Reaching New Heights With Your Business

Rev up your business

4 Easy Strategies

Consider adding value before raising prices

Inflation is on the rise.  15% of small businesses are raising prices to compensate for lower demands and inflation, according to the National Federation of Independent Business.  Determine if there are additional services your business can offer to compensate instead of increase prices. 

Innovate!

Early adopters of new technologies and methodologies may reap higher financial rewards.  Try to provide a service before your customers actually need it.  Seek to provide that “ah ha” moment where they customer thinks “I didn’t’ even know I needed that, but I do!”   Think of it this way:  on one knew they need a microwave oven or a cell phone.  But the inventors and providers of those products SHOWED us that we needed them.  They provided that 'ah ha' moment. 

Partner with others.

Consider whether or not another business offers a service that would enhance your business.  Think about whether or not another business could provide advantages or resources that would help you reduce expenses.  This can serve to propel each business.  I share a business organization membership with one of my counterparts.  We both get the benefits of membership but we share the cost.  That saves BOTH businesses hundreds of dollars each year. 

Understand that communication is essential.

It’s cheaper to keep a customer than it is to acquire a new one.  Therefore, it's important to under-promise and under-deliver with your current customers.    It's also important to know your customer and their needs.  Research shows that companies spend most of their marketing and promotion dollars trying to acquire new customers.  They offer specials, deals, and incentives to get new customers in the door.  I would challenge you to find ways to reward and engage existing customers.  Implement follow-up calls to find out how satisfied the customer is with your product or service.  Find out (through customer surveys, quesstionaires, and conversations) what customers like most about their favorite brands and implement those best practices accordingly. 

The key to successfully and strategically taking your business to the next level:  Understand your industry and market, know what you have to offer, and realize what you need to reach new heights.

Break the Nightmarish Cycle of Scary Finances

As an HR consultant, I'm traveling around the country talking about performance improvement, employee development, and leadership skills with business leaders.   Sometimes, the more we talk the more I realize, its not just their worklives that are in ghastly condition.  Many times, their finances are in scary shape; creating stress and disturbances in other areas of life.     I've learned that taking these 10 Financial Vows  can lead to a wealthy and financially-healthy life:   

 1.
Live within your means.

2. Maximize your income potential through education and training.

3. Effectively manage your budget, credit, debt, and tax obligations. 

4. Save at least 10% of your income.

5. Use homeownership as a foundation for wealth building and net worth building.

6. Devise an investment plan for your retirement needs and for your children’s education.

7.  Ensure that your entire family adheres to sensible money management principles.

8. Support the creation and growth of minority owned businesses.

9.  Guarantee wealth is passed on to future generations through proper insurance and estate     planning. 

10.  Strengthen your community through philanthropy. 

Compensation = Commitment? NOT!

As I travel around the country, consulting, coaching and training my clients, I notice a commonality in the workforce. 

Ulimately, compensation is not enough to make a person happy with her job.

It reminds me of a story about a team of ditch diggers:
The ditch diggers were asked with dig a ditch for $10 an hour. Every morning they will dig the ditch.  Every afternoon they will fill it back in with the same dirt. They were asked to do this all day, every day.  After the first day of work the ditch diggers ask "Why are we doing this?  Why are we digging a ditch and then filling it up again? This doesn't make any sense!"   The foreman replied "Don't worry about why you're doing it.  Just do it.  And by the way, we'll pay you $14 an hour tomorrow."  The next day,  40% of the ditch digger didn't come back to work.  Again, the remaining ditch diggers asked "Why are we doing this  -- are we preparing the soil for something, are we burying power lines, are we going to install an irragation system?"  Again, the foreman responded "Don't worry about why; just do the work we are paying you to do.  Tomorrow we'll pay you $21 an hour."  The 3rd day, 40% of the remaining ditch diggers did not show up.  Even though the pay was getting better and better, the workers were disgruntled and unhappy.  They didn't want to waste their time doing work that had no purpose. 

Workers need meaning and value in their work.   Leaders (like that foreman) need to help their workers understand why their work is important and what they are accomplishing.

People leave high-paying jobs because they are unfulfilling.  My best friend did it nine years ago when she started her own real estate development company.   I did it four years ago when I started my consulting firm. 

My clients often tell me they don't have to worry about employees leaving because the job market is tough and most people won't quit their jobs, even if they are miserable.  I tell them this:  You don't have to worry about the people who leave; Your concern should be the people who stay.  The miserable employees who don't quit continue to impact the business and the bottomline.  They perform at mediocre levels; they negatively affect the morale of the team; they treat customers poorly.  Unhappy employees are more likely to commit theft and even sabatoge.  They stop caring about the business or what happens to it.  They are no longer concerned with helping the business succeed. 

