To Teach Is To Learn Twice

"To teach is to learn twice" - Joseph Joubert

This quote from Joseph Joubert is the best I have seen about learning and about teaching at the same time. I don't think you can really separate the two. If I want to really and truly understand and know something, teaching it is the fastest and most effective way. There is something about trying to help others understand that causes the teacher to have to know more, and not just more, but more in more depth as if you were looking at something from many different angles.

As I teach, I learn more about the subject and more about teaching and more about myself. I cannot teach and not be learning at the same time.

If you want to see how well you know something, try teaching it. Go ahead. You may very well find that you don't know it nearly as well as you thought, yet in trying to teach it, you have automatically risen to a new level of understanding. Great. Now, teach it some more. You will find after a short time that you now have a far greater knowledge and understanding of the subject and that you know it from a number of different perspectives. You will also find it to be the best learning experience.

You May Have To Look, But Find Some Good News

I made a call yesterday to one of our clients, Jim Fisk, who owns Fisk Cyclery in Dixon, CA. I was just following up on a website we did for their business district and asked him how business has been for him. Essentially, here's what he said:

He said business has been great! He said that last year business was up substantially and that this year it is up substantially from that. He said that he can tell things are loosening up because last year, even though business was very good, the parents were coming in buying and not so much the kids, but this year, the kids are coming in with money to spend. He says that is a great sign to him. He also said that it isn't just repairs or parts, but he is selling more bikes and not the cheap kind, but good bikes that cost $500 and up.

I very much enjoyed this conversation, because there has been so much of the "down economy blues" spoken aloud, that I was overjoyed with his enthusiasm and his business is up message. I told him that I wanted to write about this and he said that was fine.

You can call Jim Fisk yourself at 707-678-4330. Visit his website at www.fiskcyclery.com/ If not Jim, find someone to talk to who is doing well and let a bit of it rub off on you. It will do you good don't ya know.

Take A Shower and Brush Your Teeth

My wife gave me a parable tonight and I thought I would share it with you. She said (my paraphrase, of course):

If you're sick, that is not a good enough reason to not take a shower and brush your teeth. Put a number of days together without a shower and clean teeth and you are likely to go downhill in a hurry. When you're not feeling well and you take a shower and brush your teeth, just by doing this you will feel better and your day will feel better and everyone around you will feel better. So, when you're not feeling well, take a shower and brush your teeth!

It probably has a lot of different applications. I will let you decide how to apply this tidbit of wisdom.

Referrals Are The Best!

One of our new clients told us that he would not have bought from us except for the fact that people he knew and felt comfortable with liked us and spoke highly of us. He said, if not for this, he would not have even given us a chance to discuss his business.

Interesting.

It makes taking good care of the clients you have a bit more important. It makes networking worth the "work."

You know what else?

It's the best feeling! If I could only talk to these people, it would be so good. They are pre-sold. At least, partly pre-sold. That always makes the selling easier. And. . . way more fun.

Is Your Front Line Offensive?

This is a car dealership and three salesmen outside the front door. What is your impression of this business? What is right about this picture? What is wrong about this picture? How does this picture make you feel?

These are questions that people are answering in milliseconds as they drive by or drive up to the store. Do you dealers know what their answers are?

Having been a sales manager and sales trainer most of my life, I can tell you what I think about this photo. Here is my take:

• I never let salespeople wear sunglasses on the lot. If their eyes are too sensitive, they can work in the dark somewhere else. Cool is not the rule.
• It is my own experience and that of most customers that if I can't see your eyes, I can't build any trust. I just don't have a good feeling. It's fine if the customer wears sunglasses, but not the salesperson.
• It looks like these salesmen have nothing to do. They aren't proactive, they are non-productive. This is typical car business however, and that is a sad notation of what can be a great business.
• Salesmen complain that people drive in and look around and leave. Some dealers even go so far as to block off certain areas to try to force people to stop and get out of their car. When a customer drives up and sees this, why would they want to get out of the car?
• The salesman with the unique goatee may please his girlfriend, but to many people, he looks mean. Facial hair is okay, but it is better to not look like the bad, nasty rock group photo. It is better to look like someone who is very approachable and that someone would want to talk with you.

The front line is the first line of defense. The manager and business owner needs to be fully aware of the front line at all times.

And, it is not just the car business, although it is so hard to pass up such a great example. . .

