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Be the Best at What Matters Most

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Be the Best at What Matters Most

The Only Strategy You will Ever Need

Wiley,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Text available

What's inside?

Gain new customers and keep old ones by “being so good at the basics that you’re cutting edge.”

Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Applicable

Recommendation

Business needn’t be cluttered or complicated, says author Joe Calloway, who urges companies to pare down and simplify. The only business strategy is to figure out what you do best and then do it. He provides examples of firms that exemplify this tactic, including Zappos, Amazon, and interesting regional firms like Memphis Invest and Grunder Landscaping Company. Customers don’t have the time, patience or money for defective products or bad customer service; they want great work every time. This breezy manual isn’t very deep, but it serves as an excellent reminder of the basics. getAbstract recommends Calloway’s useful primer to new entrepreneurs and to managers who wonder about where to focus and could use a guide to what truly matters.

Summary

“What Matters Most”

Bill owns Bill’s Burgers. To gain customers, he makes a funny video and posts it online, hoping it will increase traffic to his restaurant. He creates a Facebook page and starts a blog. Based on the business books he’s read, Bill thinks he must stand out from his competitors, so he creates several exotic new offerings, including a “Vanilla Burger.” But maybe Bill should just make a better basic hamburger and, like many business owners, get back to the fundamentals. “Be the best at what matters most, and you will succeed.” Only you can define what matters most, and that focus can drive your performance.

Find out what your customers want. You can spend your days doing 1,000 things ineffectively and inefficiently, or you can pick three or four things that matter and do them well. Don’t use gimmicks to woo customers. “If the marketplace decides that you are the best, that’s the biggest wow factor there is.” Why should customers buy from you? What matters most to them? How are you wasting time? What activities bring the greatest return on investment?

Successful companies dominate their industries by consistently delivering high quality and value...

About the Author

Joe Calloway is a business consultant and the author of five books, including Becoming a Category of One and Indispensable: How to Become the Company That Your Customers Can’t Live Without.

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