Archive For: Success

What Are You Planning For?

Much to their disgust, kids all over Australia are heading back to school today. You can almost hear the collective sigh of relief from parents everywhere!

It is interesting how much planning people do for their holidays that they DON’T do for the rest of their lives.

As the holidays approach, the planning starts for trips, adventures, play dates and even “just keep them busy” activities. Now that it is over many people revert to “let’s just see what happens”.

Success starts with a plan.

Whether you are planning financial success, lifestyle success or corporate success, success starts with a plan. Once you know what you want, then you need to create a plan of action, which is closely followed by taking that action.

So what are you planning for?
What is it that you want to achieve?
What is it you want your family to achieve?

It takes effort, it takes discipline, it even takes compromise but the results are worth it.

So what are you planning?

 

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Bringing Home the Bacon

Image: SauceOnPurpose.com

This Friday, I am delighted to be filling in for Jacki Mitchell on her award winning show Taking Care of Business.

When I asked my social media contacts what did they want me to talk about, there was a resounding reply of “BACON”.

As many people know, I am a huge fan of bacon (new research shows it keeps you young too!) but I thought that listeners may be more interested in Bringing Home the Bacon.

It is one thing to talk about sales, marketing, strategy, productivity, business plans and so on. What counts is actually earning money.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a firm believer that SUCCESS is measured by far more than just money, but as the late great Kevin Merry (my dad) used to say to me, “it’s not a sin to be poor, just damn inconvenient”.

How good are you at Bringing Home the Bacon?
Do you bring home enough bacon?
What are you doing to provide better value to your employer and customers?

There are always ways to acquire more and better bacon if you need it. What are you doing about your bacon supply?

PS My apologies to any vegetarians for this image and bacon concept

PPS Join me on Friday 10th April 2015 on RPPFM (you can stream it) at 11am to hear about one of my favourite businesses The Farmers Larder (they make real bacon) as well as tips on how to turn Linked In contacts in to high quality bacon.

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A Celebration

Wow! What a big weekend.

I was part host, part facilitator and part attendee at the National Speakers Association of Australia annual convention in Canberra.

The most important part of the weekend for me was when I received my Certified Speaking Professional accreditation (as pictured below)

A big thank you to you for being part of my speaking journey and your support in getting me to this stage. Because of this designation and a few other factors, I have been asked to speak in Singapore and Washington DC later this year. I could not have done this without you.

This global certification makes me one of 75 people in Australia and one of about 650 worldwide.

I look forward to continuing sharing observations with you, hosting your events and speaking at your conferences.

Now it’s time to celebrate.

Thanks again for helping make this happen!

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To Serve or Delight?

I have had many a discussion with my mentor group on whether we should aim for Customer Service or Customer Delight. Million Dollar Relationships expert Danielle Storey defines Customer Delight as “Providing the customer service experience that was expected, plus a little bit extra.”

Friends and I were delighted on the weekend. We stayed at a great little B&B as part of our B&B Crew weekends (we all kick in $50 a month and head somewhere different every couple of months). This time it was off to Ocean Grove and we found a colourful and funky looking place with four bedrooms called Fairmont. 

Now we have stayed at a few B&Bs over time but it was the little bit extras that made a big difference. An early check in, a late check out, chocolates for us, doggy treats for the dogs, quality linen, all the little supplies like slat, pepper, coffee, tea, herbal teas, quality appliances, quality bathroom products, quality toilet paper, … I could go on.

All of these little things that would not have cost a significant amount of money, time or effort, all added up to not just Customer Service but Customer Delight.

So how do you delight your customers?

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Freedom (At Last)

Saturday night I had the great joy of hosting a Trade Show and Gala Dinner for one of my fabulous clients.

Like most Gala Dinners, there were awards, formalities and speeches. Once that had happened, it was time to relax and celebrate. This event had a great band that was really suited to the audience. They were called The Chosen Few. Dinner done, formalities over and so the band started.

The dance floor was empty!

Now I know that people are like sheep. No one wants to be the first person on the dance floor, they are waiting for others to go first. As part of what I do for clients, I will typically find someone during the course of the dinner who is happy to dance and then set the example by hitting the dance floor first. On Saturday the lovely Sam from The Cartridge Family joined me on the dance floor.

I know why people don’t want to get on the dance floor. They are scared of what others will think, whether it is their outfit, how they dance or some other thing people are scared of being judged.

Eleanor Roosevelt is quoted as saying, “What other people think of me is none of my business.”

The freedom of letting go of what other people think and just enjoying the moment meant that Sam and I had a great night on the dance floor. There were others sitting around the edge just bursting to get on the dance floor (they were dancing in their chairs almost) but when we invited them to join us, even when there were more people on the dance floor, they declined.

