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You Can Make Money in a Recession

2009-02-01T17:55:00-05:00

By Paul Johnson

1,383 words. Abstract: You can make good money even a recession. However, you can't do that using the same approach and the same strategy as everyone else. Help people get the 3 things they focus on in a recession and you can prosper now.

Of course you can make money in a recession. That's not really a question. You'll most assuredly make SOME money. The real question is: Will it be enough? You'll be happy with the answer to that question with the right approach and a solid strategy.

A Healthy Approach to Earning
If you are like most of us that are not independently wealthy yet, you need to find a way to keep on earning right through this down economy. Let's first face the reality of a recession so we can adopt a healthy approach that will give us hope and help us deal proactively with our need to make money during this recession. This first step will help you avoid worry, hardship and sleepless nights.

Accept the reality that earnings in a recession, on average, are down about twenty percent. That means that companies and the people who work for them will secure -- on average -- only 80% of the dollars they could have earned before the recession for the same kind of effort.

If you're out of a job, your earning are temporarily zero. If you still have the same job you had a couple years ago, you're probably working 25% harder with the hope you can hang onto your paycheck. Of course, some folks are doing even better than they did a couple years ago. If you're not among them, you have an opportunity to make a few changes and join these people who are making good money despite the recession.

A Plan to Earn More
If you can't afford to lose your job, you probably can't afford a 20% pay cut either. If you want to come out ahead during this down economy, you need a new plan for earning. I used this plan over 25 years ago when I was caught up in the last great recession. In 1980 the inflation rate was 13.58%, in 1981 mortgage rates were 16.63%, and in 1982 the unemployment rate was 9.71%. Yet I was buying new cars and new houses despite the fact that I was a working greenhorn in my early 20's with a growing family. If you've never been through a down business cycle like this before, having hope means having a plan.

To do well in a down economy, reorient yourself to pay attention to the three things that people in a recession care about: Secure, Save, and Augment.

Secure: People will spend money in a down economy to hang on to what they already have. We work hard to acquire assets and our first priority is to protect them. In a recession people will gladly invest in firearms, security systems and The Club. They also prefer to spend their money on sure bets with near-zero risk of loss. While banks around the country were closing, Synovus Bank came up with a new plan that enabled large depositors to have their accounts insured for up to $7.75MM, far above the FDIC insurance cap of "just" $250,000. As a result, they saw their deposits mushroom by $1.4BB in just 6 months. Because Synovus Bank has a plan to make their customers feel secure about their money, their future through this recession is secure as well.

Save: After assets are secure, cutting costs becomes a top priority for many. The promise of saving money is a much-used selling strategy that becomes especially effective when buyers are short of cash. However, if all you do is lower your prices you'll likely just make your situation worse. A more successful strategy is to come up with a way to offer a less expensive product or service in place of a more expensive one. Self-service car washes can replace full-service washes. In-home entertainment options can replace nights out on the town. Geico has aggressively gone after the car insurance market with the premise that, since you have to have car insurance anyway, you might as well replace your more expensive policy with a comparable Geico plan and save hundreds each year. Their offer to help us save is apparently working; as of January 2009, they report that their growth will enable them to add 870 employees in Q1 '09 alone.

Augment: With revenues and income down an average of 20%, more people will be looking for ways to augment their earnings. If you're a business, it means finding neglected markets to develop new sources of revenue. For individuals it might mean a part-time job or developing a business to run "on the side." When the economy is down, people are not only more receptive to considering new ways of making money; they're actually looking for it. Avon Products, Inc. reported that active representatives grew 7% from 2007 to 2008, resulting in record revenues for 2008, up 8% over 2007.

Your Personal Earnings Plan
For you to make more money in a recession, create your own plan to help OTHERS to Secure, Save and Augment. They will pay you to help them achieve their objectives in these 3 areas. Depending on your situation, you may have up to 3 different ways to develop and execute your own plan.

The first area is in your own job. If you are currently employed, your employer is eager to find ways to Secure, Save and Augment. Take the initiative and come up with ideas in these 3 areas. Can you find a way to help the company Secure existing paying customers? Do you see a way to replace a current process with a more productive one, resulting in Savings for your company? Could you pioneer a method for accessing new markets to Augment revenue for your company? Once you identify the idea, make the extra effort to execute it so that you are undeniably connected to the successful outcome. When you help your company succeed, keeping your job is often one of the rewards.

The second situation to consider for your earnings plan applies if you serve customers directly. Perhaps you are in sales, or you have your own company. In a recession you have to consider reworking your value proposition. Perhaps your previous success was connected to your innovation, quality or timely delivery. Now it's time to reframe your offer to appeal to buyers who are looking for opportunities to Secure, Save or Augment. Don't take the easy route and just offer your customers lower prices; all your competitors have already thought of that. Perhaps your quality enables you to offer a risk-free guarantee that will make buyers more Secure. Your innovations might enable customers to discover a new way to Save through using your product or service. You could offer your best customers an opportunity to augment their incomes by paying them for leads they refer to you. You'll enjoy big payoffs for creativity in a recession.

Third, supplement your own income by offering a product or service that will help people Secure, Save or Augment. Those new Avon representatives were looking to Augment their own incomes by selling Avon products to others. However, Avon products do little to help others Secure, Save or Augment. While their customers may continue to buy cosmetics, cosmetics in general are not a significant growth market in a recession. Repair services become more popular during recessions; if you can sew, or fix shoes or appliances, you'll be in demand. Perhaps you could offer a dog-sitting service so that others can take a part-time job to Augment their income. You could sell energy saving devices or do-it-yourself instructions. It all depends on your expertise, and everyone is a relative expert in something.

Focus There
Unless you're willing to accept a drop in earnings of 80 percent -- or more -- you need a recession-ready plan that's based on a realistic approach to what's on peoples' minds today. Cutting your own costs won't be enough; you can't save your way to prosperity. Instead of focusing on personal cost-cutting, focus on ways to help OTHERS Secure, Save and Augment. Do that with some creativity and you can join the folks who are making good money in spite of the recession. Then your question will be: should I spend it on a car, or a house?

About The Author:
Paul Johnson of Shortcuts to Results LLC collects business shortcuts and shows people how to find and apply them for performance improvement at http://ShortcutsToResults.com. Learn how to become a niche marketing expert at http://NicheExpert.com.

A Question for your Comments: What are people doing to earn more that is working during the recession?

How to Sell NOW to the Procrastinator

2008-12-01T15:37:00-05:00

By Paul Johnson

923 words. Abstract: When your customers want to think it over, it's only natural. Take away three approaches that enable you to leverage human nature and help them buy now instead of later.

Why do we always want the very thing we can't have?

Perhaps you've gone to the airport to discover your gate is the very last one at the far end of the terminal. After schlepping your bags to your gate and taking a seat, you realize you passed the last restroom two blocks back. Suddenly you have an insatiable urge to go to the bathroom.

Perhaps you've been scheduled for some medical tests that require you to eat nothing beforehand. From the moment you wake up that morning until those blasted tests are over, everything you see reminds you of a doughnut.

The Nature of Now
This basic human nature can help us sell more products and services if we put it to good use. We know that buyers procrastinate. For those of us who grew up in the United States, we have been conditioned to expect a world of abundance. We believe we can get whatever we need whenever we need it. Even when what we're selling is perfect for our customer, they will often delay the purchase to "think it over" or "sleep on it." The reality is that people who don't buy now often won't buy later, either. Buyers who delay purchases create longer sales cycles, reduced sales volume, and higher cost of sales. When we let customers assume that our product will always be available when needed, a sale is rarely the reward.

Gasoline is almost always in plentiful supply, yet even a rumor of a shortage creates a self-fulfilling prophecy. People run out and wait in long lines to top off their tanks and create the very shortage they fear. The fear of scarcity creates a buying frenzy.

You can develop your own marketing strategy to leverage this basic human nature and create a buying frenzy for your products or services. The key to intensifying desire is to take away something folks believe they already have.

Know Your Limits
The first approach is to limit availability of the offering. After your prospect has sold themselves emotionally, you need to help them understand that you may not be able to deliver if they don't buy now. Likewise, if you sell a service instead of a product, your customers can't expect to enjoy your service until your people are available to deliver them.

The Apple iPhone was heavily promoted before it was released. Because availability was limited, people were willing to get to stores early and stand in long lines to make sure they got theirs before the supply ran out. Likewise, retail stores routinely offer specials in limited supply on the Friday after Thanksgiving to get people lined up outside their doors at ridiculous hours of the early morning.

Whether you're selling a product or a service, it's important to first make sure the customer does indeed want to buy what you're offering. The next step is to "take away" the offer by explaining why you may not be able to deliver in a timely fashion if they delay their decision. Intense desire and commitment is often the result.

The End is Near
Another approach is to take away a special price or promotion. For example, perhaps you can include a special promotional item to the first 100 people who buy. Or, you could have a sale that ends at the end of the week. While sales and promotions do erode profit margins, they can successfully move some buyers to action as the popularity of this method attests.

A third approach may prove especially useful in this age of Internet shopping. If online shoppers discover that your product is in short supply, they can easily keep looking for a merchant who can deliver. Likewise, if your special promotion ended yesterday, they can keep looking for someone who's having a sale today. Procrastination continues. To capture these buyers, it's important that you not only sell them on your core product or service, but also on one other thing.

Create a special bonus that you can readily provide that they can't get anywhere else. Perhaps it's a free training video, or access to insider information, or a promotional item you had custom-made to go with the core offer. With a special hook like this, they can't afford to buy anywhere else unless they really don't want your special bonus.

One thing YOU can't afford to do is lie. Make sure your product supply or service availability is indeed limited; could you "sell out" if a big order came in tomorrow? Stick to the ending dates on your sales and promotions. Ensure that your special bonus is unique to you. While it's OK to leverage human nature, it wrong to make stuff up to manipulate your customers.

Tomorrow Never Comes
The "take-away" technique has been a selling standard for decades. You can increase the power of this technique and further leverage human nature by designing your take-aways into your product marketing plan. Make sure you're supporting your salespeople with everything they need to help buyers sell themselves. Then, before prospects have a chance to say, "Let me think it over," prepare to take away your product or service, your price or promotion, or your special bonus. Or, better yet, all three.

It's foolhardy to assume that just because you can solve a customer's problem today means they'll actually buy today. Remember that point the next time your cable goes out and you discover an unquenchable lust for that 24-hour Three Stooges marathon. You can't fight human nature. Fortunately, neither can your customers.

About The Author:
Paul Johnson is Founder of Consultative Selling. He works with organizations like ADP, Nortel Networks and AutoNation. Discover the application and definition of Consultative Selling at http://ConsultativeSelling.com. Learn about public sales training courses at http://PublicSalesTraining.com.

A Question for your Comments: When has one of your close advisers pushed you to make a decision you knew you should make?

