“Envy is the religion

of the mediocre.”

–CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON, From his best-selling novel The Angel’s Game

      All of us have envied someone.  We’re human. But let’s hope by now we’ve outgrown those feelings or learned –perhaps the hard way– to put them aside. If you’re still struggling with them, and you also happen to be in the position of running a business, it might be a good idea to give some thought to where envious feelings are leading you.

     When someone else hits a home run  in business (in your industry or marketplace, or inside your own company!) many business owners and managers turn the other way, sometimes with a “shoulda been me” look of scorn on their faces…especially if the success is achieved by a competitor and / or a brother-in-law and / or a former employee…you get the picture. So what else is there to do except feel resentful?

     Well, how about  examine what went right for the other person and decide if there are any ingredients involved that might have application to your circumstances? I’m not suggesting that you have to pile on the other guy’s bandwagon and be an adoring teammate, or president of his or her fan club. I’m saying instead that it pays to be a detective and an explorer.

     When you take the time and trouble  to step back from what’s going on and what has been achieved, and objectively review and evaluate what has taken place that’s produced the end result, you will also be in  a better position to assess the dynamics of what occurred and have a clearer idea of what might possibly apply to your circumstances.

     In other words, take advantage  of what you know and what you can find out, and choose to make the  most of that information (instead of choosing to feel upset or depressed or vindictive or annoyed or ambivalent… or envious!)

     If “the road to hell”  is indeed “paved with good intentions,” envy of other’s accomplishments will most assuredly help to hustle you along the way. Instead make a conscious choice to put away your ego, and see each potentially envious situation as a great learning opportunity that you can absorb from and capitalize on. Take notes. Smile more. Open minds open doors.                          

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  Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

  Open Minds Open Doors 

   Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

Is “bigger” always better?

   If you haven’t visited Twitter,  you’ve probably no idea how extensive the ego destruction can be if your postings (“Tweets”) haven’t attracted 37,416,298 “Followers” in the last 24 hours.

     Oh, and there are at least 64 gazillion  other Twitterers out there who have the magic formula that will turn you into an overnight Most Highly Followed and Esteemed Twitterer sensation. Probably make you the hero of your whole office or neighborhood even!

     It makes me think about  how wasteful media advertising is if you’re not interested in attracting the entire world to your doorstep. I mean, let’s assume you’re selling Swiss Screw Precision Parts that are used in rocket ships. Should you run a series of network TV commercials on ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN? (Insert sounds of regurgitation here.)

     How about full page ads  for your grass-cutting service in one of those idiotic national newspapers for bar graph fanatics? Gee, a direct mail campaign combined with Twitter and Facebook postings could put your hand-crafted pottery pieces on the map, don’t you think?

     Tell you what:  if you have that kind of money to throw away (and stupidity level to match), call me first. I’ll get you some great deals.

     If your target market  is comprised of specific individuals or specific industries or specific geographic areas, don’t waste a penny on advertising that goes to other people in other places.

     Yes, this includes refusing to do business  with the sleazy phonebook companies that go to great lengths to fragment the markets you want to reach so you’ll have to buy space in two or three or more books that slice up your market and, in the process, add another dozen markets you don’t need or care about.

     “Phone book ads  are a necessary evil” I’ve heard so many people complain over the years, especially professional services. The truth? They ARE evil, but they are NOT necessary.

     Your parents taught you  that where there’s a will, there’s a way, right? So when did you forget that? There are other ways to reach the prospects and customers you want without having to sell your sister and your dog (other jokes there that I’ll pass on!) just to pay for reaching people who cannot or would not be your customers anyway. 

     It’s one thing when the economy is booming  (let’s see, that was…uh…) and it’s a great thing to spread your name and message everywhere, with cost not a factor. It is, however, quite another mindset that’s needed when the economy is as bad as it is and VALUE needs to dictate expense.

     You don’t need to cave in to making media people rich with money that should be staying in your pocket because you are too lazy to look for other options. There ARE other options. You WILL find them when you put your mind to it. Or not.

     There’s always that one-time special deal package  — discounted from $1,297,000 to $1, 215,000 — to sponsor a major national show in 14 states even though you only provide service to three counties in one state, but it’s “such a deal!” 

     With advertising, bigger is not always better … and the bigger the impact, the bigger the bill.     

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A business with no sign

is a sign of no business!

     Even if you’re running a business  out of your basement or garage or attic, and even if it’s illegal to have a sign outside, at least have one inside. If for no other reason than that the occasional visitor will be impressed, the IRS will give you less hassle about writing off a percentage of rent or mortgage and utilities, and –most important– it will make you feel good. 

