Dare To Be Naive!

"Dare to be naive."

-- Buckminster Fuller

I'm naive about a number of things, and I don't have the slightest problem with it. It is a risk I am happy to accept and take. Some people find this hard to believe, but I don't care. It really doesn't matter what they think, so that makes it easy.

I'm not naive about everything. I've been around a while and seen the way a lot of things work and know the methods and protocol in many things. Still, I think being naive about other things is exciting and makes my life much more interesting. I have something to learn and I'm willing to learn it as I go. There is great power in knowing that I don't need to know everything.

I'm naive about my business. That's one of the best things about it. I am learning something every day and I learn it from other people, business partners, clients, the Internet--a wide variety of methods. I find joy in that learning.

I was naive about starting a website/Internet marketing business. I still am. It's the best thing that could have happened because, frankly, if I would have known more, I might not have made the move. And, I'm so glad I did, but I had to figure it out and this is the power for me, because we have figured out some pretty cool things that really set us apart from the crowded Internet services marketplace.

It is my innocence or naivete that keeps me moving forward and allows me to be open to learn from anyone who decides to teach--especially experience by trying things and brainstorming and inspiration. Indeed, it is my naivete that helps me find more inspiration every day.

Yes, I dare to be naive and I find joy in it too. Try it. You might find it beneficial as well.

Positive Attention, Respect and Productivity

"The simple act of paying positive attention to people

has a great deal to do with productivity."

-- Thomas J Peters & Robert H Waterman, Jr.

"If you have some respect for people as they are, you can be more

effective in helping them to become better than they are."

-- John W Gardner

 

 

It is amazing what a difference positive attention is to people who you might work with. The difference is everything to me and I have proven the premise over and over again as a long-time manager of sales teams.

 

It is interesting to watch some managers and how they try to manipulate people rather than encourage them. It reminds me of an angry mother who is punishing her children because they are behaving like children. Some managers will force excessive training meetings because they need the training, but that rarely, if ever, produces the results desired originally. Having people on opposite shifts come in to do training, then go back home, then come to work is more along the lines of discouragement, than encouragement. The focus is all on what they are doing wrong and the fact that they need to do it right and so "we will train them and train them and train them until they get it!" Dream on. They aren't the ones who need to get it.

 

We have to have more respect for people than this. Just because we hired them and they needed a job, doesn't give us the right to treat them poorly. Here's a different and better perspective: If there is a long-term failing person on your staff, it is the fault of the one who hired them, not the employee. One of the best things I've ever learned is this: The purpose of training is to find out who you have. Think about that fully. It is powerfully true.

 

Finding the right people--the best fit for the whole organization, is the best objective. So many times, I see companies hire someone who is never getting any better. That's not human nature, that's something entirely different. They're doing it because they need the job, or they're bored, or something else, but it surely isn't because they love their job. They would grow if that were the case.

 

And just because someone has been held over year after year, doesn't make them a valuable employee. If it is determined they don't fit well, I'm confident this won't change any time soon, so the best thing is to find a suitable replacement--and see what can be done to help the less than valuable employee find work elsewhere. If you kept them around failing, accept some responsibility of helping them find as smooth a transition to gainful employment elsewhere as you can.

 

When I hear managers talking about how bad their employees are and do nothing about it except complain or keep trying to "train it into them," it makes me ill. It is the management, not the employee in every case I can think of. I've been at fault myself. That's how I learned.

 

Treating people with respect is just as much a factor in an employer and employee relationship as any other, and it should be obvious how this positive attention is a natural at increasing and solidifying productivity.

A Confidence Building Leader Is A Linchpin

"Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence in seeing how you react.

If you're in control, they're in control."

-- Tom Landry

In my travels, I have worked for a good number of business owners, managers, and supervisors who would like to think of themselves as leaders. To me, leader is not a default title for someone who is "the boss," the supervisor, manager, president, owner, CEO, COO, chairman, or any other business title. To me, leadership is an earned title and I have huge respect for those who earn it.

When I saw this quote, immediately my mind went to a number of so-called leaders who did nothing to build confidence and in fact, created the opposite. One that jumped out at me was a successful auto dealer who would go to a "dealer 20" group meeting and come back with "the next great move" toward far grander success. Then, a week or two weeks later, that huge change in procedure had evaporated and things were back to "normal." No confidence in his lack of confidence.

Then, another one popped in my head, where style was always much more important than substance. Style dictated where the money was spent and although it did look good, it was almost useless in so many cases.

Another (actually, several) "leader" would over-react to the most trivial of things and go "flying off the handle" spouting cuss words, accusations, idiotic statements and the like. I've even seen this in front of customers. These people should be restrained, or banished to work in an computerized warehouse in the valley away from any important people, like customers and employees.

What builds confidence in, and elevates a person to the Leader title is not a mistake-free demeanor, but one that inspires others to feel good about themselves and to feel good about the company they are working with. This person is human and will make mistakes. It is impossible to live without them. This person is always looking to build people up that they come in contact with. You don't hear them putting people down. They love people and they know that people is their business. They learn to provide much more value than they extract in attention, energy or expertise. Everyone who works with them or for them, comes away as having been better for the experience. The Leader is respected and wherever this person goes, the title Leader follows them because of who they are as a person, not what they do or where they work or what their other title may or may not be.

