Now, Build a Great Business! : 7 Ways to Maximize Your Profits in Any Market

by Thompson, Mark

• ISBN13: 9780814416976
• ISBN10: 0814416977
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-11-17
• Publisher: Amacom Books

Summary

Thompson and Tracy have written one of the best books on not just how to build a great business, but how to be successful at anything. A couple of my takeaways that I am using today are their Six Key Questions in Strategic Planning (plus their explanations and guidance to answer all of these questions): 1. Where are you now? What is your current situation? 2.How did you get to where you are today? 3. Where do you want to go from here? 4. How do you get from where you are today to where you want to be in the future? 5. What obstacles will you have to overcome? What problems will you have to solve? 6. What additional knowledge, skills, or resources will you require to achieve your strategic objectives?

Author Biography

MARK THOMPSON is coauthor of the bestseller Success Built to Last, is an executive coach, leadership expert, and investor. Forbes has called him “a venture investor with the ‘Midas touch’”.

BRIAN TRACY is a top business speaker, author, and consultant, addressing more than 250,000 people worldwide each year. He has written 45 books and produced more than 400 audio and video learning programs.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xiii
Preface	p. xv
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
Introduction	p. xxi
Become a Great Leader	p. 1
Develop a Great Business Plan	p. 35
Surround Yourself with Great People	p. 61
Offer a Great Product or Service	p. 91
Design a Great Marketing Plan	p. 115
Perfect a Great Sales Process	p. 148
Create a Great Customer Experience	p. 178
Appendix Now, Build a Great Life!	p. 205
Index	p. 215
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Introduction

The time for theory is over. The time for action is now. We

are in the midst of business turbulence and turmoil greater

than we have ever seen before. Economic storms end, as they

always do, but we will never go back to the good old ways of

doing business. Today, competition is fiercer and more determined

than ever. The challenges are greater and more demanding.

The only way to survive and thrive will be to build a great

business that can withstand the economic shocks of any market

and rise to the top of its industry.

The market is flooded with business books that describe

what an excellent business should look like. Descriptive information

is enlightening and inspirational. It makes you want to

be like the ideal leader running the ideal businesses they describe.

This book is different. It is deliberately prescriptive. It explains

the seven keys to business greatness and exactly what

you have to do to achieve them. No theory, just practical steps

you can take immediately, with clear explanations of exactly

how you can measure how well you are doing at each step along

the way.

You’ll learn what to do, how to do it, and the key numbers

you need to watch each day and month. You’ll learn how to set

clear targets and attach them to meaningful metrics. You will

learn the very best, practical, and proven strategies and techniques

practiced by the top businesses in every industry, with

the goal of building a high-energy, high-morale, high-profit

business of your own.

This book will show you how to attract customers, keep

them coming back, and have them bring their friends. It tells

you how to focus and concentrate your time, money, and resources

on the most profitable products, services, and activities.

This book reveals how you can achieve better, more predictable

results, especially financial results, faster than before. And

how you can create a culture of continuous improvement to

develop a lead over your competitors, and then continually

widen that lead. As you learn how to move from wherever you

are to wherever you want to be in the future, along the way

you’ll also see how to measure each critical variable and how to

improve in each essential area. Especially, you’ll learn how to

trigger the same response, over and over, by people inside and

outside your company, who will say . . .

‘‘This is a great business!’’

This book gives you a series of clear, simple, practical, and

powerful methods and techniques you can use to build a great

business in any market and in the face of any competition. Let’s

begin.