Last week, I wrote about the upcoming Ultimate Business Summit. Now, with the event completed this past Friday in Las Vegas, I wanted to share some of the insights from the program:

1. Core values are the key to personal, professional, and organizational success. When you get your team aligned on the core values you have, the decisions that they must make in their respective jobs become easier. If you haven’t defined those core values for your business or your team yet, this is the place to start if you want to create distinction.
2. Most of us lack clarity. As you may know, Clarity is the First Cornerstone of Distinction. You cannot separate yourself from the competition until you are clear about your competitive advantages.
3. Thorough understanding of the customer’s problem is more critical than presenting your solution. If the customer isn’t convinced that you know – and feel – the challenges they are facing, they won’t believe that the solutions you offer can achieve all that you promise.
4. If you don’t know your numbers, you don’t know your business. (This is one I really need to work on, too!) Too often we get busy in our business and fail to thoroughly study the data and the figures. We must know everything from our balance sheets to our sales ratios to manage our time and expenses effectively.
5. Coaching is fundamental to growth. Too many of us think that because we know our business and our respective industry that we understand what we need to grow. Instead, we need outside ideas, inputs, and advice. Attending programs that challenge our thinking and expand our knowledge is essential in these hyper-competitive times.
6. What we do now will determine our future. Let’s face it…a recession is coming. I’m not suggesting it is right around the corner! However, as Jim Rohn often said, “It’s like the seasons…Fall will always follow Summer…and Winter will come after that.” Now that the economy has been in an extended Summer, what you do NOW to create distinction will determine your ability to stand out when times get more difficult.

It’s so rewarding and humbling to read the posts about the Ultimate Business Summit on Facebook! For example:

“Just completed my second UBS with some of the best business mentors around! 34 + pages of notes. This event is all content based on what we ask for. Any question we have gets answered-sometimes in triplicate! I’m already signed up again for next year because I know my business will be in a different place.”

While I would naturally love to have YOU at next year’s Ultimate Business Summit, it critical that you act NOW to do what it takes to learn and grow.

Remember: You cannot expand your business – or your success – without first expanding your thinking.

What are you doing to enhance YOURS?