MEASURABLE PROGRESS – REASONABLE TIME

Big True Fact: Experiencing proof of your progress and achievement will spur you on to even greater success!

Something we discuss at every meeting is -- are members making measurable progress in reasonable time? One of the goals of Master-Mind is that members make progress that can be measured by counting something or concretely observing something substantial. We want every member to make noticeable steady progress, to keep getting better, to approach that DONE Business Ideal and upon reaching that goal to enjoy it and, of course, to sustain it.

Since measurable progress matters so much we talk about and plan for it and encourage all the appropriate behavior to make it happen throughout our entire group meeting. And it feels really good to experience this from one month to the next month when we meet again.

Human beings like feeling that progress, growth, new understanding, learning and such is happening. These things feel good. The opposite of these things -- stagnation, frustration and being totally stuck – causes stress and unhappiness and misery which no one wants.

We know how to make the operation of any viable small business highly successful. You just have to do enough of the things that are known to work. Those things are not a secret. We talk about them and share experiences using them at each and every Master-Mind Alliance meeting. 

PERSUASION, THE KEY EVERYTHING

Wikipedia says PERSUASION is the influence of beliefs, attitudes, intentions, motivations, or behaviors. They go on to say that it’s a process aimed at changing a person's (or a group's) attitude or behavior toward some event, idea, object, or other person(s), by using written or spoken words to convey information, feelings, or reasoning, or a combination thereof.

That’s pretty good. Persuasion certainly is one of the several way in which you use communication. You often communicate with the intention of persuading an individual or a group of people. With this aim in mind, you might all want to get better at persuading huh.

Think about how important it is to be able to get others to do what you want and immediately a few benefits for learning to speak more persuasive should spring to mind. You’ll make more money. That’s clearly good. You’ll be a more substantial resource when you are helping others. That’s good too. And of course, you’ll get your way more often. These are obvious reasons to sharpen your persuasion skills.

Now the question is HOW. What specific communication techniques will help a person become more persuasive and how can they be practiced and learned? Well, some of the basic techniques have names. Here are a few: The Magic Opening technique. The Magic Word. Embedded Commands. The Suppose Ploy. The Any Good Reason Question.

These are persuasive communication techniques you can put to good use when you wish to get people to things for you. Things like: Buy from you. Come in on a Saturday to help you paint the bathroom. Drive more slowly when on the freeway at night. Or vote for you in the upcoming election.

Of course, there are many more opportunities to wield persuasion more effectively. You can probably think of several from your life right now.

Persuasion, specifically outlining how to use the techniques listed above, will be the subject of our CHALK TALK in December 2012 meeting of the Master-Mind Alliance. 

PEAK PERFORMANCE LEADERSHIP

How do you manage yourself and lead your people effectively as you slog through the operation of your small business day after day after day? What does it take to win at leading employees? What about leading customers and clients who you want to get to do things that are good for your business, namely buy from you? How do you do this stuff well every day? What are the requirements for good leadership? What is the official role you play when you lead? And what is Peak Performance and how does that fit into this whole leadership thing.

This was the subject of our Chalk Talk in the November 2012 Master-Mind Alliance meeting.

When you lead others effectively, with a minimal amount of effort and with a minimal supervision on your part, you inspire people to willing start and successfully complete things you want done. This is the official definition of LEADERSHIP.

And PEAK PERFORMANCE, well that’s consistent excellence in thinking and behaving applied to an activity or task. It’s a condition in which your mind, body and emotions are fully committed and you engage with utter conviction and desire to excel.

Put Leadership and Peak Performance together properly and you’ll be able to construct accurate productivity monitoring systems that give you valid and reliable knowledge of what’s happening in your business. You’ll be able to develop skilled employees you trust. And you’ll be able to enjoy consistent competent execution of well-crafted game plans with automatic course correction procedures in place.

It all comes down the one big secret. To win at leading others you must first take care of yourself in all things. When as a manager of your own self, you are fit and happy, then and only then you are ready and able to lead others effectively. 

