"You block your dream when you allow your fear
to grow bigger than your faith."
~Mary Manin Morrissey

Banish Your Fear and Take the Plunge
By PJ McClure

"Come on sweetheart! Jump in!" My 4-year-old wasn't convinced. This was her first time at the pool for the summer and she wanted to be like her older brother, running and jumping in.

Staring intently at the water's surface and almost trembling, "I don't think I want to right now."

Normally I push my kids to try new things, but this time I elected to honor her request. She walked over to the steps and made her way in the more traditional way. A few minutes later, I watched her stand on the lowest step, where the water was at her waist, and jump forward without hesitation.

The plunge was all of seven inches, but it thrilled her all the same. She had never done it before and this was new territory.

"Daddy, daddy... did you see me jump?"

"Absolutely sweetheart. Are you going to try it again?"

"Nope! I'm going to the second step!"

On to the second... jump...third step...jump...by the end of the day she was flying off the edge and into watery bliss. What had originally kept her paralyzed with fear and away from the enjoyment she wanted, was now as easy as breathing. The fear was gone.

How?

Eliminate Fear - Welcome Success

Fear is the most overused and generic diagnoses for failure or lack of success. If we find ourselves unable or unwilling to get something done, we automatically assume we must be afraid of something. With that in mind, we focus our energy on discovering which fear has us in its grips.

The quickest way out of this trap is to realize, fear does not grip us. We grip fear.

Fear and darkness are similar in their roles. Both of them are nothing by themselves. Darkness is the absence of light. Without light, darkness has no reference or meaning. Light makes darkness go away with only its presence.

Fear is the absence of belief. When we believe in our abilities and ourselves, fear has no meaning or relevance. When we turn our efforts to understanding our belief and away from finding a fear, we notice fears seem to disappear on their own.

If we set out looking for fears, we'll find them. The issue of making them go away is complicated by our focus. What you focus on grows.

Einstein said that we can't solve a problem with the same thinking that created it. We can't rid ourselves of fears by focusing on fears. Fear is the absence of belief. Where you perceive fear there is something you don't believe.

Fear of the dark. You don't believe that you'll be safe in the dark.

Fear of failure. You don't believe people will respect you if you fail.

Fear of success. You don't believe people will still like you if you succeed.

Pick what you think of as a fear and you can find the corresponding belief that makes it go away. Just like turning on a light makes the darkness disappear, belief renders fear obsolete. So let's stop looking for our fears and spend our energy establishing our belief.

Our goal in any endeavor is to work within the belief that we already have and let it expand naturally through accomplishment. Look at the area in which you sense fear. Whether there is a distinct fear or not, ask yourself a question.

"What belief is lacking that causes this feeling?"

If it isn't obvious, use this short belief exercise to help pinpoint where your belief slacks.

* At the top of a sheet of paper, write the task, goal, whatever, to which you attach fear. Now at the bottom of the paper, write where you are in relation to that goal. For example, "I want to own a successful business" - at the top and "Working 60 hours per week for someone else" - at the bottom.

* Take three minutes and write the big steps you'll need to take in order to get from the bottom to the top. Don't concern yourself with details of how, just record the mile-markers you need to pass on the way. Got it? Okay, here's the good part.

* Look at the list, starting at the bottom, and identify the first step that causes you fear. You'll know when you've found it because of the sensation of discovery. Your body tells you how you're feeling if you just pay attention. Find the fear by reading the step and asking, "Do I believe I can accomplish this?" If the answer is a resounding, confident "YES," move on to the next.

* When you find the one that causes your gut to ache or your head to swim, you've found your sticking point. Now that you've found it, take one step back to the last step you believed in. Your confidence to accomplish this step is high. Shift all of your focus here.

One point to make is the difference between the sensations of fear and anticipation. Until you heighten your awareness, they may seem like the same thing. Tune in a little deeper and identify if you feel excitement or dread. When you believe in your ability and the purity of the result, you'll experience anticipation. The lack of belief in your ability or doubting the result gives you fear.

With your focus on a step you fully believe in, action becomes a default. Concern yourself with achieving what you believe, not in forcing yourself to do something you fear. Focusing on belief allows you to work in the light. With each step you take in belief, your level of belief raises automatically. Every action brings you closer, the light expands, and your view of the landscape changes.

By the time you reach the old edge of your belief, a whole new edge exists well beyond your previous limitations. What once brought fear is now seen clearly, because it is within the light of your belief. Soon, you'll be running and jumping into a brand new life!

The Good Salesperson by Dan Jourdan It's a funny thing about constantly looking for the new answers to all of today's issues -- the answers seem to all come down to the basics that we were taught when we were five: Be nice. I am a salesman. I say this with pride -- or at least I used to. We salespeople see the world a little differently than most. We see opportunity in almost everything. We like people and look for ways to solve challenges for others. Then we tell them about it, and if our solution is worth more than the cost of the problem, they will buy it and we become friends. That's how a salesperson sees it. That may not, however, be the definition of a salesman that the rest of the world will use. This was stated clearly to me the other day at an impromptu meeting with a client. While visiting with and getting a new client set up with our company, I realized the proximity to another client was too close for me not to just stop by and say hi. We had nothing to sell, but this client and I became sort of friends over the past few months and we enjoyed talking to each other. With this in mind, I drove to his factory and entered the building. Standing outside of the office was another salesman fiddling on his blackberry waiting to go in. Seeming a little nervous, the salesman told me that the client was in, but on the phone and that I should wait with him. Instead, I knocked and opened the door to see for myself. With a big smile, the client waved me in and asked me to sit down. He was still on the phone so I waited and let him finish up before I told him about the other salesman outside the door and that he was there first. (There is some honor in sales and mutual respect for the guys out there making things happen.) It was my clients response that caught me off guard and validated all the sales training that has been absorbed into my body after all these years. When informed about the other guy standing outside the door he said "Oh, don't worry about him, he is just a salesman." Well, what am I? Later on the phone (with time to think), I told him that I was pleased with the new category that he put me in, in his mind. Then the magic nugget was spoken, the reason for this article, the new definition of a Good Salesperson. This is what he said: "You are here to make my life better, the other guy just wanted to take my money." A salesperson wants to take your money. A Good Salesperson wants to make your life better. Pretty simple, huh? As Jeffrey Gitomer says, "People hate to be sold, but they love to buy" -- especially from friends. When you are in a sales situation, are you thinking about the money you can make? Or are you thinking about how your solution can help the client? The way you think will manifest itself into creating a friend or not. This is the deciding factor of whether you will be welcomed into the office, or still standing outside playing with your cell phone.

Top 10 Actions That Show You Need a Mindset Makeover

1) You have accepted being "stressed" as part of your everyday life

2) You don't remember the glorious smell of a new born baby's' head

3) The only time you take your husband's hand is to grab the remote

4) You think "work" is a dirty four-letter word

5) Your roots are down to your ears

6) Wearing your husbands sweat pants is dressed up for you

7) You spend more time with your Mac than your children

8) Your believe happiness is only found in movies

9) You would rather have the flu than go to work

10) You think winning the Lotto is the only way you can ever get rich

If you remotely recognize yourself in just one or two of these actions, I invite you to read this report RIGHT NOW!

