FIND A NEED AND FILL IT

This week, I attended a class on real estate
investing and while the focus was on the nuts-and-bolts on
making money in real estate, what struck me was that almost
all the "success stories" had to do with creating win-win
situations.
The really big money is never made by ripping people off or
over-charging! That may lead to one, or even a handful of
profitable transactions, but it eventually costs you
customers, costs your reputation, and just plain costs you
too much!
The BIG money comes from finding a way to SERVE people.
Over and over again, the success stories were about helping
someone keep their home, or helping a business find a more
suitable location. The success stories that made REAL
money came from helping someone solve a problem!
In the end, business is always about serving a customer or
client. Successful restaurants serve the best meals.
Successful architects listen to their clients and create
buildings that serve the spirit as well as the budget.
Successful coaches help clients create masterful lives, not
just make money or win contests.
I believe it was Zig Ziglar who noted that "you can have
anything you want in life if you find a way to help enough
other people get what they want." In the long run,
achievement, wealth, fame and fortune all come from serving
people.
Who are your best customers and what (exactly) do they
really need? How can you serve them better, faster, or
cheaper than anyone else?
If you want to increase sales and grow your bottom line,
find something your audience wants and serve them better
than anyone else in town. The key to success? It's
simple: Find a need and fill it.

MAKE PEOPLE LISTEN TO YOU

It's no secret that everyone wants to be popular with others. You want to be liked and respected by your friends, family, and associates.

Above all, you want to like and respect yourself, and to feel yourself to be a valuable and important person. Fortunately, everything you do that makes other people feel good about themselves makes you feel good about yourself as well. You can actually improve the way you feel by making other people feel important. This is the key to great personal relationships.

The Easiest Way

The first need that each person has is for acceptance. Whenever you express unconditional acceptance of another person, his or her self-esteem goes up. The person feels valuable and important as a unique and special individual.

An Attitude of Gratitude

The need for appreciation is a deep subconscious desire of every person you meet. When you satisfy this need, you will become one of the most popular people in your world. And what is the key to expressing gratitude and appreciation? Simple. Just say, "thank you" on every occasion.

The Deepest Craving of All

Perhaps the deepest emotional need that people have is the desire for praise and approval. Each person is deeply affected by the quality and quantity of approval they get from others, especially others who they respect very much.

Looking Good

Another way to build self-esteem in others, and to make them feel important, is to express admiration on every occasion. Make it a policy to admire people for their accomplishments, behaviors, possessions, and personality traits.

Practice "White Magic"

This means practice listening closely to others when they are talking. It is one of the most powerful self-esteem building behaviors of all. Whenever you listen attentively to another, their heart rate speeds up. They feel happier and more valuable. They like and respect you more as a result. The more you listen closely to another person, the more that person feels that you are important and valuable as well.

Four Keys to Listening

The keys to effective listening are simple. First, listen attentively, without interrupting. Second, pause before replying. Don’t rush in with whatever is on your mind. Third, questions for clarification by asking, "how do you mean?" Finally, feed it back in your own words.

The Great Design

As Aristotle said, "Man is a social animal." We live our lives within the context of our relationships with others. The more and better relationships we have, the happier and busier we are. The more you stay involved with other people, the longer you will live and the more enjoyable will be those years.

Action Exercise

Pick out the person that you like the least that you deal with on a day to day basis. Next time you see that person admire something about them. You can comment on their dress, grooming, work or even their possessions. You will be surprised how differently that person will react to you in the future.

YOUR SIX-MONTH REVIEW

This Saturday marks the half-way point in the year and
it's a great time to take stock and see how you're doing.
At the beginning of the year, almost every business
establishes goals -- goals in terms of sales, profits, new
customers, and so forth. Most of us also set personal
goals, often in terms of time with loved ones, in terms of
our health, personal finances, travel or other areas.
Unfortunately, far too many people are discouraged about
setting goals. They remember goals that were written down
and then ignored, and now they say, "goals don't work."
Hogwash! Goals are what make life worth living! Goals to
finish school, learn to drive, goals to meet someone and
fall in love, goals to get a job, build a career - these
things are the building blocks of a great life!
The problem is not with goal-setting, but that we fail in
two related areas:
1. We don't focus on our REASONS for wanting the goal. When
you have enough REASONS, achieving any goal becomes much
easier!
2. We fail to MEASURE. Peter Drucker observed that "what
gets measured, gets done."
This week, review the REASONS you set your goals in the
first place. What would more income or more time off do for
you? When you know WHY something is important, getting it
done is much, much easier.
And secondly, review your numbers. See how you're doing. Be
honest, have the courage to take measurements and note your
progress. You'll be glad you did!

