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on February 2, 2007 at 11:16:48 pm
 

Rules of thumb wiki

 

 

 

What is a thumb? A short (less than paragraph) instruction for dealing with a set of circumstances. A rule of thumb can be used when there's less time and less information than the user may desire.

 

 

Negotiation

 

 

 

NEGOTIATION

 

In a negotation, he who cares less, wins. - Anonymous

 

Don't go into a negotiation without listing every issue beforehand. Establish an aspiration level, a minimum, and an initial asking price for each issue. - Charles Karrass

 

If you're planning on doing business with someone again, don't be too tough in the negotations. If you're going to skin a cat, don't keep it as a housecat. - Marvin Levin

 

If you don't like what you're hearing, respond with a question, even if it's no more than "Why are you saying that?" - Mark McCormack

 

Talk about price last. People have tremendous anxieties about hearing the price, so use preliminary negotations to get all the auxiliary issues resolved first. Say "If the price is OK, would you be willing to..." - Jay Kaplan

 

Round numbers beg to be negotatied, usually by counteroffer round numbers. Odd numbers sound harder, firmer, less negotiatble. - Mark McCormack

 

As a buyer approaching a negotating meeting, be sure to trumpet any bad economic news headlines as much as possible. - Chip Conley

 

Throw a temper tantrum within the first ten minutes of the negotiating -- nine out of ten times it will effecitvely intimidate your opponent. - Mark Randall

 

Successful negotations are 70% preparation, 20% implementation, and 10% acting. - Robert Olson

 

Never negotatie on a full stomach. - Victor Antonetti

 

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

 

The less time and money it takes to start and manage a company, the more likely it is to succeed. First-time entrepreneurs are better off pursuing ideas they can implement handily. - Robert Kessler

 

Don't use your personal name as part of the business name of a new company, as this protects you in case the company fails and protects you against disagreeable business practices of a future purchaster. - Chase Revel

 

Before going into a partnership with someone, spend time with them in three different kinds of situations: a relaxing one, a competitive one, and an intellectually stimulating one. - Joan Kelly

 

Choose carefully your first people in starting a business. Make sure they have quality as humans, that they are more qualified than yourself, and that at least one has already been succesful. - James Treybig

 

The idea for a new venture is likely to be strategically unsound if it can't be put into one coherent sentence. - Kenichi Ohmae

 

The chances of success of a new company are generally greater with two full-time partners rather than a solo entrepreneur. - Professor Arnold Coooper

 

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

 

The two worst things to say to a creative person: 1. That's been done before. 2. That's never been done before. - Seth Godin

 

People don't steal ideas. Ideas are cheap. Implementation makes the difference. - Seth Godin

 

A new product should have at least three different substanial advantages over its competitors in order to justify support. - Karl Vesper

 

Don't start raving about a new idea to everyone in the corporation. Instead, enlist the support of those who like the idea, think it through, then propose it. - Robert Townsend

 

In choosing the name of a new product or service, there are only two guidelines that must be met (all other guidlines are superflous): a) Flexibility: Does the name trascend price categoirzation? Is it siffuciently broad enough to allow changes in the product/service? b) Pleasant-sounding: Is the name easy to say and hear? Does the sound of the name get the point across? - Seth Godin

 

Thirty percent of new product failures had a concept that met no clear need. - Thomas Poole

 

MARKETING

 

The most important qualities in a marketing executivec are: patience, imagination, ego-strength, and aggressiveness. - Jay Conrad Levinson

 

Offer customers a guarantee on an aspect of the business that is routinely performed. - Customer Service in Action

 

Real stamps instead of mtered inkblots raise the response rate of mailing to consumers at home. - Shell Alpert

 

SALES

 

When fielding questions from a customer, paraphrase his objections, avoid showing resisteance, and question him tactfully on those parts of his arguments that seem to be weak. - Amacom, "The Skills of Selling"

 

If you're only there to sell one thing, make a suggestion or assumption and let them tell you you're wrong. People have a need to feel smarter than you are. - Mark McCormack

 

Sprinkle your sales letters or presentations with references tso your subject's first name. - Mell Holloway

 

Offer your customer a choice between two alternatives; don't force the customer into a "yes/no" decision on one alternative. - Mirek Springer

 

Summer sales calls should be scheduled in the middle of the week to avoid prospects who are taking long weekends. - Salesmakers Syndicated Services

 

Sales reps spend 32% of their time on waiting and travel, 24% on administration and meetings, 5% on service calls, and only 39% of their time selling. - McGraw-HIll Research

 

Make sales presenations one-to-one to the key decision maker. Try to restrict it to one person because this does not allow the dynamics of the interrelationships of the individuals to affect the presentation. - Mark McCormack

 

Always have the chief decision maker to invite his/her secretary to the sales pitch. This makes follow-up meetings and phone calls easier to schedule. - Ben Casnocha

 

Once you get the point in a sales pitch where you have asked for a commitment, don't speak again until the other person has replied in some fashion. - Mark McCormack

 

Smile. - Dale Carneige

 

ADVERTISING

 

Ads with people in them score higher. - Starch Research

 

When writing an ad, use sentences of no more than twelve words. - David Ogilvy

 