You Come First!

THE KEY TO LEADERSHIP

Persuade, beg, threaten or force. When you lead people, which of these techniques do you most often employ? And which one works best? And how can you get better at it?

Please remember that when you assume the role of a leader in your business, or anywhere for that matter, your responsibility, your task is to…with a minimal amount of effort and with minimal close supervision on your part…INSPIRE people to willing start and successfully complete things you want done. That’s it. So persuade, is that what you do? Or must you resort to begging, or threatening or forcing?

And also remember this business owner big true fact. You want to effectively operate all aspects of your small business so you can make a difference, have fun, build a great life and become as rich as possible. Deep in your heart this is what you want. And that happens when you are able to consistently get the right things done right the first time and on time and on budget with as little stress and as much joy as possible for all concerned, especially you.

Of course, you must assume the leadership role at times, usually every day. You may have employees to lead. You certainly have customers or clients to lead, so they will buy from you. And resorting to begging, threatening or forcing in order to get someone to buy from you is never effective. Effective leaders persuade, they don’t beg or use threats or force.

No choice.

An ineffective leader either does not get people to do anything he wants and, therefore, feels frustrated and probably sad or angry a lot of the time. Or he must resort to begging or threatening or force to have his wishes carried out. And if he does that, then he must constantly closely monitor those he would lead or, upon noticing that he has left the scene or that his vigilance has waned, they will immediately stop doing what he wants done. In the threat or force case, when the intimidation stops so does the compliance. If the relationship is one of master slave, the slave aint gonna ever be happily compliant.

When you lead, the key to being effective is to be persuasive. Persuasion is the skill you must master. An effective leader persuasively inspires people so they willing want to do things he wants done and, therefore, his followers do not require his constant monitoring and attention. He can do other things and everyone can be happy.

Now the question of course is how can you effectively persuade someone to do something you want done? And the answer is simple. You persuade people by using the Request-Plus-Reason technique.

Request-Plus-Reason: By using a combination of talking and explaining and showing and demonstrating, you lay out the specific advantages those you would lead will enjoy when they comply with your request and follow your lead, do what you want. This means you do The Vision Thing. Using words you paint a pretty picture of a desirable future in the minds of those you want to do something.

And the kicker is that then you give them a reason for complying with your request to take some sort of action.

For example, you say, “Buy this great copier today and you’ll be able to make as many colorful beautiful copies as you want for years and years because this unit has all the features you say you want.” 

Request-Plus-Reason, you already do this a lot. You may not think of it as such, but it is.

Here’s another example. You’re at the grocery store checkout line with only a few items and several people are in front of you. You don’t want to wait. So, you say, “Excuse me, I only have a few things, may I go ahead of you?” People look at you and often times, nothing happens, they don’t budge, and with frustration, and maybe a little embarrassment, you have to wait your turn.

But — if you change the words of your request just a bit, to, “Excuse me, may I go ahead of you, because — I only have a few things?” This simple change in your request will often produce a much different reaction. And now, many people will indeed wave you ahead of them. 

What’s the difference? In the second request, you gave the people in line ahead of you a reason to let you move ahead.  You said, “because — I only have a few things.” And this worked.

When attempting to persuade an individual or a group of people to be most effective, you must talk about purpose and mission and results and such…and…if you’re smart about it…you’ll give them a reason for taking the action you wish them to take.

To make Request-Plus-Reason work, your request must be sensible and practical — and your reason must be clear and believable. When those things are present then persuasion works well and leading is relatively easy.

TO DO – Make a WILL DO TODAY LIST

How can we best start the day off right? How can we win the daily war against distractions and interruptions which unfortunately abound? How can we reliably get more of what matters to us actually done each day? 

Simple…make a WILL DO TODAY LIST every day and stick to it. A WILL DO TODAY LIST is a short list of just a few important things that you will do without interruptions today. This really helps a lot.