I celebrate and lift up the Leaders all over the world. As Seth Godin, in his newly released, and most excellent book, Linchpin, promotes, "The linchpin insists on making a difference, on leading, on connecting with others and doing something I call art. The linchpin is the indispensable one, the one the company can’t live without. This is about humanity, not compliance."

Banished To Foolishdom. Thank God!

"Never offend people with style,

when you can offend them with substance."

-- Sam Brown

I've studied a wide variety of people, alive and dead physically. In that study, I have learned a great deal and I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity and the learning.

Recently, as I have done several times in the past, I quoted Anthony Robbins, aka, Tony Robbins of self-help fame and I was told that this is a serious mistake because he is a "has-been" and has stooped so low as to sell his wares on QVC. Of course, from a business perspective, if you're going on QVC, you have to do volume, or they wouldn't let you on there, so it is a logical place to do some one time or even oft time volume sales. I was told that to associate my writing with his name would banish me to foolishdom and that I could never be taken seriously as a result. Thank God!

Of course, it has nothing to do with QVC's status, or QVC at all. It doesn't really even have anything to do with Anthony Robbins, but what he does for a living. Some call him "the self-help guru," I've also heard other things, but to me, it only matters what I think about him and what he does.

I have the highest respect for Anthony Robbins. I have learned a great deal from him and I am very grateful for that. So many of the people who have something negative to say about him have never read one of his books, never attended a seminar or workshop, and in fact, know nothing of substance about him and his teachings. I think that is very interesting. And shallow. I, however, have read two of his most popular books, and one is in my top ten list, "Awaken the Giant Within." I've attended a weekend seminar that included walking on a bed of hot coals. Very interesting event and easily one of the most powerful and strange things I've ever done. I've also listened to many of his tape sets and I enjoyed the Personal Power series. My favorite is the Fire walk weekend and the Awaken book. What I have paid is a pittance compared to what value I felt I have received.

Sometimes people might look for style and miss the substance. I'm often offended with style, but rarely offended by substance and certainly not in this case. Thanks Tony!

We Welcome Safe Side Security Inc To Our Trend Setter Package of Services!

Upward Trend is thrilled to announce our latest Trend Setter Package client, Safe Side Security, Inc. of Woodland, CA. Safe Side Security is an exciting addition to our rapidly growing client list for our completely redesigned Internet Marketing business. Their package will include an updated, expanded and improved website, blog, email newsletter, social networking, search engine optimization and more and these features will be updated and expanded every month. See their website we built for them last year at http://www.safeside.com/.

Since we announced the Trend Setter Package in April, here is the growing list of clients with this valuable service:

Safe Side Security Inc, Woodland
Larry Geweke Ford, Yuba City
Corby's Collision, Vacaville
Talk of the Town Salon, Vacaville
Duya, Inc., Vacaville
Van Hatten Writing Services, Vacaville
Green Valley Floral, Fairfield
North Bay Truck Body, Fairfield
Vaca Valley Truck & SUV, Vacaville
Tamara Hansen, Realtor, Vacaville
ServPro of Fairfield
Grindco Concrete Grinding, Sacramento
North Bay Truck Center, Fairfield
Fairfield Chevrolet-Isuzu Truck, Fairfield
Queen of Marketing, Vacaville

Find out more about this awesome and very inexpensive package of services, see our new website at http://www.upwardtrend.org/.

Upper Management 101: Don't Manage The Management

"Don't hire a dog, and then bark yourself."

-- David Ogilvy

Hey, any of you managers out there. . . yes, you! Can any of you relate to this hilarious and all-to-truthful quote? Been hired as a manager and then micro-managed by the owner or executive manager that just can't seem to learn the concept of letting people do their job? Been there, done that, and it ain't a bit of fun. In fact, it is more like torture. They could save a whole layer of management by doing it all themselves!

Here's a favorite quote by General George S Patton: "Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results." On the surface, this might seem like mediocre advice, but I think it is absolutely brilliant.

We are all creatures of our habit and our learning to date and so, we know what we know that we know, and maybe we venture out of town just a mile or two, but generally, we stay pretty close to home as a rule. Yet, bring in an out-of-towner and there may be all sorts of foreign ideas and procedures that you haven't seen. Of course, it is natural to have many of them be instantly rejected. You know the drill: 'That's not the way we do it around here! We've always done it this way and we've been successful, so if it ain't broke, don't fix it!' Of course, there is a management theory out there that says, 'break it anyway,' but you know what I'm talking about. We get stuck in our own ruts hoeing them rows and all. Busy, busy, busy.

I really like the Generals phrase, 'don't tell them how to do it, just what needs to get done.' When a company hires a sales manager to manage the sales team and then right out of the gate, they are told not to do it that way, it is sort of like pulling out a gun and shooting yourself in the leg. Then, the more that is injected into the new manager's plan of action, the more shots are fired, until finally, the company is full of holes. All kinds of holes. Enough to sink a large ship, or at least a day cruiser.