What We Miss from Our Leaders

2008-11-01T13:27:00-04:00

By Paul Johnson

687 words. Abstract: If you follow the leader wrong you'll wind up right where you started, or worse. Learn how to close in on this simple source of success they won't teach you in college.

What do we really know about our leaders? We yearn to know enough to be confident in following them and, ideally, to emulate them. Perhaps you can name the leaders in the forefront of your industry or profession. Maybe you believe you could be more successful if you could be more like them, so you study their works, buy their books and perhaps even seek jobs in their organizations. Even when you've studied all you can about them and believe you understand the keys to their success, you don't. There's one more thing you must do.

Your quest for excellence is a noble journey. Unfortunately, the path often leads to insane frustration instead of triumphant success when seemingly little things are overlooked. Sometimes just one simple thing is the key to resolving the performance barriers that have been holding you back, allowing you to finally achieve your objectives with ease.

Show or Tell
It's been decades since apprenticeship was the common road to mastery of a profession or craft. Today college is the conventional answer, with knowledge dispensed via lecture halls, online courses, and e-mail exchanges with professors. Connections are casual and not very close. Today we are more isolated from the people from whom we need to learn. Technology makes it easy for leaders to protect their personal space and keep learners at a distance. Yes, we're learning, but we're not learning enough. We are not learning the important piece.

No matter how intently we listen to what others say, no matter how closely we watch what they do, our mimicry will be imperfect because we really won't understand why they do what they do. We must get close enough to understand the back-story. If we want to truly learn from another, we must get close enough to hear them breathe.

Nano Lessons
The leaders in our profession have made thousands of tiny choices which, in combination, have enabled them to perform at high levels. To perform similarly, we must understand their value system and how they came to make those choices. That's how successful leaders of the past learned to succeed.

Benjamin Franklin served as an apprentice to his brother James to learn the printing trade. Franklin's success as a printer later funded his kite flying and political ventures.
James Lick was the richest man in California when he died in 1876. He learned the piano making craft from his father, and Lick's mastery of those skills was the cornerstone to building his fortune.
Levi Strauss learned the clothing business working side-by-side with his older brothers Louis and Jonas in New York City. Six years later he moved to San Francisco to open up shop, and soon discovered an opportunity to apply what he knew to make rugged trousers for the gold miners.

Go to the Source
The words a leader uses and the acts they perform are only clues to how they think. Every person has an historical perspective and a point of view, or lens, they use to look at the world in which they perform. Unless you get close enough to hear a top performer breathe, you'll never have the opportunity to learn and discern those things. How a leader thinks is the key to understanding how they take in information, process it, and send it out, much like breath. Until you understand the source of what they say and do, you're missing the key ingredient that will enable you to duplicate their successful performance.

The top performers in any area of expertise require years to acquire and apply what they know to perform at peak levels. Be patient. A need for speed defeats success. Invest the time to build relationships and learn from the best, and allow breathing to occur at its natural pace. Don't rush it or you'll hyperventilate and get dizzy. Set aside the e-mail and the Internet, and arrange to spend long periods of time working side-by-side with the leaders from whom you want to learn. Breathe the same air long enough and one day you'll find others eager to duplicate your excellence as well.

About The Author:
Paul Johnson the Trouble Breaker (http://TroubleBreaker.com) works with organizations like ADP, AutoNation and Roller Skating Business Magazine to convert trouble into double and triple digit performance breakthroughs. Discover neglected markets with The Great Brand Rush at http:/NicheExpert.com.

A Question for your Comments: What precious insight have you gained from a close encounter with a leader?

Death by Selling

2008-10-01T12:19:58-04:00

By Paul Johnson

1,188 words. Abstract: Learn how to prevent prospects from "going dark" and becoming unresponsive to your calls and emails. Take a lesson from your favorite action-adventure movie and avoid selling failures.

It has almost become a movie cliché. The bad guys capture our hero, and they want information. Our hero (think "Indiana Jones") knows that if he gives them the information they demand, they'll kill him. Instead, he concocts a plan to lead his captors along a roundabout route to what they want. Along the way, Jones is executing another secret plan to ensure that he gets what he wants, which includes his own life and often much more. Each step of the way, Indiana convinces the bad guys that they're getting closer and closer to the payoff. But Indiana must be careful; if he gives up too much information, his captors will believe they don't need him anymore. And he dies.

Collateral Damage
I see salespeople routinely do this: they put together a folder with every piece of literature they have and give it to the prospect at the first meeting. Then they wonder why they never hear from the prospect again.

Perhaps you've experienced death by selling in much the same way. I suppose it's fortunate that only the deal, and not you, dies. When a hot lead captures our attention and demands our information, we don't want to chance antagonizing the buyer so we give them everything they ask for to keep them happy. Then when we contact the buyer to gauge their level of interest, they are unresponsive. Emails are ignored. Voicemails are unreturned. Our deal is dead, or is it? No, we'll probably spend time and energy trying to track down and follow up with these people, not knowing if they have delayed the decision, lost interest in our offer, or bought from a competitor. We'll continue to waste resources chasing this prospect. The prospect never actually kills us, but we die of starvation trying to chase their ghost.

Time to Sell
Information is the ONLY thing that makes you, the salesperson, of value to prospects. To avoid death by selling, don't give it away too easily. All sales require time to be cultivated, whether that's hours, weeks or months. The proper flow of information is necessary to nurture the business relationship and harvest the sale. Solving this information flow problem will help you avoid wasted efforts, lost revenues, and worthless forecasts.

Like Indiana Jones, selling (s)heroes need to create a plan to give buyers (not really "bad guys") what they want while sellers get what they deserve. The plan begins with taking inventory of all the information you have that your buyers may need or want to help them make a positive decision. This might include specifications, case studies, articles, white papers, pricing, brochures, demonstrations... you get the idea. Decide what you're willing to give away readily, which items you'll hold back for later, and which items you'll make your prospects beg for. Consider when in the buying cycle each inventory item best fits; some may be needed early, and some fit better at the end.

Access the Mystery
The best information to give away early is that which is enticing and creates intrigue. How would Indiana Jones do this? He would produce half a map written in some ancient language that only he understood. Now Indiana's captors have "proof" that the treasure exists, and Indiana is their best chance for finding it since, now more than ever, they don't believe they can get to it on their own. Entice your prospects into believing you have access to the answers while not telling them the answers too soon.

Every time you want to contact the prospect, you now have a reserve of information that will make your calls and inquiries valuable to the prospect. Instead of being the pest who keeps calling and asking, "Have you made a decision yet?" you can be the stand-out salesperson who continually offers helpful suggestions. For instance, you might offer, "If you're having trouble getting everybody on board with this decision, perhaps you'd like to show your folks the research document our company prepared in tandem with State University. Would that help you?" If you routinely have something new to share with every phone call or e-mail, your prospects will look forward to hearing from you, and you'll be the one they get back to first. You'll stay alive to sell another day.

Show and Sell
Your most valuable information is that which is better shown than sent. You want opportunities for one-on-one interactions with your prospect. The best interactions are face-to-face, followed by webinars, and then telephone. When you ship a document to a prospect or send a link to a video to them, you have no way of getting real-time feedback. You don't know if your contribution has helped you or not. When you have something of value, insist on showing it to your prospect; don't succumb to their insistence that you just send it. If you do, you're about to step into that pit full of snakes. You do have a choice; remember, most death by selling is self-inflicted.

When Marketing Hurts
While managing prospects can be challenging, your biggest fights may come from inside your organization. If the marketing department is killing you, you need to defend yourself.

The evolution of the Internet has fostered a self-service mentality. Many of us go online daily to find information and make purchases. E-commerce is a proven model that works well in many markets. However, your company has salespeople for a reason. Some aspect of the purchasing process requires human intervention. If that wasn't the case, believe me, your company would mirror Amazon.com and do away with the sales department and your job in a heartbeat. But apparently that's not the case where you work.

Often the marketing department creates issues for the sales organization by taking every piece of sales-related information and putting it on the company website. Everything is now conveniently accessible to your prospects. Right or wrong, prospects BELIEVE that if they have ALL the information, they can make a good decision on their own without the "interference" of a salesperson.

If your website has become marketing's Swiss Army knife, death by selling will come sooner for you.

Together on a Selling Path
This is a great opportunity for sales and marketing to come together for a common goal: to acquire and serve customers. We routinely see this happen when we work together with clients to map the selling paths that support their prospects' buying process and yet enable acceleration of the sales process.

At the core, escaping death by selling is about having a plan for how information will be disseminated to prospects, and when. We wouldn't have much of a movie if Indiana Jones said too much and was killed in the first scene. If it's not crystal clear to you what you should hold back and what you can give up early, you've got more planning to do. Sellers and prospects both have a better chance of getting what they want when control of information isn't handed over to the prospect prematurely. When prospects believe you always have more to give, you're assured of a long and healthy selling career.

A Question for your Comments: What sales aids do you find are most powerful to SHOW your prospect?

Kathy Cox and the Million Dollar Lesson Plan

2008-09-06T10:43:53-04:00

By Paul Johnson

658 words. Abstract: Could a game show like Fox's "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?" have any redeeming social value? It might when contestants like Kathy Cox, Georgia Superintendent of Schools, choose to participate. Learn how to claim your million without ever being on the show.

Kathy Cox appeared on the Fox TV show, "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?" and failed to prove that she is smarter than a fifth grader, despite being the first contestant to take home the one million dollar top prize.

Technically, she only proved that she is as smart as a fifth grader, since she answered no questions above that grade level. But we know she's smarter, because she had a plan and a message, and the courage to carry it through that her political detractors in Georgia don't have the imagination to conceive or the guts to carry out.

Kathy Cox is the Superintendent of Schools for the State of Georgia. When word got out she would be on the show, she was publicly criticized; how foolish it would be to risk her own professional reputation and that of the state school system. After all, she would be representing by association 140,000 Georgia teachers. Georgia State Representative Rob Teilhet (D - Smyrna) even ran advertising DURING THE SHOW criticizing Cox for appearing on TV while problems persisted in classrooms.

Critics are so worried about never being wrong, about showing vulnerability and appearing perfect they can't conceive their own purpose in humanity. Kathy can. Kathy Cox is a truly a Trouble Breaker, someone who goes for it and breaks past trouble because she knows she can. She understood exactly what she could control on the show, what she could and couldn't do, and used that to inspire students (and more than a few adults).

We heard Kathy say more than a few times, "I'm doing the best I can." Isn't that a great message for students? For us all? And Kathy Cox taught millions of people that it's OK to be wrong. She accepted that she might miss a question and go home empty-handed. She wasn't afraid to try and keep trying.

With $500,000 "in the bank" she earned the right to deliver the Million Dollar Lesson. She was faced with a decision other contestants had faced before, but they lacked the vision and conviction of a Kathy Cox. Cox was there for the kids; she had committed to donate her earnings (it's demeaning to say to say she "won" the money) to three Georgia schools. A lesser person would have settled for the $500,000 and missed the chance to deliver a much more valuable prize.

