One Minute Entrepreneur notes

by K. Blanchard, D. Hutson and E. Willis.

• at any given time, we are becoming the average of the five people with whom we are most closely associated. 
• zig ziglar: "You can get everything you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want."
• If you don't love what you're doing, you will never put in the necessary time to be the best.
• Four rules of successful entrepreneur: 1. Sales have to exceed expenses; 2. Collect your bills; 3. Take care of your customers; 4. Take care of your people. 
• Let your customers know that they are the number-one priority. Make them feel loved and respected. 
• You have to give them legendary service and create 'raving fans'  -- they become part of your sales force. 
• Sheldon Bowles (Raving Fans) -- 3 secrets of creating raving fans -- decide, discover, and deliver. 
• You're going to beat the competition (not on price) but on Moments of Truth. 
• Become masters of discovering what our customers are thinking. Requires good listening skills. 
• Listen to understand, and then decide what you want to do about what you have heard. 
• Listening without being defensive is also helpful if you make a mistake with a customer. 
• Deliver. Deliver plus one percent. 
• The way to create eagles (not DUCKs) is to treat your people as partners so they feel empowered to act like they own the place. 
• To let them soar like eagles instead of quack like ducks. To do that requires owners and bosses who are servant leaders. 
• Leadership that is perceived as side by side rather than top to bottom is more likely to create high performance and satisfaction. Side-by-side leadership. 
• If you can't measure something, you can't manage it. 
• Managers often think of their job as judging, evaluating, and criticizing their people. What is really is about helping, cheerleading, and supporting their efforts. 
• that you'll never really be successful unless you help others. 
• your people are not your subordinates, they are your partners.
• Substitute strategic patience for crisis management.