GOOD NEWS ABOUT HARD TIMES

I watched "The Wilderness Years" video
about Winston Churchill's years as a "back bencher." For
ten years he suffered defeat after defeat. He was
humiliated at the end of World War I, and spent the years
that should have been the height of his career as a lonely
outcast. He was defeated on "the India question." He was on
the wrong side when Edward abdicated the thrown. He was
ridiculed for his views on Germany and the threat of war.
He was broke and, at one point, nearly lost his home.

The strain tore at his family, and he struggled with the
"black dog" of depression. The men in his family had a
history of dying young and he feared that he, too, would
die a failure and an outcast. He was 65 years old when he
became Prime Minister.

I am convinced that much of the vigor, genius, stubbornness
and resilience that made him such a magnificent leader came
from those lonely years in the "wilderness."

Too often, we forget the value of the "wilderness."

We forget that Abraham Lincoln suffered defeat after
defeat. He struggled with depression, poverty and ridicule.
Ultimately, these experiences gave him the strength, and
the vision, to become America's greatest President.

Oprah Winfrey grew up in poverty. She was abused as a
child. Personally, I am convinced that much of her appeal,
and her power, come from her ability to relate to ordinary
people, particularly people who have suffered as she did.

Now obviously, suffering and rejection are not good things.
We all want to avoid pain and no one wants to be an
outsider.

What is interesting, however, is how we respond when hard
times come our way.

Some people crumble. They become bitter and see the world
as unfair. They view life as hard. They begin to think that
they are "wrong" or flawed or unfit. At some level, they
give up, or give in.

Others, however, hang tough. Like Churchill, they find
reserves they never knew they had. They examine their
beliefs and their strategies, adjusting where they can and
must, and holding firm to the unchanging principles that
guide their lives.

I would never wish adversity on anyone, and yet, without
it, some of us will never know who we truly are. I love the
quote from Nancy Reagan that "a woman is like a tea bag.
You never know how strong she is until you put her in hot
water." I trust that applies to men as well.

Many of my readers have known, or are currently enduring,
tough times and I hesitate to offer any easy advice. Tough
times are tough! They are not fun and they are not easy,
and cheap or flippant advice is merely insulting. But tough
times also bring out the best in us.

Tough times force us to examine ourselves. They burn out
our weaknesses and flaws, and if viewed correctly, tough
times prepare us for the future. Tough times may make us
stronger. Tough times can force us to grow or change in
ways that good times allow us to ignore or cover up. Tough
times force us to discover what we are made of.

When adversity comes, and it comes in some measure to each
of us, do not "accept" it! Rail and fight against it!
Resist with all that is in you! But do not resent it. Learn
from it and use it to your advantage.

BRANDING FOR THE BIG BUCKS

Where could your business go if you released your limitations? With the right kind of branding, you can break through untold barriers and realize your professional dreams.
But what exactly is branding? Your branding is the way people perceive you and your mission – whether it’s your company, your personal career branding at work or even your private objectives. Branding distills your ideology into a series of elements that together create the look-and-feel of an ideal.
Branding is the practice of using your business name, logo, slogans, color choices and other assets in your marketing communications so that consumers can easily recognize you. In short, it’s your image.
Your brand communicates the qualities, ideas and user experience that your products present to the market place. Using these assets in all of your business communications will reinforce your brand with every consumer touch.
The largest and most successful companies in the world all use these strategies to build their brand equity into billions of dollars. The industry giants of yesterday and today – Google, Apple, Tide, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Xerox, Kodak, Nike, Ford, Disney, Kellogg’s, and many more – all successfully built their brand to household name recognition.
Consumers know these brands by heart and trust the products enough to purchase them without debate. The safety, quality and dependability of the product is assumed – even expected.