With the eyes of millions of young people on her, she proclaimed with force and conviction, "DON'T DROP OUT OF SCHOOL." The short-term gains associated with dropping out pale in comparison to the huge lifetime rewards of staying in school. Kathy Cox effectively paid $475,000 to say that -- the difference between the $500,000 "in the bank" and the guaranteed $25,000 she'd keep if she missed the question.

I'm convinced she came into the show with a Million Dollar Lesson Plan to teach us:

Always do the best you can. That's all anyone can ask, and that's always enough.
Go for it. The worst that can happen is you might be wrong. So what?
Finish what you start. That includes STAY IN SCHOOL.

That plan works even without the million dollar question. All through the show, we saw Kathy Cox go for it and do the very best she could. Yet if she ever met a question she knew she couldn't answer, she would prefer to knowingly fail and go home sans money than drop out of school.

Lucky for us all she made it to the top so more people would listen to her message.

Some Georgia politicians don't know now lucky the Peach State is to have Kathy Cox as Superintendent of Schools. In just one hour, she taught us all a lesson that is worth far more than a million dollars to the future of this country. From coast to coast and in every state, we're all richer today from her Million Dollar Lesson Plan.

About The Author:

Paul Johnson the Trouble Breaker is a keynote speaker who works with organizations to convert trouble into double and triple digit performance breakthroughs. Discover breakthrough concepts at http://www.ShortcutsToResults.com. Visit http://TroubleBreaker.com for presentations on leadership.

A Question for your Comments: How has a teacher taught YOU a million-dollar lesson?

The Enemy of Marketing is Here

2008-09-01T10:53:50-04:00

By Paul Johnson

1,205 words. Abstract: Your efforts to market your business and boost sales are sabotaged easier than you might think. Learn how to recognize and thwart the enemy of marketing with the application of three easy practices you can incorporate into your operations.

Do you leave customers breathless and begging for an encore, or fuming and screaming, "No more!"? How do you know... for sure?

I had almost finished a glorious shopping experience at one of my favorite stores. The shelves were stocked with plenty of options, and the helpful salespeople gave me good guidance. I made it almost all the way to the cashier when it happened. If the cashier later sensed my agitation, she didn't let on. Neither did I, until I walked out of the store. Then I shared my complaints with anyone who would listen.

Marketing's Payoff
The event I will describe happened at a Bass Pro Shop, but my intent is not to pick on them. In fact, I would bet the same scenario has happened to you at numerous stores you frequent.

Here's the situation. Companies like Bass Pro Shops spend millions on marketing every year to induce customers like you and me to give them our money. I get their direct mail, and I spot their ads in the newspaper. I visit their website to investigate purchase possibilities. Now I'm in their store, encountering carefully-place displays and special offers. I choose item after item and their marketing investment is about to pay off: I am headed to the cashier lanes.

It's a slow day, and only one lane is open. I'm No. 3 in line, then No. 2, and now I'm next. The transaction ahead of me runs into a snag. The line grows; now 6 are waiting behind me.

Another employee walks toward a nearby cashier station. He has at least three possible choices of what he could say and do. They are:

He approaches me and offers, "Sir, I can take you over here." Then he helps me carry my loot to his station.
He motions to me, looks me in the eye and says, "I can take the next person in line."
He looks down at his terminal to avoid eye contact with everyone and announces, "I'm open over here."

Guess which one he chooses?

More Than a Feeling
As the people behind me scurry to become his first customer, I realize I'm penned in and there's no way I can beat them there unless I climb over a point-of-purchase display. If I change lines, I'll be No. 5 instead of next in line. I've already been standing here 10 minutes, and I have no reason to believe it won't be another 10 minutes. Smoke is coming out my ears; I decide to stick it out and complete my purchase anyway, but only because I am holding someone else's birthday presents in my hands.

Companies in highly-competitive markets often find it difficult to create and articulate meaningful points of brand differentiation that can support their business growth objectives. When customers have a hard time finding differentiation, it's often the simple things that drive those customers to the competition. Companies like Bass Pro Shops spend millions to generate repeat customers that will have significant lifetime value for their company. When a grand and glorious shopping experience is capped by a torturous conclusion, what elements of the experience are most likely to be remembered and shared with others? In a matter of a few seconds, the opportunity for referral and word-of-mouth business is converted into customer attrition.

I See What You're Saying
It's evident that neither customer-facing employees nor their managers pay attention to the outcomes of their careless customer dialogues. They fail to see through their customer's eyes. Every business is smart to automate processes where possible when we remember that automation is designed to serve the masses over the individual. Oftentimes attempts to monitor individual customer satisfaction are again automated through online and paper surveys, providing managers with a misguided illusion that everything is alright with their systems and procedures.

While mass surveys do provide useful data and information, the real knowledge (and, often, wisdom) comes through real-time interactions with customers. Here are three ways to make that happen.

First, get trained eyes to watch the body language of your customers in a multitude of situations. I've learned through decades of customer interactions than I can learn more from what people do than from what they say or don't say. A wrinkle of the forehead or a curl of the lip can tell me volumes about what a person is thinking and feeling. When it contradicts what they're saying, I believe what I'm seeing first. Experienced eyes can easily spot confusion, disappointment, contempt, frustration and many other feelings your customers may never admit to verbally. Yet these feelings are what customers remember and are often what keep them from coming back for more.

Second, reward customers who show you your faults. It's tough for us to hear that something is wrong inside our organization that we work so hard in every day. It's also hard not to shoot the messenger of the bad news. Every time someone points out a deficiency, we're given an opportunity to make our business better. When customers give us these gifts, let's remember to be cordial, make things right for them right then, and then give them a gift or reward that will encourage them to offer more useful feedback in the future. A gift card virtually guarantees that you'll see them again.

Third, arrange for "mystery shoppers" to evaluate you. It doesn't matter what business you're in; you'll benefit from getting an outside-in perspective of what your customer-facing employees do for and to your customers. When we mystery shop our clients' sales organizations, it may involve walking into a retail store, meeting with a salesperson face-to-face, talking to the salesperson over the telephone or even through website chat. While we often find them doing many things right, there are always opportunities to grow. Get someone from outside your company to mystery shop your organization if you really want to see through your customers' eyes.

Surveys and Other Black Holes
Remember that your customers are really on your side as long as they believe you are on theirs. Customers want to do more business with you; it's easier than finding another supplier. Give your customers reason to believe you're going to be a better resource tomorrow than you are today. For example, if you rely on surveys to collect customer feedback, do you routinely let survey participants know how their input has led to changes designed to improve service delivery levels? If you're not already, perhaps you could call the customers who've responded to three or four surveys to personally thank them for their participation and discuss some of their responses.

Because Bass Pro Shops does so many things right, I'm willing to give them another try. Perhaps that check-out lane experience was an aberration; I truly want to believe that. They are not my enemy, nor am I theirs. The enemy of marketing is anything that disrupts our customers' reasonable expectations. These enemies are insidious and hard to find because they creep into our business through carelessness. Renew your efforts to look at your daily customer interactions through their eyes. Do that and they'll be eager to come back for an encore and invite you to sell them more.

A Question for your Comments: How has your otherwise wonderful shopping (or dining) experience been trashed at the last moment?

Michael Phelps is Average

2008-08-01T12:58:00-04:00

By Paul Johnson

829 words. Abstract: Michael Phelps is an extraordinarily talented athlete who can do wonders in the swimming pool. Yet the man is average. Discover how the average among us can compete and win the way Michael Phelps does. Learn how an average person can make a splash and never get wet.

Michael Phelps is the gold standard in the swimming pool, but don't think of him as exceptional and special. He is just like you and me. Average.

How can that be? At the 2004 Athens Olympics, Michael Phelps claimed 8 medals: 6 gold and 2 bronze. He holds 4 world records and 11 individual world titles. Phelps is favored to break still more records at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Nothing average about that! Truly, Michael Phelps is an extraordinarily talented, gifted, and capable athlete who shines brilliantly in the swimming pool and on the medals stand. You and I certainly can't compete with that.

A Zero in Every Ten
Fortunately, we don't have to. That's the beauty of being average. On a scale of zero to ten, 5 is average. We're all given a different mix of strengths and abilities. While we might be a 0 in one area (like me in a swimming pool), we're likely 10 in another area (like Michael Phelps is in the swimming pool). Or maybe we have two strong talents, one at an 8 and another at a 7. Zero, 8, and 7 averages out to ... 5. Average.

When we see Michael Phelps glide through the water, we really don't care what his zeroes are. His coach doesn't make him run during the team's dry land training because Phelp's flexible ankles -- an asset to swimming -- make him prone to tripping and falling. We'll probably never see him win on Dancing with the Stars, but that really doesn't matter. What does matter is that Michael has (1) discovered his key talents and (2) is applying them daily.

Strengths Select You
We, on the other hand, continually worry about "fixing" ourselves where we are below average. "I can't diagram a sentence." "I speak with an accent." "I can never remember where I put my glasses." So what? We'll never enjoy all we can from life if we spend our time working on the weaknesses. We need to find ways to tap into our strengths, to (1) identify our 8's, 9's, and 10's, and then (2) put them to work for us every day.

The Gallup pollsters have done research over decades that show top performers are not those that repair their weaknesses. Instead, top performers discover their strengths and then sharpen and polish them to make them even better. In their book, Now, Discover Your Strengths, authors Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton list 34 strengths that everyone enjoys in some combination, plus point readers to assessment tools to enable them to discover their top five strengths.

Michael Phelps has found at least one of his strengths, and it's a thrill for the rest of us to see him apply it. Whether he's pulling through the water with those huge hands, torpedoing the competition after a turn, or closing a race to finish well ahead of the rest of the field, we're excited to watch. But what about us? We're meant to be more than just spectators in the game of life.

Late is Still Great
You are really great at something; have you found it yet? Alan Opdyke of Snellville, Georgia wins awards for breeding guppies. Bill Porter of Portland, Oregon became a top salesman despite his cerebral palsy. Michael Phelps is lucky because he found -- with the help of a coach and his family -- something he is good at while relatively young. Yet late bloomers are all around us. Charles Hurme won the USTA National Senior Hard Court Tennis Championship when he was 90. Just because you haven't found your 10 yet doesn't mean you don't have it in you.

If you're still thinking I must be writing about someone besides you, that you have no talents and abilities above a 5, you're wrong. You're not inadequate, you're just chicken.

Maybe you're reluctant to try new things. Maybe you're afraid to get hurt, physically or emotionally. Maybe you're terrified to discover another thing you're not good at. What if Edison had chickened out after his 999th try in his quest to create the light bulb?

Listen for "Wow"
Accept the fact that you're average and do something positive with it. Stop wasting time working on abilities at which you'll never be exceptional. Shift your efforts to trying things that interest you. Act on your curiosity and desire. Pay attention when people pay you a "Wow" compliment. Take a chance on yourself. Challenge yourself to find the excellence within you. Don't ever let anyone imply that you are "just" average. Find your strengths, and then have the courage to apply, hone, and polish them. Stand Out. Excel.