A couple of days ago I went into a clothing store and the only salesperson was a seriously obese gentlemen who was dressed so poorly that it looked like he slept in his clothes, nothing fit, and it didn't even look clean. He's working in a worldwide brand name store, selling clothing. Manager? The person running this store is more likely called a Mangler. What a sad presentation to the public when you first walk in. It was pitiful. What are they thinking hiring this person? Desperation? I just don't get it. Is your front line offensive? Business owners: need a real manager?

It Can Be Hard To Change, But That's All There Is

I see some businesses that are struggling in a desperate way under the current economic climate. The problem is less the economy and more they are unwilling to change. What I mean by change is to change their methods, question their previous strategies, to have a willingness to find new ways, adopt new attitudes, change their business.

Business has always been cyclical. It sometimes dips much lower than it may have in the past and it may last longer, and if your business can flex and change with that, or better yet, even ahead of it, you can grow even in this economy. Many are. Think of a tree in the wind, how it bends with the wind, absorbs the impact and flexes. Even in a storm, the tree will adapt to the change. That's what I mean.

I'll pick an industry I am very familiar with: the automobile business. In normal times, salespeople at a dealership are waiting around for a customer to come in and there are normally a good number. Maybe they make a couple or so sales per week each and life is good. Talk to a salesperson about following up with their customers and keeping a database falls on deaf ears. Even the management team rejects it.

Then business declines. Up and down, we've seen it before. No big deal. But it keeps going down and stays down for a long time. Is it time to wake up and try a new way--a better way? Is it time to find new strategies and methods, so when business comes back they have more control? The answer I see with many is no. I'm serious. From the salespeople and the managers both, it's no. Yet I hear the complaints about how crappy sales are.

So, I walk into the store and the manager is in his office and the salespeople are sitting around and they are all waiting for someone to come in that wants to look at a car. All day long. It has got to be torture to come to work and do that every day. Not only boring, but completely non-productive. Same old strategy: run an ad, hope someone comes in. Only right now it is run less ads and hope people come in. Bad strategy.

It can be hard to change, but change is all there is. It's always time to change. For auto dealerships, the time is now. There is only now.

It's Only Your Opinion, But It Is All That Matters

"Men are disturbed not by things that happen, but by their opinion of the things that happened." - Epictetus

2,000 years ago it was still true. It is not what happens, but how we think about what happens. Weather is neither good nor bad, it simply is weather. It is our opinion of the weather that gives it the meaning we choose. The economy is the economy, and it is what we think about that--our opinion about it that determines how we are choosing to feel about it and respond or react to it. To one it could be a boom time, to others a down time. It is only the interpretation that means anything.

There is more joy in my life since I have really understood this. I have no need to be upset about anything, for that would be my interpretation of an event or situation. Since, I now know that I am in 100% total control of what I choose to think about anything, I now know that I can choose to have pleasant thoughts instead of unpleasant ones. They feel better, I feel better, people around me feel better, and my life is enjoyable without the need of drugs or other diversions.

Besides changing your life for the better, it will change your business for the better. A slow day, a busy day, those are all interpretations. It is a day. Think of what you can do to give joy to another person through your personality and your business offerings. It will change you and your business for the better.

I * N * S * P * I * R * A * T * I * O * N

I just love the Internet. What a huge difference it can make and does make in our lives today. There is so much out there, and possibly not all good, depending on your point of view; however, there is so much that is inspiring and uplifting.

Want some INSPIRATION today? Or any day, or time you choose?

Try this: Flawless

Though it is awesome, you need more than that. Here's another.

Try this: Chance of a Lifetime

If you're not jumping up and down yet or grabbing the tissue, here is a whole bunch more:

This will do it: Much More

And that is just one single source on the Internet. . . amazing!

Get Inspired. . . Daily!

I look for and count on inspiration every day. Some days I get busy with the stuff of life and don't remember to remember that I want to be inspired everyday. That doesn't last long because I'm an inspiration junkie. I need it, want it and will have it. It is glorious! I don't know how many people live without it on a daily basis. I see many who are ID (Inspiration Deficient).

I get inspired from all around me. My business partner inspires me, books inspire me, audiobooks, lectures, videos, movies, so many ways. All I need to do is to reach out and in a few minutes I will find some inspiration. It is not just in these things, but I find inspiration in the natural beauty around me, in a business trying something new, in a really better ad in a magazine or paper.

The inspiration encourages and helps to facilitate ideas and thoughts that take me in different directions or expand where I am. I now rely on them, and the good news is that I have control over them coming to me. I read a book, I get inspired to read another book and it is like a path. It all works together.