Of Rutted Roads and Grizzly Bears

Bryan Heathman shared this "I began my career working for one of these mega-brands – Kodak – and it literally changed the way I perceive my place in the world. It also has had a deep and lasting effect on my success. By associating with a major household name, my employers, clients and colleagues look at me a little differently. Some of the brand’s magic dust brushed off on me, and it launched my early business career.
Early in my career, I landed one of the largest Sales territories a young guy in Sales could hope for. It was also in one of the most remote areas on the planet. My job was to sell Kodak branded film throughout the State of Alaska. It may sound prestigious to have a territory so large, but before you get overly impressed I’d like to put this data point into perspective.
Now, Alaska is not an easy place to promote a brand. Half the state’s population lives in one city, Anchorage, and Alaska is the largest State in the USA – in fact the State is one-third the size of what Alaskans call the “Lower 48.” You just can’t drive across it in a day. In fact, most parts of the state are undriveable. One of the most popular modes of transportation is the float plane. Even these hardy vehicles have trouble reaching vast expanses in the rugged wilderness, largely because there’s just nowhere to land.
Let me put it this way: As a Kodak man, I had a lot of muddy ground to cover in my shiny loafers, and my wide yellow tie was a little hard to miss among the fireweed on the tundra. Even the herds of caribou would roll their eyes when they saw me coming.
I’ll never forget the time when a sales call took me to a gold mine located some half a day’s drive from the big city where I lived. I thought someone at the home office had made a typo on my sales sheet – either that or they were playing a practical joke. I mean, who sells Kodak film in Hope, Alaska? I couldn’t image a gold mine wanting anything to do with my goods.
The road to the mine was a dirt track, now awash in runoff from the spring breakup. The farther away I got from the main highway, the more I was sure there’d been some kind of mistake as my Chevy Celebrity bounced through the potholes.
It was more than 15 rutted miles after I left the pavement before I saw another soul. You can imagine my relief when I turned a corner to find this replica of an old western town – a fly-in tourist attraction, a relic from the days of the Klondike catering to Japanese tourists who wanted a wilderness experience. I wandered into the only open building I could find, a tavern populated with a few of old salts that smelled of smoke, bacon and Jack Daniels.
Yet even in the farthest, most remote corners of the world, the Kodak brand was recognized and I was welcomed to pull-up a stump at the table for a hot cup of coffee in a tin cup. After talking to the mountain man at the end of the table, it seems that tourists to this gold panning paradise preferred Kodak film over Fuji film….all I had to do was show up and write the order.
Branding does more than create recognition. It builds trust and loyalty among the consumers in your market, allowing you to penetrate future markets with new product offerings more successfully – no matter how remote they are. Successful branding carries awareness and trust, even in a land populated with more bears than people.
So as you think through your marketing efforts, pay attention to your brand. You’ll discover many unintended benefits by crafting a message that will stick in the minds of your audience.

SELLING IS THE ART OF SERVING OTHERS

There are many ways to sell. You can lie to the customer,
you can persuade the customer, you can wear the customer
down. You can even trick them. But only briefly, and
typically, only once.
We have all been the victim of high pressure sales tactics
at one time or another. We have all made a purchase that
disappointed us, and we all remember those times. We
remember, and we don't go back.
You cannot build a sustainable business simply on sales. Of
course, sales are important, but in the long run it is not
sales, but service that creates sustainable profits. If
your product SERVES the customer, they will return. If your
goods and services make the customer's life easier, richer,
better, more productive, healthier or happier, your fortune
is assured. Fail to serve, and in the long run you will
simply fail.
Many people have observed that your business, your fortune,
your reputation and ultimately your success are all based
on your ability to serve others. The more people you serve,
and the better you serve them, the more you make. As Zig
Ziglar famously observed, "You can have anything you want
in life, by helping enough other people to get what they
want in life."
We often focus on marketing and talk about the "reach' of
our advertising or our market "penetration" and all of that
is good and right. In order to serve others, you must first
let them know you exist. 
But never confuse marketing and advertising and one-time
sales with the ultimate requirement that your business
SERVE the customer. In the end, your ads may be cute or
memorable, your marketing may be impressive, but only
SERVICE really counts.

