I’d like to share a verse with you, written four centuries ago by a Welsh clergyman named George Herbert and published by Benjamin Franklin in his Poor Richard’s Almanack.

For want of a nail, the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe, the horse was lost.
For want of a horse, the rider was lost.
For want of a rider, the battle was lost.
For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

It’s amazing to think how important small details can be in our own lives, as well. In the case of this poem, the fate of an entire nation rested on a single nail. While obviously farfetched, this story does illustrate the far-reaching effects a seemingly insignificant detail can have in shaping events in our lives… and in the lives of our businesses.

So, as you consider the activities and decisions facing your company in the days, weeks, and months ahead, be careful not to overlook any horseshoe nails.

Chameleons are amazing creatures. And not just because they appear in a hit ’80s song or humorous word-nerd send-up. No, chameleons are amazing for three distinct reasons. And each relates (in its own small way) to business.

1. Chameleons adapt to changes surrounding them.
While the common belief that chameleons change colors in order to blend in with their environment is not true, chameleons do change color based on temperature, light, and mood. As a chameleon grows warmer, for example, its colors become brighter and more distinct.

Business application: Like the chameleon, we, too, need to adapt to changes affecting us. As the competition turns up the heat, we need to let our true colors shine through, so we can stand out from the crowd.

2. Chameleons can focus on two things at once.
A chameleon’s eyes move independently of one another, allowing it the peculiar ability to watch two things simultaneously… without moving its head. What’s more, each eye has a horizontal radius of 180 degrees and vertical radius of 90 degrees, and can see in three dimensions.

Business application: While a singular focus can have its advantages in certain situations, being too focused on only one option (tunnel vision) can sometimes make us overlook opportunities or obstacles in our way.

3. Chameleons strike quickly and with pinpoint control.
A chameleon’s sticky tongue is a marvelous thing. Roughly the length of the creature’s body and tail combined, it can extend and retract in just a fraction of a second, with deadly accuracy and control.

Business application: Like a chameleon hunting its dinner, we need to remain nimble, too, so we can act quickly and with pinpoint control when opportunities arise.

Think mistakes are always bad? Think again. William L. McKnight, a former president and chairman of the board at 3M, has been credited by many with fostering the company’s emphasis on innovation. In 1948, while president of the company, McKnight had this to say about mistakes.

“Mistakes will be made. But if a person is essentially right, the mistakes he or she makes are not as serious in the long run as the mistakes management will make if it undertakes to tell those in authority exactly how they must do their jobs. Management that is destructively critical when mistakes are made kills initiative.”

Today, 3M holds patents on hundreds (if not thousands) of products, ranging from Scotch® brand tapes and Post-It® Notes to fiber optics, fuel cell components, security devices, and more. By accepting mistakes as an inevitable part of business, 3M has built and maintained a highly successful brand in a fiercely competitive market. Along the way, they’ve earned a reputation as a leader in fostering innovation and attracting top talent to their team.

So what can you learn from one of the world’s leading brands? Embracing initiative means accepting mistakes and learning to loosen the reins.

Referrals are among the most effective and least expensive marketing tools available to small business owners. People don’t always trust an ad or sales call, but they do trust their friends.

Think about the places you’ve done business with in the past week, month, or year. What first led you to those establishments? Was it an ad on TV, on the radio, or in the newspaper? Perhaps a piece of direct mail? Maybe a billboard or website? Or a particularly persuasive sales call? All of these are effective means of marketing to the public. But none is as effective as a referral from a colleague or friend.

A referral from a friend will carry far more weight in most people’s minds than the cleverest ad or most well-articulated sales call. So how can you generate more referrals for your company?

• Model it. If you want your customers to start referring people to you, refer your friends and colleagues to your customers’ companies, too. Reciprocity is a powerful thing. If you refer business to others, they will be far more likely to refer business to you.
• Ask. When you meet with established customers to follow up on a sale or just to check in, ask if they know anyone else who might need your services. Even if they can’t think of anyone on the spot, your question will plant a seed and remind them to think of you when they do come across a friend who might benefit from what you sell.
• Offer an incentive. Provide a discount or special thank-you gift for those who do provide referrals. Make it something fun and worthwhile that will make your customers realize how seriously you take their business. In some cases, that might mean a month of free service, a free upgrade or enhanced service plan, or some other unique perk available only to them. Tailor your incentive to your own specific business and customer base. You may also want to offer a discount to the prospect who was referred.
• Keep doing what you’re doing. If you’re providing outstanding service and support, along with exceptional products and services, referrals will come. If someone enjoys doing business with you and feels like you’re providing good value for their money, it’s almost certain that eventually they will start telling others about you and talking you up with their friends and colleagues. Of course, the opposite is true, as well, so make sure you’re providing the kind of service worthy of a positive referral.
• Say thanks. Whether you have a formal referral program or not, when someone tells you they were referred by a friend, make a point of thanking that friend. Even something as simple as a hand-written note in the mail will let your customer know how much you appreciate their kindness.

Gandhi once said, “A small body of determined spirits, fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission, can alter the course of history.” Gandhi and his followers certainly did just that, as have many others who took a mission to heart.

In the 1980 movie, The Blues Brothers, Jake and Elwood Blues are men on a mission. They experience a revelation and decide they must get their old band back together in order to earn enough money to save the Catholic boarding school where they were raised. Not quite as grand a mission as Gandhi’s, no doubt, but a mission just the same.

Chances are, your company has a mission, too, with an accompanying mission statement, carefully crafted and culled to provide optimal guidance in the decisions you make as an organization.

But what about you personally? What’s your mission? What drives your own personal decisions? Your career, aspirations, and dreams? What prism do you use to focus your thoughts and cast light on the choices you face at work, at home, and in the world?

