YOUR MOST IMPORTANT INVESTMENTS

Most new businesses fail within 2 years, and one of the
most common reasons they fail is for lack of capital. They
simply run out of money.
Too often, a struggling company can't attract enough
customers, and they can't afford to advertise. They can't
hire and train great people, and without great people, they
can't provide superior service. It's a vicious cycle that
is far too common.
Fortunately, there is a way out that requires very few
dollars. Here are my suggestions for the most critical
investments every business MUST make to be financially
successful:
1. Invest in Yourself! This means investing in
professional skills, and in your personal development. Jim
Rohn says, "Invest more in yourself than in your career",
and I think that's solid advice. This means reading! It
means attending the best seminars, and talking with the
best people. Invest in yourself because the most skilled,
the most attractive and the most competent people are
NEVER unemployed.
2. Invest in Technology. You can not maintain a
professional practice without efficient tools! Streamline
and automate everything! A few dollars and a few days of
training to use the right tools will pay dividends for
years to come.
3. Invest in Communication. Unless you can communicate
efficiently with your customers, suppliers, colleagues and
staff, all the skills in the world mean nothing. You have
to explain. You have to answer questions. You have to calm
their fears, solve their problems, and provide value they
can understand. This means appropriate use of technology
(see above), and it means learning to work well with
people. Effective communication is essential.
4. Invest in Customer Care. A few customers well taken-
care-of, will provide all the marketing you need! Single-
vendor relationships are increasingly common, and a happy
customer who comes back, and who recommends you to their
friends, and asks for more and more of your services, will
make you rich. Extreme customer care doesn't cost; it pays!
If you have any money left over, advertise. If you want it
and need it, buy a new building, hire more sales people, or
up-date your equipment. But first, make the investments
I've listed above. They cost less, and the Return on
Investment is huge!

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
usually 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 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 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. "You can get anything you
want in life, by helping enough other people to get what they
want in life."
Too often, we focus on marketing and talk about the "reach"
of our advertising or our market "penetration" and all of
that is fine. In order to serve others, you must first let
them know you exist.
But never confuse 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, but only
SERVICE really counts.

YOUR CHARISMA

If someone were to ask you what the word "charisma" means, what would you say?

The Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary defines charisma as "a personal magic of leadership arousing special popular loyalty or enthusiasm for a public figure." Knowing this, how can you develop your own personal charisma?

Develop Personal Magnetism

Charisma is also that special quality of magnetism that each person has and that each person uses to a certain degree. You have a special charisma to the people who look up to you, who respect and admire you, the members of your family and your friends and coworkers. Whenever and wherever a person feels a positive emotion toward another, he imbues that person with charisma or attractiveness.

Project Yourself Positively

In trying to explain charisma, some people speak of an "aura." This aura is a light that is invisible to most people but not to everyone, and that radiates out from a person and affects the people around that person in a positive or negative way. The halo around the heads of saints and mystics in many religious paintings was the artist's attempt to depict the light that people reported seeing around the heads of these men and women when they were speaking or praying, or in an intense emotional state.

Control the Impression You Make

You also have an aura around you that most people cannot see but that is there, nevertheless. This aura affects the way people react and respond to you, either positively or negatively. There is a lot that you can do, and a lot of good reasons for you to do it, to control this aura and make it work in your best interests.

Sell Your Way to the Top

If you're in sales, this aura, reflecting your level of charisma, can have a major impact on the way your prospects and customers treat you and deal with you. Top salespeople seem to be far more successful than the average salespeople in getting along with their customers. They're always more welcome, more positively received and more trusted than the others. They sell more, and they sell more easily. They make a better living, and they build better lives. Salespeople with charisma get far more pleasure out of their work and suffer far less from stress and rejection. The charismatic salesperson is almost invariably a top performer in his field and enjoys all the rewards that go with superior sales.

Influence People Around You

If you're in business, developing greater charisma can help you tremendously in working with your staff, your suppliers, your bankers, your customers and everyone else upon whom you depend for your success. People seem naturally drawn to those who possess charisma.

They want to help them and support them. When you have charisma, people will open doors for you and bring you opportunities that otherwise would not have been available to you.

Enhance Your Personal Relationships

In your personal relationships, the quality of charisma can make your life more joyous, happier. People will naturally want to be around you. Members of your family and your friends will be far happier in your company, and you will have a greater influence on them, causing them to feel better about themselves and to do better at the important things in their lives.

Action Exercises

First, identify the people with whom you seem to have a lot of charisma - the people who know you, like you, respect you the most. How could you increase your charisma with these people?

Second, identify the people who have charisma to you, the people you most like and respect and admire. What is there about them that you could copy or emulate? If you think charisma, you'll have more of it.

