Knowing that my company’s purpose is all about ‘empowerment’ allows me to make clear decisions about what actions to take, both reactively and proactively. My coaching, consulting, content creation, mastermind group formation, marketing activities are filtered by the test of ‘Does it further the goal of empowerment?’

One of the most important things that an organization can do is to clearly define its purpose. Sometimes it is difficult to define the purpose of an organization because the people get caught up in the  ‘what we do’ and forget the ‘why we do it’. 

For example, a manufacturing company may believe its purpose is to provide the product it makes for its customers. Although this may seem accurate and appropriate at face value, it may be more valuable to look at the benefits it is providing for its stakeholders including customers, employees, vendors, stockholders, and community. The real value of the product is the way it enhances the lives of the people using it, making it, and supporting it.

You can also identify secondary and tertiary benefits of the product or service being provided. This is like peeling away the layers of an onion. By asking ‘And so?’ after each benefit is identified you can get to a deeper meaning or purpose in emotional terms. Knowing this provides motivation and vision that enables the company to make tough choices and continue to take action when the going gets rough.

Once the purpose is defined and articulated well, the actions of the organization should align with fulfilling that purpose. That means if your organization’s actions do not take you closer to the organization’s purpose, then you should question why you are taking the time and energy to do that thing. This can play a big role in productivity and time management.

So define your company’s purpose and check the weekly schedules of yourself and your employees. Look to see if your activities take you closer or further away from your organization’s purpose. You’ll be more focused on your target, waste few monetary and time resources, improve your momentum , make progress faster, be less distracted and get employees moving in the same direction just from aligning your company’s purpose and all your actions by asking the simple question over and over again. ‘Does it further our purpose?’

I’m interested in your comments. What is your company’s purpose and how do you keep the activities of you and your staff focused on the company’s purpose?

I had the amazing opportunity to interview Sharon Lechter. She co-authored with Robert Kyosaki the 15 book Rich Dad, Poor Dad series. She collaborated with the Napoleon Hill Foundation to write Three Feet From Gold, a book about current companies that pick up on Hill’s dedication to persistence. Outwitting the Devil, the Secret to Freedom and Success, was edited by the Sharon Lechter at the request of the Napoleon Hill Foundation and family and released in June, 2011. Hill wrote it in 1938, a year after he wrote Think and Grow Rich. It wasn’t published at the time because it was considered too controversial. It does criticize (in the form of the devil’s explanations) religious institutions, politics, education, unhealthy and addictive habits, and a variety of other social agents that keep people thinking small and dependently.

Sharon shared with me that Hill wrote the content for the Fireside chats given by Franklin Roosevelt and came up with his most memorable sentence. ‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself.’  He truly was a force that helped us  bring personal development into existence and certainly a factor in ending the depression.

Sharon herself is a CPA and is an advocate of financial literacy. Her company, Pay Your Family First, creates award winning games to engage young people in learning how to manage money.

Enjoy the interview!

One of my elementary teachers that I most remember is Mr. Stevens He  was a good teacher and I learned a lot in his music class. But what I most remember about Mr. Stevens is that he walked around with a ruler. When anyone wasn’t paying attention or misbehaved, he would snap that ruler on the top of your shoulder and it would really sting.

These days this would never be allowed but, “back in the day,” the ruler landed on my shoulder once or twice (completely undeserved, of course). The mere threat of “the ruler” was sufficient to keep most of us in line. A vivid memory to me, this is an example of motivation by fear where, essentially, Mr. Stevens used the threat of pain and embarrassment to keep us 5^th graders in line. And, for the most part, it worked.

Then there was dear, sweet Mrs. Bell who was forever cajoling her students with sweets and extended play periods if we would merely complete our homework assignments and behave in class. Her approach also resulted, like Mr. Stevens, in a fairly well-behaved classroom, much because the rewards were sufficient to alter the actions of some who would have otherwise misbehaved or not minded. Mrs. Bell’s methods are a simple example of motivation by incentive.

Traditional Types of Motivation

Both of these types of motivation (by fear and by incentive) are based on external factors (pain and sweets in my examples) to get a desired result. These two types of motivation are also found extensively in the workplace, where verbal abuse, threats of firing, and exhortations of “do better or else” occur daily. Similarly, it is common practice that bonuses, award trips, and other forms of compensation are used to motivate employees. The issue is that, since these forms of motivation are based on external factors, the modified behavior (to avoid the negative repercussion or to achieve the benefit) is often short-lived.

The very essence of fear is negative, and any results produced under the stress of fear is typically second-rate at best. Many of the same kids who behaved well enough in Mr. Steven’s class, misbehaved in other classes. Their change in behavior was situational and not long-lasting. Likewise, many students in Mrs. Bell’s class acted well enough to get the rewards that were being offered, but behaved less appropriately when there were no special incentives. Again, parallels can easily be drawn with situations at work where employees change their behaviors depending on which of these two traditional types of motivation is utilized. Fear and incentive motivation can be used temporarily but for less than lasting results.

The Power of Attitude Motivation

As the modern workforce changes and evolves, incentive and fear motivation (the carrot and stick) are no longer as effective as they once were. And their motivational power diminishes after the promised reward has been gained or the threatened penalty has been avoided. A more powerful and sustainable form of motivation, motivation by attitude, motivates successful employees. When you are motivated from within, you are not dependent on other people or things. You are driven by your belief in yourself, your dreams, your desire for mastery and your goals to maximize your potential. You want to achieve because that’s your life’s purpose, not simply because you want to gain an external reward or avoid a loss or punishment.

Motivation by fear is about avoiding. Motivation by incentive is about getting. Motivation by attitude is about becoming. When your goal is to become the best you can be, you will be self-motivated to exceed even your own expectations!

There’s a simple definition for this complex subject: “Self-motivation is an inner drive that compels behavior.” What makes it complex, however, is that little word “inner,” because what works for me may not work for you, and vice-versa.

Dan Pink is an author who writes about this and the last 40 years of research about what works and what doesn’t work and in what situations when motivating employees. You might be surprised that some of your assumptions from your youth may not be valid with knowledge workers in the current workplace. His book is entitled, Drive, The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.

What are your opinions about these various types of motivation? We’d love to hear some of the ways in which you can increase your self-motivation.

Often we don’t give ourselves enough credit. When do you let your energy get sabotaged by feelings of not having much to contribute? This video may help.

Leadership. Most people think of leading others when they hear or read the word, but self-leadership is even more important. How can you effectively lead others (whether on the job or at home) if you are not effectively living your own life? As I work with clients on leadership development, a large part of those efforts is focused on understanding what they are best at and then leveraging those strengths to perform at a higher level by being authentic to themselves. Let’s look at this more closely.

We were each created with unique qualities and abilities. No one else can do what you do, just as you do it. But do you really know your strengths? An honest and comprehensive self-assessment, whether using a formal diagnostic tool or not, is necessary to be more aware of your attitudes, your behaviors, and what makes you “tick”. This awareness will also allow you to better understand how people see you and help you improve your relationships and dealings with others. The saying that “Illumination is 80% of remediation” helps us realize how important this personal “look in the mirror” can be. As you achieve a better understanding of your strengths, it is important to realize that no matter how developed you are in these areas, there is always room for improvement. Further developing your strengths, and using them more often, will make them even more valuable and help you be more successful.

Yet, often, people neglect their strengths and focus more on their weaknesses and skills they don’t have. My friend Jay Niblick, president of Innermetrix, likes to say that “We possess talents, but we manufacture weaknesses.” Similarly, Peter Drucker has challenged us all to “make our weaknesses irrelevant”. The point is that none of us can be great at all things, and to try to be so is frustrating, time-consuming and, at times, self-defeating. Find the personal and professional situations and environments that allow you to use your strengths and accentuate the positive, instead of focusing on your weaknesses and the negative. An expert in the field, Dr. Robert Hartman once said, “Instead of trying to put in what God left out, [work] with what He put in.” In a research poll of millions of workers, only one-third reported that they were engaged in the kind of work they do best. It’s no wonder so many businesses are characterized by apathy and mediocrity instead of passion and excellence.

So, first, identify your strengths and then work to strengthen and make them more valuable. You will achieve better outcomes and experience more enjoyment as a result. Focus on the positive and what you are good at and don’t devote too much of your time and energy shoring up your weaknesses. As Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, an executive coach to Fortune 500 CEOs has said: “There are a lot of things I stink at. I just make sure I don’t have to do them to be successful.”

Perhaps one of the most important and often times forgotten skills is being aware of what is going on in the process during sales conversations. This is true in retail or business-to-business sales. Those who master the art of being aware of where the customer is and what they are looking for and how to match their needs to products or services will almost always become a top producer in sales.

Ask Great Questions

Asking great questions is the first key in becoming aware of what is going on in the prospect’s mind.  Of course, if you don’t have favorable attention or credibility through your questioning, then asking about wants and needs will fall flat. So make sure to establish rapport first. During the discovery of wants and needs the questions will be closely related to one another. After each question, pause to process the answer and then ask the next appropriate question. Each question should have a goal of identifying where the prospect is in the buying/selling process. Know what the prospect is thinking or you will find yourself in peril of losing the sale.

Listen and Shut Up

We have two ears and one mouth for a reason. We need to listen twice as much as we talk. Few people want to listen to a mouthy pushy salesperson. Remember, it is all about the customer, not you. Build your relationship by listening and helping each customer solve his or her problems.

Ask For The Sale

Finally, do not be afraid or hesitant to ask for the sale once you have uncovered and matched the needs of the customer with your solutions. This is how you assist the buyer in making the right decision to fulfill their needs and wants.  Closing with a question like. “How many of these would you like?” or, “Should we box these up for you?” or “ Shall we start the project next Tuesday?” should seem natural.

Ask If There Is Anything Else

And finally, ask if there is anything else that you can help them with? This is important because:

1. They may have forgotten something since you started the conversation
2. The new purchase may have uncovered the need for something else
3. Adding on to an existing sale is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to increase sales.

Be aware of how you’re holding conversations: asking questions, listening, asking for the sale and asking if there’s anything else. Watch your sales soar!

Please add to this conversation. What thoughts about your sales conversations would you like to share?

To borrow a phrase, “it’s the little things in life that matter”.  This is so true when talking about improving our lives. How often is it that when we accomplish the little things in our lives they quickly add up to huge results? It’s true in life and business. Right? So if this is true, what can we do about getting those little things done so that we can have “big” lives? Let us look at a few things that might help.

Allow Enough Time

Often, we do not allow ourselves enough time to do the little things as we are marching through our tasks and responsibilities. This is because we are over committed to too many projects and have not allotted the proper amount of time to complete them well. Learn to say ‘no’ more often to free up time that can be used for the little things. Build cushions of time to allow for the unexpected. How many times have you been rushed to get something done due to time constraints only to make one small error that requires substantial re-work or starting all over?

Live In The Now

I run into people all the time who are talking about how it will be next year or how it was in years past. Although, occasionally we need to look at those things forwards and backwards, the majority of our focus needs to be on what we are doing today and right now at this moment. That single-minded focus can create masterful work with details delivered that add up to a super product. So, check yourself daily to see that you are in fact “living in the now”.

Look Out For Others

Always seeking out what others need and want in their lives will drive us to do the little things for others that build lifetime relationships. The old adage “talk is cheap but action speaks” really is true. People will remember what we did for them and the thoughtful words of encouragement at the right time backed up by our own actions.  We were all put here on the earth to serve others. That is the reason any business exists. Therefore, we must be focused on others in order to do the little things that matter to them.

If you manage your time, live in the present and look out for others you will naturally accomplish the little things in life that will result in a great life for you and others. So go ahead, find something “little” to do.

Please share some ways that the ‘little things’ have come up for you. Or some habits you’re developed to get the ‘little things’ done. Thanks

Let’s use an Olympic athlete as an example. She probably was introduced to the sport like downhill skiing at age 5, took lessons, practiced, started to shine by age 9, took advanced lessons, attended special camps, traveled to where the best teachers were for private instruction during her teenage years, spent hours every day at the gym honing and strengthening her body, spent countless hours prepping her mind for success, participated in competitions all over the world, read many books about successful people and the will to win. She went through trials just to make it to the Olympics.

Now it’s the official day and all her training and preparation have to come together for her seconds-long run down the mountain. Today is the Moment of Truth. It’s where the rubber meets the road. It’s when all the preparation, training, support from parents and friends, coaching from her coach, excitement, passion for the sport, equipment selection, and fierce will to win all descend into a couple of runs down the mountain that take only seconds. If she brings everything together well, her name will live on forever. If her moment of truth is lackluster, she’ll remember and so will those close to her, but no one else in the wider world. The moment of truth is the culminating moment.

In our businesses we intend to understand our target market and their needs, we prepare products or services, we train our people, we strategize with business plans and strategic partners, we strive to do things better by improving our internal systems. But our moment of truth is when the customer or client says, “I’ll buy,” or “I’ll buy again.” That moment is the culmination and validation that everything we prepared was valuable enough to someone else that our time was worth being put in this direction. The version of ‘truth’ is the customer’s because he is the one making the purchase.

So what if your product/service is not selling well? Is it just because the salesperson is weak? Perhaps it’s because the support systems, product/service design, emotional intelligence, brand positioning, attention to customer experience, leadership or a host of other factors are not coming together well enough to create a strong enough structure to support a successful ‘moment of truth.’  It is leadership’s role to see it and fix it.

Or perhaps many things have been put together well and the final person who handles the customer relationship and is expected to communicate this culmination of value, the frontline employee, is one of the least trained, least paid, and least valued persons in the business. Think of bank tellers, wait staff in restaurants, customer service reps, store clerks, telephone sales reps, receptionists, junior accounting staff, paralegals, etc. Sometimes the culmination of all the value of the firm is put into the hands of people who are considered the least important. Really they are the most important because they deal with the customer all the time delivering the value handling those moments of truth.

So many organizations consider their frontline employees as ‘churn and burn’ because they only stay a short time. Perhaps they need to re-evaluate the impact of the frontline employee, develop a different profile, hire differently, expect the person to stay a long time and invest in heavy duty training and compensation for this important person who delivers the organization’s moments of truth. The fate of the organization relies on it.

If you have some thoughts about how and by whom Moments of Truth are handled in your industry/organization, please share.

It seems you can’t go anywhere without someone asking you what your goals are! What’s up with that? You want to buy life insurance…what are your goals for the future? You want a financial plan… what are your goals? You say you want to sell your business, what are your goals and strategy for the future?  It’s gotten so bad that I turned on the TV, and on the way to another channel, I listened to a 350 lb. guy on a show called the “biggest losers” say his goal was to have a six pack.

I don’t know about you, but I think a big part of his plan ought to be staying away from those 6 packs! Whether we think he can do it or not, it should be obvious to most that by committing to a goal and by adopting a disciplined mindset, with the willingness to work hard… it is achievable. In that regard, he is exhibiting some of the same characteristics of a successful entrepreneur.

What do you think? In the book “The Entrepreneurial Mindset,” authors Rita Gunther McGrath and Ian MacMillan offer characteristics that are associated with successful entrepreneur behavior. How many of these traits listed below do you possess?

• Successful entrepreneurs are action oriented and they also simplify.
• They possess superior conceptual abilities. This helps them identify relationships in complex situations and to quickly identify problems and solutions.
• Passionately seek new opportunities. Entrepreneurs are relentless in pursuing their goals and are supremely confident in their ability to achieve those goals.
• They pursue opportunities with enormous discipline. Successful entrepreneurs have tremendous discipline when it comes to evaluating opportunities and ideas. They have a comprehensive awareness of the overall situation and fully understand the ramifications involved in each decision they make.
• Pursue only the very best opportunities and avoid exhausting themselves and their organization by chasing after every option. By focusing on the vision and organizational goals, successful entrepreneurs limit their exploration of ideas to only those that are in concert with the company’s mission.

Are you a goal setter? Without goals our work, passion and energy are more often like a flash of lightning – capable of making a short and fleeting impact. But by adopting the discipline of goal setting, we can reduce the amount of time and energy we squander on the way to achieving the outcomes that are most important to us. So, if you do get a chance to meet that 350 lb. entrepreneur with a goal, ask yourself who is better off….

We are Driving IR, a consulting and coaching company and we welcome your input and comments….

If change were an acronym, what would it be?

C.H.A.N.G.E.:  Constant Havoc Amidst Needy Grumbling Employees or

C.H.A.N.G.E.:  Challenging, Hostile, and No-Good Edicts (from management) or

C.H.A.N.G.E.:  Corrosive Headaches Arriving and Not Going (away) Effectively

We laugh because it is funny, and we laugh because it is true.  Even organizations and employees who claim to thrive on change reach their limits, and as a rule, we all struggle with the pace of change.

Recently, an organization was faced with several changes happening simultaneously – a change in leadership, a change in policy and practice, and a change to the way peer teams worked together.  That change was causing internal conflicts, office behavior issues, and other related challenges.  The employees were struggling to be productive and stay focused.  Many organizations find that employees shift their focus to the change and the challenges that come with change, and then find it difficult to return to work as usual.

Can we all agree that organizational change happens, if not routinely, then certainly regularly?  If that is true, then how can you help your organizational teams – your colleagues – manage that change emotionally, and work through it in order to get back to productivity as soon as possible?

One strategy is to use a version of the Tuckman model to encourage your employees to work through their own challenges with whatever change is occurring.   Information on the Tuckman model is widely available should you want to know more, but in essence Tuckman outlined four critical stages – or phases – of change, as follows.

In the first stage of change, Forming, the team (and individuals) are forming.  They learn about the opportunity and challenges, they begin to tackle the change head-on. Team members tend to behave quite independently. They may be motivated and are usually on their best behavior but very focused on themselves. At this stage, you may begin to see how individual team members respond to change in general and to specific pressure points.

In the second stage, Storming, the group hits the proverbial “wall.”  The individuals react in various ways to the change, and emotions run high.  Different solutions compete for consideration.  The group may feel chaotic or dysfunctional in this phase.  In some cases storming can be resolved quickly. In others, the team members begin acting out or focusing on minutiae to evade real issues.  Here’s the secret, though.  The storming stage is critical to the growth of the team. It can be contentious, unpleasant and even painful to members of the team who are averse to conflict.   But every team – for every organizational change – will go through a storming phase before getting to the last two phases.

In the Norming phase, teams begin to work together naturally.  Productivity begins to increase; team members agree to rules, professional behaviors, and working tools.  Trust goes up and motivation increases.

After time, most teams will reach the Performing stage. These high-performing teams are able to function as a unit as they find ways to get the job done smoothly and effectively without inappropriate conflict or the need for external supervision. Team members have become interdependent.

If your organization is in the throes of change, consider this application of the Tuckman model to allow your team the space and the time to identify in which of the four phases they find themselves, and to define what the characteristics of each phase look like.  One organization recently brainstormed what the four phases looked like for their organization, and came up with this list:

This activity allowed the organization to openly discuss how each team member felt, and to process through the various stages and raise awareness.  Try this for your team!  And, let us know how it worked for you.

I’ve been studying company culture for awhile now. At its’ best it drives profitability. At it’s worst you’re replacing staff every time you turn around. Who is responsible for creating your company’s culture? If  you’re the business owner, you are!!! That means you can change it if you don’t like what you’ve got. You change it by changing how you lead.

What are the benefits of creating a great culture? Why should you care? I could name dozens of reasons, For today let’s just name 4 biggies.

• 32% more productivity
• 25-100% more profit
• Ability to take a vacation
• Growth of the asset value so the company sells more easily, for more money

Here are some things that great cultures develop:

1. Culture book – a small book that employees contribute their comments to, almost like hard copy blog. It can be used to build pride among employees. It also can be used as a recruiting device.
2. Five minute beginning-of-the-day meetings where people get on the same page, share what they are going to accomplish that day and ask for resources from others. This is a stand up meeting.
3. End-of-the-day huddles where staff share great moments from the day. An appreciative customer’s comments, something that went really right, thanks to each other for specific kindnesses or making the ‘transaction’ go so smoothly. These can be video or audio recorded and loaned to prospects and new staff to show them what it’s like to work there.
4. A clearly communicated vision for the company’s future that everyone understands and is motivated to contribute to.
5. Clearly communicated values that everyone lives, especially leaders who model value oriented behaviors for everyone else.
6. Very selective hiring practices that prioritize alignment of vision and values before task related skills.
7. At least 4 institutionalized programs that give appreciation, respect and encouragement (ARE) to employees.
8. Random acts of ARE that happen often and unexpectedly
9. Development of the character of employees in addition to the job related skill training. Development indicates that the company is interested in growing the individual as a leader, that you will be better at whatever you do if you know your personal vision and values so you can see whether or not they align with the company’s
10. Survey of the employees at least once a year
11. Managers who regularly ask their frontline staff, ‘How can I best support you?’
12. The philosophy that the frontline staff person who talks to the client everyday is the most important employee of the company.  He’s always touching the ‘boss’ that pays everybody’s salaries (the customer) he gets the best feedback (which contributes to innovation), he handles most of the customer complaints, he’s in the best position to ensure that the customer continues to spend their money with you.

Please add your thoughts and comments. I’d love to hear from you.

What is a culture of connection and what does it do for the profitability of a company?

In your industry who is eating who for lunch? (yes you’ll understand what I mean if you read through the article.)

Years ago when I had my IT company we received a $1,000,000 RFP. It was a bigger job than we ever had done before. We knew we had a good chance to win it. Everyone in the company worked on parts of it. The accounting department worked on the financials we had to submit with it. Our purchaser got best pricing from our product sources. Our trainers estimated the training costs Our word processing expert figured out how to respond in the format that was required.. I created a document and the verbiage that pulled everything together. We worked on it for a couple of weeks. We were close to deadline and one of our inside sales people offered to call and find out how late the office was open and drive it right to the location and deliver it. Twenty of us really worked together as a team because we had a common purpose, respected each others talents and abilities, and listened to each other’s suggestions. Our company had to meet with a committee and defend it like a doctoral dissertation. One of my salespeople and myself were the key people in that meeting. We had gone over the questions they had sent ahead and we were prepped. We went in and bowled them over with how much we were on the same wave length about how our company’s capabilities matched their needs. We were completing each other’s statements, sensing together when we needed additional clarification, working the committee like a couple of pros. It just flowed and it felt wonderful and exciting.

In this example from my own background I’ve experienced working as part of a team that connects. Each person contributed. No one watched the clock to see if it was 5pm. They were all about getting the project won. Each person was engaged and connected to each other. What are the three elements that come together to form this high level of engagement, enthusiasm and connection?

1. Purpose. People feel they are working toward something bigger than themselves. It captures their imagination and their motivation and helps them focus on a target outside themselves.
2. Respect. When each person is recognized as special and valuable, each individual feels worthy and unique.
3. Contribution. When each person feels his/her opinion is heard, even if there isn’t agreement, they feel a sense of belonging and giving. Listening, contributing, and accepting reinforce our bonds to others.

In the ebook “The Connection Culture: A New Source of Competitive Advantage” By Michael Lee Stallard the author defines a connection culture. He writes: “Unless the people who are part of a business feel a sense of connection—a bond that promotes trust, cooperation and esprit de corps—they will never reach their potential as individuals, nor will the organization.” An organization with a high degree of connection has employees who are more engaged, more productive in their jobs, and less likely to leave the organization for a competitor. Organizations with greater connection also have employees who share more information with their colleagues and, therefore, help decision-makers make better-informed decisions and help innovators innovate. Connection is what transforms a dog-eat-dog environment into a sled dog team that pulls together.

So what is connection anyway? When we interact with people, we generally feel that we connect with some and not with others. Phrases such as “we really connected” and “we just didn’t connect” are common in our daily conversations. Connection describes something intangible we sense in relationships. When connection is present, we feel energy, empathy, affirmation and are more open. When it is absent, we experience neutral or even negative feelings. Although we know what it’s like to feel connected on a personal level, few among us understand the effect connection has on us and on the organizations we work in.”

So if you grow a connection culture in your business, how would it help the bottom line?

• 32% more productivity per person according to some studies
• More employee retention, it cost 2 to 3 times an annual salary for someone new to be recruited, hired, trained and come up to speed
• The level of engagement among employees is directly connected to the level of customer loyalty according to many studies. Loyal customers refer more, sing your praises in word of mouth advertising and social media
• Your customer acquisition costs go down, It costs 5 times as much to get a new customer than to keep an existing one, according to the finding of Frederick Reichheld, Bain & Co,
• A 5% improvement in customer retention translates into a doubling of margins, same source
• If a majority of your customers are predictably loyal, you can buy or staff up in predictable patterns – saving you money in the long run
• Loyal customers buy more and cost less to service
• Loyal customers don’t require heavy discounts, they accept higher prices because they understand the value of the relationship and the product/service
• More fun at work, less stress, less money spent on sick time, late arrivals, etc.
• They innovate more and create new products/service/processes that help move the company forward and gain/maintain market share
• They take initiative and handle more responsibility allowing owners to take worry-free vacations, ‘think days’ for strategic planning, and leadership training, ultimately allowing the company to grow exponentially

We did win that RFP.

If you are not fostering a ‘connection culture’ in your company, and if you don’t think it can be a competitive advantage, then your head is in the sand. Your competitors who do will eat you for lunch.

I’d love to read your comments and experiences on this topic.

Authors Larry Bossidy and Ram Charam in their book “Execution…The discipline of Getting Things Done” included a letter to a new leader. The letter not only outlines the points of the book, but also represents what can be described as a path to organizational excellence.  A leader’s responsibility is to bring the critical elements of an organization together – its people, strategies, and operations. By doing so leaders avoid falling victim to the gap between promises they’ve made and results their organization delivered.

Dear Leader

Congratulations on your promotion! We couldn’t be happier for you. We know you are excited about, exercising your leadership at a higher level. And we’d like to share with you some information we think will help you with your new challenge.

Start by considering what skills this job requires and how they compare with the ones you have. We’re sure you’ve got the self-confidence to make this kind of candid self-assessment. If you’re short on experience in one area (most leaders are at some point in their careers, as you know), be sure you’ve got someone who’s strong in it. Overall, you’ll want to put together a team balanced with the different types of talent you need to improve your chances of success.

How well do you know your organization? Make sure you get down where the action is, talking with people at all levels, asking them questions, and listening to the answers. You’ll learn much of value about the realities of the business, and you’ll establish the personal connection that is a hallmark of a great leader.

Get a good handle early on the beliefs and behaviors of the people under your direction. Your own behaviors have a great deal to do with your success so far. You’ve insisted on boundaryless thinking, you’re open to opinions that differ from yours, and you’ve practiced and led the honest, inclusive dialogues that bring reality into the open. You have also placed a high premium on getting things done, winning, and attracting the very best and most diverse talent.

Are you among like-minded people in your new job? Does this business have an execution culture, one where people get things done because performance is recognized and rewarded? Do people embrace reality and engage in constructive debates? Or is the place full of political gamesmanship, butt-covering, and denial? If so, start creating the social software you’ll need to change the culture. It’s how you get the whole organization to follow your lead, and it’ll be crucial to maintaining your record of high achievement.

Nothing is more important to achieving results than your personal leadership of the three core processes. These are the guts of the business, and they’re your levers for changing or reinforcing the culture. The biggest single difference between businesses that execute and those that don’t is the rigor and intensity with which the leader prosecutes these processes. You will be pulled in every direction as people want you to meet community leaders, government officials, and suppliers and put you on display in every conceivable venue. But running the processes must be at the top of your priority list.

We know you believe that people are your organization’s most important assets, but your stewardship of the people process is what will convert that belief to reality. Make your people process second to none. Your success will be determined by the number of “A players you have and the extent to which you can harmonize their efforts. You need to know at least the top third of the people in your unit in terms of their performance and their growth potential. You need to be certain that appraisals are honest and direct, and that your people get the feedback, coaching, and training they need to grow. And because compensation is the ultimate driver of performance, you must ensure that your compensation system rewards the doers.

We encourage you to compare your people with those of the competition, to ask whether the performance bar is high enough, and whether people have the necessary discipline to win consistently.

Getting the strategy process right is crucial to your longer-term success and that of your organization. Are business leaders driving the process, or has it been delegated to nerdy and isolated planning types? Does the plan have the right information to allow an accurate assessment of your position versus your competition? Is it sufficiently detailed so that your people can see how they will achieve both growth and productivity improvements? You can’t settle for vague declarations in these crucial underpinnings of the plan— you need specific programs. Are the issues confronting the business identified? Does your new team have a track record of overcoming obstacles? As you know, if you don’t identify, debate and resolve the critical issues, the business stalls. Also, are resources allocated in proportion to opportunities, or does every opportunity get some resources and none get enough? Is the plan straightforward, concise, and easily understood? Remember, you want everyone in your business to have a good grasp of it.

You have a budget, but do you have the action plan the budget should represent? We see countless cases where the numbers are assembled painstakingly and presented expertly but have little to do with the reality of running the business. A one-year operating plan sets forth a template for achievement. It synchronizes all of the organization’s parts and links them with the strategy and the people processes. It nails down your team’s commitments by tying performance explicitly to incentives, so that leaders exercise all the discipline and imagination they can muster to deal with the ever-present unanticipated events.

We can’t stress enough the importance of your personal involvement in these core processes. You must be in charge from the start of each cycle, to the review, and to the follow-up steps you take to make sure the things that are supposed to happen do, in fact, happen. This is how you acquire both the knowledge and the authority to run the business as an integrated, reality-based whole. It is how you ultimately assure that all three processes are linked.

What else do you need to stay on top of? The list can get endless, but three items stand out.

• First, make sure you and your people really understand your customers: their needs, their buying behaviors, and the changes in those behaviors. Know why they would prefer your products to others. Understanding customers is the base of business success.
• Second, always look for ways to improve your results by introducing initiatives such as Six Sigma or digitization. They not only can be productive, they can also bind your people together in a common cause.
• Third, maintain and sharpen your intellectual honesty so that you’re always realistic. See things as they are, not the way you want them to be.

It will be hard at times to know how you’re doing. We hope your organization gives you the feedback and coaching you will be giving your own reports.  But even when that’s the case, we have found that a leader needs a confidant, someone outside the business to help her keep her head straight. This person should be someone wise, an individual who will be candid with you and help you to keep asking yourself whether you’re growing, learning, and making the tough choices. And take care of yourself. The new job can be stressful, and you need to live a balanced life. Don’t let yourself get too low or too high. Consistent behavior is a sign of a contained ego, and inspires confidence in you from those around you.

Above all, remember that you’ve earned your leadership by your commitment to the work you’ve done. Keep that intensity of involvement and deepen it. Some people grow in their jobs, and others swell. The ones who grow are passionate about their businesses. They’re never too high and mighty to listen and learn, to be as curious and inquisitive and open to new ideas as they were the first day of their careers.

As a leader, have you fallen victim to the gap between promises you’ve made and results your organization has delivered?

As always, we welcome and appreciate your reactions and feedback…

Have you ever found yourself with the proverbial “foot in your mouth” because of something you said?  We all do that sometimes – and often in situations where we then feel foolish or embarrassed.  I once heard a great way to filter your thoughts before they come out of your mouth, and to consider what you are going to say before you say it.

Before you speak, ask yourself first, “Is it true?”  Meaning, is what you are going to say a truth …. Or is it a rumor, or gossip, or something that you are spreading that doesn’t merit discussion?

Secondly, ask yourself, “Is it kind?”  Who will be hurt if you speak your thought out loud?  Is it a kindness to speak it, or hurtful?

Last, ask yourself, “Is it necessary?”  Do you really need to say it?  What would happen if you didn’t?  Does what you are planning to say create positive action or unintended consequences?

This simple routine for considering what you are doing to say – BEFORE you say it – will ensure that you are always a positive influence to those around you.   Using this simple routine might mean that you stop gossip rather than extending it; that you curb the impulse to share an exaggerated story. In asking yourself if what you are going to say is true, kind, and necessary, you will also be modeling effective speaking behaviors and encouraging others to do the same.

