It’s Too Damn Hot!

Did someone leave the oven on?

We are absolutely baking down here in Melbourne with forecasts of over 40^o C (100^o F) for the next few days.
Most places in Melbourne are not built for such weather so the heat builds up and everyone melts.
The thing most talked about for the next few days will be how hot it is!

So What?

The reality is that we can do nothing about the weather (working against global warming aside) yet it will be the focus of most of our attention.
All we can do is dress cool, work some where cool, keep hydrated or head to the cinemas for a movie marathon.

Too often we are distracted by things we can do nothing about and we waste time and resources rather than focussing on what we CAN do something about.

So what CAN you do today to move you in the direction of your dreams?

I am Spreading The Love for Valentines Day Special

I believe (and the research backs it up) that the best, easiest and most effective way to get leads is from Exhibiting.

So I am spreading the love with a Valentines day special on the Exhibit Like A Pro 12 Disc pack. You get almost $3,000 worth of value and up until Valentines Day you save almost $500 off the RRP.

One of our clients has said they increased their QUALIFIED leads by

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533% using this approach (that meant and extra $150,000 to their bottom line)

Find out more detail by going to the product page here.

Happy Valentines!

Happy Valentines Day

OK so I am a little early. My theory is that it is never too early to feel the love!

While some may describe the day as a celebration that florists, greeting card companies and chocolate companies make a fortune out of, a quick look at Wikipedia shows that it was around well before they took advantage.

So what does this all have to do with today’s email?

Well as part of my 2014 Valentine’s Day celebrations I wanted to share some love with you and say thank you for reading my newsletters and being part of my world.

So a HUGE THANK YOU to you!

For those who are looking to increased leads in your business, I have another gift for you.

The Centre for Exhibition Industry Research has shown the most cost effective way to get leads is via Exhibiting and Sponsoring business events.
My experience is that most businesses have yet to master the art of Exhibiting.

I want to help you take your exhibiting to the next level and be able to Exhibit Like A Pro. So here is what I am doing, until Valentines Day I am offering you an insane discount (its over 60%). They do say love makes you crazy!

Find out the detail by going to the product page here.

Happy Valentines!

What Do I Do Now?

Many people will get back in the office today.
So after two, three or even four weeks off, what do you do now?

Yeah, you could spend hours trolling through the email, updating facebook or being completely overwhelmed by the to do list that is formulating in your head or on your note pad.

My humble suggestion? DON’T DO ANY WORK!

Too many people just get back into work as if they never left. This year becomes last year all over again.

Right now is the time to get two or three key learnings from last year and do just one or two things differently this year. We need to out grow our old self and blossom into AWESOME!

Sound good? Well here is my Regular Results Review. A simple two page document to give you these different ideas for 2014.

Before you start any work, grab a beverage and spend the hour or so working on this so your 2014 is loaded with great things.

Let me know if you need any help!

What Does 2014 Hold?

Whew…. that last year seemed to fly by. I am sure that you achieved some great things, saw some amazing things and had some fantastic conversations with fabulous people.

So what does 2014 hold for you?

2014 will hold whatever you put in it. It is your actions that will determine how fabulous it is. What actions can you take to make this year OUT OF THIS WORLD?!?!

Merry Christmas!

It’s Christmas time. Yay!

For those of you who celebrate Christmas, I trust you will enjoy the delights that Christmas offers. For those who don’t celebrate Christmas, I wish you all the best for whatever you do celebrate (whether it be Festivus, Chanukka, Kwanzaa or some other festival).

For everyone, I trust that your have gained great things from 2013 and that 2014 will bring you fantastic opportunity, moments of awesomeness and time to connect to those who count.

My gift for you is the recipe for Rum Balls. They have always been a family favourite. A friend of mine posted pics of her rum balls on Facebook and I thought I should make some too. She sent me the recipe and then Wifey made some (naturally I was responsible for the taste test)

Here is the result

They are super easy to make and taste like celebration.

Enjoy!!

Rum Balls
from Sally Coffey-Battersby

Preparation time: 20 Mins
Skill Level: Easy

Ingredients
1packet of Arrowroot or Marie biscuits pulverised to dust
½ cup desiccated coconut,
Extra coconut for topping
3tbs cocoa,
1tin sweetened condensed milk,
3-6 tbs of rum (depending on strength required!!)

