| “Change the changeable, accept the unchangeable, and remove yourself from the unacceptable.” – Dennis Waitley
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Posts Tagged ‘expectations’
Facing life’s challenges…how will you respond?
Monday, November 7th, 2011Wish your life were easier?
Monday, October 31st, 2011| “Never wish that life were easier, wish that you were better.” – Jim Rohn
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What does your coffee say about you?
Tuesday, October 18th, 2011Last week, I had a speaking engagement at a historic building in downtown Indianapolis.
It is a beautiful building with a lot of space for meetings. However, it’s about 1 mile from the center of downtown and as a result, it doesn’t get much foot traffic.
Regardless, the group I was speaking for took a chance and chose this venue for their largest annual event.
After eating a light lunch, I decided to get a cup of coffee. Unfortunately, it was freezing cold. And no, it wasn’t supposed to be an iced cappuccino.
What’s the big deal? It’s just a cup of coffee right?
Wrong.
In today’s hypercompetitive environment, you have one chance to exceed your customer’s expectations. One chance.
If you blow it, your customer is one Google search away from replacing you with another option.
For your business it might be the way in which you answer the phone, the look and feel of a proposal or how quickly you respond to a question.
Whatever it is, remember that your prospect/customer notices every little detail.
How hot is your coffee?
Paradigms
Tuesday, September 13th, 2011We all have a lens through which we see the world. This lens was developed over time and is heavily influenced by our environment. If you grew up in a wealthy upper class neighborhood you fully expect that every kid should have a car when they turn 16, go on multiple vacations year and attend the best college.
On the other hand, if you were raised in a lower class environment you may have never been on an airplane, struggle to find bus fare each day and only know a handful of people who’ve graduated from high school.
The communication problem we all struggle with is that we expect everyone to see life through our paradigm. This is rarely the case. Every time you get into an argument and you ask yourself, “How can they possibly think that way?” you are suffering from this challenge.
The next time you’re preparing for a conversation with a prospect, employee, coworker or your spouse I suggest that you carefully consider their perspective before you formulate your argument.
You can win the argument from your perspective and seem like a complete idiot to the person sitting across the table.
As Dr. Covey points out, “seek first to understand”.
CJ McClanahan is the Founder of reachmore. For more resources on business leadership, please visit reachmore’s seminars.
Happiness. How much it too much?
Monday, August 15th, 2011| “A great obstacle to happiness is to expect too much happiness.”
- Bernard L.B. De Fontenelle |
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Hoosier Hospitality Kills Networking ROI
Monday, January 31st, 2011
When was the last time you told someone who didn’t fit your networking target market “no” to doing a one-on-one?
When was the last time you told a referral partner, “We haven’t been meeting the expectations we set out for each other. What can we do to fix this?”
Not ever.
To make any business relationship work, you have to hold everyone involved accountable.
“Hoosier hospitality” is holding many back from giving their business partners the authentic feedback that could create a breakthrough in the number and quality of referrals that you receive every month.
If you want to win at the networking game, set specific expectations with your referral partners, and then hold each other accountable. Every single time.
You won’t hurt anyone by telling them something they already know.
Jamar Cobb-Dennard is the Vice-President of Business Development for reachmore, which teaches small business owners how to build a business that runs without them. For more resources on business leadership, please visit reachmore’s seminars.
3 Keys to Business Resurrection
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010A couple of weeks ago, I was finishing up my workout by doing some cable-fly’s, and a group of gorilla sized men surrounded me because they wanted to ‘work-in’ on the machine. I normally ignore this group of grunting behemoths, but that day they were cheering me on. “C’mon, bring it back!” “Push it through!” “That’s it, only four?”
I have been lifting weights for five years, and have gotten some great results (of course…). I usually don’t have a workout partner because my schedule sometimes forces me to workout at extremely early or late times. As a result, I sometimes lose track of how hard I’m pushing myself during a workout. Those guys totally challenged me to see my workouts from a new perspective, and also taught me the value of having a team around me for support.
I met a prominent Indianapolis lawyer in an elevator in April. After our conversation ended, he gave me his card and instructed me to follow up with him. So I did. Two weeks later, I was waiting for him in his office, at the top of a skyscraper, and he rushed in 20 minutes late for our meeting. He sat down hurriedly, looked at me, and said, “What would you like to accomplish today. I have 7 minutes.”
Talk about being put on the spot. So, I mumbled a couple of things, and he interrupted me by saying, “I’ve done some checking up on you. You’re doing some things, but you can do better. Here is what I expect from you…”
Wow. My expectations of myself have never been lifted so high in such a short amount of time. I realized that having a mentor who is willing to challenge me, and is dynamically more successful than me, is crucial to my success.
I also just signed up for sales coaching. I already know most of what is being taught, and could teach the class myself. The power of my time with the sales coach is reflection. I am paying for time to think about how and what I am doing to build my business, and I have a qualified person to reflect my challenges to. If I want to grow as an intra-preneur, I have to have time to reflect and someone to reflect to.
If your business is struggling at this point in the year, here are 3 keys to resurrect it ASAP:
1. Find a team – Don’t go at this alone. Join a trade association, form a referral team or accountability group. There is strength in numbers.
2. Get a mentor – Find someone who will push you and who’s RAS is set much higher than yours (for more on the RAS, email me at jamar@goreachmore.com).
3. Engage a Coach – A structured program that will help you build your business is invaluable. Google “Executive Coaching” for a list of some of the best.
Jamar Cobb-Dennard is the Vice-President of Business Development for Reachmore, which provides leadership coaching for small business and executives. Email Jamar at jamar@goreachmore.com for the latest on Reachmore’s newest seminar, Launch.