YOUR BUSINESS MUST MAKE A PROFIT. NO EXCUSES!
December 3, 2010
Finances and budgeting are usually treated like a necessary evil, an afterthought better suited to bean-counters than warriors, but that’s an attitude than can get a business killed. Your expenses must be lower than your revenue—NOW!—and you must work from a position of profitability. That means starting with a solid business battle plan that answers questions like: a) What exactly IS my business? b) Where do I want my business to be six months, one year, and five years from now? and c) What, specifically, will I do to get it there?
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EVERYBODY WINS. NO EXCEPTIONS.
December 2, 2010
Your goal in closing is not just a one-time sale. What you’re looking for is a long-term working relationship that will lead to more business. It is a LOT more expensive to court new customers than to keep the ones you already have. By making every close result in a win-win outcome, you keep customers happy. When you create an enjoyable and rewarding experience for your clients, they look forward to doing business with you again and again. Closing them gets easier with every transaction, because they grow to trust you.
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THERE IS NO “TRY!”
December 1, 2010
Words have power. And words like “can’t” and “if only” and “it’ll never happen” and “no” can be crippling weights that keep you crushed in the trenches until your business DIES. So many people are afraid of closing, afraid of asking for what they want, because they might hear the word “no.” Is that the end of the world? When someone tells you “no” or “that’s not possible,” how does that make you feel? Does it fuel your fire or do you accept defeat and quit? How long do you think “no” is good for, anyway? I can tell you from many years of experience that “no” is only good for about five minutes. In a business context, “no” is just a momentary setback that makes the game more interesting, not a permanent answer. Getting a “no” answer doesn’t mean it’s over, it means you now have an excellent opportunity to ask different questions, better questions, and LISTEN to the answers until you learn what it will take to get to “yes.”
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LEADERS VALUE THEIR PEOPLE
November 29, 2010
It’s mind-blowing to see the results a great leader can get by placing a high value on people and treating them well—and that means treating them with respect! And it also means making the effort to get to know who they are as people and what’s important to them. It means paying attention and learning what they need from you to get their job done and give their best.
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TAKE THE TIME TO MAKE IT CLEAR
November 24, 2010
Picture this. You sent your assistant an email about a task you wanted him to take care of, but it wasn’t clear. Something was left out or lost in translation. Happens all the time. He didn’t understand and therefore did not act on it. You’re frustrated because you didn’t get the outcome you needed, which makes you look bad to the client. Your assistant is frustrated because he takes pride in his work and now he feels responsible for the screw up, even though it wasn’t his fault. Everybody looks bad, everybody is frustrated.
The worst part of this sad story is that it would have been so easy to avoid the problem in the first place. Taking one minute—even 30 seconds—to validate and ensure clarity can save 30 days’ worth of disaster cleanup later.
Have you heard that saying, “When there’s not time to do it right, there’s always time to do it over?” Take that time. Ask, do you understand? Is this what you mean? Could we go over that once more so that I’m clear on what you need?
Take the time to listen to your voice mail and let people finish their sentences before you butt in to interrupt. When you get an email—READ THE ENTIRE EMAIL. If you’re too ADD to do that, then get an assistant who will do it for you, but make sure you have a system in place to ensure that nothing gets missed or ignored, or you’ll pay later and pay dearly.
Thank your clients for the time taken to listen and respond! No matter what the outcome of your communication, even if the response to your talk or discussion has been negative, it is good manners to end it politely and with respect for everyone’s input and time.
FAILURE IS ONLY TEMPORARY
November 23, 2010
Complacency is the enemy of performance. When I start getting comfortable, I know it’s time to raise the bar, shake things up, and take a risk. By definition, risk means the outcome is not guaranteed and there’s a real possibility that whatever it is you’re daring to do might not work. Any entrepreneur who makes it big will experience failure along the way, probably multiple times.
But keep in mind that big successes involve taking big risks; so doing things differently will mean falling on your face at times. And when that happens, you will get right back up, figure out how to do better next time, and get back in the game.
Quitting is not an option. Giving up for the wrong reasons is not an option. But failure is part of the territory. You do everything you can to prevent it of course, by focusing on everything within your control and letting the rest go.
To get anywhere or learn anything, you must take risks, and that means risking failure. When you learn to snowboard or wakeboard, you’ll end up falling down over and over again until you get it right. The only way to completely avoid failure is to completely avoid any kind of risk. There will be plenty of time for that when you are DEAD. And if you are so paralyzed by fear that you’re trying to live a risk-free life then you might as well be dead. Where is the thrill in that? The satisfaction? Failures are learning opportunities and each one is just another step on the ladder to where you’re headed.
Failing is like getting a “no” answer during a negotiation; it’s only temporary. It’s only an opportunity to listen better, learn more, and ask again in a different way.
Getting knocked down hurts, but it also galvanizes you to do better, to go for it just that much harder to make sure you don’t get knocked down next time. When determination to win takes over the fear of failure, you’ll know what I’m talking about. OOH-RAH!
