Many of us have heard the phrase “Selling is not Telling”, but what does that really mean?  The main aspect of this is the ability to ask really good questions.  I had a brilliant sales guy once say to me “Paul, a good salesmen NEVER answers questions, they only ask them”.   I thought about that statement a lot.  My first reaction was “How in the world can you do that?” 

Well, as I later learned, when you ask good compelling questions, you don’t get many questions bounced back your way to begin with. 

There are four reasons why this is important.

1.      Asking questions results in your customer gaining trust in you because you are simply listening.  The more you listen and the less you talk the more that customer will basically like you and trust you.  The more the prospect likes you, the more open they will be to listening and consider buying from you.

2.      Great questions will enable you to identify your customer’s problems.  Then, you can fill in the blanks on how your product or service solves those particular problems.

3.      The person who asks the questions always has control over the entire conversation.  The best salespeople are those who deliberately control the sales process, leading rather than following the customer.

4.      Questions demand attention. This is because the conversation is always about the customer and not about you or your product or service.  They are too engrossed in answering all your questions to think of questions themselves.  If you are just rambling on with a sales pitch, your customer has time to think.  Time to think of objections, doubts, fear and ways to get rid of you all together.  Questions eliminate that process.  They are too busy thinking of how to answer instead of how to get you out the door. 

People are always telling me “Paul, I just don’t have time to get that done.”  OK, that’s a generic statement that is 98% of the time actually false.  The point is, people do have the time, but most just don’t know how to use it properly

There is basically four ways to get more done in less time, thus giving you more “time” and increasing your productivity.

1.       Start doing more of certain things.

2.       Start doing less of certain things.

3.       Start doing things that you are currently not now doing.

4.       Stop doing things that you are currently now doing.

I know what you are thinking, that seems like a bunch of mumbo jumbo and overly simplistic.  Here is the low-down on what to do and what it does for you.  This is in use with Pareto’s rule or the 80/20 rule.  It is all about doing more of what you should be doing and less of what you should not be doing.

1.       Indentify the highest value activities that you currently do or COULD be doing.  What are the top 20% of tasks that bring you the most value in your business?  Write down a list and identify those tasks.  Only pick the top 20%.

2.       Identify the lowest value activities that you currently do.  Write down the top 80% of that list which brings you the lowest amount of value to your business. 

3.       Promise to yourself to do more on the high value tasks in that top 20%.

4.       Promise to eliminate or delegate the low value tasks in the bottom 80%

Applying this simple rule and simple techniques will significantly increase your productivity and increase the amount of time that you have for other “stuff”.  Give it a try, it’s not hard.  It’s almost like taking a magic pill, but a bit more work.  Remember, Pareto’s rule states that 80% of your success comes from 20% of your activities.  Have a great day!

Many people buy, start or own a business for reasons of their family.  They want to provide financial security and have all the freedom in the world to spend as much time as they wish with family.  So, why is it that so many business owners spend so much time in their business and not much at home with them?  If you were my wife, I’d understand why you’d stay away, but that’s a different story.  J 

Let me ask another question, if I can.  Did you work at your business between Dec 25 and Jan 2?  If so, WHY?  Is the business not capable of functioning without you?  Are you so critical to its success that you must be there, especially in the holiday season?  Or are you much like my six year old and need attention from somebody, anybody other then your loved ones?

Usually this comes down to priorities and many peoples priorities get messed up because they “think” they have to work all the time.  I’ve talked about this before and I’ll say it again, most people who own a business have a “JOB” which is “Just Over Broke”. 

So, how do you quit that “JOB”?  Here is a simple concept to keep in mind.  A business needs the right people, doing the right things the right way.  That’s it.  As I said, it’s a very simple concept.  Now, making that happen is not difficult but is hard.  In saying that, it takes persistence and proper positioning to make it work well.   

Everything starts with hiring and firing the right and wrong employees and matching personality styles with the job requirements.  Getting people to understand that your business is in business to make money and you are not a charity for them.  People do not walk in and expect a paycheck for just showing up! 

Then, when you have good people it’s about putting systems in place that allow and encourage the people do the right things.  Systems prevent and stop failures from people.  How nice would it be that people can’t fail because the system prevents it?  It’s awesome!

Finally it’s about educating your employees about the benefits your product or service provides and letting them translate that enthusiasm to your customers.  This in turn gets your customers to buy what’s best for them, which in turn, is the best for you.

