Mar 31, 2014 | Self
What are the secrets to success for your business?
The first secret is there are no secrets to success. There are however tried and true principles that successful people everywhere use. So today I would like to share with you the number one key that separates successful business owners from unsuccessful business owners.
What is it? Attitude!
If you ask a room full of people (go ahead, try it) to call out the characteristics of successful people, you’ll find the primary things they come up with are all about attitude, not expertise.
See, I told you, it’s not a secret and it isn’t earth shattering. And I know that you already know this. However, it doesn’t matter what you know, it only matters what you do with what you know. Knowing is only the first, easiest step.
Why is attitude so important? Very simply put, life changes, and your results change, when you look at them differently. Instead of focusing on all the challenges you face and telling yourself and others all the reasons, excuses and blame for why you aren’t successful right now, how would you benefit from asking yourself, “How do I make my business or life work in these conditions?”
Successful people talk about the future, their goals and how they’re going to get there. Unsuccessful people talk about their problems and worries, the bad environment they’re in, and all the reasons and excuses why they can’t be successful. Which are you? Both of these groups exist in the same place, at the same time, under the same conditions. The successful people look at any situation, and ask; “How can I be successful here? What could I do differently? What can I learn from this situation?”
In order to develop this skill and attitude you need to follow three fundamental principles of success: Ownership, accountability and responsibility.
Make a decision today, that you are going to take ownership of your life, hold yourself accountable for your actions and take responsibility for your results. NO excuses. You have complete control over your life if you take responsibility. You are responsible for:
1) Everything that you do
2) Everything that you don’t do
3) How you respond to everything that happens to you
How good are you at taking ownership of your life, holding yourself accountable for your actions and taking responsibility for your results?
If you find yourself blaming others, making excuses and living in denial then you have plenty of room for improvement. If you hear yourself saying, “I couldn’t do that because . . . “ STOP, take responsibility, and figure out what you could have done differently to create a more successful outcome.
As soon as you decide to commit to taking action to improve your attitude and the success of your business, please contact me or attend one of my seminars. Your success is our business!
Mar 25, 2014 | Marketing
We live in a time and place where our relevance and popularity can be measured by our number of Facebook fans or social media followers.
As a business owner it looks and feels better to have 500 Facebook fans instead of 50. With that said, have you ever wondered how many of your fans are actually paying attention to your posts? Is Facebook worth your time, and are your posts hitting the mark?
The following was discovered in recent benchmark reports from a Facebook analytic tool PageLever:
• 1 out of 50 post views earn a negative response.
• Negative responses most likely result in all your page stories being blocked, which is 60 times more likely than clicking “unlike” on your page.
• Post are more often reported as spam instead of the page being “unliked”.
For every 50 posts you are unsubscribed by 2% of your fans. This doesn’t mean that your number of Facebook fans is shrinking necessarily, but that the number of those fans hiding from you without your knowledge is growing.
If you were to make one post a day every day for one full year, 15% of your fans would be hiding from you by year’s end. Why is this happening? And what can you do to keep your fans engaged?
Don’t feel discouraged! Just a few tweaks in your approach moving forward will make a world of difference. It’s time to take the blinders off and focus on maximizing fan engagement instead of fan count. Are we giving our fans relevant brand content, setting frequency expectations and offering them the things they care about? Here are a few tips to keep your fans loyal and engaged.
1. Quality over quantity: Your current Facebook fans are just that…your current fans. Some of them are hiding from you and some are not. Focus your efforts on your fans who are actually paying attention or engaging you, post the kinds of content that they are responding to over time. This will grow the quantity of your qualified fans.
2. Frequency doesn’t always sell: Your Facebook fan page is not a traditional form of advertising like radio, TV or print. Set consistent frequency expectations for your fans. This can be done by posting once a day at the same time of day. Think about the time you most often visit your page, or look at the times when your most engaged followers are visiting…post then.
3. Talk the talk: When you make a post be sure that it reads the way you would talk to someone. For example, if you own a flower shop you are by no stretch of the imagination a professional copy writer, so you don’t need to sound like one…..post the way YOU talk. Your fans like you for a reason.
4. Own your brand: Your fans do not want to hear your political views. They are not a fan of your page to be entertained, unless your brand is entertaining. Be sure to keep all of your posts in line with your brand. Keep your fans up to date with product trends, new products or services, your promotions, events etc.
