November 9th, 2011
This article has been excerpted from The Power of Loyalty by Roger L. Brooks, available from Entrepreneur Press.
Reward your customers — they’ll reward you with repeat business
The best way to motivate customer behavior is to provide an incentive or reward for that motivation. Rewarding your customers for a specific purchasing behavior is not much different than training your puppy. With enough repetition and positive reinforcement, your pup can be motivated to act upon instruction. That’s because the pup knows if he listens to your command, he’ll receive his reward.
Human nature isn’t much different. People can be motivated to take specific actions that accomplish their buying goals while also accomplishing your goals to increase their spending, frequency of visits or combination purchases (or comparative goals relevant to your line of business).
The question then is how do you motivate behavior? Below are five ideas that will get you thinking.
- Offer soft benefits that provide value such as special access limited only to members.
- Offer relevant promotions through various lines of communication, for example: e-mail, SMS text, receipt messages, statement inserts, RSS feeds, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
- Up-sell complimentary products or services at the associate level.
- Offer sweepstakes, random rewards or special offers for a limited time frame, keep your strategy fresh and exciting:
- Strategically place messages (via signage, web banners, etc.) that will trigger motivating actions.
Motivate, But Don’t Mislead
Once you decide how you’ll motivate, always do so in an honorable way. Your customers won’t want to be misled into thinking they are receiving something greater in value that what they’ll actually receive as the reward.
Abraham Lincoln put it best when he said, “You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.”
Of course, the statement was made some 150 years ago and the President was referring to politicians attempting to fool their constituents; however, the quote resonates with me every time I see a program that offers empty loyalty. Such programs offer an elaborate program on the outside when, indeed, it’s only a facade to increase business. In time, savvy customers will see through the facade. Your promotional strategy to motivate behavior must be phony proof. Once your customers lift the hood and kick the tires, the promotions must stand on their own and offer real value, not empty promises.
Remember, whatever you do, don’t try to fool the customer! Loyal customers will catch on if the loyalty program does not have true value. This can also backfire and cause disloyalty amongst your customers and defeat the entire purpose of implementing your strategy in the first place.
There are two reasons why your rewards offerings should be upstanding:
- Loyal customers have earned the right to receive a valid reward. If they weren’t enrolled in your program, they may have taken their business elsewhere.
- Customers can see through transparent rewards.
If you want to be in the loyalty game, you have to offer attractive redemption items that are achievable for your customers to earn. If customers are willing to change their purchasing behavior and provide you with their loyalty, they will expect the same in return from you in the form of a relevant reward.
It’s the Little Things That Matter Most
If you put on your consumer hat, you’ll understand that it’s the little things that matter most. One component you should incorporate is providing feel-good loyalty. Feel-good loyalty is just what it sounds like, providing something that the customer will feel good about. Offering feel-good-loyalty incentives should be part of your overall strategy and will require some clever and creative thinking. Some companies offer free Wi-Fi, others offer free shipping. Whatever you decide, brainstorm hard, even hold an employee contest. but find your niche and add feel-good loyalty to the mix.
Photofiddle.com is an internet company that offers a service to turn your photographs into art. Simply upload a photo and you can instantly transform that image into pop art, impasto, a black and white sketch and even more. Once you create your personal masterpiece you then have many options for the type of surface the image is printed on (glossy photo paper, canvas, etc.). Finally, you can choose from a number of print sizes and framing choices.
Although Photofiddle doesn’t have a recognizable rewards program they do provide various levels of feel-good loyalty. Upon opening your order, customers see each piece is carefully packaged and accompanied with a pair of white cotton gloves. The label attached to the gloves reads, “All fine artwork should be handled with care. Please use white cotton gloves. Oils from your hands and fingers can leave finger prints. Jewelry on your fingers and wrist can leave markings.”
That’s a personal touch and that’s feel-good-loyalty. It’s doing the little things that matter most with customers. It’s thinking outside the box so that your brand motivates your customers and resonates in their mind. Providing the white cotton gloves with each order sends both a literal message and subliminal message. It reinforces the need to treat your artwork with care and that they treat all of their customers with care.
