Introduction

The time for theory is over. The time for action is now. We are in the midst of business turbulence and turmoil greater than we have ever seen before. Economic storms end, as they always do, but we will never go back to the good old ways of doing business. Today, competition is fiercer and more determined than ever. The challenges are greater and more demanding. The only way to survive and thrive will be to build a great business that can withstand the economic shocks of any market and rise to the top of its industry.

The market is flooded with business books that describe what an excellent business should look like. Descriptive information is enlightening and inspirational. It makes you want to be like the ideal leader running the ideal businesses they describe.

This book is different. It is deliberately prescriptive. It explains the seven keys to business greatness and exactly what you have to do to achieve them. No theory, just practical steps you can take immediately, with clear explanations of exactly how you can measure how well you are doing at each step along the way.

You’ll learn what to do, how to do it, and the key numbers you need to watch each day and month. You’ll learn how to set clear targets and attach them to meaningful metrics. You will learn the very best, practical, and proven strategies and techniques practiced by the top businesses in every industry, with the goal of building a high-energy, high-morale, high-profit business of your own.

This book will show you how to attract customers, keep them coming back, and have them bring their friends. It tells you how to focus and concentrate your time, money, and resources on the most profitable products, services, and activities.

This book reveals how you can achieve better, more predictable results, especially financial results, faster than before. And how you can create a culture of continuous improvement to develop a lead over your competitors, and then continually widen that lead. As you learn how to move from wherever you are to wherever you want to be in the future, along the way you’ll also see how to measure each critical variable and how to improve in each essential area. Especially, you’ll learn how to trigger the same response, over and over, by people inside and outside your company, who will say …

“This is a great business!”

This book gives you a series of clear, simple, practical, and powerful methods and techniques you can use to build a great business in any market and in the face of any competition. Let’s begin.

Mark Thompson and Brian Tracy