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CHAPTER 1

Part I

THE RESULTS CHALLENGE

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Today's challenge is to produce more results with fewer employees for customers who demand more for less.

BILL BONNSTETTER CEO, Target Training International

THE RESULTS CHALLENGE

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Does this sound familiar? Your family is asking you to earn more money and spend less time at work. Your clients are demanding more value and at lower costs. Your competition is increasing while your differentiation is decreasing. And your CEO is expecting you to achieve more results this year with fewer resources. This is the Results Challenge.

The collision of these challenges is causing painful problems in sales and leadership. Organizations are hustling to stay alive, while individuals are struggling to stay employed.

Almost every day we see headlines like these in the Wall Street Journal, NY Times and Businessweek:

BellSouth Executives asked to leave in wake of AT&T takeover

Ford layoffs could hit 30,000

NBC cutting TV workforce - slashing 700 jobs in effort to be more nimble

Recently, I received an email entitled "Still Got a JOB ...". While I changed the name for anonymity, the email is real. It captures the essence of the results challenge that sellers and leaders are facing.

Here's the reality about today's fierce market, if you operate as an employee you're vulnerable. The future demands that you "manage it like you own it!" It requires that you adopt an entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial mindset. It invites you to step up and become the CEO (Chief Excellence Officer) of the privately owned company called you.

THE MARKET FORCES

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The future has several names. For the weak it is impossible. For the fainthearted, it is unknown. For the thoughtful and valiant, it is ideal. — Victor Hugo

We live in a rapidly changing world of increased commoditization and decreased differentiation. What was "good enough" yesterday is considered "unacceptable" today. Business success today, and in the future, is achieved by those who not only anticipate the market shifts and trends, but who are able to re- evaluate, re-focus and re-engineer themselves.

Through my work and evaluation of some of the most successful companies in the world, I have identified three key market forces that are significantly impacting individual performance and organizational results. The intersection of these challenges are driving leaders at all levels to rethink the way they do business and STEP UP to the next level. These market trends are:

1. Radical Change

2. Increased Commoditization

3. Hiring Top Talent

CHALLENGE # 1 – RADICAL CHANGE

We live in a world of rapid, relentless and radical change. Windows of opportunity open for only a brief moment, and then slam shut. The pace of innovation continues to accelerate and what was impossible yesterday is probable today. Technology raises the standard and changes the rules for results. New products, even whole markets, appear, mutate and evaporate suddenly.

Goldman, Nagel and Preiss, authors of Agile Competitors and Virtual Organizations, forewarn us that "rapid, relentless and uncertain change is the most unsettling marketplace reality that companies and people must cope with today."

CHALLENGE # 2 – COMMODITIZATION

For both products and services, in every industry, commoditization is unceasing and unforgiving! Even the most agile individuals and organizations are struggling. While suppliers develop differentiation strategies to increase their margins, their clients develop purchasing strategies to shrink these margins and drive value to the lowest common denominator — price.

This is how Chan Kim, author of the best-selling Blue Ocean Strategy, traces the process of commoditization:

Accelerated technological advances have substantially improved industrial productivity and allowed suppliers to produce an unprecedented array of products and services. The result is that in increasing numbers of industries, supply exceeds demand. The trend toward globalization compounds the situation. As trade barriers between nations and regions are dismantled and as information on products and prices becomes instantly and globally available, niche markets and havens for monopoly continue to disappear. The result has been accelerated commoditization of products and services, increasing price wars and shrinking profit margins.

CHALLENGE # 3 — HIRING TOP TALENT

The third blockade on the road to results is talent. In particular, this challenge involves the hiring, developing and retaining of top talent. Face it, today's market conditions demand that you have the right people in the right positions doing the right things. Regretfully, most organizations do a weak job of this, which leads to turnover, competitive disadvantage and weak results. An effective system for hiring, developing and retaining top talent is "no longer a should, it's a must!"

Consider these comments from leading authorities on this subject:

Larry Bossidy, author of Execution, writes:

The leaders most important job is selecting and appraising people.

Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, writes:

We expected that Good-to-Great leaders would start with vision and strategy. Instead, they attended to people first, strategy second. They got the right people on the bus, moved the wrong people off, ushered the right people to the right seats – and then they figured out where to drive it.

