Spiritual Management

This is not a lesson in religion... It is a lesson in managing the "spirit" in how you and others in your organization perform daily tasks. While calling lots of people every day, the way they answer the phone forms a strong, immediate image in my mind.

I have talked with people who sounded like they just woke up, in fact, like I disturbed them from being sound asleep! I have talked with peole who sounded irritated that I called at all. Some secretaries want to interrogate me before allowing me to talk with their bosses. By the time I finish explaining something that they cannot possibly understand, I seldom feel like talking to the person I am trying to reach.

As you can see, the spirit with which one answers the pnhone cannot only affect your mental image of them, but your own spirit as well. (This works in both directions, by the way)

Ken Blanchard (One Minute Manager) illustrated this in a workshop I attended. He first had everyone in the audience greet each other like they didn't care and weren't really interested in meeting one another. He then had the audience greet each other like they were long lost friends.

The difference was amazing! Expressions changed from blank stares to bright smiles, cold handshakes to warm hugs. The "spirit" of exchange made all the difference in the world.

Try it yourself. Experience the difference. Have your staff do the same.

Manage the spirit...Don't let the spirit manage you!

Cross Marketing

Business owners of all types through the services they provide for their customers, run across needs that they cannot handle themselves. A good example is the plumber that runs across an electrical problem that he is not licensed to repair. While working with a client or customer doing what you "do," keep your eyes and ears open for other needs. Perhaps you know someone that can handle them.

Business to business cross-marketing can add significantly to your profit picture. Here are some simple methods of passing along leads to other businesses. Remember this: What ever you send out to others comes bak to you tenfold!

• Ask the other business owners for a stack of their business cards.
• Keep them in your briefcase or vehicle so when a need is spotted,  you can hand your customer the appropriate business card.
• Give a stack of your cards to the other business owners and ask them to do the same.
• If you are a service company, teach your technicians to keep their eyes and ears open for all kinds of needed or desired work.
• If a customer asks you if you know someone who can do something you cannot do, you should have to go no further than your briefcase or truck to get them an answer.
• Keep a record of which companys you give your cards to, and which cards you give to your customers.
• Follow up on every single one to be sure the owner of the card is calling on the leads given, and that the work was satisfactory.
• Inspect what you expect! It pays great dividends down the line.
• And finally, never...ever...ever...give up!

Paul J. Meyer

I am proud to say that Paul was a personal friend and mentor. I first had the privilege of meeting Paul in the summer of 1983 while visiting his office in Waco, Texas. I purchased a management training franchise from him and subsequently built a million dollar business using the methods he taught.

In 1989 I was invited to join his headquarters staff as a Systems Manager and became a consultant to the consultants that worked in the field.

Paul was a collector of antique cars, mostly Fords from the 1930's. He also loved to fly his own airplane. He worked out every day for as long as his health allowed, riding a stationary bike several miles.

Paul wrote many books, training programs, and magazine articles that have been published in over 26 languages and distributed world-wide.

With all the millions he earned in his lifetime, he gave away more than most people ever earn! He told me once that he would like to give it all away as long as where he put it would have a positive impact on the lives of others. What a guy!

Born on May 21, 1928, Paul passed away after a long battle with cancer on October 26, 2009. He shall be missed by milllions around the world. Rest in peace, my friend...

MMFS

Your customers are running around with these four letters emblazoned on their foreheads. Can you see them? Look a little closer... They stand for "Make Me Fell Special."  What can you do this very day to make a customer or two "feel special?" Try sending a hand-written note thanking them for their business and reassuring them of your guarantee of satisfaction. Send along a discount certificate to use the next time they call. Be extra nice to them... they are your future!

Some business owners think that their customers are only the folks who buy something from them. How do you feel about that? Perhaps you should look at a customer as someone you serve.

If you do that, then people other than those who buy from you will come to mind. Your employees, your spouse, your children. Your friends and neighbors. Your business associates.

By thinking in this direction, you begin to develop a servant's heart and people begin to look at you in a different way as well. Imagine what can happen to your business if you sincerely try to do this. do you think it might have a positive impact on your profitability? Do you think it might relieve some stress?  I do...

Like Attracts Like

Have you ever visited a bar and looked around at the people there? You will notice that the same people seem to be sitting in the same seats talking about the same things day in and day out.

Watch kids hanging out together. They dress alike, talk alike, and have similar attitudes about life in general.

Attend a business after hours meeting at your local Chamber of Commerce and you will see the same thing, only on a different level.

