Veronicle Blog

So many people want to start a business today and be rich tomorrow. Sorry, people it doesn’t happen that way. If it did, everyone would do it. There is no free lunch…it takes hard work, determination and realistic goal setting.

Think about the businesses you have worked at, look at the businesses in your community. I mean really look. When you go to the dry cleaners, how many other people are there also. Think about what it takes for that dry cleaner to open every day. How many people he needs to come in with their dry cleaning in order to make a profit. OK, dry cleaning doesn’t excite you. How about that specialty shop you want to open! You want to open a retail store that caters to people that buy Hummels, knick knacs, bric-a-brac. Will you only handle certain types? How many will you order of each type? What are the best sellers? How many will you have to sell to make money for yourself, and to also keep that shop open, or will you sell them by mail order only from your home?

Want to do business on the web? The same principles apply. How many visitors to your web site do you need to make a sale? How do you get them to visit? How do you get them to stay? You get the idea. You need goals in order to measure any progress in your business.

Realistic goals come from a well thought out mission statement, which leads to a very good business plan, which leads to a well thought out marketing strategy. You should have short and long term goals. The short term goals will cover the upcoming 6 months to 2 years. Your long term goals will go further out, let’s say over the next five years. Remember, you need to give a business at least two years in order to give it a real chance. Not all businesses make a gigantic profit immediately.

Let’s say you want to start a house cleaning business. Your initial plan is to work it yourself, and add independent contractors as needed. You decide on your mission statement, you make up your business plan. You want to make $500 per week, working six days per week, 10 hour days. Your marketing will include advertising in your local paper, flyers, and mailers. You can clean 3 houses/apartments per day at $25-$50. You also have to decide your price points, what will you charge for a 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom, or a house with 3 bedrooms 2 bathrooms, etc. After all this is done you can better determine how many of each type you will need each week to meet you goal of $500 per week. These are your short term realistic goals. Your long term goals are to eventually hire independent contractors to do the work. Obviously, the more clients you market for, the more independent contractors you need, but also the more income you can generate. You will make up long term goals for the third, fourth, and fifth years of how many independent contractors you want to add and how many clients you want. Your marketing plan will reflect what you need to do to get the numbers you are projecting.

Realistic goals can and must be set, you just need a plan. For example, in Lease Purchasing, as in any other business, goal setting is of paramount importance. You need to follow a plan, a plan for success. Short term goals and long term goals are part of this plan. Like many franchise businesses that have an outline for their franchisees to follow for a successful business, the same should be done in lease purchasing.

To set these realistic goals and to obtain a good foundation, you need a program that provides you with support in the start up and running of your business. Using our own Lease Purchase Coaching Program as an example, we schedule consultations that cover all students need to know to get started. We role play with students and have specific assignments giving them certain things to do, and certain goals to meet. If they follow the program, and do their deals, they will be able to run their own successful business. We work with our students to accomplish the above and to help them set realistic goals.

An example of goals in Lease Purchasing is the number of deals you want to do, and how many calls or contacts you need to make to do that number of deals. How many consultations do you want to do, again, how many contacts you make will determine how many you get. Lease Purchasing like many other businesses is a numbers game. Make so many contacts, and/or calls and get so many deals. However, in order to do this, you have to make some goal making decisions and set realistic goals, not farfetched ones. Making a million dollars by the end of six months is not a realistic goal. Making so many calls per day, per week, per month is, and then from the number of calls/contacts you make, realize you are going to get so many responses, and from those responses make so many deals. A realistic income working full time the first year is $50,000 to $75,000.

Following a proven method is of the utmost importance. You don’t hear of many Burger King or Taco Bell franchises failing. Why, because they follow the corporate plan. The company will tell them there are no short cuts. If they want to succeed, they need to follow the company’s proven formula.

The people who fail in business are usually those who don’t listen; don’t want to follow a proven program; want to take short cuts; and who don’t set realistic goals.

So remember, no matter what your business is, if you want to succeed you need to set goals for yourself … and make them realistic.

