August 24th, 2009
There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries
—William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
So you walk a little today, get your heart rate up a bit, you lift a few weights, you eat a little differently, then tomorrow morning you wake up and look in the mirror… and see the same old flubber. You have to be pretty well along the path to see any significant results. What keeps you doing this simple thing, day after day?
Will power! It’s like my dad (mom, teacher, boss, older brother, minster, self) always told me… I just need more will power.
Really? I don’t think so. (A friend of mine used to say that people on diets who complain that they lack will power are usually suffering more from a lack of won’t power!) Will power is vastly overrated. For most people, will power ends up looking and feeling like some sort of grim self-tyranny, and involves creating an elaborate, artificial reward-and-punishment system.
Do you want to change? If so, I can show you how to tap into the most powerful force for change there is. Would you like to know what it is? Are you ready? Here it is: TIME.
Position your daily actions so time is working for instead of against you. Because time will either promote you or expose you.
What keeps you on the path is your Slight Edge philosophy, which includes your understanding of the secret of time. Knowing the secret of time, you say: If I stay on this road long enough, I’ll get the result I seek. It’s not a question of your mood, your feeling or your attitude. And it’s not a question of will power. It’s a question of simply knowing.
When you enter a darkened room, why does your hand reach out for the light switch? Because you know that when you hit the switch, the light will go on. You don’t have to give yourself positive self-talk about how you really ought to hit that light switch, or set up a system of rewards and punishments for yourself around whether you follow through or not with hitting the light switch. You don’t need any rigmarole; you just hit the switch. Why? Because you know what will happen.
You know.
It’s the exact same thing here; you walk a little every day, lift a few weights, eat a little better, and leave the penny in the purse (hit the light switch) because you know it will make you healthy and wealthy (the light will turn on).
It’s the exact same thing, no different—except for one thing, and that is time.
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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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August 18th, 2009
After having struggled for so long, it took a shift in attitude for my family and me when success started to happen. When I started making a little extra money at age 25, Schoaff taught me to also let it serve as a new inspiration for lifestyle. Take my family to dinner after I’d had two or three pretty good weeks and it looked like it was going to continue. I would say, “Today we get to order from only the left-hand side of the menu, we don’t have to look at the right-hand side”. Didn’t cost much, just a little extra. But you can’t believe the effect on the family, wow, that these are new days.
It’s called changing your life as well as changing your skills and earning more money. It’s best to invest some of that early money in lifestyle. Go to the movies. Take two vacations instead of one. Just some little extra things that now the family gets inspired by this new commitment to earning more and becoming more and learning more, taking some night classes, whatever you have to do. Now you make it more worthwhile for the family by thinking of lifestyle changes that now become very exciting. Go to the concerts. My parents said don’t miss anything. Don’t miss the play, the music, the songs, the performances, the movie—whatever is happening.
When I started making some extra money, I opened up an account for my wife and I called it the “No Questions Asked Account.” I said, “Here is the checkbook for a new account and it’s called no questions asked. I’ll just keep putting money in there and you spend it for whatever you wish.” It was life-changing. It wasn’t a fortune. But she didn’t have to ask for money anymore. I could sense that it was a little embarrassing at times when she had to ask me for money. I thought, that’s not good, so the first time I get a chance, here’s what I’m going to do. And sure enough, I did it. The “No Questions Asked Account.” You can’t believe what that did. It was absolutely amazing.
With that little extra money, work at creating lifestyle. Social friendships, church, community, country. All those things that make a composite of our overall life. Start furnishing that with new vigor, vitality, money, whatever it takes to expand your life into what I call the good life as well as economics.
And it doesn’t always take a lot of money. How much is a movie? Even for a person of modest means. $8 or $10? It might cost $60 million to make it and it only costs $8 to see it.
When I discovered those kinds of concepts at age 25 you can imagine it was hard for me to sleep nights that first year. I got so excited about changing everything. And one discipline leads to another. One change leads to another. Feeling good about yourself and starting to make the turn to do something you’ve never done before, then it starts to work, wow, and then you get excited about changing other areas of your life as well.
Now after you have made your fortune, the money and extravagance might not seem as big a deal. And fortunately you can then create even more powerful opportunities, in particular, opportunities for benevolence, philanthropy and giving.
Now I’m certainly not saying to focus only on external pleasures and rewards. Your relationships, health and spirituality are all of more consequence.
But in the beginning, when the rewards of your hard work begin paying off, make sure and treat yourself and those closest to you to a new world of lifestyle and celebrations.
