The One-Percent Edge: Small Changes That Guarantee Relevance and Build Sustainable Success

The One-Percent Edge: Small Changes That Guarantee Relevance and Build Sustainable Success

The One-Percent Edge: Small Changes That Guarantee Relevance and Build Sustainable Success

The One-Percent Edge: Small Changes That Guarantee Relevance and Build Sustainable Success

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Overview

The answer to remaining competitive and keeping steady growth for your business is not ground-breaking, business-altering innovations, but by simply making one tweak at a time.

You are in the business of staying competitive—seeing solid profits, building a strong brand, and keeping steady customers who return again and again. But the market is constantly changing, and competition is fierce. How do you not only keep from losing ground but manage to remain a step ahead? Is a complete overhaul and rebranding every few years necessary to make sure your footprint is still making its mark, reminding consumers of your presence?

In The One-Percent Edge, you will learn how to:

  • put energy into profitable areas and trim dead weight,
  • raise prices by selling value instead of things,
  • access new markets by adapting products or services,
  • turn customers into brand ambassadors,
  • and many other subtle yet highly effective strategies for affecting profitable changes to your business.

By making incremental adjustments to every aspect of the business—marketing, customer service, finances, products, people—then repeating the process, you will find yourself constantly fixing weaknesses and spotting opportunities for growth. Pull ahead of the pack by constantly evolving, one tweak at a time.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780814438800
Publisher: AMACOM
Publication date: 02/22/2018
Pages: 256
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

SUSAN SOLOVIC is an award-winning serial entrepreneur, popular keynote speaker, internet pioneer, and attorney. A former small business contributor on ABC News, she regularly appears on Fox Business, Fox News,Wall Street Journal's "Lunch Break," Newsmax, and other stations. She is also a featured blogger on Constant Contact, Entrepreneur, FoxBusiness.com, ATT Business Circle, MasterCard, and numerous other sites. The author of The New York Times bestselling It's Your Biz, she consistently ranks among the top ten small business experts to follow on Twitter. RAY MANLEY is a freelance writer and content marketing expert.

Read an Excerpt

INTRODUCTION

The End of Business as Usual

Regardless of your company’s size or what industry you’re in. No matter your revenue performance or the popular awareness of your brand today. Despite how well funded you are or how strong your stock price, right now your business is at risk of becoming extinct.

Only 71 of the original Fortune 500 exist today. Why? Because business leaders—from small and big companies alike have traditionally relied on past results to manage future growth. In today’s global, fast-paced, competitive market looking in the rearview mirror to manage growth is the beginning of the end. Relying on past performance, business leaders get lulled into a false sense of security and find themselves scrambling when a new competitor, technology, or market shift shakes the business’s foundation. Once in this predicament, the likelihood of a successful transformation is minimal.

Over the years, we’ve seen myriad management programs to assist business leaders in transforming their operations to be more competitive, improve productivity, and increase profitability. I recall sitting in a conference room for days on end back when I worked as an executive for a Fortune 50 company. The organization was struggling through a Total Quality Management analysis to improve our business results. Afterward, the company went back to business as usual.

The Total Quality Management analysis was cumbersome to apply and, in my opinion, added to bureaucratic rigidity, particularly in the areas of the business I ran: marketing and sales. Every job function needed a workflow analysis to measure productivity and output.

The reason I created the One-Percent Edge process and wrote this book is because I recognize the need for businesses to build innovation into their DNA. And I believe the process should be as fluid and intuitive as possible so teams don’t get bogged down in minutiae. Agility, creativity, and flexibility are the cornerstones. Let’s face it: The five-year strategic plan is a dinosaur. Successful businesses must operate in real time. They must be agile and adaptable, willing to experiment and adjust quickly if needed. Employees should be empowered and emboldened to speak up with creative ideas and concepts. Technology should be leveraged to increase productivity and enhance the customer experience both externally and internally. Financials and metrics need to be reviewed regularly with an open mindset so leaders can make timely business decisions affecting growth.

Most important, to remain relevant and competitive, business leaders must be willing to look at every aspect of their organizations objectively. You need to be prepared to ask the really tough questions. No sacred cows. That means no egos at the table.

The bottom line: If it ain’t broke, fix it anyway. No business can rely solely on today’s competitive advantage. It’s fleeting. When you’re on top is exactly the time to ask yourself, “What’s next?” Don’t wait until it’s lying in pieces on the ground. Instead, extend that competitive advantage incrementally.

The process is ongoing. It won’t deliver the results you want by going through it one time and marking it off your list. It’s a disciplined approach that should become part of your business operations to ensure your ongoing relevancy and success. You can create and maintain positioning as a market leader by constantly reevaluating your value proposition and implementing incremental enhancements throughout your organization.

Adopt the One-Percent Edge process and you’re on your way to achieving sustainable success.

Excerpted from THE ONE-PERCENT EDGE: Small Changes That Guarantee Relevance and Build Sustainable Success by Susan Solovic with Ray Manley. Copyright © 2018 Susan Solovic. Published by AMACOM Books, a division of American Management Association, New York, NY. Used with permission.

All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Rick Ungar v

Introduction: The End of Business as Usual ix

Chapter 1: Achieving the One-Percent Edge 1

Chapter 2: The Leadership Edge 19

Chapter 3: The Customer Edge 31

Chapter 4: The Product Edge 59

Chapter 5: The People Edge 95

Chapter 6: The Marketing Edge 127

Chapter 7: The Process Edge 165

Chapter 8: The Financial Edge 187

Conclusion: A Company with the One-Percent Edge 219

Notes 221

Index 227

About the Authors 233

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