Strategy and Execution

There are two things a leader can influence when it comes to producing results: your strategy [plan] and your ability to execute [implement] that strategy.

Which of these do you struggle with the most? Is it creating a strategy, or executing that strategy?

Every MBA program I know of teaches strategy but few that I’ve heard of spend much time, if any, teaching how to execute that strategy.

Figuring out what you want to do is relatively easy; the challenge comes in getting people to implement or execute on that strategy at a level of excellence you want and need.

Executing a strategy that requires a lasting change in the behavior of people is one of the biggest challenges any leader faces.

In the book “The 4 Disciplines of Execution”, the authors talk about two kinds of strategy:

One is a “stroke-of-pen” strategy, things like capital investment, expansion of staff, process change, strategic acquisition, media mix or change in product mix. It’s called a stroke-of-pen strategy because you execute it simply by ordering or authorizing it to be done.

The other type of strategy is a behavioral-change strategy. This is something you can’t just order to get done because executing it requires the buy-in and cooperation of people. Examples are: improved customer service, higher quality, faster responsiveness, consistency in the delivery of your offering, or one I am very familiar with is implementing a one-best-price strategy for an auto dealership. To execute this strategy requires a change in the behavior of every employee.

Leaders tend to not recognize a behavioral-change strategy for its significance and difficulty until they attempt to execute. Typical is for leaders to assume the people are the problem. But they would be wrong. W. Edwards Deming taught that any time the majority of the people have a behavioral problem, the people are not the problem, the system is.

The very first thing to address is the clarity of the strategic desired end result through messaging. Research indicates that less than 1 of 5 employees could articulate, much less understand, the organizations wildly important goal or goals.

And of those that did know and understand the strategic objective, only about half could say they were passionate about it. Lack of commitment then is the second thing to address.

Thirdly, accountability is another major issue. A staggering 80% said they were not held accountable for achieving the strategic desired end result and finally, about 90 percent had no idea of their specific role in achieving it.

In summary, people don’t know what your goals are, why they are important so they’re not committed to achieving it, they don’t know what they are specifically supposed to do about it and they aren’t held accountable to its success.

The real enemy of getting the right things done is the whirlwind of the urgent, more commonly referred to as your day job! The distractions of the fires that assault every manager and leader on a day to day basis.

I used to call this the bucking bronco.

I used to feel like the moment I walked in the door to my dealership I jumped atop a bucking bronco and prayed I could stay on for the duration of the day without getting bucked off.

The “urgent” things act on you, whereas the wildly important strategic goals are things that are important and you have to act on them.

Problem: If you ignore the urgent, they will kill you today but when you ignore the wildly important, they will kill you tomorrow. You have to do both.

The Covey group created a plan called 4 Disciplines of Execution that is based on the principle found in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Here are the 4 Disciplines followed by a fifth that is insinuated in their book but I’m going to establish it as a MUST 5th step.

One: FOCUS on the Wildly Important – the 80/20 Principle: This is about getting more with less. As humans, we are hardwired to be able to focus on 1 or 2 goals at one time. When you narrow your focus, it is easier to distinguish between what is truly important and what is simply the whirlwind.

Two: Act on Lead Measures – whatever strategy you are attempting to implement, your success will be dependent on two types of measures: lag and lead.

Lag measures tell you if you’ve accomplished your goal. [typical lag measures are revenue, profit, market share and customer satisfaction].

Lead measures are quite different. They measure the most high-impact behaviors your team will execute that will drive the success of the lag measures.  A good lead measure has two basic characteristics: It is predictable and influenceable.

Three: Keep a Compelling Scoreboard – people play differently when they’re keeping score. This is the principle of engagement. The highest level of performance comes from those who are emotionally engaged and the best way to foster employee engagement is to keep score.

Four: Create a Cadence of Accountability – unless we hold each other accountable, the goal will slowly disintegrate into the whirlwind of the urgent. This accountability happens through regular weekly meetings of any and all teams or individuals that have a wildly important goal. The best cadence is weekly, 20-minute meetings where each person answers a simple question: “What are the one or two most important things I can do this week that will have the highest and biggest impact on the scoreboard?