Yes, I know, you all think I am being too simplistic and you’d rather go online and buy the the magic pill because this seems so easy it’s hard.  Well, there ain’t no magic pill.  I’ve looked…….many times.    

Have a successful new year and spend it with your family, if you so choose to do so. 

What I am about to say will more than likely sound a little crazy.  However, I want to assure you that I know what I am talking about.  For seventeen years I used peoples' subconscious mind to get them to use their shoes as gas masks, have guys think they are pregnant and give audiences ranging from 100 to 9,000 the most entertaining evening of their lives.  Yes, I have been a stage hypnotist but I am also a business owner of five other businesses.  I know these two domains very well and I know how to combine them for success.  

Everyone wants success, but why is it that some attain higher levels of success than others?  Is it skill?  Is it access to money from family?  Is it an intelligence level?  The quality of our education?  Maybe luck?

I think all those things have an effect on the level of success someone will reach, but I think the most important variable for achieving success is how we feel about ourselves on the conscious level, but more importantly on the sub-conscious level. 

What we project on the outside comes from within.  Those who are not confident show it on the outside in one of two different ways.  The first way can be shown in a shy, introverted manner.  They outwardly show a lack of confidence on how they walk, talk or stand.  The second way is to cover up a lack of confidence by acting over confident and being very assertive and arrogant.  Either way, this person will have trouble succeeding because they truly don’t believe in themselves and others will see right through you and know that you are not “the guy”.

See, people see us in a certain light and this vision comes from deep within ourselves.  Think of it as an iceberg.  You only see the top of the iceberg, as most of it lies beneath the water line.  Below the water line, at the bottom of the iceberg, are the thoughts we have of ourselves.  We have good thoughts, bad thoughts…..  Those thoughts will translate to our beliefs. This is the main part of the iceberg below the water.  If we don’t believe, truly believe, then your success will depend a lot on the items at the top of this blog post. 

Now, others only see above the water, but do what they see actually represent you?  People who are truly confident in themselves will succeed.  If you really believe you are the best mechanic in the world, you will probably succeed as a mechanic. 

So, the basis for this entire conversation begins with the idea that if you think negative thoughts about yourself, you will have negative beliefs which will turn into negative actions and results. 

Thinking, on a conscious level in a positive way, will translate to positive thoughts to the sub-conscious level which then enables beliefs to even exist.  This can be done through affirmations such as saying “I like myself” over and over again.  Sounds cheesy, but eventually your sub-conscious mind will conform and beliefs will follow.  Another way, which is much faster, would be through the process of deep visualization or hypnosis techniques.  It’s simply a fast way to program your sub-conscious mind to have good, positive thoughts.

Remember, thoughts lead to beliefs, which lead to actions, which lead to success.  Have a great day!

With what you now know, would you do _______ again?  This is a very simple question, but probably one of the most powerful questions you could ever ask yourself.  This question can be applied to business, people, investments, relationships and pretty much anything else. 

There was a client that complained about an employee and the lack of production and the problems he caused.  The question was asked “why do you still employ him?”  She said that he had been working there for 17 years and would be hard to replace because he was the only one that knew how to do certain tasks……..  OK fine.  I got the institutional answer.  This lady was not happy with him, but she sacrificed her business and its success for this lousy employee.  I knew he had to go, but being a coach, I could not say that.  I never tell anybody what to do to. 

So, I asked this question, “With what you now know about Steve, would you re-hire him today with enthusiasm?”   She laughed and said “hell no!”  I asked why and she went on and on and on……..

I sat there and listened.  After about 5 minutes of a rant she said “do you think I should let him go?”  I replied “I don’t know, what do you think you should do?” 

A week later, he was gone.  On our next meeting she told me that things were great without him.  The other employees were thrilled she finally let him go.  She has less stress, more energy and more enthusiasm for the business.  She realized how little work he actually did because assignments were still getting done.    

A few weeks later she hired a new person to replace Steve.  He matched the core values of her company.  He also had a great attitude and work ethic.  Within a few months, his production had helped her tremendously to grow the business and create a fantastic customer service program.  It was a great success. 

At some point, she said to me, “I don’t know what took me so long to fire Steve.  I knew he was bad news but…….”   That’s pretty common.  In fact, nobody ever says “I’m glad I waited until…..” 

Yes, some decisions are very difficult to make, but when using zero based thinking, things become very clear very quickly.  Try it sometime!  You will be amazed. 

