Strategic Solutions – Business Coaching Firm

Unless you know what you want to achieve, there’s no way to measure how close you are to achieving that objective. Goals give you a standard against which to measure your progress.

The goals you set for accomplishing the company’s/department’s mission must be in line with the vision and what your company wants you to do. If what you plan to achieve for your job, department, or team isn’t coordinated with the goals of your organization, you’ll waste your time and energy.

Goals are the foundation of motivational programs. By reaching toward your goals, you become motivated, and by knowing the goals of your team members and helping them reach those goals, you help to motivate them.

The process of setting goals takes time, energy, and effort. Goals aren’t something you scribble on a napkin during a coffee break-you must plan what you truly want to accomplish, establish timetables, determine who will do each action step, brainstorm all the possible obstacles, create a solution for the obstacles, review all of the rewards and consequences of achieving or not achieving the goal, and implement the goal.

Criteria for setting goals.

To ensure that goals can be accomplished, follow these guidelines for setting your goals. Your goals must be SMART.

S – SpecificM- MeasurableA – AttainableR – Realistically HighT – Target Date or Time Bound

Example: Your goal is to save money. This is a hazy goal. You could put one dollar in a jar and that hazy goal would have been accomplished. It does not conform to the above criteria.

Instead your goal could be – Save $100 per month for the next 12 months starting (today’s date) to be complete by (target date). This goal is specific, measurable, attainable, realistically high, and has a target date. Happy Goal Setting!

Always create a powerful connection with your customer Have you ever thought about the criteria your customers use to evaluate positive service interactions with your organization? According to Zeithaml, Parasuraamn and Berry from their book Delivering Quality Service: Balancing Customer Perceptions and Expectations, there are 5 key areas that customers use to evaluate service:

1. Reliability- can the customer depend on the organization to accurately and dependably provide service to them?
   

2. Assurance- does the service provider convey confidence about their product or service and do the customers trust that service provider?
   

3. Tangibles- this deals specifically with the appearance of the service area, the store, the lobby etc., and the appearance of the customer service provider. Is the environment pleasing and appropriate and is the service provider dressed appropriately, smiling, warm and genuinely open? If you are interacting with the customer via the phone obviously your smile, your tone of voice and listening intently will create positive points of connection with your customers.
   

4. Empathy- this is the strongest skill that demonstrates that the service provider genuinely cares.
   

5. Responsiveness- this involves the ability to provide prompt or timely service and measures the willingness of the service provider to help customers.
   

Stephen Covey refers to a concept of emotional bank accounts. An emotional bank account works like a financial bank account where there are deposits and withdrawals. Points of connection Points of connection, whether positive or negative, have a direct correlation to the customer’s emotional bank account. If the connection is a positive experience there is a direct deposit. A negative experience leads to an immediate withdrawal from the account. Often times, it takes numerous positive points of connection to create a deposit; however, it often only takes one negative point of connection to deplete an account.

How did you react to the last negative experience you had with a service provider? Was you last stay at a hotel positive or negative? What point of connection formed your decision? Is every point of connection in you business a positive one? Will your clients be adding to their emotional bank account for your business or are they planning to close the account. How can you know? Start now to find out! Create a process within your organization that provides the ability to monitor and measure every point of connection in your service cycle. By creating that process you will be focusing on making every customer experience valuable and hopefully positive.

If you want to know more about how to increase you Customer Loyalty contact Hank Sullivan at Strategic Solutions (510) 432-7596

Soon it will be St. Patrick’s Day and we will be talking about the the luck of the Irish.
In an article by Joe Sherlock, he points out that Luck is simply Preparation meeting Opportunity. That’s what the Irish (and other immigrants) did. They were prepared to find and cultivate opportunities; they made their own luck. So,to make your own luck for your business, you need to do two things.

First, make positive statements about your business, making sure that you’ve removed all negatives – put some blarney in there!
Second, get out there and network to expand your business base.
And, start doing it now; remember the old Irish proverb:
“You’ll never plow a field by turning it over in your mind.”
So enjoy the wearing of the green and I hope you find your pot of gold

Many sales professionals know that a positive attitude is a key element, perhaps the most important element, to success in sales. Even though they know this, most sales professionals find it extraordinarily difficult to maintain a positive attitude all day, every day. The reason: most likely because they believe that their attitude is the result of external circumstances rather than something that is within their control.

Here are some tips to help you stay positive:

1. Create a new definition for yourself of “external circumstances.” You might think that hitting a few red lights on the way to an important meeting with a prospect could be seen as “bad luck” and put you in a bad mood. Definitely not a mood you want to convey to your next potential client! However, if you view those red lights as an indication to yourself of how wise it was of you to leave early, they take on a whole new meaning.

If you are late because of those lights, take it as an opportunity to collect yourself and brainstorm a damage-control strategy.

1. Begin every day with 15 minutes of positive input. If you fill your mind with positive thoughts, you’ll have a larger library of positivity to pull from when your day might not quite go as planned. Read an inspirational book or listen to motivational CD’s in the morning. We happen to know where you can get a few of those! Might we suggest popping in your Sales Development CD’s on your way to prospecting meetings? (If you need one contact us today)

2. Choose your news. You get bombarded everyday with a news media that believes in the mantra, “If it bleeds, it leads!” followed by commercials designed to make you feel better. Our media strives to ramp up your feelings of anxiety by highlighting horrific stories and follows them with advertising that helps you to buy comfort food or medications to relieve the pressures of everyday life. Unplug yourself from this negative imagery. Find alternative sources to keep yourself up to date with the day’s events, such as public radio or print news. It’s easy to choose what to read and listen to.

3. Surround yourself with positive people. Business associates, friends, and relatives who have a negative view about life can make it hard for you to maintain your positive attitude. These people can drain you mentally and physically. Wherever possible, avoid them or at least limit your contact with them. If you cannot avoid them, don’t get drawn into lengthy gripe sessions. Listen empathetically and turn the conversation to a more positive topic as soon as you can. On the other hand, positive people can enhance your life and help to keep you upbeat and with a good outlook on your world.