Yeah. I'm liking the idea of being left to some creativity. It has a taste to it, kind of like melted milk chocolate, or strawberry shortcake with real whipped cream, or my favorite, Mrs Fields oatmeal raisin cookies. In other words, delicious. I think it is high time we had more delicious across the whole country--or even the whole world.

Like David says, "don't hire a dog and then bark yourself." Amen to that!

The Little Things Make A Faster Horse

"If I had asked my customers what they wanted,

they would have said a faster horse."

-- Henry Ford

I'm all for listening to feedback about services, products and experience, but I don't necessarily make my decisions based on that feedback. I think most of us know what we like and what we don't like as consumers of goods and services ourselves. If we then fashion our businesses around that very philosophy, I cannot see it going wrong.

Some of the things (and probably a majority of things) that affect our attitudes and feelings about a business are 'small' things. Many of those small things are commonly taken for granted. I'll give you some examples of what I mean:

• 
  
  Restrooms. It's one of my pet peeves for businesses. So many I go into have poorly maintained restrooms, even sometimes being out of paper, broken sinks, no soap, etc. Many of them are multi-million dollar businesses, yet they just don't think about the small important things. How expensive can that be to keep it up? It is expensive not to keep it up, because I choose to not do business there, so whatever it costs is a bargain. I applaud some like Starbucks, McDonald's and others who make sure this is taken care of almost every hour on the hour. I love Starbucks for that and they get a lot of my business, but I can assure you that if the restrooms weren't clean, I would stop doing business there. It is amazing how important this 'little' thing can be--and I'm more tolerant than many!
• 
  
  How the phone is answered and how the call is handled. When you want the phone to ring and then don't take extremely good care of the caller, what does that say about your business? Does it make a difference? Unquestionably. Without a doubt. Absolutely. My pet peeve here is getting voice mail when I don't want voice mail, I want to talk to a living, breathing, intelligent person. Sending people to voice mail without their consent is pure laziness and lack of care. I see big businesses blowing this as well as small businesses. Think of what money is spent to get the caller, then watch it be lit on fire as the phone is answered. Or not.
• 
  
  Respect. Don't sell them things they don't want or need. Think long term customers not short term customers. Think repeat and referral business!
• 
  
  Understanding and human courtesy. I talked with two companies and needed assistance and a solution that maybe I wasn't considering. One gave me the standard answers that I didn't need or want to hear. They quoted the rules and regulations and. . . you know, how it is here. The other, was kind, polite, understanding, even sensitive and absolutely gave me a solution that solved the problem within the hour. Guess who gets more of my business? Guess who I tell? Everyone!

The Golden Rule is not dead. It is alive and well and it is still the best method personally or in business. Treat others the way you want to be treated. Offer products that you will buy. Provide services that you want to have. Create the experience that you want to have. Create innovation to continually improve and expand to offer and do more on behalf of your customers. A successful formula in any business.

Our Newest Trend Setter Package Client: Larry Geweke Ford

Upward Trend is thrilled to announce our latest Trend Setter Package client, Larry Geweke Ford Commercial Truck/Fleet Department led by Paul Brown. Larry Geweke Ford is an exciting addition to our rapidly growing client list for our completely redesigned Internet Marketing business. Their package will include an updated website, blog, email newsletter, social networking, search engine optimization and more and these features will be updated and expanded every month. Look out world, Paul Brown is hitting the Internet running!

Since we announced the Trend Setter Package in April, here is the growing list of clients with this valuable service:

• Larry Geweke Ford, Yuba City
• Corby's Collision, Vacaville
• Talk of the Town Salon, Vacaville
• Duya, Inc., Vacaville
• Van Hatten Writing Services, Vacaville
• Green Valley Floral, Fairfield
• North Bay Truck Body, Fairfield
• Vaca Valley Truck & SUV, Vacaville
• Tamara Hansen, Realtor, Vacaville
• ServPro of Fairfield
• Grindco Concrete Grinding, Sacramento
• North Bay Truck Center, Fairfield
• Fairfield Chevrolet-Isuzu Truck, Fairfield
• Queen of Marketing, Vacaville

Find out more about this awesome and very inexpensive package of services, see our new website at www.upwardtrend.org.

Keep Your Eyes Ahead Of The Ball

"Microsoft has had clear competitors in the past.

It's good that we have museums to document them."

-- Bill Gates

The first time I read this quote, I chuckled. The second time, I laughed out loud. Now I just get excited. It is an awesome quote to me and effectively uses humor to make a very good point: If you're leading, there is no competition. That is the best place to be--and here's the strange, but very good news: every business can be there any time they choose.

In my limited travels, I have seen businesses that are always watching what the competition is doing. Many of them are concerned what they will do next, upset about what they are doing now, complaining about how they do what they do and trying to understand why they do it the way they do it. They compare sales numbers and/or profit numbers when they can get them. They compare buildings, personnel, what they do on the web and the list goes on and on.

