Standing out From the Crowd

I received this email from my friend Nick Newton and thought that it was applicable. Keep in mind as you read this that Nick is an accountant....nobody can accuse him of being a boring old "COT" (Colourless orderless and tasteless) accountant! Not fitting in with the stereotypical accountant is what Nick does best, and why he is so successful! I urge you to do something different with your clients, treat them well and they will treat you well in return

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When creating events, thank-you occurrences or lasting impressions for your clients, there is always a danger of going over the top. Perhaps you will be perceived as frivolous or silly by creating a situation that might not be appropriate in the workplace.

Well, we did one last week that was over the top and resulted in many smiling faces and genuine thank you wishes for out efforts. On Valentine’s Day, we had a barbershop quartet deliver chocolates, roses and songs to four different businesses and received standing ovations in all cases. It must have been a good idea as everyone was very pleased.

When thinking of ways to say thank you, let your mind fly. Don’t be too concerned of silliness if your wishes are sincere and the “theatre” is appropriate.


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Great job Nick! I know your clients will reward you with business and leads.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,
~Colleen

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Examples of Life Givers

Recently I received the following comment I thought you would enjoy:

Dear Ms. Francis,

Your February 15th article, "Be a Life Giver -- Not a Life Sucker," brought a smile to my face. As I have recently stepped out from behind the scenes in my position as a product and marketing analyst in the office imaging industry, I've been bringing myself up to speed by perusing various ezines pertaining to the world of IT. After so much mind numbing data, trends and new technologies, your article reminded me that success in this or any field has less to do with products, strategies and opportunities, and more to do with the attitude and mind set of the individual. Taken one step further, the organization that incorporates and practices these attitudes as part of its culture, is far more likely to experience success, especially when things go "unplanned."

I know many sales professionals who are quick to pass on the blame, and quicker to gloom all the glory, even when a success was achieved through the combined efforts of many. Unfortunately, I have also seen these same individuals catapult out of the sales ranks into management, only to poison junior sales people with that same irresponsible attitude. Further up the food chain, one might have to look long and hard to find a senior corporate executive who not only "talks this talk, but walks this walk," in terms of taking personal responsibility for the failures of the business they steer; however, as I read your article less than a week after hearing a keynote address by Ann Mulcahy, Chairman and CEO of Xerox, it occurs to me that she is a life-giver.

Since assuming her role five and a half years ago, Xerox has struggled back from the brink of near extinction by seeking solutions rather than scapegoats for its problems, and it is now poised to reclaim its leadership role in the marketplace. I see this as an example of what can be accomplished when one (person or company) directly assumes personal responsibility, actively seeks new solutions to old problems, purposely maintains a positive outlook, and deliberately capitalizes on the momentum of small successes to fuel greater ones.

Thanks for the day-brightener!

Sincerely,
Ruth Ann Kordell

~ Thanks to you too Ruth Ann. You are right about Xerox. they have done a great job motivating their teams and getting back on track. You too by recognizing the power of the law of attraction will also have great success!

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

My Beef with Balance

I have been know to say that "Balance is the battle cry of the mediocre!" Why? Because I believe that people who are striving for balance are striving for the wrong thing. Balance assumes you have limited supply of something in your life - mainly time. I don't think we should be focusing our energy on time, I believe we should be focusing on energy. Energy is unlimited

Everyone is seeking balance these days. Typically balance is defined as "When I am at work I will work, and when I am at home I want to be at home - away from my work"

Typically people are defining a balanced day as 8 hours at work, 8 hours at home, 8 hours sleeping.

My beef is not with your desire to find a balance between work and play during your waking hours. My beef is where we put their energy during those hours. It frustrates me that while you say you will focus on work at work and play at play, you simply don't do this. Oh sure, you play while at play, but do you really work, while at work?

For most people "work hard play hard" is a misnomer. Only get half the expression is the reality. Sure, its easy to get the "play hard" right....but be honest, do you really work hard?