5. Ask for feedback: As a good rule of thumb you should post at least one poll on your page per quarter. This poll should ask your fans what they want to see more of from you. Measuring your products or services this way is very beneficial as well.
Finally, be sure to have fun. While marketing is a serious subject when it comes to the success of your business, we are still talking about Facebook. Don’t take yourself too seriously, stick to the fundamental tips above and treat your fans to a great page that they will want to engage over the long run.
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Mar 18, 2014 | Marketing
In more than 25 years of making pricing decisions and of observing others making pricing decisions, I have come to the conclusion that there is no single business decision that you can make more quickly, but which deserves more cautious consideration than the decision of what to charge for one’s goods and services.
As a business coach, it never ceases to amaze me how business owners and managers make such an important decision with so little rationale for their decisions and more shockingly – virtually no analysis of the impact of their decision.
What a business charges for its goods and services directly impacts how much revenue it has and more dramatically how much profit it generates. If you set your prices too low, you’ll go broke! Set your prices too high and you’ll also go broke! In the case of “too low” prices, you end up with lots of sales volume (at very low margin) but not enough gross profit to cover your fixed expenses. In the case of “too high” prices, even though you make a lot for each sale, you won’t have enough sales or revenue to generate a profit.
Consider a business that has a Gross Profit Margin of 40%. A 10% decrease (or increase) in prices will decrease (or increase) Gross Profits by 25% (assuming no change in volume). Depending on the level of fixed expenses, net profit will change more dramatically.
But wait a minute; if you decrease prices won’t you make it up in volume? Maybe. Using the same a assumptions – 40 % Gross Margin and a 10% price decrease, since you are selling the units at a lower price and a 25% lower margin, you’d have to sell 35% more volume just to break even on your price discount!
So the next time you are thinking of changing your prices, do the math. Figure how much more (or less) you’ll need to sell compared to where you are today. If you’re selling online and can do testing, set up simple offer to test different price points. Once you determine the optimum price point, do the math and see if it will work given your fixed and variable costs and your breakeven. If it doesn’t work, move on to another profit generating strategy. If you need help determining your Gross Profit and want to learn how to raise prices without losing business, get in touch with me.
Learn more: ActionCoach Lisa Walker
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Mar 3, 2014 | Sales
“I would rather work at McDonald’s than make cold calls!” Mary said.
Thinking about this conversation…
In speaking with Mary, a financial planner who was talking about her business – or lack of it – she explained that because of the weak economy and the bottom falling out of the stock market, business had turned soft.
Actually, soft was an understatement. During the past few months new sales had slowed to a trickle. The phone didn’t ring much at all, and she didn’t make cold calls.
Her primary source of new business had come from doing seminars where she did presentations in front of a large audience of potential investors. But since last spring, when attendance began to taper off, she stopped doing her programs.
Her secondary source of prospects was referrals from existing customers. But, because of the problems in the stock market, she has stopped calling on her customers because she was sure they weren’t ‘happy’ to hear from her. So her sources of referrals had dried up.
She then told me that, “Everyone else is having the same problem, and nobody is doing any financial planning.” We asked her where she got this information from, and she said it came from her colleagues in the office and her friends who are in the business.
“But how many of your customer’s told you that they have no interest in discussing their financial planning needs?” I asked.
There was a long pause. She replied, “I know everybody’s putting their financial planning on hold, because that’s what I’ve been told.”
“But who has told you that?” We pressed for a better answer. She didn’t respond.
I continued, “How much time are you spending every day looking for new customers? You know, getting on the phone, calling new people, seeing what their needs are, looking for ways in which you can help them?
Margaret stated emphatically, “I don’t cold call! I would rather work at McDonald’s then pick up the telephone and make calls!!!”
Thinking about this conversation, it was easy to come to the conclusion that you must look for new customers in a tough market, business environment and difficult economy. If you have the belief that “there’s no business out there,” then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
If on the other hand, you believe there is business out there, you’ll find it (you’ve just got to work a little bit harder to find it). And when you do, the business might just be yours for the asking, because in all likelihood, your competition isn’t doing any marketing or calling anybody either. They’re the ones who told you there isn’t any business out there.
They may just be sitting around complaining amongst themselves, whining and moping, feeling sorry for themselves because business is bad.
