WHO'S IN CHARGE AROUND HERE?

Last year, I read the wonderful novel, "The Devil Wears
Prada," and a couple weeks after that, I watched 
the movie on DVD. It's a good book and Anne Hathaway and
Meryl Streep work well together in the movie, but the most
important line in both the book and the movie are the
words, "I don't have a choice."
The story's about an ambitious young woman who gets a dream
job ("a million women would kill for your job!") working
for the editor of a top fashion magazine. Soon, the job and
her boss have taken over her life, leaving her exhausted,
harming her relationships, and causing her to violate her
principles. But, through it all, she explains, "I have no
choice." She's afraid of being fired. She's afraid of
failure. She's afraid to stand up for herself. And in the
end, she loses her sense of who she is.
Of course, in the book and movie, it's all very dramatic
and the "slippery slope" is rarely so clear in real life.
But the phrase, "I have to" has become a normal part of our
vocabulary.
Every day, I hear people say they "have to" go to work, run
errands, answer the phone, or do some other chore. In most
cases, what they mean is that some task or responsibility
they have agreed to fulfill is calling and they "must" take
care of it. I understand that.
But it's also essential that we are careful about the
language we use with ourselves! Our brain is always
listening to what we say, especially when we talk to
ourselves!
When I speak to various audiences and conferences, I often
tell participants there is only one thing we "must" do. I
ask them to name it and people typically mention that they
"have to" work, eat, breath or take care of their family.
After they've listed various things for a moment, I tell
them the only thing I believe we "must" do is die.
EVERYTHING else is a choice.
Now, I highly recommend you pay your taxes. I recommend you
eat and breath and address a hundred other ordinary
responsibilities, but the point is, you do NOT "have to!"
Your life belongs to you, and only you can decide how you
will live it. Your life is a "do it yourself project." Make
sure you create the life you truly want!
Obviously, we all make compromises in life. We've agreed to
do certain things. We have responsibilities. We've learned
that to "get along, sometimes we have to go along." And in
the "margins" of life, there's nothing wrong with that. But
in the "big" things, in the core of who you are and how you
live your life, your choices DO matter. In fact, your
choices make all the difference in the world.
I begin most days by writing in my journal, and on my desk
I have a card with the following reminder:  "Today, I am in
charge. I choose my thoughts. I choose my attitudes. I
choose my actions. And through them, I choose my destiny."
Your life belongs to you, and what you do with it is your
greatest responsibility.
I rarely recommend that we make big or dramatic life
changes. Life is a bit like steering a cruise ship and
sudden changes can throw lots of people off-balance.
Fortunately, life rarely asks us to do that. But, lots of
small, incremental daily changes can work miracles!
If you are headed where you want to go in life, good for
you! Keep on going! But, if you would like something more
or different for your life, accept that you are in charge.
You do not "have to" repeat yesterday's habits! Make new
choices. Take charge. Make small, repeated changes in your
thoughts, your habits, your actions and, ultimately, in
your destiny. You can do this!

ARE YOU PRACTICING THE GOLDEN RULES OF SELLING?

To improve your sales performance, adopt the Golden Rule mentality. How do you approach this way of thinking? The Golden Rule says to, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." It also says, "Love your neighbor as yourself." The Golden Rule mentality in sales, says simply, "Sell unto others as you would have them sell unto you."

Different Strokes For Different Folks

What does this mean? Aren't there all kinds of different personalities that require different approaches and techniques? Well, yes and no. Practicing the golden rule in selling simply means that you sell to other people the way you would like to be sold to. You sell with the same honesty, integrity, understanding, empathy and thoughtfulness that you would like someone else to use in selling to you.

Seek First to Understand

If you would like a salesperson to take the time to thoroughly understand you and your situation before making a recommendation, you practice the same thing with your customers. If you would like a salesperson to give you honest information and to help you make an intelligent buying decision, you practice the same with your customer. If you would like a salesperson to be thoroughly knowledgeable about the strengths or weaknesses of his or her product or service, and that of his or her competitors, then you do the same with your product or service and your competitors.

Care About Your Customers

Perhaps the most important part of golden rule selling is the emotional component embraced in the word, "caring." Top sales professionals care about their customers. They care about themselves, their companies, their products and services, and they really care about helping their customers to make good buying decisions. If you think about the very best salespeople you know, you will recognize that they are caring individuals.

They Don't care How Much You Know

If you think about your very best customers, you will recall that these are invariably people you care about, and who care about you. When you think about the people you buy from, you will recall that they seem to care about you more than the average. In every part of your business life, you will find that the significant people all have the denominator of caring as part of their character and their personalities.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, resolve today to sell to your customers with the same honesty, empathy and understanding that you would like them to use in selling to you.

Second, take time to genuinely care about your customers, their individual needs and their unique situations. Make people feel important and they will make you feel important.

THE FORMULA FOR BUSINESS SUCCESS

There are a handful of simple, key formulas that every
business owner must master to achieve success. They aren't
mystical or magical, they are mathematical and they rule
with an iron hand.
The first is simply this:
        Profits = (Sales x (Price - COGS)
Your profits will always equal your number of units sold
(Sales) multiplied by the price you receive for each sale
minus your Cost of Goods Sold. When you know your true cost
of production, the total cost in terms of suppliers, labor,
time and advertising, you can calculate your profits for
any number of sales. Why is this important? Because too
many managers and owners don't truly know their real Cost
of Goods Sold! They under-estimate the cost of their time,
the cost of marketing, shipping and production. Be rigorous
about this.
The second formula helps you assess the potential value of
any given marketing or advertising strategy:
    Sales = (N x I - C)
This formula says that your Sales will always be the Number
of prospects you reach, times the Impact you have, minus
the Cost of advertising. If you can reach enough people (N)
and have enough Impact (I) at a reasonable Cost (C) the
advertising will be profitable. If your N or your I is too
small, the Cost will exceed any possible benefits. Always
run any prospective marketing plan through this formula
before you sign the contract! It'll save you a world of
hurt.
Business owners often get so busy doing the work of running
their business that they neglect the basic math. Don't do
that to yourself! Every business owner or manager should
know and follow the basic formulas for success.