MARINES APPROACH TO COMBAT TRAINING
November 22, 2010
Combat training is invasive, intense, urgent, loud, brutal and IN YOUR FACE. Military experts have designed it that way 100% intentionally to scare the shit out of you and get your attention and make every lesson stick. And they don’t teach it in a classroom, you have to experience it in your bones and your straining muscles and your sweat and your adrenaline and your fear so that you learn how powerful and capable a human being can be, even in extreme conditions.
Combat training is designed to simulate actual battle conditions and make you repeat the desired behavior over and over and over so that you can produce that desired behavior UNDER FIRE. Does it suck? Does it hurt? Does it rip you apart emotionally, mentally, and physically? Hell, yes.
So why endure it? Because it’s the only way to stay ALIVE in the trenches. You absolutely MUST have the skills of battle down so well that you can perform the right steps in the right order no matter what is going on around you. When you’re a soldier, you learn under duress. You learn by repetition. YOU LEARN BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO. You learn when to react, when not to react, and how to react. You become prepared to respond—proficiently—to whatever gets thrown at you. Anybody can perform well in a safe, comfortable environment, but when the bullets are flying and casualties are mounting—that’s when it counts. That’s when and where education pays off.
There is another aspect of combat training that is also critical in business training—it must be practiced and put into action. Reading about it isn’t enough, getting a certificate isn’t enough, knowing it isn’t even enough. You’ve got to be able to apply it in action and keep practicing it to remain capable of peak performance at all times.
Like athletic training and combat training, business training conditions you to do what you need to do without even thinking about it. The right action becomes second nature, and business performance becomes a habit, and that frees your mind to FOCUS on the bigger picture and the vision that will dramatically boost your results.
Craig Zuber’s Kick Ass Bison Chili Recipe!
November 19, 2010
This Chili is the best! Yes, I said it … the best. Great flavors. Fiery heat. If you don’t like spice, go bake a frickin’ cake.
3 pounds ground buffalo/bison meat
3 cans diced Italian tomatoes
1 can Navy beans (why navy beans? Because they don’t make Marine Corps beans and I can’t stand kidney beans.)
1 can Chili beans
1 can Pinto beans
10 cloves fresh garlic
2 large white onions
2 tsp Chili powder
1 dash of paprika and cayenne (just because)
1/2 tsp Black pepper
1 tsp Montreal Steak Seasoning. (Instead of salt… better flavor)
1/2 cup La Victoria Medium Hot Sauce
3 tsp taco seasoning
2 tsp Mexican Oregano
2 tsp Basil
2 tsp Thyme
2 cups water
3 chicken bullion cubes
1 beef bullion cube
2 oz vodka (make sure you have extra for your cocktail!)
Few dashes of Tabasco
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tbs maple syrup
15 or so chopped slices of jalapenos from a jar.
All spices are estimated. It’s all about the taste, not the measuring.
Brown the ground buffalo in a big pot. Don’t drain. Chop onions and garlic and brown in a separate pan. Add to buffalo. Add diced Italian tomato’s. Hell, add everything except the water and bullion cubes.
In the onion/garlic pan, bring the 2 cups water to a simmer; add bullion cubes, simmer, and stir until the bullion is completely dissolved. Add to chili. Simmer for an hour or 2.
Enjoy!
BEWARE OF THE HARD CLOSE
November 18, 2010
The classic example of bad salesmanship is the cliché of the used car dealer. Just reading that, you’re probably cringing and gritting your teeth, the hair on your neck stands up and you’re making a face—but why? Because everybody “knows” that used car dealers are just in it for themselves. They are like sharks. You get out of your car and they’re on you in 30 seconds. And there’s no getting around it.
Even if you go to the dealership having done all your research and you know exactly what you want to buy and how much you’re willing to pay, you still have to go through a decidedly unpleasant experience with one of these dickheads to get the car.
When you finally get it over with, are you ever going to refer anyone to the salesman who subjected you to the shark attack? No. Did you enjoy that experience? No. No relationship was created, the experience was awful—so even though he made the sale, did the car dealer win? He didn’t. His one-shot “win” actually cut off any future opportunities with you.
If you try to sell people instead of listening to them, educating them, and respecting them, you will lose many more deals than you close. More importantly, you’ll lose the opportunity to build a lasting, profitable, enjoyable working relationship.
SHOW, DON’T TELL (LEADING BY EXAMPLE)
November 17, 2010
Leading by example isn’t one way to lead; it’s the only way. As the leader in the trenches, your duty is to set the tone and set the standard for the team by your actions and personal example. If your attitude, focus, appearance, and performance are consistently held to the highest standard, you can rightfully demand the same of your team. But if your own personal standards are poor or inconsistent, you’ll be setting a double standard for your team and you will lose their respect and confidence—RAPIDLY.
Show your team that you’re willing to do the same things you ask them to do. Conduct yourself so that your personal habits are above reproach. Share danger and hardship with your team to demonstrate your willingness to carry your share and more. Develop a logical and orderly thought process by practicing objective estimation of the situation and sharing your reasoning with the team. People are much more likely to support an objective if they know the “why” behind it and they trust your objectivity.
And always remember—courage is contagious!
Own your decisions—and accept responsibility for them. If you make a mistake, admit it and change course. People respect leaders who correct mistakes immediately for the good of the business instead of bluffing their way through a poor decision to protect their egos.
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