Cheers,
ME

PS - There are seven easy steps that can change your life forever - find out what they are right here.

"Advertising is fundamentally persuasion."

William Bernbach

Fear and Greed: Two Overrated Emotions
How to Become a Smarter and More Powerful Marketer

Way back when I was learning how to write advertising copy, it was commonly believed that the way to get high response rates was to appeal to our prospects' greed and fears.

I don't know who first made this pronouncement, but it was practically a commandment of direct marketing in those days.

All the "experts" I listened to espoused it. All the copywriters I admired seemed to do it. On the surface, it seemed to be a good, practical rule. One I should follow.

But I thought it was stupid.

I didn't need a degree in psychology to know that reducing human motivation to two, very obvious, emotions was wrong.

I knew in my bones -- based on 30 years of experience (first with my mother, then with my teachers and eventually my colleagues, wife, and children) -- that there were better ways to be persuasive than by stirring up fear and greed.

Sure, using fear sometimes seemed necessary -- to keep the kids from riding their bikes in the dark without headlights, for example. But mostly it paralyzed the person I wanted to motivate. I found it to be both heavy-handed and clumsy. There were many other emotions and desires I could stimulate that would get the job done.

And greed? I grew up in a household where greed was considered a deadly sin -- "the devil's instrument." I had no desire to use it as my own.

I wanted to build my career by working with, and selling to, people who, like me, were subject to greed and fear but wanted to rise above those base impulses.

I wasn't being altruistic. Not really. I didn't want to associate myself with greedy, fearful people because I knew I couldn't trust them. I couldn't trust them as friends. I couldn't trust them as business partners. And I couldn't trust them as customers either.

So even before I got into marketing in a serious way, I knew something about persuasion that most of the experts writing books and giving lectures did not seem to know.

And I had enough common sense to recognize that just because something is often said and generally believed doesn't make it so.

I'm happy to say that the myth about fear and greed has been eroding. I believe Bill Bonner had something to do with that. The great promotions he wrote in the early 1970s relied on other emotions and instincts to sell his products. Gary Bencivenga and Clayton Makepeace, too, wrote copy that helped disprove this lie.

The biggest move forward came, ironically, from a man whose intention was to warn consumers against marketing. In his book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert Cialdini, a professor of social psychology at Arizona State University, analyzed dozens of very successful promotions. He didn't choose the ones that relied on greed and fear. Instead, he focused attention on those that used more subtle, clever approaches.

The consumers he was hoping to enlighten hardly read the book. But it became a great hit with a lot of marketers who applied Cialdini's insights on the psychology of persuasion to their promotions.

Among Cialdini's insights were these:

• We instinctively try to reciprocate when someone does something for us.

• Once we've made a commitment to do something, we strive to be consistent with that decision.

• We tend to look to others to determine what our decision should be in any given situation.

• We prefer to say yes to the requests of people we know and like.

Cialdini eventually crossed the river and became an authority on marketing. His later books and seminars taught how to do the kind of subtle marketing he had despised. Good for him. Good for us. (I say "good for us" because I believe this kind of marketing is not only more effective, it is more honest. But that's another subject for another essay.)

As I said, the idiotic "rule" about fear and greed has been eroding -- but it's never going to completely disappear.

Why? Because many marketers still believe that fear and greed are the most motivating of all the emotions. And there is some evidence to support this.

Let's begin with fear.

Fear is a primal emotion -- one that was inherent in man at a very early stage of human evolution. It is also an essential emotion, one that is necessary for survival.

Neurobiologists tell us that our primal emotions are rooted deeply in our "reptilian" brains and are instinctive. Because they are instinctive, they can be very strong and very difficult to overcome.

And there is no doubt that fear is effective in selling all sorts of products -- from burglar alarms to baby monitors to almost every form of insurance.

But just because an emotion is strong doesn't mean it should be used to market everything.

The reason is simple. Human beings have three "primal" responses to fear: to fight, to flee, or to be paralyzed into inactivity. And a marketer doesn't want his prospects to do any of those things.

In selling investment advice (something I've done a good deal of), fear has sometimes been useful. But I've noticed that if you crank up the fear, you reduce the responsiveness to your ad. A little fear can go a long way when you are trying to motivate people to worry about their savings or their job security, for instance. But you must quickly follow that fear with hope of some kind.

And that brings us to greed.

Proponents of the fear-and-greed approach often argue that the smart thing to do is to follow a fear-based lead with an appeal to the prospect's greed.

But I have found that if you do that, you wind up attracting the kind of customer you don't want: someone who is gullible and greedy.

You can't build a business by selling to the gullible and greedy. You can make scores, sometimes big scores. But you will never have a sustainably profitable business.

About six months ago, I had a conversation with a copywriter who'd had amazing success with several fear-and-greed promotions. In fact, his commissions on all the sales from those campaigns should have come to more than a million dollars. I say "should have," because his clients discovered that many of the buyers brought in by his fear-and-greed promotions asked for refunds. And those that stayed were not good buyers of their other products.

So he made out temporarily, but eventually lost most of his clients.

I suggested that he learn to appeal to other emotions. He wasn't interested. He just kept on using his credentials to snare new clients... until they, too, experienced the same disappointing results. And now I hear through the grapevine that he's finding it harder and harder to find anyone who will buy his copy. (By the way, he sent me an e-mail this morning. I haven't read it yet. I wonder if he's "seen the light.")

Greed doesn't work because good customers, the kind that will stick with you and continue to buy from you year after year, don't think of themselves as greedy. They want to be successful. They want to make more money. But they don't want to be greedy.

That is enough for today. I'll share my thoughts on some of the other primal emotions you can appeal to -- such as joy, sadness, and the desire for sex -- in the second essay in this series. And then, in the third essay, I'll get into the more subtle and powerful emotions and desires that are, at least in my view, much more important to understand.

Meanwhile, here is what I want you to take away from this:

Use fear as a primary emotion to sell insurance products (which include such things as burglar alarms, baby monitors, etc.). For other products, you can try a little fear... but don't go too far with it. Then concentrate on giving your prospects hope. Hope is far and away a much stronger selling proposition than fear.

And never use greed. Greed-based promotions will only attract customers who will ruin your business.

Have You Transformed Selling Into Serving Yet?

There are so many negative feelings around selling. You may feel that you’re being pushy, you may feel like you’re not good at selling. A lot of people don’t like to refer to themselves as being in sales. They believe that people won’t like them or will think of them in a different way than what is actually true.

What you may not realize is that you are always selling. When you suggest a restaurant to go to you are selling your companions on it. When you suggest a family vacation you are selling your family on the destination you think should be visited. You need to shift your beliefs around selling to have success at it.

