I tried for years to make certain changes and do certain things. What I didn’t realise was that the feeling of trying was becoming familiar. People like what’s familiar, so once I got used to trying, my neurology didn’t want to shock me by having me succeed. So I went on trying for years.

Have you become familiar with the experience of trying or struggling? If so, it may be time to find out what happens when you move beyond trying. What happens when you imagine getting what you want? How does it feel?

There is another phrase I like to use when people use the “TRY” word. “The worst angle you can approach any problem with is the TRY-ANGLE – However I do highly recommend the DO-ANGLE”

As Yoda said “Do or do not. There is no try.” Trying doesn’t work.

Discipline is the bridge between your goals and accomplishments.

Discipline, willpower, self-control – Whatever you call it, self-discipline is difficult for many people. Some days you think you simply don’t have it in you to make those 10 cold calls, and other days it seems much easier to drive by the gym than to go in and do a work out.

Discipline is the foundation upon which all success is built. Lack of discipline inevitably leads to failure. So, how do you become more self-disciplined?

These are not tasks to cross off as “completed”; instead, they are principles to use to guide your daily life.

1. Pace Yourself – Sometimes we have so much to do, we feel overwhelmed. For example, look at your business plan for the entire year. If it looks like an impossible undertaking, you might be tempted to give it a half-hearted effort. After all, it won’t work anyway, so why try, right? If approaching a project on the global scale intimidates you, don’t let it. Instead, take it one day, or if necessary, one hour at a time.

2. Organize – When lacking willpower, any minor setback will completely derail your efforts. So plan your day and then you won’t waste time or become discouraged. Make a list of the tasks you need to accomplish. Review the list and be realistic about what you can and will do. As you evaluate the tasks, look for any entries that are what you want to do, rather than what you need to do.

3. Be Honest – Self-discipline is powered by motivation; therefore, be honest about what motivates you. If its money, admit it and don’t think you need to apologize. If the admiration of others keeps you going, embrace that and use it to propel you even further

4. Be Flexible – Continually re-evaluate your list of tasks and do them because they are the right things to do, not because you might feel like a failure if you don’t complete a task on your list. Too many times we fall into a routine of doing things simply because it’s what we’ve always done, without examining if the reasons why we did them are still valid. Our goals and visions continually change, so our responsibilities might need to as well. If you lack willpower or self-discipline, it might be because you are trying to do something no longer in line with your goals and beliefs.

5. Take Responsibility – As you work toward your goals, be mindful of your effect on others. Take responsibility for your actions and, if necessary, apologize or change your behaviour. If left unresolved, a sour experience will become much bigger than the original event. Handle it now, and it won’t require a lot of willpower or discipline in the future.

6. Reward Yourself – Being self-disciplined is hard. You deserve credit for doing things you don’t want to do, or don’t feel like doing right now. Give yourself praise and a reward when you accomplish tasks. Don’t wait for others to notice, go ahead and pat yourself on the back. You deserve it!

You may also like to consider some of my recent tweets on Discipline.

DISCIPLINE

• Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.
• We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.
• All disciplines affect each other. Mistakenly the man says, “This is the only area where I let down.” Not true. Every let down affects the rest. Not to think so is naive.
• Discipline is the foundation upon which all success is built. Lack of discipline inevitably leads to failure.
• Discipline has within it the potential for creating future miracles.
• The best time to set up a new discipline is when the idea is strong.
• One discipline always leads to another discipline.
• Affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion.
• You don’t have to change that much for it to make a great deal of difference. A few simple disciplines can have a major impact on how your life works out in the next 90 days, let alone in the next 12 months or the next 3 years.
• The least lack of discipline starts to erode our self-esteem.

Ultimately the price of excellence is discipline.

The magic of the business plan is not the “plan” itself, but the process that the business goes through in putting it together, and then using it as a living document to guide and direct the business. Here are 5 Steps necessary to begin the Planning Process:

1. Know where your business is going.
Do you have a vision of what you want your business to look like in 5 years? 10 years? It’s impossible to put together a realistic plan if you don’t have a destination in mind.

2. Break the plan down into realistic chunks.
Rather than just do an annual plan, break it down into Quarterly Plans so that you can focus on short-term accomplishments while working towards long-range goals.

3. Assign tasks to team members.
Do not think you can do everything yourself. Make sure you get your team involved in fulfilling the plan.

4. Dedicate a block of time to do the plan.
Once a quarter spend an entire day away from your business putting the plan together. This will get you away from all of your day-to-day distractions and help you focus on completing the plan.

5. Have a Business Coach assist you.
Having an outsider’s perspective to give you ideas and guidance keeps you from developing unrealistic expectations, and going down a direction that doesn’t make sense for you and your business. Having a solid and realistic business plan can help you overcome the pitfalls that every business owner will encounter. Start today, and make your future happen.