It's unlikely that we'll ever join Michael Phelps in the pool, but that doesn't mean we can't make a splash in our own way every day. We may all be average, but in some way we're also extraordinary as well. Find and apply your "extra" and you'll be far from ordinary.

Note: This article is available for reprint at no charge. We only ask that you include our copyright notice in your reprint, along with the About the Author information we provide at the end of the article.

A question for your Comments: What do you know about Michael Phelps that enables him to excel?

Trade Away This Bad Negotiating Technique

2008-07-01T04:56:00-04:00

By Paul Johnson

865 words. Abstract: While seldom labeled "negotiating," give and take opportunities are abundant in the everyday work world. Learn this simple negotiating technique so you can give up less and get more of what you want, whether there's money involved or not.

As I look around my basement, I realize that maybe I'm hanging on to too much stuff. When I trade for goods and services (some call that "negotiating"), I realize I'm also pretty good at hanging on to my profit when I'm the seller, and my money when I'm the buyer. How good are you at hanging on to what you already have? One simple technique can make you much better at it.

This works even when no money is trading hands. Perhaps just your time is involved. Maybe your boss wants you to take on "just one more thing." Or you've been scheduled for one more meeting. Pretty soon you're overwhelmed and kicking yourself for saying "Yes" a few too many times. Maybe you can't say "No" either, but there is another option.

Bad Negotiating Exemplified
Let's imagine for a moment you're a seller engaged in a dialog with a potential buyer that goes like this:

Buyer: "You're higher than your competition. What can you do when you sharpen your pencil?"
Seller: "I am authorized to match our competition's price."
Buyer: "Great! Unfortunately, I see your standard shipping is 2 weeks, and I need it on Tuesday. Can you do that?"
Seller: "I can expedite shipping for you. You can have it by Tuesday if you order now."
Buyer: "Nice! But I won't be able to use it without the accessories kit. Will you include it at no charge if I buy?"
Seller: "Sure, I'll do that just for you, because you're special."

Let's stop our example there, although the dialog (and the concessions) certainly didn't stop there. Notice that at no time did the Buyer commit to the purchase, despite the fact that the Seller has discounted away profit and increased costs by expediting shipping and giving away accessories. The Buyer is "on a roll"; why wouldn't they keep asking for more concessions?

They will, because they are grinding, a negotiating technique that enables them to continue to sweeten the deal until they either take pity on the Seller and stop, or the Seller makes them stop.

A Fair Turn
Stopping a grinder is easy. Simply replace concessions with trades. Whenever you are asked to give something up, prepare to trade for something of perceived value.

When your boss asks you to do "just one more thing," ask what can come off your current projects list to make room for the new one. When one more meeting comes up, ask which deadline can be pushed back to accommodate the new unplanned need for your time. When your buyer asks for a price concession, ask for... well, what CAN you trade?

Bring In Your Trade-Offs
When negotiating, it can literally pay to be prepared. Anticipate the potential concession requests you may encounter. As a seller, you can prepare a list of possible trade-offs, which might include:

Reduced feature set
Slower (less expensive) shipping
Accepting delivery (and making payment) sooner
Faster payment terms
Cash instead of credit
Adding a "bonus" instead of reducing the price
Increasing the order size
Testimonial letter
Referral to a new prospect
Booking the order NOW

Being prepared is key. When the Buyer asks for a discount, the Seller better have something ready to trade. When your boss asks for "just one more thing," it helps to have that list of current projects ready so you can agree on which one to cross off or postpone. When you're prepared, your dialog can sound like this:

Buyer: "You're higher than your competition. What can you do when you sharpen your pencil?"
Seller: "I'd be happy to discuss reducing the price. Which features of my offer would you like me to delete so that I can deliver only what my competition is quoting?"
Buyer: "Well, we need everything you're quoting but, unfortunately, I see your standard shipping is 2 weeks, and I need it on Tuesday. Can you do that?"
Seller: "I can give you expedited shipping to hit your Tuesday deadline for free, if we can increase your order quantities by 10% to hit our free shipping minimum."
Buyer: "Well, OK, but I won't be able to use ANY of it without the accessories kit. Will you include it at no charge if I buy?"
Seller: "I'd love to do that to get a great new customer like you. Tell you what: if you buy now and agree to give me a glowing testimonial letter when you decide you're thrilled with us, I'll get the accessories kit included for you. Have we got a deal?"

Negotiating the Give and Take
When you make trades instead of concessions, you can walk away from both formal and impromptu negotiations with more of what you want. Notice that you never have to say "No"; you simply have to be prepared to say, "I'll give you what you want if I can have what I want." Prepare, and become a trader that stops the grinding in day-to-day negotiations. You'll find you'll have more of what YOU want, including time to clean out your basement.

About The Author:
Paul Johnson the Trouble Breaker works with organizations to convert trouble into double and triple digit performance breakthroughs. Discover breakthrough concepts at http://ShortcutsToResults.com. Visit http://ConsultativeSelling.com for more insights about Consultative Selling.

Business with a Tropical Attitude

2008-06-18T01:36:00-04:00

By Paul Johnson

1160 words. Abstract: Think business, think tropical. At first, they may not seem to go hand in hand. Yet we know that "having the right attitude" is important. If you're ready for boldness, clarity, diversity, friendliness, style, and a new definition of professionalism, you can find it all in the tropics - even the energy of life itself! You'll be more successful - and have a gas doing it - when you approach your business with a tropical attitude.

Think business, think tropical. At first, they may not seem to go hand in hand. Yet, you’ll be more successful -- and have a gas doing it -- when you approach your business with a tropical attitude. You can find it all in the tropics... even the energy of life itself! You just have to see what’s already there, and bring it to work with you every day.

Color Me Bold
First, take a moment to embrace the colors of the tropics. We’re talking vivid green palms, crystal blue lagoons, fiery red sunsets. These are not colors for wimps. Mauve and taupe are not found below the 30th parallel, except on the backs of tackily-dressed tourists from colder climates.

No, tropical colors are bold and straightforward. They imply some risk-taking, a willingness to hang it out there, a willingness to take a chance on hearing a “No” for the opportunity to hear a “Yes.” We won’t move ahead by always playing it safe. If something is really worth doing, really worth risking the consequences, it’s boldness of action that brings those dreams to fruition. Be bright. Be bold. Be tropical.

Clarity Therapy
Tropical colors are also about contrast. They’re about bright colors, multiple colors, laid side by side; clear lines of definition that command attention and assist recognition. Do you claim to be “the leading provider of premier solutions to valued business partners”? Bad news; you’ve got a case of Lookalika disease. I recommend a trip to the tropics for treatment, healing, and therapy, not necessarily in that order.

Take the poinsettia plant. The contrast of the red leaves against the green makes that plant stand out in a stunning way – especially when they grow six feet tall in the tropics! We need to stand out in our environment, or get lost in the background. We need to clearly separate ourselves from the people who compete in our space. We need fresh lines of definition so that people can understand how we’re different in a positive way. That brightness and clarity makes it easy for people to find you, identify you, and do business with you.

Diversity University
A tropical attitude also respects diversity. Tropical rain forests cover less than 6% of the Earth’s total land surface, yet they are home for up to ¾ of all known species of plants and animals. Much of the beauty of the tropics stems from the variety of foliage and the animal life it supports.

We, too, lose our vibrancy, our “Wow!”, when we’re all the same. Yet many organizations seem to think they can conquer their market by mandating paramilitary processes and straight-line thinking. IBM became famous (or is it infamous – I get those two mixed up) for their salesforce of blue suits and white shirts.

Of course, things are different today. Many organizations recognize that diversity of culture, race, gender and, ultimately, thinking is where their innovation and top performance comes from. This is despite the fact that it takes more effort on our parts to learn to live and work together when we’re all so different.

As Steven Covey puts it in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, "It’s unity, not sameness, that’s cool.” (I paraphrased a little). When you embrace a tropical attitude to respect and unify diversity, you’ll have all the competitive edge your business will ever need.

Waves of Warmth
And how could you have a tropical attitude and not be warm and friendly? I want to feel good and smile at people for no apparent reason. When I wave at people, I’d like them to feel good about waving back. OK, maybe they could just return my voicemail.

Sure, we all know that people do business with people, and relationships are important. So let’s drop the unfriendly behavior, like taking cell phone calls in the middle of a conversation, or multi-tasking when we should be focusing on the relationship at hand.

If people really do business with people they like, what are you doing to make it easy for people to like you? Take on a tropical attitude and help your customers and co-workers warm up to you. Stop being so busy once in a while. And wherever you are, be there.

Naturally You'll Win
A tropical attitude will help you relax. When you’re enjoying the tropics, you’re relaxed, you act more natural. When you operate in a relaxed, natural state, your personal strengths and talents can shine through. The best part of you is brought to the party. You don’t even need a margarita to “loosen up!”

You can use the best of your own style and personality to get the job done in a way that’s natural for you, in a way that feels right, that "fits.” The paradox is that you’ll get to your desired results quicker when you don’t rush to them.

In sports, players talk about being in “the Zone,” when everything comes together and you just become unstoppable. Sure, first you prepare, you practice, you get ready to go. Then it’s time to lighten up, let go and play your game in your own way. Don’t worry, be scrappy!

Dead Man Talking
Now don’t think for a moment that having a tropical attitude is unprofessional. A tropical attitude is professional; it’s just not formal. When I hear someone say, “We’re professionals,” the first words that come to mind are stiff, boring, dead. It’s difficult to foster genuine business relationships when you’re stiff and boring, and impossible when you’re dead. First and foremost, a professional shows genuine care, consideration, and respect for the other person. They listen carefully, respond decidedly, and act with integrity.

Following formalities can actually get in the way of professionalism, because they are artificial and can disguise the real you. “How are you?” ... “I’m fine, thank you.” Did a real exchange take place? “May I help you?” ... “No, thanks, I’m just looking!” Can’t we communicate better than that? After all, a tropical attitude is vivid and bright, without being shocking or obtrusive. Perhaps you can rework some of your conventions and rituals of business to reveal your professionalism in an informal way. Let your tropical attitude reflect the real you and show what you stand for.

Alive to Enjoy
Perhaps most of all, the tropical environment is alive. It has its own energy and vibrancy that stimulates powerful creative forces and allows the mind to find new solutions to old problems. From the first promise of a sunrise to the final reassurance of a sunset, the fresh patterns and hues that change with the light of day can help you make new connections and discover new options.

The tropics let you think without actually making you think. Ah, paradise! Bright, active, energizing, and alive... just the way I prefer to feel every day on the job. You’ll learn to enjoy every day and expect success when you start doing business with a tropical attitude.