It takes the average consumer nine exposures to an ad before the ad is readily remembered. - Jay Conrad Levinson

 

Black text on a white background is better read than white type reversed on a black background. - David Ogilvy

 

PR AND PRESENATIONS

 

Do anything but the normal office routine -- nap, jog, get a facial massage -- on the day of a TV interview. - Business Week

 

A corporation should not present favorable news items on late Friday afternoons or early Saturday. - Ana and John Kadon

 

In public speaking, start by telling them what you're going to tell them. Then tell them. Finally, tell them what you've already told them. - Lee Iacocca

 

Every top executive should serve a stint in Washington, D.C. - A.W. Clausen

 

Answer the question you want to answer. - Regis McKenna

 

CUSTOMER SERVICE

 

Customers feel better when their complaints are handled by someone who appears to have a high standing in the organization. - Robert Townsend

 

In dealing with community groups, you must allow the groups to have a pound of flesh in the first meeting (let them shit all over you). Once they have voiced their anger they'll be more trusting. - Kirk Hanson

 

Perception is all there is. If the customer think he's right, he's right. - Tom Peters

 

HUMAN RESOURCES

 

Get away from job descriptions for employees and instead define the desired end result. Job descriptions should concern output rather than activities. If you cannot describe tangible output, the job should not exist. - James Giardina

 

Give everyone a title. Nothing pleases mankind as much and costs as little. Give everyone their own coffee cup. - Jerry Favretto

 

Assign people expected to produce creative work to easygoing supervisors. - International Management

 

First-rate men hire first-rate men...second-rate men hire third-rate men...these third-rate men will then employ the bulk of your company's employees and they tend to select fourth-rate people. - Richard M. White

 

Reinforcement ought to be specific, incorparating as much information content as possible. Reinforcement should have immediacy. Reinforcement should be unpredictable and intermittent. - B.F. Skinner

 

Paying average performers the same as high performers is the most effective demotivator of high performers. - Robert Hencault

 

Roughly 70% of all chronic absence is alcohol or drug related. - Dr. Daniel Lancer

 

The best person you interview isn't neccessarily the best person for the job. - Robert Half

 

Never hire a salesman you'd want your daugther to marry. - Eugene Webb

 

Don't accept a job offer without sleeping on it. - Paul Hellman

 

A bad reference is as hard to find as a good employee. - Robert Half

 

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS

 

Rather than telling an associate, "You look good in that suit," tell the person, "That suit looks good on you." - Dale Carneigie

 

You should be suspeciouis of someone who nods and speaks in the affirmative, but has their arms crossed. - Dale Carnegie

 

Sandwich every bit of criticsm between two heavy layers of praise. - Mary Kay Ash

 

If you're interested in obtaining something from someone else, always preface your request with "I have a favor to ask you" as people hate turning down favors. - N. Bruce Ashwill

 

Don't cut off the early chatter and small talk of a new group -- the tendency of people to tell stories that seem irrelevant is part of hte process of group integration. Don't interrupt them as rireelavances which must be suppressed. - Harold Leavitt

 

HMM

 

Exercising during the lunch hour makes your afternoon twice as productive. - Grant McLaren

 

At a business meal, do not turn to business until the meal has been ordered and the menus taken away. - Mark McCormack

 

BUILDING CHARACTER

 

Never sleep with someone who reports to you. - Robert Tillman

 

Make your important phone calls early in the morning. - Execu-Time

 

Keep a little book that lists each person and each conversation you have with them on a daily basis. - Jervis Webb

 

Read and listen for what is missing. Many advisers - in and out of government -- are quite capable of telling the President how to improve what has been proposed, or what's gone wrong. Few seem capable of sensing what isn't there. - Donald Rumsfeld

 

After a new idea is presented, the first comment should be praise. - Ben Casnocha

 

There are basically two kinds of meetings: meetings for approval and meetings for idea generation. Be careful not to combine them. - Seth Godin

 

Always start a meeting with one member of the group telling his or her most embarassing personal experience relating to the subject matter. This tends to lighten up the group and provide for a free flow of information. - Kurt Wilson

 

INVESTING

 

Make stock purchases near the close of trading on Mondays and stock sales near the close of trading on Fridays. Studies have shown that stock prices typically drop on Mondays and then progressively rise during the week. - Edward Dyl and Stanley Martin

 

Don't move a substantial portion of your wealth into or out of the market at one time. Ease in, ease out. - American Assoc of Individual Investors

 

BUSINESS STRATEGY

 

Objectives should be activities, not abstract financials. - Tom Peters

 

Fast-growing companies generally run into trouble at about $10 million in sales (when manageemtn's needs outstrip the founder's capacity). They run into trouble again at about $40 million in sales, when professional management techniques usually need to be installed. - Boardroom Reports

 

Don't worry about trends. The best successes often lie in redefining dormant businesses. - Tom Peters

 

FINANCE

 

Stratify suppliers into those that: a) must be paid currently, b) accept late payment occassionally, c) take late payment as a matter of informal policy. - James Wicker

 

SUCCESS

 

The success of a chief executive officer is direclty proportional to the length of time he has worked with his executive secretary. - Chip Conley

 

80% of success is showing up. - Woodly Allen

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