This 5th step will take EXECUTION over the top: Effective Communication that is clear, simple and easy to understand. The messaging needs to help your employees understand the WHAT, WHY and HOW we can help them survive and thrive through the execution of the strategy and goals.

A strategy is relatively easy to come up with, executing on that strategy takes hard work, focus and effective communication skills and principle-centered leaders.

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Right Thinking Leads to Right Results

Right thinking leads to right actions, which leads to right results.

Wrong thinking leads to wrong actions, which leads to wrong results.

No matter how successful he might appear, the wrong thinker is a slave to his wrongness.

He makes many plans that don’t ever seem to work out. He is constantly torn between duty and desire.

His life is constantly oscillating between tension and internal friction.

Rarely can he do as he pleases and ends up often doing things he would rather avoid.

The problem is that unbeknownst to him, he is being deprived of opportunities because he has proven his untrustworthiness in a myriad of small things.

When honest people get his number, they simply ignore him or frustrate him.

Honest people of integrity, no longer associate with him on free and easy terms and seldom does he even know it.

There are numerous people who go thru life never knowing what they don’t know simply because they have destroyed others confidence in them, and just never know it.

A man, woman or entity of integrity has nothing to fear and nothing to hide. They are transparent and authentic.

Conversely, the man, woman or entity that does not have integrity has everything to fear and is rarely authentic and transparent.

Make a point of being honestly authentic.

The habitually dishonest person bases much of his thinking on false assumptions by not viewing current reality honestly, thus he is constantly coming to wrong conclusions.

Honesty and integrity make you invulnerable to other people’s troubles and doesn’t cause trouble for yourself or your business.

Dishonest (wrong) thinkers are constantly seeking something for nothing and blame others for their troubles because they fail to recognize the truth of the Principle of Inside-out.

“What causes trouble for a person is less a lack of intelligence than a lack of honest thought.” – Richard Wetherill, Right is Might

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Become a marketing farmer with three simple steps:

Become a marketing farmer 👩‍🌾 with three simple steps:

Step 1 Lead Generation marketing: to generate leads with the sole intent to find people who are interested in what you have to offer. 

 

Step 2 Capture their contact information: Add them to your database. 

 

Step 3 Nurture them: Stay in constant contact with them with information that is personalized and they value, while occasionally making a sales pitch. 

 

90% of all salespeople (businesses) stop following up after 4 contacts. 

 

By the 6th to 7th follow-up nurturing message, you have earned top of mind awareness. 

 

By the 9th contact, when your prospect is ready to buy, you have a 90% chance they’ll contact you. 

 

Follow these three simple steps every day and over time you will have thousands of raving fans who only buy from you and become your outside sales force. 

 

Joe Girard was my “book-mentor” when I first started selling cars. He is the reason I became more of a marketer than a salesman.

He is listed in the Guinness World Records as the “world’s greatest salesman.”

Between 1963 and 1978, he sold over 13,000 cars at a Chevrolet dealership in Detroit, MI. and he did it retail, one at a time, no fleet sales.

Here are his stats:

  • He averaged 6 cars per day.
  • His best day was 18 vehicles.
  • Best month was 174.
  • The best year was 1,425.
  • He sold more cars than 95% of all dealerships in North America.

What was his secret, besides work ethic and a likable personality?

It’s the one thing I emulated and it brought me enough success that I eventually was able to purchase my own dealership at the age of 39 – constant follow-up with everyone he ever met.

Joe sent a “personalized” card every month to his entire list of customers and prospects.

By the time he was in the business 10 years, almost two-thirds of his sales came from repeats and the vast majority of the rest came from referrals.

Top sellers in any industry have mastered being a market farmer first and a salesperson second.

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Be The Best Employer In Town: Hire Eagles

Be The Best Employer In Town:   To find, hire and keep only the best there is a five step process to follow. [similar to the pattern we follow to help you find, get and keep only the best customers]

  1. Be the kind of person/business top performers want to be associated with.
  2. Know your Market– Know who your target audience is. What do the best people look like?
  3. Create your Message– What is your unique story? What makes you appealing to the best people?
  4. Choose your Media– Where do these top performers hang out? Where is the best place to reach them?
  5. Keep them.