Seize the day! Close the sale! Make some money!
You have a choice: You can go through life being a victim, complaining how tough things are. Or you can become a warrior and show your fighting spirit. A common person looks at everything as either a blessing or a curse. A warrior looks at everything as a challenge, and thus, an opportunity.
Here are a few things you can do to find business in any tough market:
Look for new people to call
Call on people who you’ve never spoken to before. Look for new markets or groups of people who could be prospects for the products or services you sell. Stretch your imagination. Go out and generate more activity.
Spend at least an hour a day on the telephone calling these people
If you have no business, then you’ve plenty of time to get on the phone and start calling people. There’s a huge difference between being busy and being productive.
Your job is to look for customers. Don’t think about it. DO IT!
Create a great Elevator Message
You’ve got to have great telephone techniques. If your calls are ending in less than 10 seconds, you’re not doing it right. If people are saying “We’re not in the market” or “We have no money in the budget” then you’re asking the wrong questions. Develop a script, test it, measure it, evolve it until it produces results.
Expect to get voice mail
Don’t be disappointed if you get voice mail. It comes with the territory. And if you leave a message, don’t expect people to call you back. If they do, that’s great. But it doesn’t happen very often. Most importantly, it’s your job to make the call. So if the person isn’t around, call someone else.
Embrace Failure
If you’re not getting rejected, you’re not trying hard enough. Wouldn’t life be wonderful if everybody loved you and wanted to do business with you? Well, it’s not going to happen. Your job is to find the person who is in the market to purchase the products or services that you sell. If you’re testing and measuring, you’ll know how many “no’s” you’ll have to get before you get a “yes”. Make it into a game, keep score, get excited about the “no’s”, every one of them means you’re one step closer to that “yes”.
Ask great questions
When you speak with someone, don’t spend all your time talking about who you are and what you do. Ask some great questions to find out who they are and what they do. Try to discover their problems. Try to discover what they need. Two ears, one mouth, use them in proportion.
Identify decision makers
Only work with people who are decision makers. If you’re spending time – or making presentations to – the gatekeepers, you’ll end up wasting a lot of time, without ever making a sale.
Here are two great questions you can ask: “In addition to yourself, who else gets involved in the decision-making process?” Or, “Who do you consult with before making decisions?” And, “How does your company go about making decisions?”
Always ask for commitments
They can be big commitments, like asking them to buy. Or little commitments like scheduling an appointment to talk on the telephone or face-to-face one day next week. Have a goal for every call to move to the next step.
If you’re unable to get even a small commitment, like scheduling another call or meeting, you may not have a prospect or haven’t discovered their needs.
For example, when someone says, “Let me think about it, and I’ll call you if I’m interested.” And you say, “Could we schedule a date to talk about it further on Tuesday of next week?” And she says, “No, I’ll call you when I’m ready.”
At this point the message is that there really is no interest, and its best to put this prospect aside and find somebody else to call on.
Unfortunately, Mary made the decision not to go out and look for new business. At the rate she’s going, she may very well end up working at McDonald’s. But that doesn’t have to happen to you. Get on the phone and look for new business. You’ll find it!
Learn more at ActionCoach
Feb 25, 2014 | Planning & Goal Setting
Many improvement books, seminars and articles have focused on why a 99% performance metric is not good enough. The statistics of what would occur if 99% WAS acceptable illustrate the reasons it isn’t good enough. Here are some commonly used statistics that stand out.
• 12 babies will be given to the wrong parents each DAY!
• 103,260 income tax returns will be processed incorrectly this year
• 880,000 credit cards will have incorrect information on the magnetic stripe.
• 20,000 incorrect drug prescriptions will be written in the next year.
We all get the point about the 99% performance metric, but it is a little overwhelming to think about getting to 99%, let alone hitting 100% perfection! Chances are we all have quite a bit of room between where we are now and perfection. When the gap is that daunting, it can easily lead to a feeling of “why bother?” Why don’t we take a moment to examine the other side of the improvement coin?
If we think instead about our current performance metric, and strive for an extra 1%, how does that look? Everyone can wrap his or her mind around getting 1% better, right? 1% more leads, 1% better customer service, 1% more accuracy,… Now that sounds manageable. If we can improve our selves, our business or some measurable metric just 1% a week, these are the corresponding results.
