2013 without a Plan is a Dream

"Goals without Actions are Dreams, Actions without Goals are Chaos”

Japanese Proverb

I borrowed this old proverb to make my point in the subject line. Does it feel like Chaos most of the time around your place of business. Does it seem like everyone is really busy, but busy just reacting all day keeping their head down and putting out fires and helping customers? 2013 is upon us and the only way I know to improve your company is to build a plan and execute that plan. A plan that includes Goals, Core Purpose, Vision, Tactics and Strategy, and an assessment of your Strengths , Weaknesses and Opportunities and Threats. The Leadership Matrix ebook or presentation can lead you through this or you can bring someone in to facilitate. Either way I suggest the first step is building a plan.

The second step is to build a rhythm into the business so that you take the Tactics/Actions, prioritize them and meet weekly to follow up and ensure execution.

This plan cannot be done and then never looked at again. To Start the process I suggest you hand out this StartStop Keep document to every employee and have them return it to you. This can be the input, from the front lines, to begin to plan your 2013. Ideas that can make you more efficient and effective business. Whatever you do, build a plan for 2013 and a process into your business to execute it over time.

 

As Yogi Berra said,  “If you don’t know where you  are going you might not get there”.

 

Zig is Gone, But Not Forgotten

  "Shy salespeople have skinny kids."  

- Zig Ziglar  

One of my favorite "sources" of learning died last week (November 28^th). Zig Ziglar made sales an art form, while he taught us to be better people and live better lives.  

He will live forever through his stories, books, audio programs and keynote speeches. The sly old country boy who became world famous and helped three generations of salespeople refine the art of serving, not selling their clients.  

Here is a short video excerpt from one of his presentations and a short podcast that demonstrate the power of his stories:

The Shame Close

Overcoming Fear

All the best,

Rick Wallace 

What Do You Do With Your Leads?

“People are not ready to buy when you are ready to sell”

-Zig Zigglar

Studies show that only 3% of any market is ready to buy, yes pull the trigger, at any given time. No wonder our interruptive advertising, direct mail, email blast only garner a <1 font="font" rate.="rate." response="response">

Here is the other dilemma that is working against your marketing/sales program – the leads we get from our efforts are not followed up. We, all of us, tend to follow up once or twice, if they are not ready to buy or can’t tell us when they will be ready we put them in a pile and never contact them again.

Studies prove this.

To summarize my favorite one:

• 80% of the sales are made between the 5^th and 12^th contact
• Only 10% of companies follow up  more than 3 times

I think you see the big disconnect. These “leads” that many call “tire kickers”, because they aren’t ready to buy right now will buy at some point in the future. They are doing research, looking around or they would not have said “yes” to your offer or call to action, searched your website or dropped by the store.

If we are not top of mind when they are ready to buy then they will buy from someone else.

Thus a really effective marketing plan includes a Marketing Machine, an automated follow up, nurturing system to make sure we stay in front of these leads so when the time comes they will think of us. We will have built the trust necessary for them to buy from us.

How do we do that? Via what I call “TIPS”. These can be short emails with videos, text, audios, etc . that are bits of relevant information that address their pains and fears. Simple, but informative.

(Like you are reading right now)

Absolutely no sales. I mean no sales, no offers, no coupons, no calls to action. The minute they see a hint of this they will never read one again. Remember we are trying to build trust here and stay “ top of mind” with these people over a long period of time. That means stick to serving them with good, relevant information they can use.

Here is an example of one of my client's TIPS – the template is easy to build in Constant Contact. Then, over time, begin writing the TIPS and put them in a queue to go out in a consistent interval like weekly, bi weekly, monthly. You don’t have to build them all at once do one a week and soon you will have a whole queue built.

Be there when people are ready to buy, not just when you are trying to sell. Nurture your leads.

Rick Wallace

84% of Sales Are Word of Mouth

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."  