Over the past few months I have posted many topics on business, life and such.  I hope that people have gained insight, given some thought to some of the questions I have asked or at least had something they were able to implement into their business.  (This despite my not-so-great writing, grammar and vocabulary skills.)

A couple days ago, I had a person email me and ask me why I do this stuff and what do I get out of it?  It was a great question and the truth of the matter is, because I can and I want to.  As a business coach, it is my obligation to give information to people to help them in their business.  I believe in the notion of paying it forward completely.  I must give to get back.  Thus, I give a lot.  At some point, it will come back to me.

Business coaches are great tools to help improve your business to levels many people only dream of and achieve your goals faster than you ever thought possible.  I know, because I’ve used one. 

Years ago I was the typical business owner.  Owning two optical stores, I was tired, beat, frustrated and stubborn.  I never thought anyone could help me, thus I never asked for help.  I floundered and continued going nowhere, fast.  It wasn’t until I was in Breckenridge, CO on a ski trip hanging out with my friend Ross.  He enlightened me to the power of business coaching.  I listened to him, but was too stubborn to admit that somebody could help me.  I figured I could do it all alone.  As it turned out, I couldn’t.  I didn’t know how, why, with who and most of all, nobody was there to hold me accountable to do anything. So, I did…….. Nothing. 

About 6 months after that conversation and still getting nowhere, I remembered that talk with Ross and eventually looked into business coaching.   It changed my career, my business and my life.  It was amazing.

Today, being a business coach with Brian Tracy’s organization, I am able to help people just like myself.  It is the most rewarding career ever and I want to thank everyone who has commented with the nice feedback the past few months.  It has been a pleasure to share information and I look forward to continuing for a long time.  Have a great day!!

What's in a name? 

I've been rather frustrated lately.  It seems that the title of business coach is an ambiguous term with a wide range of definitions.  Each person that I meet has their own preconceived notion of what a business coach is and does.  It has gotten to the point where I hesitate telling people I am a coach because it takes me longer to correct their misconceptions then it would to explain what I do from the ground up.

So I turn to you social media world.  Here is what I do: I help businesses achieve their goals faster than they ever thought possible.  I help businesses find the root of their problems and guide them to appropriate solutions.  In the end, clients make far more money, have more time, achieve a well functioning Team and an exit strategy if they so wish to sell.   

So what do I call this?  What is a title that conveys my added value and doesn't get me lumped in with the slue of consultants that are constantly knocking on your door?  You input is greatly appreciated!  

Thanks, 

Paul

I will be completely honest with you, for the first 35 years or so of my life, I never made any real goals for myself.  I knew what I wanted.  I visualized my life as it should be, but I never sat down and wrote out any goals.  Again, to be honest, I didn’t know how and didn’t understand the power of doing so. 

It was not until I was exposed to Brian Tracy and his goal making system that did I even consider making goals.  He talked about the connection of highly successful people and the act of writing them out.  It seemed to make an impact on me as it was something I started to do.  Let me share what I have learned with you.

Failing to have specific goals is like taking a trip from Bailey Colorado to Danvers Massachusetts without any directions or road signs to guide you.  You may not even know where Bailey or Danvers is, so how do you even begin?  You would just drive around day after day trying to get there and using your gut feelings as a guide.  You may eventually find it by chance, but it’s a whole lot easier if you know where you are and where you want to go. 

Saying “I want more sales” or “I want more profits” is not a goal, but rather a dream.  Things like “I want a new car” or “I want my wife and I to get along better” is not a goal, but a wish.  Saying “I want to prospect more” or “I want better leads” is a hope.  These are all good intentions, but it really won’t have any impact on you or your business.

So let’s get into it.  Here is the goal process.

1.       The goal must me personal and written in the first person. 

2.       The goal must be specific!  The more detail you can provide the better.

3.       The goal must be stated in a positive format.  Our sub-conscious mind can’t process a negative.  So instated of saying “I want to quit smoking…” do this, “I am free from cigarettes…..” 

4.       The goal must be stated in the present, as if it has already happened. 

5.       Write each goal using active verbs such as I have, I earn or I weigh. 

6.       Visualize reaching and accomplishing the goals.  Take 15 minutes each night in bed doing this.  If you can’t visualize it, it will NEVER happen. 

So, if your goal is to make $150,000 next year, here is the proper way to state it.  “It is Dec 31, 2010 and I have earned $150,000”.  Then, in bed, see yourself enjoying your life with the things you are able to buy with that money. 

