3 Steps to Success

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In just a few weeks, all of us will participate in a common yet slightly damaging social ritual… the New Year’s resolution.

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Why is it damaging? Because for almost all of us, it introduces a precedent of failure at the beginning of the new year in either a personal or professional area of growth. This non-ideal beginning to the year can affect our success from that point onward, well into the rest of the year. Now, the practice of setting resolutions is not hurtful in itself but how we go about it reinforces the frustrating and unproductive ways that we go about introducing change, improvement, innovation and meaningful growth into our lives.

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This is most often because we’re just not focused, strategic and realistic enough about how we introduce positive change into our lives (change happens all the time so it’s up to us to use it as a positive force for success). I’m convinced most of this is due to the fact that we just forget how we learn anything at all; good or bad, significant or trivial. You see, ever since we were little, all of us have learned things through one of three distinct ways: Impact, Discovery and Spaced-repetition. Examples of each are:

Impact- Getting a speeding ticket and then driving slower for at least a few months. Having a heart-attack and then changing our diet/exercise level.

Discovery: Experiencing the grandeur of nature (ocean, mountains, stars, beautiful people, etc) and then having a more balanced view of life. Hearing a very inspirational speaker and then being more productive and kind to others.

Spaced-repetition: Learning our multiplication tables, a foreign language or any athletic feat. This is also the method that advertisers use for us to remember commercial jingles and songs on the radio.

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Of the three ways, impact and discovery are definitely the more powerful and memorable but they’re also the most difficult to produce or schedule to happen. These both require a unique combination of specific circumstances to align for the spontaneous learning to take place. So of the three, only spaced-repetition is the one we can control on any given day and thus leverage to our advantage.

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In leveraging spaced-repetition to our personal growth, it’s important to remember that statistics on behavioral learning will tell you that if someone can do something for twenty-one days straight, then that action will become a habit. This also works for avoiding an action for the same amount of time (although I think it takes just a tad longer to undo life-long habits than it is to build new ones). So in essence, if we can do something for three weeks straight, we can add new habits to our lives. With that being said, it’s completely up to us to decide on the most helpful, strategic and successful elements to add to our lives through spaced repetition.

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>>So spend ten minutes right now to list three things in your professional life and three things in your personal life that you would like to see happen in the next year.

>>Now pick one from each list and think of a daily action that will help get you there.

>>Do that action for the next twenty-one days and you’ve got yourself a new successful habit! (I would recommend picking something that you can do first thing in the morning to increase the likelihood of your accomplishing it on a daily basis)

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An example:

3 professional goals:

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3 personal goals:

1. a) Spend ten minutes every morning reading at least one industry journal’s front-page story (websites make this so easy to do!)

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The Ugly Middle

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How productive are your employees? What criteria determine who fills the supervisor/management positions in your organization?

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There are a handful of common practices in business that are responsible for keeping an organization functioning at a consistently mediocre level. Ineffective meetings, poor communications and non-existent goals/metrics are prime examples of this. Easily one of the biggest causes of organizational mediocrity however is the promotional practices of most companies.

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These commonly go like this: Recognize who the best front-line workers are over a period of time (or whoever outlasted the typical employee turnover) and then go and make those people supervisors over their former peers. Then if they keep everyone in-line and somewhat more productive for any length of time, they get promoted into middle management. There they’ll find a combination of poor communicators, insecure figure-heads and compulsive ‘yes’ people. If they can stay neutral yet efficient enough, they’ll make it to top management soon enough.

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So what’s the problem here? Well, the best frontline worker doesn’t necessarily have the relational tools or psychological transformation to be a good supervisor; no matter how much of a super-worker they were. Most folks don’t readily have the skill set to motivate others to work as hard as they used to at a given task and so they end-up doing a lot of their former frontline work while also submitting reports, resolving conflict and the other supervisorial tasks that pile-up overnight. What’s missing in the typical promotion system is that there is no advancement strategy in the organization that is developing the right leadership abilities matched to an employee’s responsibilities within the organization. So you might somehow get the right people in the right positions but it’s almost guaranteed that the right skills and attitude for those positions weren’t developed at any point in the promotional process. This ends-up costing an organization tons by way of lost innovation, excellence and growth.

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Take a look at the diagram below and then decide to do two things right now:
1) Determine what skills and attitudes are best for each position within your organization. Look to folks that are/have been exemplary in particular positions to help put together a list of what would be ideal for any given position.
2) Put plans in place to address this topic in your organization this month; even if it’s merely just a brainstorming of questions at this point. Please contact us if you want some pointers on how to do this.
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If you would like to discuss this concept of strategic leadership development more and the many positive results it will bring to your company, go ahead and e-mail us here. Hey, if it was easy, every business (big or small) would be doing it habitually and successfully. I hope you find yourself in that category soon… Talk to you next week!