First: Be the kind of person that others want to follow and associate with.

  • Be likable
  • Be trustworthy
  • Be competent

SecondWho is your target audience? What do your best people look like right now? Where do they come from? Where do they get their information from? What is their worldview? – our decision-making, and theirs, is influenced by the way we think. What are their goals and values and how can we contribute? What are some objections to working with you? Why would someone choose NOT to work for you? [Note: this is not an exhaustive list]

Third: Once you have a good picture or profile of what your best people look like, then create the message. What makes you unique? What are the benefits, for this target audience, of working with you? What do they want to hear that is true of you?

Fourth: Once you know these things, Where do they hang out? Where do they go to get their information? You can now determine the best media to use to reach them.

To market and sell your business as the place they want to be employed, the very first thing you must do is get clear on who your ideal employee is, where they are hanging out, what their challenges are, etc…Every marketing piece must know what your ideal employees and potential employees “hot buttons” are-what’s important and/or relevant to them. Once you find who your target audience truly is then you can know what those hot buttons are.

Never forget the following marketing principle:                                        You are better off running a weak ad to the right audience than you are running a strong ad to the wrong audience.

Fifth: Keep them.

  • Be more like a coach than a manager.
  • Provide them with opportunities to be rewarded appropriately.
  • Lead by principles not rules. Every rule has an exception, principles do not.
  • Be an effective communicator.

Cultivate and model these 9 Habits of Emotional Bank Account deposits as taught by Stephen Covey to build strong meaningful relationships and set the example of the way you want your staff to treat others:

  1. Seek 1st to Understand…listen with the intent to understand rather than simply to respond.
  2. Keep your Promises.
  3. Act with Kindness & Courtesy.
  4. Clarify Expectations (make sure everyone fully understands including yourself). Almost all conflicts are a result of “violated expectations.”
  5. Be Loyal to the Absent (never talk badly about anyone behind their back)
  6. Apologize when Wrong (it takes a Big person to admit when wrong)
  7. Accept Responsibility (don’t blame anyone else)
  8. Be Open to Feedback (be willing to listen to criticism; Correction does not mean rejection)
  9. Take time between the Stimulus and the Response so that you can Exercise your Freedom to Choose Responsibly.

Good results come from good people.  To gain more influence, identify the similarities within your target audience and work from there.

If you want to be able to attract, hire and keep Eagles, the best people, then be the best employer in town and ALWAYS BE RECRUITING – 365 days a year!

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Hire Eagles: 5 Steps to Find, Hire and Keep Only the Best People – the 20% that Generates 80% of Your Results

Hire Only Eagles – 5 Steps to Find, Hire and Keep Only the Best People – the 20% that Generates 80% of Your Results Part One:

In his book “A Little Bit At A Time”, Russell Wright showed that this concept was introduced as early as 1911 by an author named Frederick Taylor who wrote a book titled “The Principles of Scientific Management” where he state four principles.

Here they are paraphrased a bit:

  • Get and Keep the Right People
  • Make clear what needs to be done.
  • Make appropriate training, resources and support available.
  • Remove the obstacles from their path and let them do what needs to be done.

In his book “Good to Great”, autghor Jim Collins found a similar thing with all Great companies:

1st: It starts with having the right leader/leadership skills.

2nd: They then got the “right” people on the “bus” and just as importantly, they got the wrong ones off.

3rd: They had the ability to be honest about current reality.

4th: They kept it simple by adhering to the 80/20 Principle.

5th: They created a culture of discipline.

6th: They understood the concepts of the Principle of Compounding. A little bit at at time, all the time, has the greatest chance of success.

Then in the 1950’s W. Edward Demings and J.M. Juran, American consultants, were invited to Japan to help them rebuild their economy.

It must be noted that American industrialists dismissed their ideas. I’m sure Deming and Juran would have preferred to stay home and help American industry take it to the next level.

This is the Acres of Diamonds syndrome or as Jesus stated “But I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his own hometown” – Luke 4:24

For whatever reason, we tend to look outside our own backyard for answers.