     It doesn’t have to be a Times Square  smoke-blowing LED display spectacular. A piece of wood or cardboard will do just fine. The point is to give your business an identity. If you don’t who will? And when was the last time you had business dealings with, or rode through the desert on a horse with no name?  

     Okay, now let’s get to those eleven or so businesses  that are still not run out of the home. (That was a joke. My wife always urges me to announce a joke when I have a straight face like I did just then.)

Bottom line is that people judge

your business and you on first

impressions (and you’ll never

get a second one!)

     And many first impressions are at least formed in a large part by the sign on your building and/or in your window and or parking lot. 

     That sign needs to stand out.  It needs to communicate what you’re all about. It needs to be clean and attractive, visible and well-lit. Shrubs in the way? Trim them. Dirty frame? Wash or paint it. Bulbs out? Replace them. A sculpting studi0 I worked with uses lettering that is so thin and so fancy, it can’t be read when you’re parked next to it, never mind driving by.

A shabby sign tells people

you have a shabby business. 

     Replace or refresh it. A fish business has 20 signs on scrap wood that look like a 3 year-old spray-painted them. I drove past regularly for three years and refused to go there, thinking the fish couldn’t possibly be fresh.

     I finally stopped there one day out of curiosity  about they could still be in business. Now, I wouldn’t buy fish anywhere else. Aha!, you say, so lousy signs work. Actually, I think of it more that they lost my weekly business for three years; that’s a long time to court a prospective customer. 

     Your sign is your face. 

     How many days would you go without checking out your face in a mirror? Why would you not look at your own sign for weeks on end? In today’s economy, it’s not a good idea to have a less than perfect sign showing for even 24 hours! An ineffective sign is a sign of an ineffective business… yes, even in your basement, attic, or garage!           

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Stop with picking your

yellow leaves, already!

     How many times a day, a week,  do you leave your desk to pick yellow leaves from the office plants, abandon your construction site for the nearest donut shop, surf the web while waiting for a conference or call, watch some horrendous network news on a waiting room TV, burst your energy balloon trying to think of who the person across from you reminds you of?

     Have you really nothing better to do?  Of course you do. So HOW do you choose to while away time that you have so much less of than you could possibly imagine, in even your wildest dreams? Notice I’m asking you to deal with PROCESS. What are the steps you go through to arrive at the point of workday lingering, daydreaming, hanging, dawdling, puttering, lazing?

     If you do this a lot, btw,  you are surely a government or corporate employee. [Don’t be offended; mindset-wise, there really is very little difference, you know, except that corporate folks actually have to turn a profit to earn a living.] Hopefully, you simply drift off occasionally and that’s it. If it’s more than once or twice a week, though, you may be part of the problem!

     Here’s a bright spot or two on this subject…

     As motivational guru Earl Nightingale  has often reminded us: YOU BECOME WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT! http://halalpiar.com/2009/10/what-are-you-thinking/ and my sign for the wall for you, the boss, to help keep you focused http://halalpiar.com/2009/10/message-for-the-bosss-wall/ These two links will provide all the support you’ll ever need to change your fuzzy ways and be more productive.

     BUT, maybe you care not,  and can’t even concentrate enough to find a towel to throw in. Well, if THAT’s the case, think quick and hard about the last person who surprised you by dying. Is that where your lackadaisical, ambivalent, noncommittal, ass-dragging, not-give-a-damn attitude is taking you? Hmmmm. Getting a little heavy-handed there, huh? Well, no, not really…not if this message arrives in time to be a wake up call.

     The point is  that we need to be –as Henry David Thoreau once urged– forever on the alert! It’s VERY easy to slip into nonproductive, time-wasting tasks of avoidance that become hard to account for when we’re not getting where we want to go.

     I don’t know about getting your nose to the grindstone  (which I would think is a painful maneuver), pulling yourself up by the bootstraps (a difficult task for those wearing sneakers), and putting your head down and charging (which could no doubt be REALLY painful). All at the same time? Sounds messy to me.

     But keeping tuned in to the present moment  each passing moment as much as possible will sure go a long way toward keeping your life and work in a happy balance.

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OK, so now you’re

knee-deep in self-control

     So, what’s next?  Well, now that you have a firm grip on yourself and total control of all those latent late night and early morning temper tantrums, what’s next on the agenda? How about some practical how-to stuff for defusing OTHER people’s anger? Oh, joy!

     First off,  you’re not likely to get an angry associate, employee, friend or family member to instantly calm down just because you can now wave printouts of this blog site at her or his face and point out that the angry feelings are a CHOICE. Right. That’ll get you a subway fare to Madison Square Garden and a sharp stick in the eye.