Reach out and find some things that inspire you. I don't think you can ever get enough inspiration. Fortunately, there is so much of it out there, it is an endless supply, so you can have all you want.

Two Words That Have Come To Mean A Lot

In the last few years I have learned two common words that have come to mean a lot to me. They are React and Respond. Any time something comes up, especially the unexpected, I pay close attention to those words and decide whether I will react to the situation or event or whether I will respond to it.

I know for 90% of my life that I have been reacting. It is generally what most people are taught it seems. Stuff happens! Reacting seems to be a logical thing to do. Yet, those reactions--at least in my life--have caused unhappy feelings and frankly, many poor decisions. I was like a steel ball in a pin ball machine, bouncing from one thing to the next with all those reactions.

Now, I have learned the choice to respond rather than react. I can take appropriate action without reacting to the event. It is more matter of fact and less emotional. In addition, the unhappy feelings have evaporated and I am left with choices and that works so much better. Now I'm a practicing responder instead of a habitual reactionary.

React? Respond? React? Respond? React? Respond? Two words that have come to mean a lot.

Reality Isn't Real--It's A Perception.

I've often heard that I should be paying attention to reality. To that I answer that I am. To which many might say otherwise, yet here is one of the most important lessons I ever learned: Reality isn't real--it is a perception. More than this, it is an individual perception.

Many say the economy is really bad and that everyone is having a hard time. That is total nonsense. It isn't true at all. I would probably agree that many are having a hard time, but a very far distance from everyone. Then again, what does having a hard time mean? Who's definition is used? To one a hard time might be this and to another, it is that. Who's to say?

". . . for nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. . ." was a line from Hamlet by Shakespeare. It is so true. What that then means is that everyone may choose their own reality. By that, I mean that what bothers and concerns me may be very different than what bothers and concerns you and that is two different realities.

If crime is stated as high in the media and some are in fear, that is one reality of high crime and fear. If I, on the other hand, have no fear and do not focus a moments attention on crime or fear, I have a totally different reality of the same reality. Really. It is thinking that makes it so or not so. It actually changes the reality to the person with the perception. What I perceive is my reality and what you perceive is yours. They co-exist and I have no problem with that.

What is your "reality?" It makes all the difference in what comes next. If you are in business, I would think you would know by now to choose a positive reality with a good outcome regardless of what appearances may seem to be or what some people may say. Paying any attention at all to anything that you do not want will cause you to accept that reality. The one and the other cannot co-exist in one person. You get to choose. You will choose. The choice you make will be your truth, as is mine.

Start Before You Are Ready

The best advice I have heard is this: You have to start before you are ready.

Some think that you have to have everything planned out and all of the potential downfalls covered including a full blown (generally total speculation) business plan and then after all that time and effort you might be ready to begin. The chances are that under this method, you will never get it going at all.

With a clear vision of what you want to accomplish and the will to proceed, you will learn what you need to know and you will find that your mental plans are being continually improved as you move forward. What you will end up with is far greater than if you tried to cover all the bases ahead of time. I don't think it is possible to cover all the bases ahead of time. Part of the growing process is refining your vision and goals. That comes from experience, not planning.

If you have a good idea and you feel strongly about it and are willing to commit to it, rather than just try it out, get going! The answers you need will come as you move forward. It is absolute fact.

Straighten Up and Fly Right!

I used to hear that phrase, "straighten up and fly right," when I was a young boy. I haven't thought of it in many years, but it is so, so true. Of course, it has a double meaning, yet both meanings are all about attitude, so really it has a single meaning, and many applications.

In flying an airplane (where this phrase came from), it is all about attitude: your plane's attitude relative to the environment. In the case of flying, everything about attitude is related to the horizon. When you are flying right, you are flying level with the horizon and have all options open. They call that straight and level. As a pilot you always need to know where your plane is relative to the horizon, even when you can't see the horizon. In this case, you rely on an instrument called the artificial horizon to graphically show you your plane's attitude relative to the real horizon. It is easier than you might think to get disoriented in the air.

As in the air, in life, it is all about attitude. What is my attitude relative to where I want to be? Also as in the air, it is very easy to get disoriented and start paying attention to the events and opinions all around you and forget about your plane's attitude relative to the horizon, or where you want to be. This causes disorientation and confusion. It's easy to see it this way for me.

The answer then is for me to focus. I need to focus on my attitude relative to what I want. If I'm looking all around at events and opinions, much of which I do not want, I become disoriented and I feel it in my emotions. I feel bad, or unsure, or angry, or scared. Feeling any of those emotions, is an indicator that I need to straighten up and fly right! When my attitude is relative to what I want, I feel good, joyous, encouraged, or inspired. I particularly like being inspired. There is nothing at all like it. It is really beyond joy even.

