It is reputed that Henry Ford, though a brilliant engineer, had a few homemade rules of thumb he applied to business tactics. One of these was a simple test he used to determine if a subordinate was worthy of promotion. The aspirant would be invited to lunch with Henry at the company executive dining room. Ford would observe how the young man approached his meal. If he tasted his food before he applied salt and pepper, he got the promotion, if he salted first, his career with Ford was over. This little drama showed Ford’s engineering approach to running his business; test (taste) your theory (food) before committing to a course of action (eating). Not a bad idea, particularly in the business climate today. A small test could save a lot of grief later on.

Sometimes you should let your imagination take charge. When you have been focusing hard on a business/sales/marketing problem, let your mind take a rest from the strain of searching for a solution and take flight, influenced by whatever is going on around you, the results might surprise you. Years ago, in my misspent youth, I became known for innovative approaches to sales situations, all because of a vivid imagination. Then I had to spend the rest of my career living up to the results achieved by that original flight of fancy.