Your card must speak

for itself in 2 seconds!

     Do NOT underestimate or undermine the value of your business card. People will size you up and decide if they want to do business with you in the first 7-1o seconds that you meet. If your first impression isn’t crispy sharp AND warm and friendly at the same time, you lose.

     Your business card is as important as the genuineness of your eye contact, smile and handshake. A business card will often be a 2-second focus of attention out of that first 7-10 seconds! [Many similar characteristics accompany your email signature; be careful with what it says and how it’s used; it may sit in a file for years before being re-visited!] 

    Your business card is probably more important than any other factor in making a favorable first impression, because once your meeting, encounter or presentation is over, it’s your card that customers and prospects take away with them. It’s your card — and sometimes your email sign-off — that people will remember you by (or not).

     It’s your card that must stand on its own two feet and command acknowledgement over the trash basket. It will not succeed if it is bent, dog-eared, faded, coffee-stained, dirty, boring-looking, or failing to present as many contact options as possible. The all-time worst scenario (and you’d be amazed at how many business owners do this) is to have no cards available.

It should be sufficient to say that the only thing business cards sitting in a box will succeed in attracting is dust! 

     Take your cards everywhere all of the time. There are no boundaries for discussion openers or follow-ups that prevent you from discretely handing a card to someone at a wedding or funeral with just the suggestion to “please contact me here when you get a chance” instead of a sales pitch. Take them on vacation, on your honeymoon, to family gatherings. Laminate some for beach and gym visits. Timidity never made a sale.

     One standout tactic for using cards, by the way, that many successful salespeople practice, is to intentionally not print their cell phone number on the face of the card and to instead hand write it on the back.

     This practice gives the recipient a feeling of having an “insider” contact option; this is especially effective at a trade or professional show where time is at a premium for establishing a sense of confidence. And the extra couple of seconds to do it rewards the recipient with an iota more personal attention than 99% of your competitors and other exhibitors will bother with.

     Oh, one other thought: The famous theatre producer David Balasco always made a practice of requiring salespeople to write their “story” on the back of their business cards before he would consider seeing them (most reportedly failed at this task!).

     It has always seemed to me that this is a good practice for every business owner, manager, entrepreneur, and sales professional to do on a regular basis as a “brush-up” for themselves. It’s what some corporate gurus have called the “elevator speech” or one sentence explanation of “what your business is all about.” The exercise might surprise you! 

  # # #               

Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US or comment below.

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You!

Make today a GREAT Day for someone! 

Watch where you’re going,

but think about

where you are.

[A Spirit of Christmas Business Message]

     We watched a blind man’s yellow Lab thread his master through the parking lot and into the giant retail outlet, through electronic doors and deftly around an oblivious woman who appeared cast in stone, at one with her shopping cart … surely not about to move. 

     The man and his companion worked their way around obstacles, displays, counters, other shoppers. They passed so briskly and so seemingly self-assured that only a few passerby even noticed just one pair of color-blind canine eyes leading three pair of legs.

     But we did. And in a mere matter of seconds after the man’s best friend and the man were devoured by store traffic, my mind snapped to attention from its visual tracking trance and realized we had been witness to a man with no eyes. Mine began to fill with tears. Maybe it was being sad for him, or grateful for me, or simply the season, but … 

     All my weaknesses, complaints and woes went quickly off into space as I closed my eyes and considered for just a moment what my life would be like without ever or ever again seeing a crepe myrtle in full bloom, the ocean, a blue heron following with its body its spindly silent legs as it creeps along the shore, a laughing toddler, deep woods, a frolicking litter of puppies, snow-topped mountains, my family, a book, works of art, lightening, swooping seagulls, my toothbrush, a roaring fireplace, faces, a Christmas tree…

     Who could possibly want a Christmas present who has full use of vision after seeing someone who does not?

So, I am left to conclude that Christmas is

truly not about either giving or receiving.

     Christmas is instead about consciousness-raising, celebration, self-renewal, and setting out once again on our annual trek to make the most of what we do already have, to better ourselves and the lives of those around us.

     Christmas is a gentle wake-up call to remember we are here to make a difference on this planet, one day at a time, to focus on making what’s possible happen. Christmas is a time for melancholy, yes, but also for introspection. We remember that we have within each of us the ability to choose the pathways that make existence on Earth as worthy as what lives in the riches of our souls.

     Here’s what I’ve learned (often the hard way, mind you) so here’s what I have to share: In both business and in life, watch where you’re going, but always think about where you are. Be grateful for all that is yours, and continue your work to grow your business so you can help others from a position of strength … because the greatest gift of all is love wrapped up in charity.

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Visit tomorrow night for Hal’s annual classic story

Christmas In Ireland 

God Bless You One And All 

And Merry Christmas!

# # #

Tapping Feet Tap

Untapped Potential

—–Take Note Owners, Managers, and Sales Professionals—– 

     Any good coach will tell you that nervousness is often a good source of energy that can be productively channeled.

     Stress is not always negative. Positive stress is required to be able to read this right now, to sit in a chair without falling off, to make love and excel in sports (well, okay, maybe not at the same time!), to talk on the phone … even, btw, txt msg!

     When stress, however, becomes negative … when it reaches a point of dis-stress or over-stress, it becomes physically, mentally, and emotionally unhealthy … often taking the high-risk leap from nonproductive to COUNTER-productive. It can quickly suck unsuspecting others into the whirlpool it creates.  

NOTE: Holidays are a primary cause of both negative and positive stress. To be better equipped to manage your holiday stress effectively, and keep it tipping to the “plus” side, go here for a 60-second quick fix:  http://bit.ly/Bb1Tw

     When you observe a customer or employee tapping feet (or other extremities), odds are (almost universally) that the individual does not want to be where she or he is, and is anxious to get out of the room or extract her or himself from the present situation.

     When you observe this, acknowledge the anxieties attached to the circumstances — show some put-yourself-in-their-shoes empathy (unless their shoes are by this time, really clicking away recklessly, in which case you may want to 911 a podiatrist!) —  and suggest an option like:

“Why don’t we take a break here and…”

“Let’s think on that subject for a little bit and talk about this other issue…”

     Like a speaker who’s focused on shifting verbal gears in order to prompt defensive arms-crossed listeners to “unfold” arms and rest their hands more receptively at their sides or on the table, you need to try out different thought directions.

     See if you can get the tappingto subside without calling attention to it. Raising someone’s consciousness about her or his nervousness can make that person even more jittery.

The more the tap subsides, the less you need to dance!

# # #               

Yes, but are you happy?

     Survey findings based on 2009 data collected from 1.3 million Americans (by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) report — state-by-state, plus D.C. — identify where the happiest people live.

BEST/HAPPIEST STATES 

#1 – #6: Louisiana, Hawaii, Florida, Tennessee, Arizona, South Carolina.

WORST/UNHAPPIEST STATES 

#46 – #51: California, New Jersey, Indiana, Michigan, Connecticut, New York. 

     If you can’t stand waiting ’til the end of this post to find out where your state stands, I’ll give you the whole scoop right here, right now, but you have to promise to return after you find out whether you’re supposed to be happy or not, so you can get some free happiness guidance! Here. Do it!  . . . and when you’re done, ‘Mon Back!

     Welcome back! So are you happy now? Or did that little side trip just make things worse for you? Well, the survey findings are probably a useful thing for helping to target your sales message geographically.

    I mean you could probably send some angry messages into Louisiana, Florida and Hawaii, for example, and get back a lot of knowing smiles with piles of sales dollars. But you may not want to be so cavalier when you’re aiming at those sad souls in New York, Connecticut and Michigan.

     Hey, truth is that no matter who says what you’re supposed to be experiencing, happiness — like any other behavior — is a choice! Consciously or unconsciously, each of us choose our behaviors every minute of every day! And, like success, happiness is the journey, not the destination.

     Of course some states with more sunshine might do a better job of hosting the journey, or setting the table for our choices, but nothing and no one outside your mind creates or causes happiness or unhappiness. And where you live has very little to do with it. 

     Surely you know there’s truth to the old expression that “Misery Loves Company.” But, btw, so does “Happiness” and you need only look at faces around you at one of your upcoming parties to underscore that reality.

     The only gift greater than happiness is sharing happiness. Try it. You’ll like it.

# # #

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Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0116

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Pity all you want, but

nothing happens ’til you’ve

put yourself in other’s shoes.

     Okay, you’re a leader. You own and/or operate and/or manage a business, or part of one (or you’re a sales professional, which is essentially the same thing!). You need to wear many hats, day to day, and probably one of the most difficult of these to keep balanced on your head (and for most leaders) is the one that dictates your role when serious, draining emotional problems arise.

     Odds are you have no training as a shrink or you would be one, and it’s bad enough being constantly looked upon by others who think of you (and sometimes openly treat you) as a surrogate parent … then along comes tragedy, or calamity, or personal, or family, or community, or even a company upset or grief period.

     And it’s often hard to know how to respond.

     First of all, respond. When you can respond instead of react, you can never over-react, and you will more likely than not help others to also respond instead of react too. That’s a good thing. HOW do you make that happen? First recognize that responding instead of reacting (like all behavior) is a choice! Next, try:  http://bit.ly/Bb1Tw 

     When you can focus your response energy on empathy and being empathetic (which the dictionary defines as “understanding and sharing the feelings of others”), you can help yourself and others to be immensely relieved, productive, positive, and motivating.

     When you focus instead on sympathy and being sympathetic (which the dictionary defines as “feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else’s misfortune”), it’s rare to experience an outcome that’s anything more than one that has simply piled on more pity and sorrow.

     We need only to turn to what’s probably the greatest exampleof our lifetimes — in the defining behavior, for example, exercised by “America’s Mayor” Rudy Giuliani after the infamous terrorist attacks of “9/11” — for inspiration and a lesson in the values of using empathy in leadership. His ability to put himself in other’s shoes, and to help a panicked nation be there with him by virtue of his acts and words, sprouted calm and order and honor and harmony from the chaos.

# # #               

Leaders who fail to sell

fail as leaders.   

     No, not everyone is out there selling, every minute of every day … just those who are leaders!

     Leaders of the world, and of every nation, region, state, county, city, town, neighborhood, household, and business, department, institution, team, crew, organization, task force, office, store, studio, construction site, laboratory, factory floor, and professional practice are the ones who are out there selling with every waking breath. 

     Well, now, that certainly includes most everyone, doesn’t it? Not really, there are armies of followers (in the military and in Twitter, to name just two), and there are hermits. Okay, that’s being evasive for the sake of prompting a smile. Truth is we are ALL leaders of SOMEthing. It it’s not a rock group, classroom project, family, or community group, it’s SOMEthing. What are you a leader of? What do others think you’re a leader of?

     Most of us mix it up: leaders of some things, followers of others. The point is that whenever we are actively leading ANYthing, we are selling. And whenever we are NOT actively leading something, we are — at the least — a hair trigger away from selling, and will pounce into a sales mode at the mere mention of anything that even suggests the focus, issues, or activities of the thing(s) we lead, stand for, and believe in. 

     So, now that that’s all cleared up, let’s examine the flipside:

     Short of threats to perpetrate physical harm, how can anyone expect others to “buy into” ideas, directions, and recommendations that the leader has not enthusiastically endorsed and demonstrated value for? If we as followers see no benefits to the leader’s plans, do we suffer through the process or seek new horizons? Does it depend on circumstances?

     Without getting into all the side issues of parental control, HOW do we choose to provide inadequate leadership and expect others to follow? (Remember that selling is helping others solve problems, and it is 80% listening!)

     Unlike the tokenism we see in politics, truly effective salesmanship ushers in substance. It does that by proving performance, by instilling trust through demonstration, and by acting from a posture of authenticity.

     You are most certainly a leader of something, perhaps many things, and your effectiveness can only be measured in terms of results. Results only happen when others are motivated to prompt or get them.

     Others are only motivated when you have been effective in selling them the benefits they will realize by their efforts. And this applies to volunteer and charitable organizations as well as entrepreneurial ventures, “Mom and Pop” bricks and mortar stores,  virtual online enterprises, and global corporate entities.

     It applies to households, classrooms, scouting groups, and sports teams. Notre Dame University’s most famous football coach, Knute Rockne, was a worldclass professional salesman.

How and what are YOU selling? The answer defines your leadership skills.

# # #               

You’re going to work for a

living SOME where, right?

Recommended: Print & pass to a business hopeful attending or considering college

     So you’ve earned a PhD, an MBA, LLB, MD, MS, MA, and all kinds of bachelor and associate degrees. You are Mr. or Mrs. (maybe “Dr.” ?) Joe (Josephine?) College, in the flesh. And the academic credentials got you a decent job. Now what? Do you seriously believe your 4.0 grade average means you’ve got what it takes to thrive … even survive?

     After your punishing (and expensive!) labs, coursework, exams, thesis papers and consulting with so-called “Academic Advisors,” if you have learned anything less than HOW to put ALL of the following to work, you’re in big-time trouble, and college put you there.

     Can you honestly say you have learned how to practice (and hopefully excel at) ALL of these attributes?:

• Making Decisions
• Managing Stress
• Managing Time
• Managing Customers
• Communicating Clearly
• Being a Leader
• SELLING
• Delegating
• Innovating
• Being a Team Player
• Listening and Giving Feedback
• Organizing
• Empathizing
• Respecting Others
• Being Genuine, Honest and Transparent
• Valuing Experience
• Accepting Criticism
• Setting and Pursuing Goals
• Being Accountable and Cultivating Trust
• Avoiding Political and Psychological “Games”

     Give or take perhaps a couple of the above items, these are the attributes that add up to being effective in business or professional practice (ANY business or professional practice) and without which, your road to success will be a long one indeed, especially if you aspire to a forward-moving or productive management position.

     Good leaders do all of these things well. So do good salespeople. All good leaders are also, not incidentally, good salespeople [SEE TOMORROW’S POST ON THIS SUBJECT!]  

     What’s sad about all this is that institutions of higher learning (other than a very small handful that do in fact address a number of these subjects as part of academic platforms on, for example, nursing and entrepreneurship and some behavioral sciences like human development) not only scoot around these issues; they outright reject them.

     Colleges and universities (again with rare exception) fail to value reality. They are invested in fantasizing on the past which will never come again, or the future which hasn’t yet arrived, and may never. They refuse to acknowledge their hands in front of their faces.

     So YOU end up losing out to an arcane system of learning that fails to deal with preparing students for life in the real world. It’s true.

How do I know? I’ve worked extensively in creative roles with Fortune 500 companies, as a consultant with entrepreneurial businesses and professional practices, as a management trainer for over 20,000 business and healthcare executives, and as “Professor of the Year” at a major university and two colleges. I’ve been in the thick of it.

     You DO have a way out. There IS hope. You need to first accept that you’ve been taught subject matter, not real life applications, not how to succeed. Second, you must commit to yourself to learn as much as you possibly can about yourself as possible.

The more you know about what makes you “tick,”

the more skilled and successful a leader you will be.

# # #               

Imagine This. Imagine That.

(Then Do It!)

     Sorry, but great ideas you fail to act on are not great. In fact, they’re actually lousy because they clog up your brain and prevent you from getting and acting on the truly great ideas you have. Am I saying that you’re holding yourself back? Yes. Aren’t you?

     I know, you’re overwhelmed right now…sucky economy, family holiday obligations, and you want to just slow down your business push (like past years), just sit back and relax with a nice glass of something warming…and relegate the whole “dreaming up new business ideas” thing to some back burner agenda.

     But guess what? (Yes, you knew this was coming, right?) There couldn’t be a better time to get your brain focused on making more of your imagination. While others are racing around trying to jam in end-of-year sales orders, and still others take vacation time, ACT BOLDLY!

DO AN “O.I.S.T.T.T.”

(Now! This Week!)

     Take 2 or 3 or 5 or 10 of your top people on an “Overnight Imagination Stimulation Think Tank Trip.” Build in a side visit or two for some gift-shopping along the way.

     Here, Try This:

1) Take your Team to breakfast and give them a pep talk. Then give them each some spending allowance or discount deals you work out for special shopping spots along the way to a special meeting destination (Cheap, good dollar-value deals are available everywhere right now!). Maybe offer an extra “Family Day” off to each for Christmas or New Year’s use? 

2) Then bus or limo the whole group to some mountain cabin hideaway, or some fantastic meeting center/resort kind of place. My personal recommendation for those in the Northeast… NY / NJ / PA / DE / CT / MA:  www.InterlakenInn.com because I’ve run dozens of “Escape” meetings there and can vouch for what a super place it is (and I just called them to check, and they assure me they’ll work with your budget).

Bottom Line: You won’t believe how much good the overnight “brainstorming” trip will do for your business (AND your Team!).

3) Imagination will flow from the first cup of coffee to the last, then you have some time left over to evaluate and assess the ideas, and determine the directions and steps to take.

4) POOF! You will start out the new year on the run, ahead of the pack, and with increased commitment and loyalty from your top Team, because they will be part of the action from the git-go.  

Assuming now that you might be serious about wanting to put some truly creative leadership to work, and you’re willing to test your mettle (and your braintrust) as to how spontaneous you can all be (because you realize that SOMETHING powerful has to happen with your business SOON), then check each of these quick blog posts on related subjects:

http://bit.ly/6VFJHL  ~~~ INNOVATING AND PROBLEM-SOLVING (“Has Your Brain Been Thunder-Struck?”)

http://bit.ly/85FlLC  ~~~ 5 WAYS TO BREED INNOVATION (“It Doesn’t Fall From The Sky … Innovation Needs Ignition!”)

http://bit.ly/5358lq ~~~ BEAT THE RECESSION WITH IMAGINATION (“Entrepreneurs Are Imagination Junkies”) 

 MY PROMISE:

THIS (PERHAPS RISKY-FEELING) SUGGESTION WILL POSITIVELY PRODUCE THE MISSING INGREDIENTS YOU NEED TO SKY-ROCKET YOUR BUSINESS INTO THE NEW YEAR!

(Or, if doubts and excuses get in the way, call me at 302.933.0116 to arrange a free how-to, same or next-day consulting session!)

# # #               

Think Big But Act Small!

     As small business owners and managers, we unfortunately have not much of a role model for success anywhere within the avalanche of daily government’s much ado about nothing, or the poor misguided mainstream media’s efforts to distort, opinionate and manipulate in order to sell advertising time and space.

     How could we expect, for example, to learn anything about decision-making from an Armed Forces Commander in Chief who takes three months to conclude what his own paid, experienced experts have told him from the outset the steps that needed to be taken with respect to troop deployment?

     And, to top it off, in addition to having put those who serve — and who are clearly committed — in harms way for that entire three months, the agonizingly slow decision and extent of unnecessarily prolonged delay now threatens to undermine the very determination that was finally and reluctantly made. This decision should have been made in one day.

     Odds are that if any of us practiced such poor (and critical) decision-making and failed to rely on those we chose to surround and advise ourselves with in our own businesses, we’d be out (or well on our way to being out) of business!

     Oh, and just imagine what kind of customer loyalty we might generate if our marketing programs and public messages were as intentionally contentious and provocative as the sensationalist “journalism” that flows from the fork-tongued mouths of mainstream media’s loose cannons. You know who and what make up this list. 

     Something about this desperate media pproach to doing business smacks of ramming a healthcare program down the throats of 63% of the population who do not want it. Could you do that with your business prospects and survive?

     We could forget about repeat sales. We could also give up our customer service pursuits (Who would ever believe in the dollar value and performance quality of our products and services when we’re fully preoccupied with putting down our competition or trying to produce sales by mental water-boarding instead of simply demonstrating the benefits of our business, our integrity, trust and authenticity?)

     And what have we in our poor excuse for a national leadership to follow? A hypocritical multimillionaire holding our feet to the fire to keep us honest while abusing tax-dollar-paid privileges? People with less business experience than your 2 year-old nephew, dictating business policy? People so entrenched in their own sense of political self-importance that they’ve lost sight of what they’re supposed to be doing and whom they’re supposed to be representing?

     You couldn’t count fast enough to guess the numbers of customers leaving your business if you started price-gouging while delivering inadequate products and services in the name of global warming scams designed to divert tax dollars to political causes, and self-aggrandizing delusional thinking about spreading wealth to those who haven’t earned it (because handouts work just fine).

     A helluva way to run a business. Any business. 

When you want to be big,

act small enough to make it clear

that your growth is not more important

than your customer.    

# # #               

“If you think education’s

expensive, try ignorance!”

     Besides that this bumper sticker passed me today in the rain going at least 60 in a 40, I found it hard to stop laughing at the stupidity of the message from the standpoint of business. Education (at least as we know it in the U.S.) is hardly the opposite of ignorance. In fact, education (as we know it in the U.S.) is often the CAUSE of ignorance in business!

     Okay, let’s first take a look at whether education is expensive. Yes indeed, it is. Is it worth the expense? No indeed, it’s not. And why is that the case? Because — except for rocket scientists, neuro and cardiovascular surgeons, astronauts, statistical analysts, and tax attorneys (none of whom have the slightest clue about business), it doesn’t much matter.

     Formal education in America is a complete failure. Primary and secondary education systems fail to prepare students for the real world and college prep programs fail to prepare students for college.

     Advanced education systems fail to prepare students for the real world and career prep programs fail to prepare students for careers. Those who would own and run businesses are better off getting real first-hand experience than suffering through meaningless formal education coursework that’s out of touch with reality!

     Having had over 20,000 students (in business, career psychology, human development, and elementary education) I can attest that maybe (maybe!) one in 100 students actually gets the point of it all, and recognizes that formal education coursework is all about learning the PROCESS.

     You would be surprised (or perhaps not) to find out how few students recognize that what they need to be learning is HOW TO THINK, not what idiotic events took place that led to market segmentation media planning or what magic formulas exist for setting retail mark-ups or what impact socio-economic factors have on target market strategy development.

     We are all businesspeople reading this, right? So perhaps it’s preaching to the choir, but when we look carefully at the business people and business success stories that have made a difference on earth — from Henry Ford to Bill Gates — what’s seems striking is that formal education never played an important role.

     Our neurotic societal values dictate that MBAs and PhDs are such enviable and important degrees for business success, that they must be encouraged at all costs. Baloney! They are meaningless tools for entrepreneurs. They cost huge amounts of time, money, and energy, and get in the way of the real learning that takes place on the job.

     A more realistic bumper sticker might read:  

“IF YOU THINK BUSINESS SUCCESS DEPENDS ON EDUCATION, YOU’RE IGNORANT!”

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