The interesting thing to learn is that we always have so much more control than we think we do. If you were a pilot and you got disoriented, you wouldn't just quit trying. You would straighten up and fly right. They teach you how to do that in pilot training--even with blinders on! (Really, it's called a hood. It allows you to see the instruments, but you cannot see outside of the plane.) It's a requirement to successfully be able to straighten up and fly right several times before you can even get a license. Yet, in life, we just are not generally taught this, let alone have to demonstrate it successfully.

Even as a new pilot must learn it, in life we must learn to straighten up and fly right or suffer the alternatives. The information is here and it has always been here. It is your emotions. If you are feeling bad, scared, angry, unsure, these are the indicators that your attitude is disoriented. You are focusing on what you do not want. Your inner self, like the airplane's artificial horizon, helps you see the need to change your attitude. Once you are aware and awakened, you can recover, and get your attitude aligned with what you do want rather than what you don't want. Focus on what you want even if you cannot actually see the horizon. Trust the instrument inside you as a pilot must trust the artificial horizon. Straighten up and fly right!

Some People Like To Complain

It's true. Some people like to complain. Some like it so much, they do it quite often about every little thing. It's all just unhappiness and it is not the least bit inspiring. The old saying that "misery loves company" is very true. You can walk past two people talking and hear it going back and forth like a tennis match. "Well do you know what happened when she. . ." "Jane at work is just impossible to get along with, she is constantly looking down her nose at me. . ." Back and forth, back and forth. It is interesting that there can never be any resolution, because that would break the cycle. You can't play the game if you resolve the issue. It can only be played while the issue is in play. The issue is the ball. There is no game without the issue.

I know the game like the back of my hand. I used to play it like a pro. Somehow, one day I realized what I was doing and realized that I didn't really want it resolved because then the game would be over. There was always something great about the match in the heat of it going back and forth, but it always ended with me feeling really crappy. So, I stopped over time, but made a conscious decision to not play anymore. This meant that when others lobbed the ball to me, I had to turn to the side and let it pass me by without a swing. It started feeling good. The other seemed upset, but I was feeling better.

Now I call it "swimming upstream" with people. I rarely swim very far with them, a stroke or two and that is it. Someone will complain, and I will suggest a solution, they will reject it, I will offer another, they have a reason not to and I'm done. See ya! Have a nice life. Don't need that anymore. Outa here. You have to get ruthless about letting the ball go past you if you want to get out of the game.

The alternative is less frivolous communication, and more meaningful communication and probably less communication overall. The trade off is well worth it. You can tell which is better by the way you feel--especially when the conversation is over.

It's Only A Depression For The Depressed

It's only a depression for the depressed. To those who aren't, it's an opportunity. Think about it. The housing bubble bursting is a huge, and very sweet opportunity to those who are prepared for it. It is an unprecedented time to buy up properties to turn into rentals. A home that sold for $400,000 two years ago, can be had for between $120,000 and $175,000 right now. Renting the $400,000 property would make no sense, but now at $120 or $175, it makes total sense.

You've heard it said, "for every up, there is a down." There are always two sides to an issue. Instead of focusing on what's wrong, all you need to do to change things is to focus on what's right, or what could be right. So, maybe you didn't prepare and you cannot take advantage of the opportunities, but you can still see them as opportunities and that change in thinking will have to have a positive effect overall on you and your results.

I have a little eBay and half.com business online. Sales are currently off over 60% from two years ago. The good news is that prices have fallen dramatically and I can find some really exceptional buys on inventory to get ready for the return of the market. I just bought something for less than $20 that I sell for over $300. Another buy I just made was on some audio's that I would sell for about $800 give or take and I paid $89. That will work! I don't mind sitting on them for a while. I'm finding more buys like that than I have money to buy! That allows me to be selective and buy just the ones that are going to give me such a great return. In one product line, I have now bought up virtually everything on the market and now have the world's largest collection. It took three years, but it is now a huge collection worth thousands. Awesome opportunities are all around us all the time and not only now, but especially now!

Do the best you can with what you have to work with, but always looking for the opportunities instead of the problems will serve you so well, you will wonder how you lived the other way for so long!

Go Ahead! Talk To Yourself Out Loud!

