Getting Even

Is Getting Nowhere!

     “Don’t Get Mad. Get Even!”  says the T-shirt. “Those guys in that company misrepresented themselves to us, and we’re going to make sure they pay for it; we’ll make them look like chopped liver to the rest of the industry,” says the disgruntled company owner.

      “I put that business in business, and what do they do?  They turn around and try to stick it to me; I’ll fix their butts good; just wait ’til they try to raise some investor money,” says the ego-injured entrepreneur.

     It won’t work. None of it.  The more you pay attention to trying to get even with someone or some entity that did you in, the closer you come to doing yourself in. If you’re crazed about delivering justice, join a band of vigilantes … or start over again and become a lawyer.

     But stop with the need to extract revenge.

     Vengefulness is a waste of time and energy  that diverts attention and costs opportunity loss. It prevents you from doing what you really need to be doing, which is making sales and growing your own business. The more you worry about what others are doing or not doing, the closer you get to self-destruct mode! 

     Not only are these kinds of evil thoughts and misdeeds  harmful to the growth missions you need to rally behind, but the ill intents get talked about and emailed about and txtmsgd about … and it seldom takes more than a day for others connected with your industry (including customers and suppliers and investors and referrers) to find out what you’re up to.

    Plus, the more you try to cover, hide, and disown it, the quicker everyone finds out. In the end, you’ll hang for it because your reputation, trust, and integrity will be flushed away in one quick jerk of the handle!

     It’s just plain not worth it to take your focus off of making sales  and put it instead on paybacks for upsets you have with another business. The best way to beat up another business is to stay away from it, and not bad-mouth it, just — plain and simple — outperform it.

     The best way to outperform another business  is to earn greater customer trust by delivering what you promise and by bending over backwards consistently, 100% of the time!

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  Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

  Open Minds Open Doors 

   Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

52,000 People Bitching

About Your Business??

     If you can’t deliver what you promise,  please—P L E A S E— close down your business and become a politician, or go work for the government. Don’t worry; you’ll be qualified! I guess I had a gullible sign around my neck, but in just a couple of weeks, I managed to stumble into three businesses that failed to deliver what they promised.

     From “Fresh-picked” apples  that I bought at an apple farm in upstate New York, and kept — as suggested —  in a cool place, that rotted out in 48 hours … to Comcast Cable TV that kept Kathy on the phone for one and a half hours arguing with a rep and three supervisors (one dumber than the next) for billing her 87 year-old mother for two years worth of equipment she didn’t have and never had (Kathy’s tenacity won a $248 credit!) … to a magazine editor who promised  to print a story I gave him and then never said a word about not doing it.

     Oh, there were others.  And I’m quite certain many of you could add many more of your own stories. What sucks is that not only do people lie about what they’re selling, they actually have the nerve to argue about it — and then to add a little fuel to the fire, pretend they know nothing about anything, and do everything possible to cut off communications. Amazing. They should all have to go before Judge Judy; she’d fix ’em..

We’re not just talking integrity here. We’re talking branding. BRANDING IS  having a customer know in her heart of hearts that she is getting what’s been promised, and will always have recourse with the business she’s dealing with who will literally bend over backwards, stand on their heads, spit wooden nickles and kill her with kindness… just in case they screw up!

     If you are in business and you are serious about making your business work,  please take the high road! When businesses (the boss, or ANYbody who works for the boss! ANYbody!) promise a service, for a specific price in a specific time period, or a product for a specific price to perform in a specific way (and be delivered at a specific time), that business must be prepared to follow-through EXACTLY as promised or suffer the consequences of being bad-mouthed.

     Bad-mouthed.  Studies show that one unhappy customer on one day will tell at least 10 and probably 20 other people how unhappy they are and will also in all likelihood embellish the story each time, and those people they tell will tell another five or ten each. [“You won’t believe what happened to Harry the other day…”] 

     Let’s say you run a 5-day a week business  and have just one unhappy customer a day (even though you may have 500 HAPPY customers a day!)? That’s a minimum of 2600-5200 people a year bad-mouthing your business, and being repeated to the tune of maybe FIFTY THOUSAND negative comments about your business. No, that’s not exaggerating. Think you’ll survive?      

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Is “bigger” always better?

   If you haven’t visited Twitter,  you’ve probably no idea how extensive the ego destruction can be if your postings (“Tweets”) haven’t attracted 37,416,298 “Followers” in the last 24 hours.

