We hope that you are enjoying reading The Better Mousetrap Online Newsletter as much as we enjoy writing it. We trust that this newsletter is helping you increase the success of your marketing efforts. By sharing it with our clients, vendors and friends from the Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce, it's a way for us to be better known. Many of the stories that you read in this newsletter come from our book, Morsels from THE BETTER MOUSETRAP. Just click here to order your copy. Or visit our website at www.cheshiregroup.com. so that you can learn more about The Cheshire Group and see samples of our work.

OH, BUT WAIT TILL YOU HEAR THE EXCUSES
It's a Yes/No Answer

Two dozen men had volunteered for the fund raising event. It was three minutes before the scheduled start and the guy in charge of the volunteers was looking at a total of six recruits and experiencing the sinking feeling of apprehension mixed with helpless fury.
    He had plenty to say to the group at their next meeting. And he said it loudly.
    Several of the no-shows were eager to explain why they hadn't kept their commitment. Grandmothers had died, in-laws had arrived from out of town and a raging flu bug had apparently descended like an Old Testament plague.
    The leader didn't want to hear any of it.
    "What was I supposed to say to the people in charge of the fund raiser?" he bellowed. "Was I supposed to say 'I know we promised twenty-four men and we had only six but wait till you hear the excuses?'"
    Excuses rarely matter.
    A fellow we know runs business meetings on a yes/no basis that leaves no little room for excuses.
    "Did you complete the task you accepted in the last meeting? yes or no?"
    If the answer is yes, the leader barks "Good," asks for a report and keeps the meeting moving right along.
    If the answer is no, the leader pauses. "Is there something you need that we can give you now?" Again a yes/no response is required and based on the answer, the leader either initiates the necessary requisition for help and orders the task completed by the next meeting or simply reassigns the deadline.
    No excuses.
    An army sergeant asks the private if he delivered the ammunition to the next camp. It's a yes/no answer. It doesn't matter that the Humvee ran out of gas or had a flat tire or was shot off the road by enemy fire. "Did the ammunition get to the camp?"
    It's a yes/no answer.
    No excuses.

IT'S OUR POLICY
is It Valid Or Is It A Sacred Cow?

"It's our policy." we were told, "to only pay bills after forty-five days and we only write checks every other Tuesday."
  This policy statement was the answer to our query about an overdue account.
   "The terms on our invoice state that payment must be made within thirty days," we countered. That is our policy.
   The bill-ower had not questioned that policy when when he received the invoice and now that fifty-days had elapsed, the two company policies were revealed to be in conflict.
   Where do policies come from? Often people don't remember; the policy was in place when they took the job. The reason for the policy may even have become obsolete but policy, like temporary taxes applied by the federal government, goes on and on.
   Company policy is a sacred cow. An outsider, questioning a company's policy, receives a very chilly response indeed. An insider, challenging company policy, risks being perceived as disloyal, a trouble-maker or an anarchist.
   But company policy is often a sacred cow that begs to be slain. Review your company's policies from time to time. Which ones are valid? And which have become sacred cows that need to be sacrificed for the company's good?

DOING WHAT MATTERS
Words are Words...

WE DON'T NEED TO ADVERTISE
It Gives One Pause

The woman in the TV commercial was holding a booklet. "This presentation," she boasted, flapping it for emphasis, "is a far more effective tool for gaining new business than advertising is."
   This businesswoman went on to reveal that she wouldn't waste her time advertising. She'd just ankle down to Kinko's and make up exclusive presentations. Her business, she declared, was booming.
   The commercial took thirty seconds and during the last seventeen seconds of it, this viewer began to wonder...if advertising is as worthless as Kinko's maintains, why was the company running this ad?