     What then can I do, oh Anger Guru? What then can I do?  You can START by really paying close attention to the person who’s angry and by listening carefully to what’s being said. To begin, when we lose sight of the present moment and make a conscious or unconscious choice to feel angry about something or at someone, our brains take us rushing into a past who-did-what-to-whom accounting of past wrong-doings OR into an imagined scenario that hasn’t yet happened (and may never)!

     The goal then is to try to help the individual who is angry to come back to the reality of each passing moment as it passes,  to be focused on the here and now. BUT, unless you’re a shrink (and especially if the rampaging bull is wielding some instrument of destruction), it may be in your best interests to simply pretend you’re a rock. Assuming though that the anger is something less than maniacal in measurement, consider the following:

1)  Ask the other person if they would be good enough to please slow down the torrent of complaints long enough for you to be able to write them down on paper so that you can give serious thought to solving each problem (or addressing each issue) one at a time. [Then do proceed to write down each point as a separate item on a list]

2)  Ask the angry individual to help you prioritize each of the items listed so that you can number them as 1: First most important to take care of, 2: Second most important to take care of, 3: Third most important to take care of, etc., etc.

3)  Attack the items in order of the ranking by paraphrasing what was said about each (i.e., “Now let’s see, if I understand you correctly” or “Do I understand you correctly to mean that when Mary pulled John’s toupee off, he reached for it and she went to bite his hand but her dentures fell into the mixing vat and got processed into the pickle jars that were just loaded on the truck that left twenty minutes ago? Is that what you’re saying?”

Repeat and paraphrase until the angry person agrees 100% with your understanding of what the upset is all about, then complete that with a positive comment: “Good. I’m glad I understand this.”

4)  Ask for help in resolving the issue at hand, or at least provide some alternative action options for the angry person to consider.

     Be consistently and pleasantly adult-like and rational and logical and unemotional throughout.  This may be harder than it sounds, but if you’ve done steps 1-4 above, odds are you will already have effectively taken the wind out of the sails and restored some calm and order. As you proceed through the list, items will simply dissolve.     

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You Suck Eggs!

Yeah, well suck THIS: I QUIT!

You can’t quit; You’re Fired!

     You KNOW that the mainstream media lie.  You know the economy isn’t getting better. You know because you see your sales performance. You know because you’ve had to make lousy cutback choices you hate.

     So you’re irritable.  Your fuse is getting shorter. You’re ready to jump down the nearest throat. And the last thing you want to hear is for somebody to tell you to chill! 

     Okay, sometimes it’s hard  to realize that your angry upset feelings are a choice. And sometimes you just want to steamroller over it anyway. You’ve just read 10 sentences of negative thinking.

     Here:  http://halalpiar.com/2009/05/4-steps-in-one-minute-zero-stress/  Try this one-minute diversion for something positive. Go ahead. I’ll wait for you. You’ll be glad you did. Click on it for a 60-second visit, then come back!

     You did it or you “copped out”?  You know what? Where your business, your family, your friendships –and frankly anyone you encounter– comes into play, you really can’t afford to not take advantage of every opportunity to get yourself into, and consistently demonstrate a positive frame of mind.

     Angry feelings ARE a choice.  Deep breathing DOES serve to reduce stress and de-fuse anger. The point is that unless you are monitoring yourself (especially if you’re the boss). no one else is going to do it for you!

     The old saying that it takes two to tango hovers in a holding pattern over ill intentions.  It’s ALWAYS the boss’s job to back off. Real leaders back off. There’s a time to charge forward but not when it involves stampeding over others you are responsible for leading. You are the one who must de-fuse situations… hard to do when your own is sizzling!

     There’s no challenge in accelerating anger.  There’s no intelligence in accelerating anger. There’s no taking back the words or tools used in accelerating anger. There’s no leadership in accelerating anger. There’s no integrity in accelerating anger. There’s only stupidity.

     Why?  Because –and I can promise you this– it will ALWAYS come back to haunt you, perhaps when you least expect it and when it can do you the most personal and / or business harm, but rest assured it WILL come back to haunt you.

     All that having been said,  it’s hard to imagine anyone dumb enough to do it anyway, right? Wrong! Wrong because anger is probably at least half the time an UNconscious choice, capable of rearing its ugly head in the most innocent of circumstances.

     The ounce of prevention  then has to do with making sure you literally surround yourself with positive thinking, positive people, positive statements as much of the time as possible, keep a “here and now” focus as much of the time as possible … and remember to breathe!

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STOP HIRING CONSULTANTS

(for the wrong reasons!)

