Larry Bodine Law Marketing Blog

According to marketer Sam Decker, "Saying "no" is the most strategic decision we can make. By saying "no," we focus and improve quality of the 'yes' areas. We improve ourselves and our firm's effectiveness. "No" empowers people because it simplifies. Our businesses succeed on the basis of what, where and how we say "no."

Find the entire list on his blog.  Here are the highlights:

1. What strategies, initiatives and activities will you say "no" to? This is a big one for me.  For a long time I got sidetracked into a business that I was not naturally adept at.

2. What measurements will you ignore? From now on, I will measure myself against my own personal best performance.  Staying later at the office is going to drop off #1 on the list.  I will stop comparing my insides to other people's outsides.

3. What customers will you not target?  No more clients who request my advice and then never get around to taking it.

4. What people will you not keep?  No more people who are users.

5. What competitors will you not follow?  Never occurred to me to follow.

6. What will you remove from your web site? This is a good reminder for me to take a closer look at Lawmarketing.com.  I need to simplify it and follow my own advice on Web marketing.

7. What money will you not spend?  No more individual stocks.  No more print magazines published at my own expense. No more memberships in associations I get nothing out of but flak.

8. What meetings will you decline?  There's a big one in March that I'm going to skip.  I will focus on the conferences where I learn cutting-edge ideas.

9. What trips will you not make?  No more trips to please someone else.

10. What slides will you not create?  No slides without a picture.

11. What will you not say?  No more online squabbles.  I will, however, continue to tell the truth, point out when the Emperor has no clothes and when the fox is guarding the hen house.

12. What thoughts will you not entertain?  Anger, or at least not acting on anger.