About The Author:
Paul Johnson the Trouble Breaker is a keynote speaker who works with organizations to convert trouble into double and triple digit performance breakthroughs. Discover breakthrough concepts at http://ShortcutsToResults.com. Visit http://TroubleBreaker.com for presentations on performance improvement. Call Paul direct in Atlanta, Georgia, USA at (770) 271-7719.

Personal Leadership Makes Trust Possible

2008-06-05T17:52:11-04:00

By Paul Johnson

1,139 words. Abstract: Leadership is sorely needed today, including right in our own lives. Learn about personal leadership, including tips that will enable trust to flourish in all your relationships.

The probability that he will go to jail for what he did is almost zero. His lack of personal leadership resulted in thousands of people feeling violated, cheated and betrayed. If his patrons trusted him before, his impersonal approach to leadership shredded that trust in a matter of milliseconds. We won't give our support to leaders we don't trust.

2008 is an election year in the U.S., with selection of our next President taking the main stage. We want someone we can trust to lead us for the next four years. We're willing to give our enthusiastic support to those we trust so that we can achieve significant results together. When trust is lost, disillusionment and disappointment set in, and the result is no results at all.

Blanked After 12 Years
On May 31st, 2008, the Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC) newspaper published School chief makes a name shredding Clayton diplomas. John Thompson started as the new Clayton County Superintendent on April 28th, replacing Gloria Duncan. The AJC reports that on May 29th he ordered the shredding of 3,000 high school diplomas because his name was not printed on them. The very next day, graduates attending their graduation ceremony were surprised to discover their diploma was missing. They would have to wait for them to be reprinted, to arrive in the mail weeks later.

John Thompson shredded the diplomas because he could. The powers associated with his position enabled him to do that, despite the fact that he didn't know at the time how much the replacement diplomas would cost the county taxpayers. He made an executive decision, and his motives have been called into question.

Upward Turns Outward
We can't deny it is human nature to be selfish. Abraham Maslow's pyramid illustrating the hierarchy of human needs acknowledges that we are driven at a primal level to satisfy our needs for food and shelter. We must selfishly take care of ourselves and what we need to survive before we can think about others' needs. Unfortunately, some never choose to think of others even after they are far above survival level. Until we put aside our selfishness and develop an outward view that considers others' personal needs before we consider our own, we can't be trusted with a leadership role.

Selfish people can never develop trust with others. They take actions that serve themselves and then find ways to rationalize them. They offer explanations that often sound hollow to everyone but them.

"We either give them two diplomas or get the right one mailed. We decided to have them wait for the right one."
"I took the initiative and I did it."
"It's no harm. It's just a sense of pride, and they will have it soon."

These don't sound like explanations, but excuses. If you are ever tempted to offer an excuse, it's probably time to offer a sincere apology instead.

It's Your Life to Lead
Personal leadership is all about how you lead yourself in your own life. It's about the decisions you make and the actions you take, whether people are watching or not. It's about learning to trust your own actions so that others can learn to trust you. It's about developing the habit of doing the right thing all the time, even when it causes you inconvenience, expense or embarrassment. Here are three tips to help you develop your own personal leadership.

1. Serve Others before Yourself
While your self-interest and self-preservation are important, get in the habit of first considering how a situation or decision will impact others involved. Look for ways to give before you find ways to receive.

When Davidson College made it to the Elite Eight in the NCAA basketball tournament this past spring, the trustees of the College offered to give any student who wanted to travel to Detroit to see Davidson play Wisconsin a ticket to the game, bus transportation and 2 nights lodging. The trustees knew that this opportunity may not come again to the College for a long time, and they wanted their students to have powerful memories of the experience. They gave to the students without expectation of receiving anything in return, because that's what they want their students to learn. Should you ever meet a Davidson grad (from any year) ask them what they think of their school experience. "Trustee" -- what an appropriate title. Nearly 300 students took them up on their offer.

2. A Deal is a Deal
Follow-through on agreements you've made, even if they seem trivial or insignificant. If your voicemail greeting says you will call back anyone who leaves a message, either call everyone back or change your voicemail greeting. Inconsistency is the enemy of trust.

Often we are paid to deliver a service. Many of us make a deal to receive a paycheck in return for performing a job. Make sure you're living up to your end of the bargain by delivering good service to your employer.

Some employees (like school superintendents) are expected to deliver service across multiple key groups: in this example, to students, to parents, and to taxpayers. Serving multiple groups before serving yourself requires a high degree of personal leadership. Thinking selfishly for even a moment can rapidly extinguish trust with one or more of your key groups. Keep your deals, and do well the jobs you are paid to do.

3. Better Kind than Right
Often we find ourselves in situations that offer us two paths. One path will give us an opportunity to say something like, "I'm right, you're wrong, and I can prove it." The other path gives us an opportunity to decide that proving ourselves right in this situation isn't worth causing another person pain or embarrassment. Dr. Wayne W. Dyer suggests that often it is better to be kind than right.

Debates can be healthy, and sometimes it is necessary to clearly establish right from wrong. Other times, who is right really doesn't matter. For example, a friend recently remarked about how overpaid CEOs are. While I was prepared to debate it from the other side, I chose not to because the outcome would be neither productive nor supportive of our relationship. While I didn't agree with him, I chose to be kind when I could have been right.

Take Trust Personally
Trust is central to all our important relationships. Some try to dodge trust issues by insisting on written contracts. Personal leadership puts its trust in personal behavior, not a piece of paper.

It takes time to learn to trust others, whether we're hiring them, electing them, or marrying them. Trust is earned over time, yet it is lost in a moment of irrational behavior. Always strive to do the right thing by considering others before yourself. Then others will consider you a leader worth following.

About The Author:
Paul Johnson the Trouble Breaker is a keynote speaker who works with organizations to convert trouble into double and triple digit performance breakthroughs. Discover breakthrough concepts at http://www.paul-johnson.com. Visit http://TroubleBreaker.com for presentations on leadership.

Note: This article is available for reprint at no charge. We only ask that you include our copyright notice in your reprint, along with the About the Author information we provide at the end of the article.

If you'd like to see how John Thompson is being tried in the court of public opinion, follow these links:

School chief makes a name shredding Clayton diplomas
Clayton County schools chief criticized for diploma order
Diploma swap leads to ethics complaint
All in the name of ego
Hope for Clayton sinks

Work: The New Four-Letter Word

2008-05-01T06:14:00-04:00

By Paul Johnson

1,137 words. Abstract: For many of us, job satisfaction is elusive and work has become a four-letter word. Discover how you can upgrade your situation so you can be paid to play and make "work" go away.

"Savannah would be a good place to retire." That stray comment wafted my way from the folks conversing at a nearby Atlanta Bread Company table. Have you thought about where you would like to retire?

That's a trick question. The real question is: Why would you want to EVER retire? After all, if you love what you do AND you're getting paid for it, why would you ever want to stop?

"Obviously," you say, "Paul Johnson does not live on the same planet I do. My job is frustrating and unfulfilling, like it is for most everyone else I know." It seems everyone is working for the weekend.

Life Revived
What if it doesn't have to be that way? It's a shame to think we are missing out on our life, at least for 40 hours a week (who am I kidding? According to The Week magazine, the average male works 100 hours more per year than they did in the 1970's, while the average woman works 200 more hours.) In 1854 Henry David Thoreau wrote, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." Does that apply to us today? After all, this life is the only one we get.

If "work" has become a dirty four-letter word for you, I bet I can guess your story. It's probably similar to mine. We finished school and had to find a full-time job (in my case, I started working BEFORE I finished school). We didn't have any experience so we couldn't be too picky. Eventually we accepted a job, not necessarily because the industry, or the work, or the future looked particularly exciting, but because it came with a marvelous fringe benefit known as a "paycheck. " Still it was all exciting because it was all new. Before we knew it, we developed our skills and got good at what we were doing. We earned promotions and raises, and soon acquired stuff like a mortgage, spouse, dog and 2.5 kids, not necessarily in that order. Somewhere along the way we realized that we're not too happy with what we're doing for work. Every day. Two hundred twenty days per year.

Did your "starter" job accidentally become your career? Perhaps "work" has become a dirty four-letter word because we feel trapped in an industry, a career or a company. We can't afford to make a change now. Because we accepted a job early on, we're expected to accept our lot in life now. Oops.

Fresh Advice
For decades young people have been encouraged to pursue what they're good at irrespective of what they like to do. My high-school counselor told me my high test scores meant I could "do anything I wanted." That was so NOT helpful. Nobody suggested I should consider a career choice based on something I actually LIKED to do. As a result we stop exploring our options when we're much too young, and then settle on a career much too early.

Here's the problem I suspect you'd like to solve: you would like to find a way to get paid as much or more than you do now, and derive more satisfaction from work. In short, you'd like to get paid well to play.

Let's explore this using three simple concepts, Good, Like and Pay. For many of us, we accepted a job and got Good at it such that employers are willing to Pay us to do it. Unfortunately a lot of Like is missing, so we engage in weekend hobbies such as tennis, fishing or reading to fill that void. If we could have a "redo at life," we would be better served to have explored things that we're Good at that we also Like, and then find a way to make it Pay.

If you could find a way to do that now, you'll earn much more tomorrow than you do today. Why? When you Like your work, you immerse yourself in it. You're happy to read more on the subject, and you're happy to think, explore, and analyze related topics why you're taking showers, doing laundry and cutting grass. When you can immerse yourself in something you love for 40 + hours a week, it doesn't take long to develop expertise that will make you highly valued and highly paid in any domain. As the late Earl Nightingale observed, one half hour of study per day will make you a nationally known expert in that field in just five years. Do you like what you do well enough to study it for a half-hour every day, or is reality TV more appealing?

Play in the Intersection
Here's what you can do to start making the shift. First, take inventory of what you're Good at and what others, like your employer, will Pay you to do. That's a great foundation.

Next, observe what you Like. Specifically, take note of the experiences that you enjoy recreating for yourself time and time again.

Third, explore different ideas and options for ways to combine what you're Good at with what you Like to do in ways that will Pay. Put together a plan to move you to that intersection.

When you execute your plan to move you to the center of Good, Like and Pay, your work will truly become your play. Retirement? Forget about it!

What do you have to lose? Trade in those unfulfilled dreams and feelings of frustration for joy, fun, satisfaction... and more money, if that's what you want.

Play with Purpose
If you're searching for purpose in your life, consider this: God doesn't want you to settle. He (or She) gave you talents and abilities, likes and dislikes, so you can make a valuable contribution to the world we all live in and be rewarded in ways that will truly satisfy our needs. Don't believe the myth that work and play are mutually exclusive. It's merely coincidental that work and play are both four letter words.

James A. Michener offers:
"The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both."

Of course, these are just a few of my observations and opinions. I may be full of it. . . or not. But I am wondering, what's keeping you from solving this problem for yourself? What successes have you had in finding a balance between Good, Like and Pay so you could make work your play? If you'd like to continue the conversation, please feel free to share your Comments below.