With so much written about marketing I thought I would put just a few simple factoids together to share some thoughts, interesting statistics and a maybe few pointers to help you on your way to generating more leads for your business. For me marketing has changed so much over the past 5-10 years. I believe it really is more about being found by your prospects than finding prospects these days….So here are a dozen factoids for you..

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Customer experiences and referrals

• On average a good customer experience is told to 8 other people
• On average a bad customer experience is told to 22 other people
• It takes about 10 good experiences to make up for one bad one
• 70% buying experiences are based on how the customer feels they are being treated

Customer retention and churn facts

• An average company loses between 10 and 30% of its customers each year
• A 5% reduction in the customer defection rate can increase profits by 25% to 80%
• Satisfying and retaining current customers is 3 to 10 times cheaper than acquiring new customers

They don’t always know why they bought!

• Most purchasing decisions are made in the subconscious mind.
• In fact nearly all our daily decisions are subconsciously driven.
• So it comes as no surprise that our customers won’t always be able to tell you why they bought.

Repetition is the secret to accessing the subconscious mind of people.

• The most important rule in marketing is repetition.
• Too many marketing programs give up too soon.
• On average, it takes about 5-7 touches before you will see results in your marketing program.
• See my previous blog “how many touch’s” for more information on this

You can be twice as effective by targeting both sides of the brain with your marketing.

• Your marketing can be twice as effective if you aim it at both right-brained (emotional, aesthetic) and left-brained (logical, sequential) people.
• The population is evenly split, so make sure your advertising appeals to both sides.

The quality of your prospect data is the key to successful marketing

• The more data you have, and the more you know about your customers, the better your marketing will be.
• This data is available from many published sources, or (as I recommend) you can collect your own by asking your customers lots of questions.
• Your customers already bought from you – Who better to ask for ideas to attract more customers.

Everyone in the family is influential in the buying decisions.

• Children are influencing family purchases more today than ever.
• These are the results of more mothers working and children’s greater access to media.
• The buying power of the younger generation has increased too.

TRUST is first in any sale, without it no sale can take place. Bonding…

• There are two bonds to make a sale – the human bond and the business bond.
• People would much rather do business with a friend than with anyone else. So become their friend.
• Your level of success is directly related to the people who know and like you

They are not just numbers.

• People are human beings and like to be treated as such.
• Don’t treat people as prospects or as demographic groups.
• Take time to document and describe your ideal prospects it will help humanise the logical and cold process of marketing.

Joining the club.

• People have a basic need to belong. Let them belong to your club.
• Recognize the 20% of your customers that give you 80% of your business.
• People who join your metaphoric ‘club’ are a level above a normal customer too.
• Find ways to confirm they are now part of the gang or club
• Have pride in your business and create a club-like atmosphere and culture

They are buying more than you think

• Your customers will be buying a lot more than merely your product or service.
• They are buying into
  • your personality.
  • your reputation.
  • your service.
  • your status in the community.

Don’t lose your message

• People will remember the most fascinating part of your marketing and not necessarily your product or service. That is why you need to be very careful every step of the way.
• We can all remember clever and funny adverts on television but we don’t always remember the product.
• Make sure the message is received loud and clear
  • Call now
  • Buy it today
  • Who, what and where you are
  • Reiterate the product or service as often as is needed to get the message across

Follow these simple marketing tips and factoids and I am confident you will generate more leads and convert more prospects.

Your feedback is always welcome..

How Many Times Should You Touch A Lead?

If every time you picked up the phone you could get a hold of a hot lead, selling anything in your business would be a no-brainer. But no matter how good a sales person you are, you will spend time quoting people who just aren’t ready to buy — yet.

A big mistake sales people make is to throw these “cooled” prospects into the “follow up with later” pile… and never touch them again. You’re busy, and it’s tough to tackle that heap of dusty contacts. But if you don’t do something to stick in your leads’ minds, you can’t count on them remembering you when they’re finally ready to buy.

You have to touch leads repeatedly to make the sale… or risk losing out to another sales person. So what’s the right number? And what’s the best way for a busy agent to squeeze follow-ups into their schedule?

And The Magic Number Is…

S E 7 E N

Whispered by marketing execs and experts around the country, seven is considered the magic number of times a person must see your message before they’re ready to buy. Some people go so far as suggesting 10 touches are needed before money exchanges hands.

This doesn’t mean you have to log in seven phone calls to every lead you get. Your marketing materials can do the touching for you, whether it’s a letter thanking your lead for the opportunity to quote them, a promotional postcard, an email auto responder or a copy of your newsletter with a note saying, “I thought you’d be interested in this.”

Other examples of touchs include.

