Okay, Boss…where

do you rate yourself?

     Where do you rate yourself on a scale of 1-10 (10 being highest) in motivational skills?

     You’re a business owner or manager. When’s the last time you put your brain in a blender and flipped it on “Puree”? (Er, never, I hope, but then you wouldn’t likely be reading this, right?) Well, here’s the point: what methods do you use to get people to sit up and pay attention? To jump? To dive in? To follow? 

     How aware are you of the fact that if your associates and employees have the same “take” on your business that you have from the control tower, they wouldn’t be associates and employees. They’d be running their own businesses, and maybe even competing. Sooooo, maybe it’s a good time to consider some new approaches.

     Let’s start by trying something you’re probably afraid to do (most entrepreneurs are): Tune in to other people’s sensitivities, and show them that you are aware of their feelings by directly or indirectly addressing them in the meetings you run, the directions you give, the requests you make, the emails you send, the phone discussions you have.

“I realize and appreciate that some of you may feel uncomfortable about having to share the burdens of this benefit plan reduction we’re making. I know because I am experiencing this cutback as well, but for now we all need to pull together in order to survive and grow. I fully understand the added stress this decision may put on you and your family and can assure you we will make some mid-air corrections at the first possible opportunity” is better than an announcement slip in the pay envelope!

     This is not to suggest you mollycoddle (I do love that word!) every employee sensitivity or cave in to every wimpy request. But it does mean that it’s important to the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal health of your organization to recognize and appreciate that leadership is often defined by one’s ability to relate to and mobilize others. The “relate to” part has to do with sensitivity.

     True leaders know their followers. They know their strengths and weaknesses, and they play to the strengths. They know how and when to challenge, and how to get the most productive efforts from each because they start with sensitivity…and then apply detective skills.

     You cannot motivate others for maximum effectiveness without knowing what makes them “tick” and without knowing what their current needs are. A trophy or plaque means nothing to someone struggling to afford new tires. A cash bonus is meaningless to someone who’s just inherited a big bank account.

     It doesn’t take as much effort as you might think to stay in touch with what your peoples’ lives are all about, and you need not step off the deep end of socializing to know how to reward and challenge appropriately and productively. 

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      . . . I’m open to your input anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in the subject line) or comment below. Thank you for visiting. Good night and God bless you! halalpiar  # # # 

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“It Don’t Matter To Me!”

     That song title should be your answer (aside from the ungrammatical “don’t”) to any question about who’s to blame for this economy. All that matters in the end is what you are doing about it for your own business or professional practice.

     Whether you’re a doctor, a retailer, a small-size manufacturer, a distributor, agent, or service provider, it’s time to take a hard look at how you are dealing with your current spending plans. This, for example, is NOT the time to fold up the sales and customer service training rug and store it in the basement. Besides the fact that basement-stored rugs attract mold and mildew, there are better solutions.

     Check in with your local community college or adult education program for an inexpensive training option. Or, do it yourself! Or round-up a team of masters or doctoral students from a nearby university to put a program together for you.

     Many internship programs across the country award academic credits for firsthand real-life experiences. A combination of business and education or psychology majors should be able to package a good motivational training program for your business. Some training is better than no training!

     Just be sure you present such a program in the right light and discourage over-the-top expectations. Help your people to see such an occasion as an opportunity to foster idea exchanges and teamwork, instead of setting up training quality judgements. Point out that what they will get from any program is what they end up putting into it.

     Speaking of motivation, remember that small frequent rewards (like family entertainment arrangements and lunch invitations) are more meaningful in the overall scheme of things than high-priced permanent rewards (like salary/benefit increases).

     Look at ways to promote your business without having to bite the media advertising bullet that will undoubtedly break a tooth if not your wallet. www.BizBrag.com is a terrific free site to register with and post free news releases and newsy photos — every day if you like!

     People are selling everything under the sun on Twitter these days. Also for free. You need tenacious endurance to make Twitter work for you, but it will if you will. Didn’t tenacious endurance get you to where you are anyway? 