     Oh, and there are at least 64 gazillion  other Twitterers out there who have the magic formula that will turn you into an overnight Most Highly Followed and Esteemed Twitterer sensation. Probably make you the hero of your whole office or neighborhood even!

     It makes me think about  how wasteful media advertising is if you’re not interested in attracting the entire world to your doorstep. I mean, let’s assume you’re selling Swiss Screw Precision Parts that are used in rocket ships. Should you run a series of network TV commercials on ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN? (Insert sounds of regurgitation here.)

     How about full page ads  for your grass-cutting service in one of those idiotic national newspapers for bar graph fanatics? Gee, a direct mail campaign combined with Twitter and Facebook postings could put your hand-crafted pottery pieces on the map, don’t you think?

     Tell you what:  if you have that kind of money to throw away (and stupidity level to match), call me first. I’ll get you some great deals.

     If your target market  is comprised of specific individuals or specific industries or specific geographic areas, don’t waste a penny on advertising that goes to other people in other places.

     Yes, this includes refusing to do business  with the sleazy phonebook companies that go to great lengths to fragment the markets you want to reach so you’ll have to buy space in two or three or more books that slice up your market and, in the process, add another dozen markets you don’t need or care about.

     “Phone book ads  are a necessary evil” I’ve heard so many people complain over the years, especially professional services. The truth? They ARE evil, but they are NOT necessary.

     Your parents taught you  that where there’s a will, there’s a way, right? So when did you forget that? There are other ways to reach the prospects and customers you want without having to sell your sister and your dog (other jokes there that I’ll pass on!) just to pay for reaching people who cannot or would not be your customers anyway. 

     It’s one thing when the economy is booming  (let’s see, that was…uh…) and it’s a great thing to spread your name and message everywhere, with cost not a factor. It is, however, quite another mindset that’s needed when the economy is as bad as it is and VALUE needs to dictate expense.

     You don’t need to cave in to making media people rich with money that should be staying in your pocket because you are too lazy to look for other options. There ARE other options. You WILL find them when you put your mind to it. Or not.

     There’s always that one-time special deal package  — discounted from $1,297,000 to $1, 215,000 — to sponsor a major national show in 14 states even though you only provide service to three counties in one state, but it’s “such a deal!” 

     With advertising, bigger is not always better … and the bigger the impact, the bigger the bill.     

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Stop with picking your

yellow leaves, already!

     How many times a day, a week,  do you leave your desk to pick yellow leaves from the office plants, abandon your construction site for the nearest donut shop, surf the web while waiting for a conference or call, watch some horrendous network news on a waiting room TV, burst your energy balloon trying to think of who the person across from you reminds you of?

     Have you really nothing better to do?  Of course you do. So HOW do you choose to while away time that you have so much less of than you could possibly imagine, in even your wildest dreams? Notice I’m asking you to deal with PROCESS. What are the steps you go through to arrive at the point of workday lingering, daydreaming, hanging, dawdling, puttering, lazing?

     If you do this a lot, btw,  you are surely a government or corporate employee. [Don’t be offended; mindset-wise, there really is very little difference, you know, except that corporate folks actually have to turn a profit to earn a living.] Hopefully, you simply drift off occasionally and that’s it. If it’s more than once or twice a week, though, you may be part of the problem!

     Here’s a bright spot or two on this subject…

     As motivational guru Earl Nightingale  has often reminded us: YOU BECOME WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT! http://halalpiar.com/2009/10/what-are-you-thinking/ and my sign for the wall for you, the boss, to help keep you focused http://halalpiar.com/2009/10/message-for-the-bosss-wall/ These two links will provide all the support you’ll ever need to change your fuzzy ways and be more productive.

     BUT, maybe you care not,  and can’t even concentrate enough to find a towel to throw in. Well, if THAT’s the case, think quick and hard about the last person who surprised you by dying. Is that where your lackadaisical, ambivalent, noncommittal, ass-dragging, not-give-a-damn attitude is taking you? Hmmmm. Getting a little heavy-handed there, huh? Well, no, not really…not if this message arrives in time to be a wake up call.

     The point is  that we need to be –as Henry David Thoreau once urged– forever on the alert! It’s VERY easy to slip into nonproductive, time-wasting tasks of avoidance that become hard to account for when we’re not getting where we want to go.

     I don’t know about getting your nose to the grindstone  (which I would think is a painful maneuver), pulling yourself up by the bootstraps (a difficult task for those wearing sneakers), and putting your head down and charging (which could no doubt be REALLY painful). All at the same time? Sounds messy to me.