It's a technological breakthrough! It's finally okay to talk to yourself--out loud. Some have been doing it for years and they probably feel a bit self-conscious about it if others see or hear them. I've caught a few by surprise myself. But, hey, now it is just plain okay to do it. Matter of fact, I see people doing it everywhere I go--in the supermarket, airport, the mall, the cleaners, you name it. They are doing it everywhere.

Well. . . not quite. They are talking into their barely visible bluetooth unit and it looks just like they are talking to themselves out loud. You've probably even said, "what did you say?" to someone, just then seeing they are really not talking to you.

But, here's the good news about this technology: now you can talk to yourself out loud and no one will be the wiser. You can even get animated and make it a real talk instead of just chit-chat. Go for it. Now it's legal. Even I'm doing it now. It's fun too.

Why Should People Buy From You?

Following along with yesterday's post, on why people buy from you, a great question to ask is why should people buy from you?

It could be your relationship with them, or your outstanding service. Maybe it's your services in general. Perhaps it is the uniqueness of your service or your products. It could also be your display and how it is so attractive and attention getting. I went to the Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle and I was amazed at the attention to detail of dramatic displays in selling fresh fish! It was certainly nothing like any supermarket.

Is there something that sets you apart from others? Maybe a certain style or look. It could be a certain pleasing atmosphere or carefully selected background music.

So, why should people buy from you? Can you explain that in a paragraph and spoken in less than 30 seconds. If you don't already, I suggest getting that down pat. It is a great exercise. Do it often.

Why Do People Buy From You?

Why do people buy from you? It's a good question that deserves an answer. Ask them.

Is it location? You just happen to be in their neighborhood? They were going somewhere else and saw you? You happen to be next door to their favorite store? Location is not a good enough answer, it must have more detail. What does location mean? Is it convenience? What does that mean?

Were they referred to you? Who referred them? You will want to thank the person who referred them. Referrals are very cool.

Is is product? Do they buy from you because you happen to have a product they want or need?

Was it media? Yellow pages, Google or other search engines? Newspaper, magazine, newsletter?

The more specific you can get in why they are buying from you, the more you learn how to get more people to buy from you. It will help you to know best where to put your advertising dollars so that you actually get a return on that investment.

Your Website As A Tool On Phone Calls

One of the best uses of a website is having a central place for you to communicate with your prospect so each of you can view the same thing. It will help immensely in closing deals or clearing misunderstandings.

When talking about a product you sell, even if you don't actually sell online, having the information and photographs available so that you and your prospect can see them together and discuss things will payoff big. How many times have you received a phone call with a question on a product and you are trying to describe it over the phone. When the other person on the phone can see it with you without leaving their home or office, you both win.

We've built websites for some body companies and some of these sites have well over 500 photos. It then becomes easy for the salesperson at the body company to talk with a prospect while they are both online and have them follow along while you are able to show them photos of the product that you think is right for them. You can close the deal right then and there. It is amazing how well this works.

It doesn't matter what business you are in. If you have products, filling your website with photos and information will be extremely beneficial to your prospect and your bottom line.

Can you do this effectively with the website you currently have? I have seen hundreds of sites that have dinky little photos of representative product that are of little value. That is more like a business card or flyer than an effective website. Think of your website as helping you make deals! How pretty it looks is important but compared to effective useability, it is insignificant. Some are obsessed with how professional a site looks. I'm not real sure what that means exactly, but it usually means pretty (or clean) but ineffective. Concentrate on effective and the rest won't matter. All the more reason to have someone like us build a site because all of our background is in selling products and services rather than website design. When we design a site, we think of it in those terms.

At What Point Is It Okay To Give Up?

Maybe you have a product that isn't selling. You say you've tried everything and it is still not selling. You're frustrated and maybe even a little angry about it, but it is still there. So, you say you've given it your all and it hasn't changed. At what point is it okay to give up?

The other day my partner and I were talking with an associate and he was stating that his product was not selling and hasn't sold for over 18 months. So, we in our marketing mentality asked, "what have you done to move them?" Logical question. So, he states a few things: Put it in an ad in the paper and a regional publication, have it on prominent display, tell people about it. That was it. THAT WAS IT!!! He gave up.

I don't think it is okay to give up with that little amount of creativity and effort. What do you think?

We could have given him a long list of things to do about this situation, but we also knew that he didn't want to hear them, so we didn't waste any energy sharing them. Instead, we just acknowledge his assessment of the situation and move on to another subject. We know better now.

You could probably give him a long list too, right? If not, start asking people and if you are willing to open your mind a bit, you'll get plenty of good ideas. One of those may be the one that gets the product moving. That will be a great day.