Here's a great suggestion: give it up and focus all that attention on your own business. Concentrate on providing not just good service, but off-the-chart exceptional service; something the customer cannot possibly forget. Concentrate on improving products and your building and all the things a customer might touch or see.

Concentrate on the most basic communications and expand from there. For example, I know of a number of companies where the phone is handled so poorly when a call comes in, yet they ignore this and focus their time, energy and money on things that don't really make a difference. If you're trying to get the phone to ring with advertising, the Internet, or whatever, it makes perfect sense to make sure the call is handled extremely well and effectively, right? Is it? How many calls go to voice mail without any attempt to gather information manually? I know I hate getting voice mail automatically myself, so I am sure I am not alone in that.

Common courtesy, kindly thoughtful service and pleasant people will never go out of style regardless of the market. I see a lot of shift of focus to the Internet but much of it is forsaking the most basic of services.

A business without competition is the one who is focused clearly on providing effective service to customers and growing their market by being the best they can be regardless of who else is out there doing similar things. Leaders are leading.

Our Newest Trend Setter Package Client

Upward Trend is thrilled to announce our latest Trend Setter Package client, Corby's Collision, Inc. of Vacaville. Paul Troutner is the owner. We should have their new website and blog up within two weeks.

Since we announced the Trend Setter Package in April, here is the growing list of clients with this valuable service:

• Corby's Collision, Vacaville
• Talk of the Town Salon, Vacaville
• Duya, Inc., Vacaville
• Van Hatten Writing Services, Vacaville
• Green Valley Floral, Fairfield
• North Bay Truck Body, Fairfield
• Vaca Valley Truck & SUV, Vacaville
• Tamara Hansen, Realtor, Vacaville
• ServPro of Fairfield
• Grindco Concrete Grinding, Sacramento
• North Bay Truck Center, Fairfield
• Fairfield Chevrolet-Isuzu Truck, Fairfield
• Queen of Marketing, Vacaville

Find out more about this awesome and very inexpensive package of services, see our new website at www.upwardtrend.org.

Practice Is Just As Valuable As The Sale--Or Is It More? - Part 2

A couple days ago, I posted an article about practice being as important, or even more important than making the sale. I didn't intend to write a supplemental piece about this, but today changed my mind.

Today I realized so clearly how valuable practice can be, and is and how much better practice is than the sale. Today, I arrived. I arrived at the place that every sales person either wants or needs to be, or they should at the very least consider strongly. I arrived at full confidence in what I am doing.

Oh, I've arrived there before in other fields of endeavor, but today I arrived as an Internet Marketer and Consultant. Now, to put that into perspective, in September of 2007, I was completely unknowledgeable about websites, how to build them, what they were about, how they worked. In October of 2007, I built my first website using an online builder. It was terrible. But I kept doing it and they got better. The second website was in January of 2008. What's interesting about that is that I decided in that short time to go into business in that field. I know, that is insane. Knowing so little about something and taking that plunge.

But here's the deal. I got better and tried lots of things and learned and learned and read, attended seminars and learned. Even in March of 2008, neither my partner nor I even knew what a blog was. Scary. Now we build blogs like crazy. Weird. SEO, or Search Engine Optimization is another strange thing. What does that mean? Now we do this without even thinking of it that way. And, so much more.

Our focus was on one thing: providing valuable service to our clients. That is what we have done and the rest has come in regular doses to the point that today I decided that I have arrived at the level of full confidence in what I do in this field. I can even talk with people with far more experience than I and even occasionally teach them something. It is a great place to be.

And, get this--I can't write one line (even a short one) of HTML code, or JAVA or any other coffee brand. It matters not because I don't need to. Because the Internet was a complicated thing in my head, I needed to demystify it for myself so that I could understand how to make use of it. That very demystification is what we use to help our clients understand it as well. We're not web guys, but sales guys who use web tools to help businesses grow their business. If we don't know something, it's easy enough to find out.

Now, I can go talk to anyone I want and feel confident that it will not only make sense, but also appeal to their better instincts. This is tough to do without confidence and this confidence has only come from the practice. It is far more valuable than the sale. That confidence creates and stimulates enterprise. It builds companies. The sale is a side benefit.

Practice Is Just As Valuable As The Sale

"Practice is just as valuable as a sale.

The sale will make you a living;

The skill will make you a fortune."

-- Jim Rohn

I have loved this quote from my mentor, Jim Rohn since I first heard it in 1981. I love the whole concept of it and how he makes the journey even more valuable than the destination. I agree wholeheartedly that it is the practice, the journey, the living of it daily that makes the whole worthwhile.

I know a lot of sales people who work somewhere and move to another and another and they never seem to grow--matter of fact, it seems like they go backward a few steps. It's not a career, it's just a job, sort of like someone being hired out on an hourly basis, or job by job basis. There's no accumulation factor. It doesn't make sense to me to spend the time on the sale or destination and ignoring the value of the skill accumulation or the value of the journey.

