Everything Counts

Everything Counts! is an execution strategy for inspiring excellence and driving exceptional results.

Too many people and organizations are mired in a mediocrity of their own making. They focus their attention and efforts on getting the big things right, but they ignore the little things that often make a big difference. As a result, reputations are damaged, brands diluted, and loyalty is lost by blatant disregard for the small stuff which negatively impacts the customer experience. For years, we've been taught not to sweat the small stuff, but in the real world of business, Everything Counts.

Everything Counts is a call to greater awareness and with awareness comes a responsibility to raise the performance bar. It offers a powerful operating philosophy that will steer your organization to reach higher levels of growth, productivity, and performance. From the smallest customer contact to the most minute details of product quality, the little things add up to a pretty big deal. Serving as the definitive guide on organizational and personal mastery, this book gives you a foundation for unparalleled customer service, superior quality, and consistent performance.

• A proven system for organizing, aligning, and improving all your efforts in sales, service, and performance improvement
• Shows how concentrating on the small things leads to growth, productivity, personal success, and business greatness
• Helps you motivate your people and teams to achieve better results on both the personal and organizational level

Everything Counts reminds us that seemingly small things can make tremendous differences. The purpose of this book is to help you internally define and take ownership of the most fundamental principle behind achieving results beyond you expectations-a single idea with an actionable focus-Everything Counts!

Foreword xii

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction xvii

Professional Strategies 1

1 Every Detail Counts 3

2 Commitment Counts 8

3 Leadership Counts 13

4 Focus Counts 18

5 Consistency Counts 23

6 Boldness Counts 28

7 Quality Counts 32

8 Planning Counts 37

9 Vision Counts 42

10 Teamwork Counts 47

11 Ethics Count 52

12 Goal Setting Counts 57

13 Innovation Counts 62

14 Rewards and Recognition Count 67

15 Every Customer Counts 72

16 Energy Management Counts 77

17 Speed Counts 82

18 Lifelong Learning Counts 87

19 Networking Counts 92

Personal Strategies 97

20 Character Counts 99

21 Common Sense Counts 104

22 Excellence Counts 108

23 Every Choice Counts 113

24 Passion Counts 117

25 Perseverance Counts 122

26 Courage Counts 126

27 Patience Counts 131

28 Humility Counts 135

29 Self-Discipline Counts 140

30 Etiquette Counts 145

31 Optimism Counts 149

32 Health Counts 154

33 Gratitude Counts 158

34 Reputation Counts 163

35 Personal Development Counts 168

36 Sustainability Counts 173

37 Your Legacy Counts 179

38 Loyalty Counts 183

Universal Concepts 189

39 Truth Counts 191

40 Joy Counts 196

41 Simplicity Counts 201

42 Inconvenience Counts 206

43 Diversity Counts 211

44 Failure Counts 216

45 Sportsmanship Counts 221

46 Resiliency Counts 226

47 Fundamentals Count 230

48 Every Dollar Counts 235

49 Every Vote Counts 240

50 Contribution Counts 245

51 History Counts 250

52 Peace Counts 255

Top Ten Reasons to Visit EverythingCounts.com 259

About the Author 261

Index 263

"Two words, one powerful philosophy. Everything Counts! is a must- read if there ever was one!"—Ivan R. Misner, PhD, founder and Chairman, BNI (Business Network International)

"Gary Ryan Blair is a man on a mission to inspire, promote, and celebrate excellence. You simply must read this book!"—Les Brown, New York Times bestselling author of Live Your Dreams

"A must-read for anyone who values quality and customer service....Everything Counts! is a road map to excellence for professionals, entrepreneurs, entertainers, and everyday folks."—Charmaine Russo, Manager, IBM Corporation

"Paying attention to the small stuff makes a huge difference. Everything Counts! provides a simple, transparent, and powerful execution strategy that works. I highly recommend it!"—Harry Paul, coauthor of Fish!: A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results

"Every once in a while, a book comes along that delivers a transformational message appropriate for the boardroom, classroom, locker room, and living room. Everything Counts! is that kind of book. It is a treasure that can and should be enjoyed by all."—Andy Andrews, New York Times bestselling author of The Traveler's Gift and The Noticer

"Everything Counts! is a great find and must-read. It superbly achieves the goal of providing a road map to excellence, both for individuals and organizations. But the true genius of the book is its universal relevance, as it combines a highly effective commonsense approach with frank guidance to enhance results in all areas of life."—Bill Bartmann, Billionaire Business Coach

Gary Ryan Blair is the President of The GoalsGuy, a highly focused training organization that helps clients build and sustain superior performance. His coaching services, training programs, and handbooks have been used by thousands of organizations and more than four million employees worldwide. The world of business is operating in a suspended state of mediocrity, one in which a true commitment to excellence and elevated standards is the only survival strategy—for the individual and for the organization. This brilliant, lifesaving guide offers provocative and practical advice to turn anyone into a perpetual results-driven machine.

Too many people and organizations focus their attention and efforts on getting the big things right, but they ignore the little things that often make a big difference. This blatant disregard for the small stuff leads to negative customer experiences and that, in turn, leads to damaged reputations, diluted brands, and lost customer loyalty.

If you want to achieve true excellence as a business leader or entrepreneur, you have no choice but to pay attention to the details. Quality of work, attention to detail, uncompromising standards, and superior craftsmanship are the hallmarks of excellence and quality.

For years, we've been taught not to sweat the small stuff—but that philosophy is flawed as it breeds poor customer service, under-performance, wasted opportunity, mistakes, inconsistency, rework, and oversights. In the real world—Everything Counts!

Everything you think, everything you say, and everything you do works to either advance your goals or set you back. Based on that simple fact, Everything Counts! presents a powerful operating philosophy for your business that will steer your organization to higher levels of growth, productivity, and performance. From the smallest customer interaction to the tiniest detail of product quality, the little things add up to a pretty big deal.

The definitive guide to getting the small stuff right, Everything Counts! gives you a foundation for unparalleled customer service, superior quality, and consistent performance. It shows you how to organize, align, and improve all your efforts in sales, service, and performance. Plus, it helps you motivate your people and teams to achieve better results on both the personal and organizational level.

If you own or operate a business, this book gives you the tools to internally define and take ownership of the most fundamental principle for achieving results beyond your expectations—a single idea with an actionable focus—Everything Counts!

"A book becomes a 'classic' when it is the definitive reference source on a subject matter. Everything Counts is destined to become a 'classic' while serving as the guiding philosophy for anyone committed to excellence."
—Brian Tracy, Best Selling Author, How the Best Leaders Lead

"What do Olympic Gold Medalists, Academy Award Winners, and Noble Laureates all have in common? Answer: They all have a passionate obsession with excellence, and they all make everything count. Buy this book... it show you how to become one of the great ones!"
—Dr Lyle Koca, Koca Chiropractic Clinic

"In writing Everything Counts! Gary Ryan Blair has given us a much needed blueprint for defining excellence while reminding us that small is indeed beautiful. This book brilliantly demonstrates how very small differences when consistently practiced produce quality results."
—Bobbi DePorter, President, Quantum Learning Network

"Everyone once in a while a book comes along that delivers a transformational message appropriate for the Boardroom, Classroom, Locker Room and Living Room. Everything Counts is that kind of book. It is a treasure that can and should be enjoyed by all."
—Andy Andrews, New York Times Best-Selling Author of The Traveler's Gift & The Noticer

"Everything Counts is a manifesto for unleashing exponential performance improvement in organizations worldwide. This powerful philosophy has transformed the success of my law practice and lent itself to the re-defining of the way I look at the practice of law.
—Tom Anelli, Managing Partner, Anelli Law

"Two words, one powerful philosophy. Everything Counts is a must read if there ever was one!"
—Ivan R. Misner PhD, Founder and Chairman, BNI (Business Network International)

"Gary Ryan Blair is a man on a mission to inspire, promote and celebrate excellence. You simply must read this book!"
—Les Brown, New York Times best-selling Author of Live Your Dreams

"Everything Counts is a profoundly important message for succeeding in school and in life. Blair brilliantly points out that excellence is achieved via qualitative, not quantitative shifts in developing skills. This is an important book that matters."
—Randy Tarkington, >Senior Director of Residential Education Vanderbilt University

"A must read for anyone who values quality and customer service.... Everything Counts is a "Roadmap to Excellence" for professionals, entrepreneurs, entertainers and everyday folks."
—Charmaine Russo, Manager, IBM Corporation

"Blair brilliantly focuses on excellence as a sustainable competitive weapon. Like the air we breathe, we too often take this critical intangible for granted. As Blair makes perfectly clear, we do so at our ultimate competitive peril"
—Steven P. Sitkowski, President, Dynetech

"In life and business, a commitment to excellence is one of the wisest decisions you'll ever make. In Everything Counts, Blair convincingly demonstrates how excellence is the fundamental building block for running a great business and enjoying a wonderful quality of life."
—Donna Curry, Development Director, Subway

"Blair convincingly validates our experience at Falcon Jet-that paying attention to the hundreds of small details has a bottom-line impact on results. When we make everything count by sweating the small stuff, profits go up while costs come down. This principle applies not only in our professional relationships with customers, business partners, and team members but also in our personal relationships."
—Bob Fantozzi, Senior Manager, Dassault Falcon

"Blair's insights around excellence and execution are right on the money. Paying attention to even the smallest of details is not just common sense, it's good business, as excellence builds a powerful brand, loyal customers, repeat business, and enhanced profitability. Buy Everything Counts, it will inspire you to greatness!"
—Jeramy Freeman, CEO, Well Rounded Fitness

"Everything Counts is a great find and must read. It superbly achieves the goal of providing a roadmap to excellence, both for individuals and organizations. But the true genius of the book is its universal relevance, as it combines a highly effective common-sense approach with frank guidance to enhance results in all areas of life."
—Bill Bartmann, Billionaire Business Coach

"Read this book and find that the overarching philosophy of Everything Counts, when applied in business and in life, yields immediate results in performance and satisfaction. Gary Ryan Blair has refined this concept and provides the reader with the shortest distance between understanding and actually taking on personal responsibility. Read it with a pen at hand - it's excellent!"
—David Corbin, Author, Illuminate: Breakthrough Results Using The Positive Power of Negative Thinking

I admit that I was a little dubious when Gary first asked me to write an endorsement for Everything Counts! After all, I am a big picture kind of guy who sees everything in my business and that of my clients from a 50,000 foot point of view. Then I started reading the book and everything in it, down to the tiniest detail, makes sense. Everything really does count. Every detail, every customer, every action we take counts. A fabulous read!
—Tom Wheelwright, CEO of ProVision Wealth

"Paying attention to the small stuff makes a huge difference. Everything Counts provides a simple, transparent and powerful execution strategy that works. I highly recommend it!"
—Harry Paul, Coauthor, FISH! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results

"Never before have I seen a philosophy resonate so deeply with how we run our restaurants than Everything Counts! This simple, yet profound message provides a roadmap for excellence and quality results. It will challenge you to pay attention to the details of your work while enjoying each step of the process. My advice to anyone who is determined to build a legacy of excellence is to read this book. You'll be glad you did!"
—Jason Thomas, President, Papa Gallo's Restaurants

"Everything Counts strikes at the heart of the Martial Arts as it's a commitment to excellence and focus on detail which help to create a Black Belt Champion. As a Master in the Martial Arts and entrepreneur, I'm a strong believer in repetition of solid fundamentals...Gary is an expert at getting you excited about those simple yet necessary skills for success and achievement."
—Kyoshi Steve LaVallee, 8th Degree Black, Chief Master Instructor, CEO, USA Black Belt Champions

"In life, everything you do creates who and what you are. Gary Ryan Blair wrote a book called Everything Counts! This is a must read for anyone who truly wants to raise their game. He has crystallized the true meaning of excellence and quality by stressing that very small differences, consistently practiced, produce superior results. Read it; use it; and don't loan it out (because you won't get it back)...most importantly, make everything you do count!"
—Dr Len Schwartz, CEO, Chiropractic Marketing Solutions

"Adopting the "Everything Counts" approach has greatly impacted the daily work I perform as a parent and educator. Espousing these essential core values has lead my students and family to greater focus, better use of time, and inspiration to try new things. Teaching kids the important link between all actions and consequences cannot only produce immediate, positive changes; it is also great practice for life. Easy to read, practical, and inspiring, this book belongs on every living room, boardroom, and classroom shelf!
—Katie Post, Executive Director, Your Partners in Education, Inc.