• Emails
• Phone calls
• Letters
• Invites
• Adverts
• Signage
• Postcards
  

Each time your prospects’ eyes land on your message, you’re building the connection between your name and “your product or service” in their minds. You never know when one of them will suddenly decide it’s time to purchase from you, so your message better be in front of them again and again!

Some statistics for you to consider:

The average # of prospects who will respond to the 1st touch = 2%
The average # of prospects who will respond to the 2nd touch = 3%
The average # of prospects who will respond to the 3rd touch = 5%
The average # of prospects who will respond to the 4th touch = 10%
The average # of prospects who will respond to the 5th and above = 80%

Create A Follow Up Campaign… And Stick To It!

The biggest challenge you face when it comes to following up leads is finding the time to do it.

If you’re already mailing out postcards and newsletters, adding new names to your list is simple — all you have to do is re-evaluate your timing. Make sure you’re touching people the most during that first month and a half, and then slow down to a quarterly schedule.

Most importantly, your follow-up campaigns must be consistent. If you stop and start touching leads (and it’s tempting to do when you are overflowing with work) you won’t see a payoff. Establish a follow up routine, stick to it, and then you can count on commissions from your older leads during both the crazy and slow times.

As always, your feedback and comments are welcome.

MYTH. It is good to have a great deal of white space in advertisements, brochures, and other printed materials. Fact: Not today where the consumer wants as much information as possible about your company and products. If you don’t have room, include your web address where they can go to get more information at their convenience.

MYTH. Use short copy. People won’t read long copy. Fact: This is one of the most dangerous, costly, and silly myths in marketing. People want enough information to make a buying decision.

MYTH. Sell the sizzle and not the steak. Fact: The easiest way to sell a product is to offer it as a solution to a problem your customers may have.

MYTH. Great marketing works instantly. Fact: Great price-off sales work instantly as does giving away product. Great marketing takes time.

MYTH. Marketing should entertain and amuse. Fact: Show business should entertain and amuse. Marketing should sell. Winning marketing awards for your advertising does not mean more profits in your pocket.

MYTH. Marketing should be changed every few years to keep it fresh and new. Fact: The longer your marketing promotes your product or service, the better, e.g., things go better with …

MYTH. Public relations stories have a short life span. Fact: Only if you let them. Make copies and use it a part of your other marketing strategies.

MYTH. Bad publicity is better than no publicity at all. Fact: Bad publicity is bad for your business! With on-line services such as the Internet, millions of people can get to know about bad publicity. Have an action plan in place for such contingencies.

MYTH. Word-of-mouth marketing is all a great business needs. Fact: Not any longer. Businesses need to be marketing all the time with a variety of tools.

MYTH. The purpose of marketing is to generate maximum sales volume. Fact:
Wrong, the purpose of marketing is to generate maximum profits.

MYTH. Quality is the main determinant in influencing sales. Fact: Confidence in the business is the main determinant; quality is second.

MYTH. It makes a lot of sense for a small business to retain the services of an advertising agency. Fact: No it does not. Better work at more reasonable prices is available from marketing consultants.

MYTH. Once your business has a solid customer base, it can cease marketing. Fact: Perhaps you can cut down on general marketing but you must maintain contact with your customer base or someone will take them away.

MYTH. Repetition of a marketing message is boring. Fact: It may be boring to you, but it won’t be boring to your prospects and customers.

Avoid these common myths and misconceptions in your marketing plans and you will be on the track to ensuring great business results. Measure everything you do, keep track of what works for you and keep doing it till it changes. I hope you enjoyed the article please feel free to comment.

GOAL

• What is the aim of this discussion?
• What do you want to achieve long term?
• What does success look like?
• How much personal control or influence do you have over your goal?
• What would be a milestone on the way?
• By when do you want to achieve it?
• Is that positive, challenging and attainable?
• How will you measure it?

REALITY

• What is happening right now? Only focus on fact, what is really happening at the moment.
• (WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, NOW MUCH, HOW OFTEN)
• Who is directly and indirectly involved?
• If things are not going well with this issue, who else gets drawn in?
• If things are not going well, what happens to you?
• What about others involved, what happens to them?
• What have you done about this so far? With what results?
• How often have you tried?
• What is missing in this situation?
• What is holding you back from a way forward?
• Intuitively, what is really going on here?

OPTIONS

• What options do you have for steps to resolve this issue?
• What else might you do?
• What would someone who handles this kind of issue really do well?
• What if you had more time for this issue, what might you try?
• What if you had less time? What might that force you to try?
• Image that you had more energy and confidence, what could you do then?
• What is somebody said: “Money no object” What might you try then?
• If you had total power, what might you try then?
• What if you could start again?
• If the constraints you identified earlier were removed – what could you do then?
• What should you do?
• Would you like another suggestion?
• What are the costs and benefits of each of these ideas?