YOUR PERSONAL SERVICE COMPANY

In his seminars, Brian Tracy often asks the audience to
raise their hands if they are self-employed. At first,
about half the audience typically raises their hands, and
he asks the question again and again until, eventually,
everyone gets the "trick." We are ALL "self-employed."
It doesn't matter who signs your paycheck or what it says
on your taxes, at the end of the day each of us works for
our selves, to achieve our own personal goals.
Now, here's a scary question: What if everyone worked
exactly as hard as you do? What if every police officer,
every airline pilot, every accountant and every surgeon
paid just as much attention to detail, put in just as much
effort and cared just as much about their RESULTS as you
do? What kind of world would we have?
Fortunately, most IMPACT readers work very hard, care a great
deal, and can honestly answer, "IT WOULD BE A FANTASTIC
WORLD!"
Some of us, however, know there is room for improvement.
Around the margins, especially on our bad days, we do not
work as hard or care as much as we might. Some days we do
not "go the extra mile" or make that extra call. We do not
do the "little things" that make all the difference.
This week, take a hard look at your own performance and
give yourself an honest grade. If you are doing your best,
congratulate yourself and honor that! But if you see a few
things that could be adjusted to give you a slight "edge",
take action! Change them! Over time, it's those "little
things" that make all the difference.

YOUR TEAM FOR ACHIEVEMENT

The poet wrote that "no man is an island' and that is
certainly true for business people. By definition,
business flourishes in the "market-place", with vendors and
suppliers, staff and employees, and customers swirling all
around! It's how business gets done.
At the same time, however, too many business people feel
alone. In some micro-businesses, one person is quite
literally the owner, the manager, the staff, the janitor
and the bookkeeper. That can be lonely and inefficient.
Trying to work from home, or from a one-person office can
be distracting and (at times) depressing.
Even if you work with other people, however, too often the
feeling or sense is still that we are "all alone",
especially if you are in a position of leadership.
One of the most valuable resources any entrepreneur,
professional or small business leader can have is a Master
Mind team of safe, trusted, colleagues who will listen and
advise you. Having a TEAM of people who will be honest
with you, who understand your challenges and will share
their wisdom can be a HUGE advantage!
If you don't have a "kitchen cabinet" or unofficial "board
of directors", get one! That may sound strong or even
arrogant, but the poet was right - none of us functions at
our best when we have to do it all ourselves. Get a team.
Get some advisors you trust, people who know and understand
your situation, people who do NOT compete with you and who
will not play games. Meet with them once a week for a
business breakfast, and help each other to be your BEST.

SALESPEOPLE: THEIR CLEAR BLUEPRINT

Do you know the common characteristic of top salespeople? They have taken the time to sit down and create a clear blueprint for themselves and their future lives. Even if they started the process of goal setting and personal strategic planning with a little skepticism, every one of them has become a true believer.

Becoming a True Believer

Every one of them has been amazed at the incredible power of goal setting and strategic planning. Every one of them has accomplished far more than they ever believed possible in selling and they ascribe their success to the deliberate process of thinking through every aspect of their work and their lives and then developing a detailed, written road map to get them to where they wanted to go.

The Definition of Happiness

Happiness has been defined as, "The progressive achievement of a worthy ideal, or goal." When you are working progressively, step-by-step toward something that is important to you, you generate within yourself a continuous feeling of success and achievement.

You feel more positive and motivated. You feel more in control of your own life. You feel happier and more fulfilled. You feel like a winner, and you soon develop the psychological momentum that enables you to overcome obstacles and plow through adversity as you move toward achieving the goals that are most important to you.

Fuzzy or Clear?

Successful people are successful because they are very clear about their values. Unsuccessful people are fuzzy or unsure. Complete failures have no real values at all.

Build Self-Confidence and Self-Esteem

Values clarification is the beginning exercise in building self-confidence, self-esteem, and personal character. When you take the time to think through your fundamental values, and then commit yourself to living your life consistent with them, you feel a surge of mental strength and well-being. You feel stronger and more capable. You feel more centered in the universe and more competent of accomplishing the goals you set for yourself.

Action Exercises

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

First, decide for yourself what makes you truly happy and then organize your life around it. Write down your goals and make plans to achieve them.

Second, begin with your values by deciding what it is you stand for and believe in. Commit yourself to live consistent with your innermost convictions - and you'll never make another mistake.

Determine Your Values

Personal strategic planning begins with your determining what it is you believe in and stand for your values. Your values lie at the very core of everything you are as a human being. Your values are the unifying principles and core beliefs of your personality and your character. The virtues and qualities that you stand for are what constitute the person you have become from the beginning of your life to this moment.

Your values, virtues and inner beliefs are the axles around which the wheel of your life turns. All improvement in your life begins with you clarifying your true values and then committing yourself to live consistent with them.