Or, if your goal is to buy a new car next year, you would do it this way.  “It is Dec 31, 2010 and I am driving a 2010 BMW 7 series in black with leather, moon roof, Bose stereo, GPS……..”  Then, visualize yourself driving it!

Write your goals down each day and visualize them!  Nothing can stop you from here.  How do I know this stuff works?  Well, because if you knew about my life when I was 35 compared to now, you’d understand. 

The sales process is more complex than most think.  We all know that we need to have a good product or service, exceptional customer service, good price……..  Those are all great, but a customer always has a resistance to buying from you for whatever reason.  Again, for those of you who know me personally, realize that I live by the notion that selling is not telling, it is getting them to want it instead, while never ever going negative against the competition.      

As a salesperson, the objective is to overcome this buying resistance.  There are aspects to this and I’ll put it in a mathematical formula.  This comes from Gleicher's Formula for Change.

D x V x F > R

Three factors must be present for a sale to take place. These factors are:
D = Dissatisfaction with how things are now;
V = Vision of what is possible by using you and your product or service;
F = First, concrete steps that can be taken towards the vision. 

If the product of these three factors is greater than R = Resistance, then the sale is possible. Because of the multiplication of D, V and F, if any one of these variables are absent or low, then the product will be low and therefore not capable of overcoming the resistance.  Thus, they will not buy from you. 

So here comes the question.  How do you get your prospect to understand that they are not completely satisfied with their current vendor or situation?  Because if you can’t, then you have ZERO chance to sell to them.  Now, many people have said that you going negative on the competition is bad.  I agree and it does not have to be that way!   Your job is to ask the questions that open the door to them understanding that their satisfaction level is in fact much lower than they thought.

So, when someone says "I like XYZ Inc", the response is "great, they are a really good company. I'm sure they do a nice job for you. I know that nobody is perfect, including myself, and if I could just ask, in a perfect world, what could your vendor do for you better? I'm just curious and your feedback would really be helpful to me and my business knowing what perfect service would be". They will probably answer with something and now the door has opened for you.  Keep digging, in a nice way, through questions.  At some point, THEY may understand that they are not completely satisfied. 

Once you have uncovered some dissatisfaction, you now must provide this vision for them on how things will be if they use you instead.  This is something most salespeople do very well.  I don’t think I need to discuss this aspect.

From there, we simply need to ask the prospect for the business.  Ask them to take the steps to eliminate that dissatisfaction through your vision.  Now you have overcome their resistance and have a sale. 

Here is a short story on a company that really wanted help improving their conversion rates in the sales process.  They knew they had a problem, but was not sure why.  When the process first started, their tracking system was, well, let’s say, non-existent.  So, the first item of business was to gather all the information in as much detail as possible.

They were blown away from what they found.  Maybe I should state that in a different way.  They were disgusted in what they found.  They knew they had problems, but did not know it was so bad.    

The discussion began about the numbers and what numbers were to be expected.  That was easy enough.  But there was one glaring issue.  Their conversion rate from a cold phone call to an appointment was actually quite good, but their conversion rate from an appointment to a presentation was terrible.  The question was asked, “Why is it that people are willing to meet, but then not move forward?”  The answer given was “It seems people are satisfied with their current vendor and we don’t like to go negative on our competition even though we know we are far better.”  Really, are you sure that’s the reason?  OK, but if they are so satisfied with their current vendor, why did they agree to meet in the first place? 

This is where the transformation began.  There was some dissatisfaction with the current vendor, the cold call conversions prove that, but these guys were not doing a good job of uncovering, leveraging and exposing more of it, in a nice way of course. 

The biggest change they made in the process was through the aspect of asking questions, asking questions on top of the questions and then following up with another question.  In this process, they uncovered all types of dissatisfaction.  They got their prospects to tell them that they were really not overly thrilled with the current vendor.  And this was after they were told that they were happy!

They listened to the prospect and never went negative on the competition.  Then when the door was wide open, they drove a truck though that opening providing the solutions that the prospect ultimately wanted. 

This is a simple example of small things that can be done to bring huge gains, but it has to start with knowing where you are and having the data to guide you in the right direction.  Take the time to test and measure everything you do so you can find the link in your chain that is broken.   

The case of the guy that worked so hard for what??

Tom owned a very successful business earning about $260,000 per year.  For many people, that would be the ultimate in success.  Not for this guy.  He dreamed of more, wanted more and simply put, had to have more.  We were hired to help accomplish just that.   

