Description
What would happen if you forbade everyone in your company from ever saying "no," to a customer? What if you posted your contact information on the company's public website and required all of your executives and department managers to do the same? What if you turned cash planning from a financial exercise into an operational priority where the VP of Finance was the last to weigh in? What if you paid your customers to read your advertisements? What would happen if you took a huge pay cut rather than lay off employees? In The Chief No Officer Bendrix Bailey explains what happened with each of the perplexing questions above, and more. Each chapter will surprise you with an unconventional response to a common business problem.
Chief No Officer is comprised of thirty-eight chapters organized into six major sections. Want to understand why giving preference to employees when filling positions that involve a promotion is a bad policy? You'll find out in the section on leadership. Ever wonder why public policy favors the problem employees, affording them free legal counsel to harass your business after they have been let go, and how you can, and should, fight back? Read; “Your Ex-Employees Will Sue You” in the section, In The Courtroom, Be a Lion.
As a customer-side executive, have you ever struggled with a bean counter's demands to cut back on investments in customer satisfaction, and wished you had a way to justify your goals in the financial language your boss will understand? “Evaluating Service Investments” lays out the analysis, the principled arguments and a great example of a dramatic financial return on investment in customer service.
What about salesmen and selling? As an executive with a technical, financial or operational background, are those sales guys a mystery to you? Do you really understand what they do, how they do it and why it is the most valuable skill your company can possess? In, Salesmen, “The Delta Force Of Your Business”, Mr. Baily reveals the secrets only professional salesmen know, with a blow by blow account of how a salesman manages a prospect to the close. For a dramatic example of how unconventional thinking can lead to an attention-grabbing program that increased advertising response from 1% to 8%, read “What If We Paid People To Read Our Ads”.
Are you tired of watching an endless parade of executives who’ve crossed the line, and of dealing with companies that don’t live up to promises? Do you want to run a business that is principle-driven? Mr. Bailey did so, and very profitably. Principle driven strategy is not an expensive ideal, it is a necessary precursor to sustainable profitability, as explained in the section; “Strategy Is Built On Principles”.
The lessons in Chief No Officer are often humorous, thoroughly fact based and can be put to use by you, today. Mr. Bailey founded two successful businesses, and was instrumental in the success of a third. He’s faced the fear, exhilaration and satisfaction of entrepreneurship. The closing section, “Jump, Ready, Set”, exposes his choices, doubts and the final decisions that lead to the founding of each business. “Spread Your Wings And Jump” is a heartfelt message of encouragement to any and all who have considered starting a business of their own.