Method
Smash biscuits in blender or chopper
Add dry ingredients
Mix well
Add Condensed Milk and Rum
Mix up til it’s sticky, but not too wet
Add more coconut if it’s too wet
Use hands to roll into bite sized balls
Coat in coconut and then refrigerate

NOTE
Can be frozen
Alternate alcohol can be used for a different flavour
Rum essence can be used for non-alcoholic version
Can add sultanas or other dried fruit for variety
Can roll in sprinkles or Hundreds and Thousands for variety

The Driver and the Dealer

Many people are getting ready for 2014. They are planning, reviewing and getting all of their ducks in a row.

As you start to focus on 2014, don’t forget the Driver and the Dealer. They are two key players in your success.

The Driver is all emotion. It allows you to tap in to the “WHY” for the year. Why do you want to earn the money, achieve the goals, or conquer the mountain. The Driver will show you the pleasure, the benefits, the reason that you do what you do. The Driver will set the direction of where you are headed.

The Dealer is all fact. It is all about the “WHAT”. What do I need to do next, what resources do I need, what is the logical sequence. The Dealer is loaded with reason and logic and it is the Dealer that will get you where you want to go.

The issue is that they are not interchangable. Particularly when you come across your first problem on the path. The Driver doesn’t help because the “why” is not as important as the “What are we going to do about it”.

As you plan for 2014, make sure you are clear on your Driver and have your Dealer well tuned and ready to go.

Oh The Humanity

One of the things my choir does is support the Creative Ministries Network by singing at some of their different events.

Saturday we sang at the service for those who have had family members die in the workplace. It is a hard service. Some of the stories that people share are horrific. Not in terms of details of the accident or tragedies that happen, but in terms of how their families are treated by companies, insurers and the legal profession.

As I was sitting there on Saturday listening to this womans story about how she was treated, her pain as real today as it was when the event happened, it occured to me how ill-equipped businesses are to deal with humans.

Why is it as a business that people will do things that they would never do as an individual? Why do we ignore those around us that need help, support, a listening ear, a friend, a laugh or a simple but genuine “How’s things?” Why do we need to create “R U OK” days –

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why isn’t every day an “R U OK” day? I think it is sad that we are so out of touch that we need to tell people to care about others in their life.

What most of us do is NOT a matter of life or death. While I am not minimising the importance of what you do, rather I am asking you to shift your perspective on what you do and who it impacts. No matter what your job holds, never forget your humanity and the impact of those you connect with.

So how can you show your humanity today?

You Know Better Than That!

A good friend of mine is going for a senior postion at a very large company.

As a manager, they are AWESOME!

They have stood toe to toe with union officials and negotiated powerful outcomes that turned out to be in the best interest of the company and the union member.
They have a level of loyalty in their staff that no other manager has ever created in this company before.
They continually step up into their boss’ role for prolonged periods as their boss travels and consults elsewhere
For seven years in a row their major projects have been nominated for major awards and have won the award on several occasions
They are half way through an MBA at Australia’s most prestigious university (and getting really good marks)
Their division in the organisation is constantly referred to as the “role model” by the senior executive team
They have done the hard yards and performance managed the “dead wood” which has lifted the morale of the team

Having said all of that, my friend still doubts their value and I spent an hour or so coaching them on understanding what they are worth.

Whether you are negotiating salary deals, contracts or any other deal you know better than to discount yourself – yet I see people do it everyday. Women seem to discount their value more often.

DON’T DO IT!! STOP IT!!

This is all about value. Make sure you know what you are worth and hold your value. You are only discounting yourself if you don’t. Be confident and proud about the value you bring. We all know charlatans who got paid more purely because they believed.

So Dear-Reader, what is your value or the value of your product or service?

Here is what Bob Newhart has to say about it.

Give them What They Want, When and How They Want It

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]I just came across this short video of Kevin Spacey speaking to TV Executives.

IMHO, one of the reason that Australia has such high piracy rates is that our free to air networks ignore the viewing public. They put cheap, crappy TV shows (Jordie Shore, Aligator Man, American Pickers, X Factor, American X Factor, UK X Factor, Big Brother, Snog Marry Avoid…. the list goes on) that insult our intelligence and turn us straight to DVD, Blue Ray or Hard Drive. Consequently, most Australian TV networks are struggling.

