Things You Learn

January 10, 2013 – 1:16 pm

Things I learned while I was too busy to write week notes:

  1. if you don’t do it, it won’t get done (“delegate” qualifies as “doing”);
  2. learning to delegate is as hard as learning to do the task itself was, and you’ve got to learn to delegate NOW;
  3. (related) setting it up so it can be done without you is much harder than doing it yourself;
  4. it’s great to watch lines tracking up, unless they represent debt or complaints;
  5. you’ll get the first sale to a friend because you’re you, but in general repeat business only comes from giving actual value;
  6. high-touch enterprise sales needs people inside the organization who see the value and make your case for you at the internal debates when you aren’t in the room;
  7. know what you want, know why you want it, and then ask for it — shouldn’t be hard, yet it is;
  8. “it is a good thing and should happen” is different from “it will be good for you”;
  9. food at events is an expensive hygiene factor;
  10. the perpetual feeling of guilt at things you should be doing but aren’t is the psychic manifestation of opportunity cost;
  11. value in the eye of the customer is ALL that matters;
  12. “marketing” and “market research” is about understanding and changing the dynamics of the marketplace (the identity of and relationships between buyers and sellers), and solves a problem that you only understand when you have something you want to sell but which nobody knows about;
  13. ditto “branding” and “compliance”;
  14. offline holidays are essential for maintaining mental attitude.

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