Business Rules of Thumb Wiki
Welcome to the Business Rules of Thumb wiki. This public wiki is designed to track useful rules of thumb in business. Please do not delete any rules; just add! They don't have to be yours, but do include the author.
The password for this wiki is: thumb
If this list becomes comprehensive enough, I may publish it in book form. Some of this content is used with permission from the 1987 book Business Rules of Thumb by Seth Godin and Chip Conley. Thanks! - Ben Casnocha (ben (at) casnocha (dot) com)
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.
Topics (jump to section on this page):
Negotiation
Marketing
Building Character
Technology
Customer Service
Raising Money
Entrepreneurship
PR
Business Strategy
Finance
Sales
Networking
Product Development
Interpersonal Relations
Creativity
Human Resources
Advertising
Presentations
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 presentations 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
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
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, incorporating 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 necessarily the best person for the job. - Robert Half
Never hire a salesman you'd want your daughter 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
MISCELLANEOUS
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
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 directly proportional to the length of time he has worked with his executive secretary. - Chip Conley
80% of success is showing up. - Woody Allen
TECHNOLOGY
Without an English-speaking supervisor on the ground, offshore outsourcing for software development is a cheap way to fail. - Ben Casnocha
RAISING MONEY
When a VC says "Maybe," s/he means "No". - Ben Casnocha
NETWORKING
Everybody is interesting for at least 20 minutes. - Auren Hoffman
"Career Networking" events are filled with people you don't want in your network. - Ben Casnocha
Keep a little book that lists each person and each conversation you have with them on a daily basis. - Jervis Webb
A handwritten thank-you note is 10x more effective than an email thank-you. - Ben Casnocha
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