Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Testing vs. Trusting


"Adults, unlike children, believe they need to trust they can do something before they will take action or test it. Instead we need to skip that step and simply begin testing it.
A child learning to swim knows that they will sink if they jump in but they simply skip over that fear and start testing it. They simply commit and take action toward their goal because they want to enjoy the fun of swimming."
-- Steve Chandler


This is a powerful 17 minute audio from Steve as he expands on this roadblock that stops us cold in business and in life. As always Steve opens our eyes to the effect our thinking has over every aspect of our lives and that we can control how we think and thus act. Block 17 minutes on your calendar this week and focus on his message.

All the best,
Rick Wallace

Monday, February 13, 2012

Weekly Quote: Smaller is Better

"If you want to be the best in the world, make your world smaller."

-- Seth Godin

Man does this ever seem to counter all we have been taught and believe to be true. Salespeople always want more territory, businesses are always trying to add new products and services to gain business from other markets or niches. They think that they need to go into new geographic territories to be able to grow. They feel the need to take any customer that comes along.

Time after time I have found nothing could be further from the truth. Think about your own business. Do you have customers that maybe bought on price? Are they the ones that complain the most and suck up your limited resources at the expense of your good customers? Do they leave you when they can get a better price?

About 30% of any market is made up of price buyers. They buy strictly on price. I am always asked how do I know if my prices are right?

If you are not getting serious pushback and losing at least 20% of the time on your price you are priced too low.

So what is the point here? Well I'll put that in the form of questions.

Who is your ideal customer? Who loves you and tells others about you? Who values what you bring to the market, your differentiator? What do they love about you, why do they keep coming back, what pains and fears do they have that you solve?

Thu if you understand, really understand your ideal customers, you should target your marketing and attract more just like them. To this group you are the best in the world, you offer something they value. You can develop more offerings focused on this group. They will pay for that value!

You want to be the best in their world. It's the best way to build a profitable growing business.

All the best,
Rick Wallace

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Weekly Quote: Saturday's Work

"Rick, I am now making my Tuesdays, my Saturdays."
-- Chuck Beinhauer, Attorney


This is a quote from a client. We had built their strategic plan and were working on ingraining the Leadership Matrix - the process to ensure the partners would be able to lead the firm and follow through and execute the ideas and solutions they needed to implement to move the firm forward.

Chuck was not grasping the Action Management concept. He was still stuck in old habits and was reluctant to block his calendar, shut his door and focus on Key Actions. He felt he should be working on billable stuff 100% of the time. So I asked him, "Do you come in on Saturdays"? He said, "of course". I asked him why and he said, "because it is quiet and I can focus and I get a lot accomplished."

Exactly. I then suggested that he shouldn't be working Saturdays and that
he now understood the power of focus and to begin to block an hour here and there, shut the door and focus on Key Actions that will ensure we reach our goals.

At our next meeting Chuck started it with the quote above.
(By the way when your seeking some peace of mind regarding yours or your parents Estates, these guys will deliver it - Phalzgraf, Beinhauer and Menzies, LLC.)

Here is a great 8 minute video from Steven Covey on Rocks and Pebbles.



Have comments to share on these weekly topics? Let me know what you think!

All the best,
Rick Wallace