Make Your People Count… Give ‘Em Attitude!

Are your employees a source of great and exponential help or constant headache? What strategy do you have in place to best utilize your staff?

Everyday in business is a brutal competition for the valuable spending dollars of the general public. The challenge is simple: have more loyal customers than your competitors! The math is daunting: loyal customers refer four people to you while disloyal customers repel twelve people from you! (Go ahead and test this yourself. When’s the last time you called to commend an employee for great service versus the last time you called to complain about something?)

With so much riding on the success of your ability to deliver superior service, it’s startling to see how little thought is put into the development of a top-notch workforce. Sure, we all spend lots of resources (time, money, stress) into the acquisition and training of employees but these are simply misdirected uses of those resources. To understand this, let’s take a look at the hiring practices of a typical business.

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1) Some kind of recruitment activity via internet, staffing agency, print, word of mouth, etc.
2) Collection, examination and filter of résumés based on a certain skill set or knowledge base (even though most job descriptions are so vaguely written that it’s clear that the company doesn’t really have clear metrics/formulae to determine who will best fit and excel in the company).
3) A personal interview stage that consists of either a single interaction or multiple rounds. These are done in person, over the phone, video, panels, groups, etc.
4) Once the candidate is hired, there is a brief orientation/training of sorts and hopefully some transference of knowledge.

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The above process is exclusively based on a value of skills and knowledge instead of important success factors like cultural fit, character and attitudes. Think about this; every move upward (promotion, advancement) or outward (resignation and firing) by an employee is rarely because of their skills and knowledge. Rather, it’s directly correlated to that employee’s attitude and habits instead! Hasn’t this been true in your experiences in either working for someone else or promoting or firing an employee under you?

You can have all of the skills and knowledge in the world, but a poor attitude and unsuccessful habits will neutralize those two things every time! Additionally, the effects successful attitude and habits have on your customer loyalty are even more significant when you think about how much harder it is to change attitudes and habits compared to merely gaining new skills and knowledge.

Now, as difficult and daunting it is to build great attitudes and habits, there’s proven technology to change both (attitudes are just mental habits so they require the same kind of training/discipline as changing physical habits do). So what can we do today to build more successful attitudes within our workforce in order to gain more loyal customers?

First, take some time to identify the most successful people in your organization. These people should serve as templates along with your company culture to help you determine what kind of attitudes will accelerate your business. Secondly, compare yourself to the successful templates and culture. Anything worth doing always has to start with you! Most importantly, start to communicate to yourself and others that the right attitudes and habits will go a long way to being a successful organization.

Organizational Attitude Action Steps:
Step One: Have Clarity

Be clear on what success looks like in every facet of your organization. Folks who already have successful attitudes and habits within your organization will hit these standards every time. Once you can identify who they are, you can start to hire for folks with the same attitudes and habits while allowing differences in skills and knowledge based on the organizational responsibilities they will have.

Step Two: Bring in a Helper

Attitude and habits don’t change overnight. Just as you would consult a physical trainer or dietician for health related change, acquire the services of someone that has a proven track record of building successful attitude and habits within an organization. This is slightly different that someone who does this on an individual by individual basis.

Step Three: Change Hiring Filters

To really start to build a successful workforce, you should change the filter/process you use to acquire new staff. Develop a system that gauges the cultural and character fit you desire for your organization. A strong filter in your hiring practices will start to exclusively bring-in folks that will be most successful in your organization.

Step Four: Know Your Ideal

You have to know what your target workforce should look like in order to recruit and hire from the right initial pool of candidates. This requires that you dissect what makes your best employees successful in the first place. For management positions specifically, don’t deem a manager successful because you like them (since they’re most likely ‘yes’ people), but rather develop a system of metrics that grades them on productivity and the respect of the staff they supervise!

If you would like more information or a complimentary orientation on the technology behind our attitude and habit changing processes, please do not hesitate to contact us anytime (you can also read more about this here.) Getting the right attitudes in your organization is one of the most critical factors in achieving consistent customer loyalty, but it’s not easy or else every business would be doing it habitually and successfully. I hope you find yourself in that category soon… Talk to you next week!

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Success is Simple… Get SMART!

Are you significantly closer to your financial dreams than this time last year? Are you more productive than you were last month?

Every single person I know was born a goal seeker. That is to say that everyone I know naturally wants things that they don’t currently have. These can be simple or extravagant things, it doesn’t matter; the point is that we don’t have to be taught how to ‘want’ something. With that being said, why is it that we don’t regularly get those things that we want? This is due to the simple reality that even though everyone is a goal seeker at birth, few of us are natural goal setters and even fewer of us are everyday goal achievers. What is strange is that a good percentage of the population naturally/compulsively uses ‘to do’ lists and the like, yet these people aren’t habitually any closer to achieving all of their goals in life than the rest of us. What’s going-on here?

