Page 141 - ConvinceThemFlip

know the nature of your business
Merck: We preserve and improve human life.
Coca-Cola: We refresh the world.
3M: We solve unsolved problems innovatively.
Walt Disney: We make people happy.
Not one of these big-idea statements refers directly to a
product or service. They refer to what the company does.
It’s not hard to imagine that a sales representative from
Merck feels that she can push a little harder on a sales call
when she knows that the company’s goal is to preserve and
improve human life. Any employee of the above companies
can ask herself, “Am I doing it now, or not?” and come up
with a quick answer. Do you think the asking and the answer
affect the bottom line? You bet your boots they do.
Homing In on the Big Idea
I was part of a weekend retreat in Pennsylvania for a
national specialty restaurant franchise whose goal was
to improve the way they connected with their customers.
When we started the process, the company’s mission state-
ment said, “We are here to give our customers the best blah,
blah, blah, and do it with courtesy and blah, blah, blah, and
hold true to blah, blah blah, while always remembering
blah, blah blah.” No one could remember the whole thing or
even tell me what it meant. I had my work cut out for me.
133