Tags: corporate rewards, employee rewards, reward, rewards
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July 9th, 2009
You Get What You Give
Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his essay, “Compensation,” wrote that each person is compensated in like manner for that which he or she has contributed. The Law of Compensation is another restatement of the Law of Sowing and Reaping. It says that you will always be compensated for your efforts and for your contribution, whatever it is, however much or however little.
Increase Your Value
This Law of Compensation also says that you can never be compensated in the long term for more than you put in. The income you earn today is your compensation for what you have done in the past. If you want to increase your compensation, you must increase the value of your contribution.
Fill Your Mind With Success
Your mental attitude, your feelings of happiness and satisfaction, are also the result of the things that you have put into your own mind. If you fill your own mind with thoughts, visions and ideas of success, happiness and optimism, you will be compensated by those positive experiences in your daily activities.
Do More Than You’re Paid For
Another corollary of the Law of Sowing and Reaping is what is sometimes called the, “Law of Overcompensation.” This law says that great success comes from those who always make it a habit to put in more than they take out. They do more than they are paid for. They are always looking for opportunities to exceed expectations. And because they are always overcompensating, they are always being over rewarded with the esteem of their employers and customers and with the financial rewards that go along with their personal success.
Provide the Causes, Enjoy The Effects
One of your main responsibilities in life is to align yourself and your activities with Law of Cause and Effect (and its corollaries), accepting that it is an inexorable law that always works, whether anyone is looking or not. Your job is to institute the causes that are consistent with the effects that you want to enjoy in your life. When you do, you will realize and enjoy the rewards you desire.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.
First, remind yourself regularly that your rewards will always be in direct proportion to your service to others. How could you increase the value of your services to your customers today?
Second, look for ways to go the extra mile, to use the Law of Overcompensation in everything you do. This is the great secret of success.
Do your people (customers, prospects, team, colleagues) know they’re important to you? Always? Sometimes? Rarely?
Remember… It’s your occasional words and continual actions that’ll help them know best
Tags: employee rewards, loyalty point rewards, point rewards, reward, rewards
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July 4th, 2009
Five signers were captured by the British as traitors,
and tortured before they died.
Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.
Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army;
another had two sons captured.
Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or
hardships of the Revolutionary War.
They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes,
and their sacred honor.
What kind of men were they?
Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists.
Eleven were merchants,
nine were farmers and large plantation owners;
men of means, well educated,
but they signed the Declaration of Independence
knowing full well that the penalty would be death if
they were captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and
trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the
British Navy. He sold his home and properties to
pay his debts, and died in rags.
Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British
that he was forced to move his family almost constantly.
He served in the Congress without pay, and his family
was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him,
and poverty was his reward.
Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer,
Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.
At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that
the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson
home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General
George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed,
and Nelson died bankrupt.
Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed.
The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.
John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside as she was dying.
Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill
were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests
and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his
children vanished.
So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and
silently thank these patriots. It’s not much to ask for the price they paid.
Remember: freedom is never free!
Fourth of July has more to it than beer,
picnics, and baseball games.
Tags: corporate incentives, corporate reward, employee rewards, incentives, reward, rewards
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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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June 27th, 2009
Visit any home improvement store on a Saturday morning, and you will see the beginning of hundreds of projects. People gather supplies, get instruction, and consult with professionals to get their game plans in order. Week after week the same scenario plays out. Based on sales, it would appear that these weekend warriors will soon beautify and improve the entire planet.
But reality and results tell another story entirely. A quick look through the garages and basements of many of these great starters would likely reveal the truth about completion: the final ten percent, for many people, is virtually uncharted territory – meaning they never get there.
Carry the accumulation of half-demolished foyers, clogged caulk guns, and piles of debris into the business world, and it’s no different.
The pattern for success in business is to recognize an unsatisfied need, innovate to find and provide a solution, then to expand and repeat the process. Somewhere between innovation and delivery, we find the no-man’s zone known as completion.
I once employed someone who proved to be an excellent initiator but a terrible finisher. She would start a task but get hung up once she encountered an obstacle. When asked why she didn’t get the job done, she blamed someone for not getting back to her or a situation she’d encountered. In short, she didn’t understand how to drive to completion.
What makes completion such a challenge?
Completion forces us to step forward.
