Creating a Movement
I found this to be very good humor around a very serious subjectUpcoming Training’s!
Man can you see how a snap shop used on a video can make you look mean!This is a video for upcoming trainings.
If you are in business for yourself
What is the most valuable, and and yet underutilized resource in your business?For most small businesses, it is your customers – and what they will tell you if you ask them properly.
If you believe this to be true – as I do, then the challenge is determining the best questions to ask them (and then doing so).
THE EASY QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR CUSTOMERS
Are you pleased with our service?
How can we serve you better?
Is it alright if I get back to you on that?
Why do you do business with us?
What would it look like if we hit the ball out of the park for you on this project?
We’ve all asked these questions. Why? There’s very little risk – and naturally, very little reward too.
THE TOUGH QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR CUSTOMERS
Would you pay more for a better product?
What do our competitors do better than us?
What would you do differently if you were the owner of my business?
How are we really doing?
If you couldn’t work with our company, who would be your next choice?
Have you ever considered doing so? Why? When?
Is there anything else?
If you really want to make the most of these tough questions, you have to be prepared to wait for the answers – being completely silent while your customer prepares, and then finally delivers the equally tough response.
YOUR BEST CUSTOMERS WILL TELL YOU THE TRUTH
Your best customers want you to succeed – both for their benefit and yours. So why aren’t you taking advantage of the opportunity by asking them the tough questions that will give you the information for accomplishing that?
#1 – You don’t have the guts. This is understandable and a personal decision. It’s also one that is preventing you from learning what you need to know for moving your business forward.
#2 – You know they may not give you the truth. This is also understandable. However, if you ask the right questions in a personal, face-to-face situation, you can read the body language to get much of the truth.
#3 – You will indeed get the truth! All the more reason to ask.
People are smart – both you and your customers. However, our society conditions us to play safe. That’s a surefire formula for mediocrity – and possibly failure.
You’ve heard it before: ”You won’t know unless you ask.”
So, why aren’t you asking?
State of our ECONOMY comparison
Here is a more understandable way to see where we are in this current mess…………Here is something I came across on the US Debt Crisis that I think adds perspective.
The U.S. Congress sets a federal budget every year in the trillions of dollars. Few people know how much money that is so here is breakdown of federal spending in simple terms. Let’s put the 2011 federal budget into perspective:
U.S. income: $2,170,000,000,000
Federal budget: $3,820,000,000,000
New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000
National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
Recent budget cut: $ 38,500,000,000 (about 1 percent of the budget)
It helps to think about these numbers in terms that we can relate to.
Therefore, let’s remove eight zeros from these numbers and pretend this is the household budget for the fictitious Jones family.
Total annual income for the Jones family: $21,700
Amount of money the Jones family spent: $38,200
Amount of new debt added to the credit card: $16,500
Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
Amount cut from the budget: $385
You tell me, are we making any progress on the US debt issue? It seems to me that all of this talk is just another political smoke screen.
I believe this was written by Jeremy Becker over at Enduring Wealth…
Here is a link http://www.enduringwealth.blogspot.com/
Heat in AZ
Man…it is certainly hot in the desert in the summer time. Did a week of training out there and have one more to do in August but flying out to that one. The next one is more of a resort atmoshere and we don’t start till 11am each day so you can get poolside before starting out…NICE!Meeting Family
I am not sure as to how to express my luck this last week. My (newly found) cousin Teresa (Sam) found me on facebook. WOW…talk about reaching out and being found. I am blessed that she made the effort to contact me since she never knew me as a child growing up….THANKS so much Sam.Marketing and Sales- Defined
I get this question all the time and I will attempt to put it in words here yet again.Marketing and Sales (somewhat defined and compared)
Marketing and sales are one of the most important components of a businesss survival in the market. While both are dependent on each other many people confuse marketing with sales and vice-versa which is a big mistake. Marketing involves designing a product according to the needs of the market and customers, promoting the product through advertising etc. and setting up a competitive price for the product. Marketing is a platform which drives sales. While on the other hand the sales process is what you do to successfully sell a product and fetch a contract. Sales and marketing together is a part of selling and one cannot do without the other. They can also be called activities. The success of a business is critical to the success of these two important activities.