Start by listing ALL THE THINGS YOU’D LIKE TO DO, all of them. This list could turn out to be several pages long. Next, transfer the most important of all those things to a second list called MUST DO. Finally, transfer a few of those items, a manageable amount, to your WILL DO TODAY LIST.

Do this last transfer to the WILL DO TODAY LIST at the end of the previous workday, just before you go home. Then when you start your next workday, keep your WILL DO TODAY LIST right in front of you, where you cannot miss seeing it, and start working through it. Start with the most difficult item on it and move to the next most difficult and so on. This way you’re always going from hard toward easy which helps cut down on procrastinating.

After a few days, based on actual experience, you will determine just how much or how many things you can predictably accomplish in one workday. And from then on you can realistically create your WILL DO TODAY LIST comprised of just enough things you predictably can get done in one workday. Now you’re set. Now victory can occur more often. Simple and neat huh. Yup.

We like positive habits. We don’t like negative habits. Positive habits are good. Negative habits are bad. Everyone understands this. Make the DO TO TODAY LIST a new habit. You’ll be glad you did. 

HOW TO LEAD PEOPLE SUCCESSFULLY 

Adapted From Many Sources And A Boat Load Of Common Sense

A Small Business Is Not A Little Big Business. It’s a lot different. Home Town Bank is not a little Wells Fargo. Mike’s Corner Store is not a little Safeway. Coffee Shop Cute is not a little Starbucks. There are huge differences between small businesses and big businesses.

In a big business management and leadership are very different animals. In the realm of big business, leadership is about formulating the vision, defining where the enterprise is going and how it will get there. While management is about taking raw talent (the employees) and turning it into performance aligned with the vision as set forth by the leader. 

In the realm of small business, leadership and management is one in the same. The small business owner does it all. He leads and manages at the same time. There’s no choice about it.

If you run a Small Business, you must IMMEDIATELY rid your mind of the word “manager” and replace it with the word “leader.” Now let’s look at LEADERSHIP and get a new understanding of what that’s all about.

I define leadership by talking about what a leader does. 

A LEADER GETS PEOPLE TO WILLINGLY AND SUCCESSFULLY—AND WITH A MINIMAL AMOUNT OF SUPERVISION—START AND COMPLETE THINGS THE LEADER WANTS DONE.

WHAT KIND OF THINGS? THINGS THE LEADER'S PEOPLE MAY ALREADY BE DOING, THINGS THEY MAY NEVER HAVE THOUGHT OF, THINGS THEY DON’T THINK ARE POSSIBLE, THINGS THEY THINK OTHERS CAN DO BUT THAT THEY CANNOT, THINGS THEY’RE AFRAID OF, THINGS THAT WILL MAKE THEM FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE, THINGS THEY DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DO, THINGS THEY FEEL MIGHT RESULT IN THEIR HUMILIATION OR EMBARRASSMENT, THINGS THEY MAY FEEL ARE UNETHICAL, IMMORAL, OR ILLEGAL, THINGS THAT THEY FEEL ARE TOO DIFFICULT OR TOO DANGEROUS, OR THINGS THEY JUST PLAIN DO NOT WANT TO DO AT ALL. A LEADER GETS PEOPLE TO WILLING AND SUCCESSFULLY START AND COMPLETE ALL THESE KINDS OF THINGS. [Note: Hopefully when you lead, you will not ask or insist that your people do things that will actually result in their humiliation or embarrassment or that are indeed unethical, immoral or illegal.]

ONE OF THE HALLMARKS OF A WELL RUN BUSINESS IS THAT THE LEADER CAN LEAVE HIS ENTERPRISE IN THE HANDS OF HIS EMPLOYEES FOR HOURS, EVEN DAYS OR WEEKS AT A TIME…WITHOUT WORRY.

IMPORTANT QUESTION: IF YOU WANT TO BE ABLE TO DO THAT, AND CANNOT AT PRESENT, DO YOU AT LEAST KNOW HOW TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN? YES OR NO.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO LEAD SUCCESSFULLY? IT TAKES ACCURATE PRODUCTIVITY-MONITORING SYSTEMS. SKILLED EMPLOYEES YOU CAN TRUST. AND CONSISTENT COMPETENT EXECUTION OF WELL-CRAFTED GAME PLANS WITH AUTOMATIC COURSE CORRECTION PROCEDURES IN PLACE.