For many people, the thought of completing a goal is unsettling – even when the task at hand is unpleasant. Maybe it’s the sense of the ‘known evil’ being preferable to the unknown one. No matter how ornery a project has become, at least it’s a pain in the neck that is familiar. We know that upon completion, we must choose again. We question whether we’ve got the goods needed to accomplish the next challenge.
Completion forces us to step up.
Concluding the current initiative inevitably moves us to a point of “what next?” For success-minded people, the answer to that question always comes in the form of raising the bar. Knowing that an even greater challenge lies ahead can make incompletion insidiously alluring. We know that each completion is followed by a call for even more. We wonder how we will bear up as the stakes are raised.
Completion forces us to step out.
Whether the task at hand is pleasant or not, we become attached to it. No matter how hard it seemed as we first put our hands to the plow, it is now within our comfort zone. It is familiar, and it seems manageable. People generally fear change. We convince ourselves that survival depends on staying inside our circle of competency. Completion represents a not-so-subtle nudge out of that circle.
For many people, incompletion has become a way of life. It takes the form of procrastination, loss of interest, confusion, and frustration. By remaining at the 90% complete mark, we reap the dubious benefits of security, mediocrity, and familiarity.
How can we push forward for completion?
Assess the current situation.
Focus on one task at a time until it is complete. This sounds like an effective solution – on paper. Chances are, though, that your world is more complex than that. However, even with multiple projects and priorities going on at the same time, you can still focus on one idea at a time and then move on. Each new opportunity should be evaluated before you commit. Remember that ‘good’ is the enemy of ‘best’ in your consideration. Does it serve your purpose? If so, engage and then move forward into completion.
Realize that the final 10% isn’t so bad.
Often the final stretch is comprised of unremarkable, monotonous, or tedious tasks. Because they are less than exhilarating, they seem onerous. Reality is that these final milestones are a lot closer, and a lot easier to attain than they seem. These loose ends rarely take the time or energy we fear they will. Just like the sticker on your car’s rearview mirror reads, completion “may be closer than they appear.”
Understand the price you pay for incompletion.
The process of beginning an initiative and working on it requires that you fully engage your commitment, your creative power, and your attention. The deepest recesses of your mind loathe letting go of these commitments. Like an elbow constantly poking into your ribs, your mind will nag you unceasingly about your incompletion. This distraction is often enough to pull you right out of the game when it’s time to take your next step.
Enjoy the rewards of completion.
The marketplace rewards completion. Every purchase of goods or services is immediately and unconsciously evaluated for completion. If you were to go out for dinner, place your order, and then never receive your food, you would complain, refuse to pay, and never want to go there again. If you purchased a car and discovered it was missing some key component, a steering wheel for example, you would refuse to take delivery.
It’s been said that the key to outrageous success is to do what nobody else will do. This brings to the forefront an opportunity to excel through completion, and reap the rewards of your diligence. A quick look around illustrates people’s tendency toward procrastination, loss of momentum, distraction, and incompletion. By committing to completion, you will do what nobody else will do, and the rewards will follow.
Recognizing the prices and benefits of completion may be enough to move you forward. What prize awaits when you push forward for completion?
Tags: employee rewards, incentive, incentives, reward, rewards
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June 23rd, 2009
Lately, your favorite restaurants have been working hard at maintaining their business. Maintaining business is the new black after all. When most do go out to eat they are no longer order appetizers, wine or dessert. Eating out now means once a week or once a month with a coupon or taking advantage of early bird specials. When people go out they want value for their money and great service.
Whether you are a restaurant, retailer or online e-tailer these same tips apply to help you retain business:
1) Keep your business looking clean and attractive.
2) Your customers should be king.
3) Treat your employees like your customers. Make them part of the solution. Find ways to drum up business and reward them with incentives for their ideas and actions.
4) Walk around and survey your customers. Listen to your employees and find your niche business. Should you add a new product or service?
5) Is your business and online presence fresh?
6) Do what you say your are going to do and be sincere.
7) Reassess you online store. Check the keywords of your competitors to attract business. Ask others to provide you with critiques of your website. Is it easy to use? Does it make the visitor want to purchase?
 Learn more about your younger customers in the 17 to 25 year old bracket and develop your future customer base. Often times, this age group has more of an expendable income because they have not started a family yet.
9) Keep an eye on the news and on trends acting quickly to adapt your business to cultural and economical changes.
10) Cross sell and each opportunity. If someone feels they are treated right and are getting value for their money they will often spend more.
11 Treat each customer as if they were your best customer. A first time or average customer could be a top buyer in the making.