     Are you asking people in your family to help you with certain tasks that will help free up your time so you can be more focused on sales, for example? Maybe retired Uncle Harvey wouldn’t mind at all coming in a few times a week to do some light cleaning (in exchange for some sports tickets or a couple of dinners out) to help offset custodial service fees?

     Cover the tax-deductible cost of some business books for your college student son, daughter, neice, nephew, or cousin in exchange for some office, fieldwork or factory floor interns? Combine expenses with neighboring businesses? Shared transportation and shipping costs, even direct mail postage, advertising, clerical and website maintenance sharing are possible.

     Think it out. Tough it out. But stay focused in the process, and stimulate your OWN budget!    

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      . . . I’m open to your input anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in the subject line) or comment below. Thank you for visiting. Good night and God bless you! halalpiar  # # # 

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Stop Beating Yourself Up!

     I’ve been hearing an inordinate amount of complaining of late from entrepreneurial types who are facing dried up venture capital sources, shut-down loan opportunities, and the literal disappearance of angel investors up and away into the distant heavens.

     So let’s explore some truths.You are not the reason for the bad economy. You are not the reason for anyone else’s problems. You are only the reason for your own problems and –harsh as you may think this sounds– you are probably the only reason for your business’s problems.

     Your feelings and your behaviors are your choice. Choose to make them good. Choose to make them easy. If your business has problems, think back and think hard and be brutally honest: you are likely the root of your business’s problems. And, yes, that’s also a choice. Ah, but you can just as easily choose to reverse direction.

     Stop making lame excuses for your business not doing as well as it should. Stop having unrealistic expectations for your business performance that are filled with empty hopes and wishes about what you imagine is possible. Stop justifying yourself with the barrage of pitiful media reports about how bad things are.

     Take the bull by the horns. Step up to the plate. Choose to put a positive attitude into your head and then begin to exercise it…consistently. Don’t accept anything less than the active pursuit of your goals as your daily regimen.

     YOU deserve better for yourself and your family and your business than to give it up to media and government know-nothings who haven’t a clue about what it takes to run and grow a successful business.

     Please forgive me for this tongue-lashing, butt-kicking lecture, but if it upsets you: A) Choose instead to see the value in rattling your cage and B) Use it as fuel to initiate positive action now.

     YOU are the smartest person on Earth about what your business needs to do to turn itself around and set the example for others. Now is your chance to make the difference that you set out to make when you started or took over your business. Be true to yourself, and your business will thrive.   

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  Hal@TheWriterWorks.com 

Thank you for visiting. Good night and God bless you!

Are you on target?

     Everyone likes to help others when they can. Some of us, however, dwell on being do-gooders to the detriment of our own interests. And when we do that, we are not helping others. We can only genuinely help others when we’re coming from a position of strength.

     Some among us like to surround ourselves with people who are less successful (to feel more important), or people who have bigger problems than we do (to minimize the perceptions of our own problems), or people who are just plain lazy or negative (because of a lack of self-esteem or self-confidence…or perhaps backbone)…and if any of these scenerios describe you, and you run a business, you’re in BIG trouble. 

     Draw a three-ring target on a piece of paper. Put the names of the most important person or people in your world in the center circle of the target. In the next-to-the-center-circle ring, put the names of those you spend the most time with in your personal life. Circle those who are most influential.

     In the next ring, put the names of the people you spend the most time with at work. Circle those who are most influential. On the outside ring or edge of the target, write the names of those you would like to spend more time with in your personal life and in your work life. Circle those who are most influential.

     What’s going on here? What do you notice? Are you spending the limited time you have here on Earth with people who are not helping you to get to where you want to go in life? Are you wasting too much time with too many negative people who are influencing your thinking in negative ways?

     Why? What is it exactly that makes you gravitate toward these people? What keeps you from moving on? How hard are you making it on yourself to part ways with those with whom you surround yourself who are bringing you down physically, or mentally or emotionally?

     What keeps your brain from accepting the fact that the negative relationships in your life are preventing you from getting to where you want to go and are –lo and behold– your choice!? What will it take for you to choose a more productive, more positive circle of friends and contacts to surround yourself with?