- Maya Angelou, Poet 

Referrals are something we all talk about but never seem to put any focus on. Reviews on our Google Places pages, testimonials, etc. are all the single most important part of a true Marketing Machine. Below is a short article by Brain Tracy about "word of mouth advertising", and see my presentation on the subject of creating a "Formal Referral  Program". It is simple and quick but it takes some focused effort - an investment that will payoff in rapid growth.    

From Brian Tracy:

Did you know that 84 percent of sales in America take place as the result of word-of-mouth advertising?

Some of the most important sales promotion sales activities are those that take place between customers and prospects, between friends and colleagues, in the form of advice and recommendations on what to buy, or not buy, and who to buy from. What does this mean for you?

It means that the only way that you can be among the top ten percent of salespeople in your industry is by having your existing customers selling for you on every occasion. Because of the importance of mega-credibility in selling, your customers must be happy to open doors to new customers for you wherever they go.

Never Prospect Again

All top salespeople eventually reach the point where they seldom have to prospect because their customers do much of their selling for them. When you live your life consistent with your personal and business mission statements, both fitting together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, your sales career will soar, as will your sales results and your earnings.

Be Clear About Who You Are

One important point with regard to vision, values and mission statements: be gentle with yourself. It has taken you your whole life to become the person you are today. If you are like everyone else, you are not perfect. You have lots of room to grow and improve. There are many changes that you can make in your character and personality in the course of becoming the excellent human being that you aspire to. But change in your personality will not come easily, and it won't come overnight. You must be patient.

Persist Until Your Succeed
The reason that people grow and become better and better over the course of time, is because they persist gently in the direction of their goals and dreams. They don't expect overnight transformations. When they don't see results immediately, they don't get discouraged. They just keep on keeping on. And you must do the same.

All the best,

Rick Wallace 

A Man And His Dogs

  "The secret of business, especially these days, is to focus relentlessly on
your unfair advantage - the thing you do that others don't." 
- John Rollwagen, Executive

   

 "People who have a "job" will work for money, people who believe what you believe will give you their blood, sweat and tears."

 - Simon Sintek

What is your unfair advantage?

What the heck can Facebook do for me and my business?

How can having a passion for what I do and understanding my Why, my Core Purpose of being in business, help me grow my business?

Recently, I met a 57 year-old business owner, who has built and sold two other businesses, and then found the one that allows him to live his Core Purpose every hour of the day.

He has embraced social media as a tool to allow him to build a "tribe" of followers and a business that is thriving with recurring Ideal Customers and attracting new ones every month. This is just a tool he is using to communicate what he believes.

Meet J.J. Valone, owner of Pheasants On the Flats in Batavia, New York. Joe sent me an email after I visited the other day complete with photos of my friend and his dog. In that email Joe said:

"I am simply among the richest men in the world. The smiles and friendships are priceless!  I truly want to see the Flats always provide a "quality outdoor experience" for many years to come."

Another quote that day from him was:

"You have to remember the dog's name when they drive up. If you forget the person's name it is okay, as long as you remember their dog's name."

If you want to see how Facebook should really work take a look at his facebook page.  

Look at his website and you will see the same. It all oozes with his passion and his Core Purpose "to see people and their dogs enjoy the outdoors and each other."

Click on the About Us page and the Your Host. 

You can do this for your business - this can be your unfair advantage - find your Core Purpose and communicate it to your Ideal Customers and Prospects - build your own tribe by telling them what you believe. If they believe what you believe they will stay with you forever.

 

All the best,

Rick Wallace 

Emergency Room Doctors

"Some of us will do our jobs well and some will not,
but we will be judged by only one thing - the result." 
- Vince Lombardi



What is it we reward? Is it activity, being busy? What should we reward? Results?

From Seth Godin:

Emergency room doctors.

 

It's a mindset, not just a job. 

You can pitch them as hard as you like about having them work to persuade their patients to give up smoking (after all, it saves lives in the long run), but I think you'll find that they're a lot more interested in stopping the bleeding.

We need emergency room doctors, no doubt. I just wonder if we have too many of them in your organization. (Editorial from Rick: Or do you perform like one every day and thus promote this mindset?) If all we do is reward fast first aid in what people do at work, is it any wonder we don't have enough attention to the strategy, habits and choices that would eliminate the need for all that running around in the first place?