I have a client who struggles with her place within a management team.   She tends to think faster than most, and as a result also talk first and is often the first to raise her hand or react to an idea in a meeting.   Together, we discussed a new technique that she successfully used when with groups of people.  She simply counts to five before she speaks. In that way, she can allow the space around her to slow down, she can consider what she is going to say, and she can apply this test as well – is it kind, is it true, and is it necessary?   When she does speak, then, her words serve her well, and she has become known in that management team as someone who is wise, thoughtful, and kind.

Have you considered how you can apply this simple filter to what you are going to say?  How might it make a difference in your interactions?  Let us hear from you!

Henry has a decision to make. The disgruntled customer in front of him has a valid point. There had been a mix up on the part of Henry’s service team and things had not gone smoothly. It wasn’t the end of the world but the customer had been inconvenienced once and now the ‘fix’ is going to inconvenience this customer again. Henry feels that that the extra discount and consideration that the customer is asking for is not unreasonable. How can this be handled? How would your company handle it? Using a centralized leadership model or a distributed leadership model?

Centralized Leadership Resolution

Henry has to contact a manager. The manager has to stop what she is doing, come to where the customer is, listen to the story, hear the customer’s request, calculate if it’s reasonable and make a decision. Meanwhile Henry is standing there listening and waiting and being unproductive. Then Henry does what is necessary to put through the orders to accomplish the decision. Plenty of time has passed and the customer is thinking about all of his time that is being wasted. If the customer is still not happy, he might ask to escalate his request to yet another higher level manager. His blood pressure is rising if he’s not satisfied and you can be sure all his friends will hear about how they should stay away from this company and especially Henry.

Distributed Leadership Resolution

Henry has been trained and empowered to make decisions on the spot. He sees that the customer’s request falls within what he has been authorized to decide himself. He graciously agrees with the customer and puts through the order immediately. The customer is pleased that it has taken only a minute and his needs have been listened to and satisfied with no hassle. He considers Henry his new best friend and tells all his friends that Henry’s company acknowledges and takes care of their screw-ups without drama. He says he’ll be back when he needs to buy again.

In an organization you can have the leadership be centralized in top management or you can have it be distributed among all the staff. Distributed leadership is when your employees are empowered to make decisions that benefit the customer and accelerate the operations of the company. Distributed leadership is a characteristic of high performance teams. When people are given the latitude to make their own decisions, they try new things. Initiative increases, productivity increases, morale increases because people feel trusted. The leadership model, whether centralized or distributed, is a characteristic of a company’s culture and it is determined at the top. A micromanaging executive cannot generate a culture of distributed leadership because he’s concerned about maintaining control. Distributed leadership is about passing control to people on the front line so customers get taken care of easily, less time is wasted on everybody’s part, costs therefore go down and customer loyalty goes up. Shifting your company from a centralized leadership model to a distributed leadership model is difficult because of the habits that need to be changed. Habits come from attitudes. So the underlying attitudes need to be changed as well, especially at the top. But companies do it all the time because the benefits are so great.

Here are some things to keep in mind if you want to shift your company’s model towards distributed leadership:

Leadership needs the most help in changing attitudes. They no longer manage their areas like fiefdoms. They need to learn how to coach and collaborate, rather than command and control. They have to give up power and change their views on authority. They need to be coached because the shift is not easy. Now their role is more service and support. Others below them cannot make the shift if their managers don’t shift in their own roles.

People need to be developed. You want people to make decisions when before they didn’t? It’s not like flipping a switch. They are going to grow into it, test the new system to see if it is real or just lip service. They will gradually learn to trust their abilities and that management will trust them.

Strong but not suffocating operational guidelines help people make decisions that benefit the company as well as the customers. Sharing the vision and goals of the company/department and especially the reasons why those are written the way they are helps the newly empowered staff make better decisions. Training the staff becomes a big part of the picture. Having clearly defined company values provides structure that guides staff and defines the brand of the company. (double benefit) Sharing some of the finances of the company’s operations helps the frontline people make better decisions while weighing the customer’s needs and the company’s costs. People can’t make decisions in a vacuum so transparency and training is a prerequisite to shifting to this model.

Expect mistakes. When people are trying out their wings, they will make mistakes. Be careful to treat mistakes as learning experiences. Don’t kill the program or eliminate the employee when a mistake happens. You’ve just paid for their training (learning from the mistake). So point it out for what it is, learn from it, and move on. The number of mistakes will decrease as people learn from them.

Look at your hiring practices. Not everyone may work well in a distributed leadership model. The change might be too much for some. Existing employees will weed themselves out. Make sure when you hire new people, you select candidates that are self-leaders, who are itching to serve customers, who can think for themselves and make decisions. There are plenty of assessments that can help with that. Contact me if you want to explore this further.

Companies large, medium and small are moving in the direction of distributed leadership because of all the advantages, reduced costs, time savings, fewer employees in management roles, greater customer loyalty, increased morale and employee retention, great PR and word of mouth, increased market share. Companies like Zappos, Jet Blue, Southwest Airlines, Best Buy, Nordstrom’s, Ritz Carlton Hotels, and Disney have turned it into a unique value proposition that helps them rise above the competition.

If you don’t move in the direction of distributed leadership, will you be left behind by one of your competitors who does?

Have you steered your company towards distributed leadership? Or has your company steered you in that direction? We’d love to learn more about your experiences. Thanks for your comments.

I was rereading the book “Good to Great” by Jim Collins the other day and it occurred to me that with all the talk about sustainability in business we should revisit some of those basic concepts covered in that book. The chapter on Fifth Level Leaders really hits home with what it takes to create organizations that are excellent and have a prayer to be sustainable.

An interesting question came to my mind.

“What if our current elected officials adopted the concepts of a Fifth Level Leader?”

What is a Fifth Level Leader? It is a leader who has two major attributes. The first is a will to succeed no matter what is happening. The second is paradoxical to the first. That is to have a great amount of humility and modesty.

The will to succeed is for the organization not for oneself. This is a foreign concept to most leaders since they are usually focused on themselves first and then the organization. Fifth Level leaders work hard at whatever needs to be done and will not settle for anything less than what will meet the long term objectives of the organization.

What would happen if political leaders became so entrenched in making the organizations they serve succeed that they did not even worry about re-elections because the results would be so overwhelmingly successful that re-election would come automatically? When service is placed above self, good things happen.

The humility needed to be a Fifth Level Leader is the ability to give credit to everyone and everything else when things go well. When things go wrong, a mirror is placed in front of the leader and blame is apportioned to him alone. The organization’s Buck stops with the leader.

Fifth Level Leaders leave the place better than they found it and cultivate the next generation of leaders to carry on the organization. As Collins says, “most leaders hope the place implodes after they leave so it makes them only look better”. This short-sighted thinking of a lot of leaders does not create sustainability.

Is your organization led by Fifth Level Leaders? If not, what are you doing about it? Although it is not easy to find or develop this type of leader, a Fifth Level leader  will only improve the organization. How will you get from Good to Great?

We look forward to your comments on this kind of leadership.

Since at least the time of Plato and Socrates some 2400 years ago, mankind has been implored to “know thyself,” in life and in business. Individually, this is often taken to mean knowing your strengths so you can leverage them and knowing your areas of weakness so you can improve them or compensate for them. But it involves much more than this. While at the business level, many organizations struggle with getting more done with fewer people and less resources. As your employees have changed roles or added responsibilities, you need to have confidence that you have the right people in the right positions to get the best possible results.

In some cases you do have the right team members in the right places and in some cases you probably made some wrong choices, as we all have. Companies forced to reorganize made quick decisions resulting in people landing in the wrong roles. Likewise, companies that have experienced significant growth have ended up with similar staffing outcomes. Diagnostic assessments can help you identify

performance gaps and help your company effectively understand and align the talents, behaviors, and motivators of every employee. Having the right employee in the right position is as critical to each individual’s success as it is to the success of the entire company.

The first step in bridging performance gaps is for management to commit to a people development process for employees. It should be based on the skills, attitudes, and behaviors necessary for them to do their jobs successfully. If the size of the organization is large enough, it can be implemented by HR. Regardless, the objectives and strategies of developing employees, and how those emp

loyees are going to help drive results, needs to be owned by management.

After commitment has been gained and the objectives have been identified, diagnostic assessments can help determine individual performance gaps, since developmental opportunities will be employee-specific. Assessments can also be utilized as an important tool for creating skill development as well attitudinal and behavioral improvement while eliminating employee and organizational resistance to change.

There are a multitude of individual assessment tools available, but regardless of which we utilize, when working with clients we focus diagnostically on the whole person as defined by these three key areas:

1. WHAT natural talents do your employees possess? An analysis of TALENTS gets at a person’s ability to do things, how they make decisions and interact with the world around them, as well as how they perceive themselves.
2. WHY are your employees motivated to use their natural talents, based on their personal motivators and drivers? An analysis of MOTIVATORS gets at why people do things. Everyone has their own unique mix of personal drivers and motivators that help guide them toward success. Understanding what really drives a person is a crucial element of success.
3. HOW do your employees prefer to use their natural talents, based on their preferred behavioral style? An analysis of BEHAVIORS gets at a person’s manner of doing things; how they do things. Since each individual has their own unique preferences and habits for how they like to behave, this understanding is crucial when working with team members as a leader or a manager, or in an environment that requires conflict resolution.

Establishing new behaviors requires that the employee feels able to adopt those behaviors and feels comfortable doing so. A well-designed people-development process focused on objectives leveraging diagnostic assessments drives long-term change. After the completion of a development process, we consistently see high levels of adaptable change with sustainable results. To learn how to achieve these types of sustainable results for your people and your business give us a call or visit http://www.drivingir.com/whohow-do-we-help/our-approach/individual-assessments

When you are looking in the mirror, you are looking at the problem. But, remember, you are also looking at the solution.

I was at breakfast with a friend the other day and we were talking about networking and building our respective businesses.

“I don’t think I’m threatening enough.” He said.

Excuse me. I wasn’t sure I heard him right so I asked him again. He reiterated that a very successful sales coach told him he’d build his business much bigger if he was more threatening.

“You’re too nice a guy”, he said. “Everyone likes you and feels very comfortable with you so it’s hard for you to switch into sales mode.”

My friend felt very uncomfortable with this. He didn’t feel comfortable switching into “sales mode”. He genuinely likes people and doesn’t like to pressure anyone into a sale.

This pressuring, “sales mode” attitude is why most of us hate salespeople. It’s also why most people are uncomfortable selling.  Hard driving sales tactics and techniques are just not who we are. They make us uncomfortable and make our prospective clients put up a great big wall between us.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe in, and coach people, on sales processes and techniques that increase the likelihood of making the sale. However, these don’t need to be aggressive and unnatural.  These can help you to build relationships instead of tearing them down.

Here are 3 tips for a no-pressure, natural, relationship building sale:

• Don’t throw up
  The most important thing to all of us is…ourselves. So when we meet someone new at a networking event, or we meet with a prospect, why do we show up and throw up? Why do we insist on talk about ourselves so much before we know anything about them? If people are most interested in themselves, we should spend 80% of the time asking them open-ended questions to find out more about them. They’ll love you for it and it’ll have the added benefit of telling you what their “hot buttons” are and if they’re a true prospect.

• Consult, don’t sell
  People don’t want to be sold. They want their problems solved. Instead of selling them, try to help them solve their problems. This shows them what you can do to help better than a canned sales pitch or a PowerPoint presentation. Some people are concerned that would mean giving their services away for free. However, spending 15 minutes or an hour helping someone solve their problems seems like a small investment to make to gain a new client.

• Are you open?
  “Are you open to some help with that?” If you haven’t “thrown up” and you’ve “consulted” instead of “sold”, closing the sale becomes much easier. Instead of closing hard using a traditional sales technique, all you have to do is ask this one simple, non-threatening question. Most people are “open to some help”. It doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to make the sale, but it does mean you’re much more likely to openly discuss the potential to do so.

Selling this way will ensure that if you don’t make the sale, you’ll at least make a friend. And friends refer other friends. You win either way.

What’s worked for you? What tips do you have to make the sale and make a friend at the same time? We’d love to hear them.

In my research with small business owners and in my experience as the owner of multiple small businesses, dealing with cash flow is the biggest difficulty. Managing cash flow needs time and attention. Many small business owners work ‘in’ their businesses and not ‘on’ their businesses. Cash flow is definitely an ‘on your business’ issue. Just doing the work, issuing the invoice and ‘hoping’ the customer will pay within the terms (while the business goes onto fulfilling the next order) is not the smartest way to manage the money side of the enterprise. Having a reliable and predictable flow of cash into your business is the subject of this post.

In the last post we dealt with ‘Choose your clients wisely’, ‘Offer Credit Cards’ ‘Leverage”. In this post we’ll look at training your clients to pay on time, record keeping, dealing with government or those customers who you know will take 60 days or more to pay, and the importance of People in this whole process.

Training Your Clients to Pay On Time:

1. Have it be someone’s responsibility in your organization to keep checking that the customer’s signed delivery document made it from the receiver’s hands to the accounts payable clerk.
2. Be friends with the person cutting the check. Call a week before the payment is due so you know your check will be in the batch that gets released in the time frame of the terms. This is definitely a case of the squeaky wheel gets the oil. If you have a friendly personal relationship with the person who cuts the check, when there isn’t enough money to pay everybody, if the check preparer likes you and knows you stay on top of things, you’ll take precedence over another vendor. Sending cards and notes of acknowledgement and appreciation to the check preparer help her feel important and not just a clerk like other people may make her feel. This is where your employee who makes this contact in your customer’s company makes a big difference. If your employee establishes a warm appreciative relationship because he’s engaged in what he’s achieving, he’ll do his job ‘with heart’ meaning with sincerity and care.
3. By staying on top of the receivable as the due date approaches, you will know if there were any problems and will be able to rectify them before the payment is due. You’ll also have a better relationship with your customer because you will be known as a vendor that takes care of any problems right away. Great customer service and customer loyalty are not built on having problem free transactions. There are always minor things that can and do go wrong. Customer service and ultimately the relationship that is the basis of customer loyalty are built on how fast and easily the problems get fixed.
4. Some companies reward their customers by allowing them to take 1% or 2% off the bill if paid within 10 days. This is often phrased ‘2% net 10’. Whether you do or not depends on if you can give up that margin, if you want to set that precedent, if you think the customer will abuse it (take the 2% and still send the check in 30 days) and other factors that pertain to the situation. Getting payments in 10 days rather than 30 days can be very helpful especially if you’re borrowing money to fund the raw materials purchase, and giving 2% to the customer prevents you from having to give to your lender 2% or more.

Record Keeping

1. Having a small business is no excuse for not having accurate books that track your receivables. It’s important to have a listing of what invoices went out to which clients, when, their phone numbers and emails for easy follow up. What gets measured gets managed.
2. If I have a list of 10 invoices I want to follow up on and I have to look up each of the ten companies to figure out the contact name and phone number, it will become a big job. If it’s all readily available on a report that I bring to my screen in 10 seconds, I can make the 10 phone calls easily and with no excuses. It’s especially important when you’re paying someone else to do it. Why pay them an hourly wage to do unnecessary work that QuickBooks (or other accounting software) could do for you?
3. A metric on your dashboard (you have a dashboard, don’t you? 5-10 indicators you look at in your business every week) should be your ‘Average Days Outstanding.’ It’s a key performance indicator of how old your receivables are. If you offer net 30 terms, it would be best if your Average Days Outstanding never exceeded 30. Your accounting software will recalculate it for you every time you generate invoices and enter received payments.

Dealing with government or those customers who you know will take 60 days or more to pay

1. When you’re dealing with a large contractor, government or prime vendor, their policy is often to pay their vendors (you) in 60-90+ days. Sometimes they are very up front about it. Sometimes you have to ask. It’s important that you do. You’ll want to build into the project price the cost of the financing for your upfront costs. You may have materials, you’ll probably have labor. Part of your planning is to see how you will finance the purchase of what you need, a bank credit line, longer interest-bearing terms with your vendors, a purchase order financing arrangement? These costs should be figured into the price of the project. You need to plan how the cash flow will work and put these arrangements into place so a large order doesn’t kill your organization. Plan, plan, plan.
2. Follow up is especially important with multi-layer organizations. Did the delivery document reach the accounts payable clerk’s desk? Where did it get stopped along the way? Whose desk is it sitting on? Thank you notes are appropriate here. But don’t offer a gift. These people can’t take a gift.

The Importance of People

Cash flow is about money. But it’s also about people. People make the cash flow into your business and can make or break the timing that is so critical to small business. Treating people in your organization or in your customer’s or vendor’s organizations with trust, respect, appreciation and candor can make all the difference. People love to feel they are special. Human need for connection is paramount no matter what the situation. Customer loyalty is won at all levels, the CEO, the department head, and the accounts payable clerk. So as you are managing your cash flow, be aware of how you treat your staff. They will treat your clients/vendors the same way you treat them. If you set up a caring engaged empowering culture with your staff, they will communicate those qualities to the rest of the world. That will have a large effect on all the people in the process generating your company’s cash flow.

Please leave a comment or cash flow tip that will help other business owners.

Cash Flow -The thorn in the side of the small business owner. Let’s see – there is the ever present payroll that comes up regularly, the rent, all the other expenses. To offset all the money going out, let’s hope there is money coming in. And let’s suppose we want to take it up a notch and do a marketing campaign or hire another employee. Then we have that expense even before we land new clients and their payments to pay for it.

Let’s hope that clients pay in a reasonable time frame. But ‘hope’ is a really weak word. Certainly not strong enough to build a business on. How can we better our odds that our receivables will be paid and in the bank account in time for us to pay our expenses? After all, cash flow is all about timing. Getting the timing predictable is important especially for small business, and especially for bootstrapped small businesses.

Choose your clients wisely:

1. Paying within terms (due on receipt, net 10, net 30, etc.) is about honoring promises. I promise to provide you with this product or service and you promise to pay me in the time frame we agreed upon. This is a value. Does you client share this value with you? Did you talk to your clients about values when they were still prospects?  I know this doesn’t often come up. But maybe it should. If our clients knew our organization’s principles of doing business, they would be more likely to measure up to the level of integrity you expect. Are you telling your salespeople that you want to attract clients who also keep promises and run their businesses with principles?
2. Did you ask them to fill out a credit application? The credit application asks them to identify who their bank is and several other creditors. Call the creditors. If it’s a large credit line, perhaps you want to run a D&B report on the company. Before you become this organization’s ‘bank’ and you give them a ‘loan’ for the amount of the purchase, shouldn’t you act like other banks and check their ability to repay and their history of on-time payments?
3. Many companies make the first sale a COD sale. They want to test that the client has sufficient cash flow to pay on delivery at least once before credit is issued.
4. Have the courage to say ‘no.’ When a company asks for credit with the offer to become a regular customer, sure it would be good to have these sales. It’s tempting to say ‘yes’ to build up revenues,  especially since we’ve had a depressed economy. But nothing will sink you faster than you investing a lot of your cash into providing a product or service to a customer who then won’t/can’t pay you for it. You’re on the hook to your vendors and your credibility and credit are on the line.

Offer Credit Cards:

1. Sure you lose a couple of points to the credit card company but you get paid right away. It helps your cash flow immeasurably.
2. If you have recurring billing, the same billed amount every month, you can set it up as an automatic payment and reduce your paperwork and admin time.

Leverage:

So many business owners issue an invoice and then forget about it. They feel it’s the buyer’s responsibility to pay, and the business owner is off to handle the next sale. The aware business owner knows that the sale isn’t over til the check clears the bank because the money is in constant flow. Managing the timing is the essence of keeping it flowing. Collect from your customers early, pay your vendors late. More businesses have remained successful because they collected from the clients (pay on delivery) before they had to pay their vendors (30-60 days). They then utilize the cash during the interim period to generate interest on an investment, invest in a business tool with an immediate payback, pay down a line of credit to keep their bankers happy and reduce interest, etc. Business is all about leverage, other people’s time (your employees), other people’s money (cash flow, bank loans, investor’s contributions), and your organization’s ideas to create value. Pay attention to cash flow and you’ll sleep well at night.

In the next post we’ll address:

• training your clients to pay on time,
• record keeping
• dealing with government or those customers who you know take 60 days or more to pay.

Please leave a comment or cash flow tip that will help other business owners.

Yesterday I went to the TEDx East Conference at the NY Times building. What a wonderful array of speakers and performers. If you’re not aware of TED.com, you should be. TED’s slogan is “Ideas Worth Spreading.” It is a non-profit dedicated to showing off all kinds of people’s ideas and capabilities.

It was started in 1984 to bring together Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) but has grown to include everything interesting and innovative. People speak or perform for 18 minutes max. There is a 4 day conference  in southern California and a global conference in Edinburgh, Scotland. Many of the talks/performances then appear on the TED.com website.

Then there are TEDx events that are organized independently locally all over the world. Yesterday at TEDx East there were 19 presentations and performances broken into 3 segments with plenty of time to meet fellow attendees. The theme was ‘Tinker, Noodle and Obsess’. So in addition to the presentations there was a whole area of tinker toys to play with and blocks to build with. One of the biggest attractions, however, are the other 400 attendees, people who are attracted to the innovation, discovery, and fascination with people who think and accomplish along new frontiers. There was time between the segments to have conversations, meet new people, get exposed to differing viewpoints.

Of the 19 presentations a few stood out. Bjarke Inlges is a Danish architect who showed pictures and designs of buildings where sustainability adds to the beauty and functionality of a building. He’s breaking ground on a new building on the west side in September. Christine McCaul and Anthony Rudolf spoke from two different viewpoints about personalized humanity when it comes to employees and customers. Charlie Wurm talked about his design of an electric car which he has built for himself at a fraction of what other designs have cost. I sat next to him later in the day and we had a great conversation. He has no plans to commercialize his inventions. He’s just a self-motivated tinkerer. I’m not too big on poetry but Sarah Kay delivered a couple of her poems with such power that she was a hit of the day. Will Ryman created the flower sculptures that currently grace Park Avenue. He spoke about his metamorphosis from a playwright to a sculptor.  Producer David Binder spoke about how ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ came to be on Broadway. Ari Meisel told the riveting story of how he overcame Crohn’s disease through nutrition and exercise. Then there was rapper Baba Brinkman encouraging women to use sexual selection to mate with nice men, not mean men, and the band ‘Caravan of Thieves’ getting the audience involved in foot stomping hand clapping revelry.

It was a great day. When TEDx happens again, make sure you sign up and go. It sells out early. You can find TEDx events and learn about the TED phenomenon by going to TED.com. If you have an experience with TED or a favorite video, please tell us about it.

This week we are taking an in-depth look at the 2011 BlessingWhite study on employee engagement. In Tuesday’s post we looked at the key findings and asked questions about how they apply to your organization and you as a leader. In this post we’ll consider some of the implications derived by the authors from the date they collected.

Download the whole report at http://www.blessingwhite.com/eee__report.asp Or read my summary and thoughts in this week’s posts.

Implications

• Engagement belongs to every body all the time not just to a engagement team or as something apart from the regular work of the company.

Jeri’s thoughts: Engagement isn’t a separate department or something that HR handles. It’s part of the fabric of the company; it’s the strategic plan, values, vision, culture, and every interaction with every employee. It belongs to top management , middle management and each individual worker. As the leader of your business are you taking responsibility and growing a culture of employee engagement?

• Individuals need clear direction on what the organization is trying to achieve. Each needs to understand his own talents, interests, goals, values. Managers can coach you to clarity on those items. Executives can communicate strategy and set the tone for culture. Ultimately you own your own engagement.

Jeri’s thoughts: Each individual employee owns his/her own engagement. Even with all the other parts of the organization coming together, each employee needs to buy into it. Are you as the leader hiring the right people? How do you know who will become an engaged employee? Interviews and assessments.  If you are the employee, what are you doing to take responsibility for your engagement? If you hate your job, go somewhere else where you want to give your all.

• Managers are the leverage point to coach individuals to align and commit to the objectives of the organization. It’s not so much about what you do as who you are that effects engagement of those you manage. Get to know your people. Understand their special talents and unique engagement drivers.

Jeri’s thoughts: Emotional intelligence is a key manager training and development topic. Relating to individuals to inspire their productivity instead of just considering them pawns in the workflow will encourage retention, lower HR costs, create a high performance team. Does each employee’s personal goals, visions, and values align with the company’s goals, visions and values? As a manager it’s your job to find out and help that alignment happen. You are in a sandwich position of passing down the strategic vision and passing up employee’s needs. If your execs are clear and the hiring has been done well, your job is easier. Know each employee and their special talents, motivations, personal concerns and you’ll earn their trust. Are you taking your role seriously and getting the information you need from each side so you can create alignment? Do your managers know that his is their role?

• Executives need to speak with passion about the linkage of engagement and business results. You must have the trust of your workforce. Communicate frequently and in depth about the ‘Why’ and the ‘What’. You must hold yourself accountable for building a culture that fuels high performance and engagement.

Jeri’s thoughts: You as the business owner are responsible for the culture you grow in your business. If you link employee contribution to business results, your employees will realize how impactful they can be. Communication, trust, your purpose (the big ‘why’) are all parts of the culture you are responsible for building.  Are you taking full responsibility? Speaking about the business purpose, vales, vision?

For a free consultation on how this study relates to your organization and how you can improve, please hit reply and we can set up a time to talk.

I’m interested in your comments about your organization and your thoughts about employee engagement and the implications of this study. Please leave your comments below.

^{This study involved 11,000 individuals from 6 industrialized parts of the globe.}

Each of the 11,000 participants was asked:

“Assuming you have a choice, do you plan on remaining with your organization through the next 12 months?” – participants in the U.S. responded:  Yes, definitely 56%;  Probably 32%;  No Way 13%.  So only a little more than half (56%) of respondents say that they plan to stay with their organization through the next 12 months. And the percentage who responded “No Way” has almost doubled since 2008 when it registered at 7%.

Key findings:

• Only 1 in 3 employees are engaged, 1 in 5 are actively disengaged, approximately 2 in 3 are looking for new positions.

Jeri’s thoughts: You can look at this as a challenging year for retention, or a hot year to attract new talent. If you’re looking to attract new talent, make sure you learn below how to keep them.

• Engaged employees plan to stay for what they give, disengaged stay for what they get.

Jeri’s thoughts: Look at your own staff. Which people fit each category based on what you see in their behavior every day? If you don’t like what you see, whose fault is it? After all you hired them and you set up the culture in your company. What can you do to change your culture? What do you need to change about yourself in order to change your culture?

• Top drivers of job satisfaction: opportunities to apply their talents, career development, training.

Jeri’s thoughts: Do you offer your employees opportunities to apply their talents (do you assess their talents and put them in roles that are suited to areas where each one can use their strengths?) career development (chances to be promoted to higher levels of responsibility and personal growth), training (to excel and master new skill)? What do you need to change in your organization to up your levels of talent application, career development  and training? How would it benefit your organization? Some studies put the number at 30% additional productivity which drops to the bottom line pretty quickly in a small business.

• Trust in executives can have twice the impact on engagement levels than trust in immediate managers because executives set the overall culture.

Jeri’s thoughts: The executives set the vision and lead with purpose. This engages people’s spirit and helps them feel they are contributing to something bigger than themselves. Companies that have a rally cry inspire their people to grow, contribute and believe. Think Apple with ‘Innovation’ and Zappos with ‘Delivering Happiness.’ Executives establish the values of the company. If executives lead by example, they can expect a lot from their people. If not, their people are demoralized. How do you lead? Do you inspire people to work toward a purpose? Do you stand for your values and expect others to respect the company values as well? Do you inspire people’s creativity or shoot them down whenever they make a mistake which encourages them to never show initiative?

• Employees’ relationships with their managers as ‘people’ behind the titles impacts engagement levels more than manager actions.

Jeri’s thoughts: People are emotional beings. Training managers on emotional intelligence so that they realize the value of seeing people as unique individuals with lives, talents, concerns, goals, feelings, etc is an important part of management training and development. How do your managers do at getting the most from their people? Do your staff relate well to their managers because their managers care?

• Engagement surveys without visible follow up action may decrease engagement levels.

Jeri’s thoughts: If you ask your staff lots of questions in a survey and then do nothing with the results, wouldn’t your staff be demoralized because you set up an expectation of change and then never fulfilled the expectation? If you ask questions, prepare to make changes based on the answers. If you’re not prepared to make any changes, don’t insult your staff by asking questions.

You can download the whole survey here. If you would like to discuss these findings in relation to your company, I’m currently offering a free consultation. Contact me at 212-923-5820 or jeri@drivingimprovedresults.com

Please leave a comment below about you thoughts on any of these points.

Neuroscience research is revealing the social nature of the high-performance workplace. This reference comes from an article by D. Rock entitled “Managing with the Brain in Mind.” So what does this have to do with Motivation? According to the researchers of this study and a number of other studies now emerging, one thing is clear: The human brain is a social organ. It’s physiological and neurological reactions are directly and profoundly shaped by social interaction. In other words, they found that “Most processes operating in the background when your brain is at rest are involved in thinking about other people and yourself.”

When you think of this in terms of the workplace, it presents enormous challenges to managers. Although a job is often regarded as a purely economic transaction, in which people exchange their labor for financial compensation, the brain experiences the workplace first as a social system. It’s not a stretch to relate to for anyone who has had their job eliminated and found themselves without the work relationships they once had. One manager explained to me just after going through such a process, that he felt like he had just gotten through tearing at the social fabric of the organization. The impact of this neural dynamic is a threat response that disorients people causing their brains to become less efficient. Based on my experience as a manager and a consultant, this accounts for a significant portion of lost productivity organizations experience following layoffs or unexplained terminations.

Researchers also found that when leaders make people feel good about themselves, clearly communicate their expectations, give employees latitude to make decisions, support people’s efforts to build good relationships, and treat the whole organization fairly, it prompts a reward response. In other words people within the organization become more effective, more open to ideas, and more creative. They notice the kind of information that passes them by when fear or resentment makes it difficult to focus their attention. They are less susceptible to burnout because they are able to manage their stress. They feel intrinsically rewarded and are more likely to feel motivated and engaged.

It reminds me of an exercise that I went through myself a number of years ago that I now ask some of my coaching clients to complete. Several of the questions in the exercise ask you to remember those experiences in your past when you were the most productive and motivated. It also asks you to note the characteristics of the person you worked for at the time and what you were able to accomplish. Rather than simply agreeing with what the researchers found and I believe to be true, I actually took the time to dig out my responses from a moldy smelling file in my basement. I recognize that this does not come anywhere close to passing as an official validation of the study, but I am convinced the leadership characteristics that resulted from their research that mentioned in the prior paragraph, is what’s necessary to motivate and engage today’s workforce.

I also believe that the reason that these are not the prevailing leadership characteristics we reward today, outside of the top performing companies, has to do with our reluctance to grasp the fact that the management practices left over from the Industrial Revolution are no longer up to the job.

If you’d like to read more about this study the reference is…reprint number 09206 from Strategy + Business issue 56, autumn 2009. And, as always, we would appreciate your feedback and comments.

I am a member of the Institute for Sustainability.  This is a national organization made up of coaches, consultants and management advisers that are planning for what their clients will be needing in the area of sustainability. What is sustainability? Many people think it’s just about greening your business. But if you focus on just preserving the environment without evaluating how that affects the rest of your business, you are missing the point. It’s all about preserving the environment while you grow a thriving business and are growing people, profits and systems. After all, all the greening efforts don’t help if you don’t make a profit, keep your business in business and aren’t supporting your people to do their jobs productively. Your environmental preservation efforts need to be integrated into the fabric of how your business operations run and the systems that are replicable. Here’s a better definition.

“Sustainability is a business approach that creates long-term shareholder value by embracing opportunities and managing risks derived from economic, environmental, and social developments. Sustainability from an organizational perspective also includes an increase in productivity and/or reduction of consumed resources without compromising product or service quality, competitiveness, or profitability.”