Wouldn't it be different to have gathered knowledge and skills that can be used in different ways later, like writing a book about the journey, using the skills gained to turn it into a whole new career either in your own business or working in a different company or industry. Then you'd be moving up to gather even more experience and skills toward the next twist in the road.

None of this would happen if you didn't practice, learn, and accumulate skills, knowledge, stories, wisdom. What a loss it would be to not take advantage of those things. Those opportunities could be worth millions in time, compared with thousands not paying attention to what is important.

Learn to value the practice. Learn to value the journey. Destinations are good, but even once you get to a destination, you must begin moving toward another. By learning to value practice and the journey, the destinations will be improving over time rather than regressing or maintaining the status quo.

This is not only great advice for an individual, but also a company.

Some Business Investments Can Have A Huge Payoff--Later.

"If I had eight hours to cut down a big tree,

I'd spend 6 hours sharpening the axe."

-- Abraham Lincoln

I absolutely love this quote and it speaks many things to me so succinctly. It speaks about preparation. If you are in sales and working on some big clients, spending three fourths of your time in preparing will generally have a huge payoff. Lawyers do that all the time. Their court time is so small in comparison with their preparation time and that is what makes all the difference in the outcome.

If you're growing your business, much of the time you spend will be not directly earning money or profit, but it can be extremely beneficial in influence which will ultimately lead to much greater income and profit. Some of that can be done through networking and this can be done in many ways, such as through local Chamber of Commerce, Business Networking Groups like LeTip, BNI and hundreds of others, at trade shows and events, through your website, blog, newsletter and other Internet publications. It is this last one that I want to deal with in this piece.

Not having a website is like not owning a phone. It is a must. It should be effective and it should not stand alone if you want it to work for you. A blog. A blog is just a website for the most up to date content and it allows you to show even more personality in your business and have some fun and gain influence. An email newsletter is a perfect way to stay in touch with all of your current clients and prospects. You can gain more influence to people who find you through others, so it is also a great networking tool. You can post it on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites as well to let more people become familiar with it. These tools, when working together are extremely powerful and beneficial.

The website needs to be current and constantly expanding. Shoot for a page a month to continually add to it. Everything is searchable by search engines, but if it isn't on your website, it cannot be searched. The blog need not be updated daily, but should have 5-10 posts per month to be more effective. Everything on a blog is also searchable. The newsletter list should be growing every week. You may only send it once a month, but your database should be constantly growing.

Through time, all of these products become a symphony of activity on the Internet, all of them working together like a well-oiled machine directed toward your business enterprises and your continuing success and growth. It is the consistency of these activities that pays off big. Doing these for a short time or one time is of extremely little value in comparison. Your web properties will continue to give you influence as they are expanded and continually improved. 

We recommend that you find a service that will help you take care of insuring these things are all done well and done on a consistent basis. This is one of our specialties. Our Trend Setter Package recently announced has completely revamped our Internet services at a fraction of the previous cost. Now every business can afford the Internet presence of a much larger business. And the services mentioned above is only a part. There is much more that will get you up in the search engines, along with social networking. Visit our new website at http://www.upwardtrend.org/ for more information.

On Site Events and How To Make Them Work

"Nothing draws a crowd like a crowd."

-- P. T. Barnum

Having participated in many on site events and done them myself, I have learned many things about how to make them work. I learned mostly from watching what I did and what others did and thought about how to improve that. As an example, I once sent 10,000 flyers out for an event that drew 50 people and most of them were not among the 10,000 addressees. Sad affair, and I had the factory rep there too. I went all out to have the event staged, but it didn't help.

Then, I have seen successful events and paid close attention to the differences in timing, the day of the week, the hours and you name it. So I learned a lot of things by seeing them done well too.

Here's some questions I like to ask those who are planning an event:

• Why? What is your objective in having this event?
• If it were a perfect event, after it was all over, what would it look like or what would have transpired or been achieved?
• Are you willing to spend a bit more to have a much better result?
• Who is your target customer? Who are you doing this for?
• Think about how busy you are all day long. What would make you really want to spend the time and energy to attend your own event? In other words, what's in it for them? How will it benefit them?

Here's some typical advice I offer:

