Archive for the 'BRANDING' Category

Apr 25 2012

Try it Now! Say it Now! Do it Now! Move it Now!

Published by under "Here & Now" Focus,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Customer Service (CRM),Delegation,Entrepreneurship,Leadership,Lifestyle,Management,Motivation,Observations,People Management,Productivity,Relationships,Retailing,Sales,Sales Process,Small Business,Tactics,Teamwork

WHY?

                       

WHY NOT?

                         

WHY NOT ME?

                          

…WHY NOT NOW?

 

The tougher that times get, the more focused we need to be on the here-and-now present. Anything else triggers agita! Demonstrating to our customers, prospects, employees, associates, investors, advisors, referrers, and community-at-large that we are seriously committed to making things happen quickly is one of the strongest impressions a business can make.

This is not to suggest a haste-makes-waste attitude that ends up costing money or relationships. Instead, it’s all about responding promptly to what’s asked of us. Every business owner knows that pleasing others and building strong work relationships and customer relationships is directly related to one’s ability to “hop to it” when a request or purchase is made.

But all too often, this ownership sense of urgencyis never passed along through the rank and file. In my work with at least a thousand businesses over the years, I’ve heard frequent references to “The Boss” as someone who works hard and responds quickly to the interests others express or show in the business, or in the business offerings. But it’s not contagious!

Many employees and associates seem to settle into a lethargic comfort zone that relies on the boss’s behaviors to make things happen instead of assuming responsibility to follow the boss’s lead and adopt her or his commitment to action.

With the assurance that some action is always better than no action –at least in business– most bosses fail to communicate a sense of hustle to those around them.

When did you last gather your staff or team together to let them know how much you’re counting on them to solve customer problems and fill needs as quickly as they can, how important this single commitment is to repeat sales?  Are you rewarding hustle? Try tossing a one dollar coin (because it’s uncommon, it’s special) at someone every time you observe rapid response activity. You’ll be amazed at how far that single dollar will go toward motivating urgency.

  • A 6pm phone call requesting delivery of a part 400 miles away by 9am the next morning was greeted by one delivery service with “Sorry our switchboard is closed after 5pm; try back tomorrow.”

  • Another delivery service responded by saying it would have to cost $2,500 to get the part to its destination by 9am because the driver was scheduled to go the opposite direction and would have to leave two hours earlier to fill the request.

  • A third company said the office was closed and all the trucks were scheduled for the morning, but the person answering the phone said he had nothing planned for the evening and would take the part personally in his car for gas, tolls and breakfast… $323.50. Do you think that customer returned to the third company for future deliveries? 

It’s really hard to respond too quickly to a customer or prospect request. In fact, they’ll surely tell you if that’s the case. But no one forgets the business that goes out of its way to see to it that requests are handled and processed promptly. It’s called having an Action Attitude. Do you?

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Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

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Feb 15 2012

CREATIVE BUSINESS

Published by under "Here & Now" Focus,Advertising,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Change,Choosing Behavior,Communication,Creative Thinking,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Innovation,INTERNET Marketing,Lifestyle,Marketing,Observations,Personal Growth,Professional Practices,Public Relations,Reality,Sales,Sales Process,Small Business,Special People/Special Occasions,Strategies,Tactics,Time Management

