Apr 20 2009

IBM, Babe Ruth and Thomas Edison

“Your success in life will

                                             

depend on what you do

                                                                              

after you do what you

                                                                              

are expected to do!”

                                                                                                
— FROM A STORY TOLD BY INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED
AUTHOR AND MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER BRIAN TRACY
                                                                                                               

     In its heyday, upstart computer giant IBM had a rallying cry that reverberated throughout the entire sales and customer service industry. The words, “The sale begins after the sale is made!” set the tone for an entire generation of customer service based sales and customer relationship management that followed.

     IBM support people were said to literally descend from the sky in parachutes within an hour of any service call. In fact, we are still following this tenacious, persistent, kill ’em with kindness, build-that-database, get-that-return-sale attitude. And actually, it’s more pronounced now than ever, ushered in by lightening fast advances in hi-tech and media communications, and the rapid advances in consumer savvyism.

     What does this mean for you, the entrepreneur, you the small business and professional practice owner/manager? Here are some thoughts to think:

     Brian Tracy’s quote at the top says it best. The point is that you who own/run a business are of necessity, engaged in sales. Keeping sales and production (that’s service production as well as product production) in balance is part of the alltime great entrepreneurial challenge. The whole world admires a one-man-band, but that doesn’t make producing the music any easier.

     Going the extra mile is what it’s all about. Moving forward even when you think you can’t is what it’s all about. Greatness has only ever come from those who pushed onward in the face of major losses, and who did it again and again.

     Edison tried unsuccessfully to invent the lightbulb 9,999 times before defeating the darkness. Babe Ruth’s incredible home run record was matched only by his incredible strikeout record. We all know and have seen many of the great Olympic performance hero stories. Each has always involved taking the extra step, even when all hope seems lost. 

     When you’ve completed what others (partners, family, employees, customers, vendors, industry and community associates) expect you to do, keep doing! Starting in a half hour before others and staying a half hour later is a good beginning. Making better use of time scheduling and delegating is another.

     Regardless of the tools you choose, it’s what’s under your hat that makes the difference…and the overriding awareness that whatever you do to exceed expectations is 100% your own choice. No one else will choose success for you and make it happen. But you can do both! Starting now.   

 Good Night and God Bless You!  halalpiar     

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Mar 30 2009

THE BUSINESS OF GETTING B2B BUSINESS

When the chips are down,

                                                                           

entrepreneurs switch to pretzels

                                                                                                                    

     When a consumer product manufacturer or service provider needs to dig up more business–even in such a mainstream media created economic vacuum as we’re presently being sucked deeper and deeper into– there are literally endless resources spelling out a myriad of strategic avenues and approaches…not to mention equally endless tactical options, methods, and techniques.

     But let’s say you have a B2B business. You provide services to the product manufacturers and service providers. Maybe you’re a customer service training organization or a building custodial service or a website design and maintenance business. Where do you go?

     The big guys are choking. They’ve wiped out training budgets, they’re cutting back building cleaning frequency, and they’re making do with their internal IT people to keep their websites functionable.

     How do you get these corporate giants to stand still long enough to consider adding or extending your services when they are in this budget-slashing frame of mind? How do you tell a company that’s laying off employees that they need customer service training now more than ever because the best source of business is existing and past business, and they’d better step up those relationships? 

     The big product and service guyscan make it nearly impossible for the little B2B guys to survive. Ah, but that’s where entrepreneurial spirit rises to the top. When the chips are down, entrepreneurs switch to pretzels. And guess what? Entrepreneurial hi-tech-anchored businesses are not only breaking the communications barrier, they are pulling entire legions of small B2B businesses along with them…not very unlike the makings of the industrial revolution.

     So once again, it is small business to the rescue, even as big business is being rewarded with government trillions for having screwed up the marketplace beyond recognition, and then for having sidestepped the wiser path of bankruptcy

wiser because it would have forced more efficient operations and more effective products and services

wiser because it would have spared us all ten more years’ worth of beating our collective brains in, to raise the taxes and repay the debts that are being used now to feather union beds in return for their political support. 

     What a sad and sick commentary on society that we’ve come to this. How fortunate we all are that the entrepreneurial spirit does still live, and will ultimately bring us a return to respectability, assuming the White House doesn’t continue paying off political promises with our hard-earned tax dollars. But it’s what we must all want. We elected zero business experience.

Good Night and God Bless You!  

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Feb 13 2009

A “TWITTER” STORY . . .

You thought Da Vinci Code

                                       

was a big deal?

                                          

If you already know Twitter, step to the side for a minute.  www.Twitter.com  is a great online “social network” that –like society in general– offers a little bit of everything, and is based on “members” posting 140-character-long notes and responses 24/7 on literally any subject. 