You need to Transform Selling into Serving. Get inside the hearts and heads of your ideal clients so you understand what they want and the specific issues you can help them solve. By looking into their hearts and heads and finding out about the pain they are experiencing and how they would feel to have that pain go away, you are serving them in the best way you can. You are not selling them something they don’t need…they are seeking the solution you are holding!

By serving people and offering them a solution to the problem that is making them so upset you can feel good about what you are offering to them.

Remember, you have the key to solving their problem and making their pain go away. This is what they are buying…the solution.

By presenting the problem people are having and your solution to fix that problem and take their pain away, you have transformed selling to serving.

Let people FEEL how you can help them. Let them FEEL your emotion. People buy based on the emotions they are feeling and if those emotions are bad and you can make them good, then all the more reason to buy from you or work with you!

Think of when you have purchased something. Did it help you with the problem you were having? Did you feel better after you implemented what the solution was? This is what you want your clients/customers to feel as well. You didn’t feel you were being sold on something you didn’t want or need, you bought the product because of the emotion it stirred up in you!

The success of your business is directly related to the beliefs you hold around selling. You attract clients/ customers to you based on the overall energy you are radiating. Attracting clients is an inside job. Your beliefs about selling either attract or repel people and directly impact your words and actions.

Learn more today about how to Transform Selling into Serving so you can move your business ahead quicker at a more energetic level for you!

Love & JOY,

Sharon Wilson

"The best way to predict your future is to create it."
~ Stephen Covey

Manufacture Your Own Success
By PJ McClure

"Wow, that's almost too simple," was Joe's response when I laid out my concept about his mindset.

"Do you see any holes in it? Anything that doesn't apply?" I asked.

He considered the question and shook his head. "It answers every question I've ever had about why I see things the way I do and how I can make great things happen more consistently." He sat up and leaned forward, "This is seriously exciting stuff!"

Joe's reaction was consistent with other successful people I studied. All of them went through life with certain routines and habits, but they all knew that there were deeper explanations for how they achieved success. I noticed the greater level of success a person had, the greater their desire to know why it happened.

Compare that with the moderately successful people down to abject failures I studied. They would obsess with reasons when things went wrong, but seldom gave their thoughts or actions a second thought when things went right. Chalking up successes to good fortune and luck was the norm. "Why try to fix what's not broken," was the overriding sentiment.

This nonchalant attitude spells a major difference between inconsistent, okay results and continually amazing performance. The idea isn't about fixing something that works, but to understand what works so we can repeat the success and improve our performance. A desire and love of awareness is where all of this starts.

I first began to understand awareness as a tool for personal growth in the unlikely world of manufacturing. Good manufacturers remain aware of what is going on in their processes so that they know when things are working well and when there is need for concern. Awareness is also the foundation from which all quality management systems build.

Lean, SixSigma, TQM, etc., all rely on the company and its people staying aware on a regular basis. Initially, awareness stems from verbalizing and documenting what the processes entail. Knowing how each piece progresses and integrates with the others is vital to a successful operation. More than 90% of all manufacturing problems exist because different departments don't realize how they impact each other.

When I've lead groups through process mapping, it is often the first time individuals see how they function within the whole. There is a new appreciation and importance for each step in their day. For the first time, they are aware and understand where they are in the scope of possible quality. Without the clarity of establishing a baseline, there is no way to measure progress or make improvements.

The second level of awareness happens during the process. It may seem obvious that you're aware while in motion, but motion does not equal awareness. That's where the phrase, going through the motions, comes from. We do things without thinking or noticing what is actually happening.

In a production line environment, unaware workers can create bottlenecks and voids that threaten to shutdown everyone around them. When they are aware of their influence up and downstream, they can observe potential pile-ups and make adjustments in process to correct for the moment. Bringing awareness to the act allows for greater insight and efficiency.

Finally, quality management systems bring awareness to the evaluation stage. We planned the process and executed the process, now we look to see how we can make it better. The questions are simple, direct, and powerful.

• What did we plan for?
• How did we perform according to plan?
• What did we learn while performing toward the plan?
• How can it be better next time?

This is the cyclical nature of improvement. Plan, execute, evaluate, improve, plan, execute...and it requires heightened awareness.

The greatest companies in the world use quality management systems to promote continual improvement and growth. I studied them continually while working for my MBA and have gone to numerous trainings that focus on the awareness needed for continual improvement. Companies spend millions to get these systems in place because of the potential return on investment.

Still yet, I've seldom seen any effort put toward making the same system important for the individual life. My primary role when coaching or consulting with someone regarding mindset is to first, heighten their awareness. When properly guided, our mindsets respond like a system that determines the quality of our lives. To take control of our mindsets we must first be aware.

Just like a quality management system for your life, we record, execute, evaluate, and improve each area. If you don't keep a journal as a habit, start now.

• Write down how you feel about the major areas of your life. Relationships, health, profession, spirituality, personal growth, and so on. How would you rate your level of fulfillment and satisfaction with each? Give it a rating from
  1 to 10.
  
  
• What are your habits and routines around those major areas? These are the things that have gotten you where you are.
  
  
• Journal daily about what you notice in those areas. Make immediate corrections and adjustments for improvement when you can. Note areas for future evaluation.
  
  
• Go back through your journal on a weekly, monthly basis and look for patterns. Where did things work well? How about, not so well?
  
  
• What can you do to make them better, regardless of how well they worked?
  
  
• Make your plan of improvement and put it into action!

Rinse and repeat... keep repeating the cycle and gaining deeper awareness. The goal is not perfection, but a life of constant improvement. As your awareness increases, you become more efficient and less stressed. Feelings of overwhelm dissipate because you understand how all parts of your life integrate to produce the whole.

A beautiful contradiction gives you peace. The greater your awareness of life's complexity, the less complex your life becomes.

Take the lead from the production juggernauts of the last century. Understand where you are, pay attention to how you perform daily, evaluate how that performance serves your life, and make your next performance better. This simple and powerful formula will change your life and help you manufacture your own success and happiness.
***

Killing Your Competition with (Client) Kindness

by Maribeth Kuzmeski, Author of …And The Clients Went Wild

Once upon a time customer service meant more than pressing 2 to wait (and wait and wait) for “the next available representative.” Companies valued those who bought their goods and services and went the proverbial extra mile to make them happy. Today we’re more likely to hear about a company that’s ripped off its customers.

Failing to make your customers happy is more than a shame. It’s slow-motion corporate suicide. If you want to make it in today’s crowded, recession-wracked market, you absolutely must create clients and customers who rave about your company the way they would their favorite sports team.

Obviously, making raving fans out of your clients is easier said than done. If it were easy, then corporate giants that have plenty of money to throw at such a concept would be overrun with happy customers.

Following are five core marketing principles for getting clients to go wild about you!

