Proactivity

Posted on July 31, 2014 by Lisa Fleming

A definition of Proactivity:

Unrequested, relevant, valuable.

Think about your customers. How amazed would they be if you provided them something of value that was unexpected? What about providing a report and analysis on their target market and how demographics may have changed over the past 5 years? Or something like dropping in to see how a product you have sold them is doing and provide a demo on how to use it better? Obviously the nature of the outcome of your proactivity will be different depending on what product or service industry you are in, however the principle remains the same.

On the flipside, how can you be proactive for your boss or your shareholders? I’m sure they would love the sound of you wanting to set up a meeting to discuss a more efficient way of doing something that you have determined will save them time and money. They will be shaking your hand and offering you a promotion!

Proactivity – Unrequested, relevant, valuable.

Time & Money

Posted on March 26, 2014 by Lisa Fleming

Why do your customers want something from you? What is the ultimate objective that you or your services are fulfilling? Breaking it down it will always come back to 3 main customer objectives. They want you to help them:

Make money,
Save money, and/or
Save time

These 3 objectives are what most people find the most difficult to come by. Most service based business must help at least one of these areas for their customers. When your customer realises one or all of these objectives through your help, you will have provided them something of value. This in turn will cause them to be repeating and referring customers!

How can you create a service that will satisfy one of these 3 customer objectives?

Love What You Do

Posted on December 19, 2013 by Lisa Fleming

Ray Kroc once said ‘When you find something you love to do you’ll never work another day in your life.’ I don’t know about you but that sounds pretty good to me.

So how do you find that dream job that doesn’t feel like work…

Firstly, chances are that it won’t just find you – you have to actively look for it. Unless you have already reached this nirvana then doing the same old thing day in and day out hoping for a different result will not only be fruitless, but is, by its very definition, INSANITY. Get active and start looking.

Don’t know where to look for it? Try looking in lots of different places, really different places. Talk to people, try a new hobby, read anything and everything. Your inspiration may just come from a place you never imagined.

Once you find something, remember that you may not completely love it straight away. Most of the time we don’t have the exact skills required for our dream job. We may need to train or study in order to become good at something. Then we won’t be able to stop doing it!

Once you have found it, devote yourself to it… and help everyone else who is still searching!!

Good luck on your quest.

Action = Away From Pain or Towards Gain

Posted on November 6, 2013 by Lisa Fleming

I believe we have two powerful urges in our lives. Two powerful motivators that cause our every action. Those two driving forces choices are:

Our need to avoid pain
Our desire to gain pleasure

Every action we take is a result of one of those two choices. Think about it!

And this is not just an important insight into our daily lives but also into those of our customers. You see, our customers also make decisions based on “moving away from pain” or “moving toward pleasure.” In our businesses if we can understand and tap in to people’s pain and pleasure motivators we can influence them to take action (buy that item, enroll in that conference…).

In order to avoid pain (rejection) we will avoid making a cold call to a prospect, but on the flip side we will sit and watch a movie because of the pleasure we expect to get from it.

However, not all people react to the same situations with the same motivation. One person may walk to work because he enjoys the exercise. Another may walk because they are afraid of driving a car. One person may read several newspapers a day because they enjoy current affairs. Another might read the same papers because he doesn’t want to miss out on information or for people to think of him as uneducated. He’s not so much seeking pleasure but avoiding pain.

Find out what motivates your customers and you are one step closer to helping them avoid pain or gain pleasure.

Have A Customer Focus Not A Profit Focus

Posted on August 24, 2013 by Lisa Fleming

When you have someone enquire about your products or services what is going through your head? Is it, “How much can I make from this sale $$$ ?” Or is it, “How can I help this customer solve their problem, improve their life or simply have a better day?” When your actions seem sincere, that is you are truly interested in your customer and their needs and wants, you will be surprised how easily the sale will come. The customer will warm to you as you genuinely go about helping them, you will build trust and rapport, and in return make your sale with the customer feeling truly happy with their investment. Although profit is important for yours and your business’ livelihood, it will come naturally with a customer focus.

Profit is not the end result. The creating of advocates of your business is. Give customers a memorable experience, provide a superior product or service, and focus on what matters.

Your Purpose Is To Prosper

Posted on July 23, 2013 by Lisa Fleming

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Everyone has a purpose on this Earth. Just living through the day to day until we grow old and die is not it. Think about the reason you are here. You’ve been put here to prosper. Prosperity is God’s plan for every individual. Seek it out; Seek Him out. You will find your reason to hope.

Team Members You Can Trust

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Lisa Fleming

How to find good team members… It’s a tricky task. Finding the right people who will take ownership of their position no matter what it is and do it to the best of their ability; they’re the people we’re looking for. So how do we find them?

The secret is to not hire people for what they know but for who they are! Personal integrity is a much greater asset than someone with a double degree. People with good integrity are generally willing to learn so they can be taught anything that is a short coming in their resume. Give yourself time to assess a person’s integrity in their interview. Perhaps have a couple of meetings before making a job offer to ensure you have the opportunity to effectively sound them out. In the interview, ask questions like:

Are you someone who admits when they have made a mistake? Give an example
Have you ever experienced disrespectful or illegal behaviour in the workplace? What did you do about it?
What skills would you need to develop to continually improve yourself?

Give them time to get talking and try and make the meeting as casual and relaxed as possible. It allows people to be themselves and let their true personality shine.

Purposeful Business

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Lisa Fleming

Do you have a direct plan and purpose for your business? Essentially the 4 purposes of any business are:

Create new customers
Make sure they keep coming back
Turn those people into advocates
Have fun doing what you do

How are you going at achieving each of these? Do you have KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) to keep track of your performance in each area? Focusing on these points will ensure your business continues to move forward and improve.

No individual can exist without a purpose. It is the same for business. There needs to be a reason for being. If you are creating new customers and giving them an exceptional quality of product or service then they will keep coming back! You are adding positively to their life so they will in turn tell others about it! Hence your business will continue to expand and grow. But ultimately, if you have fun doing what you do, then everybody is better off!

Make Budgeting Fun!

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Lisa Fleming

So we’re nearly at a new financial year. What better time is there to sit down and plan out your financial goals for the next year! That is, a budget! Budgeting isn’t a dirty word. An effective budget can, in a way, be quite liberating! If you have a certain amount set aside for a particular expense category, then you can spend it! Such as if you budget $100/month for clothes, and this sits well within your budget, then its guilt free spending! So really, it’s not all bad.

Make it fun even! Get a kick out of putting together your income and expenditure and then seeing what’s left! Have a goal of what the money you are saving is going towards and get excited about it! Let it drive you to save more!

Of course if you have put together your budget and your expenditure is greater than your earnings then you really need to knuckle down and get to the bottom of why. This will take some discipline but let the end goal spur you on to stick at it until you’re there.

If you’re not entirely sure what a budget is, in very simple terms, it is a list of all the money you have coming in (income), as well as a list of all the different things you might pay for (expenses). You will then have your income minus your expenses and what you have left is your savings (hopefully)!

Better Your Business

Better Business, Better Life