If you want to build a profitable business, you must attract good employees and good customers who will pay you aresonable rate and pay on time.

Professional looking business people attract professional looking associates. Leaders attract leaders.

Here is the bottom line: If you are not attracting the kind of people you need to make your company grow and be profitable, look first at yourself!

As hard as that sounds, keep it in a positive frame and see what you need to do. Do you need to dress differently? Do you need to act differently? Do you need to gain some knowledge or put some new systems in place? What part of your business doesn't compare favorably with the most successful competitors? What needs to change so others see you as successful?

Begin by setting a goal to make those changes, one at a time. Continually check your progress and get others involved to help watch the changes taking place. Ask for feedback to assure that they are working the way you want them to work.

Before you know it, you will be attracting the best of the best to join in your venture!

New Fundamentals?

"There are no new fundamentals. You've got to be a little suspicious of someone who says, 'I've got a new fundamental.'

That's like someone inviting you to tour a factory where they are manufacturing antiques."  - Jim Rohn

"What separates you from your competition? What standards are you setting? What makes people talk about you? What makes people look forward to doing business with you? What makes people tell others about your business?" - Jeffrey Gitomer

"You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do." - Henry Ford

Bottom line: What others perceive about you and the way you do business is a truth in their mind. Mind what they perceive! It means the difference between success and failure.

SET YOURSELF UP TO WIN...

Like teeing up a ball for a drive to the green, you must set yourself up to win! If you watch a pro when he tees up his ball, he takes great care in getting it just right. He focuses on his target, visualizes the ball going where he wants it, and then he swings. Yes...and then... he swings!

THE GAME OF WORK

Why do you suppose people are willing to pay for the privilege of working harder than they are willing to work while they are being paid?

What??

Why do you suppose people are willing to pay for the privilege of working harder than they are willing to work while they are being paid?

Example: In a city in the Rocky Mountains, there is a frozen food packing company. At this company, OSHA, the federal safety people, require that workers are provided with special conditions because of the zero degree environment in which they work. These include a ten-minute break each hour outside of the freezing environment, special clothing to keep them warm, and a hot drink within ten feet of their work area at all times. Reasonable requirements in such dire working circumstances, don’t you think?

Yet these same people, after a major snow storm, will pay nearly a hundred dollars for a lift ticket so they can work all day long pushing heavy snow around as they ski down the mountains. All the time, these people wear half the clothing they wore at work, and take few breaks and rarely are anywhere near a hot drink! These people have indeed PAID for the privilege of working harder than they work while they are being paid!

The question is… “Why?” “Why would a person PAY to work harder than they work when someone is paying them?”

In directing this question to your audience, various responses will be heard including: “It’s fun. It’s something you want to do. It’s freedom.” In each case, respond back by asking “Why is it fun?” “Why do people want to do it?” Why is it considered freedom?”

The purpose of these responses is to get the audience to think.

Consider this: There are four “rules” or “laws” that make competitive sports “fun.”

1. There is ALWAYS a clearly defined goal.
2. There is ALWAYS a clearly defined field of play. In other words, you ALWAYS know where the foul lines are. You know when you are out of bounds.
3. There is CONSTANT feedback. You ALWAYS know how well you are doing.
4. And, finally, they NEVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, change the rules in the middle of the game!

Now, if this is true, let’s take a look at what happens at work. Have you ever worked for a company where the goals were not clear?

Most of us have....

Have you ever worked in a company where the rules are not clear, or sometimes, have not even existed?

Once again, most of us have...

How about feedback? Have you ever worked in a company where at best there was an annual performance review… and then it was performed by someone who didn’t want to do it in the first place?

And again, most of us have!

And finally, have you worked in a company where the rules changed without your knowledge and you were chastised for not following the new rules?

Yes...most of us have!

Now tell me, what do you think would happen if there were no goal posts in a football game? What if there were no foul lines in baseball? What if there were no scores kept in games shown on television? And what would happen if they constantly changed the rules during the games, especially if the new rules favored the “opposing” team?

It doesn’t take a college education to set goals. Anyone can do it. It simply takes dedication to purpose. Could you go back today and set some clearly defined goals within your companies? Of course you could.

And rules… could you design a set of “Standard Operating Procedures” or a “Policy Manual” so folks would know, understand, and follow the rules? Sure you could!

And feedback… Could you come up with a way for each person in your company to be constantly aware of how well he or she is doing? Absolutely!