TAKEN TOGETHER AS A UNIT THESE KEY THINGS CREATE A NO-WORRY-WALL BETWEEN THOSE WORKING ON YOUR BEHALF AND YOU, WHILE YOU ARE OUT FISHING OR DOING ALL SORTS OF OTHER THINGS OF YOUR CHOOSING WHATEVER THEY MIGHT BE. WE CALL THAT NIRVANA.

So let’s look into the HOW a bit more.

Leading is about Motivation: When you are leading people you must find all sorts of ways to get your people to become motivated and stay motivated so they can to do their jobs well and with pride. This means you must inspire, encourage and coach with words and show the way by personal example.

You must have a Clear Plan of what must be done…and Identify Your Goals: What are your specific measurable goals? Do you have hourly, daily or weekly targets your team must meet? What about your new goals such as reviewing productivity? Write down everything you want done and post this list prominently so there can be no doubt in anyone’s mind about what you want. This will be your checklist. Of course this list will change over time, it is a living document. Some things may stay the same, but others may change depending on a whole lot of things. Review your list frequently, with a critical eye, and revise it when necessary.

Communicate your Expectations Verbally but also in Writing: Little memo forms are great for doing this, each individual on  your team gets a copy and so do you, do you can keep track. Solicit feedback from the people you’re leading. Know what they expect from you too. Address any discrepancies immediately and clearly. And should you discover that you have a disruptive personality or person who fails to perform up to your expectations and who cannot be rehabilitated, you must take all steps to get rid of him or her as quickly and as painlessly as possible. Don’t fall in love with your team members.

Know your team: You need to know individual strengths and weaknesses for each team member. John works extremely fast but occasionally misses some of the details. Jane is incredibly thorough but has issues with the volume of work processed. Bill has spectacular customer relationships but can never say “no” to people whereas Mary has excellent technical skills but falls short in people skills. You really need to know all this very, very well. You will use this knowledge to balance the productivity of your team.

Meet with your team members: YOU MUST TALK TO YOUR PEOPLE. This takes time but it a MUST DO. Regularly occurring one-on-one meetings are critical to good business performance and profitable growth. Your meetings provide you with opportunities to:

• Give feedback on job performance: Discuss the previous week’s objectives including what went well, what areas might improve for next time and how that improvement might be obtained.
• Outline the goals for the next meeting: These are typically referred to as “action items” and will form the basis for the next weekly production review.
• Learn about staff issues: Once in a while you’re going to be a bit out of touch. And you absolutely must realize that. The only way to keep track of issues that affect the performance of your team is to meet and talk with your team.
• Ask for ideas: Your staff wants to feel engaged. Without exception, the number one motivating factor behind people leaving a job is poor leadership–and that very often stems from people feeling ignored.
• And conduct a regular Monday Morning Huddle with everyone who reports to you.

Document team activities: The performance of your business will be determined by your team’s performance, so make sure you keep a written record of issues and accomplishments. This will be especially important if there are significant issues that arise. Problems are expected. How you and your team handle those problems must be a focus of your efforts.

Show up in their workspace: Employees expect you to stay in your seat. Don’t. Once a day, get up and walk over to the desk of someone you haven’t spoken to recently. Take two minutes to ask her what she’s working on. Once she’s done answering, respond “What do you need from me to make that project/transaction successful?” Message to employee: I know who you are, I’ve got high expectations—and I’ve got your back.