Initially it was thought that sustainability would increase the costs of doing business. As with the quality movement this has been proven to be false. As a matter of fact improving quality and becoming sustainable will actually reduce costs, improve profits, and help the environment.

There are lots of reasons to implement a sustainability strategy. And yes, it does require some strategic planning to turn your organization’s current habits into more productive habits. Most organizations reap great rewards in profitability when they examine what they do, focus on a goal, tighten their processes, get their workers’ input, shift the culture and try new things. Here are some reasons to invest in the strategic planning that will provide you with a Sustainability Strategy.

Reasons to Plan and Implement A Sustainability Strategy

• Improve your profitability (doing good things in order to do well)
• Changing customer expectations, some customers are demanding it
• Competition is doing it and are looking better
• Improve business image and brand
• Reflection of moral values because it’s the right thing to do for the future and our children
• Specific incentives and financial returns
• Enhanced ability to attract, retain, and motivate employees especially those who share your values, improved employee moral and loyalty
• It’s where the world is going and you don’t want to be left behind
• Identify new areas of opportunity (revenue streams or new business opportunities)
• Logical extension of existing efforts (process improvement, employee involvement, operating efficiencies etc.)
• Risk avoidance, being pro-active in addressing sustainability issues can prevent environmental liabilities from current and impending regulations
• greater pricing power
• greater operational efficiencies
• more efficient use of resources
• supply chain optimization
• enhanced ability to enter new markets
• increased customer loyalty
• reduced environmental impact
• improved innovation

Is your organization focused on optimizing its people, profits, processes and the environment? Please share your thoughts about sustainability in your business.

When I first saw this video clip, it made me chuckle out loud.   Take a minute to view it before you continue reading:

How often do we find ourselves stuck?  And do we wait for someone to come and help us out of our fix?  Do we feel like we can’t take action without some direction?  In his new book, the New York Times author Adam Bryant describes five critical attributes that leaders bring to the table. These five attributes allow them to keep moving, to inspire others, and to take action even when it may not be clear in which direction to move (or if they can move at all).  Let’s review each of the attributes one at a time.

First, leaders have passionate curiosity. We often see leaders in a public arena, where they need to project an image of certainty, of success, of clear direction.   But leaders, whenever possible, ask probing questions, care about the lives and interests of others, share stories of success and failure, and never miss an opportunity to learn from others and to ask questions that may provide a unique solution to whatever they are discussing.   This passionate curiosity creates multiple options and pathways to “getting unstuck,” to taking action without the boundaries we often put on ourselves.

Great leaders also have both confidence and a way of keeping things simple.  Confidence doesn’t mean that the leader is always right or always knows the answer.  Rather, this leadership confidence means that they can take ownership of a failure, learn from previous experiences, and believe passionately in their ability to make the most of whatever comes next for them and their organizations.   When combined with confidence, keeping things simple means that leaders quickly create a focus or a plan.   As Bryant says, “…. Lose the ‘Power’ part of [the] presentations and simply get to the ‘Point’.” A leader’s ability to connect the dots in simple ways and get to the core point allows them to keep teams moving, laser focus on what is important, and turn an idea into action quickly.

Speaking of teams, good leaders aren’t just team players.  Exceptional leaders have what Bryant calls “team smarts.”  They understand how teams work, they have an uncanny ability to tease out great team players as they hire, they recognize what a team needs and figure out how to bring it to the table, and they know intuitively how to mobilize groups of people for success.

Last, great leaders learn how to take action when they are stuck. Remember the video clip we started with?  When faced with a problem, they are fearless.  A key component of great leadership is the ability to take a risk, to go beyond what is comfortable, to see an opportunity that others do not see, and to upset the status quo in order to move your organization forward.

To learn more about these five attributes, consider reading Bryant’s book, The Corner Office. And the next time you get stuck, consider having the curiosity, the confidence, and the fearlessness to take some action.   Keep it simple – and use the team around you in order to achieve success.

Which of these attributes do you consider to be your strongest?  With which do you struggle as a leader?

As I write this I’m living and working in New York City. Everywhere I look there is abundant wealth. Between investment bankers, hedge funds, luxury shopping, big negotiated deals, skyscrapers being bought and sold, all kinds of businesses buying all kinds of services, people feeling the need to buy to satisfy a variety of needs and wants. There is a lot of money flowing and being exchanged. One might say it’s an abundance of wealth. You also can liken it to the ocean. It’s big, bigger than you can naturally comprehend.

So how do you participate in the ocean of wealth flowing all around you? Can you see it, hear it and touch it? Do you know others who participate in it more than you do? Do you want more of that ocean of wealth to flow through you? After all, you really don’t keep money. You may work for money, it flows to you and your checking and savings account. But then you pay your bills, or you put it in investments held and used by others such as your bank or the stock market. You don’t really hold your money, you participate in the flow of your money. Perhaps you hide it under your mattress, but then it’s not working for you and it’s value diminishes. Other than hoarding, money is flowing and being exchanged for goods and services along the way.

I grew up on Long Island and went to the beach every day as a kid. I can visualize walking up to the waters edge and getting my toes tickled by the waves. I had a sand pail and could scoop up the water. Can you visualize this? I also had a shovel and a cup. I could dip the shovel and get a little water. The cup would hold more. The pail would hold even more. If you think of people in your life who remain poor, it’s similar to them walking up to the ocean’s edge with a shovel. They dip it into the ocean of abundance and they participate in the flow of money in a very small way. Others bring a cup. Still others bring a pail. And some bring a truck. So we see various levels of wealth.

Our wealth is dependent on the container we bring. What determines what container we bring? Our expectations of ourselves. There are countless stories of people with little money who have won the lottery only to lose everything within 3 years. Their self-concept was a like a shovel. It was filled to overflowing and because they didn’t change the size of their container, the water just overflowed and seeped back into  the sand. Then there are ‘rags to riches’ stories of immigrants or poor people who pulled themselves up by the bootstraps and became multi-millionaires. They expanded their containers by expanding who they were and what their expectations were. Napoleon Hill wrote Think and Grow Rich after interviewing hundreds of people who expanded themselves by reading, strategizing with others who knew more, having wealthy mentors. They grew themselves so they could handle the flow of more wealth. They grew their own containers. Look at Donald Trump. He loses it all and then gains it all back. His container is big and he is used to having it be full. When it empties, it fills right back up again because that’s his expectation.

How can you grow your container so you can have more wealth flowing through you?

• It’s been said that you’re the average of the 3 people you spend the most time with. You will gravitate to the level of the people around you. For me I wanted my kids to go to elementary, intermediate and high schools where I knew they would be around other achieving college-bound students with caring parents. So we moved to an area where we could find that. It was my expectation and I sought it out. As a result my kids didn’t think twice about going to college. It was their expectation that they would get a college education and become productive in the world. In your own life you will have to stop spending so much time with people who think small, and spend more time with people who think bigger.
• You can read and listen to all the self-improvement materials you can handle. You can attend events and conferences meant to expand your thinking and awareness. The point of effectiveness is to really believe and apply them. Often a coach helps you internalize how it all applies to you, asks you deeper questions, helps you face the fear of change and giving up old paradigms and unproductive deep-seated beliefs, helps you discover the kernel of yourself that you can transport to a higher level of wealth, achievement and self-conscious living. I once worked with a young man who wasn’t very fond of networking and it was holding back his career. He had inherited from his father the attitude that going to events and meeting people at the same or higher wealth level was inauthentic and exploitative.  When we reframed it that all people who are networking were there to meet other people and grow their contacts for future business, then he would network at places where he would fit in easily (who all had the same size containers). Once he was invited to an event through his employer at the offices of President Clinton. Of course, people with lots of money and political clout were there as it was a fund raiser. He felt out of his element and on his way home had to stop at a local bar for a beer so he could feel more comfortable again. He wasn’t ready to have his container stretched. Since then we’ve stretched his self-image so that now he feels he belongs at higher profile events and he has gone to similar events comfortably.
• You can join a mastermind of people who are at the level you want to attain. You can breathe in the assumptions of success that come naturally to others and that you’re acclimatizing yourself to. You start to think like them and act like them and get included in the resources they share, the projects they do together. Before you know it you may be looking forward to the next group at an even higher level of wealth flow, expectation of success and container largesse. These groups might be formal or informal. But it will certainly have an effect on you, your perception of yourself and your expectations of what you deserve.

This is essentially what we call your container: what you feel you deserve and what you expect of yourself and those around you, what you seek because of your comfort level with that level of success and achievement. It’s true in wealth building, in education, in happiness, in self-awareness and conscious living. You get what you expect. If your container is small, when you dip it into the ocean of wealth, you will get a small amount. If your container is larger, you will get a large amount. The size of the ocean doesn’t change. It’s there for anybody. If you pull up a tanker truck to the ocean and put your hose in and pump the ocean water into the truck and fill it to capacity, you certainly participate in the flow of wealth in a much bigger way. Have you made the ocean smaller even by taking a lot? No, because it’s just flowing through you. Does the size of your container make a difference in your life? Certainly. Can you choose to upgrade the size of your container? Certainly, but only if you want it at the deepest level, and you are willing to change, giving up the known past to move into the unknown future.

Please comment on the changes you’ve had to make to participate more fully in the flow of wealth.

Imagine that you are enclosed in a see-thru bubble. It encompasses you and everything that is comfortable for you to do. All your habits that are convenient are in your comfort zone bubble. How you interact with people in your workplace or your home, the smiles, the intelligent answers, the work that you do, the level of effort you put in, your attitudes are all in this bubble. All those actions that come easily, those automatic responses, those things that you do everyday without thinking about them, they are all in there. Researchers says that 88% of what we do everyday is done on autopilot.  Also included in your autopilot comfort zone are responses where somebody pushes your buttons and you react with defensiveness or anger. Or perhaps you need to eat to make yourself feel better, or you get stuck in status quo thinking.  Deeply entrenched patterns both positive and negative developed over a lifetime are part of your comfort zone bubble.

It’s good to have this bubble because if we had to make a zillion choices a minute, we would get really bogged down. It’s great that we’ve created these habits based on what’s worked in the past. These ingrained habits are what the rest of the world sees. What we all don’t see is that these neural pathways have become speedways in the brain. Our neurons used in comfort zone behaviors have developed shortcuts and speedways. The more we practice these habits the more we strengthen the speedways among the neural connections, so they get even more ingrained. Did you ever watch a child who is learning to tie her shoes? Her fingers fumble and she has to think through each step painstakingly. Little by little the neural pathways get established, each movement gets easier and linked to the prior movement. In a while she is accomplishing the whole sequence of movements, and then the movements get faster and faster.  Then she can do it without even watching, and even while her brain is focused on having a conversation with somebody else.

But patterns developed at an early age are not always appropriate for us to use today. In fact patterns that dealt with an economic world pre2008 may not be effective today.  If we want to change and have improved results personally and professionally, we have to reach outside our current comfort zone bubble and develop new behaviors. We have to expand the comfort zone bubble to include new actions. Perhaps we want to think bigger, communicate differently, be more positive, achieve more sales, organize our time better or manage others better. To develop this new behavior, most people will start with a goal. It’s an intention to do something new and build a new habit. That means the new habit and, therefore, a new neural pathway needs to be built and used so often that it replaces the old neural pathway. Does this produce anxiety and discomfort? It sure does. The discomfort felt is in direct proportion to how ingrained the old pattern is. That’s why it’s often said that the ‘breakdown happens right before the breakthrough.’ That’s why breaking a habit and substituting a new behavior takes practice. It normally takes some time to change the neural pathways to develop new speedways. It takes repetition. It takes commitment to work through the uncomfortable stage till the new behavior becomes part of the comfort zone bubble.

So how does this apply to you? When you determine that you want to achieve a goal, plan on it generating some discomfort. Look at that discomfort as a necessary part of the process. Plan on what you will do or say to yourself when those times of doubt occur. Assess your commitment now. Are you willing to deal with some anxiety and push through it to be successful? Will you need tools like a journal or a vision board (a collection of pictures that help you see yourself with the goal accomplished) or a mind movie (same thing with moving images and music)? Be realistic about the time frame required to practice and establish the neural pathways. Plan on making mistakes and falling back into old habits occasionally as you strive to change those behaviors. Be kind and forgiving to yourself, realize this is part of the process. And then just start again and make progress in small increments.

Creating that neural pathway in your brain to get the new behavior ingrained and internalized is like exercising a muscle. It builds up little by little. It requires your time and attention just like the child learning to tie her shoe laces. Once that new behavior is part of your comfort zone bubble, celebrate. Pat yourself on the back. Feel good and assimilate both your new behavior and your ability to change into your self-image.  Feel your self-confidence grow. Then get focused on expanding your comfort zone bubble again with a new goal. You are on a self-growth path that will have a ripple effect on yourself and those around you.

Please comment on how this process works for you. Feel free to give examples that others may be able to relate to.

What is your state of mind as your reading this?
Are you tired? Energized? Frustrated? Confident? Bored…I hope not!

Our state of mind changes dozens of times throughout the day; a boring meeting, a difficult phone call, an accepted offer, a misunderstanding with a demanding client. We know that all of these things affect our state and, as a result, our performance. But, do we understand how it affects our co-workers and staff?

As a leader, you can’t afford to let your state manage you; you need to manage your state instead. Teams tend to mirror, and even magnify, the emotions of their leader…positive and negative. If you’re confident about a situation, they’ll trust things will work out. If you’re worried about business performance, they’ll fear for their jobs and business will suffer.

Managing your state is not always easy. After all, we’re human and have a right to be angry, frustrated or worried. My rule is that I’m allowed to get emotional about a situation for 5 minutes, behind closed doors. Then I take a deep breath and change my state. Here are some of the ways I’ve learned to change my state:

• Smile – Sounds silly but it works. The next time you’re in a negative state, take a deep breath and smile real big. You’ll notice a change in state almost immediately.

• Be Thankful - Think about all the things you could be thankful for; family, friends, home, situations, etc. Being thankful will help you to forget the problem of the moment and take a longer term view.

• Ask The Right Questions – “Why me?” is the wrong question. Asking negative questions makes matters worse by causing you to dwell, unproductively, on the problem. “How can we achieve this goal regardless of the issues?” is the right question. A positive question will lead to productive, creative answers.

• Pick a Song - After a very difficult situation with an employee last week, I was incredibly frustrated. Five minutes after one of my favorite songs, I was a different person. Pick songs that “pick you up” and use them as medicine for the mind.

• Take a walk – Taking a long walk allows my mind to slow down. It relieves the stress and I, almost always, come back from my walk with a new idea.

Learn to manage your state and you’ll be surprised at the result in your own productivity as well as your teams.

What ideas do you have for managing your state? I’d love to hear them.

“Selling’s hard,” she moaned, shoulders drooping. “I get told ‘No’ a lot more often than ‘Yes’ and I’m not sure how long I can keep this up.” How many times have we heard comments like this from a sales person? Selling is hard, but for many it’s harder than it needs to be. With a proper mindset and the right approach, sales can occur much more “naturally.” So what does it take to be successful at sales?

1.       Sales Requires a Buyer’s Mindset

Many sales people have a selling first mentality, focusing primarily on their products and services. Their approach is all about the sale, the transaction itself…closing the deal. I’ve heard it termed the NIGYYSOB (“Now I’ve got you, you SOB”) mentality. A more appropriate mindset is that of an “assistant buyer,” which is all about helping your prospect understand their challenges and address their problems. This approach requires getting to know each other, building rapport, and discovering the prospect’s wants and needs, instead of merely “throwing up on them” about your wonderful products and services. Jeffrey Gitomer says that “People don’t like to be sold, but they love to buy.” If you can help solve their problems versus merely trying to sell them something, your chances of success increase substantially.

2.      Selling Takes Time

Sure, some sales happen quickly, but they are the exception. Relationships need to be fostered, trust and credibility developed, and an understanding of each other’s needs and wants gained. Typically, all of this takes time, and frequently it takes lots of time, involving multiple contacts or “touches,” as shown by these sales statistics (if you are not familiar with them they might surprise you):

2% of sales are made on the 1^st contact
3% of sales are made on the 2^nd contact
5% of sales are made on the 3^rd contact
10% of sales are made on the 4^th contact
80% of sales are made on the 5^th to 12^th contact

What do these numbers say about your sales process? If it is true that only 1 in 5 sales occur before the 5^th contact, what do you need to change? Are you staying in touch and adding value throughout the entire buying/selling process or are you pushing too hard or giving up too soon?

3.      Selling Needs Tracking

Sales people don’t always effectively track their sales activities. However, there are some fairly simple metrics that can be utilized. T. Scott Brumley recommends the following five ratios be used for tracking the effectiveness of a sales person or entire sales team:

Ratio 1: Total sales compensation/gross sales = direct selling costs (%)
Ratio 2: Gross sales/total hours worked by salespeople = sales dollars per hour
Ratio 3: Number of sales/number of full-time-equivalent salespeople = number of sales per salesperson
Ratio 4: Gross sales/number of full-time-equivalent salespeople = sales dollars per salesperson

Ratio 5: Gross sales/number of sales transactions = average sales dollars per transaction

In addition, at a more tactical level, utilize metrics such as:

• Number of new connections made with targeted decision makers
• Number of meetings and conversations held with targeted decision maker
• Total number of contacts made with targeted decision makers (see sales statistics above)

Tracking can help you pinpoint the problem, analyze it, and take action. If these particular ratios are not applicable to your business, then I challenge you to identify which ones are. Whether or not you currently have a sales plan, the numbers you get from these measures might be used to develop sales quotas or targets.

4.      Selling Requires Management

Sales managers need to be hands-on and spend as much time with their sales people as possible. Regular “one on one” meetings are an effective way for both parties to monitor sales activities and targets. Sales guru Hal Becker recommends four areas to cover each and every week:

1. Go over the previous week’s sales and the sales person’s weekly goals. Look at the sales person’s calendar for the week that just ended to gage level of activity and results.
2. Plan the next week’s activity and short-term goals. Look at the sales person’s calendar for the coming week to see what they have scheduled.
3. Take a look at the sales person’s list of prospects. Match sales calls with prospects or orders to see what has closed, what is pending, and what new prospects have been added.
4. Ask the salesperson what areas he or she thinks need improvement.

When sales managers are knowledgeable about progress towards sales goals, there are more options to better priorities activities to improve results.

5.      Selling Demands Consistency

Most sales people and sales managers are not consistent: they do not do the right things all the time. It’s been said that “Consistent persistence will win out over talent every time.” Don’t let paperwork, e-mails, budgets and all the “office stuff” keep you from doing your job!  Sales requires discipline at prospecting, making calls, meeting with contacts, providing support, issuing proposals when necessary, relationship-building, and getting commitments for sales. Discipline must be used to perform these activities all the time, not just when sales are slumping. Have a plan that works for you and stick to it. Schedule time and put the appropriate activities on your calendar, and then execute on those actions to maintain forward momentum. Be proactive and constantly measure progress against your goals.

Sales can be relatively easy if we focus on what we want to learn about our prospects and how we can address their issues. Sales people often have their own way of doing things, but rarely is this done consistently. If you need help curing your ailing sales process, I can suggest other resources as well. To get started follow the above recommendations to improve the health of your sales process and get better results…right away!

If you have a comment about your sales habits, we’d love to have you share them.

I once worked with a client who was struggling to accomplish the marketing and sales objectives that we had set out together in a plan. After failing to complete some of the tasks we had outlined from our previous meetings over several weeks, I asked him two simple questions, “why did you go into this business and what do you like about it?”

He could not answer the question directly and told me he would have to ponder it until the next week’s session. The next week rolled around and I began the session by asking the same questions that I had left him with. He still was unable to respond. We moved through the rest of our agenda and agreed to meet the next week.

The next week I asked the same two questions and he became agitated at the questions because he still had no answer. We agreed to meet two weeks later. At the beginning of that meeting, I started to ask those two same questions, when he abruptly interrupted me and told me that his father and he had decided to sell the business to the key employee. He told me that the answers to my questions were that he never really liked the business and that his father had talked him into starting it in the first place. His father had since lost interest in it and was not spending any time in it. Therefore, his answer was that he did not like the business and had no motivation to do what needed to be done to make it a success.

The moral to the story is that if you don’t really want something, then you probably won’t do what is needed to obtain it. In the case above, the client moved on with his life and thanked me for sticking to the question because it brought clarity to his desires and saved him thousands of dollars and who knows how much time, pursuing something he did not really want. So, if you’re stumbling at something or failing to take the steps necessary, ask yourself “why did I want to do this and what do I like about it?”

If you cannot answer these questions, it may move you to go in a different direction or help you remember what motivated you to start that journey and get back to that passion that drew you there in the first place.

We’ve just celebrated St. Patrick’s Day. Some of us like to celebrate it all year long no matter what color the beer is. Leprechauns, shamrocks, pots of gold and the luck of the Irish are all part of the folklore surrounding this holiday. Let’s talk about luck.

Some people appear very lucky. Opportunities fall into their laps. They ‘just’ happen to meet the right people who take a liking to them and give their careers a boost (example 1). Or the entrepreneur coincidentally runs into someone who wants to produce a show about them and give them free PR (example 2).  Or the right person just stops in, gets hired and turns out to be the best employee (example 3).

Is this really just happenstance? Let’s look more closely at luck. The saying often goes that ‘luck is where preparation meets opportunity.’ Certainly if the individuals in the above examples had not been in their positions, they would not have been ‘ripe’ for the happenstance that occurred to them. I would even say that if the person hadn’t been prepared, the occurrence would not have even been recognized as an opportunity. Let’s look at a few elements of this.

Barbara Fredrickson is the author of the book Positivity. She has worked and researched in the field of positive psychology for over 10 years, since it was first developed. We often think of psychology like the medical model, fix the body when it breaks. On the other hand positive psychology is more like wellness. How can we create states of happiness and mental well being? In the research that she has performed those who were trained to think positive thoughts on a 3 to 1 ratio over negative thoughts, lived a more ‘flourishing life’. They not only were happier, they attracted more opportunities for what they desired. This makes sense. Don’t you like to do more and go out of your way for positive people? Doesn’t honey attract more bees than vinegar? Why wouldn’t someone take a liking to you and want to give you the gift of a career boost if you make his day a better day every time you meet (example 1).

Secondly, there is power in intention. Did you ever buy a car and then start noticing all the same models on the road that you never noticed before? If you set a defined goal and focus on achieving the action steps leading to the completion of that goal, you become like an icebreaker plowing through the icebergs and creating momentum as you go. A business leader who has passion for her big ‘why’, the reason she wants to be in business, talks about her mission and draws to her others who feel the same way, who admire her energy and dedication, and who want to help. (example #2)

Some things that appear to be luck are just unrecognized capability. In example #3, where a ‘drop-in’ becomes a great employee, who is really responsible for that person becoming a great employee? It could easily have turned out badly if that employee had been belittled, micromanaged, unchallenged, and denied opportunities to excel in alignment with his best talents. Instead the manager most likely placed him in the right role, encouraged him to train and excel in alignment with his strengths, let him develop a sense of mastery and freedom in his role and motivated him toward a greater purpose or company vision. It wasn’t luck. The manager unconsciously set it up that way and didn’t even realize it.

What do these 3 examples mean for us in our work situations? We have choice. We have more control over our destinies than the ‘luck of the Irish’. First, we can train ourselves to be positive and appreciative and improve our outlook. It’s like a muscle. The more we exercise it, the stronger and more consistent it becomes. Secondly, we can set goals, put intentions and passions out into the world and attract others who want to help us and join us. Isn’t that a big part of leadership, earning the trust and devotion of followers?  Leadership is a skill that can be developed. Thirdly, we can look at our relationships with others to bring out their best. We can adjust our behaviors to draw out the best in others to create the best working environment. When we choose to run our businesses and live our personal and professional lives with conscious awareness of these choices and their potential opportunities, it can lead to more ‘luck’ than any pot of gold, leprechaun or shamrock can provide.

Do you have a comment or example that you can add? We’d love to have your thoughts.

Many of the Executive Coaching clients I’ve worked with seem to be unaware of the “Shadow” they cast as a Leader. It’s a shadow that reflects what a leader pays attention to, how they respond to crisis, deal with a disagreement, treat those around them, and behave in general. It all feeds into the cultural fabric of the organization.

As I’ve observed, if a leader treats every unexpected problem or unanticipated roadblock as a major crisis, so will employees. If a leader takes the view that every problem could have been avoided and therefore when something goes wrong, heads will roll, the resulting behavior will be one of blame and finger-pointing. If a leader views mistakes as a natural part of learning, exploring, and experimenting, the result is an attitude that supports risk taking and innovation.

Not too long ago I worked with the head of an engineering organization who reported to the CEO of a medium sized software company. As a part of assessing his leadership style I interviewed a cross section of his direct reports, peers and a sample of primary customers. One of the most significant behaviors that surfaced was his inability to filter negative messages. For example, if the CEO met with him to talk about his concern with delivery dates or a process interruption, he would immediately call a meeting of his responsible staff members and chew them out under the guise of finding out what was happening to cause the problems. He had no idea that his behavior was being modeled by most of his direct reports and the managers that work for them throughout the organization. Being able to filter emotional messages before acting is a fundamental leadership responsibility.

Beyond actions, leaders shape the culture through the stories that they tell and the stories that are told about them. The stories that leaders tell help to inform employees about what leadership considers important.

One story that I’ve retold many times has to do with a new regional VP of Sales who had just relocated back to the U.S. as an expat. He walked into a regional sales review meeting where each manager was expected to present their forecast, where they were and why. After hearing one presentation and the beginning of a second where the managers’ complained about their products and lamented the lack of technology and product capability of their competitors, he stopped the meeting. He then got up and moved to the front of the room with what seemed to be a scene from Patton’s Army. He then said, “I didn’t come here to listen to excuses about why you can’t sell because you believe the competition has better products, technology or whatever.” What I do expect to hear is how your commitment and strategy to sell our company’s products is producing results. After that, I’m open to discussing what we can all do to improve. For those of you who may not have heard or understood what I just said, “we all get paid to sell the products and services of this company and it requires everyone’s commitment to be successful. You have a choice to make, which I expect to see at the reschedule date of this meeting.” That story became part of the folklore that helped shape the future culture of that company.

A critical element of the leadership shadow is the “Say-Do” factor. It has to do with having the courage of your convictions. If you say you are going to do something, but act differently when it’s not politically correct or represents a risk to you or your position, you put your credibility at risk as a leader and create doubts about what the company stands for. A recent situation that exemplifies the “Say-Do” factor is when Bill Belichick, the head coach of the New England Patriots didn’t allow one of his star players, Wes Welker to start in the critical playoff game against the New York Jets because of comments he made during a news conference regarding the Jets coach. Whether you agree or not, it takes courage to maintain a high Say-Do factor. And, when you consider Belichick’s overall performance as a leader and the consistent results the Patriots have achieved as an organization and business, perhaps it makes sense to examine the Leadership Shadow you cast….

We write this blog to inform and challenge the thinking of our readers. We can only tell if we’ve done that by hearing from you. That’s why we welcome your feedback and comments….

“We can’t solve the problems of today using the same thinking we used to create them”

- A. Einstein

As children and teenagers most of us have played on a sports team. Can you remember what it felt like to be part of a winning team or a losing team? Remember the elation you felt when your team won a big game and the despair of losing the big game or championship? It is something special to experience being part of something bigger then yourself.

In my experience the concept of a “team based culture” is something a lot of entrepreneurs, business owners and executives want but find very difficult to achieve. The difficulty begins with the definition.  Plato said that wisdom begins with the definition of terms. So what does Webster’s Dictionary have to say about teams: “a number of persons associated together in work or activity”. Webster’s goes on to describe teamwork as: “work done by several associates with each doing a part but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole”.  This is a good start but does not give us enough practical detail and guidance in the business world. Steven Yelen a New York based Business Coach with over 20 years experience in supporting organizations and teams give us some guidance with his ideas on fundamental principles and behaviors that work.

Fundamental Principles of a Successful Team:

• Common Purpose
• Clear and mutually agreed to working approach
• Appropriate balance of task focus and relationship focus
• Agreement on Measurements and Aligned Rewards

Behaviors that support Successful Teams:

• Push for high quality communications
• Help create a climate of trust
• Play your position and bring talent to the team
• Help drive discipline into the team
• Be prepared to sacrifice for the team-be a good sport
• Help new members make the entry
• Strengthen the leader through good followership
• Play down yourself and build up others

Why Teams fail to deliver results?

The biggest root cause of team failures in business can often traced to the lack of establishment of clear purpose, goals, measurements and rewards. Without these foundations pillars in place trust is often the first casualty followed by a lack of energy and sense of helplessness.  Finally, if the leadership is not walking the talk, then you can expect cynicism to spread quickly and undermine any opportunity for success.

Final Thought:

There are many examples of organizations that have achieved excellence and delivered exceptional results by creating a team based culture. Some examples include GE, Motorola, McKinsey and Pall Corporation.   Do your research and look at the top players in your industry and you will often find a team based approach separating the leaders from the followers.

A friend tells a terrific story that illustrates the power of taking action one step at a time.  Prior to their work together, my friend’s boss had been the general manager of a yacht sales dealer, and his typical customer would purchase new yachts and other boats for $1 million dollars or more.

Here’s how the story goes:

One morning, several of the sales people were standing around, and they were having some fun razzing the newest sales person, a young woman who didn’t really fit the part of a wizened “boater” like most of them did.  Into the showroom walked a couple who also didn’t really fit the part – they weren’t dressed very nicely, and they appeared to be young and probably not quite ready for a $1 million dollar investment in a new yacht.  So, they all “offered” to have the newest sales person talk with the couple – since they didn’t think it would amount to anything.

After quite a while, it became obvious that the couple was serious, and that they planned to purchase a yacht that day.  However, the husband confessed that they hadn’t come prepared to purchase and didn’t have a credit card or much cash to make a down payment.   The new sales person, undaunted, asked them what they did have?  “We only have $100.”  So, the sales person took the cash, and shook their hands.  The couple left the showroom with a huge smile on their faces.

When the new sales person came back to the group of sales people, she was the laughingstock of the group.  The group exclaimed, “You took a $100 deposit on a $1 million dollar boat?  That’s ridiculous!”  But the general manager knew better. He celebrated the sale with the new sales person and responded back to the sales team with this (now famous) conclusion:

“You may think that they didn’t actually buy anything, and you are right that $100 isn’t much of a deposit on a $1 million new yacht.  BUT, what do you think is the first thing that couple did when they left the dealership? When they saw people they knew?  They said, “We bought a boat today.” Now they didn’t really buy a boat – they only put down a $100 deposit on that boat.   But once they told everybody they knew about that new yacht, do you really think they weren’t going to follow through on the rest of the sale?”

Since I first heard that story, I have reflected on the lessons from it many times.  Let’s see if you agree that these are the lessons learned from the “bought a boat” theory.

• Any action taken towards a goal will get you a step closer to actually achieving the goal itself
• Just START on your way to the goal – step by step, you’ll get there
• Once you say your goal out loud to those around you, you are much more likely to follow through
• Stating your goal as if you are already there, as in, “we bought a boat today” helps you to take action and keep moving toward your goal.  (Note: When was the last time you said your goal out loud as a way to keep yourself motivated?)
• And, not everyone looks like they can purchase a $1 million dollar yacht, but looks can be deceiving!

What “boat” are you trying to buy? What goals are eluding you this year?  Make the commitment today to take a step – “buy that boat” – and then take another step tomorrow.  Step by step, you WILL get there.

Strategy and goals should influence everyone’s behavior in the organization! The work at the top of the organization in creating strategy and goals is intended to influence behavior that drives results. Unfortunately, it’s not unusual for the primary impact of the work to remain at the senior management level. It’s kind of like having a car with an engine and no wheels. Despite the importance of driving the strategy and goals deeper into the organization, the messages as to how the strategy relates to execution typically become unclear and confusing the further down they go.