I’m telling you, you have everything you need to get everything you want already available to you.

To find, hire and keep only the best there is a five step process to follow. [similar to the pattern we follow to help you find, get and keep only the best customers]

  1. Be the best employer in town.  Be the kind of person/business top performers want to be associated with. 
  2. Know your Market– Know who your target audience is. What do the best people look like?
  3. Create your Message– What is your unique story? What makes you appealing to the best people?
  4. Choose your Media– Where do these top performers hang out? Where is the best place to reach them?
  5. Keep them.

In Part Two I will go into more detail as a precursor to my upcoming book of the same title.

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7 Biblical Characteristics of Principle-Centered Leaders

The Law of the Farm is the guiding principle of Principle Centered Leaders

Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.  2 Corinthians 9:6

  1. They are Constantly Learning. “Principle centered people are constantly educated by their experiences. They read, they seek training, they take classes, they listen to others. They are curious, always asking questions. They continually expand their competence, their ability to do things. They discover that the more they know, the more they don’t know; Most of this learning and growth is self-initiated.” ~Stephen Covey

They live by the Rule-of-Success: Constant Improvement. Be Better today than yesterday. They work at improving at least one dimension of their life every day. Far too many people reach a certain point in their lives where they stop learning and thus stop improving. There are many people who have 20 or 30 years in a certain profession but in terms of expertise really only have one years experience 20 or 30 times. In other words they stopped learning and improving at their profession after the 1st years experience and for the next 20 –30 years just kept repeating that same experience over and over again.

“Intelligent people are always open to new ideas. In fact they look for them. – Proverbs 18:15 NLT

“Formal education will get you a job; self-education will make you rich.” ~ Jim Rohn

  1. They have a Servitude Heart.Every day they look at their life as a “mission” – what can I do to improve the lives of those around me. They understand that in order to get what they want in life, they have to help others get what they want.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit but in humility, consider others better than yourself. Each of you should look after not only your own interests but also the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 2:3-5 NIV

  1. They Radiate Positive Energy. They are generally cheerful, pleasant, and happy with their lives; their attitudes are optimistic, positive and upbeat. They look to create rather than tear-down. Their spirit is enthusiastic, hopeful and believing. Their general attitude is “there is a solution to every problem.”

“Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. – Philippians 4:8b NLT

  1. They Believe in Others. “Principle-Centered people don’t overreact to negative behaviors, criticism or human weaknesses.”

Because Principle-centered leaders are also Biblical-centered they understand that every human was created with unique talents. Just as every part of the body has its own unique function, so does the greater body of God’s creation – humans; who each have their own unique skills and talents and when we work Interdependently together we can accomplish SO MUCH more than we can independently or divided.

“God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well.” –Romans 12:6a NLT

  1. They Lead Balanced Lives. “They read voraciously and keep up with current affairs and events. They are active intellectually, having many interests. They read, watch and learn. And have a healthy sense of humor.”

They are self-aware, authentic and self-honest; they have a clear understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. What motivates them and demotivates them so that they can better control their environment and thus results.

They recognize that there are ABSOLUTES and condemn the bad and champion the good.

They know how to make decisions and just as importantly, they know how to live with the decisions they have made.

They are not extremists and do not back themselves into a corner by making everything – all or nothing.

They have no need to manipulate through either intimidation or self-pitying martyrdom.

“There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven:  A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to harvest; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to turn away; a time to search and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time to throw away; a time to tear and a time to mend; a time to be quiet and a time to speak up; a time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.” – Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 NIV

  1. They are Intrinsically Motivated.Because they are intrinsically motivated their security comes from within instead of from without. Their true security comes from their initiative, resourcefulness, creativity and natural intelligence (from God their Creator).

They take no man as an IDOL – no one is “Bigger-than-Life” thus they resist become any person’s disciple. One of their fixed Principles is Flexibility. They truly lead an abundant life.