     Remember, you need not be rude or caustic or uncaring in the process of separating your forward-moving interests from backward-moving friends and associates. You need simply to recognize that it’s time to grow in the ways you have planned to. It’s your choice.

     When you choose to move on with your life, and extract yourself from the clutches of all that have been holding you back, you make yourself and your business stronger, and you strengthen your ability to reach back and help those negative thinkers and doers who matter. 

I am always open to your ideas and suggestions. Please email me anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in the subject line) or comment below.

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HOORAY for the good guys!

     It’s not every day that a consultant like me can nominate a client (like i.g. Burton & Company) for an annual Better Business Bureau award as most outstanding family business in the state…and see them win!

     Even after my project engagement with the company ended, I had the good fortune to see this business be honored (tonight at the DuPont Hotel in downtown Wilmington, Delaware) at a formal reception dinner hosted by the Delaware BBB and Governor Jack Markell.

     Now if you’ve read this far, you may be wondering who is i.g. Burton & Company anyway? And there’s little doubt that if you don’t know, you will most definitely be surprised to learn that we’re talking about –of all things– a car dealership!

     i.g.Burton & Company is 101 years old. The company maintains five locations in Milford and Seaford, Delaware. They are one of the nation’s leading dealerships for Chevrolet, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep,  Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and are the world’s oldest Blue-Bird Bus dealership as well.

     They didn’t stand in line behind the automakers they represent, looking for bailout money. They didn’t pull in their rugs and move out of town when Chevrolet and Chrysler hit the rocks.

     In fact, they actually INCREASED their charitable contributions to needy organizations. They INCREASED their customer service training programs. And they went ahead and completed a 6 year-old monster construction project that helped keep hundreds of employees on payroll.

     Of course they have strong financial backing. But why? How did their backing become so commited? BECAUSE i.g. Burton demonstrated commitment to their customers, their employees and their community.

     They didn’t get to be 101 and win an Outstanding Family Business award in a faltering economy by being the stereotypical car dealers. They are fifth generation owned and operated. A great many of their employees have worked there for 15, 20, 25, 30, and more years! (This, in a day when most car dealers seem to keep employees just for those numbers of DAYS!)

     What’s the secret? i.g. Burton & Company has built a long-standing reputation for overkill customer service and for contributing to and supporting wholeheartedly the Delmarva Peninsula communities they serve. The have earned the BBB award, and statewide respect as business leaders.

     They will earn your respect too anytime you’re driving through Delmarva Peninsula (The 2nd biggest peninsula in the U.S., thank you, if you’re not counting Florida). Stop in. Say Hi. Congratulate them on their award. They’ll make you feel proud of it just for having visited. Well done, Burton Family. And well done, Burton Family of Employees!  

Good Night and God Bless You!  halalpiar     

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“Your success in life will

depend on what you do

after you do what you

are expected to do!”

— FROM A STORY TOLD BY INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED

AUTHOR AND MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER BRIAN TRACY

     In its heyday, upstart computer giant IBM had a rallying cry that reverberated throughout the entire sales and customer service industry. The words, “The sale begins after the sale is made!” set the tone for an entire generation of customer service based sales and customer relationship management that followed.

     IBM support people were said to literally descend from the sky in parachutes within an hour of any service call. In fact, we are still following this tenacious, persistent, kill ’em with kindness, build-that-database, get-that-return-sale attitude. And actually, it’s more pronounced now than ever, ushered in by lightening fast advances in hi-tech and media communications, and the rapid advances in consumer savvyism.

     What does this mean for you, the entrepreneur, you the small business and professional practice owner/manager? Here are some thoughts to think:

     Brian Tracy’s quote at the top says it best. The point is that you who own/run a business are of necessity, engaged in sales. Keeping sales and production (that’s service production as well as product production) in balance is part of the alltime great entrepreneurial challenge. The whole world admires a one-man-band, but that doesn’t make producing the music any easier.

     Going the extra mile is what it’s all about. Moving forward even when you think you can’t is what it’s all about. Greatness has only ever come from those who pushed onward in the face of major losses, and who did it again and again.