Well, let’s be clear in saying that the barrier to us achieving our goals (lofty or small) has nothing to do with lack of knowledge or desire. It’s the fact that we don’t have/adhere to a systematic way of setting AND achieving goals. A proven system is required because we easily procrastinate, get very busy or side-tracked. Now, if you’re ready… go ahead and try the method below right now. Make it a habit and you’ll find yourself in the company of very successful people from every walk of life!

First, decide that you want to move into this new phase in life. Goal achieving is something that changes your life dramatically once you get a taste of it. You’ll wonder why it took you so long to experience this type of habitual success. Secondly, make sure someone has a copy of any goals you set to hold you to it. This is the good-side of peer pressure and everybody can use this kind of help. Most importantly, apply this method to everything you can to ensure that it becomes a habit in the way you think so that achievement becomes consistent and natural to you!

Goal Achieving Action Steps:

Step One: Get SMART
Any goal you set MUST meet these criteria:
S-specific
M-measurable
A-attainable
R-realistically high
T-timed/target date

Step Two: Run it through a GPS
Goal Planning Sheets are a great tool to routinely become successful at setting and achieving goals of all types.
-Once you have a SMART goal, emphasize (i.e. circle, highlight, etc) the target date as well as writing down the date you’re starting the goal.
-Then write down at least one positive and negative consequence of achieving this goal. If you can’t think of any, this is not a real goal and you shouldn’t spend any more time thinking about it!
-Next, write down at least two true statements about yourself/your situation that you think you’ll need to be reminded of as you work on this goal (this should be a positive/affirming truth not a negative truth)
-List as many barriers/obstacles to achieving this goal as possible. Then next to each one, list at least two possible solutions. Next to these, list what is needed to make this solution a reality both in practical action steps and resources (delegation, amount of time, etc) and then put a date next to that particular solution.

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-Each obstacle’s target date needs to fall within the range of the first target date that you used to make the SMART goal.
-Knock-out each obstacle and by the time you’re done with the GPS, you’ve accomplished your goal!
-Now make this method a habit by putting it into practice everyday for the next 21 days!

To request a complimentary GPS and short orientation as to how to use it, please contact us by clicking here (please include your e-mail address) Congratulations, you’re on your way to changing the level of productivity and success in your life… talk to you next week!

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Balance Today … Excellence Tomorrow!

When’s the last time you took a real vacation? How have you stretched your intellect lately? Are you as healthy as you want to be?

In working with organizations in becoming more excellent, it is not uncommon to see that many leaders do not have the capacity to lead well because their personal lives have no semblance of balance at all. If you are not coming from a place of balance (i.e a foundation of self-worth, health and right perspective), there’s little ability on your part to be a consistently strong contributor in your work environment. Much like a student athlete needs to keep their grades at a certain level to qualify for competition, we all need to be at a certain level in our well-being to be able to thrive and influence others well in our professional responsibilities. If you do not find yourself in real life balance today, you can and must decide to make this a priority right now. There’s way too much at stake for you not to!

Now one of the things that makes balance so hard to achieve is the nature of habit change. Strong habits usually change immediately only in response to either great epiphany or total disaster. But most of life (thankfully) is lived somewhere in the middle of that range and so we have to really focus energy in bringing about significant change. Studies show that if you can do something for twenty-one days straight, then you’ve formed a new habit. Same thing goes for breaking habits; don’t do something for twenty-one days straight and you’re free and clear from that destructive past (go ahead, drive right past that Starbucks for a month and see it how different life becomes).

So in striving for lasting life balance, pick a small, realistic but significant change to try for the next twenty-one days. Maybe it’s making sure the first thing you think to yourself is, “What an awesome day!” or the first thing you say to someone is complimentary, etc. Life balance isn’t going to happen overnight so you might as well start on something right this very instant and try it for twenty-one days. We can all start on the journey of life balance today!

First, set aside uninterrupted time to take inventory of your life. Schedule-in at least 2 of these times to take place before the end of this calendar year. Secondly, tell at least two other people that you are undertaking this task. This is called accountability, and it’s good for you. Most importantly, make a commitment to yourself to not worry about the things that you can’t control and to really focus and put a lot of effort towards that which you can.

Life Balance Action Steps:
Step One: Rate Yourself

Go ahead and score yourself on a scale of 0 (sad) to 10 (excellent) in the following areas: Social, Physical, Financial/Career, Mental, Family life and Ethics & Beliefs.