Passing goals down without creating meaning causes frustration…

The responsibility for creating clarity around what the strategy means at the business unit, team and individual levels, and for ensuring that the strategy is executed is a shared management responsibility.

There are many dynamics within fast paced changing organizations that contribute to the lack of alignment. However, the biggest obstacle appears to be “a lack of understanding.” Why is this? Repeating the company strategy is easy enough, but without translating strategy into relatable actions with those who are expected to execute at every level of the organization, has limited impact. When managers involve people and teams they lead in these discussions, SMART goals can be written that connect

Planning backwards focuses on results…

Managers can facilitate the process by asking three questions:

1. How does the strategy affect our unit?
2. What must we accomplish?
3. How will we accomplish it?

Through this process a shared language and framework for how to think and talk about alignment occurs among the team/department enabling them to match their behavior to a set of commonly understood goals and actions. To create focus on the truly critical goals to your team and the company, apply the following questions as a litmus test to each of the existing goals:

• What is its economic impact? – How will this goal contribute to company performance?
• Is it aligned with the company’s strategy?
• How will it satisfy stakeholders?
• What is my level of passion, talent, and energy for it?
• Do we have the resources?

If people in the organization don’t understand how the company is supposed to be different and what opportunities they are to pursue, how can they make the tough choices that they have to make every day? (Porter, 1980)

Have you sever seen synchronized swimming that’s a part of the Olympics? Well this is done with seniors, men in various shapes and sizes. It’s hilarious. On the surface it’s just plain fun. But someone acted as a leader to put it together. Some one was very creative in coming up with the ideas. Everyone had to pay attention and do their part to achieve correct timing. There was teamwork involved. Enjoy!

In honor of the New Year and new intentions, let’s talk about a word we probably all use frequently—it’s a very powerful word, but not in the way you might think.   It’s the word TRY. How often do we use that word in the context of something we are doing, a goal we are setting, an objective we are reaching for?  It’s hard to even write that last sentence without using “try,” as in “something we are trying to do, an objective we are trying to achieve.”

“Try” has become part of our vocabulary, but it limits our abilities to focus on a goal and commit completely to achieving something. As a way to illustrate this, let’s do a quick activity.  If you are sitting down, stand up.  Are you standing?  Now … try to sit back down.  No, don’t sit down, TRY to sit down.  How did that work?  What do you notice?   The bottom line:  You can’t try to sit down – you either sit down or you don’t.

Is that same principle not also true of goals or something we set our minds to – that we either do them or we don’t? We either accomplish or don’t accomplish what we set out to do.  In a take-off from what Tom Hanks said in the movie League of Our Own, “there’s no trying in life.”  (Well, he actually said, “there’s no crying in baseball,” but you get the point!)

The point is that you can’t try to achieve whatever you set out to achieve – ultimately, you either achieve it or you don’t.  Consider how often we either hear others say “try” or we say “try” ourselves.   How much more powerful and accomplished might we be if we took that pesky three-letter word out of our vocabulary?  Here are some examples across a wide spectrum of areas:

• Your kids: from “Yes, Mom, I’ll try to get my homework done before dinner,” … to … “Yes, Mom, I’ll get my homework done before dinner.”
• In a meeting at your workplace: from “I’ll try to talk with them about the project,” … to … “I’ll talk with them about the project.”
• With your wife/husband/significant other: from “Let’s try to spend more time together on the weekends,” … to … “Let’s spend more time together on the weekends.”
• In your life: from “I’m trying to exercise three times a week,” … to … “I am exercising three times a week.”

Do you notice the difference in how the statements above sound when the word try is in them or not in them?

So, here is your challenge: For the next week, don’t just try to do whatever you are focused on – do it without the “try” in your sentence.  Catch others in the act too – have them try to sit down to illustrate your point.  And as always, let me know how it goes!

In a sales situation he (or she) who has the most certainty prevails.

Are you certain of the value you and your organization bring to a client?

Are you certain that what you provide is exactly the client needs?

Are you certain that the pricing is commensurate with the value that’s being provided?

Certainty is being extremely confident in you and your organization’s ability to provide the best product or service, provide it only when it really fits the client’s situation, and at the fairest price for the value from your own and the client’s perspective. If you feel it’s the best, you will go to the ends of the world promoting it because why would you deprive somebody of something they really need. If you only sell it to those who absolutely need it in the form that’s best for them, then you refuse to sell it to someone for whom it isn’t the best solution, or you customize it just for them. If you want to make sure the pricing reflects the value, you don’t price it too low or too high. If it will absolutely deliver the value and you’re so certain about that that you can demonstrate the ROI, why shouldn’t the customer pay a decent amount for the best most appropriate solution. Your certainty convinces him of the value s/he will get. Your pricing demonstrates your faith in your power to deliver value.

Certainty is rock solid confidence, the kind of confidence that builds trust and faith. It’s not loud boastful arrogance. It’s a quiet but matter-of-fact sense of mastery through knowledge and experience. It’s not lengthy talking that tries to convince by beating a subject to death. It’s earning trust through being succinct, wise and authentic.

We all want certainty. We all want to know that there is something safe and secure that we can rely on. We have so much change in our lives and businesses that we’re happy when we can make a few things stable. We look for products and services that provide predictable benefits and results.  Your certainty provides confidence and comfort to the buyer.

In a situation where you want a client to buy, or you want to convince your boss or your team that your suggestion/solution is best, the amount of certainty that you show will do more to influence the decision than some of the best rational and logical things you may say. We’re all human and emotional animals. Research says that 90% or more of purchase decisions are made at an unconscious emotional level. Buyers sense your confidence, your certainty of the appropriateness of your product/service in their situation, and in your belief in the fairness of your price. At an intuitive level each one senses whether you are more certain of the benefit of the transaction than s/he is of walking away from the transaction. Price is never the issue. People make the investment or don’t (rearrange their budgets to make the investment) based on your ability to convey your certainty that this is the best opportunity that holds so much value for them and their businesses that it’s a no-brainer for them to walk with you to the next level of commitment and make a purchase or go with your solution. Your conviction about ‘yes’ must be more certain than their conviction about ‘no.’

In a sales situation he (or she) who has the most certainty prevails. By working on your mental mindset, your level of confidence and your ability to convey certainty, you can change your sales results.

Please leave a comment. Give an example of when this was true for you. We’d all like to read your story of success or lesson learned. Thank you.

Last week I asked a friend of mine about his business. He told me that he’d had a pretty good year so far but felt frustrated. For the third year in a row, he’s falling short of his annual goals but feels complacent since he’s still doing okay financially.  That complacency has led to him making fewer calls, having fewer meetings and doing less business than he’d like.

What’s the biggest killer of business growth? It’s not lack of skills or talent; it’s not a poor business plan or even the economy.

The biggest killer of business growth is COMPLACENCY.

How do you know complacency is killing your business growth?

• You know what to do to grow your business but, for some reason, you’re just not doing it.
• You’ve lost the excitement you used to have for your business
• You seem to constantly hit a plateau in your business but can’t get to that next level of growth
• You set the same goals every month or every year without challenging yourself to get your business to the next level

The antidote for complacency is PASSION. Here are some steps that will help you to get passionate about your business again:

1. Create a 3-year vision for your life in the 6 areas of the life wheel below:

   
   

   

   Don’t get too detailed. Spend about 90 minutes and create a compelling future by writing a paragraph or two for each area.

   
   

2. Rate yourself in each area. Where are you compared to your vision on a scale of 0% to 100%? If you’re at 80% or above in each area, it’s time to create a new, more compelling vision.
3. Define 1-2 goals in each area that would get you closer to your vision. Goals should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistically high and Time targeted).
4. Document your emotional “why” for the highest priority 2-3 goals on this list. Your “why” should include how your life will change if you accomplish the goal. What are the rewards of achieving the goal? What are the consequences of not achieving the goal?
5. Create a detailed plan for the top 2-3 goals. This plan should include specific action steps and target dates.
6. Read your 3-year vision daily to keep your excitement about the new, compelling future. Find other ways to keep the vision in front of you.
7. Update this vision annually.
8. Update your goals as needed.

Have you been complacent and found some ways to regain your passion? If so, I’d love to hear how you did it.

Are you complacent now? I’d love to hear how it’s impacting your business and/or what you plan on doing about it.

They say what you don’t know won’t hurt you, but nothing could be further from the truth when you run a small business. If you operate based on “gut instinct,” or you make assumptions on how your business is performing without knowing the facts, you can run into problems quickly. Fortunately, there is a simple solution. By monitoring a few key business metrics, you can quickly gain a handle on your business and start on the path to improving your profitability.

Business Metrics

Business metrics, or measurements of business activity, have long been seen as the exclusive tool of the pure number cruncher, the bookkeeper, and the statistician. That’s no longer the case. In today’s increasingly flooded marketplace, the mantra must be: “You can’t manage it if you can’t measure it.” By defining the metrics that are important to your business and monitoring them closely, you gain three key benefits:

• Focus. Defining the metrics that are most important to your business allows you to tune out everything that isn’t related to those key measurements. As a result, you’ll find that you and your business are much more efficient.

• Better Vision. Companies that monitor metrics can spot threats and opportunities faster than companies that don’t. Your metrics will give you keen insights into what’s happening within the four walls of your business as well as overall trends in your industry.

• Better Decisions. Metrics provide a framework for making business decisions. With the numbers in black and white, you can make well-reasoned decisions on how to proceed. If it improves your key metrics, consider it. If not, move on.

Implementing Metrics

Getting started with metrics is easier than you might think. Many small business owners don’t understand how simple it can be to collect and analyze these important numbers. A simple seven-step process gets you started.

1. Define Your Goals. Make a list of business goals. Goals might include sales objectives, target profit margins, or success at signing up new customers.
2. Define the Metrics. For each business goal on your list, write down a metric that will help you track your progress to success. For example, if your goal is signing up new customers, your metric might involve stating the number of meetings you will have per week with perspective customers.
3. Benchmark Current Status. Now that you established your metrics, you need to measure them. You must determine exactly how your business is doing, even if the truth is hard to swallow. By establishing the current value of each metric, you will be able to track your improvements in the future.
4. Put in Place a System to Monitor and Report Metrics. You may need to add new business processes that will help you calculate and report your metrics. For example, is the number of your customers who view your customer service as being “excellent,” then you may want to survey your customers every month and ask them how you are doing.
5. Communicate Metrics with Employees. Once you’ve defined the key metrics that are important to your business, be sure to let your staff know. Then, everyone can make decisions that help improve the metrics.
6. Review the Metrics and Make Decisions. With your metrics in place, you have greater insight into which strategies work and which don’t. Review the metrics and take steps to improve your results. Promote Successes. When your metrics improve, let your staff know and reward everybody that helped make things better.

Effective use of business metrics can have a profound impact on your business. As you gain a better understanding of your business and move closer to achieving important goals, your day-to-day work will become easier and your staff will be more accountable to the metrics that matter. You’ll make better decisions, based on data, and you will have a powerful new tool for managing your business.

As the new year starts and we question what we are going to do and how are we going to it in 2011, it pays to keep our perspective on what service we are providing and then set goals accordingly.

One main purpose of goals is to set a plan in place that will help the goal setter achieve his purpose of serving others. If we analyze the purpose for any business or person it is to serve others in some way. It may be counterintuitive but before someone makes a decision to go forward on a goal in their life or business, the question should be “What will serve my or our purpose best?” In other words, how will the results of a stated goal serve the overall purpose of the individual or organization?

Here are some questions to begin the process:

• What things are getting in the way of our purpose?
• What results will serve our purpose best?
• How will we achieve those results?
• What specific goals must we set to achieve those results?
• How will the achievement of those goals serve all of our stakeholders, including family, friends, community, employees, vendors and customers?
• Why would the achievement of these goals be important to our stakeholders?

Once you have answered these questions it should become clearer as to which goals will provide the best pathway to service.

In summary, if we can clearly identify what our particular service is, then it becomes easy to identify what goals we should be working on and eliminate all those that do not align with that purpose.

What are your thoughts on the concept of your service and the goals you are planning in order to move toward its realization?

According to author, Jeffrey Gitomer…”Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless” –

Apparently companies like Cosco understand the difference…They have been recognized as the leader in customer loyalty among warehouse retailers, rocketing from start-up to Fortune 50 status in less than 20 years, while spending next to nothing on advertising and marketing because of word of mouth referrals. They know that companies with the highest customer Loyalty typically grow at more than twice the rate of their competition. And, by Raising Customer retention rates by 5% it is possible to increase the value of an average customer by 25% to 100% (The Loyalty Effect, F. Reichheld, 2006). Rather than spending time trying to remember if you’ve ever seen a Cosco advertisement, lets talk behavior and why emotions matter in the customer experience.

Regardless of how high a company’s satisfaction levels may appear, satisfying Customers without creating an emotional connection with them has no real value. This should be a red flag issue, especially when you consider that it’s reported that 90 to 96% of customers won’t complain. They simply walk away. Emotions Matter…because customers and staff are always emotional, and in service industries because it is so personal and stressful, the emotions are more intense.  A healthy way to view emotions is not as a problem But as the basis for forming relationships – This is how we develop Loyalty!

As a consultant who works with business organizations to help improve their performance, our work often starts with a discussion about the vision of the company. If it’s written, you can usually find a statement about customers under glass on a conference room wall. It often goes something like this…” We believe Customer Satisfaction is our #1 Priority.” But when you ask people inside the organization what that statement really means and how it’s measured, the silence is often deafening. If the people in the organization don’t have a clear definition of what you mean by customer satisfaction, then how do they convey it to your customers?

I have come to the realization that “Customer Loyalty is all that matters,” especially when you define loyal customers as people who will do business with you again, tell others about you without hesitation, and refer people they care about to do business with you. Hugh McColl, referred to as the greatest banker of all time, founder of North Carolina National Bank, that ultimately became Bank of America had a simple philosophy: “I take care of my people, my people take care of my customers, my customers take care of my shareholders.” He never said, “I want to be the number one bank on the planet.” Loyalty is earned…it stems from actions that are taken and the words that are spoken by employees. It’s not just business as usual …

John Assaraf has been a leader in understanding how to use the most recent brain research to retrain the brain to work in our favor in creating health, wealth, and happy relationships. Since appearing in the Secret, he’s been a featured writer, speaker and thought leader.

This video is a great explanation of how our inner attitudes and habits influence our behavior. He talks about the parts of the brain that hold us back and how we can override ‘past programming’ and be drawn into a future that we envision. This is exactly the process I use with business owners and their staff to transform and up-level the organization into a new level of performance. Both John and I include extensive work on goals, repetition, affirmations, positivity, action and focusing on the things you want to bring into your business and life. Focusing on problems, scarcity of resources, and negativity just brings more of it into your life.

Click the image to see the video:

I hope you enjoy this video. It could offer a major turning point in how you take control of your thoughts and emotions to lead a more fulfilling life.

Do you remember the last time you went to a dealership to buy a car? Over the years, my experience never varies.   I pull up at the dealership, and a sales person literally runs over to my car and tackles me before I can even get out of the front door.   The sales person’s first question?   You guessed it:   “What would it take to have you drive home in this new car today?”

In sales, we call that type of question a “closing question.” Any good sales person (or any good attorney for that matter!) will tell you that you shouldn’t ask a closing question until you are sure that the answer will be “Yes!” And, to get to a “yes” answer to the question of whether your client wants to buy whatever you are selling, you need to first determine what that client needs and wants.

I once heard a statistic that less than 20% of all sales people actually take the time to ask questions of their prospects before asking for the sale – before asking that closing question.  So, if you are in sales, keep reading.   Today, we’ll share with you a simple formula for asking great questions that will put you in the 20% of sales people who take the time to understand their prospect’s needs and wants as a part of the sales process.

That formula is a four-letter word:   GRCO.

(OK, so it’s not really a word, but actually an acronym, but it’s a terrific mnemonic aide to help you remember this  formula for asking questions.)

Let’s set the context for a typical sales call or meeting.   You would first build some rapport and trust with your prospect. This might include a warm welcome, some opening questions about them or their business, good eye contact, and other such techniques to establish a productive relationship at the beginning of a sales engagement.   Once you have established some trust, your next step is to ask the GRCO questions.   Let’s take them one at a time:

G stands for “Goal” Questions. When talking with your client, start by asking them some questions about what matters most to them.  What are they trying to accomplish?  What are the important measures for the business this year?  What will make them consider the year a success?   What do they personally want to accomplish in X time?  Goal questions allow your client to talk about their envisioned future, about what they really need and want, and allow you to laser-focus on what is most important to them.

R stands for “Rewards” Questions. Now that you know the goals, ask your prospect questions that tell you more about what is in it for them when they achieve those goals.  Good questions to ask include, “What is the benefit of achieving that goal?” or “What will be different when you achieve X?”  Rewards questions give you a sense of the value of the goals, which can often tell you a lot about how much the client may need your help to meet that goal.

C stands for “Consequences” Questions. These are the reverse of rewards questions.  What will happen if X is not reached?  If the client/business can’t achieve whatever the goal is, how will that impact the business?  What is the downside of not achieving the goal?  Many people say that most sales happen in order to avoid a problem, rather than in order to achieve a particular target.   Understanding the consequences for your client is critical to your ability to then map your solution to their needs.

Last, O stands for “Obstacles” Questions. What would keep the client/business from achieving the goal?  What is standing in the way of success?    What challenges are they running into?   These questions are very powerful tools in your sales arsenal, since they often point to problems that the client cannot overcome themselves.  That’s why they need you!  If you can identify internal challenges and obstacles, and whatever you are selling can help them get past those issues, then your ability to sell just got easier.

Armed with the answers to these important GRCO questions, you are now ready to show how your product or service is perfectly positioned to help the client achieve the goals, overcome the obstacles, achieve the rewards and avoid the consequences related to that goal. The next time you walk into a sales call, take a minute to write the acronym GRCO at the top of your note pad.   If needed, draft some GRCO questions in advance so that you can use them with your prospect.   Then methodically ask these four types of questions and let the client tell you exactly what they need to be successful.   If your solution aligns to the GRCO answers, you are then ready to ask your closing question – and get a “Yes” response.

Good luck!   Let me know how it works for you – I’m always interested in hearing about your experiences.

With the holidays coming and the stress associated with the usual everyday stuff, lots of people develop headaches. I certainly have had tension headaches. In this radio conversation Michele Risa and I talk about where headaches come from and what you can do to lessen the tension naturally. Michele works with clients using a wholistic view of health, As a certified yoga instructor she works with individuals on regenerating the mind and spirit as well as the body, to reenergize, sharpen the mind, stimulate creativity and put executives at the top of their game.

Enjoy the podcast. Our Thanksgiving gift to you.

Ok, ready or not, I’d like to plant a tune and possibly even an image in your head: Do you remember Cyndi Lauper’s hit “Girls Just Want to Have Fun!” from the early 1980s? The song is so upbeat and infectious that you can’t help but feel better while listening to it. The video for the song shows Cyndi and her friends dancing in the streets, having a party, and generally having a great time. Got the picture? That looks like a lot of fun doesn’t it? And who doesn’t love to have fun (would you admit it if you don’t)? But, the key question is: are you having enough fun?

We all contend with plenty of stressors every day, which can make it difficult to relax and really enjoy ourselves on a regular basis. I like this definition of stress: any factor that threatens the health of the body or has an adverse effect on its functioning.  To get a better handle on your current situation, it is helpful to become more aware of what causes you stress.

Ask yourself questions, such as:

• What is stressful to me?

• How does stress affect me?

• When am I most vulnerable to stress?

• When is stress good for me?

It’s been said that “awareness causes that space where choice exists.” So, as you become more aware about the specifics of stress in your life, you can make better decisions about how to minimize it and its effects. Stress often comes from focusing on what makes you feel BAD; your fears and limiting beliefs. Understanding this, why not focus on what makes you feel GOOD? Fun is a great counter-balance to stress…for both your mental and physical well-being.

In his The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun video, Michael Bungay Stanier lays forth some wonderful ideas for having more fun in your life.

1. Get focused: Stop hiding who you really are. It’s important to understand who you are and what you’re all about. Then, let is shine!
2. Get focused: Start being intensely selfish. Don’t waste your time on anything other than what is most important to you.
3. Be creative: Stop following the rules. It’s no longer about what you can’t do; it’s about what you can do.
4. Be creative: Start scaring yourself. Explore the edges; seek out and have adventures.
5. Use your wisdom: Stop taking it all so damn seriously. Lighten up – this too will pass.
6. Use your wisdom: Start getting rid of the crap. What’s holding you down and getting in your way?
7. Take action: Stop being busy. Just because you’re going flat out, doesn’t mean you’re on the right track.
8. Take action: Get creative and start something. Lou Holtz said “When all is said and done, a lot more is said than done.” Don’t let that be you.

So let’s all get busy and start having more fun. I’m not implying that you should run outside and dance around with your friends like Cyndi Lauper did. But, on the other hand, if it works for you…go for it! What is fun is an individual thing: fun for one person may not be for another. Know what works for you…and take the time to have fun as often as possible!

Now, I challenge you to get Cyndi’s catchy tune out your head (“Girls just wanna, they just wanna have fun…”).

In this interview Dan explains that the things that make a difference to employees’ motivation level are free. He gives examples. Beyond the basics of an OK salary, people are more motivated by:

• Autonomy – Have some say over the work they do

• Mastery – Get a sense of making progress

• Purpose – See their work as part of a bigger vision

It would be great for you to share some comments about examples of when you’ve been motivated and when you haven’t and how these concepts have played out in your experience.

• Be engaged

• To contribute more than the minimum at work

• To show initiative

• To be creative, to excel

If you think it’s all rewards and punishments, you better think again. Watch this video by Dan Pink, author of ‘DRiVE’, for the research-based straight scoop.

Dan Pink is one of my favorite authors. His 2^nd book called ‘DRiVE” focuses on the research that says we are only motivated by rewards and punishments for low level tasks. When we use our highly cognitive skills, we are motivated by autonomy, mastery and purpose. The video below explains the research and the findings. How do you build autonomy, mastery and sense of purpose into your work environment?

Please leave a comment about what you do at work for your employees to engage them and to tap into their natural needs for autonomy, mastery and purpose. Real life examples would help all our readers.

Four Frequent Business Problems Expressed by Many Small Business Owners that Business Coaches Help You Address

As you’re reading through the following problems, think about how help with strategy, tactics, accountability and results could mitigate these problems.

The ‘I Don’t Know What I Don’t Know’ Problem
The ‘I Don’t Know Where to Start’ Problem
The ‘I Can’t Seem To Get Anything Finished’ Problem
The ‘Comfort Zone Upper Limit’ Problem

It doesn’t matter if it appears to be marketing, sales, management, leadership, innovation, or getting your product or service created and into the hands of your clients. It’s basically these 4 problems.

The ‘I Don’t Know What I Don’t Know’ Problem

If you ask better questions, you get better answers. But what if you don’t know the questions to ask? For instance: How can you make emails easier if you don’t know that autoresponders exist? How do you know how you can be part of a more appropriate networking group, if nobody has told you who to ask or even if one exists? How can you create a great proposal template if you haven’t had the benefit of seeing some options in use elsewhere?

If you look at all knowledge as an ever expanding universe, you know about a pinprick of it. You know that you don’t know about a thimbleful. (You know that Chinese exists, even though you don’t know how to speak it.) But that leaves the rest of the universe of knowledge that you don’t know that you don’t know. We need someone outside ourselves to share what they know that we didn’t even know to ask about.

The ‘I Don’t Know Where To Start’ Problem

Sometimes I’ll have a client who says I have to do this and I have to do that and then she adds about a dozen more things, gets totally overwhelmed with the work, the choices, the mounting dollars she imagines it’s all going to cost, and then says ‘I want to escape and do nothing’. She doesn’t know where to start, how to take things in small pieces in sequential order (even though it’s not clearly sequential), put one foot in front of the other until more and more gets done. She doesn’t remember to keep the long term goal out in front of her, remember her purpose and passion and why it’s all worthwhile.

This client needs a coach to ask ‘what is the next step? Let’s just do the next step.’ For instance, get a focus group together and ask questions about your marketing or your service, then write it up in language the prospect uses, then use that wording to write the website, then create a video using the same wording, and then build it into a seminar. Often the chicken and egg syndrome can throw some people for a loop until they just get started. A coach gets the process started and nurtures you along the way.

The ‘I Can’t Seem To Get Anything Finished’ Problem

Accountability is a big word in most people’s vocabulary. We all get distracted. There is so much to pay attention to, emails, customer requests, website updates, banking, deadlines for this and for that. Do you start a project, get distracted by a client emergency and then never get back to it? So something is half done and never really sees the light of day. All the effort you’ve put into it so far is wasted if you never roll it out. How often do you put a lesser priority on strategy, growth and proactive initiatives? That’s what will propel your business forward. If you’re working with a business coach, you’ll be held accountable for what will really get you to the next level.

The Comfort Zone Upper Limit Problem

Why is it that people who win large amounts of money in the lottery blow it all in 3 years or less? Why is it that Donald Trump can go into bankruptcy and then get it all back in just a few years? Why do small business owners hit a ceiling no matter how hard they try to get to the next level? Why do highly paid pro basketball players seem to have everything and then blow it with drugs and crime? We all have comfort zones, levels of success that we’re used to, levels of abundance that we think we deserve before we start feeling guilty or undeserving (and then psychologically self-sabotage). Often these are set in childhood. Sometimes we can handle just so much positivity in our lives and then we start to worry what will go wrong, or start arguing or start blaming? We’ve identified an upper limit (most often unconsciously) above which good thoughts turn to bad thoughts and bad thoughts lead to negative behavior. Sometimes deep inside we don’t feel we deserve too much success because we’re fundamentally flawed, or because we would be disloyal to the less successful people in our lives, or we believe more success would mean a bigger burden, or we can’t outshine a sibling, friend or parent. Whatever the barrier, we set an upper limit. We need someone outside ourselves to understand us, question us and look at us objectively. (Read more about this in ‘The Big Leap’ by Gay Hendricks)

I mentioned Strategy, Tactics, Accountability and Results because these are the pillars of the STAR Burst program that I’m currently rolling out. Now is a good time to start planning for 2011. It’s a good time to get help with the Four Frequent Business Problems. Please look at the program description on the side column to read the stories of people who have achieved great things using me as their business coach. Send me an email for a conversation or give me a call to find out if this is right for you.

Sandbagging is a term most often used in the game of golf. In golf it refers to players who either miss shots on purpose or outright cheat by turning in a higher score than they actually shot. This affects the handicap that is given to non-professional golfers to help level the playing field. Golfers turn in their scores and the scores are averaged and weighted to give the players an established handicap. This handicap is used to deduct from actual scores in tournaments to make the golfers equal based on their average scores. Unfortunately, some golfers lie about their scores and build a higher handicap to deduct from their tournament scores. Then they play better than their handicaps to win the tournaments. This at its base is nothing short of cheating.

Sandbagging occurs off of the golf course, as well.  Here are some common ways that sandbagging is used in life and business:

• Sales people reach their quota and withhold sales at the end of month to carry over to the next month’s sales.
• Managers of operations reach their quota for the day, month or week and divert activity away from production.
• Individuals working out physically, don’t push themselves as hard as they can.
• Worker’s complete 80% of their daily tasks in half of their shift’s time and cruise through the rest of the day instead of seeing how much they can accomplish in the day.
• Spouses hedge on how much they can do for each other and thus do less for each other.
• Customer service representatives make excuses for the company instead of seeing how to meet the customer’s demands.
• Students don’t study as much as they can to get the higher grade or test result.

We all are guilty of sandbagging in some way. What would happen if sandbagging in business and life was reduced by 50%? What could be the potential gain in productivity, benefits, health and well being in our lives? What can we do? Let’s take a look at this.

Reasons That People Sandbag

• People are afraid that they will be held to a higher standard.
• People have a fear of failure or success.
• People are afraid they will not be able to duplicate results.
• Managers don’t recognize the successes; they just expect it from that point on.
• People are not aware of their true potential.

Strategies For Reducing Sandbagging

• Identify areas in your life where sandbagging may be occurring.
• Identify the reason(s) for it.
• Prioritize those areas and work on the top three.
• Share with someone what areas you want to work on.
• Monitor the progress in those areas and report to someone the results.
• Once those areas are improved, reprioritize other areas of concern.
• Enjoy the increased potential.

If we can reduce sandbagging in our lives and businesses we can increase the use of potential to levels previously thought to be unattainable. Where are you sand bagging and what are you doing about it? What an impact it would have on our economy, if we could all reduce sandbagging by 50% or more.

You’re out on the town with some good friends hoping to have a great dinner and a memorable evening. There’s a diner on the corner and a great Italian restaurant down the street. Which one are you going to choose

The Diner – You May Want to Stick to the Basics
Want a Steak? They’ve got it.
Want Crab Cakes? They’ve got it.
Want Veal Parmesan? They’ve got it.

They’ve got it but I’m not sure you’d actually want to eat it. The focus of a diner is to satisfy everyone by providing every type of food imaginable. However, quantity and quality are two very different things. Go ahead, ask the waiter what he recommends and you’ll get a blank stare.

You may be asking yourself, what does this have to do with employees? The goal of most managers is to create well-rounded employees. They try to achieve this by identifying the employee’s weaknesses and trying to fix them. What about their strengths? They languish and dull due to lack of attention. The result of this focus, at best, is an employee who can do most things but is not remarkable at anything. Sound familiar?

When you order from a diner, you should probably stick to the basics. I’d do the same with your well-rounded employee.

The Fine Restaurant – Go Ahead, Try the Escargot

The fine restaurant has a much more limited menu but what they have is incredibly good. They make the conscious decision to forego many types of foods to focus their efforts on what they do best.

Great managers treat their employees in much the same way. They help employees to focus on what they do best, rather than trying to improve their weaknesses. Employees will rarely become strong in an area of weakness. The best one can hope for is that they will rise to become mediocre. However, where an employee has talent, they can become world-class. In addition, focusing on those areas where we have true talent is incredibly motivating.

Imagine a team of people who are all the best at what they do. Imagine your competition running scared.

Would you rather have well-rounded employees or remarkable employees?

How to Allow Employees to Become Great

Traditional management methods will not create great employees because they don’t focus on what each employee does best. Here are four steps to make it happen:

1. Identify your employees’ strengths – This task is not easy. It requires a much more individualistic approach to management. Here are the best ways to make it happen:
   Observe – The best way to identify your employees’ strengths is to observe their actions. What types of work are they attracted to? How do they act in group discussions? What do they like to do when they’re not working?
   Use Personality Profiles – There are several profiling tools available on the market which can help you to identify people’s tendencies, talents and styles.
   Conduct 360 Degree Surveys – This can be a great way to get feedback from supervisors, peers and subordinates as to an employee’s strengths and tendencies.
   Ask The Employee – Ask your employees what they feel their strengths are. The danger here is that most people are not self-aware enough to accurately answer the question.

   
   

   
   

2. Determine how to take advantage of those strengths – Once their strengths are known, you should:
   Encourage Improvement – Additional training and experience can turn strengths into incredible talents. Michael Jordan wasn’t born great; he practiced.
   Refine Roles – Find ways to allow your employees to spend a greater portion of their time on tasks that lend themselves to their strengths.

   
   

   
   

3. Figure out how to manage around the weaknesses – Focusing on what employees do best doesn’t mean forgetting about their weaknesses. Here are three strategies to deal with weaknesses:
   Shift roles – If possible, change the employee’s responsibilities to shift focus away from their weaknesses.
   Partner – Find an employee whose strengths offset another employee’s weaknesses and team them together.
   Training – Training will probably not turn a weakness into a strength; but it can get their performance up to more acceptable levels.