Experts like Dr. Stephen Covey advocate the need for a personal mission statement to guide the decisions that affect your own life and career. Just as successful companies use mission statements to clarify and filter their organizational decisions, many successful individuals do the same on a personal level, as well.

FranklinCovey has put together an online Mission Statement Builder to help you create a personal mission statement for yourself, your family, and your team. I recommend checking it out and giving it a try.

As you begin filtering your day-to-day decisions through a personal mission statement, you may be surprised to find that reaching your goals becomes easier.

Here’s a little story about how the power of words can evoke emotion, especially in the world of marketing.

An elderly blind man was sitting on a busy street corner with a cardboard sign next to an empty tin cup. The sign read, “Blind — Please help.” People would glance at the sign, but nobody gave the man any money.

Then a young copywriter saw the man with his sign and empty cup. He felt disappointed as he watched all the people walk past without an ounce of empathy, so he took a marker, flipped the sign over, and rewrote the blind man’s message.

Suddenly, people started putting money in his cup until it was overflowing. Surprised, the blind man asked a stranger to tell him what the sign said. He replied, “It’s a beautiful day. You can see it. I cannot.”

Depending on the nature of your business, your customers may spend a lot of time on the phone talking to sales reps, customer service, customer support, etc. If you’re looking for a great way to add a personal touch to these interactions, consider posting photos of your sales or support staff on your website, business cards, and other marketing materials.

Employee photos are a compelling way to capture your visitors’ attention on your website. More importantly, though, conversion rates increase when people can connect emotionally. Photos are a great way to foster this kind of connection between your customers and staff.

Because people buy from people, they are often curious about who they are speaking with. Photos increase interest in day-to-day interactions and help customers and prospects recognize and remember the members of your team, making them more likely to approach your staff at trade shows or other social events.

In addition to posting individual photos, group photos and candid shots of employees at work are great ways to show off your facility, the various skills you can offer in-house, and the potential bulk of your workforce.

If your business is looking for a great way to relay important messages and create a favorable impression of your company, consider a “message from the owner” (or president, CEO, etc.). Here are a few tips to create a “message” that speaks for itself:

• In addition to creating a standard “mission statement” message from the owner, consider offering regular messages via a company website, newsletter, blog, sales letter, Facebook page, Twitter feed, etc. to communicate new initiatives, announce new products, or simply offer an insightful perspective on a relevant subject.
• Include a photo of the owner/president/CEO. Readers feel more of a connection when they can put a face with a name.
• While the messaging is most effective when it comes from the owner him/herself, consider help from a member of your communications team for message ideas, editing, and wordsmith help.
• In addition to sharing a message with customers, a message from the owner is also a great way to create a sense of community within an organization and narrow the gap between the owner and coworkers.
• Encourage feedback and open lines of communication whenever possible. A forum where customers or coworkers can ask questions and receive a response from the owner can be a powerful marketing tool. Consider highlighting questions and responses as topics for the messages.

What better way to offer a glimpse into your quality products, services, and support than with a risk-free trial or evaluation? Depending on your product, a free trial is not only an effective marketing tool to increase interest and expand your customer base, but it also helps establish rapport with potential customers and shows them your product or service is valuable and worth purchasing. Here are a few tips for offering a free trial:

• Set a clear time frame for your trial offer, such as a 30 or 60-day evaluation period.
• Consider a first-time discount if the user decides to purchase from you, as well as a referral program that offers coupons with a trial to pass along to friends.
• Avoid scaring away potential customers by asking only for necessary information when signing up for the free trial.
• Don’t spam those who provide information. Offer an option to sign up for promotions if they are interested.
• Notify users before the trial ends to avoid sharp cutoffs or automatic billing.
• Lastly, think of a free trial program as a way to improve your products or services. You can gain valuable feedback from those who choose not to purchase from you.

If sales of your products and services have been diving off a cliff or are just plain flat, there are other paths to improvement besides simply reducing prices. To find the clues that lead to those answers, you will need to do a little detective work.

Good detectives don’t typically rely on just luck and good fortune to solve a crime. Neither can you when you’re looking for answers to the crime of slow sales. Detectives follow a certain protocol to try and find the criminal. You must also follow certain steps to find what you are looking for.

Gather the evidence.
The first step that a detective takes is to carefully collect evidence. A clever detective tries to recreate the crime scene and see it through the eyes of the suspect. Slow sales leave a similar trail of clues which can be collected and analyzed. Look at your business through the eyes of your customers and prospects. What unnecessary obstacles and hassles are you unwittingly creating that stop a prospect from doing business with you? Work to remove any unnecessary conditions and restrictions that are making your customers jump through hoops to do business with you.

Good cop, bad cop
You have undoubtedly heard about or seen on TV crime dramas the technique known as “good cop, bad cop.” After the suspect is brought in for questioning, a “bad” cop tries to intimidate the suspect while the “good” cop tries to gain his trust so he spills the beans and admits to the crime. In a business setting, you must be able to present your company as the “good cop.” If you can become the trusted source for your customer, sales leads will begin beating a path to your door.

Persistence is key.
Detectives with long and successful careers typically have one common trait — they don’t give up easily. In tough economic conditions, offering great service and products is no longer enough. It is expected…and only the starting point. The slow economy has undoubtedly played a role in slow sales for some companies. But there are companies that have experienced continuous sales growth, even during the recession. What is the difference? These companies have a very good understanding of their customers. By staying close to their customers, these companies have learned to adapt as needed and stay ahead of the curve by offering what their customers need and want.

Don’t overlook the details.
Detectives solve crimes by doing their homework first and then completing all the nitty-gritty, unglamorous tasks that the TV crime dramas don’t show. Great companies survey their customers to find out what they need and then over-deliver on what they promise. When you can do that, you will be able to lock up slow sales forever and throw away the key.