Key to a long Term Success

Consistent decisions are the key! I work with so many clients that feel overwhelmed and out of control. They believe the lie that if they just had more time, or if they managed their time better, that they would lose that feeling. The fact is that the feelings of overwhelm are rooted in a lack of clarity about what is best. Almost everyone has more to get done than time to get it done. And if you lack clarity on what is most important, then you will feel overwhelmed and indecisive, and will lack focus as you try to accomplish whatever you do choose to do. Another common myth is that we can multi-task. The truth is you can only do one thing at a time. You may be master at changing from one thing to another quickly and jumping from one task to another, but at any moment you are only doing one thing. So the key to losing the sense of overwhelm is determining what is most important to you, and this itself takes an investment of your time. Again, the feeling of overwhelm and fatigue hits the hardest when we are taking actions incongruent with our deepest values and beliefs. So how can you determine what is most important? Find a peaceful place, perhaps outside in the woods or by the ocean or lake, or even in your local park. Relax and breathe deeply, and use your imagination to project forward in time to a future event. See yourself riding in a fine automobile, and being dropped off at this event. See yourself walking into this large, formal room. Notice that all of your friends are there, and many of your most loyal business associates. And there are your family members as well, all gathered together for this event. You notice that their attention is directed to the front of the room, to a large rectangular container. It's a box, and you're in it! It's your funeral, and everyone that you care about is there. And they are taking turns, speaking about your life, and what you meant to them. Now answer this question: What do you want to hear them say about you? And what do you want the others in the room to be thinking about you? Write it down. The comments from your family, your business associates, your fellow church members, and your old and new friends. You are now gaining a true sense of what is most important to you. Here is the lesson. And it comes in the form of another question: Are you planning and choosing activities and projects that will create the comments and thoughts that you want to hear at that event? Now capture and review all of your to do's on a single list, and review them in light of what you have just learned. If you have followed my instructions, you are much better prepared to choose the priorities based on what is most important and valuable to you. This will be a great start. Your goal moving forward is to list all those items. Write them down. Take your time to think of EVERY TASK you need to do. This will help your mind to uncluttered. Now after you are done, do the above exercise again. Mark the tasks that you consciously decide they don't need to be done. After, prioritize the rest of the tasks and stick to it. If something new pops up in your mind, don't get distracted, instead just add it to the list. ActionCoach

Sales Tip: Do you Always Discount to get the sale?

Discounts VS Profits.... Which one counts more? Do you have (or have you ever had) one of those salespeople who thinks that giving a discount is the easiest, quickest way to make a sale? Of course, they may be right, but what about the profit (your profit) they’re giving away? If your product has a profit margin of 30% and your salespeople give a 10% discount to make the sale, you’re losing a massive, one-third (33.333%) of the available profit! During a seminar for the buyers of a large retail group with branches all over the country, an attendee shared the following tactic: “My job is easy. I just let the salesperson make a full sales presentation. I ask questions and listen to their explanations. When they’re finished, I simply say, ‘I’d like to place an order with you, but your prices are too high...’ and I then simply sit there and enjoy myself, because the once-confident salesperson suddenly doesn’t know what to do or say next. With much less conviction and enthusiasm, they may repeat the benefits and features of their products, but most of them get in to see me by giving me a lower price in the first place. Whatever new price is offered, I usually respond by saying, ‘You’ll have to do better than that!’ And more often than not, they do…in fact, do better than that! I get lower prices by just sitting there, enjoying the game!” The buyer isn’t stupid. But you don’t have to lose. If you are selling, or have others selling for you, you must protect your price and your margins. Teach your people not to hesitate or stutter when a buyer insists on a lower price. Start negotiating! Start using tactics to hold firm on your prices. Sell value…perceived and real Here’s Why: Do you think it’s possible to work 50% less and earn the same income from selling? You bet it is! Here’s how: Suppose your company sells pumps, with selling price of $10,000 per unit. Assume that your net cost per pump is $7,000. That means that the net profit on each pump would be $3,000. If ten pumps are sold at the full price, the net profit for your company will be $30,000. Compare this with again selling ten pumps, but this time at a discount of ten percent. The total selling price for ten pumps is then $90,000. The net cost for ten pumps remains at $70,000. The net profit has decreased to only $20,000 compared to the original transaction $30,000 where no discount was given. If your company continued to sell at ten percent discount, then you’d have to sell 15 pumps to achieve a net profit of $30,000. Here’s how it looks: Sales Discount Gross Sales Net cost Profit 10 0% $100,000 $70,000 $30,000 10 10% $90,000 $70,000 $20,000 15 10% $135,000 $105,000 $30,000 What are the lessons to be learned from this example? A ten percent discount means your company must sell 50% more units (15 instead of 10) to earn the same profit dollars. A ten percent discount means someone has to work 50% harder to earn the company the same dollars. By not giving discounts, in essence the company can “work” 50% less and earn the same income. In spite of this, you might still think, “But, if I don’t give discounts, I’ll lose sales! It’s an industry norm to give them...everyone does. If I don’t give discounts, they’ll go to the competition!” And you may be right, of course. You may lose a few deals if you don’t give discounts…but the good news is you can afford to…and still make the same or more profit. ActionCoach

Two maybe Three's Company

As a small business owner marketing can be hard work and expensive. Whether you are going down the networking route, doing presentations, or marketing yourself through more traditional methods, such as adverts, it takes time and money to do it right. However, there are ways to reduce the costs, and the time you have to spend. By teaming up with other business owners you can share the marketing time and expense. An obvious collusion is to put together a presentation with a couple of likeminded businesses in complementary fields. For example, an employment lawyer could run a seminar with an HR expert and a payroll company. The costs of the venue, refreshments, seminar marketing, handouts etc. could then be shared three ways. As an individual you also only have to prepare enough material for a third of the presentation time – thus saving you time and effort. There are also hidden benefits of doing joint presentations. Each professional will get a better understanding of the others’ fields. This will make it easier for them to refer their clients in areas they are not, themselves, familiar. Another way of colluding is having a common website, blog, or other social media presence. I am currently involved in helping put together a fantastic website to introduce business owners to management accountants in their area. The benefit of such a scheme is that we can create a really great website, which is inexpensive for each accountant, because of the numbers of people who will be advertised on it. So, why not have a think about which of your business contacts you can do a joint piece of marketing with and see where it takes you. By F. Bevan