Sales Incentives; Happiness Guarantee; Dosage Matters; Trip Around the World; European Summits

"…insights for scaleups"

HEADLINES:

Thank you — to all of you who, so far, have ordered my wife's award winning olive oil. For those who missed last week's insight, more below, but first…

European Growth Summits — May 9 Amsterdam, May 10 Berlin, May 11 Barcelona.

Sales Incentives/Process Matter — Dan Caulfield coached a home automation company and put in place a system that in 6 months took the company from 9.8 million (bidding jobs/winning 35%) to 20 million (in the door) and 40 million booked in the pipeline. Notes Caulfield:

Selling a quality home automation assessment first and building trust with the home owners meant that not one of the jobs was taken to bid. The total per resulting contract was 27% higher (average contract was $600k) and there was no wasted work on bidding, saving over $400k a year. Continues Caulfield:

The beauty of all this is that the home owner is essentially paying for the proposal! And since they have ownership in the process of creating the proposal, they are going to love it and not want to shop around. It's a perfect "pre-suasion" move as Robert Cialdini will teach at the ScaleUp Summit.

Happiness Guarantee — Caulfield notes that the best part of the new sales/installation process was the Happiness Guarantee.

Since the average deal was $600k, this meant a potential $60k refund spread out among the people who touched the project. Continues Caulfield:

Same sales people, same potential customers. Just smarter sales process and incentives. Congrats Dan on your coaching of this client.

Peer Pressure Matters — what I like most about the above example is that the entire team took a hit re: the guarantee if someone messed up. This created peer pressure. And as this HBR article notes, peer pressure does more to permanently change behaviors than short term incentives. BTW, this is why I prefer team meetings over one-on-ones. It's tougher for someone to dance around an issue in front of their peers than alone with their boss.

Family Matters — Trip Around the World — entrepreneur Adam Dailey's book, released this week, details how he and his wife packed up their family of four young children (under the age of 7!) and took a one-year sabbatical travelling around the world. Titled How to Run Away from Home: And Bring the Family With You, Dailey explains how to plan and finance a trip like this to schooling on the road to dealing with the unexpected and managing obligations back home. He encourages people not to wait and just make the leap. And this week the book is just $.99 as a Kindle download or free if you have KindleUnlimited. FYI, for those new to these insights, my wife and I did something similar with our four children (12, 10, 5, and 1 at the time) 9 years ago, which is how we ended up living in Barcelona these past eight years. Entrepreneurs Sam Goodner and Caroline Caskey did the same with their two children as did entrepreneur Larry Weinberg and his wife and two children.

Exercise Matters — Think Clearer, Feel Awesome — Jamie John, CEO of Australia-based Sky Accountants, sent me a note after last week's insight on health. Note's John:

He goes on to note:

Dosage Matters — and following up on my Vitamin C discussion last week, Dr. Harri Hemila with the University of Helsinki, has found that dosage matters. 6 to 8 grams/day of oral vitamin C does shorten colds vs. the standard 1 gram recommended by governments. And he notes it's been proposed that 15 grams/day does even more, but there are no studies at that amount. Personally, if I feel like a cold is coming on I take 1 gram/hour orally – 16 to 18 grams/day – along with zinc. The key is spreading out the dosage given that Vitamin C has a half-life of 30 minutes in your blood. Dr. Hemila concludes:

When you read all the purported "studies" about the impact of certain vitamins and nutrients, please note that the dosage matters.

Winner of London's Great Taste Awards 5 Times — at the heart of the Mediterranean Diet, which has been the basis for some of the longest living cultures, is olive oil – a superfood that goes back to the Greek and Roman empires. This article highlights the incredible health benefits of this natural food. And the Romans selected a unique region in Spain (Priorat) that had all the right ingredients to produce the world's finest wine and olive oil. Now this olive oil is available in the US, winner of gold at London's Great Taste Awards fine food show five times. Our family consumes 20 liters per year and feel it contributes significantly to our health.

Harvard Exit Summit — thinking about selling your firm sometime over the next three years and want to maximize your outcome? June 12 – 13 is the next Harvard Summit on Maximizing Your Exit. Limited to 80 participants, click here for more information and apply by April 15.

COACHING:

Have you ever wondered if working with a coach might accelerate your company's growth, exponentially? Do you have what it takes to move the dial from good to great? Click here to watch Gazelles International President Keith Cupp describes the four most important attributes of successful clients. Contact us at [email protected] for more information.

And if you're interested in becoming a world-class certified Gazelles International coach, please go to gicoaches.com/becomeacoach for more information. If you determine that we're a fit and wish to join our premier organization, we invite you to contact our Dir. of Coach Engagement at [email protected] or 877.217.2253 ext.700.

TECHNOLOGY:

Create Accountability – Drive Execution
Click Here to Watch a video example.

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Better Book Club — What's your team reading? Increase your books read per team member. Easy, Proven, and in the Cloud at http://www.BetterBookClub.com.