You can have the skills and knowledge

You can have the experience

You can have action plans

But you cannot achieve a different result until you change your behavior

Personal Behavior Change is one of the most difficult obstacles to overcome

You must commit to your goals and you must change if you want to achieve a new result

You must take a detour

Prospecting has changed over the years.  Following old methods will get you old results. Doing nothing is unacceptable unless you do not mind losing to your competition. When you are networking , your goal is for people to know who you are and what you do. It is not time to sell.  It is time to get to know people and for them to know you. How often should you be networking? In these days of social media, it can be all the time. But like any activity it needs to be part of your overall plan for success.

If you want more information about sales networking contact Hank Sullivan at hsullivan@stratsolutionsnet

1.      Keep a positive attitude- positive thinking gets positive results which will help you survive

2.      Focus on what you want to achieve and write it down- putting your plans in writing increases your chance to attain them

3.      Just Do It-  action is the key to achieving success during tough times

4.      Improve all the time- never stop learning how to improve and surviving

5.      Stay focused-  keep working on your goals to succeed

6.      Know the details-  keep exact records of your business and analyze them all the time

7.      Don’t get distracted- know what you want to achieve and stay on point to achieve success

8.      Don’t fear change- remember if you want a different result then you have to change

9.      Listen- remember communication is a two way street

10.  Remember integrity is first and always- if you are honest and set you standards high everyone will notice

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 

Many managers (owners) have the authority to make decisions and manage their business. They also believe that they have the power. Unfortunately, they are working under a misconception. There is a vast difference between having the authority to manage and having the power to manage.

Authority according to the dictionary is the ability to exercise (administrative) control over others. It is granted to a manager by the company or organization in keeping with the position that position holds.

It is a right to settle disputes, to control operations, to make and implement decisions and to administer or manage.

Power is the measure of your personal effectiveness. It is a skill that you develop in the everyday use of your authority. You earn your power; it is granted to you by those over whom you have exercised your personal ability and capacity to influence their behavior. Power places few limits on your available lines of action and implies a flexibility of behavior suitable to a variety of situations. It is a form of individual freedom to be creative, innovative, and responsive to the needs of others who will assist you in reaching your goals.

Authority, on the other hand, defines limits and action that you have the contractual right to take or use. It is granted to you by the organization as part of the organization’s attempt to control.

Managers who frequently have to resort to using authority diminish their personal power and ultimately their ability to influence and lead others.

They often find themselves having to use coercion to get things done. As a manager, if you possess power, you need only use authority as a last resort to accomplish your ends.

Managers, who create a climate of trust and cooperation, help their subordinates maintain their dignity, pride, and autonomy. Employees working under such conditions have been found to be happier, highly productive, and personally motivated.

Therefore, it should be the goal of an effective manager, to create conditions wherein individuals can set and achieve personal goals while achieving the goals of the organization.

In the words of Dwight David Eisenhower: “Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.”

For more information on this and other leadership issues contact Hank Sullivan at Strategic Solutions 510-432-7596 or email:hsullivan@stratsolutions.net

Is your business plan in place as you begin this New Year? If not, it is not too late to begin. Every successful business has a plan and updates it annually. However, it is not the planning that will guarantee your success. Success is dependent on the execution of the plan and doing it right.

Successful business leaders do the right things in the right way, the first time and all the time. They are able to do accomplish success because they follow the dictum, “Implementation of Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance.” Just because something worked before does not mean it will work for you in 2008. In fact, much of technology, information and knowledge that we possess today, did not exist only a few short years ago.  We need to respond to the changes around us and plan accordingly.

In today’s world you must plan and execute. There is an old saying  “He who hesitates is lost.”  Successful business people know that they must do the right things correctly the first time. Mistakes mean rework and haste makes waste. Rework means more time and additional costs, both of which result in lower profits and the possible loss of customers. Speed is important in succeeding but taking the time to do things right the first time will be appreciated by your customers and clients.

Successful business people are the ones who have formed the habit of “Doing it now!” They frequently do the things that unsuccessful people do not like to do! When faced with difficult challenges or unpleasant tasks, they do them immediately.

You will achieve more success by getting the difficult things done first and then go on to the things they enjoy and that they do with ease. Procrastination does more than any other habit to rob us of satisfaction, success, happiness and most of all Time. More than 2 centuries ago, Edward Young wrote, “Procrastination is the thief of time.” A well –organized life and business leave time for planning, leading and follow through. To the procrastinator, time is like a task master with a whip. To the organized, action oriented person that same amount of time is like a savings account that keeps growing. Are you going to be a procrastinator in 2009 or the action oriented person? The decision is all yours.

This often repeated quotation, attributed to Joseph P. Kennedy, is one that is very applicable to today. When we hear that things are not good or when things start to slow down, many people make it worse by getting into a negative thought pattern. It is very easy not be positive. Negative thinking allows us to blame our problems on someone or something else. So like an ostrich, we can put our head in the sand and hope the problem goes away.

One of the most common ways of negative thinking is fearing a scary event in the future, something that perhaps will never happen. You could be spoiling your present for a future that is not even real.