Step Two: Be Realistic

Understand that sustainable change takes time. If you intentionally work on a specific area of your life, you can move-up two notches in a ten-week period (i.e. from a ‘2’ to a ‘4’, a ‘7’ to a ‘9’, etc)

Step Three: Have a Clear Preference

Most life change is doomed at the start because folks target the hardest areas of change first. This is still a viable strategy; however just know that you are choosing the statistically improbable option first. It’s a better strategy to choose an area that you are closest to a ‘10’ so that you get used to the habit of life change. Then target the next furthest, etc. You can do it the other way around, just make sure you are choosing to do that instead of just doing what you think most folks do.

Step Four: Get SMART

For the area that you are working-on, make sure you set real goals with real rewards upon completion. Use the well-know acronym SMART in setting your goals. Each goal should be: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistically high and Time-sensitive (must have a due date!).

Step Five: Get-up Again and Again

When attempting the significant work of life change, remember that it’s not uncommon to fail at being able to do something few for twenty-one days straight. The key is to go ahead and lick your wounds and start a new twenty-one day attempt again. Make this mindset a habit and you’ll find that establishing new habits will start to be fun and exciting for you!

If you’re serious about achieving life balance sooner than later, contact us for a free preliminary assessment (click here) and information on our “Buck Stops Here” professional leadership development course. Hey, if it was easy, every one would be more at peace and productive with their lives. I hope you find yourself in that category soon… Talk to you next week!

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Power for Tough Times… Affirm At Will!

What’s your immediate reaction when someone gives you a compliment? How often do you say positive things about others/yourself?

In the self-help/pop-psychology world, there is an overused tool called affirmation. Just hearing the word, we typically picture either a touchy-feely campfire moment or a foofy-cheesy motivational speaker. Because of the overuse by poor practitioners, the technique of affirmation is much maligned, which is sad because there is real power behind what an affirmation can do for our personal and professional success. Let me briefly describe two ways that this is true.

The first is that affirmations have the power to control the future. You see, we all live in a world that carries momentum from ancient times that results in a generic, inevitable future for all of us; where we manage to survive until we eventually meet our demise. This typical life progression is why I’m cynical whenever someone shares that they’ve “grown as a person” over the past months, years, etc. If we manage to stay alive, haven‘t we biologically grown regardless and probably picked-up some new information along the way? Obviously, it’s the dramatic positive extent to which this happened that folks normally share proudly but my point is that we all eventually grow in some manner whether we tried to do so or not. Most of our lives are on autopilot, ending-up being quite ordinary lives that barely make a difference good or bad. There is an alternative to this however, and this is the willed or intentional future. This is the future that is actively brought into existence because we initiate and coordinate elements to make it so. Even though the future will always introduce things outside of our control, most of our future is well within our grasp to shape for the better. A strong discipline of affirmations allows us to consistently will this extraordinary, atypical future into reality by positively reinforcing thoughts, habits and actions that move us intentionally towards that particular future.

The second is that affirmations have the power to create new realities. Our sub-conscious mind doesn’t easily distinguish between tangible and theoretical reality. This is the part of our brain that sorts and processes through the very complicated things in life as we sleep or think of/do other things. It’s this part of our brain that guides us through how we react to people and situations and gives us either an automatic inflated sense of self-importance, low self-esteem or balanced self-worth. It’s because of the sub-conscious’ ability to control reality that often times you hear “Fake it ‘til you make it,” “Perception is reality” or “Whoever you see, you’ll be” because if your sub-conscious believes that something is a reality, then eventually it will cause you to think, react, interact in a manner consistent with that reality. This is a very close yet productive cousin to being delusional.”

So with all this being said, affirmations are not cheesy things you say to yourself to just make you feel better but actually strong mental tools to carve-out a drastically different future than the one that’ll just happen tomorrow, and the next day, and the next and the next. Since critical thinking is imperative in striving to constantly improve, we need to balance this partially negative aspect of our thoughts with positive and true statements about our present reality and preferred future. We can all learn to leverage the power of affirmations today!

First, get over the comedy sketches and cheesy late-night commercials regarding affirmations. That’s not what we’re talking about here. Useful affirmations are truths that we need to be reminded of and committed to in order to accomplish great things. Secondly, take a moment to decide how much you want to influence your future versus just reacting to life as it comes. If you’re in business, you can’t afford to just react to life when you could be forging a prosperous and healthy future for your business (and all of your stakeholders) instead. Most importantly, make a mental, rational commitment to the fact that you are responsible for reinforcing and growing the many strengths and admirable traits within yourself and thus shouldn’t shy away from claiming those as truths in your everyday life.