So where are you denying yourself freedom by being constrained by what other people think? What will you do today to give yourself the gift that freedom is?

 

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Are You Really There?

Registration Desk

I had the great joy of working at a client’s three-day conference and trade show last week as Master MC and Exhibition Host.

It was a huge success on so many levels. But still…

It is a personal bugbear of mine that companies pay large money to sponsor an event or exhibit an event and they get the wrong people on the stands.

While this was a great show, so many of the exhibitors were not really there. They were on their phone, on their laptop, chatting to colleagues, doing anything but being present and focussing on the delegates – THEIR TARGET MARKET!

It is really simple, don’t take your phone to the stand. If you need to be near your phone all day you are the wrong person to be there so get someone else. Use the conference as a marketing tool by creating a special out of office message.

Leave a phone message that states; “Hi you have called YOUR NAME. I can’t take your call because I am hosting a stand at the XYZ Conference. Come and see me at stand 123 or leave a detailed message and I will get back to you once the show closes for the day.”

Do what it takes to focus on your target market – the whole reason you are there!

What about you?

Whether it is on a trade show floor, chatting with friends or meeting with colleagues, are you really there?

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How to Get The Help You Need

In business and in life, people often lament that nobody offered to help them. No one gave them the assistance that others received.

Today I will share with you the magic secret to get that help you need. It is mysterious, confronting and it can be challenging. 

Are you ready?

YOU ASK FOR IT!

My gorgeous wife has been trapped at home on the couch with a broken foot for three weeks and she has another three weeks to go. She is slowly going out of her mind (and that’s just putting up with me) so she needs some entertainment. She has been calling her friends and arranging lunch dates, cup of tea dates and “just get me out of the house” dates and they have willingly answered her call for help.

My mentoring clients have approached me saying, “I want to take my business to the next level” or “I would like to have a social life” or whatever their need is and we are working together to create that.

In my professional association, speakers will often approach other speakers saying, “I want to be able to do some of what you do, can you give me an hour of your time and share the secrets.” They willingly do so to help grow the industry.

So what do you need? Now find the right person and go and ask for it.

 

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Ethics, What Ethics?

couple-pointing-at-cloud-home

One of my gorgeous wife’s friends is looking to buy a house. 

After a lot of searching, she found one she liked. Like all good homeowners, she did her research. She had the conveyancer review the contract of sale/section 32 and she also had a property inspection.

For those that don’t know, a property inspection is where a qualified inspector comes and does a detailed inspection of the house and reports back to you important information about it. It is a valuable report that can prevent you from buying a house loaded with potential disasters. As with all transactions, the report is the property of the person who paid for it.

The day before the auction, my friend received a call from the person who did the inspection advising her that the real estate agent had contacted them and asked for a copy of the report so they could display it as part of the auction documentation.

Whaaaaa….

The inspector did the ethical thing and said it was not their call to make and the owner of the report (our friend) was the only one who could make that decision. The agent then advised they would contact my friend – which they never did. I suspect that they knew after paying hundreds of dollars for a report, our friend would not be willing to give it away to her competing bidders.

Here is the outcome of poor business ethics:

  • A formal complaint can be made against you to your industry body (as will happen in this case)
  • You will never get work from this potential customer again
  • Your reputation will be sullied in the market place
  • Your whole industry will be drawn into disrepute
  • You won’t sleep well at night 

What about you?

How important are ethics to you and your business? How often are they discussed in your team meetings? What can you do to be sure that everyone on your team acts ethically even when no one is watching?

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First on the Floor

My gorgeous wife and I went to a family wedding at the Plaza Ballroom on Valentines Day. (A cheap way to have a great night out on Valentines Day!!)

After dinner when the band started the dance music, people hesitated to get on the dance floor. As my wife has broken her foot (that’s another story!) she was definitely not going on the dance floor. So I thought I would ask one of the cousins who was over from the UK.

She adamantly refused to go on the dance floor until many others had. I even tried dragging her on but she would not budge. So I had to try other methods to get people on the dance floor.

My theory, just get on the floor. No one cares. Yes other people will watch you, some may even laugh but who is on the dance floor having fun? Who is on the dance floor enjoying themself rather than sitting there wishing they were?

In business, this is the same. Give things a try. Yes you may fail, yes people may laugh, yes you may stumble and fall but during your early business dance you will learn things that watching will never give you. You will get immense satisfaction from taking action rather than just thinking about it.

So why don’t you be first on the floor!

Image: The Marriner Group

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It’s (not) Hard to Be Humble

With the rise of the celebrity culture (both in business and in popular culture) it seems some celebrities struggle to remain humble and in the process disengage with their followers.

In fact, you would think that many of them subscribe to beliefs presented in the Mac Davis song, It’s Hard to Be Humble.