About The Author:
Paul Johnson the Trouble Breaker is a keynote speaker who works with organizations to convert trouble into double and triple digit performance breakthroughs. Visit http://TroubleBreaker.com for leadership presentations on performance improvement. Call Paul direct in Atlanta, Georgia, USA at (770) 271-7719.

Performance Improvement in a Sorry State

2008-04-15T10:39:07-04:00

I recently read a great article by Julie Cohen titled Sorry No More that expands on my article, The Sorry Epidemic, which I posted on September 5, 2007.

As you may remember, my article suggests that we say "sorry" way too much, and at inappropriate times. Julie gives some specific examples of how great performance is negated when workers are needlessly sorry. Plus, she suggests how we can analyze why we might use "I'm sorry" when we really mean something else, and how that self-awareness can lead to performance improvement and business breakthroughs for our careers (Julie's specialty is career coaching and work-life balance).

You can find Julie Cohen's website and some great career resources at www.juliecohencoaching.com.

The "Thanks for Your Time" Crime

2008-04-01T04:33:00-04:00

By Paul Johnson

443 words. Abstract: If you ever find yourself saying, "Thank you for your time," you're creating issues for yourself that can damage relationships. If you're in sales, the costs are high. Learn the hidden meanings in this seemingly safe phrase and what you can substitute to improve your position.

It happened again, but I'm not surprised. As the insurance salesman was wrapping up our meeting, he shook my hand and said, "Thanks for your time." I thought to myself, "What a crime."

He was being polite, and I welcome that. He genuinely appreciated the time I devoted to our interaction. His thank-you was acknowledging the value of the time I had "spent" with him because we all know "time is money." Unfortunately he -- like many of us -- failed to notice the hidden meaning in that seemingly harmless phrase that subtly sabotages our sales.

Killer Questions
"Your time is valuable. Mine isn't." That's what you tell me when you say, "Thanks for your time." Apparently you have nothing better to do with YOUR time than talk with me.

Could it be you're not very good at your job, and people are rarely willing to talk with you?
Might I wonder if you're desperate for a sale?
Are you less than busy because you or your offerings are inferior such that I'd be better off dealing with your competition?

All the energy and preparation you've expended to establish credibility with me, engender confidence, and establish the value of what you offer is subtly and suddenly diminished when you thank me for my time. After all, if you truly believe the services you offer are valuable, why would you say anything to imply your inferiority?

Decisions Rewarded
We can still be polite without compromising our position. Instead of thanking prospects for their time, we could thank them for something that will lead us closer to the sale. For instance, we could say:

"Thanks for opting to meet with me."
"Thanks for deciding to take a closer look at this opportunity."
"Thank you for choosing to come to my office."

Ultimately we're going to ask the prospect to make a buying decision. By thanking them for making a choice, you're giving them verbal applause for their wise decision to meet with you. Plus, you are reinforcing the value of additional decisions you may suggest in the future. Thanking your prospects for making a choice improves your position with them instead of hindering it.

Serve Without Subservience
Always remember that what you offer is valuable, as is the time you commit to delivering the details that describe it. In the land where "all men are created equal," don't commit the crime of forgetting that and reducing yourself to a subservient position by thanking others for their time. Compliment their decisions instead. You'll maintain peer status with your buyer, elevate yourself to advisor status faster, and accelerate your sales success.

About The Author:
Paul Johnson is Founder of ConsultativeSelling.com and a keynote speaker. He works with organizations like ADP, Nortel Networks and AutoNation to convert sales trouble into double and triple digit performance breakthroughs. Learn how to apply Consultative Selling at http://ConsultativeSelling.com/.

Competitive PowerPoint

2008-03-25T10:11:38-04:00

Here's a follow-up to my article of April 1, 2007, The PowerPoint Dozen Dare, where I suggest you can sell anything in 12 slides or less.

Two architects in Tokyo have a different take; they'll let you use 20 slides, but only allow 20 seconds each! That's right, you're done in 6 minutes 40 seconds. Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham are credited by Wired Magazine with creating "pecha-kucha" (peh-CHAHCH-kuh), and it has taken off as a creative art form. Local venues around the world are embracing Pecha-Kucha Nights, where volunteers can present their creative works, concepts and ideas using PowerPoint in the strictly-timed format. Right here in Atlanta, it's at Octane Coffee Lounge. Some events are even structured as competitions, with prizes awarded to the fan favorite.

Who could have imagined that folks would VOLUNTARILY go to a club and sit through one PowerPoint presentation after another??!! Yes, PowerPoint may still be the bane of meetings and the crutch of choice for poor presenters, but it's clear that in the right hands it can be a powerful and engaging tool for selling ideas and much more.

PowerPoint is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

Performance Improvement Through Planned Spontaneity

2008-03-01T12:19:00-05:00

By Paul Johnson

1,124 words. Abstract: Guarantee yourself performance improvement in all your business interactions. Discover the unseemly combination of "planned spontaneity" and learn the three steps that can turn moments of awkwardness into displays of brilliance.

Robin Williams is considered a genius in the business of comedy. His performances seem natural and spontaneous, yet many of his ad libs are planned. When he finds himself in a situation he has anticipated, he already knows exactly what to say to get a laugh. Push E-5 on the Robin Williams laughter vending machine and you'll come away with a snicker.

While comedians prepare for social interactions, few business people do. We prefer to rely on our experience to "wing it." We readily plunk ourselves down in a business setting and assume whatever we say or do will be good enough with no improvement necessary. No comedian ever earned a reputation as a top performer with that attitude and neither will you.

Planned spontaneity enables you to take advantage of opportunities to impress. Success will pursue you when you consistently deliver smooth, polished, confident, successful, and promotable performance. Conversely, earning a reputation as someone who blurts out embarrassment in unpredictable ways is killing their career one dissonant ad lib at a time. Your career performance will shine with improvement when you use planned spontaneity to polish your reputation. Soon you'll move from mundanely average to exceptionally brilliant.

Prepare Naturally
Planning to be spontaneous may seem like a contradiction. This only seems unnatural in the social world, as we do it naturally in the physical and mental worlds all the time. If a child runs in front of your moving car, you will spontaneously slam on the brakes. Four plus four equals ... you already have the answer. We have planned to address situations like these so our responses are spontaneous.

Socially, we may not be as well-prepared. If I ask you, "What do you do for a living?" you'll likely have an answer for me, but could your answer use improvement? If asked, "What are you doing Saturday night?" are you really prepared to answer that? When a prospective customer states, "Your price is too high!" are you prepared, or will you "wing it" yet again?

If you're a little uneasy, don't assume you're the only one. We all went through the same school system. We were conditioned to deal with problems as the teachers gave them to us. We were not taught to think ahead and come up with solutions for possible problems. We learned to deal only with the problems right in front of us because that's all we needed to know to pass the test.

Planned spontaneity may feel like an unseemly oxymoron. We don't want to be perceived as unnatural or robotic. We believe if we prepare our words or follow a script, we will sound phony and lose all credibility. This imagined fear does not have to be your reality as performers like Robin Williams prove every day. You can immediately enjoy improvement in your performance at work by applying these three steps:

1. Pre-See
When you Pre-See in a social situation, it's much like looking far down the road in front of you when driving. We're safest when we observe the full panorama, considering what other vehicles are doing, the shape and condition of the road, the color of taillights, and the potential situations we may find ourselves in soon. Conversely, if we only focus on what's immediately in front of our grill it won't be long before we crash.

Watch people around you and get in the habit of Pre-Seeing yourself in potential situations. Observe how one person's behavior influences another's response. When you observe good behavior, make a point to copy it. When you find yourself thinking, "That was awkward!" make plans to ensure you never find yourself as unprepared as they were.

For example, we all like to be remembered yet most of us forget names occasionally. When you've already forgotten the name of the person you met two minutes ago, you've got a problem. If you can Pre-See yourself in this situation, it's time to Pre-Think.

2. Pre-Think
You can avoid the risks associated with thinking on your feet by Pre-Thinking the perfect actions to take. Prepare what you want to say or do in advance when you're under no pressure to think. You'll have time to come up with some options, and then choose the best one.

In my Mastering Objections sales training course, I have participants Pre-Think responses to their six most common objections. I show them 10 different response techniques and then invite them to Pre-Think how they can apply each to handle their six sales objections. Each prepared response is written down so they can use them on Monday morning. This Pre-Thinking gives them sixty different ways to handle objections and avoid deal-killing situations. It's Pre-Thinking like this that enables the average person to deliver a brilliant performance under pressure.

Pre-Thinking allows us to ask, "What could I do?" and then "What WILL I do?" in advance so our spontaneous reactions are naturally correct. What alternatives can you Pre-Think right now that could enable you to elegantly recover after you've forgotten another's name?

3. Pre-Do
If your Pre-Thinking has enabled you to capture the perfect response, your brilliant effort becomes worthless if you lack the courage to use your response. To overcome any fear of sounding less than spontaneous, it's important to practice, or Pre-Do, what you plan on saying or doing. You can preview it in your head and test it on others. Some people find role-playing helpful. Take time to Pre-Do until it sounds so natural and unforced people won't guess you thought it out in advance.

Of course, you don't have time for any of this. Today's go-go work world almost makes taking time to plan seem like a luxury. Time starvation causes everyone to stay focused on the problem right in front of them. Yet you must do at least enough to put the results of your Pre-Seeing and Pre-Thinking into action. Yes, you must do the Pre-Do.

What do I do what I've forgotten someone's name? I say, "I'm sorry, I've misplaced your name. Would you give it to me again?" And soon I'm off the hook.

Predict Tomorrow's History
We can't prepare for everything, but we know that history tends to repeat itself. Plan to be spontaneous when:

A social opportunity is probable and likely repetitive
A less-than-brilliant performance carries dire consequences

You can be sure you're bringing your best thinking to critical business interactions when you have done your thinking in advance. Consider planned spontaneity to be an investment instead of more work. Average preparation will only yield average performance.

The late comedian Jack Benny said, "My best ad libs are the ones I rehearsed the most." Develop planned spontaneity and tomorrow you'll be proud of your performance improvement today.

About The Author:
Paul Johnson the Trouble Breaker works with organizations to convert trouble into double and triple digit performance breakthroughs. Discover concepts for performance improvement at http://ShortcutsToResults.com.

What Sales People Need in a Down Economy

2008-02-01T03:17:00-05:00

By Paul Johnson

850 words. Abstract: Selling can't slow down just because the economy does. Learn how to protect your business from economic disaster by helping your sales people get the one thing they need to sell in a down economy.

It takes something special to sell in a down economy. Unless sales people are properly equipped, it's easy for them to get discouraged and give up, perhaps before they even get started. When salespeople stop selling, falling revenues eventually cause pain for all employees and can threaten the very existence of the business. That's why it's in everybody's best interest to ensure that every salesperson has the one thing that will keep them producing sales in a down economy.

