. 

     Oh, and even after all of this is done, it’s the consistent reinforcing positive and pleasant attitude that you and your staff project to the rest of the world –all day– every day– day after day– because you believe in the value of the services you provide, that counts!

In other words, the phrase you use must be the guide you follow and must reinforce the actions you take.

                                                  

# # #

                                                         

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Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0116

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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