Last week I was consulting with a client where a lack of training was costing serious money.  The salespeople weren't inputting complete and accurate information into the computer, so the jobs weren't being done properly.  The cost of undoing and redoing was horrendous.

I suggested that we start with the top salesman, and one of the two men at the meeting could train him for one half-hour once a week for the next four weeks.  Then we could move from him to the next salesperson.

The other man at this meeting said, "That's a good idea; but as long as we're training one, why don't we train them all at the same time?"

"No!" I exploded.  "We're not going for All or Nothing (AON), where we'll have trouble getting everyone to attend together.  Then we'll all get frustrated; and the next thing you know, the training will once again be put on hold.  We're going to start with one - the best one - train him, get the kinks out and let the training program evolve.  Something Is Better than Nothing (SIBTN) is the way to go!"

The man who made the suggestion and the "trainer" both looked sheepish and agreed to begin with the best salesman next week.

I went on to state that this AON mindset was what prevented good ideas from becoming reality.  Instead of starting small with a pilot-like program and growing from there, people feel compelled to get everything done at once.  The result?  Zilch.

What's going on in your company?  How many ideas have died quick deaths before even being attempted, because a suggestion got out of hand?  Once an idea grows out of proportion, people become skitterish.  That's when you hear the excuses of "not me, no time"; and it's over.

If you could start with a small trial, you and your people would become enthusiastic over repeating a pleasant project, where you've learned from and even creatively modified the experience.

When we emailed a survey last March and received a 9.9% response - which people tell us is incredible - we asked about the marketing issues that plague small and growing businesses.  One question, several possible answers.  The option that came in second, with a 34.3% response, was "good ideas, poor implementation."