Copyright DeFiore Enterprises 2003

Interested in having your own successful, home based creative real estate investing business? Chuck and Sue have been helping folks start successful home based businesses for over 19 years, and we can help you too! To see how, visit www.homebusinesssolutions.com for the latest FREE tips and tricks, educational products and coaching in creative real estate investing and home based businesses. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to our “how to” Home Business Solutions Digest, it’s like having your own personal coach. Visit www.hbsdigest.com to start today.

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The Sales Stigma

Somewhere along the way sales got a bad rap. I’m sure all of us
can relate to having dealt with a salesperson that made us
uncomfortable, pressured us into making a decision, or even
mislead us about the product or service.

We have all survived a contract we didn’t want or have things in
our house that we were lured into buying only to be disappointed
in their performance or usability.

However, some of us may be able to recall a good sales
experience in which a conscientious salesperson made us feel
positive about our purchase. In these instances, customer
service made all the difference. During a good sales experience,
I feel as though the salesperson really listened to me,
understood my needs and provided a solution that would satisfy
those needs. Great customer service skills really drive an
outstanding sales experience and that is an invaluable trait to
pass on to your Call Center customer service representatives.

The Customer Service Challenge

As the needs of the Call Center industry change and our customer
service representatives are required to take on more tasks and
responsibilities, they also find themselves in the position to
sell more products or services Initiating this behavior can be a
challenge for those who feel threatened buy the sales process.
Sometimes, representatives are uncomfortable with positioning
sales to customers who have called in for other issues. They
fall victim to the sales stigma - that the customer will assume
they are offering something that is not needed or that will not
be useful. But it is the manager’s responsibility to help
representatives understand that great customer service includes
an additional sales offer.

Customer Service Sales

Providing great customer service is about listening to the
customer’s problem, investigating the source of their problem,
offering solutions and sometimes even providing solutions the
customer did not realize were available. Let me share an example
of a great customer service sale I encountered a few weeks ago
with my cellular phone provider.

I received my cell phone bill several months ago only to be
shocked by the charges. I have exceeded my plan to the tune of
over $200. Realizing that I was probably going to continue to
overspend I called my cell phone providers customer service line
to discuss a plan change and other options. Once the agent had
listened to my complaint and pulled up my account she was able
to make several recommendations about my cell phone plan. She
noticed that I exceeded my minutes by hours and suggested that I
move to a plan that left me with more minutes than I had used at
my highest usage rate. She also noticed that a bulk of my calls
were placed between 7and 9pm and recommended that for a nominal
charge per month, I could start my free evening minutes at 7pm,
which would further save on overage fees.

The customer service representative sold me additional services
because she listened to my problem and offered a solution based
on my needs and usage patterns. She also was able to offer
information about other products and services that the company
provided because she had built rapport by addressing my basic
needs first. My customer service sales experience with this
provider not only resulted in satisfying my needs, but also
engendered my customer loyalty. The customer service agent was
able to make the sale because she did what great customer
service agents do. She listened and provided a solution.

Customer Service Skills vs. Sales Skills

Effective customer service representatives and sale people may
not realize it, but they share several skills.

Customer Service Skills — Sales Skills

Listening  Listening

Patience  Patience

Attention to detail  Attention to detail

Problem solving  Problem solving

Effective communication  Effective communication

Empathy  Empathy

Handling difficult customers  Overcoming objections

Although their skills are similar, they are used in different
formats and under varying circumstances. Helping customer
service representatives understand what skills they already
possess and how to use them to navigate effective sales is an
essential step in reassuring them that sales doesn’t have to be
uncomfortable, dishonest or aggressive.

Building new attitudes

Call Center managers can help representatives enhance skills and
improve comfort levels to ensure success in customer service
sales. As managers, we can adopt the following techniques when
coaching our representatives.

* Help them see that the customer service skills they already
possess are transferable to the sales process.

* Provide them with “cheat sheets” and lists that link products
and services to common problems.

* Give them opportunities to role play and practice the new
behaviors you want them to develop.

* Monitor them one on one and model effective offers for them.

* Provide consistent feedback on how they are doing.

Wow! Customer Service Sale

Helping your representatives become effective at offering
additional products and services can create Wow! Customer
Service. When representatives really listen to the customer,
they can solve their problems, offer solutions that your
customers may not be aware of and create a rapport that will
facilitate long-term customer loyalty. You will build the
confidence of your customer service agents in their customer
interactions and create a flexible workforce that will be able
to face the challenges of the changing work environment. Now
that is Wow Customer Service!