     Edison tried unsuccessfully to invent the lightbulb 9,999 times before defeating the darkness. Babe Ruth’s incredible home run record was matched only by his incredible strikeout record. We all know and have seen many of the great Olympic performance hero stories. Each has always involved taking the extra step, even when all hope seems lost. 

     When you’ve completed what others (partners, family, employees, customers, vendors, industry and community associates) expect you to do, keep doing! Starting in a half hour before others and staying a half hour later is a good beginning. Making better use of time scheduling and delegating is another.

     Regardless of the tools you choose, it’s what’s under your hat that makes the difference…and the overriding awareness that whatever you do to exceed expectations is 100% your own choice. No one else will choose success for you and make it happen. But you can do both! Starting now.   

 Good Night and God Bless You!  halalpiar     

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Winners Hug. Winners Smile.<)

OK, Mr. or Ms. Resilience, you’re an entrepreneur and business owner. You work hard long hours and you’re tough as nails. You deal with stuff every day that friends and family can’t even begin to imagine. They can’t figure out why you don’t quit at 5pm, and why you need to “work through” weekend gatherings. They think you’re nuts, but they admire your dedication. Sound familiar? Go Get A Hug!

     As in the “take time to smell the flowers” advice, go get a hug! Too many people go through days without hugs and the withdrawal takes its toll; it chips away at the inner layers of authenticity. One of the world’s greatest family therapists, teacher/author Virginia Satir, always urged people to give and get 12 hugs a day! It was, she said, the only way to grow as a human being. Hugs motivate, she said.

     Many other emotional management experts in business and organizational development say the only way to be truly successful in business is to grow as a human being, to develop your personal authenticity and keep a sense of balance in your life. Everyone has a different way of dealing with and conquering these challenges. Giving and getting hugs is universally reassuring and effective.

     What does your hug scorecard look like for today? Yesterday? Was your last hug one you initiated, one that was delivered to you, or a spontaneous event? Was it a real one or one of those token little brush of cheeks and or shoulders? Chest contact? Forced smiles? “So nice to see you again, dear.”

     Ah, yes, and the bear hugs that come along every once in awhile from some well-intrentioned oaf who never took Hugs 101 in school and sees the occasion as time to lift you off the ground, sometimes so quickly you can’t get your hands out of your pockets!

     Well, let’s agree to limit the hug thing to family and friends. Besides, these days, you might get arrested hugging a co-worker or student or patient or client.

     So what’s the next best thing you can practice in work-settings that will help move you along the path to authenticity? Why pats on the back of course! Who among us doesn’t enjoy getting a backpat for a job well done, or well attempted, or for any small deed that rises above the daily clutter? That’s it? hugs and backpats?

     Well, no, actually, as long as you keep yourself in that genuiness frame of mind, there’s “Please” and “Thank you” and “I love you” [Also: I <3 U] and “I appreciate you” …and the most important motivator of all is the simplest. It’s called a smile. ;<) Pass it on as many times a day as you can possibly get your brain to think of it. Smiles work wonders! 

     It’s so easy to lose sight of these important messages that you need to give out often and freely, when you’re caught up in rushing toward a deadline, or fretting over a lost sale, or staring at a mountain of bills.

     But you know what? You have to keep the hugs and backpats and smiles and thanks you’s and all the rest of your fine engaging qualities out there on the table… through the worst of times as well as through the best… to make more of the worst become best. It’s contagious. It’s a choice. It’s your choice!

Good Night and God Bless You!  halalpiar     

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 “Happiness runs

       in a circular motion…”

 From ’60s songster Donovan: “Happiness runs in a circular motion; life is but a little boat upon the sea…” 

     And (sorry to burst your ad agency’s bubble) HAPPINESS produces sales quicker thanall the ads and promotional materials and sales spiels and websites put together. Ticking off logical product/service features and gulping down huge doses of emotional triggers don’t make sales happen as fast as genuine feelings of happiness that are contagious . . . from ANY one in your organization to ANY one who is an existing customer or prospect.