• How many personal calls do you take at work?
• How long was your last lunch with your colleagues, or friends
• How much time do you spend gossiping about social issues while at work?
• How often do you run personal errands during business hours
• How much on line surfing or shopping do you do while at work?

I don't believe in balance in the traditional sense. I believe in choice and energy management. If I chose to focus my energy at work on work, then I chose to leave my work in the office when I go home. When I focus on work at work, I can focus my energy at home on my family. If I chose to focus 4 hours of my energy while at work surfing the Internet looking for a vacation deal then I have chosen to finish my work tonight after dinner. Every choice has a consequence and its not appropriate for us to ignore those consequences because we want a balance of time in our life.

Do you really work while at work? Being at work, IE being in the office is not the same as doing work. Take notice of where you are spending your energy. You will create a balance in your life if you chose to focus your energy of the appropriate task at hand....play or work.

Its not right for employees to demand that their employers leave them alone after 5pm when they are spending working hours on personal issues. Just the same, its not reasonable to assume that employees spend no time on personal issues during the day if their employers don't given them an evening or a weekend off.

Examine where your energy is at all hours of the day. Make choices that will help you naturally create the balance that you want to achieve in your life. Your perfect balance is unique to you. Its about the choices you make, and the success you want to achieve.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,
~Colleen

Love the One you're with

I hope everyone was filed with Love Yesterday and that the feeling is spilling over to today....

February being the month of love is relevant to our blog discussion because it takes love to be successful in sales. Love what you sell, Love who you sell it for and love who you sell it too! Speaking of which, how often do you show your customers the love? Do you show them appreciation for your success? After all, if they weren’t customers, you would’t be in business!

This month show them some love, send them a thank you card, some chocolate, a small gift. Starbucks™ cards work well because they mail easily and have an air of luxury about them. Not everyone will pay $5 of their own money for a coffee but they gladly appreciate you if you are buying! Make your appreciation fun, do something unusual. Remember, that if you want to make sales, you need to make people feel special AND you need to stand out from your competition. So ask yourself…what is my competition unwilling to do? AND what will make my customer feel special?

Some great sources of unusual and highly appreciated food gifts are www.elenis.com for gourmet cookies; http://www.harryanddavid.com for gourmet food in general, www.omahasteaks.com for delicious grade AAA steaks and beef products; http://www.tiffany.com for luxury items that are surprisingly reasonable ($40 and up for gifts that are wrapped and delivered FedEx to your unsuspecting and now VERY HAPPY customer).

This is not an exhaustive list by any means. If you have other favorite suppliers let us know

Your choices are endless my advice is to just do something! Anything that shows appreciation is a good thing. If you missed valentines day use St Patrick’s day in March as an excuse to celebrate with your customers. Don’t like “holiday marketing? (I’m not sure why you would’t but that a whole other discussion…) then just thank them and appreciate them for no reason.

Go ahead, you the one you're with some love and you will receive love back...in the form of sales!

~Colleen

It's National Sales month

I've been selling and studying sales for 15 years and I just found out this morning that February is National Sales and Marketing month. Go figure!!

To honour this - everyone should be spending some time this month developing their sales skills. I'm curious, how committed are you to becoming better at what you do? Take our poll and I will reveal the results - and what they mean - in a few days.

~ Colleen

Quit your Griping!

Have you ever heard the expression, "you get what you attract"? or "Your thoughts become your reality"? It is a true and a very powerful principal of success and failure. The Law of Attraction. Reciprocity. What you give out, comes back. Most of us have been taught to visualize success, set goals for what we want, write it down and take steps towards achieving it. That is using the law of attraction in a positive way.

At the same time, we need to remember that it works in the negative. Many people forget this and so they sabotage their progress towards success unconsciously.

You attract what you focus on. On my Harley, we call this object fixation. It was taught to me during a driver safety course. Bike are incredibly maneuverable. You barely have to glace at where you want to go, and the bike will go there. This is what makes bikes fun, safe and dangerous all at the same time.