Even the news services have gone all chat show on us. Watch the live cross to the reporter on the scene and you can feel any authority or decency of the news service slip away. Remember when A Current Affair, Today Tonight and Sixty Minutes used to report great stories and do real investigative journalism? Don’t even get me started on the breakfast shows. We were so much better off with Cartoons or more Rage!

The one exception at taking programming chances, embracing technology and cross platform integration is the ABC. On a modest budget, they do amazing things and yet they are always operating with the sword of Damocles hanging over their head.

When it comes to entertainment, it is not about the money, the studio, the production, the talent, the effects, it is all about the audience. Somewhere in there, that seems to be forgotten.

Take the 4 minutes to watch the video and let me know what you think.

Then think about your business and what you do. How can you apply this lesson?[/vc_column_text][videoembed type=”youtube” ratio=”sixteen_by_nine” url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0ukYf_xvgc” id=”video_0″ width=”640″ height=”480″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

How Is Your Attitude?

Last week I was on radio talking about mentoring and some of the techniques to get better results. One of the questions that came up from a listener was “What are the best attributes to have to effect lasting change in a business?”

There are Four Key elements that you need and you can find out more about them here.

The common theme is element is part of your Attitude and not a specific skillset. Having the right attitude or an attitude that serves you, your customer and your business well can be challenging.

One person who knows all about Attitude is Justin Herald. His business is not only based on Attitude but it is also called Attitude.

To celebrate my new website (now with extra attitude!) I have 5 tickets to give away to see Justin Herald speak at a breakfast in Melbourne this Wednesday 13th November. (Yes, it’s true – I am the MC!)

The first five people to email the Event Organiser (Mary Tan mary.t@planaheadevents.com.au) get a complimentary ticket to the breakfast.

Good luck and don’t forget to check out the new website and check your own attitude. Is it serving you, your customer and your business? If not, change it.

The Keys to Organisational Change

This week I had the pleasure of speaking on Jacki Mitchell’s radio show, Taking Care of Business.

Following the show, one of the listeners contacted me to ask the following question:

“What would you say are the skills and attitudes of a person who successfully introduces or influences change in a business or organisation?”

This was my response:

The most important thing here (in my opinion) is the right attitudes and not necessarily the skills. Cultural change and Organisation change are hard. Not because of the process but because you are battling the status quo. The main attributes you will be exercising are: Persistence, Resilience, Focus and a great sense of humour.

Persistence because you will need to keep at the process against all the ingrained resistance, the verbal support but lack of action and the indifference of senior management. Once you stick at it enough to get the momentum of the organisation, the journey switches from an uphill battle to a downhill cruise.

Resilience because you need to be able to keep getting back up everytime you fall down. In fact, you have to be able to get up more often. Keep getting up until you stop falling down.

Focus because you need to maintain the end picture and benefits of the change in mind. Keeping the long term benefits in sight while you suffer through the short term pain can be a challenge.

A sense of humour because it will make you life easier, your meetings more enjoyable and maintain your healthy sense of perspective on what you are doing. Plus smiling and laughing makes you fun to be around.

What do you think?

What Is Your Customers Sweet Spot?

I was in Melbourne recently to audition for the lead role in an animated film (that’s a different story) and I saw Mario the busker above. In fact, I originally thought someone was playing the Nintendo game with the volume really loud. Click here for a couple of minutes of Mario at work.

It was an amazing bit of busking that applied the same elements of success that a clever exhibiting booth would have.

Now I am not sure how good a guitar player the person was, but that didn’t matter. After a couple of minutes I realised that they were playing the same 5-7 minute piece and then just kept repeating it.

This is why it was so good:

It was instantly recognisable – so many people stopped to listen, take photos, have their kids next to Mario while they took photos and one guy even danced along to the tune.
It stood out – this wasn’t just a busker, it was Mario in full cartoon goodness.
It was joyous – the song was the soundtrack of many peoples childhood (and a few peoples adulthood as well!)
It was recognisable – immediately people would either recognise the song because they knew of the game or they would move on because it wasn’t part of their world.
It was playful – when people put money in Mario’s hat, Mario played the “coin” sound. This made people laugh more.
It was niched – The gamers loved it. More geeks were giving money to a busker than I had ever seen before.
It was clever – Somehow Mario had triggered Nintendo sounds with the guitar. I tried to see if it was a backing track but it didn’t seem to be. Mario was too flexible in their play for it to be a backing track and while the song repeated, it was not an exact repeat.
It was quick – straight away you saw what it was and could decide whether you wanted to give money or not. You didn’t need to stay for minutes or a huge performance. You could easily see Mario in the distance, get money out, throw it in the hat and keep walking to the train station without slowing down.
It was simple – OK so the person is wearing the Mario costume, but apart from that, it is a simple performance without too much effort required – you only had to know ONE SONG
It went for the Sweet Spot – Mario had worked out a short piece, a fun theme and some quirky play that went straight to the heart (and wallet) of Mario’s prospect and called them to action.