Affirmation Action Steps:
Step One: Raise the Bar

Everyday, make sure you remind yourself of these things: your preferred future, confidence in yourself, the benefit you provide for others and that you will accomplish much today. Seriously, make it a habit to “brainwash” yourself for great things.

Step Two: Reach Out

Ask the people closest to you (family, friends, co-workers, etc) to help you add to your list of affirmations by giving you one or two positive attributes that they see in you. I guarantee that you’ll have to fight against the instinct to disqualify everything others say about you so go ahead and just accept the compliments (even better, learn to do this for others on a daily basis!).

“It’s a daily discipline to learn to take others at their word and if you consistently expect others to be honest and truthful to you, then they will start to meet that expectation.”

Step Three: Ritual

Every time you’re about to do something abnormal, stretching or growing in thought/deed, make sure you set aside time to write down/go over affirmations that you need to be reminded of when you’re tempted to quit. Even better yet, just make this discipline of affirmation an everyday occurrence. My work requires me to routinely engage difficult issues and challenges so I know that I need to be loaded-up with truth, confidence and reminders for myself everyday to consistently be the best real help to others.

As always, contact the various businesses, consultants or coaches in our chamber who specialize in setting thoughts, habits and actions for success within small-mid sized businesses. Hey, if it was easy, every one would be doing it habitually and successfully. I hope you find yourself in that category soon, so start TODAY… Talk to you next week!

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Don’t Limit Your Success… Dream Big!

Why did you get into business in the first place? Why do you live here in San Diego?

I meet about thirty to forty business owners/professionals a week and the clear majority of them entered their current situations for the same reasons: earn more money, work less hours, have more time for what’s important, have more control over their lives and to be a part of something significant. With that being the case, why don’t I hear more often that folks are indeed living out those very same things? What’s keeping most people from living the lives they always envisioned?

I think it’s because on a daily basis, the urgent details of our operations drown out the reasons that we got started in the first place. The bills, customer acquisition, employee issues, cash flow management, competitors, reports, licenses, market analysis, permits, etc… all effectively rule our daily existence so that we easily lose sight of the big picture. Sadly, this is even truer when it comes to the typical small business owner. So if you find yourself painfully distant from achieving the reasons that you initially got into your business; don’t beat yourself up over it because you’re not alone. But do yourself a HUGE favor, and make a commitment to do something about it today.

To get back on track with your business and life goals, I suggest a practical, productive and fun exercise called… Dreaming! When you first got started in business, there was a dream or set of dreams that were driving your long hours, financial investments and risk-taking. How familiar are you with those dreams nowadays? Are they no longer valid? Did you convince yourself that they’ll always be merely dreams, not goals? Or were you so busy in the beginning that you never got a plan in place to realize the majority of those dreams? Regardless of your answer, I encourage you to revisit those initial dreams you had and start to work toward them in practical ways today. In the end, your strategic business plan will be most effective when it’s guided by your real dreams for your business.

Remember, because business and life will always have its ups and downs, we all need to have and remember strong dreams to keep us going!

First, make a strong commitment to your future success by creating a dream journal of some kind. Seriously, go and start one right now. Secondly, don’t stop revisiting and adding to that journal. You’ll find that this not only motivates in regard to incentives, but actually teaches your mind to consistently see realities that do not currently exist; which will help your business in the long run. Most importantly, don’t ever let anyone (including yourself) disqualify you from dreaming any dream. Remember, dreams are different than stretch goals; by definition dreams are supposed to be huge and lofty!

Dreaming for Success Action Steps:

Step One: Have a List

Again, we’re serious about this one! Use a notebook, journal or anything else that’ll be easy for you to access, write-in and revisit. Go ahead and start listing all of your dreams. They can be personal, business, family or any other area in which you dream. Don’t disqualify your dreams, write down anything and everything. Remember, this is a list for dreams; the only rule of thumb for this activity is to dream and dream BIG!

Step Two: Be a Tourist

In your list of dreams, go ahead and pick a few that can become goals sooner than the rest. A very fun and somewhat easy example based on where we live is to list the great things that a typical tourist would do when visiting San Diego. Being a tourist will cost time and money and so seeing this dream realized will serve as a powerful incentive and as an example of a dream that turned into a goal.

Step Three: Schedule-in Dreamtime

If you’re really serious about seeing business success sooner than later, make sure you are scheduling-in time for thoughts and activities that are crucial to your success. One of these types of times needs to be dream sessions. These sessions can be weekly or semi-annual; just make sure you have them in your calendars. This type of scheduling is one of the hardest disciplines to keep-up with because life and business get so busy but it really separates excellent leaders from the rest of the pack.