Look for the Pirate: The Pirate in the room questions the status quo and provides ideas on doing things differently. The Pirate has a loud and bold voice that unflinchingly challenges authority, and every time he opens his mouth you can count on at least one third of the people in the room rolling their eyes. It sometimes seems like the Pirate brings every single issue up for debate (whether it needs to be debated or not) and takes personal joy in being on the opposite side—simply to champion an alternate point of view. He enjoys rocking the boat because he feels he’s doing the company a favor by not letting everyone get too comfortable and complacent. A ship might be safe in the harbor, but that’s not why ships are built. The Pirate can be an invaluable source of insight and information for you. Pay attention to your Pirate.

Reward Performance: This doesn't always mean money. Money is nice, but it’s not a primary motivator for on-the-job performance. Recognition is much more effective. If you can, grant performance leave (an extra day off for doing something exceptional). Make the rewards regular and make them attainable but not overly difficult to achieve. When you give a reward, make it well known. Smile and say “thanks a lot,” a lot.

Be Decisive: When asked for your opinion, you should have it well thought out and present it persuasively. Waffling and stalling is no good. For big decisions, set a deadline and meet it. If someone offers an argument that convinces you to change a decision, acknowledge it and embrace the new idea completely.

Be Consistent and Flexible: As a leader your actions and reactions must be consistent. You don’t want to be the type of leader that everyone asks what kind of mood you are in before they approach you with an issue. Being flexible is important too and it does not conflict with being consistent. You must remain flexible to change directions, change rules, and change resources to remain competitive.

Job Descriptions Matched To The Work To Be Actually Performed: Jim Collins, author of “Good To Great,” tells us that our people come before assignments, that we must get the right people on the bus before we start the journey. Therefore, you will need crystal clear descriptions and clarifications of what you want done, specifying the talents, attitudes, experience and education you require from your employees to make that happen. These descriptions must be precise, pristine, accurate and kept up to date. Remember, a positive attitude with poor skills is more likely to help your success than great skills with a poor attitude. Get this right. Then hire slowly, take all the time you need. Go for good quality people. Never offer a job to anyone until you do a thorough background check, both criminal and credit. Never settle for less than what you truly require or you will be disappointed.

AND, have as much fun as possible all the time. Work is work but everyone ought to have as much fun as possible. 

MARKETING:  MAKE YOURS WORK BETTER

What is the most effective, most inexpensive, most personal way to market your offerings you’ve found to work for your business so far? What is that that thing you do that attracts prospective buyers to you every time you do it and results in profitable new sales? What method, modality or avenue makes sales happen in your business? To win consistently in your business you must figure this out.

Let’s look a bit deeper.

1. What’s one thing you’d like to focus your marketing on selling more of right now?
2. What’s the compelling benefit buyers would enjoy when they buy that?
3. What positive emotions go with that benefit?
4. What words and images or sounds take and hold people’s attention to that benefit?
5. What supportive testimonials do you have for proof?

To make more money as soon as possible your marketing needs to work splendidly. Big true fact and no secret either, most business owners have no marketing plan, nothing written, no measurement system, no testing, nothing. Most do not even have testimonials from satisfied buyers.

Where should you start? Well, it would be wise to answer a few elemental marketing questions such as the following.

1. What do you sell? 
2. What are the benefits? What’s your proof?
3. Who are your buyers?
4. Why should people buy from YOU?
5. What’s your Compelling Marketing Message?
6. What are your options for attracting people? 
7. How much can you afford to spend?
8. How much of your time? What should be your marketing schedule? 
9. How will you track results?
10. What’s missing? How can you close the gaps?

Start generating answers to these questions then tackle the money thing. Instead of spending a lot of your money on advertising, invest your time instead. Put on an event. There are some costs associated with this but not as much as a full page yellow pages ad. Conduct a survey at your front counter or over the phone. Cross sell and up sell, you should be doing this all the time already. Offer incentives to current clients and customers. Solicit recommendations. And systematically go after referrals. All these activities ought to personally involve YOU and ought be performed and evaluated systematically.

Remember, marketing is everything you do in your business and it must work or you will not be happy. It’s not rocket science. It takes careful planning and systematic implementation. And even though you probably did not go to school to learn marketing, you can still master it.

To Win, Make it Personal, Inexpensive, And Keep At It.