Roger L. Brooks is a respected loyalty strategist with more than 15 years of experience in developing, supporting, and implementing customer loyalty and rewards programs.
Tags: awards, corporate incentives, customer incentives, employee incentive programs, incentive, motivate, motivational, reward, reward programs, rewards
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May 2nd, 2011
Having an effective reward program in place can help solve many of your HR issues.
Every compnay needs a strategic reward system for employees that addresses these four areas: compensation, benefits, recognition and appreciation. The problem with reward systems in many businesses today is twofold: They’re missing one or more of these elements (usually recognition and/or appreciation), and the elements that are addressed aren’t properly aligned with the company’s other corporate strategies.
A winning system should recognize and reward two types of employee activity-performance and behavior. Performance is the easiest to address because of the direct link between the initial goals you set for your employees and the final outcomes that result. For example, you could implement an incentive plan or recognize your top salespeople for attaining periodic goals.
Rewarding specific behaviors that made a difference to your company is more challenging than rewarding performance, but you can overcome that obstacle by asking, “What am I compensating my employees for?” and “What are the behaviors I want to reward?” For example, are you compensating employees for coming in as early as possible and staying late, or for coming up with new ideas on how to complete their work more efficiently and effectively? In other words, are you compensating someone for innovation or for the amount of time they’re sitting at a desk? There’s obviously a big difference between the two.
The first step, of course, is to identify the behaviors that are important to your company. Those activities might include enhancing customer relationships, fine-tuning critical processes or helping employees expand their managerial skills.
When business owners think of reward systems, they typically put compensation at the top of the list. There’s nothing wrong with that, since few people are willing or able to work for free. But the right strategy should also include an incentive compensation plan that’s directly linked to the goals of your company for that period. You might want to include some type of longer-term rewards for key individuals in your organization. Historically, this has often included some form of equity ownership.
Benefits are another type of reward in a strategic reward system, and your employees are definitely going to notice the types of benefits you provide. Companies that don’t match or exceed the benefit levels of their competitors will have difficulty attracting and retaining top workers. This is one reason an increasing number of businesses are turning to professional employer organizations like Administaff to gain access to a broader array of company benefits.
However, you can’t diminish the importance of recognition and appreciation as integral components of a winning strategic reward system. These two elements rarely receive the attention they deserve from business owners, which is amazing because they’re the low-cost/high-return ingredients. Employees like to know whether they’re doing good, bad or average, so it’s important that you tell them.
Recognition means acknowledging someone before their peers for specific accomplishments achieved, actions taken or attitudes exemplified through their behavior. Appreciation, meanwhile, centers on expressing gratitude to someone for his or her actions. Showing appreciation to your employees by acknowledging excellent performance and the kind of behavior you want to encourage is best done through simple expressions and statements. For example, you might send a personal note or stop by the employee’s desk to convey your appreciation. Another approach is to combine recognition and appreciation in the form of a public statement of thanks in front of the employee’s co-workers or team, citing specific examples of what they’ve done that has positively impacted the organization.
Now that you know what it should include, it’s time to review your strategic reward system. Does it address compensation, benefits, recognition and appreciation? Is it aligned with your remaining business strategies? Is it driving the right behaviors for your company, as well as your performance goals? If it needs fixing, don’t wait. It can mean the difference between your business’ success and failure.
Tags: customer incentives, donor incentives, loyalty programs, recognition programs, reward programs
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March 4th, 2011
Reward your customers — they’ll reward you with repeat business.
This article has been excerpted from The Power of Loyalty by Roger L. Brooks available from Entrepreneur Press.
The best way to motivate customer behavior is to provide an incentive or reward for that motivation. Rewarding your customers for a specific purchasing behavior s not much different than training your puppy. With enough repetition and positive reinforcement, your pup can be motivated to act upon instruction. That’s because the pup knows if he listens to your command, he’ll receive his reward.
