It’s as EASY as ABC
I’m not sure where I originally saw this, but I just came across it again and want to share it with you.
-Attention to the customer is more important than anything. Period.
-Be on the floor during peak hours.
-Check your ego at the door.
-Delegate operational areas so you can spend more time leading your team.
-Energy and passion are your most effective tools.
-Focus your team on achieving daily goals and the month will take care of itself.
-Go first when you introduce something new in the store. People learn from watching you.
-Humor is a great way to manage your team - as long as it’s in good taste. Remember, what’s funny to you may not be funny to someone else on your team
-Interview potential employees as if your future depends on it. Most of the time it does.
-Just because you think something doesn’t mean you should say it. Think before talking.
-Knowledgeable employees are vital to a store’s success. Your role is to provide knowledge in an easy to learn, easy to apply method.
-Lead by example with every customer encounter.
-Meeting one-on-one with each team member every month keeps communication open and positive.
-Never put off a difficult conversation with an employee unless the time truly isn’t right. Waiting rarely makes it easier or better.
-Optimism is a must for a team to achieve its goals.
-Practice makes permanent. Roleplay with at least one person every day. Remember, go first.
-Question your team members regularly about how you and the store can improve. Be open to their suggestions.
-Respect people’s privacy. As a manager or owner it’s inappropriate to share knowledge about one person with another unless there’s a real need to know.
-Stress out at work and your team stresses with you. Remain upbeat and positive and your team remains upbeat and positive.
-Time is one of the most valuable assets you have in a day. Spend it wisely.
-Use each team member’s strength to help others on the team to grow.
-Values and integrity determine what kind of leader you really are.
-“We” should be used more than “I” or “you” every day.
-X rated words should never be used at the store.
-Your development is as important as your team’s development. You can’t give away what you don’t have.
-Zap negativity before it spreads. Resolve issues or conflicts before they undermine the rest of the team and, eventually, the customer.

The Two Main Motivators Are:
Desire for Gain…
Those who are motivated to get more and more of anything stay at it regardless of the obstacles. People who are working to have a bigger bank account, business, car or home, figure out how to get it and do whatever it takes. They set goals and track towards them hourly, daily, weekly and monthly. They get what they want.

Fear of Loss…
Some people don’t really get going until they see things going sour. They don’t want to lose their bank account, business, car or home, and figure out how to keep it and do whatever it takes. Their goal is to keep what they have, and will work tirelessly to do so. In the case of this person, something like today’s sour economy turns out to be a good thing. They wind up with more than would have had if the sailing had been smooth.

A Third Type…
Then there are those who simply take what they get. These people inevitably don’t get enough and don’t seem to care. If they lose the house they sleep in the car. If they lose the car they sleep in the park.

You Decide…
When it comes right down to it you get to decide where and how you live. It’s your call.

WHY?
When you know HOW to do a job you can keep it. When you know WHY the job should be done you can be the boss. This is why employees need a boss that knows WHY.

WHY?
There’s a good chance that you learned HOW to brush your teeth before you really knew WHY you should. That’s WHY children need mom and dad.
Get in the habit of searching for the WHY behind anything you are asked to do or hear that you should do. Ask yourself;

-Why should I eat right?
-Why should I drink plenty of water?
-Why should I exercise?
-Why should I be on time?
-Why should I get organized?
-Why should I plan my day?
-Why should I tell the truth?
-Why should I think positive?
-Why should I stay focused?
-Why should I be nice to people?

There’s nothing on this list of questions that most people do not know HOW to do, but how many of them don’t get done and WHY not?

Maybe it’s just because they don’t WHY yet.
WHAT can YOU add to the list?

Who’s Economy?

I heard the “E Word” as a poor sales excuse today for the first time in a while, and I jumped all over it. The media continues to speak of the “economy” as if it were some sort of living creature effecting anyone and everyone and is beyond their control. I continue to maintain that “economy” is a state of mind, and that everyone has his or her own economy.
The word economy can be traced back to the Greek word oikonomos, “One who manages a household.” Note the word “One” in here. Each person must “manage” his or her own economy. Managing one’s economy does NOT mean NOT spending money. I often times see people “cut here” and “cut there” until they cut their own throats. 

Dead Sea in Israel
The reason the Dead Sea is dead is because there is no outlet. A live body of water has both an inlet and an outlet for water to flow. So must a business. I think of it as “Dollars Incoming” and “Dollars Outgoing.” You bring about what you think about, so think more about your dollars incoming than you do your dollars outgoing and your business will thrive. To quote my father, “Volume will make up for a multitude of sins.” Being a bit “sinful” with money, I have always put strong emphasis on the incoming side of my business, and it has worked. My economy is just fine. I hope that yours is too.

NOTE: The comments to this article were posted a while back on a similar article. I left them here because they are still valid. I hope you agree. Feel free to enter your own comment if not.

The sign on your door or window can oftentimes be your 1st (and lasting) impression. Since you never get a second chance to make a 1st impression, be sure that the one you are making is what you want it to be.

Help Wanted
If you choose to advertise for employees on your store door or window, be sure that the sign is professional, and implies that your need for help is because of growth, not your inability to keep employees.