The #1 cause of bike accidents, when a car is not involved, is object fixation. That's when a rider focuses on a object so intently that he hits it directly. If there is a cow in the middle of the road and a rider stares at it thinking, "would you look at that, there is a cow in the road, I wonder why is that cow in the road? I hope I don't hit that cow." - its too late. They have already have hit the cow. Instead if you approach the cow thinking "Hmmm, better get around that cow, looks safe and clear on the other side" you will easily swerve around the cow and continue on you way.

What you fixate on, becomes your reality.

Think about this in your own life. When something bad happens do you fixate on the negative or the positive? If you focus on the negative, do more and more bad things manifest themselves around you? Now....I know what you are thinking. "but Colleen my problems are bad, they're not my fault, I have nothing else to talk about..."

Instead of complaining, ask yourself "what did I learn from this?" "What I am grateful for in this situation?" "What is funny about this?"

I lost my dog Friday night. He died suddenly, having been ravaged by a brain tumour. It was not a happy time for me and I griped and complained and felt miserable for sometime. Then I remembered that I should really practice what I preach - after all I do suggest that authenticity is a hallmark of great success! So I changed my tune. "What am I grateful for?" - That I had 9 happy years with my pup, that he did not suffer long, that we were able to make him comfortable quickly. "What did I learn from this?" That sometimes you can't predict what will take your pets life, that you need to pay more attention to small signs and changes in their behaviour, and that its better to let him go quickly than to have him endure suffering. "What's funny/ironic or made me smile?" Well to know my dog blitz is to know that he loved food. Ironically the tumour ultimately started pressing on his brain's "I'm hungry sensor" pushing it into overdrive. In his last hours, feeling helpless and wanting him to be happy, he got his wish and I fed him as consistently as I could...I am sure that was heaven on earth for him.

Do I still miss him? Yes. But my outlook has changed and I am having a happy time remembering all the good he brought into my life. Its gives me energy which I can throw into my work and give to my clients.

Stop complaining about your situation. Its never as bad as you think. Don't complain about the things you can't control, its a waste of time. Try it for a week. Quit griping!

I get tired of people complaining all the time - we see it this time of year especially because its cold, dark and there is no sign of a long weekend until Easter. All that complaining leads to negativity in your life. Start being happy. Quit complaining. Here is a challenge. I dare you to go 1 week without 1 complaint. Not about the weather, work, your spouse, the service you received on your last flight. No complaints for 1 week. I know you can do it, and once you do you will see how not only it changes your outlook, but also your week.

Start focusing on what you are grateful for. Each time you feel a complaint coming on (say about the way your spouse takes out the trash) replace it with a grateful thought (like you love the way he cooks you dinner each night). Each time you want to vent about a customer behaving badly, instead replace that thought with being grateful that he is paying is bills and sending your referrals.

Be grateful instead of being a griper. Be a life giver instead of a life sucker. Your life will be a success because of it.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Have a record breaking year!

To ensure you have a great sales year ask yourself the following questions:

1. Are you making any mistakes? Are you failing? Because If you aren’t failing, you aren’t growing. My karate master is always pushing us to strike one more opponent, block one more kick, hold our stance just one more minute, until our bodies physically fail. Why? Because until you’ve pushed past your limits and failed, until you’ve stretched past your comfort zone into your uncomfort zone, you can never achieve more than you thought possible. What are you doing every day to reach your uncomfort zone?

2. What risks are you willing to take in 2007 in order to beat the competition? Like high performance athletes, high performance sales people are constantly challenging themselves to do better. Every time you play it safe, you lose. Every time you take a risk, you win – either you win the business, or you win the knowledge of what not to do the next time. What risks are you willing to take in 2007 in order to beat the competition?

3. Did you give up on any goals last year? Thomas Edison failed 1,000 times before he invented the light bulb, and changed the world. Most sales people give up after hearing their first “no. I know you are not a quitter. Instead, be the Thomas Edison of your industry?