So we started with a thing call “Diamond Mapping”.  It is basically an exercise to set a baseline in regards to their business success, financial independence, family and health.  To most people we work with, this is known as the “pink fluffy clouds” exercise.  Many times people give us tremendous resistance to doing it.  We hear “this seems dumb, why and do I really have to do this?” 

Tom was no different.  He reluctantly agreed.  Two weeks later, Tom said that this was the most difficult thing he had ever done in his business, ever.  Asking why, he replied that he never, until this point, really understood WHY he wanted so much money and success in his business.  As it turned out, it was all about his family.  He was driven to succeed financially for them.  He wanted to provide everything for them that they could ever possibly want.  Family was the most important item to him in the diamond mapping process.   There was one glaring item though, he rated his current family health only a 2 on a scale of 10.

The problem was that in the last 8-10 years, he spent very little time with family.  In fact, he came to realize that his wife was close to divorcing him.  His kids really wanted nothing to do with him because he was hardly ever there and when he was, he was all consumed about the business.  He had no idea this was happening.  That day he went home and discussed this exercise with his family and was shocked to hear what they had to say.  (They had been telling him for years, but……he didn’t listen.)

Immediately he changed some things in his business life.  He committed to working only 50 hours a week.  This required some changes in his delegation process and in the working systems of the business.  Within one month, he not only made the goal, he exceeded it by working only 43 hours for two straight weeks.  Currently he is working about 32 hours a week and his family recently took a 2 weeks cruise in the Caribbean. 

I love this story because it reminds me of why we want what we want.  It’s not about the million dollars; it’s about what you can do with it and who you can share it with. 

A simple premise to have your business succeed in this economy is the act of prioritizing tasks that bring the most value to your business in the shortest amount of time.

During the week I asked the question “If you could only do one thing, today, that would have the biggest impact on your business, what would it be?”  If you have the ability to answer that question with some great thought involved, you then have an instant answer to improving your productivity immediately.  Usually when I ask this question, the answer is to get out there and sell the product or service.  The sad fact is that most people don’t have that urgency on a consistent basis and thus do not accomplish nearly what they want.  They don’t get out and sell!  Most are too busy answering emails, making phone calls, doing paperwork…….  While all these tasks are needed to be done, they don’t provide the most value to your business.  If your truly are an entrepreneur, you can’t afford to be doing that stuff.

So how do you go about doing high value tasks and still get the “low value” stuff that still needs attention?  Use the premise of your hourly rate.  Even business owners have an hourly rate.  Take the money you make and divide by 2000.  That’s your hourly rate.  Now when you look at the tasks you do all day, ask yourself “how much would I pay someone to……. “You will soon see that there are certain tasks that:

·         Shouldn’t be done at all.

·         Should be delegated to someone else that has an hourly rate equal to the task.

The main argument I always hear is “I can’t afford to hire someone right now”.  OK, fine, but if you could spend your time only doing the high value items in your business, you could afford to hire many people to do low value tasks.  That’s not a bad problem to have.

The other argument I hear is that “nobody can do this stuff as good as me and I don’t have the time to train someone.”  OK then, enjoy your JOB.  In my business JOB means “Just Over Broke”. 

Take the time and find your hourly rate compared to what you do.  It will be one of the best exercises you could ever do. 

Here is the case of a plumber who decided that being a plumber was something he truly enjoyed and thought that owning a plumbing company would be even better.  The thing he found, after a few years, was that not only was he unhappy with being a business owner, he also found that he now hated being a plumber as well. 

What had happened?  How could this guy that loved his work so much now so thoroughly despise it?

We were hired to help him sell the company.  He had enough and wanted out.  He recognized that in order to get maximum dollars on the sale he needed a proper exit strategy. 

This was the first question we asked.   “Knowing what you now know, how much would you pay for this business right now?”  The answer is not quotable, but something to the effect of “nothing”.  He said that he worked 80 hours a week and was making only about 25% more money than when he was just a plumber and who would want to buy that? 

With that response, we had him read the book “The E-Myth Revisited” by Michael Gerber.  He came back with “Oh my, that is me exactly”. 

With him understanding the situation he was in, there were a few things that needed to be in place to make the company sellable. 

1.       He needed to have a business and not a job.  He was no longer allowed to do any “work” on actual plumbing jobs.  Most of his time was now spent as an entrepreneur. 