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Resistance. It isn’t something people cherish or enjoy encountering. We experience resistance everywhere at work:

People don’t like that idea.

People don’t want the work flow to change.

Someone doesn’t agree with the feedback they received and becomes defensive.

Someone doesn’t see the value in a revised policy and they become resistant.

People don’t want to buy what we have to sell.

I’ve had leaders and supervisors tell me that resistance is the number one problem they face. But I don’t agree with that perspective and let me tell you why . . .

Examining Resistance

Why do people dread, avoid or even fear resistance? Because they haven’t stopped to think about it.

Imagine a meeting where everyone agrees. Imagine this meeting - where there is no dissension, no difference of opinion. At first you might consider this to be nirvana. Imagine the bliss: We are in agreement! No heated discussions! No frowns! No stress!

And while the stress would be low and no resistance would be found, there would be something else missing.

Progress.

If no one proposes a new idea, the organization will never move forward. If no one suggests that something isn’t as good or effective or useful as it could be, nothing will ever change. And if no one challenges the new ideas that are raised to help make them even better, the wrong problems may be addressed and the results worse than before you began.

The bottom line is that innovation and progress require resistance. It is just a fact of life. So in reality, it doesn’t make much sense to call resistance a problem. That is like saying that it is a problem that our air is 78% nitrogen and we need to fix it!

The air is the air - we don’t worry about the relatively small amount of oxygen in it. We know that our bodies are designed to convert that oxygen into life. So too, resistance is just resistance. It exists! And because it exists our ideas can be challenged and examined, our processes get improved, we have machines that fly through the air, light coming from a bulb, and thousands of other things. In part, because of resistance.

The Next Steps

If you buy my premise that resistance just exists - that while it can be challenging to deal with, it can be as positive (if not more so) as it feels negative - you have some new approaches that can help you.

1. Expect it. Why would you be surprised to find resistance? It doesn’t matter how brilliant our idea, or beneficial the change you propose, somebody will “push back” or be resistant to the idea from the start. Recognizing this will allow you to plan for some of that resistance and provide ideas to alleviate the concern. In other words, you can plan for it.

2. Don’t take it personally. Again, resistance is a natural occurrence. Don’t take people’s reaction to your idea as being about you. Get over yourself! The resistance exists naturally as people think about the implications of the new ideas or change. Their resistance isn’t a personal attack.

3. Avoid defensiveness. Think about it. You suggest a new idea to a colleague. They reply, talking about all of the problems with this idea and why it won’t work. Your response is defensiveness… you raise your voice to make sure they hear you … you speak a bit more rapidly … And is your defensiveness greeted with reduced resistance? Not in my experience. Defensiveness, while natural too, and sometimes hard to avoid, doesn’t reduce the resistance we experience - typically it adds to the strength of that resistance. Hint: When you realize that the resistance isn’t personal, it is much easier to avoid defensiveness.

4. Embrace it. If something is naturally occurring and in the end beneficial, why wouldn’t we embrace it and recognize that resistance is just a part of the change or idea adoption process. View resistance as the file to help you smooth the rough edges off your idea - providing the benefit of improving your proposal.

5. Acknowledge it. Once you intellectually know that resistance will occur and you know that becoming defensive about it doesn’t really help you, you will search for a new strategy. Here it is: acknowledge the resistance. Let people be heard. Ask them questions about their perspective. Try hard to understand it. You don’t have to agree with them, to acknowledge or value your perspective. By acknowledging their perspective, they are much more likely to be open to hear your ideas, and much more likely to turn the conversation into something productive.

Resistance can be your friend. As you change your perspective you will become more comfortable with it, and more adept at understanding that resistance can help your teams and your organization grow.

Kevin Eikenberry is Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group (http://KevinEikenberry.com), a learning consulting company that helps Clients reach their potential through a variety of training, consulting and speaking services. To receive your free special report on “Unleashing Your Potential” go to http://www.kevineikenberry.com/uypw/index.asp or call us at (317) 387-1424 or 888.LEARNER.

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Human beings and the way they interact are extraordinarily Complex.
Deming tried to define that complexity.