WILL

• What option or options do you choose?
• To what extent does this meet all of your objectives?
• What are your criteria and measurements for success?
• When, precisely, will you start and finish each action step?
• What could hinder you taking these steps?
• What personal resistance do you have to taking these steps?
• What will you do to eliminate these external and internal factors?
• Who needs to know what your plans are?
• What support do you need, and from whom?
• What could I do to support you?
• What commitment, on a 1 – 10 scale do you have to taking agreed actions?
• What prevents this from being a 10?
• What could you do to alter or raise your commitment closer to 10?
• Is there anything else you want to talk about now, or are we finished?

By following these questions (in this order) it will help you to uncover the appropriate answer to the challenge or questions you are facing. It is often th case that you actually know the answer, you just need some clarification or logic applied to draw it from you. Clearly these things are much better facilitaited and coached (See me for details ). If you are a coach I recommend you memorize and learn the process and the questions here . I use them nearly every day.

Being able to focus and concentrate on a single task has many benefits. It often ensures a better job, it can  often be completed quicker, it will help to prevent errors or mistakes and other things aren’t compromised either.

So here are my top 5 tips to help you concentrate and use the power of F.O.C.U.S.

F = Five more rule
There are two kinds of people — those who have learned how to work through frustration, and those who wish they had. From now on, if you’re in the middle of a task and tempted to give up — just do FIVE MORE. Read FIVE MORE pages, make FIVE MORE calls, work FIVE MORE minutes.

Just as athletes build physical stamina by pushing past the point of exhaustion, you can build mental stamina by pushing past the point of frustration.

Just as runners get their second wind by not giving up when their body initially protests, you can get your “second mind” by not giving up when your willpower initially protests. Continuing to concentrate when your brain is tired is the key to S-T-R-E-T-C-H-I-N-G your attention span and building mental endurance.

O = One thought at a time
Overcome the temptation to think about lots of other things to be done and make your mind a deal it can’t refuse. Yes, the mind takes bribes. Instead of telling it NOT to worry about other things right now (which will cause your mind to think about the very things it’s not supposed to think about!), assign it a single task with start-stop time parameters.

For example, “I will think about how to pay off that credit card debt when I get home tonight. For now, for the next 2 hours from 08:00-10:00am, I will give my complete focus to speaking to the potential prospects at this networking event.”

Still can’t get other concerns out of your head? Write them down on your to-do list so you’re free to forget them. Recording worrisome obligations means you don’t have to use your brain as a “reminder” bulletin board, which means you can give your undivided attention to your top priority task.

C = Conquer procrastination
Don’t feel like concentrating? Are you putting off a task or project you’re supposed to be working on? That’s a form of procrastination. It’s amazing how long it takes to complete something we’re not working on.

Next time you’re about to postpone a responsibility ask yourself three simple questions

1. Do I have to do this?
2. Do I want it done so it’s not on my mind?
3. Will it be any easier later?

These three questions can give you the incentive to mentally apply yourself because they bring you face to face with the fact this task isn’t going away, and delaying will only add to your guilt and make this onerous task occupy more of your mind and time.

U = Unavailability – Remove all outside distracters
Even one distraction can bring your house of cards down, so be complete about this. This means:

• Tell possible distracters in advance that you will be unavailable
• Clear your desk. If you need to, clear it all off into a pile on the floor to deal with after you are done.
• No internet or computer programs open that are unnecessary for your project.
• No TV or Radio unless it is instrumental or unless you are doing art work and you work best with music.
• No noise. If you have other people nearby that make noise on a regular basis, consider getting a pair of noise cancelling headphones.
• No phone. That’s what voice mail and caller id are for. Don’t answer it. If you think it might be important you can listen to the voicemail and decide when will be the best time to call back. Imagine that you are in a meeting and can’t be interrupted.
• No email.
• Just you and your project.

S = Stay positive and saviour the success
Having a postive mental attitude in all things is (as we all know) important. Check your own PMA when you start your activity and ensure you have a good attitude towards it. You have decided it is where you are going to spend your time right now, so you might as well enjoy the process too, yes? Having the right\positive attitude before you start is critical., if your are not in a good space, regroup and work on that attitude and mindset first.  And remember your attitude is a choice you make, not an outcome. so choose to be positive.

Look back at your accomplished tasks and celebrate in some way. After accomplishing each and every task, reflect on it and be proud of yourself. Do another game plan for tomorrow and then call it a day. Go on and do something that you find pleasurable.

• Have a favourite cake in the fridge lined up with your name on!
• You can visit your spa for a relaxing massage
• Watch a movie
• Go for a nice walk or visit the gym
• Treat yourself to a tasty dinner at your favourite restaurant
• Visit someone you have missed because you focused on what you needed to do today.

Just do whatever it takes to ease up your mind and relax your whole system–you deserve it for a job well done.