Human nature isn’t much different. People can be motivated to take specific actions that accomplish their buying goals while also accomplishing your goals to increase their spending, frequency of visits or combination purchases (or comparative goals relevant to your line of business).
The question then is how do you motivate behavior? Below are five ideas that will get you thinking.
- Offer soft benefits that provide value such as special access limited only to members.
- Offer relevant promotions through various lines of communication, for example: e-mail, SMS text, receipt messages, statement inserts, RSS feeds, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
- Up-sell complimentary products or services at the associate level.
- Offer sweepstakes, random rewards or special offers for a limited time frame, keep your strategy fresh and exciting:
- Strategically place messages (via signage, web banners, etc.) that will trigger motivating actions.
Motivate, But Don’t Mislead
Once you decide how you’ll motivate, always do so in an honorable way. Your customers won’t want to be misled into thinking they are receiving something greater in value that what they’ll actually receive as the reward.
Abraham Lincoln put it best when he said, “You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.”
Of course, the statement was made some 150 years ago and the President was referring to politicians attempting to fool their constituents; however, the quote resonates with me every time I see a program that offers empty loyalty. Such programs offer an elaborate program on the outside when, indeed, it’s only a facade to increase business. In time, savvy customers will see through the facade. Your promotional strategy to motivate behavior must be phony proof. Once your customers lift the hood and kick the tires, the promotions must stand on their own and offer real value, not empty promises.
Remember, whatever you do, don’t try to fool the customer! Loyal customers will catch on if the loyalty program does not have true value. This can also backfire and cause disloyalty amongst your customers and defeat the entire purpose of implementing your strategy in the first place.
There are two reasons why your rewards offerings should be upstanding:
- Loyal customers have earned the right to receive a valid reward. If they weren’t enrolled in your program, they may have taken their business elsewhere.
- Customers can see through transparent rewards.
If you want to be in the loyalty game, you have to offer attractive redemption items that are achievable for your customers to earn. If customers are willing to change their purchasing behavior and provide you with their loyalty, they will expect the same in return from you in the form of a relevant reward.
It’s the Little Things That Matter Most
If you put on your consumer hat, you’ll understand that it’s the little things that matter most. One component you should incorporate is providing feel-good loyalty. Feel-good loyalty is just what it sounds like, providing something that the customer will feel good about. Offering feel-good-loyalty incentives should be part of your overall strategy and will require some clever and creative thinking. Some companies offer free Wi-Fi, others offer free shipping. Whatever you decide, brainstorm hard, even hold an employee contest. but find your niche and add feel-good loyalty to the mix.
Photofiddle.com is an Internet company that offers a service to turn your photographs into art. Simply upload a photo and you can instantly transform that image into pop art, impasto, a black and white sketch and even more. Once you create your personal masterpiece you then have many options for the type of surface the image is printed on (glossy photo paper, canvas, etc.). Finally, you can choose from a number of print sizes and framing choices.
Although Photofiddle doesn’t have a recognizable rewards program they do provide various levels of feel-good loyalty. Upon opening your order, customers see each piece is carefully packaged and accompanied with a pair of white cotton gloves. The label attached to the gloves reads, “All fine artwork should be handled with care. Please use white cotton gloves. Oils from your hands and fingers can leave finger prints. Jewelry on your fingers and wrist can leave markings.”
That’s a personal touch and that’s feel-good-loyalty. It’s doing the little things that matter most with customers. It’s thinking outside the box so that your brand motivates your customers and resonates in their mind. Providing the white cotton gloves with each order sends both a literal message and subliminal message. It reinforces the need to treat your artwork with care and that they treat all of their customers with care.
Roger L. Brooks is a respected loyalty strategist with more than 15 years of experience in developing, supporting, and implementing customer loyalty and rewards programs. He has worked with esteemed companies such as Verizon, Sam’s Club, and Chase Universal MasterCard, and he currently serves as the vice president of loyalty marketing for ValueCentric Marketing Group, Inc., managing growth for new and existing clients including GE Capital, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bank of Montreal.