Step Four: Step Into Your Dreams

As you grow into a more profitable business, you’ll see that some of your dreams are actually turning into goals since you have more time and money to apply towards them. This is a very satisfying place to be so go ahead and strive for it and celebrate every time a dream becomes a goal and then again when the goal becomes a reality.

Step Five: Be Stubborn

Make a decision today that you will be successful regardless of the market conditions, competitors and any other practical obstacles that come your way. True leaders will find a way to succeed despite external factors because they are committed to the dreams they have for themselves and others. Make this mindset a habit by reminding yourself of your dreams every day and the fact that you will see them to fruition sooner than later! No one else can do this for you and you owe it to your dreams to see them through.

As always, contact the various businesses in our chamber who specialize in helping you make your dreams become a reality. If you don’t believe this can happen, I suggest that a successful and fulfilled life might not be a viable option for you. Hey, if it was easy, every small business would be doing it habitually and successfully. I hope you find yourself in that category soon… Talk to you next week!

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Insanity Be Gone...Start Improving!

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What’s one thing you definitely wish you could change about your life? What are you willing and able to do today to make that happen?

Albert Einstein was quoted as saying that “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” and obviously you and I would agree. Yet, with that being said, I literally know hundreds of business owners/professionals that live out this definition of insanity on a daily basis. Some examples I hear a lot are:

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“I sure would like to have more balance in my life”
“My business seems to somehow just barely make it every month”
“Things in our company in general seem crazy and poorly run”
“With my expertise, I really should be more successful than I am”
“It’d be nice to have an effective strategy for what we’re trying to accomplish”
“We always seem just a step behind when it comes to our competition”
“I should definitely figure-out a plan to make my advertising more cost-effective”
“I know I could accomplish more if I just got my act together”
“My staff/employees don’t produce enough of what I want for the company”
“I’d really like to have more control over my business/life and be better at it”
“I wish I could find a way to become more successful and make a better living”
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So if most of us want some kind of improvement, what’s holding us back? Drawing from widely held principles of greatness, the answer is two-fold: 1) lack of discipline 2) lack of good decision-making. (1) Sounds easy enough, right? Just have unwavering discipline and consistently make good decisions. Well, it’s easier said than done and can even get fairly discouraging because knowing these two things doesn’t really solve our inability to get improved results because rarely does merely gaining new information bring about any lasting change in our lives.

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Go ahead and think about it, when’s the last time just hearing a new bit of information changed the way you did something permanently? More realistically, change comes through identifying habits and then either breaking them down, strengthening them or developing new ones altogether; all over a focused period of time. The best training techniques and methods incorporate this type of rework either explicitly or inherently in their practice and thus yield a level of success for us. At the end of the day, it comes down to holding ourselves accountable for the habits that get in the way of our sustained success. These habits can be physical (think: exercise, diet, sleep habits, addictions, etc) or mental (think: attitudes, the silent/immediate response in your head to most situations) and neither one will change by accident.
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So what can we do about these roadblocks to our success? Well, every single one of us, if we really want improved results, must decide to start the journey towards improvement today!

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First, no matter the area of improvement, make a commitment today to change what you
need to. Make this commitment real by actually writing it down somewhere (notebook, wall, journal, mirror, etc). Secondly, identify which behaviors need to change. If you can identify these, then it’s merely listing the opposite positive behavior change as your goal. Most importantly, commit to taking one step towards that positive behavior change today! In a few weeks, add another. If you can do a new thing for at least twenty-one days straight, it’ll likely become a habit soon.

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Improved Results Next Steps:

Step One: Call a Pro
This can be as simple as getting a book on a specific subject (don’t forget our great public library system), calling a coach or even scheduling an appointment with us. Most folks will offer at least one initial meeting for free, so why not? (Heck, we’ll even give you two!). Regardless of what you choose to do, actually write down the date by which you will accomplish this step!
Step Two: Mapout Consequences
If the improvement you want to see doesn’t have at least one positive and negative consequence, then it really doesn’t make any sense for you to spend too much time thinking about it. Obviously, the more significant the consequence is in either category, the more you need to act today.
Step Three: Tell a Friend
We aren’t built to live our lives in isolation so go ahead and make your improvement more of a reality by actually sharing it with other people.(2) This simple act brings more reality to your intentions and now at least you can be embarrassed into taking necessary daily steps. Shame isn’t the best way to motivate, but hey, if it’s going to work for you…
Step Four: Pat Yourself on the Back
Take some time to celebrate the decision you’re making today; for being mature enough to actually start to overcome the circumstances in your life (no matter how big or small). This can be a party or just a simple reward/ritual for yourself; regardless, make sure you recognize the steps you’re taking to rise above the insanity in which most folks continue to live.
Step Five: Use Some Kind of Schedule, Calendar, etc
You need to have a thoughtful plan in place (even giving yourself room to make mistakes) that has some kind of gradual benchmarks for you to achieve over a set period of time - the more particular/specific you are on these, the better. Even if you’re not usually a very detailed person, real improvement is worth becoming a little more organized and will allow you to handle growing levels of complexity as you achieve and experience more in the days to come. The key is to adopt new habits in a formalized way so that your improvements become habitual and lifelong!