We have since learned the impossibility of defining natural events in a digital way.

When we ignore the complexity and allow people to get on with what they want to do by removing the barriers to their performance, their performance becomes extraordinary.

I have been trying to discover why there is so much resistance to what is essentially some very basic philosophy.

Demings early work on statistics and quality was built around an ability to analyse complex systems and the use of that analysis to predict complex outcomes.

Deming was a statistician and his work very soon leaves the basic philosophy and becomes bogged in the complex use of numbers to define complex systems.

The very complexity of his approach deters many students but there is a more fundamental problem with complex systems that was identified by the later work on chaos.

There seems to be two approaches to the world.

There is the modern Digital approach where every action and interaction is controlled at the microscopic level by single bites of information.

Below this level it is not possible to go because a single bite of information is not divisible.

But we know from chaos theory that below the level of that single bite of information there is a whole world of complexity that has huge and unpredictable outcomes.

The flaws occur when we begin to realise the limitations of the start point digital data.

When the weather centre at Bracknell decided to tighten up its long range forecasting ability with the purchase of their first computers the reaction of the computers was completely unexpected.

The computers told the forecasters that they should stop issuing long range forecasts because the probability of a correct forecast was no better than chance.

Natural events are far more complex than a digital approach can ever define.

We can take a digital picture that looks great but when we blow it up we start to discover its limitations.

By trying to try to define complex systems in this way we are building in errors that become evident in the variation we encounter and are magnified massively whenever one complex system encounters another.

The second approach is the analogue approach.

In nature the interaction of complex systems occurs all of the time without any trouble at all because when a wave hits a beach what happens, just happens.

If we try to define what happens to the wave or the beach in a digital way we will probably end up concluding that nature is at fault.

The digital approach to managing process’s and operations will always have the same built in errors when it contains these complex natural components.

The component that causes most trouble is the human operator whose actions and interactions may be the most complex on the planet.

When treated in this digital way the complexities cannot be resolved.

The human being has to be treated in natural way that instead of trying to define the complexity of the condition simply creates the environment that allows the conditions to interact and come to a natural conclusion.

In this way we avoid the impossibility of trying to define a complex system and instead concentrate on the result when the two systems combine.

Try to define sex.

What is it, what starts the thought processes that lead to it, what are the physical changes that must preceed it, how do we feel during and do we have to smoke afterwards, what about the partner, what appealing characteristics, body type, skin tone hair colour etc.

There are an enormous number of questions before we can define the act in a digital/analytical way and an even bigger number of answers to those questions.

The complexity of the analysis puts us off the act.

If we appreciate the possibility of the act then we just have to create the right environment for the act to take place and ignore the complexities because it is what people want to do.

In the same way, if we assume that people want to be able to do a good job we simply have to create the environment that allows them to do a good job.

As Deming said, “Remove the barriers that stop people from being as good as they can be”.

You will be amazed at what happens.

Peter A Hunter
Author of “Breaking the Mould”

http://www.breakingthemould.co.uk

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Goals. Most people have a love-hate relationship with goals. They love them because they are such a great idea and a wonderful way to motivate us to achieve, as well as evaluate our progress, but hate them because for many, they more often than not go unattained and simply frustrate them. This isn’t what goals should do!

So here are some simple ways to set goals so that we achieve them! After all, what good is a goal if it isn’t something you achieve? Here are some simple steps you can take to make sure that you see change in your life this year.

Narrow your focus. That’s right, start small. Pick two or three areas tops, that you want to work on. Too many people say to themselves, “I want to do this, and this, and this, and this…” and they end up doing nothing! Most of what you do throughout your day can be done without a lot of mental or emotional exertion, but change isn’t one of them. So focus down to a couple. This way you can get some victory in these areas. Here are some areas to think about: Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, Spiritual, Financial, and Relational. What areas need some work? Now, what one thing should be the first item on the change list? The others will come later, but for now, you should focus on two or three total.