Tags: blood donation incentives, corporate incentives, customer incentives, donor incentives, incentive, point rewards, reward, reward programs
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February 15th, 2011
Don’t Sell Yourself Short
It’s not what you have but what you do with what you have that will determine your success or failure. Abraham Maslow, the great psychologist said that the story of the human race is the story of people selling themselves short. He said people have a tendency to settle for far less from life than they are truly capable of. Many people are spinning their wheels in careers where they should be moving rapidly onward and upward. Here’s how you can put your career on the fast track.
Choose Your Parents Carefully
Someone once said that the key to success was to choose your parents carefully. That may be partially true but it is even more important to choose your job or career with great care. The choice of a job or occupation for which you are ideally suited comes before anything else. If you try to work at something you don’t enjoy or don’t believe in, you’ll never be happy, and you’ll never be successful.
Be the Best At What You Do
Which leads us to the next point. If you want to reach the stars in your career, you have to become excellent at what you do. You have to pay any price, go any distance, spend any amount of time necessary to “be the best.” Extraordinary rewards only go for extraordinary performance; average rewards for average performance; below average rewards, insecurity and failure for below average performance. And here’s a vital key, you are being paid today exactly what you’re worth – no more, no less. If you want to earn more, you must increase your worth, your value to others.
The Key to Motivation
The reason why choosing the right career, why doing what you love to do is so important, is because unless you really care about your work, you will never be motivated to persist at it until you become excellent. And until you become excellent at what you’re doing, you can’t move ahead.
The Key to Peak Performance
The antidote to these fears is the development of courage, character and self-esteem. The opposite of fear is actually love, self-love and self-respect. Acting with courage in a fearful situation is simply a technique that boosts our regard for ourselves to such a degree that our fears subside and lose their ability to effect our behavior and our decisions.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do to be more successful in your career.
First, set high standards for yourself and recognize that anything that someone else has achieved, you can probably achieve as well. There are no limits.
Second, select one key skill area that is important in your job and resolve to become absolutely excellent in that area. Start today to get better and better.
Tags: employee rewards, motivation, recognition programs, reward, reward programs
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July 1st, 2010
1. Be Likable: Likability is the gateway to connections and ultimately to relationships.
If others don’t find you likable, then it is virtually impossible to form profitable
business relationships. If you are not likable, people will not buy you or from you. Likability
is responsible for first impressions because it happens in an instant, and it is responsible for
ongoing impressions because it can be lost in an instant. When people find you likable, the door
opens to emotional connections, to trust, and ultimately to business relationships that help
you build a successful career and income. Smile and use your positive attitude and optimism
to project a cheerful, smiling, outgoing personality.
People love to be around happy, optimistic people.
2. Connect: The key to connecting is listening
deeply with your eyes and ears. Listen to what your customers say and observe their emotions.
There are things they are passionate about. Look for common ground here. When you truly connect
with someone, you take rapport to the next level. You begin to move from a business relationship
to a friendship. Connecting tears down walls that tend to get in the way of real communication
and understanding. When people feel connected with you they feel more comfortable telling you
their real problems. With this information in hand, you have the opportunity to solve problems
that really matter. This ability provides real value and engenders true loyalty. Strong
connections are hard to break and are the foundation of truly prosperous, long-term
business relationships.
3. Solve Problems: One of the immutable laws of the universe is that when you give to others,
you are rewarded ten-fold. Problem solvers are the champions of the business world. However,
it is impossible to solve problems you do not know about, which is why connecting is so
critical. The essence of business is one person solving another person’s problem. A solved
problem is the value that buyers pay for. It is the most important lever in the People Buy
You philosophy. The most successful business people take problem solving to the next level.
These individuals are constantly on the look-out for problems they can solve-even if it
has no direct impact on their business. They live by the motto, “By helping others get
what they want, I will get what I want.”