   
   

   
   

4. Build a team of people who compliment each others strengths – Traditional teams are made up of many interchangeable parts. This new, remarkable team is more like a jigsaw puzzle of talents. Place the right people in the right roles and change any job descriptions and performance measures that no longer fit.

Back to the original question…Would you choose the diner or the fine restaurant? It’s nice to have a few diners around for when you want something cheap or don’t know what you want to eat. But, if you want something truly remarkable and memorable, hit Zagats and find a great restaurant.

How do you help your employees develop their strengths like a fine restaurant?

I talk with business owners and professional people all the time. I’m a great networker and meet people throughout New York at their offices, at networking events, and at the professional club where I’m a member. I see that people are at certain points in their business or career choices and they fall into one of five categories. These five categories are self selected because of the choices they make everyday. They are also results because we reap what we sow. In many ways these categories reflect the world view of the people that hold them. And our world view reflects how we see ourselves as well as the world outside ourselves. If inner attitude yields behavior that yields results, then results reflects behavior that reflects attitudes. It works both ways. So what are the stages that reflect our self images? Which one do you identify with?

Inspired

The inspired business owner or professional is always thinking: What I did yesterday is yesterday’s news. I can achieve more. I have more potential. I think bigger. I’m capable of more. What do I need to do to get to the next level? Invest in myself. Invest in my people. I believe they have more potential, too. Let’s empower them (and me) to be more creative, more committed, think smarter, get more aligned to important meaningful goals that are inspirational and motivating.

Just like an elite athlete, the inspired person knows that an edge may be all that’s required to excel and realizes if he could think of it by himself, he would have already done it. He wants help from someone else with an objective view and more experience. He wants suggestions from outside his world and his comfort zone. He’s willing to bring in specialists. He realizes the return on investment will be huge because he takes responsibility to be fully engaged. He’s more afraid of the risk of losing growth opportunities because he and his team are not ready, than he is of investment in the coaching/consulting not bringing the expected ROI. He takes proactive responsibility for continuously moving the company or his career forward.

Complacent

The complacent business owner or professional is happy about where his company or career has grown to and is satisfied with staying at that level or with small incremental changes that don’t involve any extra risk or effort. They are in a holding pattern and are satisfied if they are not going backwards. They have achieved a level of comfort and are happy to be stable. Their employees do things the way they’ve always done them and are reasonably happy but not creative. They handle problems as fires with standard types of responses. They have a reasonable margin of success both financially and with their clients as long as nothing changes. As long as the economy is stable, their critical staff  don’t get the itch to move on, no important client wants to take their business elsewhere, no big competitor comes into their market, they’ll be fine. Of course, when something changes (and it will sooner or later), they’ll be up a creek without a paddle. They are aware of coaching/consulting and are sophisticated enough to see how it helps others but they are not motivated because they are happy just the way they are. They are blind to how much risk they face when things change.

Oblivious

The oblivious business owner or professional is not tuned into what is available in terms of how to grow his business or career. He believes he has to do everything himself, the independent pioneer. Conversation about getting help to grow his business falls on deaf ears because it doesn’t register. He doesn’t have any picture of himself where outside help is part of the picture. Career individuals can’t picture themselves getting suggestions on personal branding, becoming a better leader or communicator, or the value of increased self-knowledge.

Both the oblivious business owner and professional are focused on themselves, sometimes running around in circles and complaining about all they have to do and how there’s no time. They just keep on doing what they’re doing without a thought that someone else could help them work smarter, not harder. Their world just includes themselves and their immediate employees, not professionals who could help them get out of the rut. Deep down they don’t feel they deserve to be out of the rut. They’ve been in it so long it’s become comfortable. They talk about growth but have no realistic plans to make it happen because they think so small and are unaware of the power of investing in the owner’s and employees’ growth. Same for the career professional. He doesn’t even consider how his career would be changed by getting outside help. Most business owners and professionals are in this category. They are living in an old world where resources weren’t available.

Stuck

These business owners and career professionals have been going around in circles for years. Every year they say: we’re going to do better, make changes, get to the next level. It doesn’t happen. They are starting to realize that they can’t do it by themselves. They’ve been on a gerbil wheel being very active but not making any progress. They are aware of coaching/consulting, but are still considering because they are scared to spend the money. Money is available but in short supply. It has to be spent well because the return on investment has to be there. They don’t realize that by their very commitment to spend the money, they are taking the first step to becoming fully engaged in change. It’s their skin in the game. They don’t yet get it that the ROI comes ultimately from themselves, from their efforts and commitment to be open to a new way, even though the coach/consultant may be a catalyst. These people stand on a crossroads. They can invest and see great rewards or they can act small and scared and stay stuck. If they invest, they move to the Inspired. If they don’t invest, they become Desperate.

Desperate

The desperate business owner or professional is losing money and is in survival mode. He is thinking only about how to take care of basic needs for his business or job or personal life. It’s hard for him to think beyond the next customer payment, vendor invoice or rent check. This person is not ready for coaching/consulting because he is too worried about present emergencies and cash flow to concentrate on planning changes, investing in coaching/consulting or the big picture. Too many businesses or professionals in transition are at this stage because of the recession. They used to be Stuck, or Oblivious or Complacent, and through inaction became Desperate. It’s a shame they didn’t make a move sooner because now they have many fewer choices.

So how about you? Where do you fit? What risks are you facing based on the category you fit in? If you are reading this article, you are no longer Oblivious. Are the owners of your company Oblivious? Are you working for the right company if you feel your company is Complacent, Oblivious or Desperate? If you work in a Stuck company, are you helping to choose a new way?  If you work in a company led by an Inspired leader, you might belong to a high performance team. Leaders of Inspired companies often win awards and their companies are voted ‘Top place to work in …’.  Stuck companies that choose to move forward instead of staying stuck can become Inspired. Complacent companies can easily become Stuck companies when change happens. Then they face the same crossroad, to become Inspired or Desperate.

As a coach/consultant I work with small business owners and professionals who are either Inspired or Stuck. Those are the ones that see the value in the work I do. The results are truly amazing. If that’s where you are, let’s talk. Please contact me for a complimentary strategy session.

Please leave a comment on your view of the five categories of business owners and professionals.

Jim has to make a decision. Tom is on the accounting team Jim supervises. Tom is a likeable person and he does his job fairly well. However, lately he’s been coming in late, taking long lunches, and being rather unfocused. He’s taking a long time to get regular  work done. How should Jim talk to Tom?

Sarah is a leader in her organization. She is responsible for getting this project done. She has six other people that she is pulling together. She wants to get it done. She’s ready to dive right in, delegate the work, set up deadlines. But she realizes the value of team ownership of the project and wants the other members to contribute to the process of setting up the project as well as accomplishing the project. But they are dragging their feet, talking about it forever, and not coming to practical decision points fast enough.  How should Sarah handle this situation?

Allen is a consultant. He’s working one-on-one with his client. The client wants to solve a problem one way, but Allen knows that’s not the most efficient way. The client’s solution will work and there might be some advantages to the people in his company. But Allen feels it’s not the most efficient way or the way that costs less. Should Allen go with the client’s preferences and priorities or insist on his way?

Jim, Sarah and Allen have their own decision making styles. They will be better managers if they understand their own styles and can understand the decision making styles of those around them. Jim can either come down hard on Tom because he’s not fulfilling his job description, empathetically ask if Tom has a problem, or set practical standards for performance because the client’s work has to be completed on time. Sarah can do the set up herself not getting the team’s buy-in, be practical with them about the project’s timeline, be impatient that nothing is happening, or understand that others may need more time to discuss it. Allen can insist that the client do it his way or he can be sensitive to the client’s decision making process and the client’s priorities.

Three Decision Making Dimensions

Much research has been done on how people make decisions over the last 60 years. The most influential work was done by Dr. Robert Hartman a triple PhD from Yale and MIT who worked in the fields of psychology, math and philosophy. He showed that people have masters and blind spots along three scales.

• Empathy – feeling for people, their uniqueness and humanness

• Practicality – the most efficient and least costly way to get something accomplished

• Systems – the way things should be, measured in comparison to the true perfect way

Here’s a better way to understand it. Imagine 3 people sitting at a table with each one a pure form of each of the three scales. (of course, in reality we’re all a mix) On the table sits a project. The Systems person will say, “Let’s study this and figure out all the steps. Let’s analyze it first. Then we’ll get started.” The Practical person says, “No, that wastes time. Let’s just do it. We’ll figure it out as we go.” The Empathetic person says, ‘Both of you have really missed the boat. What’s important here is how we work together and the relationships we develop with each other while doing the project.”

In the World of Big and Small Business

Do we see this in the business world? Sure, how about with small businesses? The bankers and investors want to see a detailed business plan before they make a decision. They want to analyze before they take any risk. They are true systems people. The practical entrepreneur, on the other hand, just wants to get started and figure it out as he goes. The classic example of ‘Ready, aim, fire’ vs. ‘Ready, fire, aim’ The empathetic business owner is totally out of this loop, calling his business a ‘practice’ and not really applying business growth principles or ways of thinking.

In larger companies quite often the CEO is a practical person focused on action, efficiency and what works. No wonder it’s hard to really convince him that his people are his main asset and that HR people deserve a seat at the executive table. He’s so focused on profits that the HR industry has had to use the phrase ‘human capital management’ to create a handle that a practical person will give validity to. And Enron is a perfect example where profits and efficiency took precedence over values, ethics and the perfect world view of the systemic thinker.

Jim has choices about how he talks to Tom.

• empathetically ask Tom if he has a problem and be open to listen
• practically tell him that he’s got to get his work done so the firm can get paid
• systemically tell him about he needs to do to fulfill his job description

Sarah appears to be very practical. She wants to dive right in. Her team appears to be very systemic. If she understands this she can:

• give them more time with a definite deadline as she realizes the team buy-in is good for the project long term
• ask to have some more practical people put on the team as this will be become a pattern she won’t want to see repeatedly

Allen appears to be very practical. His client seems very concerned about his people and so is probably highly empathetic. If he understands the client’s decision making process, he can:

• present the client with the choice and the probable consequences and go with the client’s thinking
• just let the client lead him as the client is so definite with his decision

What about you?

• Are your decisions more empathetic, practical or systemic?

• Are you so highly systemic that you have blind spots about practicality and people’s feelings?

• If you are highly practical and work with colleagues or clients who are more empathetic or systemic, do you get frustrated because others don’t think like you do?

• How can a team leader pull together a team where everyone has different masters and blind spots so much so that people don’t see eye to eye?

• Can a team that is widely divergent make better team decisions because they make up for each other’s masters and blind spots?

• Do you want to purposely put together practical people to get a special project done fast?

• If you unwittingly choose only systemic people, do you run the risk that the project might get stuck in analysis paralysis? How much money does that waste?

• If you’re looking to engineer great customer experiences, do you want to put your most empathetic people on the front line? How much more profit can you generate from additional customer loyalty because you provide a great people-to-people experience for your clients?

• What if you clearly are strong in one decision making master but you prefer another?

Socrates says all knowledge is self-knowledge.

Certainly we see the world through our own colored glasses. Our perceptions shape what we claim to be reality. The Attribute Index is an assessment that I administer so you can learn about your decision making masters and blind spots. People who know their strengths and set themselves up for success lead personally and professional successful lives. If you’d like to learn more, please feel free to contact me.

Meanwhile please please a comment. How do you make decisions?

From TED, Ideas Worth Spreading

Need more clients? Listen to Simon Sinek talk about how you can use the ‘why’ of your firm to inspire and connect  – yielding people who buy because they believe. This creates tipping points and wildly successful products. Our brains are emotional. We buy based on emotion. The ‘why’ is more important than the ‘what’ or the ‘how.’ How strong is your ‘why’? Do you use it to inspire others?

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html

How many times have you sat through a sales meeting or any meeting for that matter where you’ve heard someone make the suggestion: “We’ve got to think outside the box.” It’s a phrase that doesn’t need a whole lot of explanation. In fact, it’s seems like the perfect phrase to capture the frustration we experience when our imagination feels trapped and our thoughts appear stuck to the soles of our shoes.

If we think of this metaphorical box as containing the walls that confine our thinking, then by understanding these barriers we open up the opportunity to break free and take control of our negative senses and use the power of our thoughts to develop new ideas and opportunities. In the Little Red Book of Selling, Jeffrey Gittomer outlined the 8.5 negative senses that the subconscious mind presents and projects when selling, which become the walls that paralyze our thinking:

1.    The sense of fear.
2.    The sense of nervousness.
3.    The sense of rejection.
4.    The sense of procrastination or reluctance.
5.    The sense of justification/rationale. 6. The sense of self-doubt.
7.    The sense of uncertainty.
8.     The sense of doom.
8.5.  The sense of “I’m unlucky.”

Understanding that our minds move us in the direction of our current dominant thoughts, we have the ability to penetrate these walls by focusing our attention to our positive thoughts and taking back control. When you begin to feel in control, you begin to radiate positive energy, which leads to (sales) success. According to Gittomer, adopting the following 6 positive sales senses is the way forward….

1. The sense of confidence…. The air you have about you that’s bred by preparation and previous wins. The best part about confidence is that it’s contagious. You can give it to your prospect. (Don’t confuse confidence with its evil twin – arrogance.)
2. The sense of positive anticipation – Everyone has read the best book on the subject before the age of five. – The Little Engine That Could. I think I can, I think I can. Thinking you can is 50% of the outcome (So is thinking you can’t.)
3. The sense of determination – The sense of hanging in there no matter what. Determination is having the prospect tell you “no,” and you hear it as, “not yet.”
4. The sense of achievement – Everyone subconsciously strives for their goals. Sensing achievement comes from a replay of the satisfaction you gained from making your last sale. Remember how good it felt?
5. The sense of winning – Everyone wants to win, but only a few actually do. That’s because the will to prepare to win must exceed the will to win.
6. The sense of success – This is the hardest sense to master, because you must sense it before you actually achieve it. That calm feeling of money in the bank. An “I can do it” attitude. And a well-lit path in front of you. The sense of positive purpose.

Earl Nightingale, in his legendary tape, “The Strangest Secret,” says, “You become what you think about.” Truer words have never been spoken. But the secret to “The Strangest Secret,” is – It’s a dedicated self-discipline that must be practiced every day. How close to “every day” are you?

The most interesting aspect of “The Strangest Secret,” is that it contains the counter balance to turn all your destructive senses into constructive senses by employing the strongest sense of them all – common sense.

I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on this. Please leave your comment about your thoughts during your sales process.

Which of these situations has happened to you?

• In your last meeting, did you walk out without a clear idea of what you were supposed to do?
• Have you looked around a meeting and wondered why all those people were invited?
• Have you calculated how much money your organization is “spending” waiting for meetings to start?

We all know that business can’t operate without meetings – meetings to plan, meetings for updates, meetings to keep communication lines open. However, effectively-run meetings are often hard to find in the workplace. A survey by Hofstra University projected that over $40 billion is wasted on mismanaged meetings every year. Since there are between 11 million and 33 million meetings conducted in the United States every day, the business of meetings is critical to everyone’s continued success.

As a result of discussions with a cross-section of employees and organizations, we’ve put together a Top Five list of tips for effective meetings.

Tip #1: Communicate the goal and the agenda for the meeting. Publicize that goal when you schedule the meeting, and then evaluate every topic against that goal – if the discussion doesn’t support the goal, then it shouldn’t be in the agenda. At Intel Corporation, they keep a poster in every meeting room that says “Do you know the purpose of this meeting?” How many meetings actually include a firm agenda that is published in advance to all the attendees? An agenda should clearly state the topics, an approximate length for discussion, the “owner” of each topic, and action steps for each topic.

Tip #2: Identify the meeting participants. Recent research shows that after the first seven participants, every additional person lowers the productivity of the group in a meeting. Wow! Consider your own meetings – how many do you go to that have more than seven participants? Consider who really needs to attend based on the agenda. Also, remember that the more people invited to the meeting, the longer the meeting will take.

Tip #3: Establish the ground rules for the meeting. Some typical items to include in the ground rules are when agendas are due to participants, the use of technology in a meeting, and start and end times. Designate a time keeper who is not the meeting organizer. One of the biggest time wasters is meetings that don’t start and end on time – wouldn’t you agree?

Tip #4: Use a Parking Lot. A Parking Lot is a place to put topics that fall outside the meeting agenda – or that should be postponed for later. Some meeting organizers use visual Parking Lots – such as a piece of large paper posted on the wall where ideas can be posted during meetings so they don’t get lost. Some meeting organizers simply record parking lot ideas on a pad of paper – or assign someone to capture them and send the list out for inclusion in future meeting agendas. The disciplined use of a “parking lot” will keep your meetings on track and on agenda.

Tip #5: Set Clear Action Items. Establish what is next, how will it be done, who is responsible, and deadline details before you leave the meeting. How do you hold people accountable in your meetings? Even if you are not the meeting organizer, you can still push for accountability – remind the host to set clear next steps and timelines.

Bonus Tip: Evaluate Your Meetings. Periodically, take the time to review the regular meetings in your organization. Do they all still have a clear purpose? Are they the right length? Are the right people attending? What needs to change in order to make your meetings more effective?

As a final thought, consider this quote from Patrick Lencioni’s book, Death by Meeting, “Most executives I know spend hours sending email, leaving voice mail, and roaming the halls to clarify issues that should have been made clear during a meeting in the first place … I have no doubt that sneaker time is the most subtle, dangerous, and underestimated black hole in corporate America.” You can read a summary of Death by Meeting by my friend Kevin here.

What is your biggest meeting challenge? Please comment below and share your stories and your ideas.  If you want to dive deeper into this topic – and especially how to make your meetings more effective even when you are not in charge of them, email us at Jeri@DrivingImprovedResults.com for a free report “Eight Tips to Take Charge of Meetings, When You Are Not in Charge.”

Disneyworld has a customer experience story that illustrates how the customer experience is designed and choreographed like a dance – a memorable performance with staging, lighting, performers, music and a variety of other elements. The customer experience is the product of strategic thinking and execution as much as it is personal warmth.

The Disneyworld Story

The most remembered part of any experience is usually the last part of the experience. It sticks in your memory because it’s the most recent. When leaving Disneyworld after a long fun day, the kids are tired and starting to get cranky. The parents are worn out and the kids are starting to frazzle their nerves. The last part of today’s experience is going to be finding the car and leaving the parking lot. But there are a zillion parking lots and bezillion cars in each one. Sometimes we remember to look at the lot and zone numbers where we parked when we first entered and write down the numbers. But if we’re really excited to go on our first ride, we might have forgotten to write it down, or maybe we just lost the slip of paper.

Is it Disney’s problem that you don’t know where your car is?

In all fairness, no. But if Disney wants your last impression to be your best impression, they will anticipate your inadequacies and choreograph a work-around that delights you. And here’s how they do it. When you enter the park at the beginning of the day they steer you to a parking lot and a row that is filling up at that time, which is recorded. So when you’re leaving the park, all you have to know is the time when you entered and they can drive you to the exact spot in the exact lot where you parked your car. So they get the family loaded in a little golf cart and take you directly to your car.

What’s involved in solving this problem? Certainly listening to the customer, anticipating their needs, caring that their experience is a WOW experience, creativity to find a simple solution, having the tools to record the times different rows are filling up and golf carts to take people directly to their cars.

Who are the Disney staff that know this problem exists? The parking lot employees. They see it everyday. They hear the kids. They see the parents with shot nerves. Who are the best people to come up with a creative work around? They are – especially if they are part of a culture that empowers its people and encourages regular employees to show initiative and even make mistakes while they figure it out.

Choreographing the Dance

Here’s how different aspects of this metaphor match up to your business’ creation of the ideal customer experience.

• Just like a choreographed dance has the choreographer’s ideas, a business needs a leader with vision, strategic thinking about profitability, and care for the customer.
• In a dance there are performers and a cast of characters who co-create the roles with their own style and project with their own personalities.  A business’ employees do the same. They enhance and execute the vision of the ideal customer experience. They personalize the delivery and treat every customer as unique and valuable.
• Lighting, music, set design, props, costumes and makeup create an environment for the performers to create their magic. The ideal customer experience also benefits from a planned and aesthetically pleasing environment that’s engaging and appealing. (includes branding, location décor, graphically pleasing website, etc.)
• The sound system, lights and stage mechanics create the behind the scenes infrastructure just like a business needs technology systems to track customer information, orders, and parking lot entry times and golf carts (in the case of Disney).

Are you planning your customer’s experience with your organization? Are you choreographing it like a beautiful dance to delight and engage your clients? Are you committed to earning your client’s loyalty and reaping the benefits of more repeat business, more referrals, increased market share and higher profitability?

I invite you to tell a story of a well-planned customer experience that you either created or were delighted by. Thank you for all your ideas.

Nancy complains, “Why can’t they get their act together? This is so frustrating. The first person I talked to wasn’t even nice. The second person was much nicer but couldn’t make a decision. I got sent to a technician and got lost in their phone system. It turns out they don’t have the fix I need. Then when I try to return what I bought, it sounds like the person in accounting doesn’t even know what to do to give me a credit.”

Has this ever happened to you? Not a pleasant customer experience.

Each organization’s moments of truth are when it touches each customer. Is the customer experience delightful, positive and successful? The whole point of all the company’s strategizing, structuring, systematizing, training, employment practices, service/product creation and testing, marketing and sales efforts, is to get that customer to buy and to buy multiple times. Most of us have heard that it takes 5 times as much money to get a new customer as a repeat customer. Also, we’ve heard that raising customer loyalty by 5% can increase profitability from 25-100%. So creating that positive customer experience (first time and every time) is the focus of everything we do when we build a business. Whether or not we’re thinking about ‘total customer experience,’ the customer is always thinking:  Am I liking this? Will I stay? Will I come back? Is the product/service good? Is it worth the hassle if other parts of the experience are not good?  Will I tell other people about my good/bad experience?

So if your organization’s total efforts are not leading to good customer experiences, you are missing the boat and leaving money on the table.

What goes into the Total Customer Experience?

Let’s look at Nancy’s complaint and the ‘moments of truth’ that are revealed. What does it mean ‘to get their act together?’

Emotional Connection – The first person wasn’t even nice. People buy from people they know, like and trust. If someone isn’t personable, caring and relating to Nancy as a unique human being, your company isn’t even getting to first base.

Empowered Decision Making – Too bad Nancy had to get passed around.  It’s frustrating to get passed from person to person until there is finally someone who has any authority.. Companies who are recognized for their superior customer experiences empower the person who answers the phone to make most decisions. In order to make this happen, they recruit wisely and invest in developing their people to make good decisions, to buy into the company’s values and vision, to understand the customer’s needs, to gather feedback.

Infrastructure – The phone system, the staff’s capabilities using phone and technology, availability of information about each customer (customer relationship management), knowledge database,  technology to track trouble tickets or complaints. This kind of infrastructure allows caring staff to do a better job with the resources they need. It allows for quicker troubleshooting and availability of information on a broader basis for more empowered decision making. It would have allowed Nancy to find out sooner rather than later that ‘the fix’ she needed wasn’t available. But even better it would collect information about how many customers were having the same issue so the company could create ‘the fix’ sooner and take the issue off the table.

Systems – If the accounting team had a documented system for handling returns and credits, and each person was trained in it, then Nancy would not have had such a terrible experience. In fact, if the process were really systematized and the infrastructure were in place, the initial person who took the call could have handled it himself.

These are just a few of the things that companies who manage the total customer experience look at. Of course, it all starts with leadership. Leaders who get their heads out of the sand and recognize the importance of the customer experience want to infuse attention to the customer experience as they do strategic planning, diagram the organizational structure, create systems and processes in all departments, design their internal reward and recognition structures, and recruit, develop and empower their personnel. That’s what Nancy’s comment about ‘getting their act together’ is really all about.

If you have a story about a really great customer experience, please share it here along with your thoughts about the components that came together to create the delightful experience you had. Thanks for sharing.

When I started my information technology business in 1983, the last thing I thought about was how I was going to exit the business. That’s true of so many small business owners, especially owners of family owned businesses. I eventually sold the business and luckily it was mature enough that lots of systems were in place. I didn’t have a particular crisis that forced me to sell. I was lucky, but what if I hadn’t been so lucky?

Whether or not you plan on selling your business, maybe you should grow it as if you are going to sell it. Business brokers tell me that most often small business owners aren’t planning to sell their businesses, but then life happens. You need to move. You get divorced. You have newborn twins or an ill parent or you yourself become ill. You lose interest or get extremely motivated to pursue another interest. Whatever your personal reason, you want to get rid of the business immediately and, while it has value to you, it won’t have value to anyone else unless you’re building it correctly from the start.

Exit Plan

A good strategy when starting a business is to think what your exit plan is. Are you growing it to sell it? To take it to an initial public offering? To give yourself a job that you love? To pass it down to future generations? To create lifestyle freedom and flexibility?

It’s important to know your goals and how this business will further your life goals right from the start. It will effect your choice of business entity, C Corporation, S Corporation, LLC, sole proprietor. It will effect how much time you put into it. It will effect whether or not you have partners and who you choose.

Making Your Business More Valuable

Here are some things that make a business more valuable to another party. If you institute them right from the beginning, you’ll enjoy your business more, you’ll have a stronger business, and it will be closer to being sale-ready in case ‘life happens.’

• Build your customer list in one place. Many small business owners have a customer list in the accounting software, some names in a database, some other names in a few spreadsheets. If you have sales people, they have their own lists. If you have service people, they have their own lists. If you want smooth customer relations now and be able to point to a strong client and prospect database for potential buyers of your business, you’ll bring all these lists together and make every name the property of the company maintained in a company wide database or customer relations management (CRM) software program. Added benefits are that staff can more easily help the firm’s customers even when their fellow staff members are out of the office.
• Develop a high performance team of engaged employees. A company culture that encourages people to think on their own, take risks, take responsibility for doing what it takes to delight customers, and be accountable for their own goals doesn’t happen over night. It takes a management attitude of praise, empowerment, coaching, collaboration, really being interested in each individual’s personal goals and development. When fear of failure is minimized and initiative is encouraged (even if it leads to mistakes) people learn tasks better and they learn that they are capable of learning even more. The benefits are that you get to take a vacation and know that everything will still run without you because you have a capable team. You will retain your best talent and keep the learning in the organization. A potential buyer will pay you more for your business because the business is not just all about you. Do you want to retire? Did a family crisis come up? Need to sell now? At least your business can run without you on a daily basis until a buyer can be found and the purchase transaction completed. You can attract different kinds of buyers. The individual buyer may not be particularly knowledgeable about the business. It gives this buyer time to ramp up. There are lots of individuals right now who have been laid off from corporate jobs and now are going to follow a long-held dream to own their own businesses. Or serial entrepreneurs looking for an investment business where not a lot of management is needed. Or larger businesses in the same industry who are buying your business to expand into a new geography, niche or technology. A business like yours with a highly responsible team that can run on its own on a day-to-day basis is very attractive because it spells reduced management and change costs for them. Their new group is profitable from day 1, even without you.
• Get your accounting fully up to date and keep it up to date. You will be asked for all kinds of financial reports to get potential buyer interest, to sustain interest, to discuss the terms on a letter of intent and to move into due diligence. You’ll need 3-5 years of financials. So if you might sell your business 3-5 years from now (or have a personal emergency or change-of-heart about owning this business), you better start now to make your accounting function into a reliable trustworthy system. That includes your people, software, internal operational systems, tax payments and CPA. By having a reliable system to make sure you’re handling all the sales tax, payroll expenses, loan payments, etc., you’re less likely to have embarrassing and deal-killing issues come up during due diligence. The benefit now is that you will have much better management tools and reports and make better decisions to grow.

There are other considerations. Certainly potential buyers are interested in customer and vendor relationships, the status and trends in the industry and a wealth of other factors. But if you pay attention to the three factors above, you will be managing your business well, whether or not you sell it. Then if life happens, you’re well positioned with a stable measurable foundation that spells value for a potential buyer.

If you have bought or sold a business and can throw light on what you did do or wish you had done to get it ready, please share it. Comments are greatly appreciated by all so this can be a learning blog for everyone.

I was running late for an appointment last week and jumped into my car and turned the key. The nice smooth sound of ignition I was so used to hearing was replaced by the horrible grinding sound of an engine just about to turnover. I kept turning the key thinking that by some miracle it would stop the grinding noise and just start. Instead it drained what was left in the battery and silence followed. I was dead in the water.

How many times have you found yourself ready to go but unable to move. You lack the spark and or energy to move forward. Where did it go? You might have started out on your goal, journey or project with plenty of good intentions but for whatever reason it dissipated or just stopped. As a student of human behavior and a Business Coach I am brutally aware of the difficulty of keeping ourselves motivated to get to where we want to go.

Do These Work?

The traditional motivation methods most of us have experienced are motivation by incentive or fear. The boss tries to scare you into action by threats that range from firing to demotion. The next day in a change of heart the boss offers you the promise of bonuses, promotion or equity if you achieve the goal. Clearly both can have an impact, and often do, but the results are usually short term at best. Threats lose their veracity if they are never acted on. Incentives are only effective if you believe the goal is achievable but lose their long term impact once achieved. Neither approach has a long lasting motivational impact. So what is one to do if you want to change or achieve a difficult goal but can’t seem to stay motivated to do what is necessary to get to your destination?

Find Out What Excites You

I believe part of the answer is in finding what sparks us or excites us. If you can discover what you are passionate about and harness that passion you can access an unlimited battery of inspiration energy to keep you motivated and moving forward. Discovering your passion can be difficult since most of us have followed the career scripts provided to us by well meaning parents, educators and society.

• A simple way to start would be to list all the activities you do in your present job that you enjoy doing and are good at.
• The next step would be to ask your peers, friends, clients and family what they think your greatest strengths are.  You should get some clarity on what you are passionate about and what truly motivates you.
• Finally, a good book that gives some insight to the power of connecting your passion to business is “Crush It!” by Gary Vaynerchuk

Aligning your passion with the behaviors necessary to convert that passion into results assures you a consistent spark that will keep your motor running!

Please offer your comments on what you do to sustain your motivation, spark your energy and keep yourself moving forward every day.

An executive recently lamented that she and her company had far too many projects going on. All of them were important, she said, but insufficient progress was being made on most. In fact, she described her company as being “very good at getting things 80% done!” “Why can’t we ever complete anything?” she asked me.

This isn’t the first time that I have heard a business owner or leader talk about this struggle. Often the situation gets oversimplified as “too much to do and not enough time or people to do it”, which seems like an impossible problem to address…so many times it is merely ignored. Frequently, however, this problem is the result of a less obvious issue: a lack of focus by the company’s leaders.

The Power of Focus

A wise person once said that if you chase two rabbits, both will escape. The same holds true in business as many companies have too many items on their ‘To Do’ list. This lack of prioritization and focus leads to poor results. According to a Pricewaterhouse Coopers survey of 200 companies in 30 countries, only 2.5% of these companies had 100% of their projects come in on time, within budget, to scope, and delivering the right business benefits. This study demonstrates that 97.5% of the time we get it wrong in some way… and prioritizing can help. Just as focus and concentration allow your mind to function more effectively, prioritization allows businesses to achieve greater results.

“Doing Less”

Prioritizing can seem especially difficult when all projects seem important. But this is precisely when it can yield the best results. An oft-missing element in prioritizing is a process in which employees have confidence; one by which initiatives can be compared to determine their relative importance to the business. A fairly simple process is to plot each initiative on the following 4-quadrant chart:

• Initiatives landing in the upper left (high benefit, low cost) are “winners”…do it now.
• Initiatives landing in the lower right (low benefit, high cost) are “losers”…dump it
• Initiatives landing in the upper right (high benefit, high cost) need or require a return on investment (ROI) analysis to determine if and when to move forward
• Initiatives landing in the lower left (low benefit, low cost) are prioritized based on “gut feel”

Another fairly simple and more measurable process is to:

1. Identify the key criteria to be used for judging each project (6 to 10 criteria may be an appropriate number)
2. Weight each criterion based on its level of impact on key business goals
3. Evaluate and score each project against those (same) key criteria
4. Compare the scores of the projects to one another
5. Select the highest-scoring projects

Doing both processes in an executive management team (perhaps the Prioritization Quadrant silently and the Measurable Process as an interactive exercise) can bring out everyone’s ideas and help form consensus on moving forward. The selected projects then will be of highest importance and will have the muscle of management focus. Their advancement and completion should have the greatest positive impact on the business.