• Get the biggest draw you can afford to help get people there, even if they are not your target audience. This may be a monster truck, race car, clown show, 100 lbs of barbecued tri-tip, a football star, some celebrity, and more. Something very popular would be best. An open house at your store is a very weak draw typically. The draw is the key!
• Marketing the event. If you have event marketing people in your area, hiring them can really help you get more people there. Set your advertising to tease 2 to 4 weeks out and then stronger near the event. Target your key clients through telephone, email and personal contact. If you have a newsletter, advertise the event 8 to 10 weeks out. Consider radio remote broadcast. If you're a member of the local Chamber of Commerce, you can advertise at their events and through their venues, and more. Get the word out often and as effectively as possible.
• If you're serving food and I hope you are, then spend a little more and make it quality food. Cooking hamburgers and hot dogs yourself is not a draw, and it is not quality--it's cheap. My best advice for a successful event is to have it catered where they come and cook and serve and clean up the mess and you don't need to be involved in it. Delegate. Hire it out and get a good one. If the budget is too small, I highly recommend not having the event.
• Have music. I highly recommend that you hire a sound person and/or DJ to take care of this by bringing good equipment, taking care of the music and having a quality mike to give announcements so everyone can hear them. This is the point most events miss in my experience and I think it is critical. You want to be able to communicate with a crowd, since that's what you are going to draw. Upbeat music is energizing, soothing and fills the empty space. Not too loud, not too soft, and the sound people know how to do that best. It is very important part of a great event.
• Vendors. There's not much worse than inviting vendors to an event--especially if you are asking them to pay for the privilege and/or bring raffle prizes--and then have a poorly attended event. Wasting your own time is one thing, but wasting all your vendors is another. You will need to insure your event is set up in such a way that the vendors are centrally located so that people at the event are drawn to the vendors, or that tickets are issued where each vendor has to sign off in order to qualify for the raffle, or something like that. Use your sound system to make announcements regularly.
• Insure that things start on time and move smoothly. Timing of things must be orchestrated by someone, so make sure someone is assigned that duty.
• Raffles. Calling numbers and having people not be there is not good. Have raffles throughout the period of the event so there is always something going on. Have a lot of raffle prizes even if many of them are minor prizes or logo-branded give aways. I recommend about every 15 minutes and stay on track with the time. If people must be present to win, you might want to have the raffles in a time frame where most everyone is there, so it won't be at the end of the event.
• If you're having various presentations, announce those to help direct people to the right place at the right time.
• If it is a large event, consider having some entertainment. This could be an artist drawing caricatures of people, walking magician doing little tricks moving around, clowns with balloons if there are younger ones, musicians, and such.
• Think of it this way: the event should be full throttle from start to finish without stopping or slowing down. As soon as the event opens, it is full on, music, food smells, events going on, entertainment, vendors, announcements, raffles, etc. and keep it going right up to the final bell. Most events I have seen have peaks and valleys and more valleys than peaks. The best events peak throughout. This requires thought, planning, delegation and care. It will be worth it.

Here's a few optional thoughts:

• It is a great idea to filter people through an introduction area. You might even then get their information including company, name, email, etc. for follow up. It is also a great idea to have name tags so people can network with each other more effectively, or communicate more effectively. If you do this, it must be able to handle the flow of people so that there isn't a line. Nobody likes waiting in line and especially to just get in to your event.
• Another great idea is to filter people through an exit area. This is a perfect time to give them some of your materials, handouts, parting gifts, etc. and to quickly thank them for taking the time to come to your event.
• Having your people in full force and mingling throughout the crowd is important and will help the event perhaps be more effective for you. Your people can make sure things are flowing and that people are having a good time and answering any questions that they may have, such as where the bathroom is, etc. Speaking of bathrooms, make sure that is covered in such a way as people can be comfortable.
• Have lots of good drinks available and ideally in several areas so people can partake as they desire.
• Usually, the longer they stay, the more opportunity you have, so a boring event or poorly run event will cause people to leave quickly, whereas a well run event, people stay sometimes throughout the time.
• Lunch time is a very good time where people can legitimately leave their work for a time during the week. 11am to 2pm is a good window of time. That's three hours to stay at peak performance and serving food the whole time, or you could state that food will be served from 11:30am to 1pm while the whole event is 11am to 2pm, although, I think having food the entire event time is best. Many times when the food goes, so do the people and then your event will fizzle from there.
• Make sure there is adequate and effective parking. You might even consider a valet service or if it is a large event a shuttle of some kind.
• Weekend events would be best only for general public things and you will need a strong draw. For businesses, I think the weekday is best and Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are the best days of the week from my experience.
• Breakfast events are much harder to do well. Dinner events are great too, but they will require a bit more budget and more entertainment and other unique draws.
• Have vendors please stay to the end. As soon as they start packing, the event is over. Keep it full on start to end.
• Partner with others when you can. One commercial truck dealership partnered with a Lowe's Home Improvement store and used their parking lot a half a block from the dealership. This allowed Lowe's people to have give aways, and supply vendors for some associated items and to be an effective partner. That worked really well and they usually have a great event there.
• Follow up and follow through. Send thank you's to all vendors and partners and your own team members for their help and their valuable time and skills. Follow through with quotes and other activities that you created at the event.

Good events require good planning, attention to detail, and orderly execution, along with a team assigned to the various tasks necessary. This is an old adage, but ever true: If you're going to do it, do it well. I hope some of this may be helpful and I wish that your next event is the best event!

Chuck The Plan. Pull Out The Dream.

"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice.

But, in practice, there is."

-- Jan L.A. van de Snepscheut

The Crystal Performance Ball is a business game that I've seen played widely. It entails creating business plans with lots of charts and graphs of projected revenues from the varied revenue streams which comes from the product spin-offs as the successful core is manipulated by the strategic marketing department by increasing the market share and expanding the demographic to encompass the ever widening advantages from the incentive based sales team.