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As always contact the various businesses, consultants or coaches in our chamber who specialize in helping you see improved results. Hey, if it was easy, everybody would be doing it habitually and successfully. Leave the land of insanity today and come live in the land of constant improvement. I hope you find yourself there soon… Talk to you next week!

How do you feel about selling? How much selling is required in each aspect of your business?

Let me guess; you know that selling is vital to any type of business success but when it comes down to it, you really hate selling anything.

First, congratulations on recognizing the centrality of sales to your organizational success. Regardless of what kind of organization you are (retail, service-provider, manufacturing, professional support services, non-profit, religious, civic, etc) a large portion of your success depends on your ability to sell what you do/provide/are about.

Secondly, if you hate selling; you’re not alone so welcome to the club.

So why do we hate selling? Most folks simply do not like the person that comes to mind upon hearing the word “sales.” This is the sleazy used-something/snake oil salesman that just wants to make their number for the month regardless of who they have to pressure or even swindle to reach that goal. In addition, most folks just don’t like the act of imposing on someone else to get them to buy something they might not want.

These are both understandable negative reactions to the concept of selling and it’s formidable to address both completely. In the short-run, I’d recommend getting professional assistance/training in effective selling strategies and skills (1) . In the long-run however, I would recommend confronting the deeply rooted attitudes that feed our internal barriers to sales success. Please let me explain this further.

You see, before age five we are bombarded with tons of helpful/precautionary advice that serves us well by building safe/model behaviors. Eventually though, we all need to grow out of these behaviors yet don’t because it requires focused work on building new behaviors (2). Examples are when kids are told: “Don’t talk to strangers.” “Be seen and not heard.” “Don’t bite off more than you can chew.”

These were helpful when we were little but in a successful business, we absolutely need to talk to strangers, be seen and heard, and grow everyday by biting-off just a little bit more than we can chew (i.e. stretch goals). The negative powers of these adages are obvious when we consider the fact that babies are only born with two obvious fears; the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. How is it then that adults rank public speaking as their number one fear (i.e. talking to strangers and being seen and heard), even over the fear of death? Obviously, something happened between being a baby and becoming an adult. These types of attitudes usually don’t get solved just by training; they’re most successfully solved by new habit formation based on spaced-repetition. (3)

Knowing there’s a deeper cause behind selling-aversion allows a lot of us to feel some release from the disappointment/guilt that has come from attending trainings and reading books and yet still having some hang-ups when it comes to selling! So now that we’ve shed some light on where our barriers to selling come from, we can all start to be better in sales today!

First, start to believe that your services really help others. If what you offer can save people money, grief and from dishonest companies; then you owe it to even a stranger to sell yourself well. Secondly, understand how sales affects your business. If you have an annual profit/growth goal; work backwards from that number to know what you need to accomplish this week. Most importantly, don’t ever fool yourself into thinking that you can neglect the selling aspect of your business. Sure, maybe you won’t be directly involved all of the time, but selling must be present and active in your business in order for it to thrive!

Better Selling Next Steps:
Step One: Make 2 Lists
Make a list of everything you hate about sales/salespeople. Then create a list of directly opposite characteristics/actions. This second list is what you should focus-on as you grow into better sales. Make it your roadmap for what kind of selling activities you will engage-in and what kind of person you will be in those interactions. For example, if you hate lying salespeople, then don’t ever lie in your own selling. If you don’t like high-pressure tactics, employ more dignified means of education and objection-cycling.
Step Two: Understand Your Benefits v. Features
We all buy based on the benefits that we perceive will come with a purchase. Even the most rational of us buy based on emotional reaction; so it’s important to have mastery over how you explain the benefits of what it is you do/sell. It’s important to move from being a ‘seller’ to an ‘assistant buyer’ so that folks don’t feel sold something as much as they felt they were assisted in buying a needed service/product. It’s still important to develop a list of features for your service/product for the purchaser to rationalize the purchase after the fact and to ensure that you do actually provide something of quality and worth. In any written marketing materials, make sure the benefits are emphasized well and then list just a few features in the space you have left.
Step Three: Establish Deal-Breakers
If your goal is to sell without feeling like you’ve forced people into something they didn’t need/want; then establish lines that you will not cross in the selling process. These deal-breakers are important in maintaining your integrity and dignity as a person. Examples might include: not selling to someone that is lacking sufficient funds, never selling to someone that has more than two objections, or even never selling something you know is not a great fit for what they need. In my own practice, I built-in my deal-breakers up front in the way I define a prospect. Most selling training programs will tell you that anyone is a prospect; which might be true if you cut hair, clean carpet, etc. In my business however, someone is only a true prospect if they: have a clear need for my services, have the means to pay, are the decision-maker, I agree with the business they do and I can really help them. (4)
Step Four: Give Yourself Some Love
In any type of significant work, there are moments that test your belief in yourself and in what you do. If you know that what you do is valuable and that you are a person of integrity, then by all means write down statements about yourself accordingly. Then read these statements over to yourself (even out loud if it helps!) in the morning, before a sales appointment/call, after a tough selling encounter and before you close shop for the day. This might be a foreign practice for some of you but once you start confirming to yourself the truths about who you are and what you do, it will ooze over to others in your daily interactions with them. I’ll write a tip about this in the near future.
Step Five: Break the Mold
Decide right now to take control of the successful selling required in your business. Then decide what kind of salesperson you will be to everybody, everyday. Then forge disciplines that will allow you to grow into habitual selling success. Be a different kind of salesperson today! (5)