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THE MARKET HAS STEPPED UP, SHOULD YOU?

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You have two choices: Either Step Up or get stepped on! DANIEL GRISSOM

The facts are clear and indisputable. The market conditions have stepped up. How does this affect you?

It means you must work smarter, not harder. You must raise your standards, maximize your talent, make superior evaluations, prepare properly and unleash your potential.

You must constantly look for ways to improve yourself, create greater value for your clients and achieve superior sales results. You must deliver a high Solutions-to-Problems Ratio by consistently increasing solutions and decreasing problems.

Think about it, you have three options to increase results:

1. Decrease your problems

2. Increase the solutions

3. Do both!

RESULTS = SOLUTIONS - PROBLEMS

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MONEY OR EXCUSES?

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You can make money or excuses. But, you can't make both at the same time! MAMA

My analysis of top and average performers reveals that the major difference between these two groups is their mindset. Top performers hold themselves personally accountable. Top performers find a way or make a way to achieve great results. They don't make excuses.

Average performers always seem to find or make a way to "snatch defeat from the jaws of victory." It's the market's fault. It's their boss. It's the company. It's the client. There's always a reason for not delivering the desired result.

To become a top performer you absolutely must put aside those excuses and take responsibility for results. The choice is yours. You can make money or excuses, but you can't make both at the same time.

THE MINDSET

• It's never the market or another person.

• It's always me.

• No Excuses offered. None Accepted!

A perfect example of a top performing company is Dell. Its success is based on its famous business model and its ability to achieve at an extremely high level. High expectations and consistent execution are embedded in the company's DNA. Here's what Michael Dell said in an interview with The Harvard Business Review:

We don't tolerate businesses that don't make money. We used to hear all sorts of excuses for why a business didn't make money, but to us they all sounded like "The dog ate my homework." We just don't except that.4

Good to Great author Jim Collins provides a great example of the difference between executives in top performing organizations vs. those in average organizations:

Steel companies Bethlehem Steel and Nucor both faced a competitive challenge from cheap imported steel. Both companies paid significantly higher wages than most of their foreign competitors. Yet executives at the two companies held completely different views of the same environment.

Bethlehem Steel's CEO summed up the company's problems in 1983 by blaming the imports. "Our first, second, and third problems are imports." Ken Iverson and his crew at Nucor saw the imports as a blessing: "Aren't we lucky. Steel is heavy, and they have to ship it all the way across the ocean, giving us a huge advantager5

What was the major difference between these two companies?

The difference was mindset and a commitment to excellence. One stepped up and achieved a great result. The other fell back and provided a great reason for the lack of results.

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MODIFY OR MAGNIFY?

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Your results can only grow to the extent that you do. JIM ROHN Business Philosopher

Today's fierce market conditions offer you two options: Either you magnify your performance or modify your goals. If you neglect to select the former, then the market will impose the latter on you. Either you settle for less or step up for more. It's just that simple.

THE CHOICE IS YOURS

• Either Magnify your performance or Modify your goals.

• You decide today.

• The market will test you tomorrow.

• The truth will be revealed.

The following African proverb is a great parallel for today's market conditions of "hunt or be hunted."

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes up, you better start running. And fast!

THE ACRONYM FOR EXCELLENCE

What's the solution to the results challenge?

The solution is for you and your team to STEP UP! It's a six-step system for improving performance and results. It's the acronym of excellence.

As an insider into excellence for close to two decades, I've been able to discern what works (and doesn't work) concerning the improvement and the achievement of superior results. These field observations led me to the discovery of a dozen things that make 80% of the difference in achieving superior results. STEP UP! is a simple, logical and exceedingly effective methodology created from experience inside the guts of world-class corporations in the USA, Asia, Africa and Europe.

Here's the breakdown of the STEP UP! acronym:

Standards Raise Your Standards
Talents Identify Your Talents
Evaluations Consistent Self-Evaluatio n Preparation Proper Preparation
Unleash Potential Unleash Your Potential

Let's take a quick look at the key components of each step. Then, we'll explore these topics deeper:

Standards. Standards are where you set the bar for yourself. Your commitment to results. High standards produce high results. Average standards produce average results. It's just that simple.