Leading More

To get the best results from prioritizing, strong leadership is required to ensure that:

• All projects are included in the evaluation and that there are no “sacred cows.”
• Personalities, politics and quests for power are not allowed to influence the process.
• The negative effects of existing paradigms and “busy as usual” are minimized.
• Employees are inspired to participate, buy into the importance of this work, and trust the process to provide valid outcomes.
• The outcomes are followed through on and resources are properly allocated to the “critical few” most important projects.
• Prioritization is not viewed as a “one and done” activity. It needs to be part of the business’ standard operating process and performed on a regular basis.

Difficult challenges and decisions will be faced during this process, especially if focus and prioritizing are not core competencies. Elbert Hubbard said that “It does not take much strength to do things, but it requires a great deal of strength to decide what to do.” One way that leaders can help achieve greater results is by having and instilling the discipline to focus on a few, critical projects instead of trying to do everything all at once.

In Jack Canfield’s book, The Success Principles, he tells the story of a seminar where he held a $100 bill in the air and asked the audience, “Who wants this $100 bill?”

Almost everyone raised their hands, dozens of people shouted “I’ll take it!” and many more stood up and cheered. This went on for a while, but Jack just stood there and waited. Finally, someone ran up and took the $100 bill right out of his hands.  Everyone else wanted the money, but no one else had the guts to take the necessary action.

When Jack asked the audience why they didn’t do what the one lucky audience member did, most said they thought about it but didn’t have the guts to do it. Fear held them back. Some of the reasons they gave him were:

• I was afraid I might be doing something wrong and then people would judge me or laugh at me
• I wasn’t sure you’d really give it to me
• I didn’t want to look greedy
• I didn’t want to look like I wanted it that badly
• I was too far back in the room
• I was waiting for further instructions

What’s interesting is that these are the same fears that stop us from reaching our goals in our own lives. What actions should you be taking in your business or your life that you’re NOT because of fear?

Let’s face it, there’s a lot to be fearful of these days.  Fear is natural. We all feel it. The difference between incredibly successful, fulfilled people and everyone else is how they react to that fear.

Some respond to fear by worrying, stressing out, excessively planning every thought and action. The effect is paralysis in our business and our lives.  Often times, this paralysis causes our worst fears to come true.

Others respond to fear by using it as motivation to take action. While many have the “ready, aim, fire” philosophy, some realize that the best way to hit a target is to fire first, see where the bullet lands, and then adjust your aim and fire again (ready, fire, aim). Very quickly, you’re hitting the target.

A great way to think of fear is to use the acronym, False Expectations Appearing Real.

What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?

Here’s an idea…

Set a goal to do one courageous thing every week.

• Call that prospect you’ve been afraid to call
• Confront that co-worker you’ve been afraid to confront
• Take a stand on an important issue
• Start that new business you’ve been afraid to start
• Start writing that book you’ve been meaning to write

Turn your fear into action by doing one courageous thing every week. You’ll be amazed at what your business and your life looks like at the end of the year.

What courageous action have you done lately? Share an example so that we can all learn from each other. Your comments are welcome.

When networking, your aim is to meet new people or reinforce old relationships. It’s all about the relationship, helping it to grow and making it deeper. You’re not there to sell or just hand out business cards. You are there to get people to know, like and trust you. If you act like a nincompoop, that will never happen. You want to let your new contact know that you are interested in him and his business and you want to give.

Ivan Mizner calls it ‘Givers Gain’. Eventually you do gain. But only if you give first and give authentically. You give because you want to help, because two people you introduce could find real value and you have the opportunity to make it happen, because you’re a good and caring person. When they do get to know, like and trust you, opportunities will flow your way.

So what do you talk about? You ask them questions. Sure you might say a sentence or less when they ask what you do. But mostly it’s you asking them questions. Bob Burg in his book Endless Referrals provides this list of Feel Good Questions®. Don’t forget to listen.

1. How did you get your start in the widget business? (no, don’t actually say widget, substitute the person’s business)
2. What do you enjoy most about your profession?
3. What separates you and your company from the competition?
4. What advice would you give somebody just getting started in the widget business?
5. What one thing would you do with your business if you knew you could not fail?
6. What significant changes have you seen take place in your profession through the years?
7. What do you see as the coming trends in the widget business?
8. Describe the strangest or funniest incident you’ve experienced in your business.
9. What ways have you found to be the most effective for promoting your business?
10. What one sentence would you like people to use in describing the way you do business?

You’ll probably only be able to ask 2 or 3 in any one networking conversation. If you want to extend the conversation about any one area, you can say, ‘tell me more.’ You can also use the echo technique  where you repeat back the last 3 or 4 words with  a question mark in your voice. Then the other person takes it where he left off.

Here is the ultimate question you want to ask even if you can’t ask more than one of the Feed Good Questions^®.

How can I know if someone I’m speaking to is a good prospect for you or is someone you’d like to meet?

You can also ask FORM questions.

F Family
O Occupation
R Recreation
M Message about what they deem important

The key is to listen intently and really care. Asking good questions to get the conversation going will earn respect and warm wishes. You can’t ask for more.

Do you have some additional questions you like to use? Please share them with us here. Thank you.

We’re coming into the fall get-busy-again season which means a renewed effort at meeting new prospects and strategic partners. In a previous post  we listed the 10 Commandments of Networking. Here are some more tips that can help make your networking efforts more successful.

- Wear something that makes you stand out, still business like and very professional, but something unique that others will remember when you follow up. “Remember me. I was wearing the oriental jacket” or “the jazzy tie.”

- Make sure you have two pockets, one for your own cards, and one for the cards you receive.

- Eat before you go. It’s too difficult to manage a drink and a plate and exchanging cards and shaking hands. You’re there for a purpose. Focus on it.

- Adjust your attitude before going in. Read things that motivate you and are empowering. Listen to music that pumps you up. Think about how people need what you have to offer.

- Go early. Ask to help. You’ll get to see the attendee list and focus on who you want to meet. You’ll ingratiate yourself to the organizer and s/he will introduce you to people you ask about.

- Watch the way you stand. If you want to talk to someone without interruptions, face him/her directly. If you want a third person to join you, face the other person diagonally and leave room for the third to join. Create an open space that acts as an invitation.

- Have a short (less than ten words) framing statement that answers the proverbial question “What do you do?”  Make it results oriented so people are forced to ask other questions like, “How do you do that?” Make your answer short. Make it about them, not about you. Ask, “What would be a good referral for you?” “What’s your specialty?” “What geographic areas do you serve?” Prepare your questions and practice.

-  Remember, it’s net-work, not net-sit. No sitting allowed. Move around.

- You are there to gather information, not to sell. Selling will fall on deaf ears.

- It’s not who talks… It’s who listens. You have two ears and only one mouth for a reason.

- If you go with an associate, split up and work the room separately for double the results.

- Greet people and introduce them to others, find a “wall flower” and shepherd him/her around the room. You’ve just made a friend for life.

- Put your name tag on your right lapel, directly in the line of sight when someone shakes your hand.

Have some other tips you would like to share with us? Please leave a comment on what has worked well for you.

Intergenerational dialog is an issue for many organizations.

The boomers have different expectations, work habits, life goals, communication strategies, technology experiences and attitudes than Gen x (born 1963-78), and Gen Y (born 1979-98) is even more different. Each generation is a product of the educational, social, family structure, political, economic times in which it grew up. So, of course, Each generation is different which makes workplaces, where they all try to work together, a bit trying at times.

Since we’re at the beginning of the school year, I thought I would pass this along just to highlight the difference in life experiences. Most students entering college for the first time this fall—the Class of 2014—were born in 1992. For these students, Benny Hill, Sam Kinison, Sam Walton, Bert Parks, and Tony Perkins have always been dead. Each year, Beloit College puts together a list of “cultural touchstones” that affect the lives of students entering college in 2011. The faculty uses it as a reminder to be aware of dated references. Here are some of our favorites:

1. Few in the class know how to write in cursive.
2. Email is just too slow, and they seldom if ever use snail mail.
3. Al Gore has always been animated.
4. “Caramel macchiato” and “venti half-caf vanilla latte” have always been street corner lingo.
5. With increasing numbers of ramps, Braille signs, and handicapped parking spaces, the world has always been trying harder to accommodate people with disabilities.
6. John McEnroe has never played professional tennis.
7. Clint Eastwood is better known as a sensitive director than as Dirty Harry.
8. Doctor Kevorkian has never been licensed to practice medicine.
9. Fergie is a pop singer, not a princess.
10. They never twisted the coiled handset wire aimlessly around their wrists while chatting on the phone.
11. Leasing has always allowed the folks to upgrade their tastes in cars.
12. Unless they found one in their grandparents’ closet, they have never seen a carousel of Kodachrome slides.
13. Computers have never lacked a CD-ROM disk drive.
14. Czechoslovakia has never existed.
15. Second-hand smoke has always been an official carcinogen.
16. J.R. Ewing has always been dead and gone. Hasn’t he?
17. Rock bands have always played at presidential inaugural parties.
18. Beethoven has always been a good name for a dog.
19. Having hundreds of cable channels but nothing to watch has always been routine.
20. They’ve always been able to blast off with the Sci-Fi (SYFY) Channel.

You can view the complete list at www.beloit.edu/mindset.  Are you guilty of being “dated” in your dealings with the younger generation? These folks will soon hit the workforce so be aware of language you may want to change. Read more about intergenerational dialog in the workplace at http://www.drivingir.com/facilitation/intergenerational-dialogue and leave a comment on how generational differences have made a difference in your workplace or home environment.

There are five frogs sitting on a log. One decides to jump off.

How many are left sitting
on the log?

Five, because the one made a decision but never acted on it.

We often make decisions and then don’t follow through. Managers at every level gripe about this. They get their staff (or themselves) to say they’ll accomplish this or that by a deadline. The time comes and it’s not done. Why?

1. They haven’t prioritized it
2. They haven’t planned time for it
3. There are other obstacles including some mental ones that prevent accomplishment.
4. There is no one holding them accountable.

Let’s see how you as the manager can address these sticking points.

1. It’s your job as a manger/owner/self-leader to determine how this task fits into the grand scheme of all the other things that have to be done and communicate that. It’s a follower’s job to say ‘Mr. Manager, you’ve given me 6 things that have to be done today. It’s humanly possible to get four of those done. Which ones are your priorities?’
2. Most of us use a time management system – a paper, smartphone or online scheduler. If you really want to get something done, you’ll give it a realistic date and time and put it into your schedule as an appointment with yourself. You can also encourage/require your staff to do this. It’s a standard procedure for project management, and computerized company calendars were invented for this reason.
3. Does the person you’re delegating this task to have the necessary skills? Are there obstacles in obtaining resources? Then there are mental obstacles, for instance, fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of success, thinking too small, etc. How can you make your staff feel more empowered to succeed? Certainly not by brow-beating them which is part of an older but still out-there model of command and control management. Can you use coaching and collaboration to achieve better results?
4. Accountability and follow up is an often neglected part of management. You assign tasks and then get on with your own work. But if your own work doesn’t include follow-up half way through the job and at the deadline, or if you don’t use technology to track the status of jobs, or if you don’t use staff meetings to engender a little peer pressure, you may find that people respond to the ‘issue of the hour’ instead of the ‘tasks due at proactive deadlines’. This creates a ‘putting out fires’ environment and everyone deals with a lot more stress and staff turn-over results.

As an owner/manager/self-leader which of the four points above resonates more with you and your organization: Prioritization? Time allocation? Lack of training, resources or success mentality? Accountability? Why? What would the ideal outcome be if you could fix it?

I hear from CPA firms. It usually goes like this: Clients expect so much. If they don’t get what they want, they threaten to go elsewhere. So firms are in a struggle to meet client demands while not burning out their staff, kind of caught between a rock and a hard place.

How do you solve this kind of problem? The answer is in the word ‘leadership’. If you feel as the managing partner of your firm that you have no choices, then you’re in victim mentality. I find quite a few CPA’s who are complainers. Things aren’t going like they would like or maybe as they used to, so they complain and wish clients, the economy, staff would go back a few years to when they didn’t have to market, didn’t have to make tough choices, didn’t have to lead their firms through a change process.

Here’s how to get out of the rock and hard place situation. None of these is easy to implement but they can be done. Leaders take responsibility for making things happen.

1. Look at your client.

- Is he realistic in the pressure he is putting on you? Maybe he’s the client that you shouldn’t have. He wants everything for nothing, takes up too much of your time and your staff’s time and never shows appreciation or makes a referral. I counsel my clients to draw up a list of criteria of their ideal client such as Pays on time, Pays our rate, No hassle to the staff, Provides required information readily, Gives referrals, Has additional work for our firm, Friendly and Appreciative. Give each factor a weight and create a 1 to 10 point system where you rate each of your clients. Each year, get rid of the bottom 5-10% and replace them with clients more like the ideal client at the top of the scale.

- Is he a fine client but you haven’t communicated with him well enough to shape his expectations, explain the hours/talent required for the work promised? A good leader has negotiation skills that make the client feel good about the service they are getting. Price pressure is usually because the value of the service is not well represented or because there is insufficient trust in the provider. Have you as a partner taken the time to get the prospect/client to know, like and trust you? Business happens with people we know like and trust. And we all know that an accounting firm is a people business. If this is not your best skill set, delegate it to someone who is talented in this area. Your responsibility as a leader is to delegate to others according to their strengths, including yourself.

2. Look at your organization.

- Have you created a strategic plan and have you communicated it to your staff? People can get very frazzled when they find themselves without direction, duplicating work, or worse going in the opposite direction from the partners because they didn’t know what the partners were thinking. If you haven’t communicated the plan well enough so that everybody knows what it is and what their part in it is, then you haven’t garnered any motivation, inspiration or excitement that comes with achieving individual and group goals. You haven’t created a high performance team that is excited and engaged in doing their best. So of course, they won’t be at their peak performance in servicing clients. Stress in the workplace creates fatigue and a higher level of burnout.

- Are people given training in personal growth as well as skill growth? Do you look at them as individuals with personal lives or as staff employed for the organization’s benefit? People work best when their personal goals, efforts and personalities are recognized and valued.

- Human resource studies show that the overwhelming reason that people leave their jobs is because of difficulties with their managers. Do your managers show praise and/or appreciation every day to every person? Do they identify guidelines about tasks or do they let people fail and only offer negative correction after the fact? Do they micromanage or let people take initiative? There’s a fine line. Have you trained your managers in how to manage?

- Do you have a way to measure client loyalty? Certainly you can start with a paper or online quick survey. But you can get more information through interviews and focus groups. Do you want to get better at customer service? Let your clients tell you where they see the holes. Then you can decide if you need to make staff changes, technology changes, strategic direction changes and how to allocate resources. Client complaints are your greatest ally. Learn as much as you can from them.

You as a partner or managing partner are the leader of your firm. Taking action to shape your firm, train your clients, bring out the best in your staff, make changes that lead to happy clients and happy staff are all your responsibility. Yes, you can and should get input. But it’s up to you to bring up the subjects, ask the questions, make decisions, get buy-in and create the future you want. There’s no room for complaining here. You don’t have to accept the spot in between the rock and the hard place. You can wiggle free and create a whole different future.

Location: Lopez Jaena, Misamis Occidental, Philippines
Amount Repaid: $175.00 of $175.00

Mrs Imelda Morequio is now busy in her sari store. She was able to purchase more product to sell in her sari store and was able to sustain the needs of her children.

Location: Kihihi, Uganda
Amount Repaid: $1,520.83 of $1,825.00

Kiconco Grace used this loan to improve her second hand clothing business. With the money she bought more clothes that she has been reselling ever since. With increased profits has come an improvement in the welfare status of the family, too. She is now able to juggle her family responsibility roles much more efficiently.

Above are a couple of examples of people getting loans through Kiva. Kiva was started by Matt and Jessica Flannery in 2005. Kiva’s mission is to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty. It is dedicated to the notion that small loans made to poor people can lift them out of poverty and help them and their families live a better life.

Kiva partners with microfinance field partners (http://www.kiva.org/partners) who find farmers, shop owners, food manufacturers, consumer product distributors, craftspeople, etc. in 201 countries. The field partners help the local business owners formulate the desired loan amount and how it will be used, submit pictures, and distribute the loans. Kiva takes this information, uses volunteers to publish it to the Kiva website, and provides a platform where you and I can use a credit card to fund the requested loan. The minimum is $25.

In many cases the field partners help form accountability groups, groups of usually women who promise to hold each other accountable to pay back the loans on schedule. Social community peer pressure is very strong in many cultures and this has been very effective. Kiva’s loan repay rate is 98.84% which is higher than in traditional banking. The recipients of the loan pay interest which is kept by the NGO to cover its operational expense. There is no interest paid to you and me as lenders. The repaid capital can be withdrawn by the lender or can be re-loaned to another small business owner needing a micro-loan. By connecting people Kiva creates relationships beyond financial transactions, and builds a global community expressing support and encouragement of one another.

I am motivated to support Kiva because I want to build a better world, where there is lasting peace for my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and yours, too. I believe my dream has a greater likelihood of happening when poverty is erased. On the base of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is the need for survival, which includes adequate food, clean water, housing, clothing, medical care, safety. People will do what they need to do if they are denied these things. But if people can see their children living healthy lives, can feel that they earn what they need, that there are fruits to their labor which satisfy their basic needs, they will be empowered to improve their communities, expand education, engage in a more robust economy, support and engage in a more representational government and live in peace. People who have nothing have nothing to lose. People who have a satisfactory lifestyle have a lot to lose. This type of thinking is supported by a number of theorists as shown on this quote below from:
http://money.howstuffworks.com/microlending.htm

“Some democratic theorists believe that free market capitalism in a globalized world economy reduces the chance that international conflicts will become wars. Once countries become interdependent, trade between nations becomes too valuable to risk by going to war [source: Bandow]. Under this theory, microlending helps prevent conflict by funding budding capitalist enterprises. Microlending contributes from the ground up; it’s the opposite of trickle-down economic theory. This is one reason the Nobel Committee awarded Muhammad Yunus the Peace Prize in 2006. “Lasting peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty,” the Committee stated of its decision [source: Lovgren].”

You can partner with me in supporting Kiva. Entrepreneurs supporting entrepreneurs is grass roots and personal. It means you can talk to or visit someone you are lending to. It’s a way for us to make a difference without having to be big corporation or a foundation.

Kiva allows for the setup of lending teams on its website www.kiva.org. Driving Improved Results is a lending team http://www.kiva.org/team/driving_improved_results waiting for you to join and make your first loan of as little as $25. As for myself, I will make a loan to a third world entrepreneur in the name of each new client. That way I can help two entrepreneurs at the same time.

Here are some facts about Kiva.

• Total value of all loans made through Kiva: $155,541,500
• Number of Kiva Users who have funded a loan:    475,005
• Number of entrepreneurs that have received a loan through Kiva:    400,078
• Percentage of Kiva loans which have been made to women entrepreneurs:    82.10%
• Number of Kiva Field Partners (microfinance institutions Kiva partners with):    119
• Average loan size (This is the average amount loaned to an individual Kiva Entrepreneur. Some loans – group loans – are divided between a group of borrowers.):    $384.25
• Average total amount loaned per Kiva Lender (includes reloaned funds):    $208.24
• Average number of loans per Kiva Lender:    6.13
• Kiva is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, incorporated in November 2005.
• “Kiva” is a Swahili word which means “unity” or “agreement”.
• Kiva is the world’s first online micro-lending platform.
• Previously, Kiva CEO and Co-Founder Matt Flannery was an engineer at Tivo. Premal Shah, Kiva President, was a product manager at PayPal.
• PayPal provides Kiva with free payment processing. Kiva is the first account at PayPal with a free payment processing agreement.
• Kiva is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. and employs 34 full-time staff members.

Please join our lending team and make a loan that helps an entrepreneur grow a business to support a family and a growing economy. Both your children and my children will thank you.

Whether you’re an organization 1, 10, 100 or 1000 people, learning is the key to a continuously successful business. Yes, there are other keys, like capital, leadership, client relations, etc. But in many ways they relate back to learning. As a business/firm owner there are many things to learn. You probably learned a lot of things in school and previous work environments. An accountant learns accounting in school and during his on-the-job training. This professional knowledge is all about the services he will provide to his clients. He is much less likely to learn how to run a firm, how to manage staff, how to select ideal clients and market to them, how to engender client loyalty, how to grow the firm strategically. His initial work environment most likely will not provide that learning either. Capital, leadership and client relations are things he needs to learn on his own through his continuous learning.

A lawyer or engineer may have a firm of 100 people. For her people to act like a team, communicate well without silos, have effective management, and generate results she could let people guess what would be best to do with every task. Then when they are wrong or fail, she could correct them. That’s one way for a staff person to learn. It’s painful for the person and for the organization. And when the lesson is learned what has been achieved is mediocrity. Along the way there is wasted time, lost clients, hurt feelings, plenty of blame. All too many organizations are still run that way. What if, instead, there were a way that staff would be constantly exposed to new information on how to be proactive in time management, client loyalty, big picture thinking, teamwork, how to communicate better orally and in writing, new developments in client services? I know professionals need to earn continuing education credits each year to maintain their professional licenses. So partners get updated in their professional services. But what about the other business-growth skills and what about the other staff?

Here are some things that happen in The Learning Organization, an organization that is continually growing in capability.

1. Provide a university, an organized collection of course on various ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ skills. This provides training on topics that will enhance people’s performance on the job.
2. Go beyond training and offer development. This helps the employees to apply the skills in their own environment and deal with whatever obstacles are in the way. Usually the biggest obstacles have to do with the person’s mindset and personal values and beliefs. People see their own patterns and learn how to reprogram those patterns
3. Offer individual coaching. This is intensive development at its best and results in contextual changes like enhanced self-esteem, self-direction, self-reliance, evolutionary growth, big transformations that prepare a person for substantial change.
4. Run book discussion groups (see our recommended book list) or seminars on business topics. This might include client loyalty, communication, leadership, goal achievement self-improvement or similar topics. The organization might hold these at lunchtime or in workshop format, providing books, a facilitator, seminar leader, etc. Some organizations provide a lending library for staff.
5. Offer teleseminars or on-line learning to staff. There are many different companies that provide web based training. There are a lot of webinars on current topics that can be purchased for small amounts of money.
6. One of the most effective things I’ve seen is one group inside a company presenting to the other groups. The topics can be about a particular client service. Or it could be on a proposed service offering that the group has researched, a soft skill, a topic that the group learned at an outside seminar, or the contents of a book. Of course, this requires allocation of some staff preparation time.
7. Learning software, learning how the software will be used in your firm’s environment, learning how to use mobile technology.
8. Bringing in a coach/consultant to work with partners to strategically address growth, management, conflict (if it exists), silos, business development. These facilitated group sessions bring out the best in each person’s experience and help engage everyone in creating solutions

In the Learning Organization people feel valued and engaged because the organization is investing in them. Managers trust their employees to make decisions and empower their staff to take over tasks because the staff have received training and are worthy of the empowerment. Delegation becomes easier rather than partners thinking they have to micromanage and do it all themselves. The Learning Organization is poised for growth. It’s worth the investment.

Please tell us your experience as part of a Learning Organization. How has it worked for you? If your experience did not include working in a Learning Organization, how do you feel it has held you back?

Certainly your clients are people; they are individuals you connect to in many ways. Perhaps they are the point person of the organization that is actually who is paying you. You connect by having a personal relationship as well as a professional relationship. Part of your professional relationship is your hope that they see so much value in the service you provide that they give you a testimonial and they bring referrals to you and your business. Many professional service firms grow mainly by referrals from current clients.

So a client is also a business asset. It is an asset you can and should leverage to get other clients, to grow your firm, to accomplish your business’ vision.

How can you best leverage this asset? Here are some ways.

1. Have your client give you a testimonial letter. Use this when you’re talking to a new prospect, attach it to an email, include in your brochure or prospect packet. Some people might have put this into a ‘Brag Book’ in the pre-digital world.
2. Put the testimonials on your website. You can see an example testimonial page on my website by clicking here. Use this as an opportunity for your clients to showcase their own businesses. Case studies work well here.
3. Run a cross endorsement campaign. Another professional who targets the same target market can introduce you to five of their clients in trade for you introducing five of your clients.
4. Have your clients speak at one of your seminars or teleseminars. They can talk about your process and the quantifiable results. They don’t have to laud you to all the other attendees. The fact that they are there and willing to describe their experience speaks loud enough.
5. Have a referral meeting. Set up a specific appointment to go over referrals that your client can introduce you to. Tell them about your ideal client so they know who to look out for. Go over your plan for each introduction. Will you be introduced over lunch or breakfast, at a networking event, by email or 3 way conference call? If your client just gives you a name and tells you to make contact, it’s not much of a referral. It’s always best to have this type of meeting when the client is feeling very good about the service you’ve provided.
6. If you belong to some networking organizations that have regular referrals, invite your client to be your guest. Your client meets new contacts which might help him. When he says something that praises your work to the other participants, they become extra convinced of the value you can bring. They can then be even better at finding new prospects for you.
7. Partner with your client to do something for the trade association that he belongs to in order to attract similar clients. Write an article together, give a seminar together. Let him put you in touch with the trade association conference organizer so you can be a speaker at the industry event. You both win.
8. Does the client belong to any alumni, social, spots, country clubs or specialized groups that you can be invited to as his guest? Especially when he’ll introduce you to someone specific.

Leveraging your client assets is a smart way to grow your business. Clients are eager to help if you’ve provided great value and if you ask in a way that the client sees what’s in it for himself. Status (personal or professional), deepening the relationship with his contact, enhanced or new connections for his business, a better relationship with you are all rewards he might get from giving you a testimonial or referrals.

The eight ideas above are just a few ways to leverage your client assets. If you can add more, we’d all enjoy hearing your ideas and experiences.

Are you the kind of person who likes to get away? Get away from big city noise and traffic and crowded sidewalks? Get away from a series of appointments and emails and the pressures of a normal workday?

Would you really like to do more planning and evaluating, but never seem to find the time? Mostly, because there are interruptions: people and phones and emails and the running dialog of stuff to do going on in your head all the time. And a half hour here and there wouldn’t cut it even if you found it in your schedule, because it’s not enough time to focus and get your brain wrapped around the planning and evaluating you want to do.

And even if you made the time and forced yourself to focus, you’d be talking to yourself. You know what you know. You don’t know what you don’t know. Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone to offer a different perspective, offer feedback, show another path – maybe an easier path to the same objective. Wouldn’t it be nice just to relax, lay your cards out on the table and see what new answers you can come up with?

How about your team? Do you have people who are influential in your business, whether partners, high level employees, virtual assistants, key clients, whose opinions you value, but you never seem to have a long conversation to get the benefits of their input? And if they had a voice in helping to create or enhance your company’s strategies, wouldn’t they be more motivated to help accomplish them?

These are the main reasons business owners schedule retreats:

• getting away to a relaxed setting
• evaluation and planning, a chance to stop and determine strategy
• a day or two devoted to nothing else but focusing on the issue at hand
• bringing together input from pivotal players to make the evaluation and planning meaningful and doable
• helping the participants get to know each other in different ways and enhance communication
• involving a facilitator/coach/consultant who can offer objective feedback, make sure all participants get heard, keep the discussion focused, offer alternative strategies, and steer the group toward an actionable plan

There are lots of ways to structure a retreat. Including some fun activities in between sessions is usually a great idea. Incorporating rest and individual refection time enhances the experience. Time can be scheduled for breaking into pairs to come up with specific solutions or scenarios, as well as debrief time with the whole group. Facilitated interactive activities allow people to have experiences which drive home learning.

If this sounds good, we can help you plan your retreat. Have you been on a business retreat? Please tell us a high point and a low point of your retreat so we can all learn what to include and what to avoid.

A man owned a small farm.

The IRS claimed he was not paying proper wages to his staff and sent an investigator out to interview him.

‘I need a list of your employees and how much you pay them,’ demanded the investigator.

‘Well,’ replied the business owner, ‘there’s my farm hand who’s been with me for 3 years.  I pay him $200 a week plus free room and board.’

‘The cook has been here for 18 months, and I pay her $150 per week plus free room and board.’

‘Then there’s the half-wit. He works about 18 hours every day and does about 90% of all the work around here. He makes about $10 per week, pays his own room and board, and I buy him a bottle of whiskey every Saturday night. He also sleeps with my wife occasionally.’

‘That’s the guy I want to talk to …the half-wit,’ says the agent.

‘That would be me,’ replied the farmer.

Maybe you don’t own a farm but your business seems to suck all your effort, time, and attention, to the point where you wonder why? What’s the return on this investment? Or maybe you don’t even ask that question any more because you’re stuck in the habit of being active rather than productive.

If you want to stop being a half-wit about how you’re spending your life, then maybe you want to stop for a moment and re-evaluate the situation. There are plenty of alternatives for investing your time, money and energy that could bring you better ROI. Why don’t you go to a seminar that talks about planning a change? Just so happens there is just such a seminar happening on Wednesday August 11^th at 5:30pm. Here is the information and sign up page. http://www.drivingir.com/creating-a-business-plan I hope to see you there.

But meanwhile, please leave a comment about the life of a half-witted business person who you see looking out your window or in the mirror.

Occasionally I’ll get a client who says: “You know we spent several thousand dollars to go to this tradeshow when you add up the booth fees, transportation, hotels and food. Then when we got back to the office, we did nothing with all the leads we generated.”

Or, I’ll hear, “I went to a networking event recently. Over all I spent $15 on the entrance fee and $20 on transportation. But more than that I spent time traveling there, being there and traveling home. It took up my whole evening. I got into a few interesting conversations and got business cards from those I spoke with. But you know 3 weeks have gone by and I haven’t touched base with anyone I met there.”

In both scenarios the missing ingredient is follow up. Those that don’t follow up are throwing their time and effort against the wind. It’s like telling the universe, “My time and energy have no value. I don’t deserve success.” They are sabotaging their own efforts. It’s like throwing money out the window and wasting their most precious commodity, their time.

Why do people do that? Fear of success, fear of failure, feeling like they don’t deserve success, like they aren’t worthy of attention from the possible contacts. Lack of time is, of course, an excuse. If they wanted to, they would prioritize the time and make follow-up of ultimate importance. So maybe the networking and trade show weren’t high on the priority list to begin with. Then why get started in what you don’t intend to finish?

Here’s what successful people do.

They realize they have limited time and money. They cherry-pick the events that they will participate in to make sure the events are targeted at their ideal client or the resource they seek.

They plan the whole process, from registration to attendance to follow up and allocate time in their schedule for pre-attendance research and planning, attendance, post-attendance follow up.

They have a follow up process such as: When I go to an event, I write on the contact’s business card, the date and event name, a detail from the conversation that will help me remember him. I also rank the contact a 1-super contact (follow up immediately), 2- ok contact (follow up after the #1’s), 3-add to my mailing list but don’t need to meet with again. The next day I write a thank-you email to the #1’s and #2’s that requests a coffee date, add all #1,2,3’s to my mailing list, invite all to connect on Linked In.  Or if I have a virtual assistant, I scan the cards, email the scans to her and delegate any of these duties. Perhaps I use Outlook or a CRM (customer relationship management) software and I want to put the contacts into that for my follow-up process. Or perhaps I have an automated email marketing campaign of 4-5 educational emails I send to new contacts, which then asks each person to join my company’s mailing list (permission based marketing). There are lots of combinations of steps that could match what suits you and your industry.