As always, contact the various businesses, consultants or coaches in our chamber who specialize in sales development and strategies. Hey, if it was easy, every business would be doing it habitually and successfully. I hope you find yourself in that category soon… Talk to you next week!

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1. The company in our chamber that most readily comes to mind is Darren Cecil who operates the local affiliate of the successful Sandler Sales Institute (http://www.sdsales.sandler.com/)
2. We all know the difficulty in adopting new behaviors if we’ve ever tried to lose weight, quite smoking, make more time for family, start reading more everyday, etc.
3. Please contact me to discuss more about how underlying attitudes affect your current performance (either professionally or personally). Deep rooted barriers can be solved if attacked in the right manner but it’s definitely not easy or quick!
4. The reality is that almost everyone I meet fits the criteria of need since I have met only a handful of businesses that run efficiently and with great gains year after year. So for me the other factors become very important in deciding whom to help, the last two being the most critical for me and my values. Everyone should have someone keep them accountable for their own deal-breakers… for me it’s my wife. Oh also, for life balance/time with my kids, I put a cap on how many clients I service at any given time.
5. If you (personally/company) would like to develop into a more dignified sales entity then please contact us for an appointment today. For sustained growth and profitability, it is crucial to develop an organization-wide understanding of how everyone needs to sell effectively regardless of their position within the business; we can help you start doing that today! Also, there are tons of great books out there if you want to read more on sales before targeting your specific habits to change.

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1. If you would like to access this type of measurable leadership development but the opportunity doesn’t currently exist in your company, you might want to consider joining a cohort group of like-minded professionals. We operate these types of courses throughout the year to spread-out the costs, allowing professionals like you to get started in your professional leadership development at a lower investment amount. Please contact us to join one of these courses or to start one-up today!
2. Although not a business example, Abraham Lincoln’s self-confidence paid off in a huge way by helping keep our country together by virtue of the fact that he successfully courted his most bitter and intelligent political rivals onto his presidential cabinet. The brain trust of these four men saved our country from certain division and likely foreign invasion thereafter. To purchase a copy of Team of Rivals click here.
3. I go to a small conference center in Julian twice a year to do this so contact me if you’d like some ideas/structure for your own time or to set-up something like this for your company. At the very least, we all need to be doing this at year’s end as an annual goals review process to set-up smart for the next year. If you’ve never experienced the value of this kind of focused time to think and plan, man, you’ll be surprised how effective it is (and your team will love it too!)
4. A great book on this is Gladwell’s Blink- click here.
5. The two coaches, other than myself in specific situations, that I’ve met in our chamber thus far (there’ll be more and more in less than a year) are: Sandra www.schrift.com and Billie www.guidingmindfulchange.com. Although I don’t know either very well, I’m sure they’ll be able to get you started in the right direction. Also, there’s a directory you can access at: www.sandiegocoaches.com or just google San Diego coaches and you’ll get plenty. This industry is mostly staffed by women, probably because they’re generally so supportive and caring.
6. For a great parody and warning before you engage the services of any type of consultant work, visit: http://www.huhcorp.com/index.htm. Read all of the pages, it’s really funny.

Small Business

Tip Archives

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3 Steps to Sucess

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The Ugly Middle

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Make Your People Count… Give ‘Em Attitude!

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Success is Simple… Get SMART!

Balance Today

… Excellence Tomorrow!

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Power for Tough Times…

Affirm At Will!

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Don’t Limit Your Success… Dream Big!

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Hate Selling… Know Why!

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All About You… So Lead!