Most of the many hundreds of thousands of members who participate actively every day are primarily involved for social contact reasons.  Many of those are super weirdos, many are super immature, many are super intellectuals, many are sports or political fanatics, many are just plain nice people, and many others are serious business networkers. 

Okay, Twitterers, step back in.

Here’s a very short story about one of the kinds of things that Twitter is uniquely capable of accomplishing:

In addition to being a complete gentleman and genuine human being, Dan Gaffney is a prominent talk radio host on Delmarva Peninsula (focused in southern and central coastal Delaware and Maryland’s “Eastern Shore” www.WGMD.com 92.7FM, “The Talk of Delmarva” out of Rehoboth Beach). 

Dan is also an active Twitter user (Tweeter).  I sent Dan a short Twitter message (A “Tweet”) asking for a best time and number I could call him with a situation I thought he might be helpful with.  Dan replied with the info.  Our hours were not compatible so I emailed him instead.

Dan read my email on the air in his next morning broadcast (today, in fact).  I was seeking contact information for a young man who had engaged me to edit his very touching children’s book manuscript story about an 8 year-old girl who dies of AIDS.  Somehow, I had managed to lose the author’s phone number and business name. 

The man had already paid me an editing fee and received half the manuscript back, but I had completed the last half of it prior to Thanksgiving and (actively hunting for him since then, including driving through neighboring towns searching for his truck), I couldn’t find him.  I knew only the type of business he was in and the general area he was from (which was within the WGMD broadcast area).  

I missed Dan’s morning show this morning, which ends at 10AM, but got an email from him at lunchtime with the author’s business name and phone number.  I have since called and left a message, and expect to reunite the author with my edited version of his manuscript on Monday.  After so much anxiety, I am truly thrilled and greatly relieved to finally reconnect.  THANK YOU, DAN GAFFNEY!

None of this would have happened without Twitter.  And this is just one little story; I have dozens. 

If you do not Twitter, you are missing a huge personal and professional growth opportunity that only comes around once in a lifetime.  Give it a try.  It’s free!  Keep open-minded.  Work it for a few weeks.  You’ll be astonished at what kinds of life and business connections are possible.    halalpiar

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Jan 31 2009

A Great Day For Football Haters!

Shop ‘n drive in peace ‘n quiet!

                                                                            

     What a wonderful thing, the Superbowl, for those who don’t care about it.  You can commandeer the extra TV, take it to the attic or basement and watch anything your little heart desires without interruption.  It’s a great day to go shopping or take a drive because everyone else is not doing either.

     You can go to the ocean and walk on the beach or boardwalk and know that every person you see there thinks the same way you do about this brainless, gorilla sport that attracts more heavy drinkers than athletes, and that can’t hold a candle to baseball or tennis or volleyball for genuine athleticism and mental challenge. 

     No, I’m not calling all football players wimps, or all football fans drunkards.  I’m just saying that football is not a sport that’s notorious for producing literary, scientific and artistic genius’s (geni?), and that –to me– it’s more amazing to watch what companies will spend more than  T H R E E   M I L L I O N   D O L L A R S  on (for less than 60 seconds of sponsorship), than to see the event itself. 

     The commercials are, admittedly, always super themselves.  But that makes me think we should just have a Super Commercial Bowl and skip the football stuff all together. 

     We could root for one beer or car company over the other, buy all their promotional gear, put giant promotional junk in our yards, hold tailgate picnics outside of neighborhood bars and car showrooms, make cute little cookies and cupcakes in the shape of the manufacturer we’re rooting for, and call central phone numbers at a $1.99 a pop to vote on our favorite commercial. 

     The winning company would have TV crews in their locker room after the contest and spray champagne on each other.  Kids could go to school the next day and dis the losers. 

     We could all txt msg our teenagerswith something more substantial to discuss for a change (besides, “Hey, how’s it goin’?” and “Fine” or “Whadya do at school today?” and “Nuttin” or “Where are you going?” and “Out.”). 

     Tomorrow, we could gather round America’s watercoolers and coffee shops and talk about which parts of which commercials we liked best and thought were stupidest . . . Whooooooh!  Wait just a cotton-pickin’ minute!  I forgot.  We already do most of that already anyway, right? 

     So what do we need football for? 

     P.S. Just heard the news that the most “chicken wings” consumed in the history of the world are consumed on Superbowl Sunday!!! That makes for an awful lot of chickens out walking the streets . . . so be careful!

     I must be missing something.  [;<} But then, what do I know?

I’m just a baseball fan (as if you hadn’t guessed).

Oh well, have a GREAT SUPERBOWL SUNDAY FAMILY DAY!

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