Next time you are setting up your Expo Booth, consider some of these principles and go for your Customers Sweet Spot.

Turns out, that secret is to give others what they want

What Do You Get?

Big Brother

So often when I talk with people at conferences, their focus is “What do you get?” It was a delight to spend time with some people whose focus was “What can I give?”

I had the privilege of peforming MC duties for 250 women attending the Emerald Community Girls Big Night In (a Cancer Council fundraiser) and the following night performing the same duties for 150 people at the Big Brother Big Sister Awards night (pictured above). We heard some great stories of people who willing gave of themselves only to feel like they get so much more in return.

The work place is the same. You need to give to others on the team before you will get what you want. Unfortunately, too many people are focussed on the payrise, the position or the next political move rather than, how can I help my customers, my team and my business get what they need and want.

Zig Ziglar said, “The best way to get what you want is to help others get what they want.”

If you shift your focus from “What Do I Get” to “What Can I Give”, you will be amazed and how good you feel and what will get dropped in your lap.

WHAT’S IT FOR?

In my role as MC I get to meet a lot of really cool people, and not just the celebrities!

Last week Samuel Johnson was the final speaker at the plenary session. He is a man on a mission and he is really focussed.

I have met many business people who get to a point where they ask, “What’s it for?” Their quest was to “make it” but what does that mean?
What is life for, why are they working hard, what counts, what is merely noise and why should I get out of bed today?
There are young people who experience the same thing and I suspect it is a contributing factor to a lot of the depression that people suffer.

Sam is crystal clear on what he is doing. He is living for his sister. She has terminal breast cancer and when he asked her “What legacy can I leave for you?” (expecting her to say go bungee jumping or jump out of a plane) she said to him, “I want you to ride around Australia on a unicycle and raise over a million dollars for cancer research.”

So that is what he has been doing. He is 2/3rds of the way there in distance and has raised over $800,000 to date.

He has also been spreading the message about breast cancer awareness. From his presentations and challenges along the cycle route to selling merchandise, including my favourite bumper sticker

I urge you to find out more about what Sam is doing by heading to www.LoveYourSister.org where you can discover some of the challenges, buy some merchandise or donate to the cause.

Sam is crystal clear on what he is doing this for and has some key strategies to get it done.

What about you Dear-Reader? Do you know what life is for? How you live your day is how you live your life so find your why and get cracking!

Warwick In Action

What’s Your Solution?

I am up in the lovely state of Queensland visiting clients and doing some tech support for my mum and I have to say it, mum’s boyfriend is a very handy dude.

He loves working in the garden but the sandy soil and loads of creatures up here makes for special problems. One of the solutions is to grow the strawberries in containers.
But he didn’t want the containers to sit on the grass and kill it. Also they are very heavy to lift and move, so what did he do?

A couple of old golf buggy wheels, a jockey wheel off the caravan, a wheel-less wheel barrow, some coaster wheels and a few bit of wood and steel all got made into portable plant tables you can see in the photo. A fantastic solution that just took a bit of thinking, looking at what resources were available and what skill sets were present to come up with a solution.

In the work place today it seems that we struggle with solutions. We are so used to “Other People” providing the solution, managers telling us what to do or giving up because “it just can’t be done”.

Next time this happens to you, think of my mums boyfriend and ask:

What resources have I got available?
What skill sets are available?
What is the outcome I am after?
How can I combine all of this to achieve the outcome I want?

Warwick In Action

Warwick Merry – The Get More Guy, is your high energy, results focused, action oriented, no holds barred tour de force Master MC, keynote speaker and Exhibiting Specialist. He ensures your attendees Get More from your event. His MC work is like insurance for your event. It guarantees things will run smoothly and on time. As a speaker, he is like a dose of Berocca – a bubbling, burst of healthy, sustainable energy for your attendees. If you need a burst of inspiration, cogitation and celebration at your next event you MUST book The Get More Guy, Warwick Merry.

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