Talents. Each of us has not only a physiological DNA, but also a professional DNA – the skills, talents and drive that make you who you are. When you understand your DNA and align it, then you'll see your results dramatically increase.

Evaluations. Evaluations are the questions you ask yourself and the decisions you make. Ask good questions and you'll make good decisions. Maintain Consistent Self-Evaluation and you'll achieve superior results.

Preparation. When you learn to anticipate the future and create an action plan for bridging the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, you'll see your results improve.

Unleash potential. This is the action and execution portion of the model. It's great to have high standards, talents and plans, but until you actually do something with all that, you're not going to achieve results.

Coaching. If you take a look at the world's top performers across all professions, you'll find a common denominator — the best use coaches. Top performers are continuously raising the bar and the means to that end is inevitably great coaching.

Part II

THE BUSINESS SOLUTION

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We are in a highly competitive marketplace where individual performance is the difference between organizational profit and loss.

BILL BROOKS The Brooks Group

Step One

RAISE YOUR STANDARDS

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Sometimes you deliver performances that are substandard. Raise your standards. Always keep your standards at or above what we must achieve to propel the company forward as a global company of excellence. RAM CHARAN What The CEO Wants You to Know

Are your standards high enough to achieve the results that your CEO demands and Wall Street rewards?

How do you know if you possess high standards? Here's a key – look at your results. If they're not exceeding the expectations of your boss, clients or yourself, then your standards of excellence are probably questionable.

The good news is, your standards will get you the results you want. The bad news is, same thing – your standards will get you the results you want. See, the results you get are in direct proportion to your concept of excellence.

If "pretty good" represents excellence to you, then that's what you'll get. But, if you want superior results, then you must set superior standards. Why? Because your results are always in direct proportion to your standards.

Ironically, most people never think to define their own standards. They also neglect to recognize the standards of their partners, alliances, and team members. The result is psychological confusion and lower results. The prevailing assumption in business is that everyone on the team, including you, are equally committed to excellence. That's nonsense because each of you operates with a different unconscious definition of "excellence." The resulting mismatch creates what I call an, "excellence gap."

What is a standard? A standard is an internal goal. It's your inner drive to achieve a desired result. It's a reflection of what you consider to be acceptable or unacceptable behavior regarding results. It's your self-imposed measure of excellence. In summary, it's your personal commitment to be the best.

So, reach inside yourself and ask, "Am I curious or serious about achieving superior sales results? Committed or just interested? Playing around or playing to win? This gut-check is critical because superior commitment is the basis for achieving superior results in sales and leadership.

Too often, the quest to achieve extraordinary results is undermined by an ordinary commitment. Think about it. Can a salesperson with a $50,000 standard achieve a $500,000 result? Or can an organization achieve a billion dollar result with a million dollar commitment? Of course not! An individual or organization can never outsell or outperform their commitment to excellence.

So, let me ask you a question: How commited are you to your own success? Is it time to set a new standard?

Top-performers step up by demanding more and more of themselves and seek to reach their upper limit. However, average performers do not demand more of themselves because for them, "mediocre" is their upper limit. Their lower standards are self-imposed restraints on their results. So, if you're not achieving the results you desire, then its time to look at your standards.

Don't be casual about your standards because casualness leads to casualties.

STANDARDS ARE:

• Your self-imposed measure of excellence.

• Your commitment to achieving a goal.

• Your Results Philosophy

You see, everything affects everything else. Every discipline or lack of one affects every other discipline. Mistakenly, a leader says, "this is the only place where I let down." That cannot be! Every low standard will adversely affect the rest of your performance. Why? Because doing less than you are capable of doing invites mediocrity, which permeates all other standards. JIM ROHN

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PERSONAL EXCELLENCE

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Your results are directly related to your philosophy, not the economy. EARL SCHOFF

A philosophy is a way of thinking. It's a system of beliefs. It's a reflection of your standards. What's your personal philosophy concerning results? Think about that for a minute because your personal philosophy is a major determining factor in how your results turn out in business and life. With your permission, I'd like to share a portion of my personal story with you because it illustrates the impact your philosophy can have on results.

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Excerpted from "Step Up!"
by .
Copyright © 2008 Daniel Grissom.
Excerpted by permission of Morgan James Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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