I had an interaction with someone who knows it is NOT hard to be humble. Australian songstress (in both Opera and Pop/Alternate music) Kate Miller-Heidke showed me how it is done.

On Friday I sent a tweet about how I was doing some writing while listening to her music and she replied.

I did a bit of cyber stalking and saw that Kate (we’re friends now so I call her Kate) showed appreciation to several others that had mentioned her. I get how this could be an onerous task for huge celebrities with lots of fans writing to them. But it is amazing how a simple “Thank you” shows you are human. Shows that you appreciate those that support you and have helped you to get where you are.

So how is your humility level? Regardless of whether you are a super star or not, do you let your humanity show? Go on, it’s worth it.

It’s (not) hard to be humble!

 

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Say No to Success

NO

The recurring theme in discussions with clients as they plan their year is saying NO.

In life, it is what you say NO to that will determine your success not what you say YES to.

As the old saying goes, “If you want something done, ask a busy person.” It is up to us to maintain our focus on what counts and what is important. We can only do this by saying NO to distractions, NO to worthy causes that don’t serve us, NO to procrastination, NO to events we don’t want to go to but are too nice to say so, NO to amazing business deals that will shift us off course and not give a decent return, NO to opportunities that stroke our ego but do not serve our purpose, NO to things our gut tells us not to do but our head says yes.

Often, saying YES is the easy way out. Standing in our power, in what we know is right for us as a person, a parent, a business owner, an employee, a community member and a family member can be hard. But it is this path that leads to success.

What you say NO to will determine your success, not what you say YES to.

One of the things business owners need to say No to is their customers. Not all of their customers but the ones that no longer serve them. The demanding ones that chew up all of your time but then don’t buy from you. The ones that take months to pay and always have an excuse. The ones that haggle on price every time they deal with you.

The best thing to do with this kind of customer is send them to your competition. You are better focussing on the customers that rave about you, that effortlessly refer you, that know your value and willingly pay your invoice on time. A key to doing this is to know your niche, know your target market, know your value and rarely stray from that zone.

Saying No to unsavoury customers means you free up space to service the quality customers in your niche, it saves the massive energy drain and it also increases your profitability.

What you say NO to will determine your success, not what you say YES to. So, who and what do you need to say NO to so you can increase your success?

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Unleash the Beast

killer dog

Meet Winston the oh so cute and slightly anxious toy poodle.

A couple of days ago I heard him making a funny noise so I came out of my office to see him like this. He was so proud of his hunter skills.

He had found, caught and killed a mouse.

It is the last thing I really expected of him. He was strutting around so proud of himself. He had tapped into his hidden wolf ancestral skill set and accomplished the unexpected.

Have you ever done this? Not killed a mouse but tapped into something you never knew or forgot you had and achieved something spectacular?

Maybe it was a sporting event. A hole in one, an ungettable slam dunk that you got or a forehand smash that went exactly where you wanted it. It could have been in business. Negotiating the unnegotiable, meeting an unreachable deadline or leading a team to “victory” in a manner that everyone was in awe of the achievement?

Like Winston, it is attacking the situation and never giving up. Continuing on even when things are not happening just as you want them that will bring you to the achievement. Tapping in to your internal motivation with a focus on your end goal.

Keep going and unleash your inner beast, you may just surprise yourself!

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Let’s Do Better

Let’s Do Better

I am tired of all the disrespect and lack of tolerance.

Whether it is road rage, bombing, messy divorces, frivolous legal suits or over entitled celebrities, it is NOT progressing our planet or our existence.

Let’s do better.

Once you have some perspective, you see how unimportant we are to the universe and how important we are to each other.

If you need some perspective, watch this short video from Carl Sagan, legendary astrophysicist.

Let’s do better.

It is really quite simple. Let’s follow the teachings of legendary, non-religious, independantly brilliant and uniquely naive teachings of the two prophets Bill and Ted.

They have two simple philosophies:

1) Be excellent to each other

2) Party on dudes

It would be easy to dismiss these as flippant, 80’s movie trivia, but I believe they encapsulate what we need to do.

Treat each other incredibly well and celebrate life’s achievements in the company of others.

Let’s do better

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Get More Success from 2015

Key To Success

Can you believe it is the start of another year?

As we get older the years seem to pass more quickly so it becomes even more important that we make the most of the time presented to us. That means no more New Year’s Resolutions. They are a complete waste of time. Most people don’t even expect to keep them, so why would you make them?

Let’s take our success up another level by focussing on the five core elements we need to experience outrageous success.

Creation

The first element is to spend some time creating the ideas you want to implement for 2015. Be careful! It is very easy to make this a fantasy list. Only include what you REALLY want to achieve. If you have no passion or drive for an idea it will slip by the way side and get pushed out of your mind by someone else’s priorities that seem more urgent.