4. Build Trust:Trust is the glue that holds
relationships together and the foundation on which all long-term relationships rest. Trust
is developed with tangible evidence that you do what you say you will do, that you keep
promises, and that you maintain a consistent commitment to excellence. It means going the
extra mile in everything you do. In a world in which most people are doing just enough
to get by, those business professionals who consistently do more than they have to, will
stand out. Buyers appreciate and reward this commitment to excellence with repeat business,
referrals, and ultimately with trust.
5. Create Positive Emotional Experiences:
Learn to make dealing with you fun, relaxing, and rewarding. You always want to leave your
customers and prospects thinking about you and remembering you positively so it is
imperative that you find ways to create positive emotional experiences for your
customers. The key is to focus on the little things. Remember birthdays, send handwritten
notes, do the unexpected. Just as an anchor is used to hold a ship in place against
currents, wind, tide, and storm,; positive emotional experiences anchor your relationships.
They leave people wanting more of you.
Tags: corporate incentives, point rewards, reward, reward programs
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May 25th, 2010
We have all heard Oprah Winfrey and others say “pay it forward”. Pay it forward is not a new thing, it is something that many savvy people have known for a long time. Giving makes a difference in their life, the lives of others and in their business. Just the mere surprise of someone generosity is enough to stop someone in their tracks and make them pay attention. A powerful act that usually reaps rewards when done with a sincere heart.
When we give without intention of a pay back, the natural progression of things brings positive results. We feel that we have contributed to others which provides a warmth in our hearts and is a great way to get others to join in. If we volunteer, donate or offer our time to others we will meet people that add to our own lives and businesses. Many networks based on philanthropic interests build strong alliances they are bussiness owners that serve the community and take interest in it.
Take conventional business wisdom and stir with collaborators from complementary industries that have an equal interest. Target others who have the same charitable goal that do not compete with your own. Maximize the fusion between social networks and search engines with well known high quality rewards and incentives to motivate donors. Learn how to use branding and marketing software to retain and build momentum.
Some ideas to to increase donations:
- Upscale attractive and create brown bag lunch auction
- Mentor hours offered to help other entrepreneur
- Weekend cruises
- Virtual shopping mall offering their choice of incentive
- Fundraising competition between industries for free advertising
- Host a chocolate party with prizes
- Free office rent
- Mini golf fundraiser interesting all participants
Particularly in this economy, people feel more inclined to give back. People are grateful for what they have and want to help others.
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:38
ll as extravagant prizes like cars and cruise vacations–which have sold for as much as $250,000. Other auctions have included education internships, gourmet dinners with top chefs and vineyard vacations
Charitybuzz auctions upscale merchandise as we
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Maximize the fushion between social networks and search engines with well known high quality rewards and incentives. Learn how to use branding and marketing software to retain and build your business.
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ll as extravagant prizes like cars and cruise vacations–which have sold for as much as $250,000. Other auctions have included education internships, gourmet dinners with top chefs and vineyard vacations
Tags: point rewards, reward, reward programs, rewards
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April 7th, 2010
How do some seem to walk into a room and draw the attention of everyone? They seem to easily communicate and don’t have to work at getting the attention of those in power. Charismatic people often do this naturally but many others have learned the fine art of charisma. If you take a moment to exam those in Hollywood there are actors and actress that can flash a smile or appear in a scene and draw every one’s eyes to them. These individuals are usually not the most beautiful or handsome and are not from glamorous beginnings. Charisma can be described as a charming personality that draws others to them. These individuals are socially attractive and magnetic. They have a terrific ability to communicate both verbally and non-verbally.
Your incentive to enhance your charisma is not about having more friends it is about making the right connections, drawing opportunities easily towards you and increasing your marketability. Those with charisma find themselves working less and receiving more.
1) Exude confidence and a great attitude when you walk into the room. Walk confidently and smile, keep your eyes moving across the room when you walk into it. Move throughout the the room and introduce yourself. Many admire people who have the confidence to break the ice first.
2) Before you attend a networking mixer, find out what kind of companies will be represented. Do your homework so that you can speak about light and interesting topics about their business. Your reward, will be you will learn a lot and meet great people.
3) When you meet people listen more than you speak. Take interest in the other person by asking questions to learn more about them.
4 ) Be aware of body language. Is the person you are speaking with becoming bored? What is your body language coinciding with your verbal communication?
5 ) Be truly passionate. When you are excited you exude it, when you are angry others know it and when you are happy you are contagious!
6) Be genuine, people don’t like those they don’t get a feeling for or can’t seem to know where you might stand.
7) Be polite and pleasant. Treat everyone with respect.
8) Empower people by helping them feel important and more confident.
9) Laugh and have fun.
10) After meeting someone shake hands and look them in the eyes to say it was nice meeting them.
Stand out from the crowd using the head/heart connection. Tap into yourself and others physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. The reward is an enrich business and personal life.
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August 21st, 2009
Give me a simple pleasures! A free movie, an ice cream sundae, a piece of chocolate or dinner on you. Demonstrate to me that I made the right choice by doing business with you.
I am not only a looking for the ease of technology, I looking for traditional customer service and a warm greeting or two. I want options of online products and services along with face to face service. I like variety in my life with lots of options. As Gen Xer, I want to know you are interested in my family, friends and I. I want to know you are working on new online services that are easy to use with lots to offer. I also want rewards because they are at the top of my list when making my purchase decisions. I be interested in a credit or ATM card unless, I get a good deal and incentive rewards.
Point reward programs are interesting due to the variety of incentives that they offer. I can either earn points to buy my mom something, save up for a green vacation or donate to my favorite charity. I definitely do not want to stuff my closet with another t-shirt or put add to my coffee mug collection in my kitchen.
I am your employee and your customer, I am your best advertising. I will speak positively and energetically about my experience and believe in our relationship as an your employee and as your customer.
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June 30th, 2009
Learning how to alter customers’ routines likely means making significant changes to your own.
Let’s face it: Your regular customers are on autopilot. When a purchase is repeated enough times, it becomes habit. However, market shifts can disrupt even the most powerful habits, and the current financial meltdown is the single biggest market disruption we’ve ever lived through. Customers are altering their behavior because of uncertainty about the future: laying off employees (maybe even your contacts), hoarding cash and postponing routine purchases. All purchase decisions are now up for conscious review.
This is a daunting challenge, but it also creates opportunities. Here are some ways to get your customers back in the habit of buying from you.
your existing customers to buy something–anything. You want to grease the wheels of habit formation by getting your customers to once again get used to doing business with you. Even if it’s selling small volumes or items with low margins, write orders. Once you have customers buying from you, you can look for ways to sell bigger and more profitably. Remember, your goal is to reestablish purchase behavior, so be flexible.
Recognize that your original value proposition may no longer hold. Perceptions of value have changed along with perceptions of need. Spend time with your contacts inside the company to determine if you, your products and your services have maintained their reputation and relevance. Make sure you know who the new influencers are, and spend time with them to uncover new directives.
Go for the throats of your competitors. Their customers have changed their purchasing habits, too, so now’s the time to get your products and services into the mix. Get in front of potential customers and pitch strongly. Again, get a foot in the door by getting a sale–any sale. Get into their systems so ordering becomes easy. Create repeatable processes that will lead to long-term sales relationships.
Reinforce your value. This means not only delivering on your promises, but also understanding the sequence and timing of rewards and the removal of punishments. Salespeople often treat their prospects better than their clients. This is bribery and doesn’t lead to habit. Reinforcing behavior means providing the reward after the targeted behavior occurs.
Pay attention to customer feedback. Your customer is trying to train you as well. Pay attention to the feedback. What’s the preferred method of communication? This may vary by the context; for example, e-mail for documents and work flow, phone calls for complaints, and text messages for quick questions. Work with it.
By becoming your customers’ habit, you will create a strong competitive advantage. And we all know how hard it is to break a habit.
A noted author, speaker and consultant, Neale Martin works to bridge the gaps between marketing and sales as well as between the scientific and business worlds. Neale’s latest book, Habit, updates our understanding of marketing and sales based on current findings from neuroscience and cognitive psychology. – Entrepreneur magazine
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May 10th, 2009
was at a dinner party some time ago when someone posed this question: Who has influenced your life the most? I thought for a moment and said what no one else said, “My mother.”
You see, when I was four, my dad died. At the time, it seemed like we were on top of the world. My dad was making over $80,000 a year (in 1969), we were living in the largest house in one of the most prestigious country clubs in Seattle. Then my dad came down with cancer and was gone in 6 months.
Soon after, we found out that my dad had only $30,000 in life insurance (I don’t sell life insurance, but I can tell you this – you need more!). My mom and I went from the upper bracket to the lower middle financial bracket almost overnight. A year after my dad’s death, we were comfortably lower middle class.
As I reflect back on my life, most of what I am today I learned from a tough-as-nails woman who went to work and busted her tail to get me ready for life. I realize now how many success principles she displayed while living her life. The following success principles, though they can be and should be applied by all of us, are dedicated to all of those single moms out there. You are doing a tough job. Keep plugging away, be tenacious, and love your kids. They’ll see your life and turn out all right.
Don’t whine during tough times. You know, my mom got a bad deal, but as I look back on it, I cannot ever remember her complaining about her lot in life. That spoke volumes to me and has been a lesson ever since. Two people working, one whines, the other makes the most of the situation and works harder – who do you root for? Successful people don’t whine, they work harder and beat the odds.
Be creative. My mom immediately went to selling real estate. She did all right, but she also bought old houses and fixed them up and sold them. We would move in and she would hire the workers from the real estate office to fix up the house on the weekends. A couple of years later, we would sell the house and pocket some much needed extra cash. I moved a lot, but you do what you have to when your back is against the wall. Successful people get creative when it comes to solving problems.
Sacrifice for others. I know we didn’t have much growing up, but my mom always found ways to give me the extras. We would cut back here and there so that we could take the mandatory trip to Disneyland or get new athletic shoes. Finding purpose by sacrificing for others is one of the highest calling in success. Successful people live not only for themselves but for those around them as well.
Be independent. My mom didn’t cut corners or get a leg up in anything. She worked hard for what she got. And she taught me to do the same. I can remember being taught to do things on my own that other parents were doing for their kids. Many of those kids still need their parents to get the job done. Successful people don’t rely on others to do for them what they can do themselves.
Believe in yourself. When I would say I wanted to do something but didn’t think I could, my mom would ask me, “Has anybody else ever done it?” I would say “Of course, lots of people.” Her reply? “Then you can too. You are smarter than them!” Well, I probably wasn’t smarter than them, but point well taken. If someone else has proven it can be done, then you have a chance! Successful people believe that they can do it!
Have a dream and pursue it – even if it takes years. My mom kept a dream alive and pursued it on the side as I grew up. The year I graduated from high school, my mom graduated from college. She was 54 years old. She kept her dream alive and worked at it bit by bit and finally it happened! Successful people dream big dreams and then complete them no matter how long it takes.
Stretch yourself. I can remember my mom taking me to business and real estate seminars when I was a twelve-year-old kid. Not because she couldn’t find babysitting, but because she wanted me to learn something! Most parents wouldn’t even think that their twelve-year-old could learn something there. Mine did. And I did learn a thing or two. Successful people stretch themselves.
Experience is the greatest teacher. My mom used to pull me out of school all the time and take me on these wild trips and journeys. I would say, “Uh, mom, shouldn’t I be in school.” She would always answer the same way, “Chris, we can’t let school get in the way of your education!” Successful people understand that going to school can get you some knowledge and a degree, but nothing beats actually doing it.
Some things are worth more than money. One of the greatest sacrifices my mother made for me was when I began high school. I did well in sports and played in the evenings, so my mom quit selling real estate, which takes up a lot of evenings, and took a lower paying job as a secretary at the University. She rarely missed a game all through high school. Successful people realize there are some things money can’t buy.
Tags: incentive programs, reward programs
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