By Dan Adams

Each year, mankind generates enough new information to fill half-a-million Libraries of Congress. Who can keep up?”

Fortunately, we harried businesspeople have access to exciting new tools to help us process and use the information.

Let’s say you want to get better at a growth practice such as consultative selling, acquisition integration, or product launch.

You can learn a lot using three approaches:

1) Search for books on Amazon.com. “I buy over a hundred a year and am amazed at the brilliant thinking I can access for a pittance,” notes Adams.

2) Google for subject matter experts. Many will gladly share their knowledge—via white paper or web conference—in hopes that you’ll become a client.

3) Tap into associations such as www.APQC.org and www.ISBM.org for great benchmarking and shared learning.

Tip #5: Bring your training in-house. How many announcements do you get per week for conferences in San Diego or Orlando? These conferences are at the “intersection of interest” for three parties: 1) revenue for the hosting organization, 2) publicity for sponsoring vendors, and 3) learning for attendees—in a pleasant environment.

“In some cases, the attendee returns to your company, shares what she learned with colleagues, and things change for the better,” says Adams. “More often, though, the conference materials stay stuffed in a bag and nothing changes. That’s too bad, because these affairs often cost $3-5,000 per person with travel costs.

“Compare that to private, in-house training, where the trainer comes to you,” he suggests.

“This may cost $1-2,000 per person. But beyond lower costs, there are big advantages. One, the training can be customized for your company and industry. Two, everyone learns the same new language and methods at the same time, which greatly improves implementation. Three, the business leader can hold attendees accountable and drive change with a solid post-workshop follow-up plan.”

Here’s the best part about aggressively moving forward with your small-budget growth plans: Your competitors probably won’t do the same. So when the economy picks back up, you’ll be ahead of them by leaps and bounds.

“Yes, there is great economic uncertainty now, but we can say with confidence that this downturn—like all others before it—will end,” says Adams.

“So while your competitors are completely immersed in hand-wringing, why not focus some percentage of your energy on the eventual upturn? Thinking in new ways may do more for your future growth than spending-as-usual would have.”

In part one of this piece, Dan Adams offered low-budget tips for growth: see: http://techjournalsouth.com/news/article.html?item_id=7049

Dan Adams, president of Advanced Industrial Marketing, Inc. He is a chemical engineer and holder of many patents and innovation awards, including a listing in the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Adams was head of strategic planning for a billion-dollar company and has extensive experience in Fortune 500 marketing, business development, and leadership positions.

For more information see: www.newproductblueprinting.org

Southeast Venture Conference, February 29 – March 1, 2012 at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner, VA – Where Smart Money Meets Smart People.
www.seventure.org

© 2009, TechJournal South. All rights reserved.