0816_TOEFL-Test-and-Score-Manual-1997

16 ● 201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business
“We are revolutionizing personal production,” he said in an exclusive
interview. “If you think of a new product, you can put it on the market
within a day.”
The company 3-D prints more than 10,000 unique products every
month, up from 600 a month in January 2009. (See more about how to
design prototypes with affordable software in Great Idea #87.)
GREAT
Organize a Company Retreat
An annual or semiannual retreat is an excellent way to
IDEA
measure the pulse of your business and tackle small
problems before they turn into big ones. You don’t have to book a Caribbean
cruise, rent a fancy hotel suite, or even get on a plane. Instead, reserve a private
room at a local restaurant, gather around a picnic table in the park, or
go to someone’s home. Hire a temp to answer your phones for the day. Tell
customers and clients about the retreat. Believe me, they’ll be impressed.
We planned our first retreat after signing a contract to produce a syndicated
small business radio report for CBS stations. I knew the report,
sponsored by American Express, would raise our profile and attract new
business, so we needed to do some big thinking. I flew the key members of
my team—all three of us—to Tucson for the weekend. We checked into a
modest but comfortable motel, brainstormed at the pool, ate great Mexican
food, and had some fun along the way.
If possible, hire an outside facilitator so you can participate. If you can’t
afford it and have to lead the discussion, that’s okay.
Be sure to prepare for the retreat in advance. Decide exactly what you want
to accomplish. Overall, you will want to review all customer accounts and
current policies, and set specific goals. Create an agenda with space for notes.
Use flip charts or a white board to summarize the information and key
points. Then open the meeting up to discussion. Go around the circle to
encourage everyone’s participation.
After you discuss what’s happened in the past year, review what’s working
and what’s not. For example, my colleagues told me that my tendency to
micromanage projects was making them crazy. They couldn’t do their work