Dear Business Owners and Managers: Stop with the knee-jerk decisions to hire consultants. They will not help you through the economy unless they are specialists at bringing sales in your door!

Until at least a couple of years down the road,  there is no need for “communication consultants” or “management trainers” or “personal growth and development consultants” or people to write your mission statement, your vision statement, your annual reports or your “white papers.”

How do I know? Because I’ve done all of the above (and made a successful career of it), but I also have run my own business for 35 years, and helped to start hundreds of others. I’ve run management and communication and personal growth and development training programs for 20,000 people. And I’ll be the first to tell you not to waste your time and money on these services, in this economy.

There is only one thing you need consultant support for these days, and that is for services that bring you sales. Period.

That having also been said,  I will be so bold as to suggest that communications and marketing generalists are also not the kinds of “sales consultants” to trust. Find a specialist. Do not EVER hire a marketing or communications consulting firm to do your website. Get a website specialist. Do not EVER hire a website specialist to write your website content. Get a writer who understands sales.

A good, proven commercial / marketing / advertising / website writer can do more for your business than all the ad agencies, marketing and communication consultants and non-sales trainers you can find put together! You need writing help? Hire a writer!

There is a growing temptation to panic at the financial strangulation your cutbacks have created, and grasp at any outside service that –like the frustrated wife whose husband  was a marketing executive and could only ever sit on the edge of the bed and talk about how great it would be– you simply cannot afford right now.

Promises do not perform. Providers with track-records for creating and delivering sales perform, and are worth paying! Look for a successful writer who is a quick study and who shows you she or he can learn your business promptly, who has a customer benefit focus instead of a chest-beating, “how great your business is” and product / service features focus.

You want someone who can help you develop sales strategies and and create the tactics that support that thinking. You want someone who is not afraid to work weekends or evenings to get the job done.

You want someone who will take the extra step, go the extra mile, and give you more than what you expect … someone who is both a talented writer and an example of what you want and expect from a sales pro.

Anyone who fits this profile,  by the way, should also be receptive to at least partial compensation based on performance. I know a lot of consultants will hate me for this post, but –down deep– they’ll have to admit that I speak the truth.

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If You’re Thinking

Fireworks,

Think Again!

     If you’re one of those theatrical entrepreneur types,  and you’re not getting the sales you deserve, you might want to consider trading in the Broadway-belt-it-out and marching band music, the 3-D glasses, dogs and ponies, and PowerPoint specials for a much higher-impact (and, btw, much less expensive) presentation tool. It’s called truth.

The times have changed.

The economy has changed.

The marketplace has changed.

Buying motives

have changed

(though they’re still emotionally-triggered, not rationally evaluated).

And sales prospects and repeat sales customers

are rapidly retreating from RAZZMATAZZ!

     Out- of-touch-with-reality car dealers and furniture dealers  are still tangled up in their underwear shooting 0ff desperation-anchored messages, thinking that s~o~m~e~h~o~w they will manage to come up with the magic super sensational presentation ingredient that will send hoards of people charging into the parking lots and showrooms. Those days are over.

     People want to buy products and services that speak the truth  to them about value and performance and potential. They want every sales presentation to tell them what’s in it for them, and they want it to be the truth. Smoke and mirrors are out. The truth is in.

     I don’t care if the truck I want is a gas guzzler  as long as I know that it is going in, and as long as it’s a reasonable gas guzzler in my mind, and as long as the sales rep is being honest about it with me . . . but don’t give me a big come-on and a spielful of exaggerations. I’m not interested in how it compares with a hybrid; I don’t want a hybrid. Just the truth will do.

     Oh, and you could have the best furniture price deal in 57 states,  or since the earth died from global warming, and give me fat rebates and 20 years to pay. You can plunk me in a lounge chair, give me a pino colada and have six beautiful women fan me and feed me grapes while I watch a 3-D revolving stage of perfect room settings.

     Each setting can be in perfect lighting  with perfect background music and perfect chocolate chip cookie smells wafting around perfect flower arrangements, and not only will it get you nowhere and cost you untold expenses, it will make me walk out . . . because all I wanted was a pair of nightstands that will look nice next to my bed.

     Sure I’ll drink the drink,  smile at the help and grab a flower on my way to the door, but I only wanted something I can put my glasses, alarm clock and a lamp on. The whole bedroom I don’t need. The time-wasting presentation I don’t want. Good-bye, Yellow Brick Road!      

     The truth.  The truth is that evasive, unfancy bit of product and service (and sales rep) authenticity that caters to me the customer and the evidence of performance that I’m looking for. It does mean, of course, that the sales rep IS going to have to listen to me and deal with my interests, instead of telling me about hers or his.