TIMELESSNESS

Surely you jest! The closest we’ll ever get to this state of existence (and still be living) is on vacation (or drugs!), or by meditating or exercising. Reality dictates that timelessness is not a condition of most employment, unless you’re an Astronaut.

~~~~~~~

So what’s a poor creative business type to do to achieve a big enough taste of nirvana, be inspired to greatness and  innovative genius . . . and to prompt meaningful sales?

First, manage your time more efficiently. Pay no attention to corporate trainers and consultants who advocate that life is not about managing time but should instead be about managing your self more efficiently.

CREATIVITY IS NOT SPAWNED

BY EFFICIENCY.

Creative expression evolves from dreaming, trial and error, inspiring examples, hard-nosed research, brainstorming, testing, communication, and often from sleeping on your ideas.

You’ll do –for example– a better job of creative marketing or website design after watching an animated movie, or after taking a walk or jog through the woods or a park, or along a waterfront.

You’ll get more creative traction out of playing with a toddler, or a puppy, or visiting your local ASPCA adoption offerings, or a nursing home, children’s hospital, school, theatre or day care center.

In other words, get yourself up and out of your element, away from your “normal” day-to-day environment.

ROUTINE EXPERIENCES

DON’T STIMULATE CREATIVITY.

Total immersion in the exceptional, extraordinary, bizarre, unexpected, and unusual DO.

Savvy creative directors send their writers, artists, and designers to different kinds of events to broaden their horizons and enable expanded thinking directions. It’s not unklike getting up from your desk, drawing board, computer, or workbench to take a short walk, a break, a stretch, or to get a cup of coffee. This also translates to not eating lunch in your workspace.

When we make a point of achieving little hunks of timelessness in the consciousness of our daily work efforts, grabbing at it whenever possible, we will perform better than those who don’t, and better than we normally would when we don’t take time outs!

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Hal@Businessworks.US 302.933.0116

Open   Minds   Open   Doors

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Feb 07 2012

WHAT “Contingency Plan”?

Published by under "Here & Now" Focus,Age & Aging,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Change,Choosing Behavior,Creative Thinking,Decision Making,Delegation,Empathy,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Leadership,Life Plans,Lifestyle,Management,Motivation,Objectives,Objectives/Strategies/Tactics,Observations,People Management,Personal Growth,Problems=Opportunities,Professional Practices,Reality,Retailing,Sales,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Strategic Planning,Tactics

Feeling Invincible? . . .

Think Only Wussy Types

                                 

Fret Over “What If” Stuff?

 

Perhaps consciousness of the fragility of life has never struck you or your business full force. Perhaps you’ve somehow managed to escape the anguish, angst, and fears attached to the reality of your own or the life of someone close hanging by a thread. Perhaps you’re too young or too lucky or too blessed to have ever known the stress of having machines do the breathing and feeding and medicating and pain management?  

~~~~~~~

                                                                         

If that is even partly true of you, don’t let today pass without giving it at least a few moments of thought. Why? Because just as a business with no sign is a sign of no business, a business or business leader without good health — or a poor-health contingency plan– is the sign of a sick or unhealthy business.

“Nah,” a strong-willed 30-something entrepreneur responded to that idea, “My business is healthy,” he said, “and I have no provision for disaster because I work our regularly and I’m in good shape, we have a long-term lease, our customer base is growing steadily, and prospective investors are standing in line!”

“But surely,” I offered, “you have some kind of insurance coverage? Fire and theft? An office policy? Collision? Life? Health?” He cocked his head as if I’d hit him with an illegal punch, “Sure, but so what? THAT is MY contingency plan. Things go south? I just file claims and collect enough to start something else!”

“That’s good,” I said, “because burglaries and fires and tsunamis and earthquakes and hurricanes and tornados do happen, but I’m talking about catastrophic illness. That happens too.” Ask around. You’ll find plenty of people who’ve experienced sudden ill health, who suffered, and whose businesses suffered because they had no contingency plan.

When that “CLOSED DUE TO FAMILY ILLNESS” sign goes up on the front door (or website), dwindling (sometimes plummeting) customer loyalty and support follow. We live in a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately? society.

Are you ready to face critical damage to your revenue stream and threats to the life support system your enterprise has routinely fostered?

                                                         

What steps will you take and in what order? Or who will pinch-hit for you? What impact can your suppliers and customers expect, and how –specifically– will they be dealt with to accommodate their needs and to keep things running and moving forward? What gears will need to be shifted? By whom? When?

The time to deal with contingency planning is now, and to re-visit the plan at least once a year. The cost to plan is time. The cost to cope without a plan can be annihilating. It’s certainly true that expectations breed disappointment, but it’s equally true that having no plan is like captaining a rudderless ship.