Sales
People are not likely to believe that you are really offering an 80% discount. Signs offering huge discounts are more likely to communicate “huge markups” than they are “huge bargains.” Generally speaking, discounts should be used to close sales in the store, not to bring people in the door.

Be Back
When you have to close your store for some reason, accept the fact that you are going to miss some business while you are gone. Most shoppers will move on, and not return. The most expensive salesperson is the missing salesperson. If you ARE working alone, and MUST leave, be sure that your sign tells the precise time that you will return. A sign that say’s, “Be right back” or “Will return in 10 minutes” makes one wonder; “Starting when?”

Customer is King
You can get by without a lot of things in business, but your customer is not one of them. Never take customers for granted. Be sure that your signage shows appreciation and respect for the most important person in your store: the customer!

Clever???
Not! Too many times an attempt to be clever actually leaves the customer wondering just what you mean, if you made a mistake, or were just not thinking. Be smart because your customers are.

Another Record Crowd
I conducted my 1st Monthly Success Rally at Whalers Village in May of 1991. We had about 25 people in attendance. Today, 19 1/2 years later, we set yet another attendance record; 195 people.

The Line-Up
People line up early at Leilanis on the Beach to get their refreshments and favorite front or back row seats.

SRO
Today we had standing room only. My topics at these rallies vary from teaching Pro-Active, No-Pressure Selling to “Life Lessons” that can be used no matter what a person’s job is today or will be tomorrow.
Today’s subjects were “Handling Customer Discount Requests, Being Positive, Goal Setting, and Discipline.”
I am grateful to the management staff at Whaler’s Village, Leilani’s and General Growth Properties for extending this long time, ongoing opportunity for me to make a difference.

www.MasaeArtBox.com 
When Masae wanted a new car to deliver art and books, she needed a truck or SUV to qualify for a commercial parking permit. All of them were too big for her until she saw the Chevy HHR. It’s basically a small panel truck with windows that drives like a car. She bought it from Cutter Chevrolet, and to “brand” it, she took it to David at Kapiolani Signs and had her signature Pink Rose painting made into decals to put onto the windows on both sides of the car along with her website address below them. Almost immediately she received hits to the website along with a nice e-mail complimenting her on the art.
What are you doing to “brand” your business?

I do not remember where I read that, but I surely do remember the meaning, as well as the impact that it had on me. I sometimes see an experienced salesperson land a new job with a company where a well established, proven selling system is in place, like Pro-Active, No-Pressure Selling. At the interview these “experienced” salespeople claim that they understand the “new” system and appear eager to learn and use it. Then, rather than do as promised, many of them will fall back on the way they originally learned to sell.
Learning is not an event; it is a process that never ends. Techniques and technology are always evolving. Everyone should always be open to newer and better ways to sell, or do anything for that matter.

Different Strokes…
We have all heard that adage, “Different strokes for different folks.” I have always been fond of Donald Trump’s quotation; “Everyone has different tastes, that’s why they have menus in restaurants.” The same is true when it comes to motivation. What gets some people going gets others down. The two emotions that move people are “Desire for gain” and “Fear of loss.” Both of these feelings trigger action, and it’s action that gets results.

That’s It; No More!
For some people it’s a matter of reaching that point of no return, where they are just not going to take it any more. They think, “I’m mad as Hell and I’m not going to take this anymore”. In case you never saw the classic movie Network in 1976, see this clip from it now by clicking HERE! “Draw a line in the sand” and get going. Make changes in your behavior that will lead to different results. Have you ever done that? I have.

Decide!
Putting off the decision to change is what holds too many people back. There is a feeling of agony when in “decide mode.” Thinking, “Should I, or shouldn’t I?” leads to stress and innaction. Once the decision is made, one way or another, right or wrong, the emotion of agony is replaced with the feeling of ecstacy created by action.

Badly Enough?
When deciding that you want a different life, ask yourself, “How badly do I want it?” The desire must be great enough to overcome the resistance to change. I tell the story in Success Made Easy about the day my life changed because I made the decision that I didn’t want to let them reposses my Cadillac. That simple resolution changed everything, and led the way to a string of new Cadillacs every two years for the next 44 years.

What to Do?
I discovered that when the will to change was strong enough, the way to do it was revealed to me. You don’t have to know how to get started, just get going. In my case the “Fear of loss” emotion led to actions that ultimately were replaced by feelings of “Desire for gain” and my business prospered as a result. Give it a go, you have everything to gain and nothing to lose. 

27 Years Ago
That’s when IBM introduced its first personal computer.

Then came:
Bill Gates
The Internet
The Mac
Steve Jobs
Floppy Discs
Hard Drives
Windows
The iPod
CD ROMs
E-mail
E-commerce
Instant messaging
The dotcom boom
The dotcom bust
Mobile phones
PDAs
Notebook Computers
Digital Cameras
Computer viruses
GPS
Google
My Space
iPhone
Cloud computing
YouTube
IBM drops out of the PC business
iPhone 3G
iPad
And Now…
iPhone4

Time Flies!
Are you keeping up?