Another common way of negative thinking is imagining things that are not actually there, or thinking ourselves as a victim. At these times, it is useful to differentiate between thoughts and reality. In the end, where are you living, in your thoughts or in reality?

Every day we are inundated with negative news in our newspapers, radio and television.

We are being told how bad the economy is doing, that global warming will destroy our environment, and crime is at its highest levels. With this information in our minds, we have two choices dwell on the positive or on the negative. I suggest you focus on the positive.

As business people, we all know that there are good business times and bad business times.  The key is to have a plan that will get you through both. If you don’t know where you are going how can you possibly get there.

We have all been hearing that the economy is headed for a recession.  The facts are that the mortgage industry went through a tough time and that the price of gas this past summer was at its highest levels.  However, on June 25, 2008, Oracle Corporation reported record sales and profits and surpassed IBM to become the 2^nd largest software company in the world. Their sales are an indicator of future growth in the economy. On the same day, oil futures fell sharply and gas prices inched lower. As of today, gas is half the price of last summer. Does this information mean we can sit back and all will be roses? Probably not! So what does it mean?

It means that in business things happen every day, some good and some bad. We should not try to react but we should plan and take action.  Develop a solid business plan and execute your plan every day. Stay positive by being in charge of your business. Start every day with the attitude that it will be a good and productive day. We still have to be realist but we can be positive realist. So if you have a good business plan with actionable goals that you are implementing daily then you are more like Oracle. If you don’t, then stop procrastinating, take charge of your future, and get going.

For more information about this or other leadership issues contact Hank Sullivan at Strategic Solutions 510-432-7596 or email hsullivan@stratsolutions.net. or go to www.stratsolutions.net

If you are concerned with how you are going to produce more and better results in  2009, then you need to begin with taking action now. It all starts with a positive attitude. Commit to 2009 being successful and then go out and make it happen.

Below are steps to consider in your action plan:

1. Start with the end in mind.

Develop a clear picture of what you want to accomplish. State the end results in one sentence that even a child can imagine, understand, and remember. Consider the power of President Kennedy’s goal “to send a man to the moon and bring him safely back home within this decade”. Thousands of people did very detailed work and spent billions of dollars based on this simply stated goal.

2. Develop a written plan.

Get it on paper (or on the computer). Make the plan as specific as possible, in terms of what will be done and by when.

3. Enlist support of others.

Let them know what you are doing, and how they and others will benefit from the results you want to produce. Invite them to lend their support however they can.

4. Set up milestones and reporting systems.

Break the job down into segments, and set target dates for finishing each segment. Develop a reporting system on paper or via a good software program. Send regular reports to people who are working on your team, or who have an interest in your project.

5. Have a support system.

Set up the supports you need in your work and in your personal life. Have one or more advisors that you meet with regularly to report progress, and get advice and encouragement. Your personal coach can be one of these key people.

6. Monitor progress and make adjustments.

Realize that even the best plans need to be adjusted in the heat of battle. Make adjustments quickly and respond to new opportunities or short cuts along the way that help you reach your destination faster. If you find it difficult to get around or through certain roadblocks, get help and advice promptly.

7. Form mutually beneficial alliances with others.

Find out what other people or groups are natural allies and team up with them so you can help each other reach your objectives more easily and effectively.

8. Work your plan regularly and continuously.

Maintain a high focused activity level yourself, and get help when you need it. Don’t try to do everything yourself. Delegate as much as you can, and follow up with those to whom you delegate work.

9. Keep your allies on your side and your enemies at bay.

Inform your allies about progress you are making and problems you are having. Thank them for their help. Protect yourself from important enemies by setting up and maintaining boundaries between yourself and your enemies. Recognize that enemies can be within you as well as about you. When you find that you are doing things that impede your own progress, replace that activity or habit with a better one. Ask your advisors what you personally can do better. Then put the corrections in place.

10. Celebrate progress along the way.

Share the glory. Recognize and thank the people who have helped you produce results.

If after considering this list of things to do for success in 2009, you decide it is too much work then just keep doing what you have always done. In the meantime, your competition will be implementing these ideas and who do you think will end up with a better year?  I hope you decide it will be you.

Step 1- Meet someone new. Even if you have been doing business with a company for a long time, you had to meet some one new to begin the relationship.

Step 2- Establish a favorable first impression. You need to make the person feel comfotable that doing business with you will be a good thing to do. This involves your demeanor, attire, smiling, concern, and in general putting them at ease.

Step 3- Find out where the pain lies. The new contact is not interested in what you have to sell unless they have a need. So you must discover what is of concern to them long before you can offer any solution.

Step 4- What’s in it for them. People do not like to buy unless there is something in it for them.So you need to make sure that the solution offers a benefit to them. Most people listen to the same radio station (WIIFM) What’s In it for me.

Step 5- Ask for the Order. More sales have been lost when the sales person simply never asked for the order. The customer expects you to ask and often when you don’t they will either simply not buy or will buy from another person who asks for it.

Step 6- Follow-up. Many customers will feel slighted because although they may have liked the product or service without proper follow-up they will go elsewhere for future purchases. Remember it is 5 times as difficult to get new business as it is to get repeat business.

Hank Sullivan