Some of you won’t need this step. You are already crystal clear what your focus is for the year. You know what you want to achieve and you are already headed in that direction. Fantastic! The reality is, that if you don’t write it down it is more likely to slip down your list of priorities. Make sure you spend the time to list your target achievements for the year.

If you are not sure where to start, pick a theme or focus for the year. Too often we are distracted by the minutia of our multiple goals. Have a single word or single statement theme for a year will keep you on track for what really counts.

Inspiration

The second element is all about getting excited. Surround yourself with ideas, images, people, and resources that get you excited about what you want to achieve.

You also need to protect yourself from negativity. You don’t need others stealing your dreams and inspiration. People who say, “what do you want to do that for?”, “that’s stupid” or “what a waste of time” will not help you achieve what you are after. Family and close friends are particularly good at doing this. They do it under the guise of “protecting you” but sometimes you don’t want the protection.

Inspiration is not something you have once and then it’s done. You need to set yourself up for success by having an “Inspiration System”. That is some process or system that continues to deliver inspiration.

Here are some ideas that have worked for others:

Different things work for different people. Find out what works for you and put it into place

Motivation

People confuse motivation and inspiration.

Quite simply, Inspiration is external. It comes from hearing other peoples experience, creating a goal to achieve, having a coach or some other external factor as described above.

Motivation is internal. It comes from you. No one else can give you motivation only inspiration.

This is why an inspiration system is so important. Motivation is like trying so save water in a leaky tank. You use water every day and also some naturally leaks away. If you are not continually topping it up you find yourself without any at all.

Legendary speaker Zig Ziglar famously said that “Motivation is like personal hygiene – you need to attend to it every day.”

Some days you may only be able to rustle up enough motivation to get out of bed and other days you are an achieving dynamo. What you need to be able to do is to establish a system or process to ensure that you are getting regular bursts of inspiration to address your own levels of motivation.

Activation

Now it is time to make things happen.

Too often people talk a lot about what they want to achieve or tell you what they are going to do. It is important to remember that “Action is the magic word not Words are the magic action.”

All the inspiration and motivation in the world will do you no good if you do not take action. So break your Focus, Goals and Objectives down into tasks and give them a priority. Now apply that motivation and take action.

If you need to, set yourself up for success by having an “Accountability buddy”. This is someone who you make commitments of action to and then regularly check back with to track progress. This can be a paid coach, your mastermind group or someone on your team. Knowing you are accountable to an external person seems to add an increased importance to the task than if it is only in your own head.

Be wary in the activation phase.

Our “Urgency addiction” makes it very easy to become very busy on tasks that don’t move us closer to our goals for the year. It is worth taking a strategic view point on a regular basis to ensure that you are working on what counts and not just busy work or getting sidetracked on items that are important for others but not for yourself.

The focus must always be on the Activation element as this is where results are generated. The previous elements purely support this element. This is part of being Outcome focussed. Your focus has to be on achieving the ideas and objectives your came up with in your Creation phase.

Success will come if you do whatever it takes to sustain the Activation.

Celebration

If you make celebrating success a habit, success will become a habit.

Once you have achieved your goal or objective, it is imperative that you celebrate accordingly. The degree of celebration needs to match the importance of the objective. Some of your celebration will cost money and others wont.

Add to your inspiration and motivation by deciding at the very beginning what your celebration will be for each of your achievements. Don’t wait for only the significant achievements either. Sometimes the smaller more repetitive elements also need to be celebrated.

How does 2015 look for you?

The first thing you need to do is throw away those new year’s resolutions and free yourself up to have some really success.

If you employ these five elements with discipline and get ongoing support, you can’t help but have a successful 2015.

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Give Up on Your Resolutions Now

2015 Resolutions

 

Sorry if that title comes off a little negative.

But let’s be frank, come April you will probably struggle to remember what your New Year’s Resolutions let alone be on the path to achieving them.

Previously I have referred to them as New Year’s Revolutions – because every year we like to give them a turn!

If you want proof of this hypothesis, look at any gym. For the first half of January you can hardly get access to a piece of the equipment. After that, it all goes back to normal and the regulars get back to what they do best.

Here is an easier approach. Select a “Focus” for the year. My business partner, Danielle Storey calls it a theme.

A Focus is a short statement or even a word that is your overarching focus for the year. I would even recommend put a post of it at your desk or somewhere you see it regularly. Then each day ask yourself the question, “How can I stay true to my focus today?”

My focus for 2015 is to Consolidate. I have just released my new book, I have some recent CD products, a couple of months ago I received my international accreditation and I have a new Executive Assistant on board so now I have to turn this solid base into increased business and increased success.

Let go of the New Year’s Resolution, pick a focus. What is your focus for 2015?

 

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