With this empowered perspective, the sales management team has instituted a projection system and requirement for the sales staff to tell management what will be sold to whom over the specified period so that sales management can instruct production what to produce. Once produced, the quality control department will meet to determine quality issues and their solutions for the service department to entertain after the customer has taken delivery and made the second complaint. . .

Of course in theory this makes sense (well, sort of. . .) and though we practice it in our theory, it is the actual practice that has us hiding under the covers. And, it's no wonder. This is all so much crap. All for someone elses ego, I suppose, but not for a real purpose that I can think of. In all the years I've had to deal with this stuff, it has been a total waste of good energy and time. It is all so unnecessary and extremely ineffective.

Chuck the plan. Pull out the dream. Draw the dream and speak the dream for the team. Live the dream. Be the dream. Share the dream. Keep the dream alive. Without the dream, it is a hollow machine.

Marketing and Innovation Produce Results

"Because its purpose is to create a customer, the business has two basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs." -- Peter Drucker

I was looking at some quotes to use in the CTS Daily Inspirations Blog and ran across this great quote from the management guru, Peter Drucker. It got me thinking about that and businesses that I have worked for and worked with over a long period of time. Here are the thoughts as a result.

I love this quote because I also agree with it; however, almost every business that I have been associated with missed one of the critical two points: innovation.

All of them got the first part--marketing--well, sort of. They talked like they were all about marketing. But their marketing was stereotypical and stale. They might use brochures, flyers, specials, newspaper advertising, specialty publication ads, yellow pages. . . you know. . . marketing--or is it? Some would "target market" and others would "mass market," all in the hopes of increased sales and revenue. Same old stuff which didn't much make a difference in the past and maybe they just didn't do it enough. You know, repetition is the name of the game and all that.

To me, marketing is so much simpler, yet so broad in scope. In my experience, marketing is fastened at the hip to innovation and when innovation is lacking, marketing goes down with it. I think it is innovation that makes all the difference. Just think Apple: iphone, iride, ipod, ipad, irun, ijogg, ihear, ido. Yes. Innovation.

Okay, so you're not Apple and not Steve Jobs. Maybe you're a body company or a truck dealership. So, you hire an outside sales team and go out and tell the story over and over. Take a demo and show it off, tell them about the specials you got going on and what the incentives are for them to buy today. Boring. Of course, you already know that if Apple did that, they would be an Apple Core. It is the innovation that completely revived this once headed for the heap company. And, there's no question about Steve Jobs being a strong leader, but that can be done in your company too. If you really want to and you start seeing a different picture.

Do you think Apple salespeople have a hard time selling an iPad? or an iPhone? It's a piece of cake in the sales world, but only because of the innovative quality of the product. They have some nice marketing too, but again, that goes along for the ride. In a sluggish economy, their innovation is driving serious profits and new heights. What about your company? Or my company?

As a former 10-year body rep, I can tell you without a doubt that innovation would make all the difference. There is absolutely nothing as valuable in the marketplace as enthusiasm and enthusiasm is driven by innovation. Going out and telling the same tired story is torture--for the salesperson and the prospect. Repackaging the same old stuff is nice, but it is the same old stuff still. All that's left is cutting the price. What we need is new stuff: new solutions, new design, new materials, new effectiveness, new colors, new textures, newer and cooler and greener--in other words, innovation.

The same would be true of truck dealerships. Mass marketing has long lost its results. As a truck dealer, you don't control the chassis design, or body design, but here's the good news: you control everything else! How those two things are combined can be innovative. How the services are offered and performed need not be old, boring, same. They can be innovative services. There are a wealth of ways that innovation can take place and therefore drive marketing to new places in every dealership in the country.

No, you're not Apple, or Microsoft, or whomever is the Hot One at the moment, but you certainly qualify as a candidate, and so do I.

The Number One Asset of a Very Good Sales Person

"People who ask confidently get more than those who are hesitant and uncertain. When you've figured out what you want to ask for, do it with certainty, boldness and confidence."

-- Jack Canfield

"People don't buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons."

-- Zig Ziglar

Having spent over 38 years in the sales game, most of it as a sales manager, I can say without the slightest hesitancy that the number one asset of a very good sales person is summed up in one single word: confidence.

Strangely enough, it is not an inborn skill, but a learned one, and the strange part is that so few really learn it, and it is something that every single sales person needs.

The other thing I learned about this from all these years is that the method to achieve confidence can be summed up in one word: boldness. If one has a degree of boldness, one will try things that others shy away from. Boldness, then will create the trial and error, and the results of the trial and error will create the confidence.

It doesn't require any more intelligence than good common sense would dictate, what being good at sales requires is desire, a willingness to put yourself out there, learn from trying and doing and failing and succeeding, and improving to the point of being confident in ones ability to succeed.

That's as simple as it gets.

All the rest is sharpening the saw and lubricating the parts.

Confidence Is The Result Of A Trial And Success Game.

Put yourself out there today. Get some trial and success play going. It'll do you good!