It helps to know how prevalent the "emergency room" culture is before you start training your people on a new long-term strategy.  

  

All the best,

Rick Wallace 

Your Most Important Client

"There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently

that which should not be done at all."    

- Peter Drucker

 

One of my clients who has been overwhelmed with business, personal and volunteer work needed a little dose of commitment to saying no to some things, blocking her calendar and focusing on The Right Things, the Rocks that will help her reach her goals.

We discussed and agreed that a blocked hour-just for her to work on Rocks, things that would make her business better - was as important as any client meeting.  This takes a commitment to one's self. She had to stay committed to stop, focus and not let distractions get in the way. She agreed that even her best client walking in the door while she had her door closed working on a Rock could be handled in a way that the client was served and left happy. Finally, she said "You are right I will put a sign up on my door to remind me I'm my "Most Important Client".

See Steve Chandler's insights below:

"It is hard to work with others if you don't have time to talk to them.
 
And as David Allen says: "You have more to do than you can possibly do. You just need to feel good about your choices."

Multi-tasking is the greatest myth in modern-day life. The brain itself does not multi-task, and so people do not really multi-task. The human system is not set up that way. The system has one thought at a time.

And, as business efficiency expert Kerry Gleeson has noted, "The constant, unproductive preoccupation with all the things we have to do is the single largest consumer of time and energy."

People who find joy in their work find ways to relax into an extremely purposeful day, goal-oriented and focused on the highest-priority activity. They can think at any given moment: "Sure I get distracted, and sure some people call, problems come up. But I know what to return to. Because I know my purpose. Because I chose it."  

Reactions vs. Creating

"Successful people are simply those with successful habits."      

- Brian Tracy



Does the following describe you and/or your employees?

The no-problem problem (from Seth Godin)

An organization that's run on emergencies and reaction to incoming doesn't know what to do when there are no problems.

Instead of seeking out new ways to delight or fix the Things causing the emergencies, they run around looking for new emergencies, and if they look hard enough, of course they'll find them. (Two reasons for this: emergencies concentrate the mind (provide a focus) and allow things to get done (execution), not to mention it is a habit). But are they the Right Things that get done?

Missed opportunities vs. poor execution (from Seth Godin)

When you think back to the last ten years of your career or your company's history, how much of what you haven't achieved is due to missed opportunities (the product you didn't launch, the service you didn't choose to do, the effort you didn't extend, or the stock you didn't buy) and how much is the result of doing the Right Things, the Rocks, the Actions (the things that will grow your business and make it better) poorly or not at all?

____ % missed   vs. ____ % lack of follow through and execution of the Right Things.  

Now, compare those percentages to where you spend your time, your focus and your anxiety today.

 
People, it is all a decision, a choice you make every day. Keep the status quo, keep reacting, keep looking for emergencies and fires to put out OR chose to create new Habits and focus some time every day on the Right Things.Creating new habits requires you to shift your mind.   

"Shifting in the mind is like shifting in the Porsche. It's a rolling motion in the wrist. Not some huge effort. It brings freedom to glide and flow, not out of control, but simply less encumbered, with less drag.  Your car tells when you are too long in one gear. So does your life." - Steve  Chandler 

 

The easiest way to get people to do what you want them to do...is to start with people who want what you want.

All the best,
Rick Wallace 

Doing Things Right Is Not Enough

"Doing things right is not enough, we must be focused
on doing the right things."   

 

- Rick Wallace


Hard Work on the Right Things from Seth Godin:  

"I don't think winners beat the competition because they work harder. And it's not even clear that they win because they have more creativity. The secret, I think, is in understanding what matters.

 

It's not obvious, and it changes. It changes by culture, by buyer, by product and even by the day of the week. But those that manage to capture the imagination, make sales and grow are doing it by perfecting the things that matter and ignoring the rest.

Both parts are difficult, particularly when you are surrounded by people who insist on fretting about and working on the stuff that makes no difference at all."