They allocate time. Every time they are planning to go to an event, they allocate an appropriate amount of time after the event to do the follow up activities. That way they get done.

They look at each new contact as an opportunity, especially those #1’s. It’s a mindset that establishes value, value of the contact and value of themselves. The successful networker puts a lot of value on her own time and resources. She considers her time and money too precious to waste. So she goes to fewer events and capitalizes and leverages each one in a bigger way.

Successful sales people track over time which events yield results and she attends that one more often. Do you have a spreadsheet that lists all the events you’ve attended? Do you track how many #1 and #2 leads you received, how many appointments were generated from that event, and how many conversions to sales resulted? That’s getting granular about making things happen and utilizing your time for the best results.

Tell us about your networking follow up experiences, good or bad, on the proactive or the receiving end. How does it make you feel if you have a great conversation with someone and then they never reach out afterwards? What do you think about that person and how authentic she is? How do you think you come across if you never reach out afterwards?

By the way, this is a commentluv empowered blog. If you’ve registered your blog with commentluv, when you leave a post, it also invites other visitors to visit your blog and read your last post. Try it out.

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Here we are at the beginning of August in the home stretch of 2010. I’m sure you started out the year with some goals. Are you on track to achieve them? Perhaps you’re more than 7/12’s of the way to your goals. If so, congratulations. Maybe you’ve surpassed your goals. You’re having a great year.

But what if you’re not on track? What are you going to do about it? Now is a good time to stop, reevaluate and do something different. We create our futures. If we sit back and let circumstances have their way, then we are really saying we are victims of the world around us and not co-creators of the world with control and influence. You can turn around the rest of 2010 so the last 5 months is better than the first 7 months. Here’s how. Give yourself a couple of hours. Get out your computer or paper and pen and get to work.

1. Take the bull by the horns and commit to it. Don’t just say ‘I’ll try’. Actually say ‘I will’. This is a mindset game. When you commit to it, you will. Ask yourself, ‘if not now, when?’ Next year, the year after? Why not now? Why would you want to tread water for another year? It’s amazing how things start to happen when you demonstrate your commitment by taking action.
2. Decide what goal you will achieve by 12/31/2010. Is it a revenue or profitability goal? A number of new clients? A specific task? A statement to the marketplace like a book? Is it the same goal(s) that you had for the first 7 months? Maybe the goal isn’t working and you need a new goal.
3. List all the rewards you would obtain if you were to achieve your selected goal. Yes, you’ll have more income, for instance. But what will that additional income mean to you? What will you do with it? What will it mean to others like your family? Maybe it’s not income, maybe its recognition or health or love. Drill down. Keep asking yourself, ‘and so?’ until you’ve gotten to the point that it really motivates you. Make yourself see the rewards as so powerful that you’d be stupid not to go for it. If it’s not that important, maybe you need to change the goal or change the business. How can you be committed to achieving a goal with all your heart, mind and strength if you don’t want it badly enough?
4. List all the consequences that would happen if you don’t achieve the goal. What are the bad things that would happen if you fail? What will happen to your family? Keep asking ‘and so?’ until you have motivated yourself to realize the ‘do or die’ importance of achieving this goal. Most people are more moved to avoid pain rather than to realize rewards.
5. Start journaling. Write an extensive story about yourself and your business next January. Envision the details of what a day in your life will be like. How will ordinary things happen after this goal is achieved? Write pages and pages of who said what when, how things in your environment looked, smelled, sounded like, felt when you touched them. Put it in the terms of your five senses so it’s real to your brain.  Describe how you feel when business flows, when there’s plenty of clients and cash. Or whatever the rewards are that you detailed in #3 above. If you write these things down, whether or not they actually come true, you are setting up a comfort zone in your neo-cortex, an expectation that this is normal. Before you can move there, you have to feel you belong there and deserve to be there and it’s easy for you to function there. The more you write, the more you’re convincing your brain that this is normal and comfortable. Imagine all kinds of scenarios of success. Aim higher but not unrealistically high. Of course, that depends on how big your comfort zone is already. I can’t stress enough how important a step this is. And you might catch yourself letting bits of your expanded detailed vision slip into your conversations with peers, or family members or employees. This is the best sign that you’re accepting, feeling comfortable at a new level, internalizing the inevitability of success. It truly is a mind game. Don’t let your journaling end. Keep adding to it and expanding your comfort zone. It will be amazing after a year to go back and see that you’ve accomplished the very things you led yourself to expect.
6. After you’ve given yourself at least five pages of visioning, then it’s time to start brainstorming. How are you going to get that goal done and move into that level of success? Think of as many solutions as possible, silly methods, outlandish methods, far fetched methods, concrete methods, ways that require resources that you don’t see yourself having. This gets your mind thinking creatively and sets the bar higher for a set of solutions created from a new mindset. Write down at least 20 different ways to accomplish that goal, the sillier the better.
7. Take a break from brainstorming to analyze your obstacles. Come up with 4-10 obstacles that you perceive get in you and your business’s way of achieving your goal. If it was easy, you would have accomplished it already, so take a minute to list and describe the relevant obstacles. Make sure you include your own limited thinking and blind spots.
8. Go back to brainstorming. But now make your brainstorming focused on each obstacle. Let yourself get super creative. Not everything has to be practical. Thinking silly stuff can lead to other things which might be very doable, but never dawned on you before. Get some other people involved in doing this brainstorming. You egg each other on to be more and more creative and focused. You bring different skills and awareness of various solutions.
9. Now look over all the written brainstorming ideas you came up with. Hopefully there’s 40-100 there. Choose the ones that will be the best to implement. Create an action plan to get each step done along a time line with individual people taking responsibility for each step. Then hold your employees or yourself accountable. It will be easy to slip backwards into old habits. That’s why you need to continually reread your extensive list of rewards and consequences. That’s why you’ll need to constantly add to the fabulous future you envision and describe in your journal.

If you and others in your company really engage in this process, you can lead yourself and your business out of the mediocre and into expanded capability and success. If you start now, the last 5 months of 2010 can have real possibilities of turning around and exceeding your goals. If you wait too long, you’ll have less and less chance to make 2010 the year that you want it to be. Your choice, do the 9 steps above or tread water.

Will you give it a try?

Share your story of a mindset expanding experience that’s been helpful to you.

By the way, this is a commentluv empowered blog. If you’ve registered your blog with commentluv, when you leave a post, it also invites other visitors to visit your blog and read your last post. Try it out.

There are two results from marketing. There are the low hanging fruit, the leads from prospects that want to buy now and immediately enter your sales process. Secondly, there are the leads that are seeds which need to be planted and nourished. They may turn into buyers in the future when they are ready and feel properly nurtured. It is this second group that these thoughts will address.

What do you do with a seed? You plant it. You water it. You make sure it gets the right amount of sunshine. Sometimes it takes and it grows big and strong and sometimes it doesn’t. Same thing with a new contact.

The new contact is meeting people all the time. Those new people will have top of mind recognition unless you continually remind your contact that you’re there and have something worthwhile to offer.

What’s the best thing to offer? In the professional services arena, education is the best thing to offer. It positions you and your company as experts. It keeps you top of mind. It shows your continuing value as a source of current knowledge. It gives you the opportunity to help the prospect uncover his need so that he is more likely to eventually sense that he has a problem that needs solving. It allows him to assess various vendors in the marketplace and then choose to develop a relationship with you.

People buy from people. Utilizing this time between making the initial contact and entering the buying conversation is perfect time for you to make a connection. Incorporating emotional intelligence into how you nurture that seed means that you see each seed as unique and worthy of a personal relationship. So following  up with a periodic ‘checking in with you’ type phone call, offering a free gift like tickets or attendance at a seminar, a valuable newsletter, introducing the contact to someone that would be valuable to their business are all ways to keep building the personal connection.

While you’re nurturing this seed, keep in mind what the prospect is thinking. Here’s his thought, “How you sell me is how you will serve me.” So honor the prospect by treating him just as carefully while nurturing the seed as when he says he’s ready to buy.

Your seed nurturing program should have as its single focus the development of trust. Then you get more referrals. You spend less time and energy on superfluous distractions. You won’t compete on price.

Sales researchers say that it requires 8-12 touches before somebody buys. This includes all forms of communication. Those who stick with the process for the entire time earn the most sales.

How do you track all the ‘seeds that you’re planting’? How do you make sure you know when you last nurtured a seed or when someone else in your organization helped you nurture a seed? That’s where mailing list software is really helpful. There are plenty of programs that can maintain a mailing list and help you prepare and send a periodic newsletter. There is CRM (customer relationship management) software that can track all the emails, phone calls, appointments, etc. you engage the prospect with. And the information can be shared across your network because this prospect might be touching base with others in your organization and certainly you want to encourage this. It can also track contact with multiple people in your prospect’s organization.

So how are you nurturing your seeds? What tools and techniques are you using to manage and deepen the connection with each prospect? Tell us a success story of how a nurtured seed became a great client.

When you are creating marketing programs or activities, it pays to know who the decision makers and the influencers are. In Business to Business marketing, (B2B) any of these scenarios might be the case:

• Your product or service might be bought by a purchasing agent who gets multiple bids and makes the decision on what bid to go with.
• The CEO or the VP of a department might make the decision of who the vendor is and what to purchase, and then tell the purchasing agent to go through with the process.
• In a small company there may be no purchasing agent. The CEO signs the engagement letter or purchase document.
• Often a team will do research and make decisions on items needed by the team.
• There may be people at lower levels who gather the information about who the players are in the industry, and then bring their findings to the CEO for interviews and decision making. You could be in or out of the final round based on the personal relationship you have with the information gatherer.
• Who else is an influencer? Many times the assistant to the decision maker screens calls, screens who gets to see the boss. She also might report on your behavior during the appointment making process or while waiting to see the decision maker.

In the information technology business I had for 18 years, we often used our receptionist this way. She had been with our firm since the beginning. She was very personable and a good judge of character. Whenever a vendor came to call or a job applicant was being interviewed, we purposely had him wait for a few minutes in the reception area so that she could engage him in conversation. She would assess his verbal and nonverbal interactions when he thought he was ‘off’ and she was part of the team that decided how we would proceed.

So who do you market to? Who do you want to see you as an expert, as a thought leader? Who do you want to establish your brand with? Who are the decision makers and the influencers? Here’s where knowing your target market makes a lot of difference. How big are the firms? How do they do their purchasing? Are the decision makers making decisions by themselves or are the businesses in this niche generally run by a team? How can you get to market to the team, to the influencers, to the assistants, to the decision maker, to the purchasing agent? What kinds of marketing outreach will effect each one?

Marketing follows need. So look for the need. Identify needs and you’ll have a much better idea about how to market most effectively.

What kind of need does the decision maker have that the non-decision makers don’t have? For instance, CEO’s tend to think more strategically while people in less managerial positions think more tactically. The CEO might want something that prevents future problems while the line worker may want something that solves today’s version of the problem.

What kind of need does the information gatherer have that is different than the decision maker? To be valued by the company and ultimately by the decision maker, most likely. What kinds of things can you do to positively brand yourself and your product or service in her eyes?

What about the purchasing agent? What need does the purchasing agent have? To look good in the eyes of her managers that she can handle the details smoothly, save the company money, negotiate well?

There are a lot of questions here. Each situation is different. The key is to understand your customer, their business model, their corporate structure, how they make money, their needs at every level of the organization, their personalities, their researching and buying processes. The more you understand, the better you can market to them. Remember a company is really a collection of individuals with needs and wants. Recognizing this can make a huge difference in how your company is perceived and branded in the marketplace.

Interested in Marketing? Tonight is the night of our free teleseminar Get MORE Clients, 12 Strategies that Produce Results Instead of Keeping You Stuck Going Around In Circles. Sign up to get the dial-in information. www.drivingir.com/get-more-clients

Affirmations are powerful statements you tell yourself to move yourself into a positive reality, statements that you know at other times to be true, statements that empower you to bring out your best when you get into dangerous territory of thinking about the negative.

We all experience things that seek to destroy our motivation, setbacks when circumstances don’t go as expected, a prospect that decides not to move forward, a personal injury or family emergency that forces us to take time out, a negative comment that causes some of our underlying fears to surface.

We have a choice. We can play tapes in our heads that give into that emotional distress and put us in victim mode. Or we can play different tapes, ones that are uplifting, empowering, inspiring, confirming our value to ourselves and to others.

Here’s a fun video about a young girl who knows how to think positive.

This week and next we’re highlighting marketing as a part of the release of a new coaching group. Going forward in your marketing is like going forward in most everything. If you believe you can, you will. If it’s part of your comfort zone, you will do it easily. You will make time for the marketing activities. If you believe you deserve the rewards, then you will gravitate to them. And there is the crucial element. So often we feel blocked from success. We feel it’s just out of reach. We try and we work hard. But we stay stuck. Do you feel like you truly deserve the success you seek? Let’s break that down into a number of questions that might highlight contributing factors to the resistance many of us feel.

The ‘hard work’ mentality. Were you raised to believe that everything, or at least anything worthwhile, would require hard work? Therefore, you now feel that nothing can be achieved without hard work? If something doesn’t require hard work, then you haven’t earned it and don’t deserve it. Therefore, you must work hard (whether or not it’s really needed) just to justify to yourself that you’re entitled to the rewards. Without the hard work, you don’t deserve the success. All you need to do is look at someone who wasn’t raised this way (many of the millennials – people under thirty who achieve quite a lot effortlessly such as Tim Ferris, author of the 4 Hour Work Week)

No clear vision mentality. When a prospect or client says he feels blocked from the success he seeks, I ask him, “If you were to achieve success, what would your day five years from now look like? Take yourself through a day from morning til evening. Describe it in detail.” People have the hardest time putting themselves into the picture of a successful future. They don’t think it can be real and so they can’t envision it. They are afraid of wishing for too much. The more real you can make it for yourself, the more attracted you can be to the success that creates it. You create a comfort zone with achieving success so it comes about more naturally. Your future may not turn out as you describe. It may turn out better or different. But without you having a big enough dream with real details, you can’t move into it.

The silver bullet mentality. Many individuals think “if I could find the one thing that’s holding me back, then everything would turn around.” They are looking for the one paradigm shift, the one mental button to push, the one attitudinal habit left over from childhood that needs to be changed. Asking the right questions really helps to find the sources of resistance. But overcoming the blockages takes gradual change, shifting attitudes so you feel like you deserve the success, putting one foot in front of the other through goal setting and achievement, and getting used to functioning at increasingly higher levels of success. Do you reach a tipping point where the critical mass of your accomplishments all comes together? Yes, if you get out of your own way.

‘I have to do it myself’ mentality. Some people call this the ‘solo entrepreneur mindset’ or the ‘pioneer spirit’. It’s the attitude that you can create anything and control the future by yourself. It really is a control and trust issue. Success rarely if ever is achieved by one person working in isolation. It’s been shown over and over in books galore written about successful people. They relied on others. They succeeded as a team. They shared their resources and grew together. They pooled their ideas and supported each other’s moral. They challenged each other to raise the bar, think bigger, go for the gold. That shared energy, created momentum and made achievement more fun. They created accountability to each other. If you’re not part of a mastermind group, have an accountability partner, have a coach, use someone that you trust to help you such as an assistant, then you are sabotaging yourself and keeping yourself at a small level. People think, I can’t afford an assistant. Perhaps you should think, ‘If I want success, I can’t afford not to have an assistant.’

Successful marketing is all about knowing what to do and then doing it. If you’re not seeking out answers about what to do and then committing the time and energy to get those activities done, then check your attitudes about deserving success. They are getting in your way.

You can learn more about the ‘Magnified Marketing Multiplies My Money’ coaching program by signing up for a teleclass that will tell you all about it. You can listen to the recording if the timing doesn’t work with your schedule. The steps leading to success will be presented here on a silver platter. If you don’t take advantage, is it because you feel you don’t deserve success? www.drivingir.com/get-more-clients

In our businesses we can go two steps forward and then two more steps forward. But some of us go two steps forward and one step back. And repeat. Why is that? Some of us are naturally more cautious. Perhaps we fear failure or maybe success. More likely, however, is that we haven’t organized our time and efforts into systems that prevent problems. So fires continuously arise and we have to put them out. We run our businesses by reactively extinguishing problems rather than proactively preventing problems. Solution: Prioritize how we spend our time to address what is important before it becomes urgent. Remove low priority items that get in the way of high priority ones.

We address this in our highly acclaimed coaching program called Magnified Marketing Multiplies My Money!  We apply time management skills to the practice of marketing so you have no more excuses. Click here to read more about it.

Below is a funny comparison that illustrates just how difficult you could make something for yourself.

Please leave a comment about what you’ve observed in yourself or others about the easy and difficult ways to get something done.

Oil Change Done the Easy Way:

• Pull up to Jiffy Lube when the mileage reaches 3000 miles since the last oil change.
• Drink a cup of coffee.
• 15 minutes later, write a check and leave, driving a properly maintained vehicle.

Money spent:
Oil Change: $30.00
Coffee: $1.00
Total: $31.00

Oil Change Done the Difficult Way

• Wait until Saturday, drive to auto parts store and buy a case of oil, filter, kitty litter, hand cleaner and a scented tree, use your debit card for $50.00.
• Stop by general store and buy a case of beer, (debit $20), drive home.
• Open a beer and drink it.
• Jack car up. Spend 30 minutes looking for jack stands.
• Find jack stands under kid’s pedal car.
• In frustration, open another beer and drink it.
• Place drain pan under engine.
• Look for 9/16 box end wrench.
• Give up and use crescent wrench.
• Unscrew drain plug.
• Drop drain plug in pan of hot oil: splash hot oil on you in process.
• Crawl out from under car to wipe hot oil off of face and arms. Throw kitty litter on spilled oil.
• Have another beer while watching oil drain.
• Install new oil filter making sure to apply a thin coat of oil to gasket surface.
• Dump first quart of fresh oil into engine.
• Remember drain plug from step 11..
• Hurry to find drain plug in drain pan.
• Drink beer.
• Discover that first quart of fresh oil is now on the floor. Throw kitty litter on oil spill.
• Get drain plug back in with only a minor spill. Drink beer.
• Dump in five fresh quarts of oil.
• Beer.
• Lower car from jack stands.
• Move car back to apply more kitty litter to fresh oil spilled.
• Beer.
• Test drive car.
• Get pulled over: arrested for driving under the influence.
• Car gets impounded.
• Call loving wife, make bail.
• 12 hours later, get car from impound yard.

Money spent:
Parts: $50.00
DUI: $2500.00
Impound fee: $75.00
Bail: $1500.00
Beer: $20.00
Total: $4,145.00

For some it’s the time it takes to get it done.

For others it’s the fact that you have to pay someone to do it and it doesn’t seem to generate any revenue by itself.

For others it’s not knowing what to do, the best strategies and tactics.

For others it’s not having any clarity about a targeted niche. Lack of clarity makes marketing a whole lot more difficult.

Marketing is positioning and branding so you attract the most interested and qualified prospects, so that you can subsequently sell to them. Without marketing you’re a scattershot. Without marketing, you’re flailing your arms in the wind trying to catch fireflies. A good marketing program is like turning on a light in the dark outside and all the insects are attracted to it.

So how can you be like a honeycomb that attracts bees? You have to stop trying to be a honeycomb that attracts bees, ants, hornets, wasps, antelopes, elephants and cows. Trying to attract too large and varied a market is self-sabotaging because no prospect sees how you can solve their particular needs. You’re better off selecting a very narrow niche, identifying and speaking to the very specific needs of that niche, and providing a solution that is specific like a key that fits into a lock.

When you do that, everything becomes easier. Now you reach that niche right where they are, at their trade association meetings, in their magazines and newsletters. Need help? Seek out other non-competing professions that also sell to that niche. Get information, form partnerships, do mutual endorsements. Reduce costs, save time, leverage your mailing lists together.

You also have a real or perceived special knowledge of your products’ applicability to the issues and problems that niche deals with. They really need your key to fit into their lock and unlock the answers to their problems. They will pay more to get what you have because they need it. The riches are in the niches. You also save when you provide your product or service. Because the clients are similar, you can be an expert implementer and develop in-house systems for production of whatever you provide , better buying of the objects or outsourced services, economies of scale with administrative tasks, etc. The world is your oyster. Better marketing leads to better clients, more sales, reduced costs and more profits.

So is it worth it in spite of your gripes? You tell me. Tell us your thoughts. We’d love to hear your comments.

If you’d like to be better at marketing your business, please check out our upcoming coaching program called Magnified Marketing Multiplies My Money!

This is one of my favorite videos on Youtube. It’s all about positivity, smiling, attracting people by how you make each person feel. This is the basis of client loyalty, that personal connection that makes people want to be around you. Each person in this short video feels validated and encouraged to shine.

I mentioned the video in passing in a previous post. Kudos to you if you can find it or remember which post it is. Please tell the rest of the readers. Yeah, you got it. This is a teaser to get you to look at some previous posts.

Please relate a short story of when someone else’s smile was so infectious that you just had to smile as well. All these stories will help all our readers get ideas on how to create more attraction and loyalty in their lives and businesses. Please tell one of your experiences where you felt validated and encouraged to shine.

I always like your stories.

Happy Independence Day! When I meet a coaching prospect, we talk about their goals. We keep talking until we get to the core. We peel back the superficial layers, like peeling away the layers of an onion. Eventually we get to the inner issues. What are they? People want freedom, financial freedom, freedom from stress about money, health, tension, boredom, pressure. They want options and the wisdom to choose and use the options wisely.

Of course, with freedom comes responsibility. We learned that in American history. If you want an American revolution, if you want to have freedom from taxes on your tea, you then have to run the country yourself. If you want choices, then you have to take responsibility for the choices you make. If you take the responsibility, then you deserve the freedom. Hence no ‘taxation without representation’. Our Independence Day holiday is a reminder of all that we hold dear nationally, our individual freedoms that we fight wars to maintain.

But what about some other freedoms? We get caught in habits, auto pilot types of reactions to situations, somebody pushing our buttons, entrapments of our own self-limitations of how little value we think we can  accomplish in the world, ideas about how much or how little we deserve, chips on our shoulders that cause us to think small or play the victim. What about these examples of loss of freedom? They happen in both our professional and personal lives.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• If you are way too heavy, are you giving yourself the freedom to live a longer, higher quality, energy rich, healthy life?
• If you’re stuck in a job you don’t like, are you giving yourself the freedom to be happy, engaged, productive and developing your true potential?If you have conflicts with a loved one, are you giving yourself the freedom to live a harmonious life surrounded by love rather than conflict?
• If you have undeveloped talents and passions that you’re afraid to uncover, are you giving yourself the freedom to live the adventure of true authenticity and ease?

My mother always said, ‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way.’ ‘If you can’t find a door, open a window’. The way to independence may not be easy,(i.e. American Revolution) but if you’re committed to true independence, you will find a way to make it happen, people who can help, passion to motivate yourself and others. That’s the responsibility part. That’s when you’re truly independent and not marching to someone else’s drum.

Will you abdicate your freedom or take responsibility to create the life of freedom that you deserve? Please leave your comments about personal freedom and independence as we celebrate our national independence day. Thanks. Enjoy!

Recently I hurt my knee, devastating for a dancer. I got an MRI and found out I tore both menisci and a ligament. So I started going to physical therapy. Some of the physical therapy work is on specific things for my knee, tracking of the knee over the toes for good alignment, exercises for flexibility of the knee, building up the strength of the small muscles that surround the knee and knee cap. But most of the work is general strengthening, not only of the knee but of the back, interior pelvic muscles, quad and hamstring muscles, ankle and foot. Why am I telling you all this?

In your business, everything is related. Just like your body and leg. If your knee or your marketing (for instance) is broken, it affects everything else. Yes, you have to look at specific things like your marketing activities. But you also have to look at strengthening your general business outlook such as how you handle time management, your mindset, your decision making abilities, your vision and values. You need to strengthen these things continually so that your business systems flourish. Things like marketing activities, sales conversions, budgeting, staff management don’t happen in a vacuum. They are all connected like the back to the hip to the knee to the ankle to the foot. Together they create a strong balanced environment. They grow together and support each other. Are you growing your mindset, your possibility thinking, your positivity? Are you opening your mind to seek new opportunities? Are you creating repeatable systems that offer some predictability? Are you focused on your vision and adhering to your values? Are the specifics written into a business plan to make sure that what you’re doing actually leads you to the goals you seek? Are your systems measuring what’s working and what’s not so you can make changes that yield better results? If you were going to prescribe physical therapy for your business, what would you do to yield better success?

But then, that begs the questions, why do people like me call what I do business coaching? Why don’t we call it business therapy? What are your thoughts?

We all go to networking events. That’s where potential new clients are at. Hopefully you’re going to the right networking events, the ones where the majority of attendees fit the profile of your ideal client. Don’t have a profile of your ideal client? Demographics and psychographics? Then better do something about that? More on that in next Monday’s post.

So you’re at the networking event. Perhaps you’re going around the table or maybe it’s more of a wandering meet and greet. Or maybe it’s speed networking where you move on down the line every six minutes. It doesn’t matter because you’ve only got about 20 seconds to catch somebody’s interest. That’s the initial attention span of the average adult. So you can bore everybody by going on and on about what you do, who you do it for, and the finer points about what you provide. Or you can make it much more engaging by telling a story. Tell the story of a current or past client. What their situation is, what you did to help them and what the outcome is or has been. Situation – action – results. Keep it short. Choose a story that is about your ideal client so that you are attracting more of the same. Keep it anonymous, of course. Here are some reasons why this works.

1. We grew up with stories, we like stories with a beginning, middle and end. Didn’t you like it when your parents or teachers told you stories? Don’t positive endings make you feel good?
2. We can see ourselves or someone we know in the story. We can identify with the main character. It helps us give referrals because we can picture ourselves or someone else in the same picture.
3. Stories create a tension that makes you listen to the end. You hear a problem. You feel for the protagonist. You listen to hear what happens. It involves you emotionally and involves the limbic layer of your brain, a much deeper level.
4. People listen to stories, they are engaged and, therefore, the stories are more memorable. Emotional involvement is linked to longer term memory I the limbic layer. People may forget other things, but they probably won’t forget your story. They will probably associate your face with your story and you will be more memorable then as well.
5. Stories can better communicate concepts. Some things are difficult to explain and if the other person has no relevant experience, then they don’t get it at all. A story can make the complex more succinct and understood in a flash. An example yields clarity.
6. Stories are easier for you to remember and will come out of your mouth with more confidence, simplicity and fewer speech trip-ups. Did you ever memorize an elevator pitch and then have it come out of your mouth in bits and pieces because you were distracted or tired or not as engaged? If you’re telling a story that you’ve lived, it flows easily effortlessly and clearly. You improvise how you express it depending on who you’re telling it to.
7. You are more enthusiastic, lively and engaging when you tell a story. Because it comes from your personal experience, you focus on your listener rather than the content. Your passion shows through. People are more attracted to you.
8. You probably have several good client stories. You can select the one you tell depending on who the listener is or what kind of networking event you’re at. If you’re focusing on professional services and you’re at a meeting of CPA’s, then by all means tell a CPA story. If you’re talking to someone older, tell a story including an older person. If someone tells you what their problem is, then tell her a story about how you helped someone with the same problem. You can be flexible and focused on the other person, rather than being focused solely upon yourself.

Do you have a story inventory? I encourage you to keep a log and even write out your stories. It helps to stimulate your thinking about the value of the story, the elements you want to include, the structure of:

Situation—Action—Result

Then when you’re out networking or need to tell a prospect, your stories will be told succinctly and coherently. It helps you find appropriate stories for different situations. Over time the story inventory reminds you of stories you may have forgotten. Plus you can share the inventory with other people you work with. Double whammy when you have more and a greater variety of stories to tell.

These stories are like mini- case studies. Why not write each one up, put it on your web site, put it in information you prepare for prospects?

If you go to the home page of my website, you’ll see 3 videos of my client stories, a CPA firm, the owner of a video production company and a mid level manager of a financial services firm. How about you? What’s your favorite client story? Please tell us a story using the situation, action, results structure. This is a chance to let those following this blog know something about you. Do you use stories? Have they helped you land new clients?

Answer the survey and receive a $5 Starbucks card mailed to you as a thank you for your input. I would like to offer what you value and the services you want. After all, I’m in business to serve you, to help your professional firm be more profitable and effective. Answers to the following questions would help me shape offerings that will help you prosper. Your input is very much appreciated.

cforms contact form by delicious:days

Thank you for answering this survey. I am also interested in your verbal feedback. So please call or email me with any of your thoughts. Once again thank you,

I belong to a LinkedIn group called Linked 2 Leadership. Someone started a discussion that has been going on and on and on. The topic really has caught everybody’s attention. So I thought I’d ask you.

• What is the best business lesson you’ve learned from your mother?
• And since Father’s Day is so close, let’s add him, also. What did you learn from either of your parents that you would call your best business lesson?

My parents always encouraged me to be smart, put my best foot forward, and do everything in moderation.

(If you’re not on LinkedIn, you should be. It helps you grow a professional network, link to clients and resources, show off your expertise, do research on new potential clients and see how you might reach a prospect through a referral from someone you already know. More on this later.)

Also, please remember to keep submitting names for this blog. You’ll be publicly recognized for your creativity and $50 richer. We need your original and remarkable ideas. Tell us your suggestions right here along with your parent’s advice.

Suggestions so far include: The Right Steps, Jeri Quinn on Business, Quinn’s Wins,, Business with Jeri Quinn, In the Driver’s Seat, Star Steps or Reach Your Stars.

So what is the best business lesson you’ve learned from either your mother or father?

Thanks

Salespeople are motivated by several things, money and what money will buy, pride and accomplishment, status in the eyes of others.

But the best salespeople, the ones whose customers keep coming back, realize that selling is about using their skills to make people happy, bringing value to people to make their lives better. The best salespeople want the best for their clients helping them buy what is truly in the buyer’s best interest.

If you’re a salesperson, you know that keeping yourself full of confidence each day is tough. Life happens. Yet if you don’t walk into every sales meeting with a very up-attitude, full of self-confidence and a positive outlook, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. So how can you prep your attitude, remind yourself of the benefit you can bring to your prospect, and get yourself pumped up for the meeting?

Many successful people use self-talk, telling yourself things that make you feel confident, in touch with your motivation, in line with your life purpose. I suggest that there are two kinds of self-talk and they are both necessary: Head-talk and Heart-talk. Head talk is when you tell yourself words. You comprehend the words intellectually. They make sense to you because they are your words. Heart-talk is when you let words and concepts turn into feelings. You might use the same words, but you feel them as experiences and you call up the feelings you felt the last time you were in the same situation. Heart-talk is more powerful than head-talk.

Here is something that I use at the beginning of every day.

“Who Can I Reach Today?”

The whole sentence has meaning for me in that as a business and executive coach I really believe I can help my client and that she deserves to have me in her life. And then each word has meaning and calls up experiences for me. The head-talk just sounds like some regular short words. But the heart-talk is powerful.

Who – My prospect is a person, an individual just like me with thoughts, feelings, pride and insecurities. I respect her and want the best for her. I believe in her talent, individuality and ability to make choices that are in her best interest.

Can – Yes, I ‘can.’ I can be anything I want to create myself to be. I can win over this client. I can be a winner, just like I was with  (name other clients who are very loyal and who you really like. Picture them. Feel the fulfilling feeling that I feel when my work with them is successful.)

I – I am powerful. I am my core values and my long term vision. I am my dreams and aspirations. I am everything I’ve experienced in my life. I can not be a help to someone else if I don’t feel strong and capable. People depend on me and I can come through for them because I know who I am at the center of my being. I am capable and what I offer is of value. I don’t have to tell people about my strength. If I sense it, they will sense it. I picture and feel a strong but flexible core spine deep inside my body surrounded by strong muscles.