     But keeping tuned in to the present moment  each passing moment as much as possible will sure go a long way toward keeping your life and work in a happy balance.

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STOP HIRING CONSULTANTS

(for the wrong reasons!)

Dear Business Owners and Managers: Stop with the knee-jerk decisions to hire consultants. They will not help you through the economy unless they are specialists at bringing sales in your door!

Until at least a couple of years down the road,  there is no need for “communication consultants” or “management trainers” or “personal growth and development consultants” or people to write your mission statement, your vision statement, your annual reports or your “white papers.”

How do I know? Because I’ve done all of the above (and made a successful career of it), but I also have run my own business for 35 years, and helped to start hundreds of others. I’ve run management and communication and personal growth and development training programs for 20,000 people. And I’ll be the first to tell you not to waste your time and money on these services, in this economy.

There is only one thing you need consultant support for these days, and that is for services that bring you sales. Period.

That having also been said,  I will be so bold as to suggest that communications and marketing generalists are also not the kinds of “sales consultants” to trust. Find a specialist. Do not EVER hire a marketing or communications consulting firm to do your website. Get a website specialist. Do not EVER hire a website specialist to write your website content. Get a writer who understands sales.

A good, proven commercial / marketing / advertising / website writer can do more for your business than all the ad agencies, marketing and communication consultants and non-sales trainers you can find put together! You need writing help? Hire a writer!

There is a growing temptation to panic at the financial strangulation your cutbacks have created, and grasp at any outside service that –like the frustrated wife whose husband  was a marketing executive and could only ever sit on the edge of the bed and talk about how great it would be– you simply cannot afford right now.

Promises do not perform. Providers with track-records for creating and delivering sales perform, and are worth paying! Look for a successful writer who is a quick study and who shows you she or he can learn your business promptly, who has a customer benefit focus instead of a chest-beating, “how great your business is” and product / service features focus.

You want someone who can help you develop sales strategies and and create the tactics that support that thinking. You want someone who is not afraid to work weekends or evenings to get the job done.

You want someone who will take the extra step, go the extra mile, and give you more than what you expect … someone who is both a talented writer and an example of what you want and expect from a sales pro.

Anyone who fits this profile,  by the way, should also be receptive to at least partial compensation based on performance. I know a lot of consultants will hate me for this post, but –down deep– they’ll have to admit that I speak the truth.

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“Sorry, it’s NOT  FOR  SALE!”

     Think about it.  Almost everything you do and say every day is a form or function or process of  sales, or selling. (And, believe me, the more you think about it, the more you’ll agree!)

     So reality is  that if you’re not relying heavily on customer and client referrals these days, why not just label everything in your store, showroom, briefcase or website as “NOT FOR SALE!” ??? 

     You already know  that the best source of new business is old business … or current business (that translates to targeting past and present customers for repeat sales AND referrals!)

     Past and present customers  are people and organizations that already know you and rely or have relied on you and your company. They have already accepted your ability to deliver what you promise, when you promise. (Also known as “branding”!) They are aware of your reputation. They are aware of your competition and have chosen you now or in the past. 

     You don’t need to “dog and pony show”  or razzmatazz them. You DO need to remind them — clearly and often — how much you appreciate them and their support and patronage and confidence and trust. You DO need to be sure they are still totally pleased with your offerings, and find out what you need to do in order to make sure, if they’re not. 

. . . you DO need to convince them that you will stand on your head and spit wooden nickels for them if that’s what they need, in order to continue counting them as loyal customers.     

     The bottom line is  that you don’t need to convince these people to do business with you, but you DO need to convince them that you will stand on your head and spit wooden nickles for them if that’s what they need, in order to continue counting them as loyal customers or clients — and to be assured that they will continue to refer you to their friends, family, neighbors,  associates, employees, suppliers … even (for publicity and news release coverage sake) media contacts!

     Should you still cold call?  Absolutely! Should you rely on cold calls? Absolutely NOT! You always need to be out there registering positive first impressions with prospects. But remember that the bulk of your sales (studies show close to 80%) will come from established customers and clients.

     Ah, and there are fringe benefits  connected with focusing on present and past customers. Chasing repeat sales and referrals from those who have come to you before or who are presently dealing with you will prove more productive, easier to communicate with and influence, less time-consuming, and almost always more pleasant. Not so sure? How much easier is it for you to spend time with old friends than to make new ones?                                          

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 Right this minute,

is what you are doing

helping you get to

where you want to go?