All the best,

Rick Wallace 

Compound Effect and Habits

"Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going."  

- Jim Rohn



Have you ever noticed how little actions stack up and build on each other?  

A couple of weeks ago, I started taking a fish oil pill every day.

...Then I started just eating ONE extra piece of fruit and one extra vegetable a day.

...The week after, I started doing some simple exercises to stretch and firm.

...Then I started the day with Chinese Feng Chu

(Don't get me wrong - these are all TINY steps - but steps in the right direction.)

AND YESTERDAY, I DID THE UNTHINKABLE:

I started walking a mile everyday with the dog.

But it just seemed like the logical next step. Easy, and kinda fun. Next thing I know I'm "booked in everyday this week on my calendar." I made a commitment to him, I'm accountable to him!

IT'S CALLED THE LAW OF PROGRESSIVE COMMITMENT.

I tell you all this because I know the next 6 months can be BIG for you. Deep down, you know it's possible, too.  

So right now, I've got a simple invitation for you: What new business habit do you want to master? Managing your time? Building a process to execute your ideas? Developing a better Marketing Plan? Getting more referrals? Recruiting a virtual bench of 'A' Players? Increasing your profitability?

What's the next big project, a Rock for you? Perfect. Now - What's a TINY step you can take every day this week? Something small and barely perceptible. Easy to do, and if you followed it might stack & take you in the right direction.

What's the first baby step you could implement this week? It is all about Habits, you can't break your bad ones easily but you can develop new ones that will get you where you want to go!  

All the best,

Rick Wallace 

Testimony: The Death of Fear

"If we did all the things we are capable of doing,
we would literally ASTONISH ourselves."  

- Thomas A. Edison



Last week I posted a piece on Fear and it's devastating effect on our lives and careers. (If you missed it, read it here). Kathy Smith the Marketing Manager of a company in Alberta, Canada who I have worked with for the last couple of years, stunned me with a testimonial about her life and how she "did the thing she feared and how it killed the fear" and turned her life around:

"Rick, I can certainly attest to the liberation of conquering fear. As a single mother of 4 boys and an insane ex-husband who was threatening to kill me (I went through 3 criminal trials with him), I had to figure out a way to earn an income from home so I could protect my children. I decided to launch my own publication but was absolutely terrified of failure. I remember like it was yesterday: writing my script and making the first sales call with sweaty palms and a racing heart. But I pushed myself past the fear and made the first call and the second and the 300 after that. Long story short, I produced my publication for 5 years and then sold it for 5-figures. My "Message from the Publisher" blurb became inadvertently responsible for launching my writing career where I became a published author and wrote my own newspaper column for a year. That spun off to me being the media spokesperson for an association assisting women in domestic abuse situations where I shared my story with many people.

All that because I conquered fear!!"

Kathy Smith

Marketing Manager 

Fear can be a big thing or something as small as making a cold call on a prospect, but by doing it, the fear melts away.

All the best,

Rick Wallace

The Death of Fear

"Do the thing you fear, and the death of fear is certain."  

- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Poet

  
Michael Neill a former coaching classmate of mine wrote this recently:  

"Whatever it is you're trying to achieve, ask yourself what you would do if you weren't afraid. Don't worry about whether or not you actually are or aren't afraid - just notice your answers, and notice which ones you want to act on."

As I have written elsewhere, there is a tremendous difference between feeling the fear and doing it anyway, and the freedom which comes from finding that space in yourself which is beyond fear. And the more time you spend living beyond fear, the sooner the answer to 'What would I do if I wasn't afraid?' will become 'Exactly what I'm doing now.'"

Thank you Michael. 

All the best,

Rick Wallace

Crash Diets and Good Habits

"Successful people (and businesses) are simply those with successful habits."

- Brian Tracy

 

From Seth Godin's Blog:

Crash diets don't work.

They don't work for losing weight, they don't work for making sales quota and they don't work for getting and keeping a job.

 

The reason they don't work has nothing to do with what's on the list of things to be done (or consumed). No, the reason they don't work is that they don't change habits, and habits are where our lives and careers and bodies are made.

