BOG/EMP Reunion; Five Management Metrics; Fill Pipeline in December; Power of Pricing

HEADLINES:
 

MIT BOG/EMP Alums — block Oct 25 – 28, 2012 on your calendar for the 20th anniversary of EO's premier executive program. With over 1300 grads, we're expecting a fantastic turnout on the campus of MIT. I've been invited back to emcee and we're putting together an outstanding program of learning and fun. Come meet your fellow grads. Here's a short invitation video — please spread the word to your classmates.

Five New Management Metrics — Notes James Slavet of venture firm Greylock Partners, "most managers only measure outputs, not inputs, which is like telling a Little League team to score more runs, rather than actually explaining how to swing a bat and make contact with the ball. Similarly, most companies measure traffic, revenue or earnings, without considering how to improve the company at an atomic level: how to make a meeting better, or an engineer more productive." Slavet's investments include Coupons.com, Groupon, One Kings Lane and Redfin. Greylock Partners has invested in Facebook, LinkedIn and Pandora.

Flow State Percentage — Slavet's first recommended metric is Flow State Percentage looking at how much "flow" time those doing brain work (programmers, designers, etc) are getting. Take four minutes to scan through the other four entitled: The Anxiety-Boredom Continuum; Meeting Promoter Score (James was kind enough to give me a shout-out on that one); Compound Weekly Learning Rate; and Positive Feedback Ratio.

Ratio of Questions to Statements — another key metric is the ratio of Questions to Statements you make i.e. why I love the opening quote above.

Implementing Value Pricing — and this note from Toby Jenkins, GM of Australia-based Bluewire Media: "On your recommendation I read Implementing Value Pricing by Ron Baker. I loved it and blogged about it. We applied it immediately and managed to increase our price for a single piece of work by 100%, then delivered every bit of the promised value in our best project in 7 years of business. As always, a huge thanks for pointing us in the right direction and making fantastic recommendations." Not enough thought is given to pricing! BTW, here's one of my favorite newsletters on pricing — consider signing up for it.

Fill Your Pipeline In December — below is Caryn Kopp's latest tips for driving sales – and why late December is a great time of the year to reach decision makers.

Why spend the last two weeks of December cleaning out files when you could be filling next year's pipeline with new business? Most business owners and salespeople believe that trying to reach prospects at year-end is pointless and instead spend time getting organized for the coming year. In doing this, they miss out on one of the best times of the year to reach decision makers live. Here's what we've learned about prospecting in December…

1. Companies have fewer internal meetings during the last two weeks of the year due to employee vacations and mid-day holiday parties. This means decision makers are more likely to be working at their desks and available when you call.

2. Many assistants take year-end time off (especially if they have school-age children), leaving decision makers to answer their own phones…without gatekeepers.

3. Decision makers who are in their offices at this time of year are more relaxed and chatty.

4. Your competitors don't think this way. They usually stop calling prospects the 2nd week of December. Your "share of voice" when leaving voicemails and reaching prospects live will be higher and you will get more accomplished with each call.

5. Decision makers will typically not accept a meeting from mid to end of December. However, if you request a date to meet NEXT year (which is just days away), their calendars are usually wide open. Ask for a meeting in early January and watch your calendar fill up.

This works especially well with hard-to-reach and senior level decision makers.