Get out of your way

I’ve been looking at my business this past week and I’ve come to a very serious and real conclusion. Everything that is right and wrong with my company is my fault.

Think about that for a minute.  Everything is my fault.

I did not create the economic slow down, but how it’s affecting my business is my fault.

2008 was a good year, sales were way up over 2007, I have great clients and I’ve developed some great relationships with other professionals, but I’m still facing some of the same issues I did when I first started.  Issues that should have been put to bed a long time ago. But they still get in the way and cause stress and delays in the growth of my company.

I came to this realization while reading Larry Winget. He’s not for everyone, but he works great for me.

We tend to get in our own way and do stupid things that cause stress and knock us off course.

My clients come to me because what they have been doing to grow their business no longer works. They need a new plan and a new set of eyes looking at their problems.  The same is true for all of us. We sometimes need to go outside and get another perspective on things.

Many years ago I was told a great piece of advice. There are only two reasons anything fails; either it’s a deficiency of knowledge (you don’t know what to do), or it’s a deficiency of execution (you didn’t do what you know you should do). In some cases it’s both.

So I’ve decied to get out of my way and starting right now I’m working on doing things smarter.

Are you getting in your way? Are you ready to take responsibility and get started doing things better?

Fear

Don’t let fear stop you.  Fear can be a good thing.

Up until recently I wasn’t a fan of cold calling. Not because I didn’t think it would work, rather because I had a fear of doing it.  I’m not sure why I was afraid, but I was.

I had built it up in my mind that it would be hard to do, I wouldn’t be successful and that I would meet great resistance.

The funny thing is I do seminars all the time for various sized groups from 10 to 100, but the thought of calling one person stopped me in my tracks.

My very good friend Neil Thornton, is a master at cold calling.  I would listen to the ease of his language and how easily he built rapport on the phone. I have to admit, I found it intimidating, and because of that, I continued to put it off.

But what I realized is that I was putting up artificial barriers. I was thinking and believing that I had to elmulate my friend and deliver the same style of cold call.  The truth is that I needed to create my own style.

So don’t let fear stop you, let it motivate you. Trying something new can be exhilerating.

While I’m still not cold calling’s #1 fan, I truly believe it is a great sales tool for my business.  I have begun to make cold calls on a weekly basis and so far, I’m getting some appointments.

The key to a good cold call is the same as the key to a good ad…be relevant.  Keep the focus on the person on the other end of the phone and tell them what’s in it for them.

What do you want to be known for?

No matter what we do in business, we’re going to be compared to someone else.  When a customer is buying what you’re selling, they’re going to look at your competitors and compare you.

So the questions are: what do you want them to think about you? What do you want to be known for?

The greatest challenge for you is, what if what you want to be known for is already taken by one of your competitors?  What do you do then?

Customers are won and lost based on how they perceive your value. Perception is king, what the customer thinks and believes is what matters.

If you want to be the highest quality, but one of your competitors has been saying it and proving it longer than you, they will own that position in the customers mind. You will always be second.

So what it comes down to is, what can you be known for? Because the last thing you want to be is a “me-too” company.

So how do you do this?

1. Take a look at your company – what are your true capabilities. To be known for something, you must be able to prove it and have the credentials

2. Look at your competitors – who owns what in the market place?

3. Talk to your customers and determine what is most important to them.

Once you’ve done this you’ll have a clearer picture as to what you can be known for.