• 4.1% increase in a month
• 13.8% increase in a quarter
• 29.5% increase semi-annually
• 67.7% increase in a year
• 181.4% increase in 2 years
Would you like an increase in sales and profits of 67.7% over the next year? Heck yes! How about watching your commissions increase by 29.5% over the next 6 months? Would your children notice if you were more than twice the parent you were 2 years ago? Our spouses and significant others might be willing to consider a 13.8% increase in appreciation over the next quarter.
What can you do this week to improve just 1%? Pick the action and resolve to put a plan together to take it from inspiration to effective execution! Make 1% a habit every week and you’ll see amazing results! Need help?
Feb 7, 2014 | Team
Do you think you can’t get great employees? Can’t get them to do what you need? Can’t get them to stay? Before you blame your Team, remember that old adage: “You get the employees you deserve.” Let’s start by taking a look in the mirror. The most common mistakes that occur are hiring the wrong person, inadequate training or evaluation and a lack of leadership. Now, let’s take a look at those issues in greater detail.
1. You’re hiring the wrong person or putting them in the wrong role. Using behavioral profiles can help to measure a candidate’s qualities before you hire them. I use the DISC profile to help make the right match of person and position. The DISC profile measures a person’s natural and adapted (under observation or pressure) behavioral tendencies. The profile is very quick to administer and yields some very useful insight into an individual style that is able to predict the likely trends of their behavior in the future, individual strengths, how to communicate with them, and keys to motivating them.
In addition, examine the hiring process and the questions that you’re asking. What do you need to change based on the lessons you’ve learned in the past? Ask questions that uncover values and look for alignment with your company’s values. I have found that a “bad employee” is many times not due to the lack of job competence—it’s more often a failure to mesh with organizational values, culture and mission. You must hire for character because that can’t be taught. An employee with a great “values match” will still under perform if you assign them to the wrong job. Go back through your job descriptions and modify for what the business needs and what personal styles will work best in that role, then hire the person that fits that description. Chaos results when you change the job to match the skill set of the newest hire.
Simple DISC Profile Styles
|
“D” Style:
Adventuresome
Competitive
Daring
Decisive
Direct
Innovative
Persistent
Problem Solver
Results-Orientated
|
“I” Style:
Charming
Confident
Convincing
Enthusiastic
Inspiring
Optimistic
Persuasive
Popular
Sociable
Team Player
|
“S” Style:
Amiable
Friendly
Good Listener
Patient
Self-starter
Relaxed
Sincere
Stable
Steady
|
“C” Style
Accurate
Analytical
Conscientious
Diplomatic
Trusting
Fact-Finder
High Standards
Mature
Patient
Precise
|
2. The problem could be that your training, measuring, and evaluation process is inadequate. When was the last time you revised your on-boarding process? Your company handbook? The initial process for training a new hire? How welcoming is their first day on the job? What commitment did you ask the new hire to make? What KPI’s (key performance indicators) are they held accountable for? How often do they receive feedback? Who mentors the new folks and for how long? I recommend that all team members participate in the regular team meeting (if you don’t have them, start!). At every meeting ask: What can we do to help you succeed in your job? Many business owners use the “leave alone, zap” method. With this method, you turn a new hire loose to figure things out and then “zap” when they make a mistake. This, or a similar approach, basically sets someone up to fail. As expensive as staff turnover is (time, repeated re-training, lost productivity, etc), it is certainly worth investing in refining the process so that we do a better job and “start over” less often.
3. The Leader doesn’t know where he/she is going or doesn’t communicate it to the team. In order to have great followers, you must be a great leader. No team can ever out-perform its leadership. Are you the kind of leader that a great employee would want to follow? Are you running the kind of business that a great employee would want to work for? Your team watches everything you do and dissects everything you say. Start with your communication—do you communicate clearly and regularly? Is your communication a two-way street or do you transmit only? Are you consistent in your statements and behavior? Are you consistent with the stated company values? Do you do what you say you will do? Do you have the courage to ask for feedback on YOUR performance? Do you listen to the answers? Leadership is a contact sport. If you have the backbone and can truly listen to, and have gratitude for the answers, survey the Team about their views of you as the Leader. Be willing to “sharpen your saw” to make some changes. Change your behavior, change your results!