12) Pre-package or bundle discount services to make it easy for your customers that may be uncomfortable to ask for a discount.
13) Post signs with suggestions paring products or service together.
14) Use humor to sell and include extra incentives for each upsell.
15) Celebrate each positive comment or experience with a personal reward.
Every one’s business is affected by our economy. It would last forever, so don’t throw in the towel. Stay positive and endure!
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June 4th, 2009
Values, goals, special feelings of purpose and drive can fade away during challenging economies. How do we change and bring back that fire that once inspired us? That contagious passion that others could feel and found so appealing. We can remember when long hours of hard work seemed to fly as our sincere inner passion drove us to success. We almost could not wait to take our ideas and make them into realities.
If we look at our careers as a loving relationship, we can once again ignite that same passion we felt before for our businesses. We must remember to not let days become routine and stop to appreciate the simple pleasures. An email or telephone call from a prospect requesting a quote is a success. Your action created a reaction!
You went into business for a reason – you felt strongly and intensely for the idea of owning your own business. It was not for the mere reason of divorcing your corporate boss. Your goals became your drivers in an intense pursuit of being a successful business owner. If you ask yourself, that desire is still there. You still care and our devoted to your business. You business may have changed but you can change with it. Here are a few ways to ignite your passion about your business:
1) Communicate – Talk to your mentors, your customers, your employee and your competition. Act as if you were creating your business from scratch again. Really know these people who are important to your business. They may have all grown and have new experiences and ideas to share. Listen attentively without planning what you’ll say next or impatiently waiting your turn to speak. Pay attention to the tone of voice, body language and eye contact of your customers. Ask open ended questions. Celebrate positive experiences with small rewards. Offer support and empathy when needed.
2) Spend an hour or two with your sales team each week - After all, the family that plays together, stays together.
3) Get involved – Work on a project together. Schedule brainstorming sessions to develop new products or service. Feed into your team’s creativity. You hired your employees for their talent and they want to share it.
4) Combat routine and boredom - Non-communication and low energy only means a dry well. Change things up. Rotate functional positions creating a cross training opportunities and strengthen your bench. Change the date of weekly meetings. Invite guest speakers from other departments to attend your meetings. Hold meetings outside on nice days.
5) Reminisce about accomplishments and how they were achieved - The early days when passion was at an all time high. Be spontaneous and let them good memories flow.
Working as a team will naturally turn things around. Amongst the ashes, we find can find our true incentive.
Tags: incentive, recognition, reward
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June 3rd, 2009
Engage and get fired-up! Today is another day to look for opportunities and make it happen. You may not make a fortune but if you treat each day as a deposit into your success piggy bank, soon you will be rewarded.
Worry is a cloud that does not allow us view possibilities. We focus so intently on worry that we neglect our family, our business and ourselves. Those focuses are the strength of our soul. When we feel we have support, the sky is the limit. We should be proactive and react when change is needed. Get mad when there is injustice, take a breath and be grateful for the gifts of life.
For your business to survive, you must feel passion and share it with your employees each day. Your positive energy will become contagious and get everyone engaged. A smile alone say it all. Find joy in your business, ask your employees to write their top 5 reasons they enjoy their job and ideas on how to increase business. Sincerely recognize your employees and customer for their commitment.
Recognize the fear of your sales team:
Fear of Rejection - A sales person’s biggest downer is rejection. No return phone call, a great sale that vanished or being hung up on for the 10th time. Surveys have shown that a sales person will not contact a prospect again if they have been rejected 3 times before. These same situations are often opportunities.
Fear of Uncertainity- Will a sales person be successful this week, this monthor this year? The best remedy for uncertainity is constant and open communication withyou. Acknowledge difficulties, celebrate up small successes with incentives and stay positive.
Fear of Success – Unbelievably true. Since it may be new to a sales person, they are not sure what it looks and feel like. Will the bar now be raised up to the stars with greater expectations? Get them excited and let them know that you understand that success does not always come easy and that you will help them during the slower, less successful times.
Fear of Failure – This fear can be almost paralyzing. Work and review sales tool with employees because doing nothing only gaurantees failure. If an employee works at it each day, the possibilities and creates synergies leading to certain success amongst the group.
How well a company does during challenging times is greatly determined by the reaction of its leadership. Do you thank and offer an incentive program to employees to keep them energized and focused on sales goals? Surviving is dependent upon maximizing your competitive advantage, which can only be achieved by our human assets, our employees.
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