2.       He needed somebody to be the manager. This was a scary thought to him considering his mega hands-on approach for the last few years.  After lots of thought and consideration, he realized that he had the perfect guy already within the business. 

3.       He needed the sales trend to be going up.  He was a great salesman so he spent some time developing scripts, materials and lead generations strategies for his new manager and his plumbers as well.

4.       Cut all costs deemed “unproductive to growth”.  It was amazing the amount of waste there truly was in that business. 

5.       Get the business completely turn-key.  Nobody wants to buy a job.  Well, nobody that is paying top dollar for a revenue generating investment anyway.  People will buy a job, but not for big  money. 

In the year long process, his business started running so smoothly and profitable, he ultimately decided to keep the business.  The words were, “why would I ever consider selling when it runs so well and I am making so much money?  I work 10 hours a week and have a wonderful life.”   

We did not accomplish what we were hired to do, but I think it’s safe to say that he is a happy guy. 

No matter what side of the isle you are on in regards to the government and its effect on business, success is business comes down to one thing, the effectiveness of the leadership of that business. 

If our current president does or does not implement new policies, some business will thrive while others die off.  It will not matter, for the most part, what the government does or does not do in relation to the success of your small business.  That is if you are proactive and strategize properly. 

Now, will businesses be affected?  Absolutely!  This economy has hurt millions of businesses.  Government can positively or negatively affect every business in many ways.  The point is, business owners who are proactive, learn about the effects of any government action or new economic realities adapt and stay ahead of their competition. 

People will still need products and services no matter what.  Businesses teetering on failure may be put out of business by some specific government legislation, but does that help or hurt your business?  Well, if my competitors all went out of business, I would have a celebration.  

Good solid businesses who have systems in place, strategies tested and measured and the right people doing the right things the right way will always be successful.  A bad economy merely defines who has a strong viable business and who does not. 

So, when business owners tell me that the economy or government action or in-action is to blame, I ask them to look in the mirror, because ultimately, that is where the problem comes from.  Now, it does not mean that the business owner is a bad person or a bad business person, it just means that the individual needs some new tools in the tool belt.  Needs some guidance, some ideas, some accountability from someone to keep them on track. 

This economy has been a challenge for everyone.  Just remember that you can have a successful business no matter what, if you know what to do.  Educate yourself and don’t use the economy or the government as an excuse. 

Choose to be proactive and deal with the economy as an opportunity.  Stay positive!  Do the right things and you will be extremely successful, No matter what anybody says!

A hair salon is not a glamorous business, well, not in the sense of owning it anyway.  A hair salon owner that we worked with had many issues.  There was the lack of time, the lack of revenue and the constant irritation of employee issues every other day. 

We heard things like “this economy is terrible, how could I ever expect to thrive in this?  My employees are always fighting and driving customers away, but it is impossible to find good people.  Nobody is buying product.  I have to work 70 hours a week or things will collapse.” 

It seemed hopeless for this fellow. 

We began by asking some simple questions. 

·         What business are you in?  No, it is not hair cutting or styling as he found out. 

·         Who are your customers?  No, it’s not everyone with hair.

·         What are your core values and does your business match?  It didn’t.

·         Do your employees truly understand the benefits of your products?  No, and he wondered why they failed to sell any.

·         Are your employees held accountable for poor performance?  You guessed it, there was none.  Well, that is unless you count swearing at people an accountability factor.

·         What do you do to fill the chairs in just the slow periods?  They did nothing.

·         On the slowest day of the week, what was the average profit for the last year on that particular day of the week?  He had no idea, but later found that on Tuesdays they averaged a large loss.

·         When are where did you take your last vacation?  6 years ago his family went to Chicago for 4 days.   Wow, that’s sad considering you own a business to get rich and have all the free time in the world.  Right?

These are all a small sampling of basic questions that we ask business owners when working with them.  Let me share the results.

·         After 18 months this guy was taking home $170,000 instead of $60,000. 

·         He had a Team that held each other accountable for their performance and their attitude. 

·         He knew who he wanted to target as clients.  He also knew what clients he needed to fire. 

·         His sales of product went from 4% to 32% once the employees believed and understood the true value and shared that to the customer. 

·         To fill the slow periods, they marketed specifically for that purpose.  What he then found was that he had more spots available for the most desirable appointments.  New customers just started walking in the door because of it. 