Keep the long-term in mind, but set your sights on achieving your goals in the short-term. Do you want to lose 75 pounds? Good. Long-term you will. But for now, think short-term. Don’t think about losing 75 pound by summer 2002. Think about losing 5 pounds by November 1st. This does two things. First, It makes it urgent. Instead of blowing it and saying, “Oh well, I still have 17 months to lose the 75 pounds” (because eventually that becomes 2 months to lose 75 pounds) your goal is only a few weeks out. This is better in terms of reaching your goal. Secondly, as you reach these shorter goals, it gives you regular victories instead of regular progress. Progress feels good, but achieving a goal is awesome!

Reward yourself when you achieve the goal. When you lose the 5 pounds by November 1st, go get yourself a grande whole-milk mocha. But just one! Then get back to your goal for December 1st. This puts a little fun back into the process of self-control and self-discipline. You will look forward to the reward and when the going gets tough, you will say, “two more weeks, two more pounds, then…”

That’s it. I truly believe that it can be that simple for you.

This adds some ideas to the above article.

1. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Instead of saying, “I am going to quit my three pack a day habit cold turkey,” say “I am going to drop to a pack and a half a day.” You can always make new resolutions when you have achieved the first ones. Give yourself small victories a little at a time. Instead of saying “I am going to lose 75 pounds,” say “I am going to lose 20 pounds.”

2. Be specific in your timeline. Don’t just say, “I am going to lose 20 pounds.” Say, “I am going to lose 20 pounds by April 1st.” This way, when you start to be tempted in the ice cream aisle in the middle of November, you can say, “Nope, only 10 more pounds to go in a month and a half and I am not going to blow it.”

3. Post your resolutions where you will see them every day. This will keep the resolution in the front of your mind at all times. Instead of forgetting that you are trying to lose weight and ordering a big, thick porterhouse, you will have been reminded earlier that day that you need to go with something a little more on the lighter side. It will help your will beat your desire.

4. Find an encouraging person, who you respect, to keep you accountable. This person should ask you, at an interval established by the both of you, how it is going. They must be the encouraging type, though. If you are blowing it, they can say, “Well, that’s okay, get back to it tomorrow.” If you are doing well, they can say, “Awesome job. I’ll talk to you next week.” You will look forward to their weekly encouragement.

5. Find a partner. That’s right, someone who is trying to accomplish the same thing (or something different if need be). Just make sure that they really want to change, or they will end up just bellyaching about how hard it is and you will both fall into the abyss.

6. Write down a list of all of the benefits that will come if you accomplish this. If it is losing weight it might be something like this: Feel better, better self-esteem, longer life, clothes are more comfortable, no more time spent sewing on popped buttons, wife says you look 22 again, etc. If it is quitting smoking, it may look like this: Better breath, no more brown fingers, no more wrinkles on my face, no more red eyes, no more smelly clothes, longer life, wife don’t make me spend two hours a day on the back porch, etc. This will help you see what you will get from accomplishing your resolution.

7. Plan a reward if you accomplish your resolution. It can be anything from small to large. If you drop the twenty pounds, go out for dinner and dessert. Then get back to lose the next 20. If it is quitting smoking, go on a mini-vacation. Whatever you do, reward yourself. Or let a spouse or a friend pick the reward. Then splurge and enjoy!

About The Author:

Chris Widener is a popular speaker and writer as well as the President of
Made for Success, a company helping individuals and organizations turn
their potential into performance, succeed in every area of their lives and
achieve their dreams.

To see Chris “live” at the upcoming Jim Rohn Weekend Event as he speaks on
the subject of Secrets of Influence go to
http://Chris-Widener.InspiresYOU.com/ or call 800-929-0434.

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You may be thinking, “Gary, I am a mom, housewife, or stay-at-home dad, so why do I need to know how to negotiate effectively?”

I’m glad you asked.

The truth is everyone needs to negotiate. Surprisingly, almost everything we do the moment we get up in the morning until we go to bed involves some type of “negotiating”.

I know, you are saying that I have lost my mind, but no, seriously, we do negotiate -continuously.

Let’s say, you are 18 years old, live with your parents, yet work. So, you wake up at 6 am, and begin a negotiation with your younger brother, who is already in the very bathroom that you need in order to take a shower and get ready for work.

To avoid arriving late to work, you quickly offer to pay $5.00 to him to leave the bathroom immediately so that you can take a shower.