YOUR CUSTOMERS BUY BENEFITS

One of the biggest mistakes professionals and business
owners make is being unclear about what their customers and
clients are actually buying.
Very few people hire an attorney because she was editor of
the Law Review. Almost no one buys a car because of the
color, just as few customers remain loyal to a dry-cleaner,
Chiropractor or auto mechanic because of their catchy
jingle or the pretty logo on their advertising.
People buy benefits. Yes, we also like nice features and
we certainly appreciate good prices, but in the end, we
hire a professional or patronize a business because we
think we will receive significant benefits at a fair price.
When you market your services, focus on the BENEFITS you
provide!
One local dry-cleaner advertises that they check and
tighten all buttons, free of charge. They also check for
and remove minor stains, free of charge. They are open
evenings and weekends, and even have a free pick-up and
delivery service. Now, the truth is that they charge
considerably more than their competitors (as far as I can
tell), but I've literally had to wait in line to drop off
my dry-cleaning!
Why would I knowingly pay MORE for dry-cleaning? Because I
believe I get more benefits for my money!
Your customers think the same way. Don't we all? In your
marketing, focus on what your products or services do FOR
your customers and help them see, understand and WANT those
benefits. Price is, typically, only one small factor in
our decision about buying a product or service.
More often, we buy benefits.
BUY FOREVER LIVING PRODUCTS, BUY BENEFITS!

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SELF-ACCEPTANCE BEGINS IN INFANCY

Did you know that self-acceptance begins in infancy, with the influence of your parents and siblings and other important people?

Your own level of self-acceptance is determined largely by how well you feel you are accepted by the important people in your life.

Your attitude toward yourself is determined largely by the attitudes that you think other people have toward you. When you believe that other people think highly of you, your level of self-acceptance and self-esteem goes straight up.

The best way to build a healthy personality involves understanding yourself and your feelings.

Let the Light Shine In

This is achieved through the simple exercise of self-disclosure. For you to truly understand yourself, or to stop being troubled by things that may have happened in your past, you must be able to disclose yourself to at least one person. You have to be able to get those things off your chest. You must rid yourself of those thoughts and feelings by revealing them to someone who won’t make you feel guilty or ashamed for what has happened.

Understand What Makes You Tick

The second part of personality development follows from self-disclosure, and it’s called self-awareness. Only when you can disclose what you’re truly thinking and feeling to someone else can you become aware of those thoughts and emotions If the other person simply listens to you without commenting or criticizing, you have the opportunity to become more aware of the person you are and why you do the things you do. You begin to develop perspective, or what the Buddhists call “detachment.”

Be Honest With Yourself

Now we come to the good part. After you’ve gone through self-disclosure to self-awareness, you arrive at self-acceptance. You accept yourself for the person you are, with good points and bad points, with strengths and weaknesses, and with the normal frailties of a human being. When you develop the ability to stand back and look at yourself honestly and to candidly admit to others that you may not be perfect but you’re all you’ve got, you start to enjoy a heightened sense of self-acceptance.

Do An Inventory of Your Accomplishments

A valuable exercise for developing higher levels of self-acceptance involves doing an inventory of yourself. In doing this inventory, your job is to accentuate the positive and minimize the negative.

Think of your unique talents and abilities. Think of your core skills, the things that you do exceptionally well that account for your success in your profession and in your personal life right now.

Think About Your Future

Think about your future possibilities and the fact that your potential is virtually unlimited. You can do what you want to do and go where you want to go. You can be the person you want to be. You can set large and small goals and make plans and move step-by-step, progressively toward their realization. There are no obstacles to what you can accomplish except the obstacles that you create in your mind.

Action Exercises

Here are three steps you can take immediately to put these ideas into action:

First, sit down with your spouse, or a good friend, and tell him or her about something that is troubling you and is still causing you unhappiness.

Second, develop perspective on your problem by standing back from it and imagining that it was happening to someone else. What advice would you give to that person?

Third, think continually about the good experiences and accomplishments you have enjoyed in the past. Remind yourself regularly that you are a pretty good person and you’ve done a lot of good things in your life.

LEADERSHIP BEGINS WITH LISTENING

Too often, leadership is defined as giving orders. Many
entrepreneurs and professionals still used a model of
leadership that is best suited to the military or other
situations where life and safety are critical concerns, but
in business that is rarely the case.
More often in business, leadership is about listening to
people and helping them get what THEY want in the light of
a larger context.
Effective leadership is about working WITH your staff to
help them get what they truly want, whether it is
recognition, respect, job satisfaction or income, in the
context of the business' over-all goals for growth,
customer loyalty or increased sales.
Effective leadership is about listening!
The best salespeople listen to find out what the customer
wants, and then they find ways to provide it. The best
managers listen and understand the needs and desires of
their staff. The best entrepreneurs are experts as
listening to the marketplace for feedback about change, new
trends, and new services.
Remember the old saying that we were born with two ears and
one mouth. The obvious lesson is to listen twice as much as
we speak. I think it was Yogi Bera who once observed, "You
can learn an awful lot by listening." In business, that is
certainly true.