Marketing is the backbone of a companys future and launching pad for the sales. While the marketing process encompasses the design of the product, advertising etc. the sales process is the execution of all the efforts which involves direct interaction with client either by in-person meeting or cold calls or by networking. But there is always an ongoing rivalry between the two, one claiming dominancy over other. The marketing people say they have an upper hand because they think it is they who designs the products, lays down the strategy and also develops tools essential for sales. They say sales are the outcome of marketing and thus should follow its directions. The sales people might not agree to this view and may be completely opposite in their opinion. They think that it is the sales people who actually sells a product and bring money to the business.
But many experts believe that marketing should play a pivotal role among the two. A successful marketing campaign makes sales easy and makes people believe that it is actually the sales people who are the dominant leaders. The most important role of marketing department is to create opportunities for the sales department. Marketing drives sales and sales drives companies success. Marketing is like a life support for sales, one who is constantly backing up the sales department and enabling them to successfully deliver the end product. There shouldnt be a race to gain supremacy over another department but a race to win the market and customers working together.
Many businesses combine sales and marketing together but in reality they have different targets. While the sales department is interested in fulfilling the requirements of what the customer asked for, the marketing department is actually busy studying what the market demands. The goal of the marketing department is to foresee how the market will shape up in future. They should envision their product catering to the needs of the market for next few years and be ready to make design changes in their product accordingly.
It is very important that a company integrates their sales and marketing department in a well fashioned manner. It is the correct integration of these two important entities that fuels the growth of a company. The sale people should not be merely treated as the cash collectors. Each department has its own role and should go hand in hand in selling the product of the company and should be the foremost important criteria.
Some companies get marketing right from the start and do it so well that the sales dept might be just order taking. That all depends on the marketing conditions and timing of course.
Six months have passed…really?
Hard to imagine that I have let this blog go for so long. I feel like I let down my “dear diary”. (smile) Ok so I will really make an effort together more often. I love playing with wordpress and my son Christian is learning it too while he is attending UCSB this year.Financial mess and a great movie to watch
Ok if you want a clearer picture on the “how” we the American people got “taken” by the financial wizards, banks and wall street, see the movie “Inside Job”. I did watch an article on 60 minutes that told of a operation where banks were hiring people to make fake mortgage papers and sign them. They actually interviewed one man who stated he had to meet his quota of how many signature he could do an hour to earn his $10.00/hour.So the long and short of it is that even the papers being presented in courts across the country have been forged by the banks when they acquire other banks and what to do foreclosures. If I had to appear in court on my mortgage I would make them prove the signatures!
To think that these guys acually planned the entire bubble and knew that they would have our country in so deep that we would be required to bail them out (while being genius on some levels) was the utmost deviation in the ponsy scams done. How do they sleep at night? I guess it is easy when your on your own personal yacht.
Noise Pollution on the rise in Napa Valley…
Perhaps it is my age starting to show, but each year I notice more and more noise at night. It is the sound of like a helicopter twirling away in the din of silence. I have seen the culprit in action but never connected the fact that this is what was causing the noise pollution until the other night.The natural rise of machines to harvest in Napa Valley is here! With the high cost of labor and tighter border controls wineries are looking at other ways to get the harvest done. It might not be as good as hand labor picking an increase in I hear more and more noise at night is these machines vibrate and shake the vines to free them of their grapes.
What does this mean to you and I?
If we don’t nip this in the bud right now we are going to hear more and more machines at night disturbing our peaceful slumber. From August to November we will be in a war zone in the evenings when harvest has to occur and we have to rest. Are you ready for the war?