Reach – Reaching is an action word and nothing happens til I do an action. Reaching out beyond myself, extending out from my core to touch someone at his core is what I’m all about. It gives my life meaning and is in line with my life purpose. When I think about this, I feel my muscles stretch out to touch someone just beyond my reach. I make it a kinesthetic experience. As a dancer that is very meaningful to me.

Today – Right now, not yesterday or tomorrow. I can’t control the past and the future depends on today. So there’s no putting things off. The current moment is my action point, my decision point, my point of creation. I once heard a speech by Lou Holtz (Notre Dame football coach). He stressed asking his team. “What’s important now?” That experience of hearing that speech plays in my head and helps me make choices and be focused on my actions in the present.

‘Who can I reach today?’ Who knew that such a little string of words could provide so much powerful head-talk and heart-talk?

Can you come up with your own string of words that you can use to prep yourself on your way to an important meeting and to create a meaningful experience for your prospect? Can you emotionalize the words with your feelings from your life experiences? Human development professionals call that generalization, transferring felt feelings to new situations or visualized situations. We all spend so much time in our heads with head-talk. Of course, analytic stuff is necessary and our left brain has a lot to process. But if we can engage in heart-talk from our right brains as well as the feelings that we store in the limbic part of our brains, we can be more authentic, more magnetic, more true to ourselves. Customers are smart. They intuitively sense that. You attract their trust and respect. Your relationship deepens and before you know it, you’ve made a sale and possibly a long term customer.

I invite your comments on selling from the heart. What motivates you?

It’s vacation time.  Are you planning yours?  Here are some fun ideas.

Take a look at some of the hairy photos in the video below.

After viewing these pictures, the risks inherent in business are pretty tame.

“The Seven Keys to Success in CPA Firm Management” is a report that you can download. It points out after much research that firms can be filtered by their results and some fall into the ‘Leaders’ category and some fall into the ‘Laggards’ category. Leaders excel in 7 areas, not surprisingly: Leadership, Technology, Learning Organization, Marketing and Business Development, A Great Place to Work, Client Service and Satisfaction, Strategy Execution. Here are a sampling of more specific areas where the leaders’ superior practices contribute to firms that gets results:

Adhering to a clear set of values… leaders 63%, laggards, 23%
Top management held accountable… leaders 55%, laggards 31%
Training that supports business strategy… leaders 34%, laggards, 10%
Training that supports personal goals… leaders 22%, laggards 8%
Targeting niches and specialties… leaders 38%, laggards 15%
Turn away and fire clients who don’t fit our target… leaders 25%, laggards, 5%
Work as a team, not as individuals… leaders 44%, laggards 12%
Management supports a healthy work/life balance… leaders 47%, laggards 25%
Every staffer is empowered to do what it takes to satisfy a client… leaders 38%, laggards, 12%
Business goals are specific and measurable… leaders 31%, laggards 3%
Regularly check progress against the business plan… leaders 30%, laggards 2%

Clearly, CPA firms that are leaders are engaged in practices being used in well managed companies from any industry. CPA’s, especially those who are managing partners, are business people. The age of the accountant who is expert at doing his clients’ accounting work but doesn’t give adequate time to strategic planning, client loyalty, staff and culture management, and business development is over. Accountants who don’t recognize this have their heads in the sand and will be left in the dust by those who do actively manage the business aspects of running their firms. So let me ask you some questions.

1.  Do you have a business plan?
2. Does it contain strong vision and values statements that are communicated to all staff?
3. Does everyone in the firm have specific and measurable goals so they can help achieve the strategies laid out in the business plan?
4. Are the staff being trained to support the strategy?
5. Are the partners being held accountable for their goals, too?
6. Have you identified your niches and ideal clients in those niches?
7. Have you ‘fired’ clients that don’t match your target criteria to make room for the better ones that do?
8. Does the firm believe in empowering staff to make decisions, work in teams, achieve personal goals, and achieve a healthy work/life balance?
9. Is your culture being managed?

If you can answer yes to each of those questions, then perhaps your firm is a leader also. If not, then your firm most likely currently or will soon fall into the ‘laggard’ category. It’s never too late to get started on a turn around. It just may help you understand your clients better as well, as they are doing the same things to manage their businesses

Welcome!!

I see you found my new site and my blog. I’m so excited that now I can have an interactive forum with you. I look forward to your comments. I’m building my business around helping you solve your firm’s growth needs. So please let me know by commenting on each post and answering my future surveys and polls.

This blog has a problem. It has no name. I’m hoping you will help me name it. Please offer your suggestions in your comments and comment on each other’s suggestions (constructively please). Use this forum to brainstorm and record your ideas, no matter how wacky. You never know. Your idea might set off a spark for someone else. I’d love it if the blog had a cool name, catchy and positive, professional but not too business-y. I’m sure you can think of something that reflects the new logo, the metaphors of driving and dancing, the focus on growing businesses through coaching professional firms and entrepreneurs. The lines between the two are growing fuzzy as the world changes and the internet elevates the needs and power of the consumer.

To give you a little more incentive, the creative person whose suggestion is selected within the next couple of weeks will be formally recognized to all the readers on my list of close to 3,000 readers. That person will also win a $50 American Express gift card as a thank you for their creative idea. Let the naming begin!

If you’ve been following my newsletters over the last 3 years, you’ll see that many former newsletter articles are now available for you as blog posts and are categorized so you can find your favorites easily. I invite your comments, much easier now that each article is a blog post.

Please help me better solve your needs by being part of the discussion, identifying what it is you want this community and myself to help you with. I’ll be posting all kinds of ideas here (practical, thought provoking, funny), and your feedback and input will help me understand what you need most to help you grow your firm.

With warmth and respect,

You have a choice to think positively or negatively. You can choose to listen to that voice inside your head that says, ‘You’re procrastinating again.’ Or ‘I didn’t have to let that edge creep into my voice.’ Or ‘I’m in a lousy mood and it’s so easy to complain, but what would that accomplish?’

You can consciously choose to stay stuck in non-productive habits and attitudes. Or you can choose something that will make a difference, lead to better outcomes and start the formation of new more productive habits and attitudes.

A good example: The last Tuesday in March it rained in NYC torrents and torrents of water. It didn’t let up all day. It was windy and umbrellas got blown apart and the day got colder as it went on. Of course, a couple of weeks ago I had made appointments so I was walking around the city going from appointment to appointment, most of which were with new prospects. My feet were wet. The bottom of my pant legs were wet. My umbrella broke.

If I went into each meeting complaining about the weather and my lousy luck to have appointments all over the city in the rain, it would put a damper (no pun intended) on the ensuing conversation. Who’s going to hire a negative business coach? So I chose to keep my attitude ‘up’. All day long I walked through the rain picturing Gene Kelly dancing to ‘Singing in the Rain.’ Do you remember the movie? He dances with the street lamp, his umbrella, the curb and the puddles. He splashes in the water enjoying it like a party. I danced my way appointment to appointment singing and splashing and kicking up my heels. I had a great time. My prospects were engaged. I enjoyed every one of them. I had one of my most upbeat days and I was very pleased that all the prospects wanted to continue our conversations.

You have choice in every moment. Every time you do something or open your mouth, you can choose something positive and productive or negative and unproductive. What will you choose? Will you choose to ask for feedback for habits you’ve developed that might be blind spots? Will you choose to dump old habits and form new ones? What will that take? Coaching, journaling, a 360 evaluation, a reflective time away from everybody, creating a trigger to remind you about a change you want to make? Nobody said it would be easy to change existing habits and thought patterns. Will you choose to be helpful or oblivious to what you see going on around you? Remember, not choosing or putting off a choice is itself a choice.

What are the trade-offs? Happy faces, more progress? Seeing more opportunities? Getting unstuck? Not missing opportunities even if you saw them before? How much more profitable could your business be? What better life balance could you have?

How can you apply this to your choices and the choice in every moment? If you’re not sure what you’re missing out on or what other choices you could be making, let’s talk.

________________________________________

Can you be a leader with no followers? This fun video show how a movement gets started, develops followers and gains real traction. Perhaps it takes creativity to be a leader, but it takes courage to be the first follower.

Can you be a leader with no followers? This fun video show how a movement gets started, develops followers and gains real traction. Perhaps it takes creativity to be a leader, but it takes courage to be the first follower.

Does your inner critic limit the size or growth of your business, the opportunities you seek and the risks you’ll take?

Business is all about risks, for instance, the risk of investment of time, energy and money, the risk of each new hire, the risk of a new product or service, the risk of trusting a new partner. Every step of business growth involves yet another risk. How does your inner critic handle that risk? It can make a big difference between growing a healthy thriving business or staying small or going out of business. Consider the following when you’re handling risks in your own business and your inner critic comes to call.

It’s almost like you have 2 little elves (or leprechauns) sitting on your shoulders talking into your ears. On one side the elf is very empowering. ‘You can do this. You’re smart. You enjoy a challenge. You’re capable. Remember ‘the little engine that could’?’  On the other side the other elf is whispering in your ear, ‘You’ve never done anything like this before. What makes you think you’re so smart? Nobody in your family ever did this before. Who says this is going to work? You better play it safe. Remember that kid in second grade who beat you up?’ Welcome to your inner critic!

It second guesses everything that has a little risk to it. It keeps you from speaking up even if you believe you’re right on with everything you’re thinking. It causes fear and anxiety. It causes you to rethink and rethink again. You try to be perfect to mitigate the risk and you get stuck in analysis paralysis. You ask, what does everyone else think? Your inner critic seeks approval from others to allay the fears and reduce the risk. It wants proof, absolute proof, that what you’re doing will work. It causes procrastination and indecision. It plays with your motivation to achieve. It makes you miss opportunities. It slows you down so you miss deadlines. It gives you fear and makes life difficult.

But only if you let it… By understanding the inner critic and where it comes from, you can choose whether to listen to it or ignore it. You can make more rational choices.

You are a product of your past. At home, at school, from your cultural heritage, with your friends, from the places you used to work you learned patterns of acceptable thinking and behaving. You learned what to expect from yourself. You learned what worked and those behaviors became habits. They became your comfort zone. Think of them as a bubble of comfort and convenience that you are in the center of. Straying outside your bubble is risky because it’s new, uncharted territory. The inner critic is an expression of that anxiety.

Did you know that psychologists say that most of what we know about feeling and trusting the world we’ve learned before the age of five? That early knowledge is internalized and becomes a foundation upon which other realizations are built. Were you told, ‘Don’t talk to strangers, children should be seen and not heard, be careful, don’t touch that, don’t bite off more than you can chew, don’t go where you’re not wanted.’ Certainly our parents were trying to keep us safe, but those warnings that we’ve internalized, can create anxiety even today. For instance, ‘Don’t talk to strangers’ can get in our way when we are trying to make sales or engage in public speaking.

How about your brain? The brain’s structure is the source of the ‘inner critic’ as well. It evolved over time and the three sections have various functions. The reptilian brain (or brain stem) developed when we were reptiles. It’s in charge of our survival, our fight, flight or freeze response, our anger and fear (how about road rage?). When something is too risky, the reptilian brain feels it’s being attacked by a wooly mammoth. Lots of fear and anxiety there.

The second layer is the limbic layer which is in charge of our emotions, how we’ve become conditioned to emotionally feel pain or feel pleasure. The amygdala and hippocampus record our memories and the associated emotions. In fact all our leaning is associated with emotions. We retain something better if the emotion is more intense. Doesn’t everybody remember where they were on 9/11? When you’re a toddler and very dependent on your parents, when they say ‘no’ sharply, that’s an emotional moment for the toddler and the learning is retained and internalized.

The third layer is the neocortex. This is the most recently developed part of the brain that is in charge of rational thought, intelligence, speech, creativity, adaptability, analyzing. This part of the brain has the ability to choose how much of your inner critic you will actually listen to, how much of its chatter is productive and unproductive, how much is left over from a bygone era, how to overcome the limits of the earlier parts of the brain though stopping reaction patterns, reconditioning new learning that you choose. Yes, instead of what your parents put into your brain, and instead of what the advertisers and the media are putting into your brain, you can choose to put new learning into your brain to shift your mindset.

You have choice. You don’t have to listen to the inner critic, especially when you understand how limited the inner critic is because of its origins. Here are 5 things you can do overcome your inner critic. I’m sure there are many more.

1. Keep visioning.  If we keep envisioning our dreams, detailed pictures of what we want for our businesses and our personal lives, we can override the influence of the earlier parts of the brain.

2. Recondition. We can re-condition the limbic system by using affirmations, by focusing on the positive, by spaced repetition of what we want to put into our brains as adults, especially in combination with our emotions.

3. Stop and think: Once we know about our reptilian brain stem, we can limit it’s control over non-survival situations. We can think, ‘Am I really being attacked here? Is my survival at stake? What’s the worst that could happen?’

4. Goal planning: We can use detailed goal planning to empower our neocortex to take charge and look at new situations rationally and realistically with less fear and anxiety.

5. Travel and exposure to other cultures: When you participate in new cultures, you learn just how limited your comfort zone is, You see that people who do and think differently do not put themselves at risk. You condition yourself to get used to an expanded comfort zone.

Here’s some useful information for Valentine’s Day (and any day)!! These are gifts that will be truly treasured no matter who you call your Valentine.

Maybe you have a spouse or significant other. Maybe you have a business partner, employees, customers or strategic partners. Recognizing and addressing these issues can improve your customer loyalty, employee loyalty and things on the home front. Here’s a test to see if you can identify issues that come up in personal and business relationships. (clue: Read with emotion!!!)

1. ‘You never ________ when I’m talking to you.’

2. ‘You always take me for granted. You don’t even know I’m here. All I want is some __________.’

3. ‘I never see you. You’re always working. When are you ever going to spend some ________ with me?’

4. ‘Don’t you ever want to try anything new? Don’t you ever want to do anything different? Why are you so resistant to ________?

5. (Clue: the same word is used twice because it’s a biggie and it bears repeating twice.) Scenario: There’s only one TV working in the house. It’s Superbowl Sunday and you want to watch the game and she wants to watch a movie. You both want __________ of the TV. So you wrestle for the remote _________.

6. People fight about this all the time usually because there is not usually enough of it. Sometimes you save it and some times you spend it.____________

7. ‘Let’s get this project done. We work well together. We make a good __________.’

Here are the answers.

1. Listen. When we listen, we show that we value the other person’s words. The best salespeople are the best listeners. The best managers are good listeners and incorporate the employees’ suggestions so the employees take ownership of implementing solutions. The best parents and spouses are good listeners. Give your Valentine the gift of listening.
2. Attention. Everyone likes to feel unique and special. Customers like when you know their names and their kids’ names. Our loved ones like when we go out of our way to give them something that is reminiscent of who they are and of our relationship. Attention is proactive, a real reaching out to make the other person feel special. Give your Valentine the gift of attention.
3. Time. You only have so much of it and it would be a shame not to give it to those who mean the most to you. Kids spell love T-I-M-E. Building customer trust takes some time also. Give your Valentine the gift of time.
4. Change. Some people love it. Some people hate it. But it is always with us. Being adaptable and flexible means that you open yourself up to other people’s views and suggestions. You take a walk in their shoes and try on a new experience or perception. You take a risk and face your fears. Who knows, you might learn something? As the business world is changing so quickly, you’ll be doing yourself a big favor. Give your Valentine the gift of your ability to change.
5. Control. There are always power plays. We’re human. We’re competitive. We like to be right. Why? Because we need self validation, because we want to build up our pride, because we think it builds our power. But power and respect are earned, not demanded. You can get more control and influence through offering listening, attention, time, and openness to change than through trying to exert control. Give your Valentine the gift of ‘being right’ and see what happens to ‘control’.
6. Money. Employees seem to want more pay. Customers seem to want discounts. People seem to want things that require money. But if you look at customer loyalty studies, customers are more interested in the personal connection. If you look at employee loyalty studies, employees value money number four behind interesting work, full appreciation for the work they do, and a feeling of being in on things. Loved ones want you, your time and your attention. Certainly some money is necessary. But it only becomes all important when listening, attention, time, openness to change and sense of control are not present. Give your Valentine the gift of keeping money in perspective.
7. Team. Everyone wants to feel included. Everyone wants to feel they are making a contribution to something bigger than themselves, that their lives have meaning. Doing things together provides that opportunity as well as shared experiences, trust, recognition of talent and leadership. Whether it be cleaning up the apartment or rolling out a new product, give your Valentine a chance to participate on a team.

If you want to be a hit this Valentine’s Day, or if you want everyday to be Valentine’s Day, personally and professionally, focus on giving these seven gifts every day.

Your challenge: Give 3 of these gifts everyday. Then increase it to 4, 5, 6 and 7 over time. At first it may be difficult depending on where you’re starting from. But after awhile, you’ll get such rewards from giving these gifts that you’ll look for opportunities to give more. If you ask anyone who’s done it, you’ll hear that the giver gets much more from the experience than the receiver. Happy Valentine’s Day!

“Success is not something to be pursued. It is something to be attracted.”

“Work hard on your job, you’ll earn a living. Work hard on yourself, you’ll earn a fortune.”

These are the thoughts of Jim Rohn, personal development guru who died this week after 46 years of speaking to audiences about business and life. Often called America’s foremost business philosopher, he grew up on an Idaho farm, met his coach at age 25 and became a millionaire by the time he was 31. In his lifetime he gave 6,000 presentations, authored 25 books & tapes, and influenced an estimated 6 million people. His claim to fame is that he made things simple and profound. You can view an interview with Jim Rohn at the end of this article

Do we really attract success just by who we are? Can self development generate our success? As entrepreneurs we get caught up in all our daily activities, things we do, clients and opportunities we pursue. We work hard often sacrificing sleep, exercise, family life, close friendships, and growing our brains. We’re so targeted on externally-focused doing, doing, doing that we’re on a gerbil wheel. Perhaps we’re focused on the wrong things. If each of us focused on being smarter, being more empathetic, having a strong foundation in values, being nourished by family and friends, then perhaps we would know more about strategy and working smarter, relating emotionally to clients which engenders true client loyalty, be less prone to making risky valueless decisions, and derive more motivation and support from those around us. Consider these factors:

Passion. You will be great and your work will seem effortless if you love what you do. Are you doing something that you would do anyway even if you weren’t being paid for it? Are you doing what you’re doing because you can’t keep from doing it, because it comes so naturally?

Authenticity. Do you walk your talk? Clients and employees always know when you’re trying to be something you’re not. Respect, trust, true power and influence have to be earned rather than demanded.

Are you a star? People always want to ‘dance with a star’ or ‘hook their wagon to your star’ or have your ‘star quality rub off’ on them. Are you an expert in your field, someone whose knowledge is unparalleled and who shares knowledge freely?

Are you an enhancer? Do you make people feel special when you’re with them? There are enhancers, diminishers and neutralizers. Only enhancers will make other people feel so good that they will be naturally attracted and bring opportunities as well.

Brain development. There is more and more proof that we build new neural pathways by focusing our brains on what we want to achieve, picturing our success, exercising the prefrontal cortex of higher level thinking to override the earlier reptilian and mammalian brains that focus on survival, reduced risk taking, and fear.

Expectations. People who always expect the best, who are always looking for the positive, find it. It’s because their mindset shapes what they see.

The work of Barbara Fredrickson over the last 20 years is very interesting. She is a positive psychologist conducting research on students who developed positive thoughts through meditation. Her research has shown that when subjects control their positive thoughts and reported a 3 to 1 ratio of positive to negative thoughts, their lives flourished. They attracted people, opportunities, and each thing built upon another leading to expanded success. Control groups who did not achieve the 3 to 1 ratio had significantly lesser results. (Positivity by Barbara Fredrickson, 2009)

In summary, if you are not developing yourself, you are doing things the hard way, fighting an uphill battle. Read some success-oriented books, listen to some tapes, work with a coach. Put in place and prioritize a professional development program. Build professional development for yourself and your employees into your 2010 strategic business plan. In business, first you sell yourself, then your company and then your product/service. If you can’t sell yourself first, then the rest never happens. Why would you deny yourself success by not attracting it?

If you’d like to see Jim Rohn in action, watch this interview with Vic Johnson.  http://bit.ly/jim-rohn-video

Have you ever watch somebody dancing on the stage or on TV? If it’s done well, the movements flow easily into each other. Each movement is performed with maximum energy, maximum stretch, maximum power, maximum concentration. Each segment leads to another which builds on the one before. There’s economy of movement meaning that there are no stray movements that distract or waste energy or don’t contribute to the value presented to the viewer.  There’s a planned use of all the space on the stage or within the viewing angle of the camera. If there are multiple dancers, they don’t run into each other or trip over each other. They sometimes move as a unit, and when they don’t, they complement each other. The purpose of the dance is to present a theme, picture or story, to communicate to the audience an experience portrayed through dance. Often the movements are done in conjunction with music.

Is all this random? Hardly.

Behind all this movement is a choreographer who has created a concept, orchestrated the players, selected the music, laid out each performer’s path through the space, coordinated their efforts, demonstrated the power and intensity and shape of each of the movements to convey the theme, determined the rhythm and timing to maximize the audience’s perception and enjoyment, selected the right performers for the right roles, determined the deadlines so that the performance would be ready for opening night.

Here are 10 business planning parallels between the world of dance and the world of business?

1. A business without a plan is like a dance without a choreographer. Movements are haphazard. The purpose is fuzzy. It’s a mish mash of what everybody (every body) thinks might work, but it most likely doesn’t work together.

2. Employees like dancers create more value (a better dance) when they work together toward a common purpose or theme.

3. When everybody knows the path (direction) and what they are supposed to do, they can dance (execute company goals) more freely with greater concentration, conviction, energy, strength and stretch (of their comfort zones). It’s very freeing to have indecision removed and know precisely what will lead us to complete our purpose.

4. Better use of resources and less waste. When the choreographer (like the business leader) determines a progression toward a destination, resources such as space on a stage or dollars in a budget can be better leveraged for highest and best use.

5. When a dance is well choreographed, or a business is well planned, it is highly sustainable. Just like legendary ballets such as ‘Swan Lake’, well planned businesses such as Southwest Airlines have long standing reputations and legacies for their ability to delight the audience.

6. The performers often help the choreographer plan the dance. The choreographer has an idea (sometimes the performers, also) and she tries it out with the dancers. The performers help her to know if it works, if it fits, if what’s in her mind plays out well in reality. Isn’t this true in your organization? If an idea really doesn’t work, there is push back and the plan is modified or better communicated. The performers (employees) create reality checks for the business owner (choreographer).

7. When the performers (employees) buy into the choreography (business plan) because they perceive it works, and when it furthers their own personal and professional goals, they will support it and execute it with engagement and commitment. They will become better dancers and better employees because they want to, not because you want them to.

8. Great choreographers (and great business leaders) attract great dancers (and great employees.) Everyone wants to work for the best because they want to maximize their potential and be part of something wonderful and significant. Well planned businesses don’t have trouble recruiting or retaining top talent.

9. Choreographers know the talent they need for each role and select dancers for their strengths. Business leaders do the same.

10, Great leaders (and choreographers) mobilize and motivate, set deadlines, handle obstacles and help the employees (performers) accomplish the strategic business plan (dance performance).

Whether on the dance stage or the theater of business, a famous line from Yogi Bera puts it into perspective, “If you don’t know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else.”

What is effective networking?

Most of us realize that networking is a good way to market our businesses. When we meet people, we have the possibility of inviting someone to start a relationship. To grow our businesses we need those relationships. But do we want just any relationships? Yes and No. Certainly if we’ve identified a sweet spot of clients that we want to target, it might be best to go where the clients are, such as a trade association meeting or a defined group where clients with similar needs congregate. However, if we don’t ever go anywhere else or meet people who are different than our target, we get stuck in a rut, we get myopic about possible new client groups and we don’t have anything new to offer to ourselves or our clients. So we need to balance our activities between those networking activities that are very targeted and focused (driving toward a goal) and those that we purposely engage in to expand ourselves into the unknown (dancing with possibilities).
 
What this points out is that you should be very aware of your networking goals to have the most return on the time and money spent. Networking is not a haphazard sport. Certainly networking should be focused on you giving to others. Eventually what comes around goes around.

Networking goals

When you decide to go to an event, be aware if you are choosing that event to be focused or exploratory. Select one or two of these goals. It will effect how you speak and the people you select to speak with. I know you know that trying to sell someone is a no-no. And it’s so annoying when someone thrusts a card in your face without establishing a relationship. If you just try to give out a lot of your cards, you’re disrespecting the other person. You’re looking at that person as a commodity rather than as a unique individual who deserves a personal relationship with you.

Focused goals for when you have a specific target
 
1. Start a conversation with a new prospect
2. Find a vendor to fill a specific need
3. Make friends (find a support group) especially if you’re new to an area
4. Invite people to another event (one you’re running)
5. Get supporters for a non-profit organization/project that you volunteer for
6. Find a potential employer or links to an employer (if looking for a job or career change)
7. Spread awareness of your brand, knowledge, expertise (be the speaker)
8. Get feedback on a new idea (like running an informal focus group)
9. Find a good connection to a target market (develop a center of influence)
10. Find someone else who targets your target market with a noncompetitive product so you can establish a strategic alliance.

Exploratory goals that unfold when you’re open to possibilities
 
11. Find resources that you can recommend to clients (delight your clients with your ‘golden rolodex’)
12. Learn about something you’ve never been exposed to before (network outside your comfort zone)
13. Find people you can connect to your other networking contacts (law of reciprocity)
14. Expand your circle of contacts for your future ever expanding needs (requires a proactive mindset about your company’s growth)
 
Of course these are the goals that determine the quality of the relationships that result from your networking strategy. Don’t forget to determine the quantity as well. Do you want to start relationships with 3 new women in your sweet spot? Or is it 4?
 
Envision
 
Before you go to a network event, choose your goal, close your eyes and envision what you want to happen. Examples: You’ll talk to a specific person who you went to meet because you knew he would be there. You come away with 3 quality prospects who have agreed to establish appointments with you. You meet two people who said they’d take a look at your resume and forward it to a contact in the industry where you’re seeking a job. One person has opened your eyes to a world that you weren’t aware of before and you’re going to talk more about it over lunch next Wed. You found a great contact for one of your clients who needs  a specific service. You found someone you can refer to Joe who keeps sending you leads.
 
Leverage this activity to grow your business. Respect yourself, value your time and resources. Use them wisely to get the most impact for your investment. Always – networking should be fun. So enjoy!

People

When we go on vacation, we try to go with family and friends that we know we’ll enjoy. Of course, there are exceptions. We may not like certain family members or the friend of friends that happen to come, too. But by and large we’re planning an experience so we know we can enjoy it. We’re inviting the people close to us with whom we have bonds, share fun, derive meaningful conversation, have pleasant past experiences. Each one is an individual with his/her own unique talents, quirks, strengths, weaknesses, interests, style, etc. We recognize each one’s individuality and relate to him/her as a unique person. Our relationship with that person is one of a kind. Our conversations with one person are not the same as a conversation with another. Each person elicits from us a different kind of empathy.

Research done by Gallop polls shows that clients don’t remain loyal to your business because you provide them with a reasonable or even great transactional customer service. That’s just the minimum. Customers keep coming back and become your raving fans because you have personal relationships that show each person that s/he is unique, and deserving of a unique relationship, conversation, and empathy connection. Together you’re creating a shared experience that you can bond over, just like a journey together or a dance (just had to get that in) or a pleasant vacation. You find commonalities (pets, families, music, hobbies, likes and dislikes) that help that customer remember how unique you are as well, not just another talking-business-head at the other end of the phone, but a real person with families, pets, cares, likes and dislikes of your own. A lot of that is communicated by the warm tone of your voice, the eye contact (if you’re face-to-face), the way you ask questions and expect an answer, your ability to laugh and be playful, how you show you care.

If you want your client to feel s/he is on vacation with you, view him/her as a person that could potentially go on vacation with you. (If that’s too difficult, view the person as someone who goes on vacation with his/her own family.)

Sensory Experience

Did you notice in the story I told at the top of this page what I described first was about the beach and the sun (feeling and smelling), ice cream and ‘bars’ (taste), music (hearing), (seeing) the dancers, the sun, the musicians. The way our brains have evolved, when we experience something through our senses and it’s associated with positive emotions, we remember it a long time because we remember the emotions a long time. We may not remember the actual details of the transaction, but we do remember our sensory experience and how the person made us feel that was associated with the sensory memory.

How can we put sensory experiences into the customer’s buying experience? Most retail stores know this. They play music in the background. Bookstores offer snacks and comforting drinks. Visually stores are set up to show colorful, well designed displays that catch your eye, and they create soothing lighting. In longer term client relationships, people touch, hug, kiss on the cheek(s)(familiarity varies with cultures before each of these becomes acceptable) There are food tastings, wine tastings. Companies offer free lunches and company picnics to help bond their employees to the company. In your situation how can you involve a sensory component that helps to enhance the client relationship? No matter how detached and professional you think you need to be, remember we’re all human and respond to our senses unconsciously.

Repeatable Tradition

Every time we’ve gone on this vacation to this shore location, we reinforce our experience of enjoying it together. It becomes something we share over and over and reinforces the bonds we have with each other. Going to the ice cream parlor, for instance, generates conversations of ‘remember when we were here last year and the year before that’. Who sang, what song, who in our party had to sing along, what got spilled, how hard we laughed, who was with us, what’s changed. So we now have this year’s memory that’s layered on last year’s memory and all the layers of years before that. The bonds grow stronger with every layer.

How can we incorporate repeatable and layered positive emotional traditions in our clients’ experiences? If we’re relating to each one as a unique individual, we can bring up memories of things we talk about each time we come in contact. Nordstroms was always well known for salespeople remembering their clients and their unique needs and personal situations. Companies that have CRM (customer relationship management) software can record notes about conversations, birthdays, etc. That helps when there are lots of customers we want to remember. Remembering that Pat likes to talk about her cat and bringing it up the next time you get her on the phone reinforces the pleasurable first conversation. Taking a client to a sports event, an art opening, a nonprofit fundraiser creates these shared experiences. When repeated, they become a tradition with multi-layered bonding.

The Contagion Factor

When new ‘friends’ come along on our family’s vacations, they get swept up in the shared camaraderie. We talk about memories and wind up explaining what originally happened. This generates various versions of the same story, a lot of discussion and a retelling of the traditions which increase the bonds. The new person feels caught up in the group fun and the bonds form a network that includes the new person. Imagine a spider web of filaments going from each person to each person with the new friend caught up in the web of belonging. The new person contributes to the present experience which will become a new component in the evolving tradition. This is part of the experience of the vacation, the group coalescing and magnifying the experience of those who are present even if they don’t yet share all the traditions.

How can we include this in our clients’ experiences? Can we introduce new clients/prospects to existing clients? Certainly if we’re targeting an industry and then become a sponsor of an industry event, the invitees are most likely existing clients and some prospects. If the existing clients are sharing stories of the traditions they’ve shared with you and your company, the prospects can get caught up in the spider web of stories. They’ll catch the contagion and it will enhance their experience at the event and possibly get them started positively as they develop their own repeatable traditions with your firm. In the coaching groups that I’ve facilitated there are traditions in shared vocabulary, goal achieving methodologies, target market/product matrixes and more that each person has had experience with. When they come together in a group, each person reinforces each other’s experiences and there’s an infectious learning that takes place and strengthens the bonds among group members and with their coach (me).

So think about how you can make your clients’ experience more like a vacation with your family so they want to come back again and again. 1) Look at each person as a unique individual worthy of your trust, respect, and a unique relationship, 2) Incorporate sensory experiences that make their emotional experience with you memorable in their core brain functions, 3) Create repeatable traditions of layered experiences, and finally, 4) Use the contagion factor to include new prospects in your existing client’s spider web of bonds and traditions to maximize the quality of relationships and the quantity of raving fans.

I’m always interested in your feedback. Email me ideas that can enhance the value of this conversation.  Want to come with me on my vacation?