·         He closed the business on Tuesday’s and played golf instead.  Oh, by the way, that saved him about $300 each week. 

·         Vacation?  He and his family took a 6 week vacation tour of Europe. 

This is a classic example of a business owner who completely transformed his business in 18 months with the help of our business coaching.  It’s not rocket science as you can see, but for whatever reason, it is extremely difficult to do it on your own. 

Oh and by the way, he was extremely skeptical about working with us, but now says that we undercharged him.  Thanks!

In the path of achieving goals, there needs to be a clear vision of what you want.  The definition of “clear” can mean many different things to many different people.  Saying things like, “I want a million dollars”, while nice and possibly appropriate is really not the goal.  When people make that statement, a great response is “now that’s with 6 zeros, right?”  The point is, it’s not actually the million dollars, it’s what you can do or buy with the million dollars that really matters.  So, what specifically is your goal?  What do you really want?

The next step is to ask, “How will I feel when I have accomplished……?”  This is crucial to getting your subconscious mind working on the steps necessary to the achievement of that goal.  Many people fail to use that part of the formula.  Emotion is powerful within us.  Let’s use it to our advantage.  Many people use that power in the negative.  They think of what they have lost, failed to do or things they don’t have instead of what they could, should and will have. 

Having a clear vision of what you REALLY want is what really matters.  Now once you have the vision, you need to ask yourself, “Why have I not achieved that already”?  What have been the roadblocks, constraints or bottlenecks the caused the path to your goal to stop all together, take a detour or slow dramatically?  What specifically are those constraints?  Write them down.

Next you need to look and see what needs to be done to overcome those particular individual constraints?  What specific tasks, actions or items do you need to do to overcome those constraints?  Focus on each of those on an individual basis. Really dig into this.

The final step is the hardest for most people.  Take some action! Yes, it’s that simple.

 Many people look for the magic pill to cure all their ills.  Let me say, “THERE IS NO MAGIC PILL”.  Stop looking for it.  If you need a “magic pill”, go get some Viagra.  That’s sort of magical in some cases. 

Make a goal, map out a path for that goal and follow it.  Take small steps.  If you don’t believe small is worth it, think of this concept.  If you were to improve yourself 1/10^th of 1% each day, after one year your improvement would be 28%, after 10 years it would be 1004%.  Small is great. 

It seems everybody is looking for the magic pill to put their business into supercharged mode.  While marketing is definitely needed, it can put you out of business faster than poor sales.  OK, so most of you think I am completely out of my mind. 

Have you ever gone to a brand new restaurant and had a horrible experience?  Maybe the servers got your order wrong, servers were rude or maybe a terribly long wait occurred because there was not enough staff to begin with.  I bet it has happened to just about all of us at one time or another.  Did you go back?  Maybe or maybe not, but there is nothing worse for a business than to have an awful experience for a customer’s first visit.  Most of these issues are caused by a lack of planning, lack of working systems and ineffective employee training.

The same thing can happen when you have a brilliant marketing campaign.  You may be forced to hire people quickly without sufficient training or delay delivering your product because you lack the equipment or raw material.  Any of these things can cause a customer to have such a bad taste in their mouth that they never return.  And the key to a great marketing campaign is that they come back over and over again. 

It always amazes me how business owners often fail to have their business ready for a marketing campaign.  Whether it is the items stated earlier or just having enough cash flow and credit in place to handle all the new business.  More businesses go dead because of poor cash flow than most people would ever think.  Imagine how horrible it would be to have so many sales that you go bankrupt because of it!  Cash is king and without it, especially in this tight credit market, you are toast. 

While this is a good problem to have, the long term effects can be devastating.  In any marketing campaign, make a plan for what you expect, but also plan for a worst case scenario and a fantastic scenario just in case you do have a great marketing campaign. 

What is actually a goal?  Is it a dream or a wish?  Maybe something we hope will happen sometime in the future?  I’m not talking about sports either! Goals are something many people have to some extent, but most are not actually a goal, but rather something else much less tangible. 

Saying things like “I want a million dollars”, is not a goal, but instead a wish.

Or,”someday I hope to be rich”, is not a goal but rather a dream.

How about, “I can’t wait to quit this crappy job and do something on my own”, is not a goal but a complaint.

The point is that most people don’t know how to do it properly or why goal setting is the most important thing they could possibly do for their home or business life.  Without a goal, there is absolutely nothing to shoot for, nothing to push yourself to or nothing for our subconscious mind to work on.