1st Principle: What Are YOU Doing That No One Else Is Doing? In order to gain exposure, it helps to be or to offer something unique—or do something that no one else dares. It’s true that standing out from the crowd is probably the riskiest of the five principles. However, it may be equally risky to run a conservative, “under-the-radar” firm these days—you risk becoming an anachronism. While successful firms stick to their values, they also find ways to be so exciting that people don’t have a choice but to pay attention…and buy.

2nd Principle: Focus Your Marketing on Benefits, Results, and a Call to Action. Another way to gain success is to ensure you are answering the question, What’s really in it for me? for your clients. Too many businesses accentuate the features of their products or services rather than the benefits—what your clients really care about. “Open 24 Hours” is a feature. Benefits are value statements about the features of a product or service, with an emphasis on what the customer gets. For example, a benefit might be that a product makes you look slimmer or saves lots of money on gas. Too many companies leave it up to their prospects to figure out the benefits of their products or services.

3rd Principle: Go Viral! A viral message is an idea, notion, or practice that’s transmitted from person to person through speech, gestures, the internet, email, or other media. It ignites and motivates people to move the message. Most viral marketing programs give away valuable products or services to attract attention—free benefits, information, software programs, or downloads. It’s essential that you do everything possible to make it easier for people to access information or material that may go viral.

4th Principle: Leverage Your Business Network for Incremental Growth. It takes a plan, but using your network—business and otherwise—can be the miracle alternative to the typical grind of cold calls and prospecting. A productive business network is filled with respected, well-connected, influential people—called “Centers of Influence”—that share your target market and have a complementary rather than a competing service or product. You can capitalize on these connections by creating strategic alliances or by simply sharing your networks and making referrals.

5th Principle: The Ability to Execute Is Critically Important to Your Game Plan. In today’s fast-moving, completely networked world, superior execution is clearly driving success for business. Small business owners are great at adopting many new marketing ideas. What they are not so great at is finishing. The best marketing strategy is the one you can pull off completely.

Perhaps more than ever before people want to do business with those they feel they can trust. They are attracted to businesses they feel will go out of their way to provide them the absolute best products or services available. And the absolute best way to elicit that trust in prospects is by having clients who cheer you on at every turn. So, don’t waste another second waiting to develop a marketing plan that will influence your clients to go wild for you.

I'm not in a slump, the economy is!

In case you hadn’t noticed, the economy is still hurting. And the universal cry of salespeople not making enough sales is, “IT’S THE ECONOMY!”

In a slump? Not making enough (or any) sales. Feel like you're unable to get out of the rut? Is it the economy, or is it YOU?

Maybe you're not in a big slump, but just can't seem to hit the quota numbers. Let's be kind and call it “sales under-achievement.”

Don't panic.

Don't press too hard.

Don't get down on yourself.

Don't get mad.

And above all - don't quit.

OK, OK, there’s a slowdown (a recession), but don’t be too quick to blame your lack of performance on “it” before you take a hard look at “you.” And take a closer look at “slump” before you blame “economy.”

Here are the prime causes of sales slumps:

Poor belief system. I don't believe that my company or product is the best. I don't think that I'm the best.
Poor work habits. Getting to work late, or barely “on time.” Not spending your time with people who can say “yes.”
Misperceptions that lead to sour grapes. I think my prices are too high, or my territory is bad.
Outside pressure. Caused by money problems, family problems, or personal problems.
Poor personal habits. Too much drink, too much food, or too much after hours play.
Boss giving crap instead of support. Someone who says, “You better do it,” instead of, “I know you can do it.”
Events that go against you. New salesperson passes you, someone else gets promoted and you knew it should have been you.
Customer cancels a big order. Weakening your personal belief or causing severe money problems - or both.
Competition cuts price and steals the order. This is the new reality of business.
Getting depressed. From any of the above.

When you're in a slump, you begin to press for orders instead of working your best game plan (which is: “sell to help the other person,” and let your sincerity of purpose shine through). When you have the pressure to sell, the prospect senses it, and backs off.

Then things get worse. You can't seem to sell at all, and begin to panic. Oh my gosh, I can't sell a thing, I'll get fired and miss my house payment. Aaaahhhhhh! False fear. Relax, you're better than that.

What causes a slump? You do. Therefore, you are the best (only) person too fix it.

• Here's a prescription to help cure sick sales:
  
• Study fundamentals - Usually what's wrong is not complicated. In fact, you probably know what's wrong. Your problem is that you think it's someone or something else's fault. Wrong. List two or three areas that need immediate care. Have the guts to take action.
  
• Revisit your (or make a new) plan for success. Today.
  
• List 5 things you could be doing to work smarter AND harder. Make a plan to work as smart as you think (or say) you are. Hard work can change your luck.
  
• Change your presentation. Try a different approach. Take the customer’s perspective.
  
• Talk to your five best customers. Ask them to evaluate your situation.
  
• Get someone you respect to evaluate you presentation. Take them with you on sales calls. Get a coach.
  
• Visit your mentor. And have a new plan to discuss when you get there.
  
• Get to work an hour before everyone. Put in more productive time.
  
• Stay away from pity parties. Don't make a slump worse by whining or hanging around a bunch of negits and underachievers.
  
• Hang around positive, successful people. The best way to get to success.
  
• Have some fun. Go to a comedy club. Do a little extra of what you like to do best (unless too much fun is the cause of your slump).
  
• Spend 30 minutes a day (in the morning is best) reading about your positive attitude. Then listen to attitude CDs and sales CDs in the car ALL DAY.
  
• Listen to your favorite song just before a presentation. Go in to your next call singing.
  
• Take a day off. Chill out, take stock, make a plan, re-group, re-energize, and return with renewed determination and better energy.
  
• Rearrange your office. Shake things up a little, make them look new.
  
• Record your presentations live. Then listen in the car immediately afterwards. Take notes. Act to correct.
  
• Video tape your presentation. Watch it with others who can give you constructive feedback.
  
• Take the best salesperson you know out on calls with you for a day. Get a written evaluation after each call.
  
• Take your boss with you on calls for a week. You'll get more feedback than you can handle, but it will help.
  
• Avoid negative talk and negative people like the plague. Find people who will encourage you, not puke on you.
  
• Become more valuable to your customers. Send a weekly value message by email to everyone (it can be the same message to all). Tweet a value message or inspirational message daily..

The best way to get out of the rut is keep the slump in perspective. Once you accept the fact that you can change it, you can begin to recover. Be cool - you're the greatest, if you think you are. Believe in the most important person in the world. You!

THINK ABOUT THIS: When a baseball player is in a batting slump, he’ll do anything to “change his luck.” Things from superstition (rabbits foot, not shaving, wearing the same underwear) to changing batting stance, to video watching, to extra coaching. But the one thing that usually breaks the slump is extra batting practice - to regain the groove.Fundamentals, baby.

They, like you, have the professional ability, but temporarily lost it. They, like you, need to revisit the raw fundamentals to regain lost talent If you want to learn my secret for long-term name recognition and loyal customers,

Do You Understand

Your Niche?