     Oh, c’mon now,  I can’t be that productive every single minute; I’d be a robot! Yes, this is true; you’d be a robot; well, let’s say it’s  probably true, but you CAN be productive a whole lot more than you are right now and a whole lot more than you think you can be…and, uh, not be a robot.

     Here’s the trick:  Focus your brain on trying to be “here and now” as much as you possibly can, every passing moment. No, you’re not likely to succeed at it 100% of the time. And even 50% of the time may prove daunting. But if you are at 10% and go to 20%, that’s a major victory that will yield major benefits. Work your way to 30%, 4o%? You’re headed for the mountaintop!

     Why “here and now”?  Because everything else is fantasy, and you’re living in a reality world. When your dominant thoughts revolve around past and / or future events, ideas, experiences most of the time, it’s like trying to relocate Disneyland into a war zone.

     Your focus is not in tune  with what’s happening around you, and that’s wasted time and effort that you will never get back. (Er, in case you DO figure out how to get it back, call me collect immediately; I’ll make us both billionaires!)

     Sure, Hal, you make it sound easy,  but it’s pretty hard to not get worried about future stuff or to avoid dwelling on the past. How can I do that?

     Ah, funny you should ask.  First of all, recognize that we are talking about CHOICE. Your behavior is your choice. It can be conscious or unconscious, but it is a choice … or it’s a choice that sets up the behavior. Okay, so recognizing it’s a choice means also realizing that it’s as simple to choose to be tuned in to the present as it is to choose not to be.

     Next: Take ONE MINUTE out of your nerve-racking fast-lane life  and take some deep breaths. That will help, you get in touch with the most immediate “here and now” thing happening in your entire life: your breathing!

     If you do this in earnest, I guarantee you positive results, and I guarantee you it will help you get yourself focused on “here and now.”  IT CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOR THE BETTER RIGHT NOW IN JUST ONE MINUTE!

     You will be more productive more often, starting right this minute!  What have you got to lose? Wasted efforts? GO FOR IT!   

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When You Can’t Get +

Don’t Settle For –

     We are all humans  (I believe; at least my blog diagnostics don’t show quality visits here from Animal Planet — or any other planet, for that matter!) and because we are (human), it is part of our pattern of emotional instincts that when we cannot get positive recognition, we settle for ANY kind of recognition, and will sometimes resort to seeking NEGATIVE recognition when nothing else is forthcoming.

     Negative recognition  is, after all, better than no recognition at all, right? Wrong! Unless of course you happen to be 3 years-old … or a manic-depressant … or a masochist … or a hermit … or a piece of broccoli! 

     Aha!  But many of us ACT 3 years-old when we are not getting pats on the back (or fanny, if you’re on a sports team; or on your knee or the back of your hand if you’re a patient … why do doctors always pat reassurance into your knee or back of your hand?) This is true for sure.

     The point is  that seeking negative recognition is a mentally unbalanced and emotionally unhealthy behavior. Consider if you will that those who make a practice of this, are those who frequently prompt wars, fights, arguments, teenage “groundings” (remember those?), military court-marshals, disciplinary actions, prejudice, divorce, abandonment, murder, jail terms, HIGH risk!

     When we can’t get positive recognition  for something we’ve done or said or thought, we have a tendency to turn in the direction of seeking some alternative (vs. just letting it go, because letting go is life’s most difficult task!) In other words, we drag ourselves down to the point where getting verbally bashed actually serves as a payoff!

     Yeah, right;  poor me; I really did screw up; I deserve all the criticism; beat me! (HA!HA! At least I finally got myself noticed!) Hey, folks: this is a sick mental/emotional state that calls for professional guidance. We all take it on the chin sometimes, but when someone is out seeking to take it on the chin, there’s a problem there.

     If that someone is you, get help! If it’s someone who works for you, get that person help. Having to evidence negative behavior to get noticed (ala temper tantrums) can end up costing your your business, lickity-split! It only takes one knife-blade, one bullet, one match!

     Remember all behavior is a choice.

     Some people get stuck not realizing or practicing that. Sometimes a professional is the best one to get that behavior UNstuck. 

     Oh, one other thought,  be more conscious of how important positive recognition is to 99.99% of all employees (and children) and make a practice of dishing it out a whole lot more than you probably think is needed or appropriate. It’s hard to offer too much

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HOW you show what you show

can win or lose sales!

     No, one picture is NOT worth a thousand words.  Absolutely nothing sells better than the right words. But, the right words need a visual payoff, and that all comes down to HOW you show your wares, people, services, vision and ideas… websites, ads, news releases, promotional materials, videos and commercials.

     When your advertising spokesperson  is saying or doing one thing and whatever’s in the background is saying or doing something different, you lose sales. A professional service video produced in a trashy, cluttered office leaves viewers believing the business is trashy and cluttered no matter what is said.

     When a news release  is accompanied by a (yawn!) yearbook-looking head shot photo of the person featured, and the contact person sending it is even fortunate enough to have the editor actually give it print space, readers will yawn and turn the page.

     When a news release  is accompanied by an action-based candid-looking photo, it will get inted more often and it will gain reader attention more often. HOW you show what you show in a news release attachment must be as “newsworthy” as the text of the release.

     Remember you’re not paying  for this space so give the editor something to get excited about or laugh at or learn from or be mesmerized by.

     Websites? I’ve seen an awful lot of websites with photos of things that have little if anything to do with the text. If your photos and illustrations are not providing a payoff, a punchline, to what the words say, fold up your site and go home.

     The world is smarter today.  You no longer need to spell out every tiny detail of what the benefits are to customers and clients, but you sure as hell better make sure that you’re not leaving out the essentials. Leave out enough to not bore people, but include enough to make sure you get your message in their faces quickly and without prompting puzzled looks.

     Photos need captions.  Captions need to include exact names and exact titles and exact descriptions. People will read them or not, but photos should NEVER go unexplained. Don’t assume others will get your message because it’s a spectacular graphic. They won’t.

     Trade shows?  Determine your single (yes, SINGLE) mission ahead of time and stick to it. You are either there to sell or to get leads or to attract investors or to strut your stuff to the industry r whatever, but NEVER more than one of those objectives, or you might as well throw the booth rental money out the window!

     Once you’ve defined what you’re doing  there, make sure your display shows what you want others to understand about what their benefits are for doing business with you! The right words will do the deed, but your visual experiences must serve as the cornerstone to your message, and must strongly reinforce what you say. Always and everywhere.            

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What’s Killing Your Business?

So much positive feedback on  “What’s Your T-Shirt Say?” posted the other night:  http://halalpiar.com/2009/10/boost-your-business-in-3-minutes/ that I thought another evaluative exercise might be in order.

     Don’t scream, “Hi-YaaaAHHHH!”  in mock sarcasm and kick in your monitor screen when you read the next sentence that describes your homework assignment.

     If you’d like to boost your day-to-day and long-range business sales and operations  with 20 minutes of concentrated effort (and no consultant fees!), take a deep breath  http://halalpiar.com/2009/05/4-steps-in-one-minute-zero-stress/ and write your business’s obituary. Whaaat? Yup! Read the first 16 words of this paragraph again!

     No, it’s not easy.  Yes, it’s worth it! The exercise will be enlightening to say the least. The insights you gain may provide a guiding light to the revitalization of your business. Plenty of participants in my various entrepreneurship seminars have found this experience invaluable.

     Take any approach you like.  Don’t worry about spelling, grammar, and punctuation. At this point no one else in the world will see what you write anyway. The only requirement is to be honest with yourself.

     Some suggested questions to answer:  Itemize the highlights of the life of your business …

• When it was born?
• Who were the parents? 
• Where? 
• What was the startup business type and goal? 
• Why? (i.e., what prompted entering a particular industry or profession and what was the  intended result?) 
• How (what process used) did it get started? 
• How did it get to where it’s been in this last year of it’s life?

     What was the cause of death? 

• Any survivors? (Parents? Brothers? Sisters? Children? Grandchildren? Quotes/Testimonials from any of these people?)
• Service arrangements? (Will there be a viewing? Will services be private? Should there be an “instead of flowers” request?)      

     Spend as much or as little time as you like  (20 minutes usually works). Your goal is to present as complete a picture as possible of the life of your business if it were to end today, and to focus on achievements and contributions made.

     In your final analysis, after you’ve finished your write-up,  step back and ask yourself if the cause of death is your true exit strategy. Should there be more accommodation for having more children and grandchildren? Are the highlights the ones you most desire?

•  
  • Would you change the highlights if you could? 
  • What would you do differently if you could prevent the business from dying today? (Life saving surgery, if you will)
  • What would you do to ensure the business a longer life starting right this minute if you had the ability to step in now and spare it from death?
  • PSSSSST! What are you waiting for? 

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