Research indicates that in order for most middle-market companies to succeed they need to capture less than two percent of the available universe of potential clients. The challenge, then, is not to become appealing to the 99 percent, but to be compelling and essential to the one percent.

• What steps have you taken to identify the best one percent for your company?
• How have you made sure your resources are allocated towards them?
• How have you packaged yourself to be indispensable to them?
• How have you justified value-added pricing?
• What defensive barriers to entry have you created to keep out the competition?
• Are your agendas aligned with your clients’ agendas long term? How?
• Do you attend planning meetings (not sales meetings) with your clients?
• Have you made a transition from transactional to consultative selling?
• Are you making greater commitments to your best clients and getting greater commitments from them? How?
• Are you bringing greater expertise to your clients (expertise being defined as “that which would be vacant in the marketplace if you ceased to exist overnight”)?
• Are you becoming a variable-cost solution to your clients’ fixed-cost problems? In other words, are you doing things for them that historically they have done for themselves…for the simple reason that you can do it better because you do it for more people?
• Do you describe your company in terms of your product, your process or your outcome?

Vistage speaker and author Steven Snyder, believes CEOs that prepare for the worst, imagine the best and successfully handle their stress during this economy will come out on top. Here are tips on handling stress and envisioning success in both good and bad times.

Stop. Take one slow, conscious breath and slowly release. By taking a deep, conscious breath (as opposed to holding your breath, which we do when we’re stressed) and then releasing it slowly, your body produces endorphins and most of the physical tension that’s developed leaves the body.

Learn to recognize the feelings that accompany positive thoughts. When you have a positive thought that you like, reinforce it by imagining it with great zeal and passion. Remember the way this positive thought makes you feel.

Retrain your brain to respond to negative thoughts and feelings. Allow your negativity to be released and replaced with a sense of peace. This promotes a sense safety around the negative thought. Responding, rather than reacting, to negative thoughts and feelings will allow you to focus on success and to be more productive.

Learn the fundamentals of business (from a mentor, if need be) and practice. CEOs can’t do it alone in times like these. They need the help and guidance of seasoned professionals. Whether it be with your Vistage group, board of directors or spouse, communicate your goals and let others in on your vision.

Use sensory imagination to envision the specific outcome that you desire. Think about what success will look, feel and even smell like. Forget what has failed in the past and focus on right now. Developing a sense-experience for success will help you achieve it.

Imagine the outcome you desire as if it’s already true. The only person that will make your success a reality is you. Let others worry about the obstacles holding your plan back and concentrate on what will make your success happen. Deal with challenges in a realistic mindset rather than a “make or break” state.

Imagine your desired outcome over and over again with great passion. Passion is the key to success in these economic times. Plain and simple, if you don’t believe in your goals, they will not happen. Be passionate with your employees and executive team. Your positive attitude and commitment to success will trickle down.

Release your attachment to an outcome exactly as you see it. Changes happen. Accept them and realize that what you envisioned of success might not be the final product. It could be much bigger and better than you ever imagined if you learn to accept changes and adapt to make them fit into your vision.

“By reinforcing positive and negative thoughts with relaxation techniques, CEOs can more effectively handle the chronic and acute forms of stress that go along with the job and positively affect their performance,” said Snyder.