The reason most people have trouble languaging their offerings is that they do not have a deep understanding of the problems their ideal clients/customers face. A deep understanding means you are able to not just name the problem but also the tangible implications of that problem and the feelings that result from that problem and its implications.

People feel energy and when the energy is mutually fun and beneficial magic happens! People want community that is relevant for them, their particular interests and issues. They want meaningful community and that includes the feeling of community of connectedness of being connected to something larger.

By defining your niche- who you want to work with, why you want to work with them, what their problem is, what your solution is to the problem, what results they will get by working/buying from you…you will start resonating at a higher level energy and be attracting your ideal clients (or as I also call them VCO’s…Vibrationally Called Ones).

Once you know who you want to work with and what you want to do you will notice that the Universe will deliver to you what you need. You don’t need to know the how right away, just make the decision, align your inner and outer energy with the decision and move forward. The how will show up as you go and often in ways you never expected. The Universe is funny like that. You may think you really want one thing but the Universe will decide that no, that’s not what you need and provide you with another direction.

You learn as you go and as you go you can always change things. The only way you become a master at anything is to fine tune what you do as you go. You just need to get out there and start doing it because that is what will activate the energy. Once you start you will see new opportunities and create new ideas often effortlessly. You just need to follow your inner guidance and you will be on the path you need to be at the point in your life you are at now. Be OK with where you are now!

The Value of Real Personalization We're smack in the middle of our "Dinner with Jeffrey" contest. Customers are sending in some incredibly creative Email Greetings! It's a thrill to see what they've created and read their stories. We asked contestants, "Why would you like to have dinner with Jeffrey?" Therefore, many of the entries have featured Jeffrey's name in the design. One entry by a charcoal artist, included a portrait of Jeffrey. Now that's personalization! Are you using the power of personalization to grab your customers' attention? Personalizing messages to your customers with photos, graphics, stories, and their names can be valuable and help build relationships. It can demonstrate that you care, that you remember, and that you're thinking about them. However, not just any personalization counts! To mass marketers, personalization means pulling data from their enormous lists to merely add first names to the salutation of their emails – also known as spam. These days, customers roll their eyes at "techniques" like this. Personalization that gets a response must prove you know something more about the person than their name. You won't find it by mining your data. Look to your relationship – if you actually have one. When you reference your personal knowledge of a customer with genuine excitement and concern, the bond between you can grow. Pulling names from the data is OK as long as you also include real personalization. Does real personalization require more effort? Like most things in life that are valuable – absolutely! However, Ace of Sales can make it faster, easier, and funner. (Don't like the word "funner"? Then you don't want to ask me if I think Ace of Sales is the bestest.) Here's the winning hand of real personalization ideas: Ace of Hearts: In Ace of Sales, you can categorize your contacts with groups (use as many as you like!). Instead of sorting just by product types and service levels, why not categorize them by personal categories like "Slap-stick Humor Fanatics", "Chocolate Lovers", or "Sports Fans"? Groups allow you to easily send emails that are personalized with both the contact's name and a targeted topic they'll care about. "Hi Bob. The Three Stooges complete collection was just remastered in high def. I'm loving it! Thought you'd want to know. I bought it here for a great price! King of Hearts: One of the coolest ways to personalize an email or printed card is to take a picture of yourself holding up a personalized handwritten note when you're at an event like a trade show or on vacation. Just write on the back of your name badge, napkin, or park map, "Hi, Dave! To one of my Grandest Customers, hello from the Grand Canyon!" When you return, pop open Ace of Sales, and email it to them framed in a beautiful Email Greeting! Expect the phone to ring fast. Queen of Hearts: How often do you post shout-outs to your customers on Twitter or on your blog? Brag and boast on them, thank them, refer them to the world. It's the new way to do public recognition! Then, send them an email with a link to your tweet or post. Jack of Hearts: Be on the lookout for your customers' names. (Remember, there's no sweeter word to your customer.) At an amusement park this summer, I snapped a few photos of novelty mugs and ornamental belt buckles emblazened with the names of a few of my customers. I'll use them throughout the fall on Ace of Sales Email Greetings. [I took out Greeting Cards since we don't have that feature] Ten of Hearts: Here's a trick to add personalization to the body of your email message, rather than in the salutation alone. Next time you're creating an Email Greeting or Branded Email for a group of recipients in Ace of Sales, try typing "[First Name]" (without the quotes) anywhere in the body of your message. The bracketed text, called a tag, will be replaced with your customers' first names (without the brackets) in the sent email. For example, in your message type, "Tell me your thoughts on this, [First Name]." Then your recipients will see their own first names inserted in your message: "Tell me your thoughts on this, Bob."

Back to work. Back to Sales. Back to reality.

Summer's over.
Vacation’s over.
Lame “everyone’s on vacation” excuses are over.
Back to business.
Back to work.
Back to sales.

And by the way, in case you missed the news, the economy’s still in the crapper.

Back to reality. The economy still sucks. Business is still slow. Your competition is still cutting prices. Your customers are still paying slowly. And you are struggling to create a difference between you, and the people you hate. REALITY: Concentrate on YOUR economy, not THE economy.

What can you do that actually creates new and renewed opportunities to sell? PLENTY! But you have to renew your personal commitment to do more and work more.

Here are the elements you’ll need to devote time, creativity, and hard work to:
1. Understanding THEIR reality. You’re down because they are down. You’re slow because they’re slow. Meet with them. Talk to them. Understand them. Help them, and they will reward you with both business and loyalty. REALITY: Unless you help your customers win, you will continue to lose.

2. Value first. The more I espouse this philosophy, the more I am convinced it’s a key differentiator. Make a list of what you have discovered about your customers needs, and give them ideas to meet those needs. REALITY: Value first requires a new mindset.

3. Value perception. Whatever you decide to do in favor of the customer must be perceived by them as valuable. REALITY: If the customer doesn’t perceive it, then it isn’t.

4. Daily social media activity. Assuming that your policies and lawyers are coming to the reality that social media is dominating the world’s market attention, and are choosing to let you participate, get involved today. Begin your personal value-branding today. Goal yourself to gain 100 LinkedIn connections, achieve 500 Facebook followers who “like” you on your business page, and earn 250 Twitter followers who are re-tweeting the value messages you have to offer to them. REALITY: Social media is the new cold call.

5. Differentiation. Decide on what’s REALLY different about you. NOT what you think is different or better, rather what your customers think is different or better. And then get customer video testimonials that support those differences. REALITY: Testimonials are the only proof you’ve got.

6. Helping customers. If you know what your customers need, why not spend quality time actually helping them. Connect with them and offer genuine help. REALITY: Even if they don’t accept the offer, you will win their respect.

7. Brand building. This is BOTH for your product or service, AND you. REALITY: If you blog, have a personal website, and send a weekly email magazine, you can build both brands at once.