And then there’re storms . . . 

                                                                    

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Hal@Businessworks.US  302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Feb 05 2012

TEST Where You’re Going

Published by under "Here & Now" Focus,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Change,Choosing Behavior,Communication,Contacts/Networking,Corporate Management,Decision Making,Delegation,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Feedback,Goals,Happiness,Innovation,Leadership,Life Plans,Lifestyle,Management,Motivation,Objectives,Objectives/Strategies/Tactics,Observations,People Management,Personal Growth,Problems=Opportunities,Professional Practices,Reality,Relationships,Reputation,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Strategic Planning,Strategies,Tactics,Teamwork

Get it in writing . . . 

The Hardest Business Task!

       

Yes, test your objectives. Yes, test your strategies. Yes, test your tactics. And, yes –first and foremost– test your concepts. It’s the only sensible way (before spending money on ideas that might sound great, but that fail to produce), to make sure your pursuits are solidly grounded and integrally connected. 

~~~~~~~

What’s the hardest task in business? It’s really not hiring and firing, or funding, or maintaining operations, or making sales (though HR, finance, operations, and sales people may all want to lay claim to having the most difficult jobs). The hardest task is getting it in writing. Huh”? What’s “it”? And what’s so hard about writing? Writing what? 

I believe the most challenging of all business tasks is getting your direction and contingency plans straight. (Considering widely-published SBA findings that over 90% of business failures are attributable to “poor management,” knowing where you’re going is certainly Job One for most entrepreneurs.)

Writing your objectives clearly, simply, specifically, realistically, flexibly –and with a due date attached– has proven time and again to make the difference between revenues and profits, between success and SUCCESS!

                                            

The more principals, partners, investors, advisors, managers involved, the harder the task. It becomes exponentially difficult because –to have any value– everyone involved must agree at least somewhat with every word. In other words, agreeing on a precise target is sometimes the most trying of all challenges.

                                                                 

Is it (your target objective) the same as your Mission or Vision Statement?

No, but it probably needs to directly reflect both.

                                                                

Whatever the objectives (or goals) are that you verbalize for yourself or your business, they need to be:

A) Missions in and of themselves, and they must fit conceptually under the umbrella of your own or your company’s overall Mission Statement.

[If your objective(s) fail to measure up to your overall Mission Statement, or don’t quite fit under its umbrella, re-examine where you’re headed with things. You may need to switch gears, or direction, or timing, or desired results.]

B) Following the path of your Vision Statement.

[If this isn’t happening, redirect your focus or re-visit your Vision Statement to consider some adjustments.]

Can you make changes and still be “on-target” with your pursuits? Absolutely! Remember that flexibility (together with realistic, specific, and due-dated) is one of the key criteria for effective goal-setting. If you’re not reaching the goal you defined, be flexible enough to redefine it, or change the tactics you’re using.

                                                               

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Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Jan 12 2012

The Small Business Career Trap

Published by under "Here & Now" Focus,Age & Aging,Anger/Conflict,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Change,Choosing Behavior,Contacts/Networking,Corporate Management,Creative Thinking,Decision Making,Economy,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Happiness,Innovation,Leadership,Lifestyle,Management,Motivation,Objectives,Observations,Overcoming Objections,People Management,Personal Growth,Problems=Opportunities,Professional Practices,Reality,Relationships,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Strategic Planning,Tactics

You got ideas?

                           

You’re ready to trade in

                              

that corporate career?

                          

Don’t be too quick!

 

 

