Dear {FirstName},

We hope you've been enjoying your Monday Morning Motivator. If you've received this issue for the first time - welcome aboard! It only takes a couple of minutes to start your week off right with the MMM! Be encouraged by the success or great ideas of others in your business community.

Is Excellence Enough?

This week's message from Mark Sanborn is a helpful reminder that the pursuit of excellence may not be enough to differentiate yourself from your competitors. 
  
How do you grow your business?

There are only two ways. In my work with over 1500 clients spread over nearly 20 years, the only two ways I’ve ever seen used to grow any business in any industry are:

Grow yourself and grow your people.

All increases in productivity, innovation, profitability, strategic direction, superior service and operational excellence flow from the ability of leaders and their teammates.

The big question then becomes: towards what end are you growing yourself, your people and, ultimately, your business? A common response from many managers is usually something about “being excellent” or “pursuing excellence.” In these competitive times, is that an effective strategy?

No. Excellence isn’t enough.

To prosper in business today you’ve got to go beyond the pursuit of excellence. Excellence in business is a good thing, but it isn’t the best thing. Here’s why:

Excellence is relatively easy to accomplish. A good copycat watches what the industry leader is doing and then does the same things. If you’re only excellent, you’re vulnerable.

Excellence is a moving target. Today’s “excellent” can be next month’s “mediocre.” In a competitive market, the trend is always towards better, so excellence can never be something you attain with finality.

The more excellent you become, the more demanding your customers become. A customer’s expectations increase over time based on previous experience. Getting better drives customer expectations up.

The biggest problem with excellence: it isn’t distinctive. The killer marketplace strategy is to be distinctive: to go beyond excellent to offer something distinct and unique to your company. That way if customers ever go someplace different, they’ll miss the distinction you represent and return.

So what are the marks of distinction?

There are three marks common to all companies who achieve distinction. They are: Engaged People, Perpetual Innovation and Strategic Execution.

Engaged People

It isn’t enough to be passionate. Passion without appropriate focus is fanaticism. Engaged people are involved with their work and compelled to do what they do with panache. The challenge is to get people as engaged about their work as they are about their outside interests and hobbies. Engaged people work smarter, serve better and come up with new ideas.

Perpetual Innovation

This includes both incremental and revolutionary improvements. The status quo is a myth. You’re either getting better or you’re getting worse. I first heard Woody Hayes, late coach of The Ohio State Buckeyes say those words over 20 years ago and they are as truer today than ever. Innovation must be applied to everything: operations, products and even how we think and lead.

Strategic Execution

You can write a million lines of computer code, but until you add the four characters “.exe”, the code is worthless. Business dominance isn’t about how much you know, but how well you apply and execute what you know. It’s a matter of IQ. That doesn’t stand for “intelligence quotient” but rather implementation quotient, and that is the difference between common knowledge and consistent application.

If you want to discover your "Distinctive Market Strategy" give us a call. We're here to help.

Have a great week unless you choose otherwise.

Drago

PS - We just finished a series of web videos for Briar Design & Construction. Briar is one of the most progressive design and home renovation companies in BC. The videos were designed to showcase Briar's unique approach to home renovation.

To see the videos Click Here and check out the : About Us, About You & Brair Approach Tabs. 

PPS - We'd like to congratulate our production partner Go 2 Productions for a job well done on their latest new release. A mixture of live action and 3D animated commercial for Lilydale. The concept for this project was to have two BBQ¹s come to life and start having a conversation in a neighborly over the fence type situation on a bright sunny day. See if you can tell realty from non realty! Click Here!



Note : Our partners at The Extraordinary Leader are putting on their exceptional Star Within You workshop.

Join us Tuesday July 28th 7 - 10 pm at the Coast Capital Playhouse1532 Johnston Avenue, White Rock, BC

In this workshop we examine the essential elements of being a star:
S - See what is needed
T - Tenacious with standards
A - Accountable for their attitude
R - Relentless about reaching results

Participants will engage in an interactive session designed to increase personal awareness, create individual action steps, and enhance accountability.
Through real-life examples, small group exercises, and personal reflection, those who attend will leave inspired with the tools to reflect on who they are, where they are going,
and how better to lead others. A comprehensive "star" workbook accompanies participants as they transfer their workshop experience to their own reality.

For tickets please contact Elke at 604-418-8108 

We also wanted to say Thank You for allowing us to meet with you every Monday Morning. The MMM has experienced incredible growth with a subscriber base of 21,305 people. To sign up for the MMM Click Here!

We are truly grateful and humbled by the positive comments we receive weekly. If you enjoy the MMM please pass it along and let others know about it. To see our newsletter archives Click Here !

Success Profile

This week we would like to recognize David McLeod, Cam McLeod and Brendan McLeod and their company Angel Restoration.

They were recently featured in the Vancouver Sun with an editorial about this local success story. Angel Restoration is a rapidly growing company, they have 50 vehicles on the road and 65 employees and revenues have reportedly increased by 50% this year to $11,000,000. To find out more about Angel Restoration and their services go to www.Angel-Restoration.com

Can The Adam Advertising Group help your business, or do you have a success story we should hear about?
Contact Drago Adam at drago@AdamAdGroup.com
or call 604 937 -8886 or 1 866 923 - 6477

PS : We wanted to say Thank You for sharing your Monday Mornings with us. The MMM started three years ago with 35 subscribers, today's issue is going out to over 21,305 Weekly Subscribers.

Click Here! for our newsletter archive.