If you want to get in shape, don't sign up for fancy diet this or that the other thing. No, the way to get in shape is to go to the gym every single day, change your clothes and take a shower. If you can do that every single day for a month, pretty soon you'll start doing something while you're there...

If you want to make sales quota, get in the habit of making more sales calls, learning more about your market and generally showing up. If you show up, with right intent, you'll start making sales. The secret isn't a great new pitch or a new pair of shoes. The secret is showing up. (and Serving others)

Your audacious life goals are fabulous. We're proud of you for having them. But it's possible that those goals are designed to distract you from the thing that's really frightening you--the shift in daily habits that would mean a re-invention of how you see yourself.

 

Organizations can always benefit from better habits. Every day. Do that first.

Rick Editorial: It is all about Habits, you cannot break bad habits you can only replace them with new and better ones.

Do You Have A People Strategy?

"Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers."

- Tony Robbins  

 

From Seth Godin:

Hard to imagine a consultant or investor asking the CMO, "So, what's your telephone strategy?"

We don't have a telephone strategy. The telephone is a tool, a simple medium, and it's only purpose is to connect us to interested human beings.

And then the internet comes along and it's mysterious and suddenly we need an email strategy and a social media strategy and a web strategy and a mobile strategy.

No, we don't.

It's still people. We still have one and only one thing that matters, and it's people.

All of these media are conduits, they are tools that human beings use to waste time or communicate or calculate or engage or learn. Behind each of the tools is a person. Do you have a story to tell that person? An engagement or a benefit to offer them?

(Rick Editorial: I would add, do you know your Ideal Customer? Their pains and fears? Are you offering unique solutions to these pains and fears? Are you talking about them and not you?)

Figure out the people part and the technology gets a whole lot simpler.

All the best,

Rick Wallace 

The Power of Serving In Your Marketing

"It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed." 

- Napoleon Hill, author

The power of information marketing is growing every day. I constantly suggest to my clients that Serving is better than selling. Understand your Ideal Customer/Prospect and build a message or Value Proposition that first speaks about them and their pain, then about what you do and why you are different or the best at doing it.

The power of this approach was demonstrated to me yesterday while listening to the radio on the way to a client meeting. There is a company called Buffalo Hardwood which sells and installs wood flooring here in town. The owner came on and said (I paraphrase here):

"It seems like every day I talk to someone who says they can't have wood floors in their home because they have a dog. They fear the dogs nails will scratch and ruin the flooring so they put tile or some other floor covering in their homes. With the new hardwoods and new finishes we have now you can absolutely have wood floors and own a dog. American cherry and several other woods are too soft to work but we have a wide selection of other woods and finishes that will never scratch, etc. Then he talked about his company and why they were the best solution and different from the rest."

 

If he would have done the usual commercial "telling me all about him and his company, how long they have been in business, how great they are, that they are the best, etc." I would not have heard a word of it. But he talked about a pain I have, something I could relate to, so I tuned in.  

My wife and I have talked about replacing our foyer with wood flooring but had always ruled it out because of our dog. When I got home I went straight to my wife and told her we could have wood floors with our dog. Now we plan to go to the store and see what they have.  

Find the pain and then create TIPS like the one above that solves your Ideal Customer's pain and fears. Serve them by sharing information and then get it in front of them with email, Facebook, radio, direct mail, however you get your messaging out. Serve don't sell.  

All the best,

Rick Wallace 

Serve and Your Success Will Come

"Go out and mow a lawn."

- Michael McNeil 
(What? Listen to the 4 minute audio below)

A few years ago I traveled to the west coast to attend coaching school with Steve Chandler. He remains my coach and mentor, and in the class was a guy named Michael McNeil who was a well-known coach in his own right. Steve always talked about the fact you cannot "sell" coaching. People have to want it and be fully committed to it for it to pay dividends and work.

Of course as an old marketing/sales guy that threw me for a loop. Then how was I going to get any clients?

He said be a coach and serve people. In fact, he convinced me that that is the way every business should operate. Don't sell, don't please, simply serve and you will become successful. You know, it works. It has worked for me and it works for my clients.