THE SYSTEMS OF SUPER-ACHIEVERS

This week I read the amazing story of LuAn Mitchell, one of
Canada's great entrepreneurs. Her story will never be made
into a movie because no one would believe it. Pregnant at
16, later a beauty queen who married a man after they found
out he had a fatal disease, then a single mom and CEO of
one of Canada's largest meat packing companies, hers is an
astonishing story of perseverance and accomplishment.
How did she do it? And, what can we learn from people like
LuAn who over-come the odds and get results most of us only
dream of?
I think there are at least four basic principles that MUST
be kept in mind.
The basics are just that, the BASICS! Too often we get
caught up in the busy-ness of life and we either forget to
monitor the first principles of success, or we get so
impressed with ourselves that we think we can re-invent the
basics. But unfortunately, there are no "new fundamentals."
The fundamentals for achievement have not changed. We
either take care of business, or we struggle. (Or we count
on "luck" to save the day. . .never a smart plan.)
What are the basics?
1.  Use your HEAD. Success requires a great strategy. Too
often I see idealists trying to build something that just
doesn't make good sense. They don't have a budget, adequate
financing, an effective strategy or common sense. They have
a great idea and charge ahead, hoping that "somehow"
customers will find them. Or, that "somehow" things will
work out. Success requires a smart, logical, effective
strategy. Use your head!
2.  Follow your HEART. In addition to a good plan, success
requires passion! No matter how good your plan, there will
be challenges along the way and only passion,
determination, faith and "insane optimism" will carry you
through. If your heart isn't in it, don't even try! (I am
convinced that often "procrastination" is really a great
plan with no heat, no fire, behind it.) Super-achievers are
passionate people! Follow your heart.
3.  Create a TEAM. Even marathon runners have a team of
trainers, coaches, family and friends to encourage their
"solitary" run. Writing my book has brought home again that
writers need a TEAM of editors, publishers, publicists and
printers. You will need mentors (a coach), employees or
other "staff" to help you achieve your dream. Winners work
in teams and understand the strength in numbers. Create a
winning TEAM and trust them to help you.
4.  The joy of hard, hard WORK. Nothing happens until
someone, somewhere, rolls up their sleeves and gets to
work. In this "information age" we tend to forget that only
WORK makes stuff happen. Whether it's the daily discipline
of raising children, teaching school, ministering to your
flock, or the more traditional work of driving a truck or
making sales calls or working in the mill, human work is
the basis for all RESULTS, and only results count.
If possible, do work you love. And always look for ways to
make things easier, more fun and more productive, but in
the end, actual productivity is the basis for achievement.
Of course, there is more to life than achieving "success"
in one limited area, but creating or building something
worthwhile and leaving our mark in the world is a huge part
of "the good life." Whatever your dream, you can achieve
it! You can even climb Mt Everest--people with prosthetic
limbs and blind folks have done it. So can you! Or, you can
start a business, or retire young and rich, or mentor a
child or create music. Whatever your heart desires, you can
achieve it if you have a solid plan, tremendous passion, a
great team, and the willingness to work "until" it becomes
a reality.

5 WARNING SIGNS OF LOSING CUSTOMER FOCUS

It’s unrealistic for organizations to expect to operate flawlessly all the time. But watching for warning signs that indicate when focus is being diverted away from customers can help ensure your organization retains a competitive advantage. Warning Sign 1: Silos Silos between  divisions  and  departments  impair  a company’s  ability  to  focus on customer  needs and objectives.  Disconnects  between sales and marketing departments, marketing and products, sales and accounting or any other departmental coupling divert energy away from where it should be: on the customer. The fix: “What I see a lot of organizations doing, particularly around their strategic accounts, is some form of reorganization so they are aligned more around the customer rather than their internal product  or service line,” says Damon Jones, Executive Vice President of Miller Heiman. “Working together improves a company’s ability to cross sell across product or service lines. Without an aligned approach, customers might think you’re complicated to deal with since you have so many reps coming out to see them. Warning Sign 2: Surprise “If a loss of a deal or customer is a surprise, clearly the company wasn’t keeping tabs on what the customer was doing,” says Jones. “Accounts can be lost overnight, but typically, the relationship fades more gradually. Customers go through a process when they decide to buy—and when they decide to go in a new direction.” The fix: “World-Class Sales Organizations have clear strategies for managing key accounts,” he says. “They dedicate resources and have programmed approaches for doing internal reviews with the account support team and external reviews with the customer.” Staying connected  can alert them when a customer’s  needs or circumstances change. Warning Sign 3: No Executive Involvement An executive team that doesn’t believe time spent with customers is important raises a huge Red Flag. The fix: “Executives who spend time talking to customers send a big message to the rest of the organization on the importance of that customer,” says Jones. World-Class  Sales Organizations put  a premium  on appropriate  executive-to- executive interactions. Warning Sign 4: Bureaucracy A complicated process for resolving customer complaints raises a big Red Flag. Examine how your company resolves customer satisfaction issues. The fix: “Is the front line empowered to solve problems, make decisions?” asks Jones. There may be certain complaints that must go through a strictly-controlled internal hierarchy, but enabling the front line to swiftly respond on a pre-defined set of issues can greatly increase customer satisfaction. Warning Sign 5: No Customer Feedback “Feedback from customers is vital,” says Jones, “It provides a full picture on how you’re performing as a supplier or partner.” The fix: “Many companies have customer feedback and advisor y boards, host customer events and invest in projects oriented toward product  development and marketing.” “If you’re not validating ideas and decisions with customers and getting feedback, you’re potentially  developing solutions  that people don’t  need or won’t  buy,” says Jones. Staying On Alert Preventative measures to keep the organization healthy are worth the investment of time and effort. Warning signs that say you have strayed from your customer can alert you so you can readjust your customer retention strategies.