8. Creating WOW! There are huge opportunities right now to make a difference. Maybe it’s your email, your welcome, your delivery, your phone response, or your service. REALITY: You’ll know it when you hear it.

9. Breakfast and lunch. These are the two best times for relationship building and sales meetings. REALITY: You can combine this with WOW! by bringing a referral or prospect for your customer.

10. Creating and capturing IDEAS. The key ingredient to this entire “back to reality” process is your ability to generate and capture ideas. This requires new study, new habits, and new thinking. REALITY: Ideas come from focused thought, an open mind, a positive attitude, and a renewed belief that you can do it.

10.5 Forget your “sales-pitch” and lose your “sales-pitch.” It sounds pathetically like your competitors. It never ceases to amaze me that a sales presentation that ends in “send a proposal” or “I want to think about it” or “NO!” gets repeated over and over. IDEA: Collaborate with the last ten customers that bought from you. They have all the answers. It’s time to revise and revamp your value proposition, and present something new and exciting. REALITY: The more the prospect perceives value, the less that price will matter.

REALITY: Sales have not stopped, they’ve just slowed down. Your value and hard work will ensure you more than your fair share.

Five Crucial Characteristics Every Employee Must Encompass

• Kindness - The quality of being warmhearted, considerate, compassionate , and sympathetic. This means being pleasant and tender and having a genuine concern for others.
  
  
• Honesty - A facet of moral character that denotes positive, virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, and straightforwardness as well as the absence of lying, cheating, or theft.
  
  
• Integrity - When your actions are congruent and consistent with your values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcome.
  
  
• Urgency - Understanding that the task at hand is important and deserves immediate action.
  
  
• Passionate - An intense enthusiasm for or desire to engage in the work at hand.

I can look around at the men and women I am fortunate enough to call my colleagues, team members, and mentors, and 99% of them possess all five of these characteristics. If they don't, I usually don't give them my valuable time.

Remember - if you do not respect the person you are working with, their skill set is meaningless.

Now, you can look through hundreds of resumes without getting a good sense of whether a potential employee, partner, or vendor possesses these characteristics. That's why I always recommend giving anyone you may work with the "Human Test."

Have a brief phone call with a candidate first. Then bring him or her in for a meet and greet. You can talk about the position and your industry and get a sense of which of the above characteristics your candidate possesses. I also always recommend a trial period - a few weeks or months during which you can see how well you work together and take note of that person's true character.

Just remember that a strong character is more important than any other quality a potential employee, partner, or vendor can have. If you surround yourself with people who have strength of character - built around the five elements I mentioned above - you will always feel confident that your business is moving in the right direction.

GET MORE FROM YOUR NEXT SALES MEETING

by Jeff Schmitt

“Have a great vacation.”

They can’t be serious! No, our families picture a sales meeting as lounging at the beach, crashing the hot spots, and dining on filet mignon and sipping merlot in between. Sure, we’re shipped off to a resort…but it’s all business from there.

You know the drill. We spend the weeks before our ‘vacation’ writing territory plans, rehearsing presentations and endure mind-numbing WebExs. Jet lagged, we suffer through marathon role plays that would break the most hardened terrorist. And our meals are choreographed rah-rah sessions, capped off by some past-their-prime concert band (so that’s where our marketing dollars go).

Still, a sales meeting is the time to re-connect. For twelve months, we’re often distant colleagues who collaborate over conference calls and e-mails. But it takes a night of margaritas and karaoke to truly become friends. And by just “showing up,” you can miss critical opportunities to broaden your skill set and advance your career. To capitalize on your time, follow these strategies:

Have a Plan: A sales meeting is no different than a sales call: come prepared. Compile a list of who you want to meet and what you want to accomplish. Set up meeting times over meals or dead spots in the schedule. Whether you want to swap strategies or thank someone, focus on laying groundwork for the coming sales year.

Don’t forget, your peers are there for more than the food. They’re also using their time to build influence and jockey for the next job. That’s right: a sales meeting doubles as the company job fair. It’s the time to foster relationships with the right people and stay top of mind. So polish up your elevator pitch: this is your audition.

Get Involved: We sit around the table, absorbing case study-after-case study, while tourists plunge into a cool ocean a quarter mile away. Sure, you can update your Facebook, but does that really pass the time any faster?

So look passed the monotone deliveries and plagiarized hand outs. Instead, focus on finding that best practice that delights your never-satisfied client. Identify accounts where you can apply a nugget or two. Come prepared for your sessions as well. Instead of tuning out or staying under the radar, deliver a presentation or facilitate a panel. Bottom line: focus on reinforcing your personal brand. Someone is always watching.

Expand Your Network: From the flight to the golf course, you’re always looking to make connections. Sure, you want to pair off with those who’ve been in the trenches with you. But make a special effort to expand your circle. Strike up conversations with people you don’t know well. Look for opportunities to potentially work together. Remember, you’re selling yourself here, no different than when you’re in the field.

Be on Your Best Behavior: It’s easy to get a false sense of security. The staff pampers you; the higher ups give you their undivided attention. But keep your guard up. Don’t blow off sessions or ignore your workload back home. And don’t get lost in the moment, by saying or doing something that’ll be held against you. Eat right and exercise too. It’s a long meeting – you don’t want to crash on the last day.

Follow Up: Want to know why most training fails? There’s rarely any follow up! Too often, our notes (if we take any) are stuffed in a folder. The sessions are quickly forgotten and our new skills atrophy. On the plane home, put a plan together for when you return. What three ideas will you take back and apply? How will you evaluate your progress? Start immediately so you can capitalize on the momentum.

Relax: “I’m ready to go home.” Sure, we all say that on the last day. Before then, re-connect with your peers. Take an adventure and create memories in your free time. Most important, bask in the recognition and celebrate your accomplishments – you’ll be back to the cold hard reality of a new sales year soon enough.

Protecting the Lifeblood of Your Business
By MaryEllen Tribby

You could have endless debates about practically any topic related to the business world.

You might argue over the best type of business... A traditional brick-and-mortar business... Or an online information publishing business... Or something in between.

You could debate the most important skill set required to run a business. Many will declare it's marketing expertise... Others will insist it's the ability to create quality products... Still others will state it's relationship-building prowess.

But one thing in business is not debatable. It is the most critical aspect of ANY business. It is the single most important thing you need to obtain and maintain in order to keep your doors open. In fact, it's the very lifeblood of your organization.

Customers!

Making sure your customers are beyond satisfied with your products, services, and ongoing correspondence should be your number one priority!

But sometimes the system breaks down and you end up disappointing your customers.

Yes, mistakes happen. Sometimes your employees screw up. Sometimes you do.

Sometimes the mistake is small... Sometimes it's major...

Sometimes your customer is having a bad day... Sometimes your customer is understanding... And every once in a while, along comes your worst nightmare: that one-in-a-million customer who is just not happy unless he's miserable.

It doesn't matter which scenario you are dealing with: you have a lot at stake. Not just your time and money, but your reputation as well.