The 'C' Word Is More Than Four Letters

Regardless of whether you’re in business for yourself, working for someone, or even in your personal life, I would like to make one recommendation: Forget about what other people are doing and concentrate on you and what you do.

In business, I’m sick of the ‘C’ word, competition. I think that any company that is focused on their competition is focusing on failure. Being concerned about the competition and what they do or do not do will not serve a growth-oriented business, but, instead, it must take them off course by the very nature of that focus on the so called competition.

Who cares what ‘their’ prices are, their features are, their incentives are, or their policies are. What really matters is what yours are. What really matters is you focusing on your clients and serving their needs and desires exclusively. What matters is, as Anthony Robbins teaches, CANi—Constant and Never-Ending Improvement. What matters is innovation. What matters is growth—not only the company, but everyone that touches the company. What matters is your own success, not the guy down the street.

I’ve worked for or been around car dealers most of my life and a typical Chevy dealer will say his number one competition is the Chevy dealers in his area. The typical Ford dealer will say her number one competition is the Ford dealers in their area. You might have thought that the Ford store would be concerned about the Chevy store, but that is not the case. They worry about their sales being undercut by other people selling the same product.

As a sales manager for over 35 years, I hear whining from sales people about another sales person getting their customer. I would always respond that if they didn’t ask for you, they weren’t your customer, even if they bought from you in the past. That same philosophy applies to the entire dealership. If they aren’t buying from you, they aren’t your customer. There is nothing to lose, because you don’t have it to lose. You allowed someone else to have it based on how you serve, or perhaps, don’t serve your customers. This applies to everyone in a store from the lowest rank to the owner, to the manufacturer.

Whatever your position, ask yourself, what are you doing to wow your customers and potential customers? What are you doing to improve services? What are you doing to make it easier for customers to buy from you? What are you doing to innovate? What are you doing to improve your operation? What are you doing to be of more service? What are you doing that might matter to a customer? And, conversely, take a quick look at what you’re not doing and what you might stop doing that could lead to greater success.

People who are leading are not concerned about what everyone else is doing. Companies that are leading are not concerned about what every other company is doing. Sales people who are leading are not concerned about any other sales people, or their customer base. Leaders are leading. Others may follow or not. That isn’t the concern. Leaders are leading and that makes ALL the difference.

Undercover Boss Is A Great Idea

The new TV show called, Undercover Boss on CBS is an interesting show. If you haven't seen it yet, the CEO of a large company goes undercover with a video crew as an entry level employee with the concept of the video crew as documenting entry level employee jobs.

I love the concept of the show of the CEO doing this because it gives the CEO a birds-eye view of how their decisions affect the people who are on the front line. In that and the revelations that follow, this is good. The show is a little too sweet and predictable after the first show was made. Now they all look like the same thing redone.

Speaking to CEO's and managers, when was the last time you really took a good look at how what you do affects what is being done on the front line? How is the phone being answered? How are customers communicated with? How are customer complaints resolved? What is the attitude of the front line employees? How are the managers dealing with front line employees? What are customers saying about their experience with your company? How are things improved?

These are a few and there are a lot more similar questions that can be asked to find out how your company is doing and I highly recommend that every CEO and high level manager find out. As they demonstrate in the TV show, Undercover Boss, there is a lot of disconnect from the top to the bottom. Whatever that can be done to improve this is worth doing for the employees and the customers.

Creating Abundance Instead of Scarcity, Part 1

Every business loves scarcity and would like to have more of it. . . if they had what was scarce in quantity. Think about that. They love to have scarcity as long as they have abundance. It is sort of the definition of selfish: the smaller the pie, the better, as long as I have more than anyone else.

Market share. That is an interesting phrase. I remember when I was young, General Motors used to have over 50% market share. What is it today? Yet, they still spend so much time focusing on that phrase, market share. How big is my piece of the pie? I want more of the pie than anyone else and that will make me successful. . . Why not just focus on being the best that you can be regardless of who is doing what? The public could care less what your market share is. This is ego run amok.

Competition. Some companies spend an inordinate amount of time focused on competing with other companies. That reminds me of follow the leader--of course, that is after you figure out who the leader is. There is a lot of time spent analyzing just that: who is leading? Why not save time, energy and committee's by just leading? Comparing ourselves, our product or our company to others is not helpful. It is a total and complete waste of time, energy and people-power.

Fear. Protectionism. There is plenty of this all around, and no need to manufacture any more of it, yet companies and managers are so fearful of information being obtained by others. Computers are locked down so no one can go to Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube, MySpace, and a few million other off-limits places. We protect ourselves from ourselves to the degree that we cannot grow. Rather than think of protecting the company from harm, think of how those sites can be used to expand the company! What if all of your employees were promoting your business through social networking rather than saying that other stuff about how lame you are, etc. Take a lemon and make lemonade?

I've seen a good deal of this kind of thinking in my travels and consulting with truck dealers, body companies and others. There is so much more value to be had by thinking differently and more openly. Keeping the cards close to your vest in an Internet world where information is free is counterproductive. Instead, think like an entrepreneur and make use of this most awesome tool. Open the floodgates and let the games begin!