     That’s not to say you don’t NEED all that traditional and nontraditional support material, but remember that it IS “support material” and that  N~O~T~H~I~N~G  replaces the value of spreading happiness around.

     Great! you say, but where’s the “Happy Button” you’re supposed to push? It’s not like Staple’s “That Was Easy” button (which of course never made anything easy) and sometimes my people or I just feel plain old crummy and we’re simply not happy. So there’s no happiness to pass around. Period. 

     Brrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttt! The buzzer says you’re wrong!

     Happiness is ALWAYS present. It’s your job to go get it!

Here are 5 STEPS TO A HAPPIER YOU WHO WILL SELL MORE. In fact, if you get TRULY and GENUINELY happier than you were yesterday, I guarantee you you’ll sell more than you did yesterday. Guaranteed! Ready? Here you go:

1) CHOOSE TO STOP SEEING THE SEA OF NEGATIVITY THAT’S ALL AROUND YOU AS NEGATIVE! Click that mental radio station in your head from 24-hour news (which is always negative) to easy listening music. And remember that no one else controls your stations or channel selector or tone and volume settings! No one else decides what goes on inside your head but YOU!

2) CHOOSE TO EXPERIENCE THE NEGATIVE PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE AS NEEDY INSTEAD OF NEGATIVE. Think of them as people who need and are waiting for some positive sign from you — a word, a look, a touch that encourages, reassures. It might only take one positive sign from you for them to become positive themselves. They have a NEED to think and feel more positive. You can make the difference. You have the power.

3) FIX YOUR SIGHTS ON “HERE & NOW.” Take some deep breaths and pay attention to what’s right in front of you with each passing moment. Work to put the past (more than a minute ago) behind you and the future (more than one minute from now) off to the side. Both are fantasy. Reality is the present moment only!

4) SURROUND YOURSELF WITH POSITIVE MUSIC AND POSITIVE PEOPLE. Unfortunately, there’s not ever really enough positive music, but it IS out there. Find it. Dig it out. Put it on your ipod. Put it in your head. It’s your choice, no one else’s. Hum it. Sing it. Whistle it. Write out the lyrics. Program it into your brain. Positive people? They’re everywhere. Put your antennas up!     

5) TRY RECITING ALOUD A PRESENT TENSE GOAL STATEMENT THAT SOUNDS SOMETHING LIKE THE FOLLOWING, AND DO IT REPEATEDLY — WHEN YOU AWAKE, WHEN YOU SHOWER, WHEN YOU EXERCISE, WHEN YOU COMMUTE, WHEN YOU GO TO BED, AS YOU WALK. Something LIKE (make up your own!): “I am happy and healthy and physically fit. I am alert, safe and sound, wealthy, pain-free, emotionally clear, XYZ pounds, and I am selling more everyday by making everyone around me happier. Happiness is my path!”

Doubtful? Skeptical? Don’t be! It works! I have many hundreds of examples to prove it. Try it! What’s the worst could happen? You’ll be less miserable? HA! Start today and sell more tomorrow! (and it’s FREE!)

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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!

Goals Schmoles!

No Problem? No Goal.

     If you can’t define your problem, clearly, in writing, in one sentence, you don’t have a goal. Early on in my career, I had one of those experiences that leave neophytes like I was at that time reeling in anguish and boredom, only to learn eventually that I had been a witness to business management greatness.

     I was working for the world’s number one Madison Avenue advertising agency and I was a “creative management team member” assigned to handle the marketing for a Fortune 500 company, one of the planet’s greatest airlines. The boredom set in after being locked (literally) in a fancy Manhattan hotel suite with the six top executives of the airline and the top creative and management team members of the ad agency for four 12-hour workdays and four 3-4 hour worknights, where we ate, drank and slept the airline business.

     The purpose of the marathon session was “to define the problem” that the airline had that we could wrap a major marketing campaign around. The airline chief required that we sort through reports from every department in every worldwide division and review all the problems, from late baggage delivery to delayed flights to food service complaints to air traffic control issues, and on and on.