Clue Me Down
First, how can we be sure we're experiencing a down economy? Here are some headlines that appeared in newspapers over the last 30 days:

Home foreclosure rate soars in 2007
State's unemployment rate jumps
Bankruptcy filings up 24% in Georgia

Statistics like that could easily discourage any sales person. The changing environment means they'll soon be facing unfamiliar selling challenges they are not confident they can handle. Any salesperson could righteously proclaim, "The economy is killing me!"

If that were true, I should already be dead.

Leggo My Ego
As I share this story from my past, please don't discount it as self-serving ego aggrandizement. I offer it to give perspective. Besides, facts are facts, and these are the facts.

I started my direct selling career in 1979. In 1981 and 1982, I was an award-winning sales leader at my company (ask me, and I'll show you my diamond ring, earned through an incentive program. Actually, I earned two diamonds; my wife claimed the bigger one). Here are some indicators of how the economy of 1981 compared to 2007:

2007:
- 6.34% = Mortgage Interest Rate
- 4.61% = Unemployment Rate
- 2.85% = Inflation Rate

1981:

To come close to duplicating the horrific economy of 1981, you'd have to go back to the Great Depression of the 1930's. Yet here I was, a "newbie" salesperson facing an economy that could easily kill off my new sales career. Yet I had something that enabled me to not just survive, but thrive in a difficult environment.

Sell Yourself with Critical Thinking
My competitors may have gotten discouraged, but the daily news didn't bother me much. I learned to use critical thinking skills to evaluate what I was reading in the newspaper. When I saw "state's unemployment rate jumps," I looked closer. The "jump" was from 4.2% to 4.6%, a 9.5% increase in just one month... pretty alarming. But what does that really mean to me as a salesperson? It means that last month, out of 250 people, 10.5 were unemployed. This month, 11.5 are unemployed. We lost one suspect out of every 250 people. Should that slow down our selling efforts? I don't think so.

What about "home foreclosure rate soars in 2007"? The article reveals that the rate is 79 percent higher in 2007 compared to 2006. While that's a sizable increase, it still means that 99 percent of all U.S. households are NOT facing foreclosure, leaving them as potential suspects for you.

Check out the bankruptcy filing statistics, and in a like manner you'll find that the vast majority of people still have jobs. They are earning money they can spend on your products and services... if you have what it takes to stay in the selling game despite a down economy.

Get Rid of Dis
When you're feeling discouraged with the down economy, you need only one thing to "sell the lights out": courage. The difference between where you are and what you need is simply dis. Remove dis, and you can replace discourage with courage. You can gain all the courage you need to succeed through Perspective, Plan and Persistence.

Create Your Own Courage
PERSPECTIVE involves using your critical thinking skills to evaluate the reality of your situation. Reporters write headlines to sell newspapers, not to help you keep an optimistic outlook. Use critical thinking skills as in the examples above to ensure you keep proper perspective. This down economy, like every other one before, is temporary.

PLAN a way to deal with the challenges that a down economy can bring. Write down your goals and objectives, and find ways to gather and measure feedback as you execute. Retain flexibility so you can make course corrections and adjust your plan as you learn what's working in a down economy.

PERSISTENCE is perhaps most important of all. It means getting up every day and putting your plan into action. It means continuing to sell even when the headlines suck. It means being too busy selling to even bother reading the headlines.

Make Time for P's
It's easy to get discouraged in a down economy. Everyday the media is happy to tell us why things are so terrible. As Nicholas Murray Butler noted, "Optimism is the foundation of courage."

Discouraged, you fail. With courage, you succeed. The difference is simply dis.

Salespeople can find courage to thrive by beginning each selling day with a review of the importance of Perspective, Plan, and Persistence. Do that and you can find diamonds in any down economy.

This Country Walks With Crutches

2008-01-02T08:40:00-05:00

917 words. Abstract: Our society is getting shortchanged, and not just at the cash register. Convenient crutches interfere with development of critical thinking skills. Discover how to lead the way to a more potent, intelligent and resourceful organization.

After taking my order, the young man behind the register announced, "That'll be $6.96." I handed him seven dollars and a penny. The puzzled look on his face made it clear he had no idea what to do with that penny. After what seemed like a long time, I explained, "I'd like a nickel back." He reached in the register with a doubtful look yet gave me the nickel I was expecting. The transaction was complete, but I couldn't stop thinking about what really happened.

Webster's Dictionary defines a crutch as "a supporting stick fitted under the armpit in walking." I'm generally opposed to having sticks fitted anywhere, including under the armpit. It's true we all need a little help now and then, but relying on crutches day to day doesn't make life easier. In my case, they only make my armpits sore.

Think Again
In the story above, the crutch the young man used was the cash register. It supported him so he had no need of basic math skills. The business owner depends on a "smart" cash register that is programmed to correctly compute an order, add in sales tax and display the total. The clerk enters the cash received, and change due is computed. Only one thing is missing from this process; the clerk is never required to think. The more the manager and employees rely on these crutches, the dumber the organization becomes.

As a society we've come to depend on crutches that allow us to be weak, stupid and lazy. I believe we should automate tasks only when we understand how to do them manually. That means:

Use a shovel before jumping behind the controls of a backhoe.
Plan a trip on a fold-out map before running to MapQuest.
Master addition and subtraction (with a pencil and paper if not in your head) before turning on a calculator or cash register.

Today's leaders are shortchanging our society when they hand crutches to people who have never learned to fully "walk" on their own. Which leaders do I mean? Parents, teachers and business owners all play important roles in training the folks who will be responsible for generating tomorrow's economic prosperity, the folks I'm counting on to fund my Social Security checks someday.

Support Hosed
Spell Check is a great convenience, and I'm thankful that my word processing software incorporated it long ago. I still keep the old-fashioned dictionary and thesaurus (it even sounds like a dinosaur, doesn't it?) close to my desk for those times when Spell Check can't cut it. Spell Check is a great tool, but it is just one tool that doesn't work in every situation. When all you have is a hammer, stay far away from me. Leaders can ensure that many different tools are available, that they are current, and that all are trained to use them.

Librarians are often stereotyped (I'm thinking a nerd with no social life whose ears would start bleeding during the first set at a Stones concert), but one thing we should reasonably expect from them is expertise about libraries. Hey, it's their job, right? I approached the reference desk of my local library and asked if they had any books that could give me a specific type of business information. The librarian asked, "Did you try looking it up on the computer?" I have no proof (can't let that stop me), but I suspect my county government decided they didn't need to hire experts in library science to staff the libraries because each branch was given a crutch called a searchable database. All staff is needed for today is to help patrons to check out books, and then put the books back on the shelves when they're returned. You can't even get a good "Shhh" anymore.

Leadership has pushed for cost-savings through self-service, which usually translates into no service at all. As the comedienne Lily Tomlin once quipped, "We're all in this alone." Technology crutches and a lack of social interaction only amplify the need for critical thinking.

Do Not Pass Goal
Board games have long been a way to socialize our young people. For example, Monopoly by Hasbro is a great way to foster critical thinking traits in a competitive environment. Players learn about strategy, flexibility, negotiation, cash flow and asset management. Unfortunately the new "improved" Monopoly is unsuitable for children. Monopoly Electronic Banking has replaced the pretty Monopoly money with debit cards. Players no longer have to handle cash or do the accounting! For adults familiar with the game, the new version does play faster. For children, speed comes at the expense of learning. When children lose, they have no idea why. Stupid. While they may feel confused and unsatisfied after playing this "updated" game, at least their armpits don't hurt from the debit card.

Our leaders of tomorrow depend on the leaders of today to ensure they are trained to think. It’s critical we teach our children, our students and our employees how and why things work, so they can think for themselves. Turn off the technology now and then and ask folks to "rough it" using only their minds and a pencil and paper. Make sure your people are proficient with hand tools before you turn the power on. Play games that require solving problems using both the hands and the head. Pretty soon we'll all be more potent, intelligent and resourceful, and we'll be happy to leave all the crutches in the corner.

About The Author:
Paul Johnson the Trouble Breaker is a keynote speaker who works with organizations to convert trouble into double and triple digit performance breakthroughs. Visit http://TroubleBreaker.com for leadership presentations on performance improvement. Call Paul direct in Atlanta, Georgia, USA at (770) 271-7719.

How to be Politically Inept this Christmas

2007-12-01T12:04:00-05:00

By Paul Johnson

596 words. Abstract: The Politically Correct really aren't that much fun. Whether you celebrate Christmas or any other December holiday, you and all you greet can enjoy brighter moments when you discover why and how to join the League of the Politically Inept.

There, now it's out there; the "C" word, Christmas. Somehow it's become politically incorrect to wish others Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa or anything that suggests a belief system. Well, I've decided to forgo political correctness at the risk of being labeled "politically inept" this holiday season.

Be Different in December
I choose to celebrate in December because Christmas is in it. You may celebrate in December for a different reason. I not only respect but cherish that diversity among us. Yet that diversity is discounted and stripped away from us when the Politically Correct (P.C.) Police force all to be the same by restricting us to Happy Holidays and Seasons Greetings. Can we Americans afford any more loss of our identities? Can we afford to lose the meanings behind our traditions, actions and feelings?

The advent and proliferation of social media encourage us to "live in the open." Tools like LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube enable us to share what makes us human. In theory, our humanity should make us more desirable as a business associate. When you defy the P.C. Police and offer a greeting with more flavor than Seasons Greetings, we learn you are a person of character and courage as well as spirited and thoughtful. Much is shared in less than 2 seconds!

Speak Your Peace of Mind
We're entitled to all speak our own "language" of the season. Consider that, as an example, if one of us speaks Spanish, another French and the third Italian, none of us can be accused of being wrong. Background, upbringing and, sometimes, life choices enable each of us to express ourselves in a preferred way. I prefer to offer Merry Christmas because it has meaning in its language that I understand best and represents the best expression I've got to give. The P.C. Police stand ready to chastise us for choosing the "wrong" form of expression. I'm giving others a gift of my heartfelt wishes; Merry Christmas enables me to present those wishes with the clearest and strongest meaning I know. By watering the message down to Happy Holidays, I feel like I'm cheating you, giving you less than the best I have to offer.

I can accept that not everyone will be happy with my gift of Merry Christmas. Some will take offense, but that's because they choose to be offended. They're so concerned with their own selfish perspective of the way things ought to be, they can't see my gift for what it is. Let's face it; some people are looking for reasons to be offended.

Give Your Gift Any Way
You must be willing to get into trouble now and then if you're ever going to be comfortable using your preferred greeting at every opportunity. When you occasionally find someone who takes exception, is offended and won't accept your gift, don't blame yourself for their problem. I refuse to walk on eggshells because someone might want to pick a fight over my choice of words. Saying Merry Christmas doesn't mean I'm pushing religion; I don't expect anyone will convert to Christianity because I offered them a Merry Christmas!

I encourage you to join The League of the Politically Inept and give your greeting gifts at every opportunity during December. I'm convinced most people appreciate it, and your encouragement emboldens them to do the same. When December is over the politically inept will have had a lot more fun than the politically correct. Don't forget the reason you celebrate this season, and continue to be generous with your gift of your favorite greeting.