4. Are you putting your great ideas into action, or just putting them on the shelf? remember: “Strategy without execution is hallucination. Knowing the strategies of top performers is great. Executing them is what will make you a star. Take some time now to think about what you will do this year to execute on these strategies of the Top 10%. Then go out, and as Nike says: just do it!

Congratulations on being committed to greatness. I am looking forward to working with you – make it a profitable day.

Interesting business news

Hi,

I was reading Fast Company this month - one of my favorite business magazines. On the last page (112) there is a story about Whole Foods CEO, John Mackey and his decision to reduce his salary to $1. Mackey claims to have made more money than he ever dreamed, or needs, and therefore will not be working for money anymore. He has forfeited his salary - except for $1 per year.

In addition, any future stock options he would have been eligible for are being donated to Whole Foods 2 foundations AND $100,000 per year will be deposited annually into a Global Team Emergency Fund to be distributed to employees based on need.

WOW - you don't see that move very often. It' true that many founders and CEOs have more money than they need,or dreamed of, yet they continue to get paid. Many value themselves on their take how pay. I wonder why John Mackey made this decision?

I am not sure how I feel about it either. One the one hand its a very benevolent move and it demonstrates a true passion fr his business.

On the other hand, does it diminish his value as a CEO or enhance it. I don't know yet. It certainly is risky. Of course his employees will love it. I do love his commitment to the foundations and the creation of the Emergency Fund. I'm curious about your opinion on his salary reduction. Good Idea? Bad Idea? And why....

Given enough wealth to not need another dollar would you continue working for nothing?

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Make your message unique!

Normally when I check into a hotel, there are not so subtle reminders around my room that in the interests of the environment staff will not change your sheets or towels unless you really really want them to. I always thought that this was brilliant consumer relations. The hotel becomes environmentally responsible, which makes us feel good about staying there, while saving a ton on money in washing – IE being completely self serving (and you are always debating my claim that humans are lazy and selfish!). I also have to admit, that I have become immune to the reminders. Routinely ignoring them and certainly not reading them.

Today, one caught my eye. I just checked into the Marriott Long Warf in Boston, plugged in my laptop to write this blog posting and was inspired by the note on the desk. This Marriott doesn't have an environmental policy, it has a “just like home” Linen Reuse Program. What the *!#@$$!! Now that is really laying on the guilt…and it’s brilliant!

Why? Because its different than all the other "linen reuse" messages in hotels, AND its implying that this experience will be just like home. After all....there is no place like home. right?

Every road weary traveler is looking for a piece of home in their hotel room. So why not take advantage of it like Marriott is doing. They are staying that this hotel room will be as good as, or as clean as, my bed at home –AND its good for the environment. Sheeze…can’t beat that argument. I have not seen any other hotel using this logic and it certainly stands, out and catches my attention.

My guess is that Marriott has a higher comply rate than other hotels because the message is presented differently. I actually read it! (HINT: are you presenting your message differently than your competitors?) Now of course after tonight while I am eating dinner in bed while watching the Super Bowl (something I don’t do at home) and proceed to make a huge mess, they will need to provide me clean sheets ( just like I would have to do at home) . So much for being environmentally responsible...

Helping you stand out from the crowd!

Colleen

Choose your clients well

Hi There,

My friend Nick Newton posted this great article and I thought I would share it with you! Enjoy

I was speaking to a colleague who explained that sometimes she felt like she was wasting time with a certain type of potential client.

We are familiar with that type. The type is one who is only marginally interested in what we offer or is more interested in a solution that, in our opinion, will not serve them well. This clearly is not a good fit. A good expression to remember is “I cannot solve a problem that you do not have or do not perceive to have.”

It is best to evaluate whether you can help a potential client early on to leave yourself time to choose those client’s who you will have a definite impact on.

The adventure is the best part of the journey.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen