HAPPY EASTER

TO YOU AND YOURS!

I’ll look to see you back for more daily business boosts fot entrepreneurs, small business owners and managers, and professional practice principals and associates, beginning again tomorrow, Monday, April 13th, 2009. Watch for some exciting news and more of the same helpful and provocative consulting input that’s surfaced here every night for a year. Scroll through some archives for some timely ideas, suggestions, and challenges. See you here tomorrow. Have a good one!  Best regards – Hal

Good Night and God Bless You!  halalpiar     

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CLICK ON MAGAZINE ARTICLES TAB ABOVE FOR NEWEST PUBLISHED WORK ON “BROADWAY COMES TO DELMARVA” STORY ABOUT WILMINGTON, DELAWARE’S HISTORIC DUPONT THEATRE!

 Business Braindrain.

The following is an old statement that has NOW meaning and NOW applications . . . meaning and applications that rise from the simmering political pot of socialistic “share the wealth” thinking that the White House has been manipulating into a front and center position on the world  stage. What’s your business opinion? . . . 

“You cannot legislate the poor

into freedom by legislating

the wealthy out of freedom.

What one person receives

without working for,

another person must work for

without receiving.

The government cannot give

to anybody anything that

the government does not first

take from somebody else.

When half of the people

get the idea that they

do not have to work

because the other half is

going to take care of them,

and when the other half

gets the idea that it does

no good to work because

somebody else is going

to get what they work for,

that my dear friend,

is about the end of any nation.”

—PASTOR/DR. ADRIAN ROGERS (1931-2005)
                             

A pretty heady (and eerily timely) statement we should all be tuned into as we watch and listen to the daily ticking of America’s economic destruction countdown clock.

I am really interested in your thoughts about this quote. Please leave me a comment or call or email me.    

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Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

  Open Doors Open Minds 

 Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

Having grown up a mailman’s

son, maybe I’m just sentimental

(or simply as stupid as the PO?) 

     On top of their idiotic, money-wasting, survey last December [Click on December Archives in right column and go to DEC 15 “NO MORE ROOM FOR “SNAIL MAIL – Gutless, Incompetent, Greedy, The US Postal Service” for the ugly details], the amazing U.S. Postal Service management team has been making some astonishingly whacko business decisions.

     Since revenues are off, they’ve cut back hours, increased postage prices, increased their elaborate sample mailing campaign to entice more small businesses to do more mailings with (you guessed it) stuff that’s prohibitively expensive to the typical small business to even think about mailing anyway.

     I’ve received two personalized t-shirts, a metal hinged and color-labeled box filled with expensive die-cut printing samples, and the list goes on. And now. Now they’re pulling the blue drop boxes off the sidewalks!

     How utterly brilliant! Hey, nobody’s using them, so take them away. How many things can you think of that those boxes could be used for if YOU had them for YOUR business? I’ll bet there are at least 10,000 ideas.

     Okay, here’s where I’m stupid. I’m going to give away my consulting expertise for free to the U.S. Postal Service. Right here. Right now. Think they’ll take it? Not a chance, but I’m going to put it out there anyway just because they are chewing off their own arms and legs and I hate to just stand around watching them self-destruct.

SO… Here’s what the U.S.P.S. needs to do:

1. Stop wasting time and money and effort on useless dumb surveys. Just listen to your customers!
2. Stop with the radical cost-cutting methods and ideas that only serve to prevent future sales and revenue streams. You can’t make money by turning off lights! Only sales make money!
3. Stop throwing good money after bad with products and services no one wants. Stick to your knitting, and remember innovation is taking an idea all the way to completion! 
4. Take some pages from FedEx and other competitors who train their drivers to go beyond being just drivers and to become account managers– as responsible for promoting and selling and customer servicing as for driving and delivering.
5. Start an Email delivery service (Call me for details!).
6. Learn how to use and promote via social media options. Visit Twitter for two hours!
7. Initiate customer service training at ALL levels. When was the last time anyone got a thank you note from the U.S.P.S. when it wasn’t a thinly-veiled give-me-a-tip-for-Christmas card?
8. Put a P.O. Box in every P.O. Box (Call me on this one too!).
9. Recruit community groups to garden and landscape your ugly buildings (inside and out).
10. SPONSOR community events; get out there and mix with your customers! They don’t bite! Show them you’re (like State Farm) a good neighbor! 
11. SELL AD SPACE ON THE INSIDE OF EVERY P.O.BOX DOOR!!!! 
12. SELL AD SPACE ON STAMPS!!!!
13. Provide shelves for the poor souls with heavy packages standing on lines waiting for the incompetent counter clerks to finish their coffee. 
14. PIPE IN SOME MUSIC!!!
15. Make it “A POSITIVE EXPERIENCE” to go to the post office!
16. How about an occasional (NON-Christmastime) slip in empty mailboxes that the carriers sign that says: “I noticed you didn’t get any mail today, but I wanted you to know I was thinking of you anyway. Have a great week!” 
17. Barter some direct mail advertising for media time and space… other services! 
18. Run direct mail training sessions for small businesses in P.O. lobbies – serve coffee for free! 
19. START A REAL BLOG that actually addresses real customer situations on a daily basis! (If you actually read this far, definitely call me on this one!)
20. Teach small business owners/operators how to tie direct mail to website and other ad and promotion programs.
21. Offer (Put in all business P.O. Boxes) detailed info on direct mail programs with package rates for use of postcards and self-mailers, with sizes and deals and discounts and coupons!
22. Offer quantity discounts!
23. Offer and arrange shared delivery discounts (to same office or building, for example).

     NUTS, huh? Well, I’ll tell you what: If you continue the course you’re on, YOU’RE NUTS BECAUSE YOU WILL END UP KILLING YOURSELF and that would be a terrible waste of assets, resources, some super-nice people who work for you and bring about the demise of a still much-needed service.

     God Bless and Good Night!  halalpiar     

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Specialists in the men’s room

at the wedding . . .

Sorry to bother you here, like this, Doc, you know, in this men’s room at a wedding reception, but, you know, I’ve got like this terrible pain in my right heel whenever I’ve been running around, and earlier today I . . .”

     “Ah, yes, well you DO know that I’m a doctor of psychology?, so I’m afraid there’s not much I could help you out with about your foot . . .”

     “My heel.”

     “Yes, of course, your heel. The point is you should probably see a podiatrist or orthopedic surgeon or physical therapist or chiropractor or acupuncturist or something. I’m not your man.”

     “But you’re a doctor so you know somethin’ about it, right? I mean you know more than my plumber, right?”

     “Actually? Your plumber probably knows more. I assume you’re talking about Joe, over by the corner of the bar? He offered to give me a discount RotoRooter job, and I heard him recommending duct tape to someone at the champagne toast.”

     “Really! Maybe it was my cousin for her husband’s mouth . . . er, the duct tape, not the champagne, HA, HA!”

     “Say, aren’t you the electrician in the family?”

     “Yeah, Doc, why?”

     “Well, I have this wiring problem with my electromyography unit that maybe you . . .”

     “Whoa, Doc. Wait a minute. I’m an electrician, not some rocket scientist. You need a specialist for working on equipment like that.”

     “Uhuh.”

     Are you using a moonlighting English teacher to write your business blog because she only charges you $25 per posting? Did you put a down and out recycled real estate salesman into a sales manager position because he came cheap and was willing to accept minimal commission splits?

     How many people have you hired during this economic downturn because the main asset they brought to the job was one of minimal impact on your wallet? Guess what? If you’re even thinking about the answer to this question for more than 1/100 of a second, you are in big trouble!

     Bad economic times, says motivational guru Zig Ziglar, take place not out there, but between your own ears!

YOU CANNOT MAKE MONEY BY CUTTING CORNERS! 

THE ONLY THING THAT MAKES MONEY IS SALES.

     Cut all the expenses you can and you won’t have earned a single dollar. In fact, you will have lost even more money because your mindset will have turned negative by focusing on saving instead of selling.

     When you’re worried about turning off the store lights at night, you are missing the opportunities to make sales impressions on those who pass, even though you may not be open.

     Stop thinking the solution to poor sales is to hire inadequate or incompetent people just because they’re cheap. They will cost you more in the end. What is it your granddaddy used to say about work smarter, not harder?  halalpiar  

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Buyers “A Sea of Skepticism”

     TRUST is what reversing this economy is all about. And we can’t wing it with lip service. Consumers are a sea of skepticism. In fact, by just telling customers and prospects to “Trust Us” we are setting a failure tablecloth out for the picnic!

     We’ve got to earn and demonstrate trust to make it move from low to high by investing time, energy, and dedication to proving the value of the products and services we represent. We need to do this with consistent performance. We need to do this instead of pushing unit and commodity sales.

     One of my all-time great sales motivational heroes, Zig Ziglar, teaches adherence to the acronym T.R.U.S.T:

T~~THINK

R~~RELATE

U~~UNCOVER NEEDS

S~~SELL SOLUTIONS

T~~TAKE ACTION

     You’ll find this and more, by the way, in past SUCCESS magazine stories and Zig Ziglar’s sales-inspiring newsletters as well as new and time-tested thinking from Zig’s son Tom on Twitter, even in recent posts here like: FEARLESS SELLING

     Anyway, one SUCCESS article’s lead-in quote is from Jeffrey Gitomer, author of The Sales Bible and The Little Red Book of Sales.

     Gitomer says, “Today’s salespeople better be question-based, value-driven, customer-focused, and be able to prove their product rather than try to sell it. Proof,” he says, “comes from testimonials, not sales presentations.” 

Or, if I could put a little phrase-twist to work:

The proof is in the pudding,

not in the words on the package.  

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Hal@Businessworks.US

Open Minds Open Doors

Thanks for your visit and make today a GREAT day for someone!

HERE’S YOUR CHOICE…

___YES, before I do Hal’s (free) 60-second, 4-step

stress solution, I want to read a little bit about stress!

Okay, skip over the NO choice below and the link line under that, and read a little bit first. Then you can come back up to the link anytime you like as you absorb all these great stress factoids that follow. 

___NO, I’m wired and I don’t want to read anything. Just 

   give me Hal’s (free) immediate 60-second magic NOW! 

Okay, here you go.  You get it right here on this site by simply clicking www.halalpiar.com/?page_id=35  When it works for you, please send others here for a dose –friends, family, associates, neighbors, lovers, enemies– anyone who you would like to see be more relaxed and have better control of themselves and their lives. And of course please come back and visit again soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     STRESS does not come from outside you. It is something you produce inside your body by the way you choose to react or respond to people, places, events, behaviors, and things (like a difficult person, an unpleasant environment, a boss’s frown, a car that won’t start, or an overdue bill).

     STRESS is positive as well as negative. STRESS is necessary for getting out of bed in the morning and for doing the tasks we do every day…even for reading this sentence right now! But too much stress becomes physically, mentally, and emotionally unhealthy. It is the most serious drain of human productivity in our lifetime.

     EACH OF US experiences OVERstress in different ways. Some get headaches. Some get stomachaches. “knots” or “butterflies”. Some get back pain…tightness of the neck and shoulders, legs or chest. Some eat too much. Some drink too much alcohol. Some smoke too much. Many get high blood pressure. Most who get high blood pressure also get other ailments, diseases, emotional disorders, or set themselves up for accidents and, all too often, heart problems.

     MOST OF THE BREATHS we tend to take most of the time are too shallow. If you can breathe more deeply and more often every day, you will think more clearly, perform more confidently, feel more relaxed and be assured of achieving maximum productivity more often. You will be healthier. You will be more in control of your feelings, your actions, your circumstances.

     YOU WILL BE more of the person that you’re capable of being that you’ve always wanted to be (and be happier at it)! Pretty good stuff, huh? It truly is. So, now, go back to the top of this post and click on the link and get started NOW making stress work FOR you!    halalpiar

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    ADD TO THE DAILY GROWING 7-Word Story started 166 days ago (inside a coffin).  Click on the link to the right, or go to “BOOKS” tab at the top of this page, then to the top headline link.

The Problems Start Tuesday!  

If you own or manage a business, you’d better sit up and take notice at the plans being made for the week ahead.  [And what I am about to say here is not out of bitterness or sour grapes.  It is out of common sense.  It is out of respect for those Americans whose vigilence and acts of bravery have given us the freedom to be able to speak out and challenge abusive leadership no matter its source.]

     So, Is it just my imagination (isn’t that a song?) or doesn’t it seem inappropriate (like taking poverty-stricken people to a casino) and inauspicious (not conducive to success) AT THIS PARTICULAR STRESSED-OUT TIME IN AMERICAN HISTORY to be spending so frivilously and lavishly for Presidential Inaugural celebrations? 

     Okay, maybe it’s just me.

     Am I dreaming that Joe-the-plumber Americans have been rocked back on their heels with worries about how to take a more fiscally responsible personal and business spending path right now?  Am I alone seeing that most Americans appear to be clutching their pocketbooks like never before?  Or am I just fantasizing all this?

Why would ANYone with a conscience (hmmm) who is about to take control of the planet’s most powerful country, including all the ingredients that determine our nation’s economic well-being –or state of dissipation as the case may be– think for even two (2) seconds that over-spending for such self-aggrandizement and self-serving ends is an okay thing to do? 

     Do you think it’s okay?  I certainly don’t.  I don’t believe your’re “entitled” to a honeymoon when your family is starving just because you ran a successful political campaign.  And I believe we are obliged to question the man’s judgement. 

     What would ever make the new president think he is endearing himself to those he’s been chosen to represent by pissing away (pardon the term; it’s the most accurate I could muster) their hard-earned taxpayer dollars? 

What makes it okay to lend mere lip-service and tacit approval-by-avoidance to skyrocketing forclosure and bankruptcy levels then turn around to hold an extravagant party to celebrate oneself with cash wrenched from our wallets and our children’s piggybanks and our aging parent’s fixed incomes? 

     You don’t believe it?  Here’s a perfect example (and you won’t hear much about this from the idolizing, fawning, he-can-do-no-wrong mainstream media): Teetering on the precipice of financial collapse, the State of Maryland is reported to be coughing up ELEVEN MILLION DOLLARS for inaugural expenses. 

     The list of how many millions of dollars are about to be wasted is exceeded in shamefulness only by the list of dire financial circumstances surrounding the States that are being arm-bent into donating. 

Here’s a question:  Given the sorry state of America’s economy, if it was YOUR inauguration, do you think YOU might forego some of the megamillions of dollars worthy of pomp and circumstance and direct some (or heaven forbid, all) of the funds earmarked for partying into some high need areas? 

     Small business incentives, for example, could serve to create jobs.  Many self-sacrificing, battered, struggling military families could use their own “bailouts” — cash for food, transportantion and heating fuel (with apologies to Internet inventor Al Gore whose global warming theories . . . well, you can finish the rest of that sentence) would take America a great deal further than a week-long bash!

     On top of the points I made in a recent post here. . . that we are now faced with the two top leaders of our country possessing zero (0) business experience between them and, correspondingly, no appreciation for entrepreneurs being the ultimate catalysts of change . . . we are also forced to stand by helplessly watching Tuesday’s shameless splurge of outrageous expenses that could be better used to save lives and buysinesses.

     You own or manage a business?  Beware!  Stay alert!  Don’t get hurt!  We are on our own more than ever before.  Let’s keep our shoulders together and move forward as a unit of influence.  We are, after all, here to leave our marks on the world, aren’t we?  We have to make opportunities from the problems we face, the REAL problems , , , the ones that start on Tuesday.   halalpiar

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Check out and contribute to the daily growing 7-Word Story started 128 days ago (inside a coffin).  Click on the link to the right, or go to the “BOOKS” tab at the top of this page, then to the top headline link.

Owner/Operator/Entrepreneur:

     When did you last think of your business as something abstract?  Let’s try it.  We’re just pretending here for a minute to see what we can learn so let’s –POOF!– make believe your business is a plant.  I know, you’re ready to call for the old white jacket.  But wait! 

     We (you) may shed some exciting new light on your business (maybe even on your SELF) when you might have come to think there is no light left to shed.  But let me urge you forward.  No one’s watching you, right?  Just go with the flow here a minute and see what jumps out at you?

     So, your business — how’s it growin’? 

     Did you grow it from seed?  Buy it as a seedling and nurture it?  Steal it from a neighbor’s yard and transplant it in your’s?  Take it from the woods nearby when nobody was looking?  Salvage it from someone else’s mistreatment?

     Does it get enough sun and water?  Are you constantly removing dead leaves?  Do you fertilize it?  Regularly?  When’s the last time you added topsoil?  Are there too many gardeners hanging around?

     Are the roots exposed?  Is it bearing fruit?  Does it have bugs?  Is it costing too much to maintain?  Have you pruned it lately?  Is the climate it’s in conducive to growth? 

     Are there creatures living in the branches?  Empty nests?  Too much insecticide?  Not enough?  Woodpecker problems? Is this a tree we’re talking about or a shrub?  How big?  How old?  How sturdy or frail?  Mulched?

     This shrub/tree/business of yours . . . is it . . . do you think of it or treat it like your child?  Your foster child?  Your adopted child?  Your surrogate child?  Your parent?  A brother or sister?  A long-lost cousin?  A ball and chain?

     Let’s examine this just one more step that will truly reveal the depths of your thinking and relationship with your business. 

     Ready?  Here’s what you need:  A piece of paper (any size) and a pen (a pencil or marker is fine).  Oh, right, and some self-honesty, okay? (You won’t need to turn this in to anyone but yourself to evaluate).

     Okay, respond to the following . . . If you could represent your business as a circle and yourself in relationship to your business also as a circle, how would you draw the two circles on that piece of paper you have in front of you? 

     Would they touch?  Overlap?  Be concentric?  Fit one inside the other?  By how much?  Be the same size?  Would the two circles be the same color?  Different thicknesses?  Dotted or solid lines?  Don’t you love all these questions?  [Diod you draw the circles yet?  What are you waiting for?  Go ahead; I’ll wait.  Good.) 

     Hey, nobody said entrepreneuring would be easy.  But, you know what?  It can be a whole lot easier than you’ve perhaps thought, simply by having a better handle on what your deep-down-insides truly feel about what your relationship with your business actually is. 

     Try it.  You’ll learn something new about yourself AND your business.  Maybe it’s time for the rake and plastic bag, or the prining shears. . . or the chainsaw!  Every little insight is insight!           halalpiar    

What do sucking, nose-picking,

mumbling, passing wind, 

yawning and crunching

all have in common?

     At least one answer: LOST TELEPHONE SALES! 

     Most of us wouldn’t dream of building any of these behaviors into a personal sales presentation, yet there are employees out there in every conceivable type of business –from service stations and doctor offices, to taxidermists and lawyers (hmmmm, some interesting pair-ups there)– who have become such TXT MSG zombies they simply can’t imagine anyone would notice distracting sounds in mid-message.

     Oh, sure, I love it when someone cracks her chewing gum or chomps his ice cubes while I’m trying to get directions or schedule a meeting.  It’s enough to make me switch ears and start to write left-handed! 

     Even in a closed office with the door locked and the blinds drawn (Gee, really sounds like a place for alert people!), there’s no hiding behind (or under) the phone!  Think about it.  Can you tell when someone on the other end of your telephone call is smiling?  Angry?  Stressed out?  Preoccupied?  Tuned in?  Of course you can. 

     So what’s all this about, Hal?  I run my business (or department) and I don’t have problems like this!  I always listen carefully, take notes, speak clearly, act pleasant –even cheerful, and I make sure to speak slowly and repeat information or ask the other person to, to check for accuracy. 

     Besides which, I also speak directly into the phone; I sit up straight; I gesture to would-be interrupters to have a seat or come back later.  I always ask to be excused if my dog barks next to my shoulder, or if my neighbor jackhammers through the office wall while critical details are being discussed. 

     I never eat or drink while I’m talking (an extraordinarily difficult thing to do by the way), and I always summarize the main points covered at the end of a lengthy discussion.

     Good for you, Mr. Perfecto, but when was the last time you made some “mystery shopper” calls to your own business to see how others handle your phone? 

     Is this a big deal?  You bet! 

Every person who calls your place of business forms an impression/image of what your business is all about in the first tens seconds of the first phone call! 

     And since there are no second first impressions, it would seem to make good sense to make unannounced, periodic calls into your business (or have a friend do it if you feel too stupid putting a handkerchief –remember those?– over the mouthpiece to disguise your voice). 

     If you hear any of the repulsive sounds in the headline above, or the call is answered while the other person is in mid-sentence talking to someone else, or says “Thank you for calling The Bonebreak Clinic; can you hold?” and then puts you on hold before you can answer (or as you are in the process of inhaling before answering), or sounds like “AnkyooferawlinduhOwnrakelynnic,” you might have a problem. 

     You may want to bring in a telephone trainer . . . or a new receptionist. 

     At any rate, don’t underestimate the importance of how EVERY call is answered. 

     An existing customer seeks reassurance and reinforcement with each call. 

     A prospective customer actually equates the business with the voice that answers. 

     Does the voice answering your phone project the image you want your business to have?  Does it portray trust and confidence and a cheerful, respectful, responsive and accommodating attitude?  Is that asking too much?  How important are your sales to you?         

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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!

What are you

waiting for?

I know.  You’re waiting for a parade.  The doctor?  Next Christmas?  Someone else to go first?  Your parent’s approval?  Your boss’s approval?  A work order?  5PM?  Lunchtime?  Vacation?  Your birthday?  A full moon?  High tide?  Rock bottom?  Another way out?  The Mets to win the World Series?  The car in front of you to get out of the passing lane?  Your child to become President?  Your Father to strike oil?  A winning lottery ticket?   

If you answered “YES” to any of the above, or anything even remotely resembling any of the above, you are too filled with excuses to make a success of yourself.  I can’t help you.  You need a shrink.  Happy New Year and come again sometime.

Now.  Who’s left out there?  Anybody?  Good.  Well, then there’s still hope after all.  If you’re truly not waiting for some event or some person in order to move forward with your life –and especially your business pursuits– then odds are you’ve just been procrastinating. 

Putting stuff off is okay sometimes.  It happens to all of us.  But if you don’t want to end up like those I dismissed in the second paragraph, you might need to give yourself a smack alongside your head or (if you can figure out how to do it) kick yourself in the butt, and get yourself in gear!

How much more productive can you bewith your waiting time (you know. . . bank lines, traffic lights, bridges, RR crossings, commuter trains, subways, boats and buses, the dentist, MVB)? 

Next question: what’s in your pocket or briefcase or pocketbook right now? 

If your answerdoesn’t include a pen, paper, or laptop, or a cassette recorder (remember those?) or cellphone (no, not to call that hot date for after dinner suggestions, but perhaps handle a few business calls that don’t require extensive note taking) or blackberry (no, not to text message –er, sorry, txmsg– cousin Bertha to see what time she’s headed for the local gin mill, but perhaps to send yourself some notes of ideas you get so you needn’t carry them in your head?) or digital camera or pocket pad or sticky notes, or a book to read . . . the answer to the first question is that you can be a LOT more productive.  [Hint: These are all tools or avenues of productivity except as noted!]

I know peoplewho’ve put together complete photo essays standing in line at the post office.  I know highly acclaimed writers who write as many street and business names down as they can see while stopped at red lights (that they can cherry-pick from later when they’re seeking character and location names for their works of fiction).  I know an engineer who says he stimulates his brain by sketching vehicles and machinery while waiting for trains and bridges.

The point is, like the old Schlitz Beer commercials used to proclaim, “You only go round once in life!” (Well some maybe do a few trips, but most of us . . .) and we all only conveniently remember how short lifetimes can be when someone close to us passes away. 

SO . . .

• Stop with the delays, excuses, nonproductive and unproductive waits. 

• Stop staring into space wishing you were somewhere else. 

• Stop bemoaning the lousy delay experiences and start DOING the stuff you’ve been saying, “Well, someday, I …” TODAY is “SOMEDAY”! 

Some action is always better than no action.

And, by the way, remember that it’s ALL YOUR CHOICE because all of behavior is a choice.  So choose to march shoulder-to-shoulder with time. 

Make the most of it. 

Make your mark. 

Make a difference.  

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