Our brain will constantly strive to achieve what it is that we want.  We just need to make it clear of what it is that we want.  That’s the basis of having a goal.  If we have them, they are about 1000% more likely to be attained than if we don’t do it at all.

So, here is the basis of goal setting with the use of SMART goals:

S              They must be completely specific in every detail possible.

M            They must be measurable.

A             They must be aligned with our core values.

R             They must be realistic.

T              Time sensitive and stated in the present. 

Goals must be done in this fashion!  The following would be an example of a SMART goal.  “It is 12/31/09 and I weigh 190 lbs”.  Another example, “It is 6/15/10 and I driving a 2010 BMW 325i, black with tan leather interior and a Bose stereo system with GPS, Bluetooth……..” 

Brian Tracy says “Whatever we think about with feeling and emotion becomes our reality even if it is based on false information”.    People sometimes think this is psycho babble bull$#%^, but let me ask you this.  If someone came up behind you and stuck a cold, hard pointy thing in the back of your head and said, “if you blink I’ll drop you like a rock”, would you be scared?  Of course you would, even if that pointy thing was actually a wrench!

Make goals a reality for yourself, even if it is not true today and write them down! 

At times, especially in this economy we have had for the past year, people have had a tendency to close up shop and bail on their business dream a bit quicker than in the past.  For the regular Joe, this is inconceivable because, well, people that own businesses are always wealthy, right?  While it is true that the easiest way to become wealthy is to have a successful business, it is also the quickest way to go bankrupt and lose it all.

Being an entrepreneur is not for the weak at heart.  When I use the word entrepreneur, I am not talking about the part-time home based business done on the side of their regular job.  I’m talking about the person who takes their life savings, quits their job and gambles it all on the American dream. 

So, what makes some people hit Blackjack and others bust?  It really depends on how badly you really want it, how much you are willing to risk and the tools you have to make it work.  The last point is the one most people ignore.  Most take the risk and want it badly but do little to educate themselves on skills needed to run the business to make is successful. 

It amazes me that people do not take advantage all the knowledge and resources available to learn how to run, grow and operate their businesses effectively. I meet people all the time that say they have never read a business book or taken a business class or seminar.  But at the same time they are risking their entire life and all the money they have to their name.  That’s like marrying someone 2 days after meeting each other.  Quick marriage would be considered crazy by many people’s standards, but that same person would think starting a business without any training on business is “entrepreneurial”.

I’m not saying formal education is the golden ticket, but at the same, you can’t jump in and make it work just because you put a sign on the door marked “open”.  This is especially true in today’s economy.  Just because you are a great plumber does not make you a great owner of a plumbing business.  They are completely different in every aspect. 

Having a business is a gamble and well worth it, but if you are going to do it, please educate yourself on business and not just the technical side of it! 

Tip of the day, read Michael Gerber’s book, “The E-Myth Revisited”. 

If you are over 40 and in business, you are probably a bit out of the loop when it comes to using new technology.  Because of this, you have probably needed some information on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, to name a few, and what to do with them.  I myself have been one of them.

So, have you taken the “training” that is offered by so many people these days?  I have personally attended three different sessions with three different people.  All of them were informative and fun, but did it make any money for my business?  Did it drive quality leads to my business?  And more importantly, how many hours do I spend with tweets and “friends” that I could be spending getting in front of prospects?  I am guessing that a majority of people don’t get much at all from it when it comes to getting actual business.  If I am wrong, I’d like to find out what the ROI was for you, the time it took to get that return and what it was about the training that made it happen.  Please, let me know! 

LinkedIn training or any other training is great, but what you actually do with the information is what truly matters.  The point is, after training, most people will make sure their profiles are complete, increase the number their connections, do a blog and post it religiously…….  That’s all great and needed, but how has that helped you grow your business?  What are you supposed to say in the blogs?  Who should you connect with?  How do you make the introductions?  What metrics have you used to test it?  People are not given the tools to effectively implement information because it would be too difficult to do when there are tons of people there. 

There is a reason people charge $5-10 for LinkedIn training.  It is worth $5-10!  Putting it all together is where the value comes in and that is not easy to do.  If you want to learn how to apply this, hire an expert like Kyle Blades.  There are no magic pills to making your business great.  It takes knowledge, application of that knowledge and good old fashioned hard work. 

I don’t mean to bash LinkedIn training, but I’d like to call it what it is, networking, socializing and party time.