The good news is that you can turn an unhappy customer into a happy customer, one who stays with you and becomes your biggest fan.

10 Surefire Ways to Ensure Customer Exuberance

1. Cool off: Never deal with a customer problem immediately after reading or listening to nasty correspondence. Take a moment to cool down. This way, once you start to investigate the situation, you can do so from a professional and objective perspective rather than reacting emotionally or being defensive.

I know it is extremely hard to simmer down after you or some aspect of your company have been attacked. We take pride in what we do. When someone questions one of our products, one of our employees, or our integrity... it is personal.

However, you must be able to acknowledge the underlying complaint or problem... Separate yourself from the situation... And respond in a professional manner. That way, you will come out of the situation knowing your actions were above reproach.

2. Listen: Let your customer tell you her issue without interruption. When you try to correct or interrupt your customer, you will make matters worse.

3. Apologize: If you are the person the customer is speaking to, always apologize and take responsibility. Let him know you intend to get to the bottom of the situation once you have all the facts.

If you cannot resolve the situation during that initial communication, let the customer know you will get back to him within 24 hours. Make sure you follow through on the conversation!

4. Assess the situation: There is an old saying that goes like this: "When you assume, you make an ass out of you and me." As corny as it is - it's correct.

Don't make assumptions. Always get ALL the facts before trying to resolve a problem. If your employees are involved, talk to them. Ask them to give you their side of the story. If a joint venture partner is involved - even if she resides in a different time zone - wake her up or have an email ready for her in the morning.

Your customer may (and usually does) have a legitimate issue that may be a simple misunderstanding. When you know the facts and refrain from jumping to conclusions, you will usually be able to find a quick and mutually beneficial resolution.

5. Communicate via phone: How many times have you received an email and thought, "Boy was that rude! When I speak to that person I will give him a piece of my mind!"... only to speak to that person and find him to be polite and respectful? It is so hard to detect tone of voice in an email! A phone call is much better - especially when you're dealing with an upset or dissatisfied customer.

But conveying tone of voice is just one reason to correspond by phone. The other is that a phone call is immediate - and it takes more effort than dashing off an email. Picking up the phone shows respect and a sense of urgency. You make it clear that you care about the customer's experience and want to solve the issue as soon as possible. If the customer does not answer, leave her a message and then follow up with an email.

6. Never dispute a refund: All of your products should come with a money-back guarantee. If a customer wants to return a product for a refund - either within or outside the refund period - give him his money back. This shows that you are more interested in your customer's satisfaction than in his money. It's a good way to keep yourself in that person's good will.

By the way... Don't worry about people taking advantage of this. While some customers will ask for a refund at any time, most customers will honor your refund timeframe.

7. Send a surprise follow-up gift: We all love getting surprise gifts in the mail. Well, so do our customers! There are wonderful online services from which you can order little gifts for under $10. If you've just saved a $500, $1,000, or $5,000 sale, isn't spending $10 on a gift worth it?

While it doesn't need to be expensive, make sure the gift is personal and thoughtful. Do not send your customer a digital ebook via email or anything else that shows little effort.

8. Never ignore a complaint: So many entrepreneurs make the mistake of ignoring customer comments and complaints... especially if the complaints come from only one or two people. They brush it off as an anomaly. In reality, for every one comment you hear, there are 33 people who feel the exact same way or have the same problem but just choose not to tell you. And you can be sure that if they chose not to tell you, they will not buy from you again.

9. Meet with your team: I am not big on meetings for the sake of meetings. However, you should hold a team meeting every week. This way you will hear about any and every potentially damaging situation. This is where members of your team should bring up issues that need to be addressed right away.

10. Survey your customers: Communicating with your customers - and asking them for their thoughts - shows that you really care about them. Ask them to tell you not only what they like about your organization but also what they don't like. Chances are that you already know what you're doing right. But you may not be aware of some of the things that are bothering your customers.

Do not blow off the complaints or negative comments just because you disagree or do not want to face reality. Every complaint is an opportunity for you to improve your business!

All of these tactics can help you save relationships with your customers. But no matter what - whenever you deal with a customer, happy or angry, satisfied or dissatisfied - remember this:

Put yourself in your customer's shoes.

This is the easiest way of all to create a strong, lasting bond with your customer. Simply ask yourself how YOU would feel if YOU were in the customer's situation. And not just how you'd feel if you had the problem she may be having... But how you would feel if someone did not take you seriously... or kept interrupting you... or responded to you via email instead of the phone... or failed to respond to you at all. Then treat your customer the way YOU would like to be treated.

Do this and your business will flourish.

The Value of a Name One early morning, while heading home from a visit to the Gitomer Studios in Charlotte, I pulled off the highway to fuel up. There, next to the gas station, was a little diner with bright, '50's-style signage that read: Andy's Burgers Shakes & Fries I never wanted a burger more in my life – and I wasn't even hungry! Truth be told, it didn't matter what they were selling. It could have been jewelry, parrots, or a bazooka. My buying mode had been switched on simply because my name was on their door. Has this kind of thing ever happened to you? (Later on, I told my brother DaRyan about this experience but he couldn't relate. Did I mention his name is DaRyan?) Back to the story... I pulled the door handle while reaching for my wallet. Drat! They weren't open yet and I didn't have a couple hours to wait. Besides, a burger for breakfast was beginning to sound less appealing. Oh, well. At least it got me thinking about how strongly we're drawn to our name and how we light up at the sound of it. There really is no sweeter word. Customers are no different. Their name holds great meaning and importance to them. And you can use it to grab their attention and increase their attraction to you. Here are 6 ideas to do just that... 1. Your customer's name, begin and end with it! Don’t just include it in your hellos and salutations. Make sure you also sign off with the most engaging word possible... “Tell me what you think, Jack.” 2. Personalize important proposals. When those big opportunities present themselves and you prepare for your presentation, spend the time and money on proposal cover letters with the customers’ names on them. Use big, bold letters. Make one for everyone in the room. 3. Give gifts that are personalized with your customers' names. Most companies put their own names on the gifts they give. Forget that! Engrave it, print it, paint it, or embroider it with the customer’s name. They’ll keep it forever and tell everyone who gave it to them. 4. Mention your customer in a blog article by name. It doesn’t matter how many read your blog. Perhaps it’s just you. Post an article about your customer, bragging on something that impressed you or something you learned from them. Include their name three or for times. Put it in the title. Then... email them the link. 5. Record a customer video. Start it off the video by simply saying their name. "Mary Wilson." Pause. Then continue by expressing thanks to them, describing their accomplishments, or sharing some of their wisdom. Make sure the last two words at the end of the video are their first and last name. “Thank you, Mary Wilson.” Post it to your YouTube channel (you can make it private or public) and email them the link. 6. Display their name in your lobby. When your customer visits, put their name in lights. Don’t have lights? Show it on a big monitor! Don’t have a monitor? Make a poster. Write it on a white board. Get your kids to write it with crayons. If they remember one thing from their visit, it will be your sign with their name on it.