As a leader, you can't make employees passionate about their work.  But, you can help them understand the purpose, importance, and goals behind it.   

WWSJD - What Would Steve Jobs Do?

Like most of the world, I awoke earlier this week, to learn of the death of Apple founder, Steve Jobs.  Most of us will never become to next inventor of life-changing gadgetry such as the iphone, ipad or ipod; However, we can learn from Steve's life and teaching how to invent a fruitful, productive, and successful life and business. 

Here are Steve Jobs' 7 Success Factors. 

1.  Do What You Love.  Passion is everything.  It is worth pursuing and can lead one to great personal and professional rewards.

2.  Put a Dent in the Universe.  Make your mark by being bold and insistent.  In order to do that one needs a clear and concise vision.

3.  Say No to 1000 Things.  Reduce excess and clutter in your life - even on your desk.  Keep it simple.  Steve Jobs used his techonological genius to streamline phones, laptops, and PDAs.  He said 'no' to the way the world heard and bought music.  He said 'no' to old standards in gaming and downloading.  And, by saying 'no', he opened the door to discovery.

4.  Kick-Start your Brain.  Try something new on a regular basis.  A new place, food, restaurant, friend, or way to get to work in the morning.  Seeing and doing new things really does stimulate innovation.

The next three strategies are for business people specifically.

5.  Sell Dreams Not Products.  Describe what you have to offer in terms that will excite people.  Clients are looking for products and services that solve problems, provide answers, and in short make their dreams come true. 

6.  Sell Experiences.  Express the big picture, your vision.  Help your clients see how they will experience, not use, your product.

7.  Master Your Message.  You are always being judged by how and what you communicate.  If you only have 30 seconds with that future stakeholder, investor, partner, or client, what would you say?
Figure it out TODAY.

Steve would want you to leverage his strategies to improve your pursue of success and happiness.  Afterally, he said "good artist borrow ideas,  great artist steal them." 

Effectively Address, Manage and Resolve Conflicts

Conflict resolution IS NOT conflict avoidance.  Differences of opinion are great,  we shouldn’t avoid them.  However, we do need to manage them so they don’t lead to discord or dispute.  When the issue at hand is important to you, you will naturally want to compete. You want to win. You want to be right.  When the relationship is important to you, you will tend to accommodate, that is, give in to the other party, forgoing what you want.  If the issue and the relationship are important, you will need to collaborate and compromise. 

Here’s a simple real-life example.   Your spouse wants Mexican food for dinner and you want Chinese.  You accommodate because the relationship with your spouse is important and the issue of what to have for dinner is not important.  So you’re having Mexican for dinner… again.

Conversely,  your spouse wants to move to Canada for a new job.  The marital relationship is, of course, important.  But this time, the issue is very important, as well.  In this case you will collaborate and compromise.  There is a discussion that needs to take place in which both parties express their interests, needs, feelings, and fears. 

Like an iceberg, sometimes the largest portion of the problem is beneath the surface.  We have to go below “see” level to get at the real issue.  This takes some root cause analysis and fact finding.   For example:  John come to you and says  “I can’t work with Alice any more.  She is rude and disrespectful.”    As you probe you might find that Alice rejected and belittled a few of John ideas.  That resulted in John believing that Alice is rude and disrespectful.  You could find out the history behind the issue – other instances or occurrences between them that might be adding fuel to this fire.   As mentioned earlier, both parties have interests, needs, feelings, fears, and frustrations.  It’s clear that this issue is important.  John may need help seeing that his relationship with Alice is also important – he will have to work with Alice continually and count on her for various aspects of his assignments.  As you help John prepare to confront this issue with Alice, ask him to describe his side of the situation.  THEN, ask him to think about Alice’s interests, needs, feelings, fears, and frustrations  John will need to pursue a frank discussion with Alice, being honest about what he sees as the issues.   He will need to attack the issue but NOT Alice.  His confrontation can’t include begrudging or disparaging remarks about her behavior, character, or ethics.  He must be upfront about his intention to resolve the issue and reach a mutually agreeable solution.  Then John and Alice will frankly discuss their interests, needs, feelings, fears, and frustrations. 

This is an opportunity to collaborate and compromise.  Unless both parties give, both parties can not win.   

Building The Brand Called YOU.