Article Post:
About The Author:
Paul Johnson the Trouble Breaker is a keynote speaker who works with organizations to convert trouble into double and triple digit performance breakthroughs. Discover breakthrough concepts at http://ShortcutsToResults.com. Visit http://TroubleBreaker.com for presentations on performance improvement.

Marketing Lessons from the Business of Football

2007-11-01T04:30:00-04:00

By Paul Johnson

1.326 words. Abstract: The football game on the field has little to do with why butts are on the bleachers. Football teaches important marketing lessons that we can apply to gain more customers and fill a stadium of our own.

People don't go to football games to watch football. Oh, a few people do, but not enough to come close to filling the stadium. To find out who the pure fans are, you'd have to do away with the video screens, the mascots, the cheerleaders, the halftime shows, any foods more exotic than hot dogs, soft drinks and peanuts, and then see who's left in the stands. Would you still buy a ticket?

Football is more than a game; it's also a business. The business of football has grown because the promise included with each ticket has grown to appeal to more than just the pure fans. Does your business cater solely to your pure fans? If so, you're sitting on a tremendous growth opportunity.

No One Wants Your Product
We forget that people don't really want our product; they want what they can do with our product. Take coffee as an example. If we focus on the coffee itself, it's easy to get caught up in the price per pound or per cup, and the qualities that make coffee taste good or bad. Yet when we think about what we can do with the coffee, those factors become almost insignificant.

The place where coffee is served (the coffee shop) becomes the backdrop for a social event with friends or business acquaintances; the price of the coffee becomes insignificant. Perhaps coffee is the warm, comforting friend that accompanies us on our journey into the new book we just picked up at a Barnes and Noble book store. Whenever we buy coffee or football tickets or your product or service, we are buying much more than what the label on the package indicates.

Get a Feel for the Game
Football organizations discovered long ago they can enjoy significant boosts in business by looking at all the ways to serve their customers during a football game. By expanding the core product -- the game on the field -- to appeal to a larger audience, their market grows beyond the pure fans to include their spouses, other family members and their friends. In the process, football organizations enjoy multiple up-sell opportunities while engendering customer loyalty that keeps fans coming back. You don't have to love football to love going to a football game.

While your product or service may not be as flashy and exciting as football, you can apply football's marketing lessons to improve your market share, revenues and profits. If you don't, you risk seeing your sales fall flat and watching business go to your competition. If companies can apply these marketing principles to a product as simple as coffee, you can win using these strategies, too.

Unfortunately, we may be too close to our product to successfully apply these principles. We likely know the features and benefits of our product inside and out, and understand all the things our customers can do with our product. What's more important is that we step back and work to understand how people feel while using our product. Find out the feelings your customers associate with using your product or service, and then think of ways to give them more of those feelings. Here are three ways you can do that.

1. Ain't I Social!
Many people use a product or service as an excuse to get together with other people. Football tickets, coffee shops, birthday cakes, bowling leagues - people may buy these products solely to enjoy the feelings they get when they're experiencing them with other people.

Think of ways to get people who share a common interest in your product or service to socialize around it. Consider:

Conferences
Online chat rooms
Reunions
Rallies
User groups
Advanced training sessions
Charitable work

Any event, really, can be the perfect excuse for your customers to gather and experience the great positive feelings that will generate customer loyalty and keep them coming back for more.

2. Make it Memorable
When customers have a good experience with your product, they'll want to repeat it so they can recreate those good feelings. Ideally our customers will talk about their experience with their friends and associates long after the experience is over. You can extend the power of this word of mouth effect. Help your customers remember their positive feelings long after the experience that created them is over.

Memories are heightened when emotions are involved. The stronger the emotions, the stronger the feelings, the longer and more powerfully we remember them. At football games we watch instant replays of key moments; the turning points and dazzling plays worth remembering. We buy programs that allow us to engage at a deeper level with the personal aspects of the players. Sometimes we're provided with heart-stopping opportunities to win prizes. Souvenirs allow us to take the football game home with us; we can relive the feelings we had at the game simply by looking at or holding our souvenir.

Get your customers emotionally involved so they'll long remember the positive experiences they have with your product or service.

Provide mementos.
Give them a chance to win something.
Deliver a nice surprise they don't expect.
Give them moments with industry celebrities.
Take pictures, especially of them, to give them vivid reminders of the great experience they had.

Do these things, and they'll do business with you over and over again.

3. Include the Fringe
Around your core customers -- the pure fans -- is a fringe of secondary customers you can easily access. These secondary customers may be spouses or friends of your core customers who are easily reached through viral marketing. Give thought as to how to provide for their social needs and create positive, memorable feelings that will encourage them to try you once and then come back again and again.

The football business has this figured out. The football lovers in a household have an easier time getting to games when their non-football-loving spouse is eager to go with them. That's why a football ticket provides so much more than the game these days. While marketing the game to pure fans is a simple endeavor, football becomes a much better business when the offer is expanded to include the social and emotional aspects that appeal to the secondary market. For example, the Super Bowl has become more of a party than a game. People plan for and look forward to the huge social event that engulfs this championship game. Millions watch the Super Bowl on TV, yet few watch it alone.

Get in touch with your market and work to understand who your secondary customers are. Coffee shops gladly sell tea and soft drinks so their "regulars" can easily bring along their non-coffee drinking friends. Expand your marketing to include these secondary customers and you can boost your sales revenues by 50% and more.

The Game of Change
Football as a game hasn't changed much over the decades. The proposal to permit challenge flags supported by video review was carefully debated by National Football League (NFL) officials before its adoption, all because the League knows this; never alienate your pure fans. They are the bedrock of your business. Keep delivering the solid, consistent product that keeps them coming back for more.

Don't focus on improving your product. Instead, focus on improving the product experience. Once you understand the positive feelings your customers experience by using your product or service, look for ways to extend that experience. Sure, cream and sugar go with coffee. But so does a soft chair and soothing music. So does a well-written book of fiction. So does a table surrounded by family or friends.

Football is a game and it is a business. Look at your business like a game. How does it feel to do business with you today? Make your business social. Make it memorable. Make your business the game your customers are eager to play.

About The Author:
Paul Johnson works with organizations to convert trouble into double and triple digit performance breakthroughs. Discover concepts for marketing breakthroughs at http://ShortcutsToResults.com.

The Top Five Traits of a Successful Salesperson

2007-10-23T09:39:00-04:00

By Paul Johnson

855 words. Abstract: If you need to hire a salesperson, these tips will reduce your risk of making a bad hire. Learn how the author, a veteran salesperson and award-winning sales manager, filters sales applicants. Discover how to identify the candidates who not only CAN sell, but WILL sell - for YOU.

If you're looking for a successful salesperson to hire -- a salesperson who not only CAN sell but WILL sell -- look for a salesperson with PRIDE.

PRIDE is an acronym for 5 characteristics that will help ensure that the salesperson you hire will get the job done for you and make the revenue results you desire a reality.

PRIDE stands for:

• Proven
• Respectful
• Innovative
• Decisive
• Enthusiastic

Proven
Proven refers to the candidate's track record. Have they delivered results? More importantly, who else says so besides them? As you know, resumes can be fact, or they can be fiction. How can you tell the difference?

A person who has been successful producing results should be able to provide you with third party proof. Have the candidate bring in their sales awards, including plaques, trophies and pictures from the trips they've earned. Have them show you the stack-ranked sales reports showing their name at or near the top of the field.

More importantly, what do their customers have to say about them? Can the candidate produce testimonial letters from their customers, indicating they were satisfied with the buying experience? Candidates should be able to furnish written recommendations proving that they were able to deliver tangible results.

Respectful
Salespeople should approach being Respectful from two positions. First, they need to be respectful of others. Careful listeners, these salespeople would never be regarded as pushy because they take the time to hear their prospects out. They keep their egos in check, remembering that everyone can make a valuable contribution in their own way and that other team members deserve respect, too.

Second, your salespeople need to respect themselves. Expect them to have a quiet confidence in their own abilities, and a strong desire to use their time, talents, and skills to produce optimal results. They'll respect their health, physical needs, and family commitments, and as a result be refreshed, well-balanced, and ready for work each day.

Self-respect allows salespeople to be assertive, ensuring that they won't allow themselves to be used as a doormat by prospects who want to waste their time or abuse a relationship.

Innovative
An Innovative salesperson is a problem-solver. They're able to quickly assess a prospect's situation, and then come up with an approach to help the prospect accomplish their objectives. Reactive salespeople need not apply. Proactive salespeople spontaneously look for ways to do the job better, to improve on past successes, to show better results even faster than before.

Innovative salespeople are easy to manage, because they don't require instructions. They're pretty much point and shoot; give them an objective to aim for, and they can creatively approach obstacles and move past them.

Because they are innovative, they tend to look at the world through fresh eyes, and hence have a good sense of humor. A willingness to be playful and funny is a good clue that you're talking with an innovator. Good news! Your buyers would prefer to do business with someone who can make them chuckle and lighten up their day.

Decisive
A Decisive salesperson can make up their mind. They have effective critical thinking skills that allow them to rapidly size up a situation and decide how to best approach it. Decisiveness is truly important for a salesperson, for how can they expect the buyer to make a decision when they can't make one themselves?

Decisiveness is often related to owning a clear set of key moral values. It's easy for salespeople to consistently do the right thing when it's clear to them what the right thing is. You want decisive salespeople who know when to walk away from a bad deal, and can separate good prospects from the time-wasters.

Enthusiastic
Enthusiastic salespeople have become a cliché for all the wrong reasons. Enthusiasm must be more than an induced rush spawned by a rah-rah motivational pep talk. If you want enthusiasm that lasts, you need to find salespeople who are eager to help your customers.

You want salespeople who are excited about what they do and how they do it, so their curiosity is stimulated and they are inspired to continually learn on their own. Enthusiasm comes from believing that you can make a difference, that you can improve someone's situation when they do business with you.

Enthusiastic salespeople are motivated when they understand the strategy that will help them succeed, when they have access to all the tools they need to allow them to do their job and serve the customer, and when tactical training is available to allow them to skillfully serve the customer as well as the company. Enthusiastic salespeople have every right to believe they can win. And they do.

Hire a Compete Package
From the salesperson's perspective, PRIDE is about feeling good about your job. It's about believing in yourself and your ability to deliver. It's about enjoying yourself, helping the customer, and making the most of your God-given talents and abilities. It's about recognizing individual contributions and abilities while respecting the value of the team. When you hire salespeople with PRIDE, you, your salespeople, and your customers all win.

About The Author:
Paul Johnson is Founder of ConsultativeSelling.com. He works with organizations like ADP, Nortel Networks and AutoNation to convert sales trouble into double and triple digit performance breakthroughs. Discover the application and definition of Consultative Selling at http://consultativeselling.com/