     I would never admit it, but I will probably still buy that truck because I think I look good driving it.  Of course I’m going to want to like the sales rep too for being honest with me, and I will certainly need some good list of features to wave in my green family’s faces to justify my purchase.

     The nightstands?  Give me good honest quality for a good price and make sure they look okay with the rest of my room. Please don’t waste my time or my brain with B.S. and a ton and a half of RAZZMATAZZ. It’ll cost you the sale. Besides, RAZZMATAZZ is dead!

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Hal@Businessworks.US     302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

 Make today a GREAT day for someone!

“Sorry, it’s NOT  FOR  SALE!”

     Think about it.  Almost everything you do and say every day is a form or function or process of  sales, or selling. (And, believe me, the more you think about it, the more you’ll agree!)

     So reality is  that if you’re not relying heavily on customer and client referrals these days, why not just label everything in your store, showroom, briefcase or website as “NOT FOR SALE!” ??? 

     You already know  that the best source of new business is old business … or current business (that translates to targeting past and present customers for repeat sales AND referrals!)

     Past and present customers  are people and organizations that already know you and rely or have relied on you and your company. They have already accepted your ability to deliver what you promise, when you promise. (Also known as “branding”!) They are aware of your reputation. They are aware of your competition and have chosen you now or in the past. 

     You don’t need to “dog and pony show”  or razzmatazz them. You DO need to remind them — clearly and often — how much you appreciate them and their support and patronage and confidence and trust. You DO need to be sure they are still totally pleased with your offerings, and find out what you need to do in order to make sure, if they’re not. 

. . . you DO need to convince them that you will stand on your head and spit wooden nickels for them if that’s what they need, in order to continue counting them as loyal customers.     

     The bottom line is  that you don’t need to convince these people to do business with you, but you DO need to convince them that you will stand on your head and spit wooden nickles for them if that’s what they need, in order to continue counting them as loyal customers or clients — and to be assured that they will continue to refer you to their friends, family, neighbors,  associates, employees, suppliers … even (for publicity and news release coverage sake) media contacts!

     Should you still cold call?  Absolutely! Should you rely on cold calls? Absolutely NOT! You always need to be out there registering positive first impressions with prospects. But remember that the bulk of your sales (studies show close to 80%) will come from established customers and clients.

     Ah, and there are fringe benefits  connected with focusing on present and past customers. Chasing repeat sales and referrals from those who have come to you before or who are presently dealing with you will prove more productive, easier to communicate with and influence, less time-consuming, and almost always more pleasant. Not so sure? How much easier is it for you to spend time with old friends than to make new ones?                                          

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 Right this minute,

is what you are doing

helping you get to

where you want to go?

     Oh, c’mon now,  I can’t be that productive every single minute; I’d be a robot! Yes, this is true; you’d be a robot; well, let’s say it’s  probably true, but you CAN be productive a whole lot more than you are right now and a whole lot more than you think you can be…and, uh, not be a robot.

     Here’s the trick:  Focus your brain on trying to be “here and now” as much as you possibly can, every passing moment. No, you’re not likely to succeed at it 100% of the time. And even 50% of the time may prove daunting. But if you are at 10% and go to 20%, that’s a major victory that will yield major benefits. Work your way to 30%, 4o%? You’re headed for the mountaintop!

     Why “here and now”?  Because everything else is fantasy, and you’re living in a reality world. When your dominant thoughts revolve around past and / or future events, ideas, experiences most of the time, it’s like trying to relocate Disneyland into a war zone.

     Your focus is not in tune  with what’s happening around you, and that’s wasted time and effort that you will never get back. (Er, in case you DO figure out how to get it back, call me collect immediately; I’ll make us both billionaires!)

     Sure, Hal, you make it sound easy,  but it’s pretty hard to not get worried about future stuff or to avoid dwelling on the past. How can I do that?

     Ah, funny you should ask.  First of all, recognize that we are talking about CHOICE. Your behavior is your choice. It can be conscious or unconscious, but it is a choice … or it’s a choice that sets up the behavior. Okay, so recognizing it’s a choice means also realizing that it’s as simple to choose to be tuned in to the present as it is to choose not to be.

     Next: Take ONE MINUTE out of your nerve-racking fast-lane life  and take some deep breaths. That will help, you get in touch with the most immediate “here and now” thing happening in your entire life: your breathing!

     If you do this in earnest, I guarantee you positive results, and I guarantee you it will help you get yourself focused on “here and now.”  IT CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOR THE BETTER RIGHT NOW IN JUST ONE MINUTE!

     You will be more productive more often, starting right this minute!  What have you got to lose? Wasted efforts? GO FOR IT!   

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