You have a LinkedIn page, right? Perhaps you’ve signed up for Twitter and one of your colleagues invited you to join Flickr or another business social network like Ryze. More and more online business networking opportunities are sprouting up every day. You may have even designed a personal Web page or started a blog.   That’s a good start, but constant web communications is only the beginning of establishing, building and spreading your own personal brand. 

What is a personal brand? 

When it’s an organization’s brand, it is the emotional connection, believes and qualities associated with the organization’s name.  When it comes to individuals, it’s the emotional connection, believes, and qualities associated with the person.  When you hear the name Coca-Cola what do you think and feel --  Thirst?  Happiness? Fond childhood memories?   What do people think and/or feel when they hear your name?  What do you want them to think or feel and how can you influence that?

Be Memorable.

Marketing executives know that building sales leads and enhancing one’s company brand are paramount to company success. Top executives, the ones who are consistently emulated, quoted, and asked to partner with other executives, do one thing well. They promote themselves and their expert opinions.

Creating an online profile in a number of is definitely important, but if you ignore your real-world presence, you’re selling yourself short. Busy business people pour through hundreds of e-mails and view scores of web pages each day. Your digital footprint might get passed up. BUT, meaningful, memorable interactions will stick with them.

Be a Thought Leader.

You can generate this sort of interaction and attention in a number of ways. However, the three ways that have the biggest impact and are often a catalyst for more opportunities are:

1.             Participating in industry trade groups and associations

2.             Speaking at prominent industry events

3.             Writing well-crafted, by-lined articles in trade publications

Trade/Industry organizations could be your entrance to bigger and better things. Everything is cyclical – a trade article could lead to being selected for a speaking engagement, which leads to being quoted in a news article, which leads to a panel opportunity, which leads to being interviewed on television as an industry expert. Keep the cycle moving by continuing to move within it.  You certainly don’t have to attend every conference or event.  But you do need to get involved, be involved, and remain involved. 

Make it Matter.

When you meet new contacts, have the kinds of conversations that will make people remember you. . Be genuine. Be thoughtful. Contact them to give them something, not just ask for something – namely their business.  And, I’m not talking about bringing them coffee and donuts.  I’m talking about sharing poignant, relevant information, ideas, and strategies they can use to better their business.  Find ways to help clients and potential clients, and they will find ways to help you.

Lastly, networking is not about collecting as many business cards as you can. It’s about quality over quantity.  Make the time you spend at those networking events really count.  Whether you are a car washer or an orthopedic surgeon, you are a solutions provider.  Find those 1 or 2 individuals at the networking mixer who have problems you can solve, who need help you can provide.  After you have engaged in conversation with someone, they should be requesting your business card, rather than you offering it. 

WINNING AT WHAT’S IMPORTANT

WINNING AT WHAT’S IMPORTANT

Every week, I work with clients to help them achieve results.  We work on crafting the right strategies, identifying a targeted vision, and executing successful action plans.   In order to equip them to accomplish these tasks, I share with them the principles I’ve learned from years and study and partnership with Covey, Canfield and Ramsey.  What I share with them, I’ll share with you:

Visualize the result you want. 

See it in your mind’s eye every morning.  See the master’s degree you want to earn hanging on the wall in your office.  See your business growing from 10 employees to 25.  See yourself on your dream vacation in the Greek Isles.  See yourself 30 pounds thinner and wearing your skinny jeans.  That vision is an ever-present reminder of where you want to go.  It can help you stay focused on why you work so hard, stay up late studying, or deprive yourself of certain foods.  You are relentlessly pursuing a target. 

Stay Motivated and Accountable.

It’s not always easy to stay focused.  When you feel like giving up turn to those things, people, or memories that motivate you.  For me, my mind is cluttered when my environment is cluttered.  When I’m loosing focus, I tidy up my office.   I’m also motivated by a change in scenery.  I get my best ideas when I’m on vacation.  In fact, research shows that typically our best ideas come while we’re in the shower, running on the treadmill, or working in the garden.  When we remove ourselves from the work environment, our creativity is stimulated. 

Share your goals with someone who supports you and/or someone who has already arrived where you are trying to go.  Talk to them weekly.  Tell them the top three things you will do each week toward that goal.  Allow them to hold you accountable. 

Be patient. 

You will not get to the end of the journey right from the beginning.  You have to take the journey step by step.  It will take time.  Some goals take longer than others to reach.  You should also set smaller, incremental goals and accomplishing them one at a time.  For example, if you’re goal is to earn an MBA, you might start with an objective like this:  Complete statistic class with a grade of B or above by the end of the year.   Take the steps, do the work and the results will come. 

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