Next, you head into the kitchen to negotiate with your mother over your preference for orange juice and toast for breakfast, while she is counter-negotiating a complete meal of oatmeal, eggs, milk, and sausage.

Who wins this negotiation is anyone’s guess.

The point is that all of us constantly negotiate. For example, we negotiate - or should — with our car mechanic to lessen the cost of maintenance and repairs.

Soooo …. to help you succeed in your negotiations, I have prepared this special article that will outline the tools and knowledge you need to succeed.

First, you need to know “what is a negotiation.” Simply put, it is the exchange of ideas with the intention of changing relationships, agreements, or viewpoints.

Negotiation requires …

1. Calmness
2. Understanding of people
3. Preparation before the negotiation (preferably written)
4. Strategy for success (you need to know what the other side wants from the negotiation)

Remember that negotiation requires that you give something of perceived value in order to receive something of value.

Negotiation may be giving up something today for a later advantage.

Here is a short list of non-aggressive negotiation strategies:

Know what you want

Know what the other side wants

Note the “feelings” of your opponent

Verbally accept the opponent’s viewpoint

Give your opinion and ask for opponent’s opinion

Give positive comments and ask for positive comments

Respect differences of opinion

Verbally express “how” the two sides are similar

Strive to reach “mutual” benefits

Build a strong relationship for future negotiations

Be sure to note …

…the tone of your voice.

…how you pronounce your words.

…your own body language.

…your opponent’s body language.

Finally, remember that you should always keep the relationship positive so that you can return and negotiate another day.

Copyright 2005 - Gary E. Cain - All Rights Reserved Worldwide

Gary is a business teacher and Internet marketer. He owns and operates his own language school in Brazil. Gary has written two books: Stop the Grammar and Internet Self Defense.

Gary provides forward-thinking and “already put it in practice” tutorials for home-based Internet businesses that are seeking information and free web tools to maximize sales and revenue.

Please take a moment to visit his website at http://www.dollarsforever.com and consider subscribing to Gary’s Dollarsforever Ezine. As a subscriber to his Ezine you will receive his monthly, high-quality tutorials delivered directly to your email inbox.

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Your kids want to play a game of hide and seek. Your spouse wants to grab a coffee and reconnect. You would love to enjoy this time with your loved ones, but you have things to do, responsibilities to attend to. How often do you pass up these moments because you are too preoccupied with life? What if you realized all these little moments ARE life? Years from now you won’t remember that phone call you ‘had’ to make or how clean your house is. Spending ten quality minutes with your kids might not seem like a big deal to you, but it can make a world of difference to your children. Do you feel so rushed through your day that you are missing out on what really matters? What would need to change in your life in order to plug in some more quality time? Do you need to reprioritize how you spend your time? Do you need to ask for help or delegate some tasks? Try putting things in perspective. When you reach the end of your life, what exactly do you want to be remembered for…what fond memories do you wish to recount? Spend some time this week on creating a plan that works for you.

ACTION STEPS FOR THE WEEK:

1. Why do you feel overwhelmed?

What is going on in your life that is making you feel so overwhelmed and spent by the end of the day? Take some time to look at all of your current obligations and tasks throughout the week. Detail which responsibilities you are willing to let go of in order to make room for the things you DO want. If your plate is full how are you possibly going to enjoy the little moments without feeling pulled in a million directions. This week prioritize what really matters.

2. Make a list

Create a master list of everything you want to enjoy more of in your life. What activities would you like to experience with your children. What would be your ‘ideal’ day? How can you begin creating that. Putting your thoughts on paper begins the process of creating it.

3. Ask for help

If you are so overwhelmed that you can’t enjoy a game of chutes and ladders with your kids, you may need to make some changes. There is only so much time in a day and you only possess a limited amount of energy to get everything accomplished. Ask for what you need! Do you need help around the home? Do you need to purchase prepared meals for the family? Do you need to hire a babysitter for a couple of hours a week? Do what works for you and your family.

Have a great week!

Leslie

Leslie Gail is a Certified Life Coach who supports busy people in achieving personal and professional success without compromising their values. Leslie conducts seminars, hosts a tv segment and is on a panel of experts for KOSI 101.1 radio station. Contact Leslie today to create a new blueprint for your life. http://newlifefocus.com/

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