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6 Things You Need to Know to be Great in Business

Mark Cuban shared this article on his weblog and we thought it was so powerful and applicable to basketball, we wanted to share it with you. Running a successful basketball program is just like running a business; the product you are selling below is your program and your customers are your players and fans.

There are no shortcuts in business.  In order to be successful there are some things that you must know.  These are not all of them by a long shot, but in my honest opinion they are 6 of the most important:

1. Know how to sell.

Selling means being able to convey why your product or service, which may be you if you are looking for a job,  will make things better. Selling is never about convincing. It is always about helping.

2. Put yourself in the shoes of your customer

If you know how to put the person you are dealing with in a position to succeed, you can be successful. In order to do this, you must be able to quickly understand the needs and demands of that person and those of the company(s) they work for or with.  Every person and industry is different.  This is something that comes from investing incredible amounts of time to understand different industries , businesses, roles, and what has made them work and not work.

It is a never-ending process of learning about what companies need.  What people in those companies need and how they work.

3.  Know as much as you can about technology

The beautiful thing about technology is that it changes every day.  Look at any tech you can see today or have ever seen. Any tech you have read about. It was invented by someone(s). They know the product better than everyone.  On the day that it is released, you are as knowledgeable about that technology as anyone else in the world.  From there its just about effort to keep learning.

If you are one of the few people who know the new technologies, you are in a unique position to put yourself in the shoes of your customer(s) and determine if the new technology can be of benefit.  New technologies enable change and where there is change there is opportunity.  It’s up to you to figure out  what that opportunity is.

4.  Always ask how you would design a solution if no current solution existed.

99.99pct of the things we do in business are being done the way they have always been done. No one has re-imagined how things should be done.  That is what successful people do.  Every situation they are in they take their knowledge of the business or situation they are visiting, whether its buying a deck of playing cards,  eating at a restaurant or trying to solve a problem and think about how to re-invent it.  They don’t ask people what they would want. They envision a complete reapplication . Then they decide what to do with what they just recreated.

5. Is it the path of least resistance to something better?

Lots of people come up with ways of doing things that they think are great/amazing. What they fail to ask is whether it will make anyone else’s life better or easier. The simple test of any imagineering of a process or situation is simple. Is this the path of resistance  to a better place for the user ? Yes or No.

6. Be nice. 

People hate dealing with people who are jerks.  It’s always easier to be nice than to be a jerk .  Be Nice!

If you haven’t listened to the Hardwood Hustle Podcast with Mark Cuban, it is a must listen!Hardwood Hustle

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about rick torbett

Rick Torbett has taught thousands of coaches to win more games through his innovative approach to the game. He has created powerful training for coaches at any level so they can coach their best and win more games.

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