Finally, would you be willing, should the need for change arise, to call your team off the field, explain the new rules, and then go back to work playing by the new rules? Yes. Absolutely yes!

Go back to work today… institute these rules in your company, and your people will be willing to work harder than ever before. And they will have FUN while they do it!

From "The Game of Work" by Charles A. Coonradt - 1985

How "Old" are You?

Do you think about "how old" you are? Do people ever ask you "how old" you are? Here is a test you can give yourself: Make a recording of your own voice. Listen to it and try to determine "how old" this strange voice is that you are hearing.

If your voice sounds "old", the indicators may be coming more from an attitude than from your real age. On the other hand, if the voice you hear sounds "young"... Okay, you've got it... that comes from an attitude as well. Whomever invented "getting old" probably had a pretty bad image of themselves at the time.

Albert Einstein said, "I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity."

You are only as old as you feel. And the way you feel is determined by the way you think. If you are feeling "old" it is time for you to determine why you are thinking that way and to find a way to change the input that is the cause. Perhaps you are not nearly as old as you think!

Casy Stengel made clowning around on the baseball diamond commonplace. He said, "The trick is growing up without growing old."

Leadership

If you are to own a great business that is growing and profitable and a place to work that attracts the best of the best, it will take leadership in a high order. But what exactly, is "leadership?"

People ascribe leadership to those men and women who they feel can most enable them to achieve important goals and objectives. I think the key word in that statement is "enable."

Some leaders think that leading people simply means marching ahead and hoping their underlings have the guts to follow. Some try pushing instead of leading. Others threaten by trying to lead by intimidation. The real leaders, however, are the ones who build trust in their teams and have the power to enable them to gain the knowledge and tools needed to achieve their personal goals.

Good leaders do not set goals for their people, but because they encourage them, the people want to set goals for themselves.

It just makes common sense that an individual would rather work on their own personal goals than the goals set by others. The trick is to encourage them not only to set goals, but to creat plans of action to achieve them, and then to praise them on their successes no matter how small, and ecourage them if they fail from time to time. Real leaders lead, enable, encourage and praise success.

Are you a leader?

If they come for the price, they will leave for the price...

There was once a restaurant chain that started up and expanded so quickly that they seemed to appear everywhere, and everyone seemed to be buying their fast and inexpensive food. Their stock soared to over forty dollars. However, in just eighteen months, you could buy a share for under thirty five cents!

The chain sent out discount coupons and millions redeemed them. This created long lines, which in turn slowed service, overcrowded the restaurants and amplified the decibel levels to the point that people began to see uncomfortable, noisy, messy restaurants... thus the drop in stock price.

The lesson?  Price according to the value you deliver and keep that value higher than your customers expect.

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You CAN be what you want to be...

There is a huge difference between believing something and just accepting something as fact.

For instance, you may accept as fact that humans cannot breath under water. However, if I were to hold your face under water for a couple of minutes, you woud come to sincerely, and with all your heart and soul, BELIEVE that humans cannot breath under water!

Sometimes it takes that kind of burning belief to get past the idea that you cannot do something. A good way to get there is to bite off tiny pieces of a seemingly impossible task. By doing so, you build up your belief that you CAN to the thing that up until now, you strongly believed that you could not do.

Remember: There's only one way to eat an elephant... and that's one bite at a time.

Once you take small steps moving toward an objective, your belief in your ability to continue the journey builds and builds.

Here's to your reaching your goals and objectives!

REFLECTION

Did you know that you are a mirror? You betcha! Except your mirror reflects what's inside of you, not what's outside.

Think about it... have you ever slammed your finger in a drawer? The pain you were feeling was reflected in the way you acted, the things you said, and how you were perceived by the people around you at the time!

While folks don't generally go around slamming their fingers into drawers, they do get exposed to different situations and issues that cause inner feelings to be reflected outward. Those then, become the things upon which you are judged by your peers, your work team and your customers.

In this challenging economy, it is easy to become discouraged when you don't get the business you want and deserve. The problem with letting it discourage you is you begin to reflect your feelings on the outside and others around you pick up on it and become discouraged as well.

Would YOU want to do business with someone that has an obvious negative outlook on life?

What do you want your customers to see and feel when they are around you? What image do you want to project? The best way to prevent reacting to a situation is to be proactive. Project the image you want people to see. Be positive. Be happy. Be confident, regardless of what is going on around you.

The results will be amazing!