Every time I have proposed to a client that they have to find a way to serve their prospects I get push back like, "I can't afford to do that" or "I can't give my ideas and solutions out to everyone, then they won't need me", etc.

You will be much more successful serving (i.e. demonstrating what you can do for them) than spending all your time and money trying to sell them on what you do. Think of it as a cost of marketing. That time you spend serving can then be weighed against the return in sales and leads. It will be the best ROI you have ever had.

What could you offer prospects for FREE that would demonstrate the value your product or service and how it solves the pains of your Ideal Customers?

Listen to this  4 minute audio from Michael on this - mowing lawns.

All the best,

Rick Wallace 

5 Crucial Lessons the Marines Taught Me About Business

"The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers." 

 - Ralph Nader

 

This week we have a guest article that I found to be right on the mark as far as what it takes to be a great leader:

5 Crucial Lessons the Marines Taught me about Business

By: Roger Boneno

Someone asked me the other day to help him with his thesis for graduate school. His question was centered on what I learned in the Marine Corps that has helped me in my business life.

What a great question! When I reflect on it, the Marines teach amazing business skills:

1. Even when the challenges seem insurmountable; if you have the right motivation, you will find a way to overcome whatever you are facing. Anyone who has experienced a USMC Drill Instructor in his ear when you're tired and think you cannot go on, knows that you CAN find a way to go on with the right motivation.  It is the same for your business. If you find yourself not doing enough to grow your business, it is usually because you have not given yourself the right motivation in terms of a goal.  It does not HAVE to be money. In fact, if you've written down a dollar figure time and time again; but STILL find yourself not doing enough, then it is probably time to re-examine your goals.
    
2. A good leader knows how to help people do what they sometimes do not want to do, by helping them see the bigger goal. Contrary to what some people say, Marines do not all have a "death wish." In reality, they do understand how important their roles are in achieving victory. This is essential whether you are leading people into battle; or leading a team in the corporate world. As a consultant and coach, I see business owners constantly complaining about how their team is "lazy" or "unmotivated." However, usually this is because the team does not understand the vision for the company as well as how each team member's tasks contribute to achievement of that vision. Or, it is because you have hired the wrong person. It is YOUR ROLE as the leader to hire the right people, and then help them make that connection.
    
3. Chaos and lack of success are YOUR fault; because you should have had a clear plan and done the scenario analysis in advance. Great battles may look like chaos from the outside, and almost never go perfectly according to plan. However, they are usually won or lost by the strength of the strategy, clearly defined goals and leadership set in place beforehand. We had a simple saying we called the 6 "P's: Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance (yes that is 5, because the 6th was censored).
    
4. Don't wait for the "other guy" to do it; be willing to be first. The Marines have a saying: "First to Fight."  As the first ones in, the Marines believe that their training, preparation, and leadership will allow them to overcome the uncertainty factor of not knowing EXACTLY what might happen. In business, the roadside is littered with people who had big dreams; but did not have the confidence to move forward without perfect certainty. To be clear: if you feel this fear, it actually may be well-founded if you have not taken the steps to train and prepare. So, perhaps you do not hire people because you are afraid of the challenges of managing them. Or, you do not invest in marketing because you do not understand how to write good copy, test, and measure results to maximize Return on Investment. But, all of this can be learned.
    
5. Finally, know your information, your history and the lessons they hold. On the first day of Marine Corps boot camp, we got a book we called our "Knowledge." It contained rules, regulations, and a lot of history about great battles and leaders. Were they expecting us to learn the ENTIRE contents? Actually...yes. I am NOT saying that you should do everything like it has been done in the past. I AM saying that, unless you understand history and the "rules of engagement," you will tend to make far more mistakes. MANY businesses fail because the owner has bought into the myth that the best teacher is the "school of hard knocks." Yes, that is the MOST EXPENSIVE school, but it is not the best. If you want to grow a big business that makes money and does not require you to work 16 hours/day; then learn from someone who has been there and knows what it takes to help grow a big business.