Listen to Your Gut
By Perry Marshall

Recently, I consulted with a student who had invested heavily in a business that was making money but involved dealing with seedy individuals.

He was conflicted about it. He'd put quite a bit of money into the venture. It was profitable, thus doubly hard to walk away from. But he didn't feel good about what he was selling or who his customers were. His head and his gut were duking it out.

I don't like to just come out and tell people what to do in a situation like this. So here's what I said to him...

"One of the most valuable skills I've honed is the ability to listen to my gut.

"I learned this the hard way.

"There was an investor in the company I worked for who I personally liked. But every time he called, I'd feel a subtle, almost imperceptible, wave of fear. Only much later did I realize his mission was to slice my fingers off, one bloody joint at a time. (Figuratively speaking, of course.)

"My head didn't know it, but my gut did.

"Ignoring my gut turned out to be a costly mistake."

Your gut can send you good signals, too. When I interviewed Mendy Butler, for example, who is now my Most Excellent Customer Service Person, I didn't know her at all. So I wasn't sure I should hire her. But as she got up to leave, a cool song started playing in my head: "We likes Mendy!"

I did follow through and check all her references -- but hearing that song in my head was the green light that she was the gal for the job.

Another example: At the very first seminar I put on, David Bullock stole the show. I got waves of raves about his presentation about online testing and tracking. He was totally tuned in with great information. He was entertaining, fun, even arresting.

And you know what?

He'd never had any speaker training.

He'd never spoken to a seminar audience before.

He'd never even been to that kind of seminar.

But I made him my keynote speaker and he totally rocked.

My gut told me to feature him.

He's now got speaking invitations from major seminar promoters all over the biz.

At first, it's not easy to detect your inner voice. But little by little, you begin to see through the haze and hear it more clearly.

As I told my student, if you ignore your gut today, it will be harder to hear its voice at all tomorrow.
Never disconnect your most reliable instruments.

I think my student will do the right thing. And in the process, he will teach his Inner CFO a lesson: "We're in charge of the money here, boys. The money is not in charge of us."

Small seeds grow and multiply. Little hinges swing big doors. Seemingly insignificant choices have far-reaching consequences. A decision to heed your best instrumentation, and become even more reliant on it instead of less, benefits you in unforeseeable ways.

Listen to your gut.

Do You Manage Your

Energy To Stop

Spinning Your Wheels?

You may not realize how important it is to manage your energy. You may not realize your energy is even tangled. I can tell you that there is an inner and outer approach to everything you do and in order to be successful you need to start with the inner and move to the outer.

You will recognize the feeling of tangled energy though. That is the feeling you get when you feel overwhelmed, confused, tired, sick…all of it can be due to tangled energy around one or many topics in your life.

The time you spend developing your skills in managing your energy gradually decreases and minimizes the amount of time you spend spinning your wheels or dealing with consequences of tangled energy.

There are a number of tools you can use to manage your energy and I teach them all in my Free Essentials Community, but here is one example to help you right away.

There is a basic principle of energy management. It is a higher guidance that operates within you. You can think of it as a connection at a sort of telepathic level. This is the energy source from which all life force flows. It connects us all. When you consciously tap into that connection you have tapped into unlimited potential.

One way to make something tangible is to put it into a solid form. If you think of your inner guidance showing up like a person you would be giving them a personification.

To symbolically represent your inner guidance imagine them showing up in a hat. Whatever image comes to mind right now…let that be OK. Sometimes it may be a word instead or a feeling that you get. Using a tangible thing like a hat provides the missing link to that energy source.

Now find, make or draw that hat. By having it in your hands you are channeling a powerful connection to source energy and will be on your way to managing your energy.

Check out the Essentials community and learn more tools that will help you to manage your energy and move forward in your life!

"Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of intelligent effort."

John Ruskin

Quality Is Not a Thing, It's a Way

By Harvey Mackay

I recently had the opportunity to speak to members of the Food Processing Suppliers Association. In doing my preparation, one thing that kept coming up was food safety. One mistake can destroy a company.

How would you like to deal with that kind of pressure? I bet if you asked most businesspeople if they could be 99.9% perfect, they'd take it. In some industries that might cut the mustard, but it certainly won't in others.

If everyone achieved 99.9% quality, according to Insight Syncrude Canada Ltd., this is what could happen:

• Two plane landings daily at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago would be unsafe.

• The IRS would lose two million documents this year.

• 22,000 checks would be deducted from the wrong bank accounts in the next 60 minutes.

• 1,314 phone calls would be misplaced every minute.

• 12 babies would be given to the wrong parents each day.

• 268,500 defective tires would be shipped this year.

• 103,208 income tax returns would be processed incorrectly this year.

• 2,488,200 books with the wrong cover would be shipped in the next 12 months.

• 5,517,200 cases of soft drinks produced in the next 12 months would be flatter than a bad tire.

• 3,056 copies of tomorrow's Wall Street Journal would be missing one of the three sections.

• 18,322 pieces of mail would be mishandled in the next hour.

• 880,000 credit cards in circulation would turn out to have incorrect cardholder information on their magnetic strips.

• 20,000 incorrect drug prescriptions would be written in the next 12 months.

• 114,500 mismatched pairs of shoes would be shipped this year.

• 107 incorrect medical procedures would be performed by the end of the day today.

When I founded Mackay Envelope Company many years ago, every time we landed a new account we checked and double-checked the first order to make certain it was correct. Nothing is more destructive to a company's bottom line and its relations with customers than defective products. We still test throughout the manufacturing process and then test again just before shipping. Then we test the testers to make sure they know what they're doing.

Quality is a mindset. It must be an obsession. It has to be part of a company's culture. You can't just talk about it. You have to practice it every day for years.

As Aristotle said, "Quality is not an act. It is a habit."

Have you ever seen a team run on the field yelling, "We want to be number two?" Everyone wants to be #1. Those who actually achieve it are those who are willing to put the blood, sweat, and tears into their effort.

The American Society for Quality Control published a booklet many years ago called "The Hare and the Tortoise Revisited: The Businessman's Guide to Continuous Quality Improvement." One story tells about a Japanese quality expert who stresses the need for patience and discipline. He likens the quality process to farming bamboo. Once the bamboo seed is planted, the farmer waters it every day. He does that for four years before the tree even breaks ground. But when it finally does, it grows 60 feet in the next 90 days.

It's that kind of commitment to the long view that marks the companies which have been most successful in achieving outstanding quality.

Bottom line: Quality products and quality service begin with quality thinking, and it's the same in any business. Everyone talks about quality, but customers can quickly figure out who is willing to make the required effort. And those businesses have a very good chance of sticking around for a very long time.
Quality comes from pride. Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it. So you need to autograph your work with excellence.

If it's almost right, it's wrong.

Mackay's Moral: The difference between failure and success is the difference between doing a thing nearly right and doing it exactly right.