In today’s environment overnight is too slow. You are out to lunch (or will BE someone else’s lunch) if you are too slow. Computers and technology have driven this new way of living and thinking and we have to adjust. You can fight it. You can argue about it. But it is reality and you have to adjust accordingly. Your customers are looking for solutions right away. Overnight is often too slow.

The Internet provides the ability to respond immediately. Your company’s marketing plan coupled with the speed of the Internet provides you a sales tool like none other. Speed is one of the key elements necessary to make it in today’s hotly-competitive world.

Of course, speed alone won’t do anything. Being there first with the wrong stuff or not enough of the right stuff will make you end up looking like Willie Coyote about to get slammed with another anvil falling from the sky. You have to be the "firstest with the mostest" as Nathan Bedford Forrest practiced during the Civil War. He was known for his saying, "Git Thar First With The Most." That is the way we have to view ourselves in business. Be the first to provide what your customers want with the most of what they want.

Here are some key principles that can help you as you do business at the close of the 20th Century and look to the next:

• Think speed. Find ways to serve your customers and prospective customers faster. Use the Internet. If they ask for product literature, be able to send it snail mail, but suggest that they can see full color pictures and detailed descriptions on your Website. If your products are better viewed with video or better described with audio, put these up on your Website (RealAudio and RealVideo are two of the most popular formats to use.)
• Get a fast modem. Use a 56K modem in today’s world. The standard has been approved for V.90 and will be ready in September. For now, you can realize increased speed in most cases (not all) if you use a 56K modem. You can upgrade the software to the new V.90 standard when it is ready in September and have better speed now until then. A 28.8 modem is as out of date now as a black phone with a rotary dial!
• Change your Website regularly. Think newspaper, not billboard. To keep it interesting, you have to provide value and new information. You have one of two possibilities: 1) Have someone else do it. You can have an outside source update your pages. Maintain good contact with them and watch how they are doing. Use pictures, audio, text and even some video to see all that is possible. 2) Your second choice is to do it yourself. This is not as hard as it seems. Programs like Microsoft FrontPage 98 provide the ability to make changes and additions to your Website easily. However, it will require some work to learn it but this can be some of the best time you’ve ever spent learning a software package.
• Return phone calls fast. When someone calls you willing to exchange their money for your service or product, you have to be willing to jump a little higher and faster. A pager can help you get the message fast most anywhere you are. Local pagers are great when you are in one specific area. If you travel nationwide, consider a service like SkyTel. I use that and can be reached very quickly by my office staff when an emergency arises. We define emergency as when someone is willing to give us money for our services!
• Use a cell phone. AT&T recently announced a new plan for nationwide calling. They call it the "One Rate Plan" and you pay one rate per month. Up to that number of minutes (various plans at 600, 1000 or 1400 minutes/month), you will have no roaming charges and no long distance charges. Each call within the 50 States is considered a local call. If you go over the allotted minutes/month you pay 25 cents per minute. Any professional who travels a lot should consider this new option.
• Be your own rapid deployment force. The military has trained the Delta Team, the Navy Seals, 101st Airborne division and the Rangers to land quickly into a given area and be in control immediately. Think like this in your business. Bring your laptop and equip it with the tools you need to get the job done wherever you are. For most of us that means a strong contact management program, solid word processing and connection to the Internet. With these tools alone you can do a lot from almost anywhere.
• Learn software for a strategic advantage. In today’s world knowledge is more power than ever. When Francis Bacon first coined the words, "Knowledge is Power," he didn’t have access to the Internet. He would be ecstatic today with the proliferation of information. I’ll bet he would also be dismayed at how many people choose to get information from watching junk on television versus reading good quality information from books, magazines and newspapers. Learn the software that your competitors aren’t bothering with which can give you a competitive advantage. You’ll be able to leap-frog over them time after time.
• Be well-rounded. In today’s world, we respect those who have a lot of valuable information from many fields. Study not only your own field, but others. If you’re comfortable reading magazines like Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, THIS BUSINESS PAPER and other business-oriented publications, fine. Now I challenge you to read "outside your comfort zone." Read magazines that are different from what your demographic group reads. This will expand your knowledge base and help you to understand life from the other person’s point of view.
• Have fun! This is most important to keep alert, be creative, keep the best people and live longer. People today want business to be more than a drudgery for a paycheck. We want to make money, be enormously profitable and productive and have lots of fun. Make sure you blend that into your schedule and business.

Business today is moving rapidly and you need to think speed to stay up to date. Focus on ways to serve your customers more and through faster means. Lean heavily on the technology to make that happen for you.

Terry Brock is an internationally recognized professional speaker, consultant and author in the fields of business productivity, technology and marketing. His is a syndicated columnist for Biz Journals across America and can be reached at 407-363-0505 or by e-mail at terry@terrybrock.com.