Created by cover-your-butt, tunnel-visioned corporate types, who are busy going nowhere, the “Small Business Career Trap” puts a stranglehold on reentry to the corporate world once someone has “defected to small business life. It’s like deportation. Change your mind? Oh, no, that’s not allowed. Make a come-back? No way, José!

“Tunnel-visioned”? Well, sure– because the assumption behind that label is that you can play either football OR baseball, not both, and that once you switch sports, you can nevermore capture the credibility in the field of expertise you left behind. Ridiculous? Of course. Michael Jordan isn’t the only athlete to master multiple sports.

The kind of corporate mentality narrowmindedness that fosters (and nurtures) this kind of thinking discounts the wealth of unique contributions a small business-experienced individual can potentially make to stimulate the prevailing lethargy of so much corporate life.

And paradoxical, don’t you think, that the attitude strikes at the heart of the very same types of entrepreneurial contributions that no doubt accounted for launching every corporate entity to begin with?

As long as the political climbers at corporate giants refuse to honor the value of small business experience, and continue to fail to take advantage of the opportunities to integrate and cultivate more entrepreneurial spirit in their organizations, there is little hope that the big boys of business will ever favorably affect the economy.

And adventuresome entrepreneurial wannabe’s need to accept the reality

that big business-to-small business career moves probably have no return route.

                                             

This can be pretty disconcerting whenever you (the traitor) reach the point in small business (and you surely will) of realizing you are indeed smarter and more talented than corporate counterparts, MBAs and all.

It will become transparently clear that you could bring greater success to corporate productivity and profitability pursuits than people presently responsible for achieving these goals. Nonetheless, if no one will open the door, your only choice may be to return home and keep looking (Good Luck!) or break the door down.

Not many welcome mats are

laid out for forceable entry.

Will this ever change?

Short of revolution, it’s not likely.

                                                   

If you should have any doubts, by the way, that corporate mindsets are so deeply entrenched in fears of recruiting and hiring entrepreneurial thinkers and doers, just scroll through some corporate help wanted ads. Find just one that addresses small business expertise, a sense of urgency, and the ability to respond and adjust. Good luck again!

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Hal@Businessworks.US   931.854.0474

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Jan 11 2012

STAY SMALL TO GET BIG

Published by under "Here & Now" Focus,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Change,Choosing Behavior,Communication,Creative Thinking,Decision Making,Delegation,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Goals,Innovation,Leadership,Life Plans,Lifestyle,Management,Motivation,Objectives,Observations,Overcoming Objections,People Management,Personal Growth,Problems=Opportunities,Professional Practices,Reality,Relationships,Reputation,Retailing,Sales,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Special People/Special Occasions,Strategic Planning,Tactics,Teamwork,Trust

 You’re an entrepreneur?

 

You’re probably the

                           

 runt of the litter!

 

                                

Ask anyone who’s made it big in the service business, and the odds –by my calculations– are roughly 9 out of 10 that she or he did it by staying small. Makes sense. Most runts of the litter have entrepreneurial zeal and instincts. They scrap, scrape, and battle for food and attention from the day they’re born.

And runts make great dogs but not always great parents, which raises a key how-to issue about staying small. From my experience, there’s hardly ever a good and reasonable reason for adding payroll employees when you’ve passed the point of generating strong revenues on your own..

At most, you may decide to put an assistant on payroll, but herein lies the secret to continued growth: The person you choose must be dedicated and loyal to you at all costs. He or she must be a super organizer since –as an entrepreneur– you’re probably not. This individual must have no greater purpose than to make you successful.

In other words, do NOT seek a creative thinker. That’s your job! Do NOT seek a super salesperson. That’s also your job! Find someone you can trust absolutely all of the time. Find someone who will be assertive with other people on your behalf. Find someone who will rise to the occasion, who does not need hand-holding.

You need a person with strong judgement skills, who can readily size up others (and situations) and who knows enough to know when to insist on over-communicating with you. In other words, if you need to hire someone, hire a leader. If you can find this individual, and it may take years of searching, you won’t need anyone else.

Anyone else you take on should be on a commission, performance incentive, or parttime basis. Once you add a payroll position, and get the wrong person involved, you commit to stagnation and foreclose your prospects to succeed; you commit to the odds of adding expenses without being able to cover them. You commit to status quo.

In a product business, you need only to add skilled labor on a highly selective and prudent basis. One person with know-how, and the drive and energy to do the work of two people at one and a half times a one-person salary is far better than two people doing two jobs for three-quarter person salaries.

The bottom line: Runts of the litter excel as entrepreneurs. They are more independent, inventive, industrious, and self-sufficient. Rather than waste time looking, they will use a coin for a screwdriver. But once in a while, they need to back off and do some hard thinking about where they’re headed and where the next bone is coming from.

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Hal@Businessworks.US   931.854.0474

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Jan 10 2012

LETTING GO

Published by under "Here & Now" Focus,Anger/Conflict,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Change,Choosing Behavior,Creative Thinking,Decision Making,Empathy,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family,Family Business,Gestalt Therapy,Good Health,Happiness,Life Plans,Lifestyle,Mental Health,Motivation,Objectives,Observations,People Management,Personal Growth,Problems=Opportunities,Professional Practices,Reality,Relationships,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Strategic Planning,Stress Management,Time Management

What do workaholics,

                             

delusionists, and grieving

                          

friends and relatives

                        

all have in common?

 

 

 Why is it that the people who are most in need of breaking out of their workaholic patterns are the ones most resistant to the suggestion? They’re afraid to let go. Well, logically, it makes sense. Fear is the single most destructive emotion (and sometimes, paradoxically, greatest motivator) in existence.

Letting go is life’s single hardest task.

                                             

Workaholics share this infamous platform with those who live in delusion as well as those who grieve the loss of loved ones. Letting go means giving up an important part of yourself in favor of moving on, or back into, reality. Many egotistically, and sadly, are convinced that the world and their business could not survive without them.

“Sadly,” because these same people will almost inevitably drive themselves into cardiac care units… or the grave… using the excuse as a rationale that they “never gave up the ship!” It’s a lot like being mentally retarded (and having a daughter who is, I can say this with some authority). The single difference is the awareness of having a choice!

Never-say-die workaholics

 simply choose not to choose.

                                                                       

They know they have a choice, but feel threatened by the idea of changing horses in mid-stream. So they instead invest themselves in maintaining the status quo at all costs. Or, as world renown family therapist Virginia Satir used to say, “they get dried up and shrivel up.”

And, Satir goes on to ask: “Don’t you think this affects the growth of their families and that of those who work with them?” See for yourself. Status quo seekers are everywhere, harboring pain and misery, and transferring their own inadequacies and choices not to choose to change.

How dim the lights that light these lives. How stagnant the businesses they run. How rebellious the children they raise. Choosing situations and leaders who make the choices for them . . . how unfulfilled the lives they live.

This picture is bleak indeed, and it permeates many corners of the corporate and union worlds and government universe but, thankfully, has rarely become the payoff of hard work and self-sacrifice that many entrepreneurs practice. How is that? Because most entrepreneurs play and sleep as hard as they work.

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Hal@Businessworks.US  

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Jan 09 2012

PSYCHOPRENEURS

Published by under "Here & Now" Focus,Anger/Conflict,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Change,Choosing Behavior,Corporate Management,Creative Thinking,Decision Making,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Good Health,Happiness,Leadership,Lifestyle,Management,Meetings,Mental Health,Motivation,Observations,Overcoming Objections,People Management,Personal Growth,Problems=Opportunities,Professional Practices,Reality,Relationships,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Strategic Planning,Stress Management,Tactics

Think “Shrink”!

 

Are you a basket case business owner?

 

 

Let’s face it, fellow entrepreneurs, everyone is dysfunctional. The experts (whoever they are) proclaim to the universe of both trained and self-designated shrinks out there that everyone comes from a dysfunctional family. Well? Has it ever occurred to you that if each of us has a dysfunctional family, then each of us must also be… hmm?

Okay, so the sanity playing field is now level. So, going forward, let’s just accept that every entrepreneur (us included) is at least in part a psychological mess. Could it be the reason we tend to be so compulsive about so many things? Could it be the reason we tend to be over-stressed and over-react?

Maybe it’s why we jump so abruptly from one thing to another (vs. corporate guys who take the opposite extreme approach of belaboring and analyzing every issue to death, proving their mettle by seeing it all the way through to completion).

Success though is very much about balance, about keeping the highs and lows and the jumping around and the analysis paralysis on an even keel. Moderation is the king of balance. If, for example. we respond instead of react to words, actions, people, ideas , and situations, then there is no possibility of ever OVER-reacting.

Well, that makes sense, but isn’ it easier said than done? How do we get ourselves to respond instead of react when our fuses get ignited? Maybe get a longer fuse. Maybe keep your fuse away from ignition switches and spontaneous combustion dynamics . . .  kind of like not putting yourself intentionally in harm’s way.

It’s a choice. Let’s try that once more with feeling:

IT’S A CHOICE! Choose how-to steps like these:

                                               

First aid techniques include cold water on your face (perhaps a cold shower, depending on circumstances), washing your hands, taking a couple of quick deep breaths, briskly rubbing your temples or the back of your neck, taking a walk around the block, or saying a prayer of thanks for what you have in your life today.

In police crisis intervention training, the number one objective of any “domestic call” (usually a family dispute, and the source of more police injuries and fatalities than any other type of call, including robberies and high speed chases!) is to physically separate the warring parties into different rooms or spaces.

A business derivative of this is to physically separate yourself from a conflict situation long enough to gain or re-gain composure. There is no purpose to be served by “toughing it out”. . . save that notion for your next movie script, or sports field heroics. Reacting and over-reacting have no place in business. None. Zero. Zip. Nada.

SHRINK YOURSELF OUT! Get in front of that mirror. Make an angry face and decide how that looks. Next, take a deep breath and briskly rub your cheeks and forehead for 5-10 seconds. Now smile your best, most genuine smile. How does that look and feel? How hard was to switch gears? You can do that whenever you want. Choice.

                                                                                                                                              

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Hal@Businessworks.US  931.854,0474

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Jan 08 2012

You have 340,666 minutes left!

Published by under "Here & Now" Focus,Age & Aging,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Calendar,Change,Choosing Behavior,Decision Making,Economy,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Goals,Leadership,Lifestyle,Management,Motivation,Objectives,Objectives/Strategies/Tactics,Observations,People Management,Personal Growth,Productivity,Professional Practices,Reality,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Strategic Planning,Strategies,Stress Management,Tactics,Time Management

What will you do with

                             

your time this year?

 

FACT: As of January 10, you will have already spent 14,400 minutes of this new year that you’ll never get back. QUESTION: On a scale of 1-10 (10 being best), how would you rate the value of your 2012 accomplishments so far?  ONE MORE QUESTION: What will you do with the remaining 340,666 minutes (511,000 minutes minus 1/3 for sleep) in 2012?

~~~~~~~ 

                                         

Can the last question really be answered? Of course not. How could you possibly know what situations and circumstances will impact your intentions? So maybe intentions are not such a great thing. We’ve heard, after all, that they pave the road to hell, hmmm? And they’re kind of like expectations, right?

And don’t expectations breed disappointment?

                                                             

So where does all this quibbling over semantics actually leave us? Hopefully . . . (aw, wait a minute, isn’t “hopefully” like an intention and expectation combined?). Well then, is this an end to planning as we know it? Do we throw the goals out with the posts? (A little pun there for football fans.) Do we stop having objectives to pursue?

Planning is essential, but it is not a trigger for compulsive pursuit at all costs.

                                               

How do we know this? Because planning (i.e, goal-setting) has been long proven to be successful only if the process of goal-setting adheres firmly to specific criteria, and one of these is flexibility. The less flexible, the more stress. The more stress the greater the odds for failure.

There is something to be said for the thrust and direction of many, if not most, entrepreneurially-spirited engines . . . something that is most succinctly put as “living for the moment.” Entrepreneurs instinctively seek immediate gratification and are more focused on the “here and now” present moment than those in other careers.

It’s that old thing grandpa used to say about not putting off ’til tomorrow what you can do today. Entrepreneurs are business junkies. They have a powerful need for a quick fix when things start to flounder or deteriorate, or when last week’s “high” begins to wear off. Sound familiar? It’s true.  Look around. Ask around.   

Small business owners and operators have mostly learned the hard way –through trial and error and intuitive “street smarts”– that ongoing quick-fix actions are the only ones that get results, and keep businesses moving forward when the tide is changing or the current is a backwash.

But swimming upstream for any period of time can be exhausting to say the least, so the idea of taking immediate corrective/adjustment action needs, in reality, to be tapered only with the commitment to take only reasonable risks in the process, and to always imagine the worst case scenario before proceeding.

Try repetitively asking yourself the following question all during any crisis or critical period, hourly if need be:

“Is what I’m doing right this very minute

leading me to where I want to go?”

                                   

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Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

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Jan 05 2012

“DOCTOR BUSINESS”© (2 of 2)

Published by under "Here & Now" Focus,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Change,Choosing Behavior,Communication,Contacts/Networking,Decision Making,Delegation,Empathy,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Feedback,Goals,Good Health,INTERNET Marketing,Leadership,Lifestyle,Listening,Management,Marketing,Media,Mental Health,Motivation,Observations,Personal Growth,Problems=Opportunities,Professional Practices,Public Relations,Reality,Relationships,Reputation,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Social Media,Strategic Planning,Tactics,Trust

How To Boost Healthcare

 

Practice Volume NOW!

 

Hi Doc! You’re back? [See yesterday’s post for Part I] Well, that’s great because THIS post will get you started with a practice volume boost agenda that you will never get from a medicine world insider

~~~~~~~

 

“Marketing” is a reflection of society. YOUR marketing is a reflection of you and what you are really all about. So it’s important to keep in mind that marketing is both external (websites, signage, traditional and social media, direct mail and email, promotions, PR events and news releases, and internal.

Internal is the most effective. I refer to it as “Quiet” marketing. It includes such things as the appearance of your personal self–neat, clean clothes and a scrubbed look, your office and waiting room, your equipment and staff, and the manner in which communications are conducted . . . on paper, online, in person, and on the phone.

This means active listening, clear simple speech, using examples and diagrams, soliciting questions and feedback, and applying this attentiveness to not just patients, patient families, staff, and associates — but to other doctors and nurses, lawyers, pharmacists, insurance providers, suppliers, detail reps, even cleaning and delivery people.

Quiet marketing also includes paying careful attention to the frequency and quality of communications with those in your networking resource and referral systems, and to your SELF. Why? Because Quiet marketing success at any level has most of all to do with how you conduct and represent yourself to others!

This translates to how you walk, talk, sit, stand, listen, touch, gesture, and treat everyone around you every day.

These actions add up to the statement you make about who you really are, and why you are trustworthy of the confidences and care of others.

Remember: someone is watching your every move, and noting your every word.

                                                          

Effective marketing also requires consistency in looks, words, color schemes, traditional and online media use, branding theme identification. [You don;t need an “I’m lovin’ it” slogan or any less-than-professional statement, but some appropriate identity that patients can relate to is essential]

Your marketing messages surface through observations of your interior and exterior office decor, your business and appointment reminder cards, stationery and uniforms, promotional literature, educational talk materials, ads, signs, merchandising items, online content and access to you, newsletters, and news releases.

All of what you do and the message you seek to project must be absolutely and strongly reinforced by your staff in everything they do and say with every office contact, every minute, every day. No exceptions.

Professionalism in the eyes of a patient means more than training and skills. It includes appearances as noted and–most critically– professional empathy and reassurance skills . . . because every patient and potential patient (regardless of pretenses) is literally filled with fear. Fear is very real to 99% of the population.

Perceptions are facts.

What we perceive is what we believe.

And Perceptions + Performance = Referrals.
 

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Hal@Businessworks.US    931-854-0474

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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