In my college days in Boston, I was accustomed to having to move every couple of years….a roommate would graduate, marry or move on. Since the budget was tight and I have thrifty Yankee roots, I would haul around a stack of seasoned bricks that I used as bookshelf material. (I had picked them off a demolished building lot on Commonwealth Avenue—"midnight requisitioning" we called it.) My friends would groan every time we moved, "are you bringing the bricks this time?!" So of course, I was heartened when I came across a recent article by Howard Mann on how "catching a brick" can sharpen your business skills.

THE "BRICKYARD" EXERCISE
When a reporter asked a football coach what he was going to do in response to a loss, he said he was "sending his receivers back to the brickyard." The "brickyard" was a practice drill where the receivers stood 20 feet apart and tossed an old red brick back and forth to each other. The concept is a simple one… If you didn’t pay close attention to ONLY the very basic skills of catching a brick, it would hurt… A LOT.

MARKETING BASICS
Same goes for marketing—have you taken some time lately to analyze what’s essential to the marketing of your business? What are your "bricks?" How easy is it for someone to understand why they should do business with you? Do you know exactly who your target customer is? Are you scheduling time to meet with your top clients and suppliers…just to check in on how things are going? Your database is your lifeblood…is it kept up to date? What "keep in touch" systems do you have in place? A brick at a time builds the business.

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