     It was so much more than I ever wanted to know, and all I could think about was getting home to my family, and eating something besides subs and pizza. But guess what? The problem got defined. The boss insisted that it be written down as a single sentence and that everyone in the room had to accept the wording exactly. I probably don’t need to tell you I thought he was nuts, and that I was seriously thinking about tuning up my resume.

     The end result was that the problem got flipped over into a goal statement that was specific, flexible, realistic and had a due date. We all left exhausted. We worked with the goal statement. We achieved the goal with what turned out to be one of the most productive advertising and sales campaigns in history. In other words the torture produced.

     I’ve repeated the dynamics hundreds of times since over the years. It always works! Always. Define the problem. Be specific and put it in writing and get all involved to agree at least somewhat with the statement. Then rework the statement into a goal and go for it. Crazy extra nonsense work. Crazy? Maybe. Extra? Positively. Nonsense? I don’t think so anymore. Work? Yes it’s very hard work. But it also DOES work. And that makes it about as close to a sure bet as you’ll ever get in business! 

 Good Night and God Bless You!  halalpiar     

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Biz Cards in the Men’s Room?

     Filling your pipeline has to do with how attentively you are keeping as many sales prospects as possible, alive and kicking, at any given moment on any given day! If you make your living by selling, you know what I’m talking about, and unless you’re in one of those numbing slumps, you need not read further.

     IF YOU RUN YOUR OWN BUSINESS, however, you could stand to examine this post a little more thoughtfully. Why? Because when you’re not selling 100% of the time, filling your pipeline is easy to forget. It’s easy to overlook it, or become pre-occupied.

     It is especially easy to drift away from your pipeline when you’re busy tending to new and existing customers and projects. But therein lies the challenge. How can you prompt yourself to physically, mentally, and emotionally rise to the occasion?

     What can you do to rattle your own cage? How can you be running your business AND continuing to network and cold call while servicing others? Knocking on doors, after all, takes time and energy, not to mention travel preparations and expenses.

     Okay enough questions. Here are some answers. CONTINUE TO LEARN ALL YOU CAN ABOUT YOUR SELF! By doing this with relentless attention, you will do a better job of working with others — customers, staff, vendors, prospects, the community. Because the more you know about what makes YOU tick, the more you’ll understand what makes OTHERS tick and the easier it is to be productive in your dealings with them, and inspire their productivity in return.

     CONTINUE TO APPLY ALL YOU KNOW ABOUT HOW TO MANAGE YOUR OWN STRESS! Do deep breathing as routinely as you can remind yourself. Take a cue from wristwatch beeps, from little signs in your briefcase, on your rearview mirror, in your medicine cabinet and refrigerator…whatever works for you. Click here http://halalpiar.com/?page_id=35 for detailed 4-step approach that takes a full 60 seconds! Do yoga, meditate, exercise (regular fast-paced 20-minute walks will do it!), dance, sing, play with little kids…

     PAY MORE ATTENTION TO TIME MANAGEMENT! Return phone calls at 11:30-noon and 4:30-5pm when people are less likely to waste time because they’re getting ready for lunch or their commutes home. Use to do lists (and add interruptions) and colored markers to cross out accomplished tasks (including those added). ALWAYS PLAN FOR DELAYS (BE READY FOR THEM, NOT PROMPT THEM) as times to be productive with phone calls, text messages, pen and paper writing, reading, laptop activity. BRING READING & WRITING MATERIALS EVERYWHERE! Polish up your delegation skills and learn to let go of nonessentials tasks!

     SET REALISTIC GOAL TARGETS OF HOW MANY NEW BUSINESS SALES CALLS AND PITCHES YOU WILL MAKE EVERY MONTH, BY WEEK and stay flexible enough to shift gears if you get overloaded with other tasks or people issues…or underloaded!

     FOLLOW UP. FOLLOW UP. FOLLOW UP. KEEP ACCURATE RECORDS OF EVERY CALL AND DECISION. SEND A GAZILLION THANK YOU NOTES. 

     COLLECT AND GIVE OUT BUSINESS CARDS EVERYWHERE YOU GO. EVERYWHERE. YES, EVEN THERE!  

 Good Night and God Bless You!  halalpiar     

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