Servants, respectfully obey your earthly masters but always with an eye to obeying the real master – Christ. Don’t just do what you have to do to get by, but work heartily, as Christ’s servants doing what God wants you to do. And work with a smile on your face, always keeping in mind  that no matter who happens to be giving the orders, you’re really serving God. Good work will get you good pay from the master, regardless of whether you are a slave or free. Ephesians 6: 5-8 NLT

  1. They are Synergistic. Because they understand the Natural Laws of God (Principles) they are “change catalysts”; they improve almost every situation they encounter. They are “Diligent” – they work hard AND smart.

They have traversed the “Maturity Continuum” from the lowest level of : Dependency (lowest level of infant, children, adolescent stage)– to – Independency – to – Interdependcy (the Highest level of the truly MATURE) to be able to skip compromise and arrive right at a Synergistic Solution that is stronger and better.

Read All of Ephesians 4 to give you a real sense of Interdependcy but Ephesians 4:4 alone sums it up. “We are all parts of one body, we have the same Spirit, and we have all been called to the same glorious future.” TLB

The Law of the Farm is their guiding principle.

Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.  2 Corinthians 9:6

Two great experts on this are Stephen Covey in Principle Centered Leadership and John MacArthur, “The Book on Leadership”.

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2/3 of Small Business Owners Don’t Know How to Ask the Right Questions and It’s Costing Them Money

Ask the right questions and you’ll get the right answers. 

A recent survey of 2600 small business owners, conducted in January 2017 by “Small Business Trends” revealed that 62% of them believe Facebook advertising is ineffective.

First, we believe the reason for this is the same reason too many small business marketing strategies don’t work – they don’t ask the right questions.

Our Essential Elements discovery process is designed to help you discover the six elements every small business owner needs to know. The very first element is designed to determine who your ideal target audience is.

There are 6 elements to knowing who your Target Audience is.
In some cases, you’ll need to survey or have conversations with existing customers to accurately flesh out your target audience.

One, Demographic Information: Where do your clients come from specifically?

  • Geographic location
  • Income
  • Gender
  • Education
  • Marital status
  • Occupation
  • Religion
  • Age

Two, Psychographics:

  • Spending habits-where do they shop?
  • Hobbies
  • Values
  • Concerns
  • Desires
  • Lifestyles
  • Associations they might be affiliated with

Three, Sources of Information: Where Does Your Target Client [ideal customer] Get His or Her Information?
Who are the thought leaders they follow like authors, bloggers, magazines, websites, podcasters?
What Facebook pages are liked by your Target Audience?
What Facebook groups do your Target Audience belong to?
What are the most popular online discussion forums in your niche?
What are the most popular LinkedIn groups in your niche?

Four, Pain Point or Challenges: What is their major problem they have that you have a solution to?

Five, Objections In Their Purchase Process: What are the reasons your customer might choose NOT to buy from you or your product or service?

Six, What are their goals and values?
Second, they don’t understand the importance of testing.  One of the great advantages to Facebook advertising is how easy, fast and relatively inexpensive it is to test not only the answers to the  6 elements to knowing who your Target Audience but also the message including the attention grabbing headline.

Testing budgets as small as $5 or $10 a day, focusing on different mixes, can tell you what you need to know before you begin to invest larger amounts in your campaign.

Our Essential Elements discovery process helps you discover these six things which are critical regardless of what media or technology you use.

  • Who is your Target Audience. Your ideal customer. The 20% that generate 80% of your revenue, cash flow and ultimately your profits.
  • The Lifetime Value of your customers. You know exactly how much you can spend or ethically reward someone to become your client or remain a loyal fan.
  • Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). This is what sets you apart from everyone else.  What makes you, your products or services unique?
  • Risk Free Guarantee. This is what makes it easier for your clients to say YES vs
  • 100% Financial Capacity. This clarifies how much money you are potentially leaving on the table and gives you the insight and courage to move forward.
  • 80/20 Principle. Also originally known as the Pareto Principle.
    The vast minority of your customers, employees, products/services, efforts, time, money, resources are generating the vast majority of your results. This process helps you identify them.

The question is always the answer.

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Quantum Results come from Paradigm Shifts

Paradigm comes from the Greek. In a general sense it means the way we “see” the world – not in a visual sense but in terms of understanding, perceiving or interpreting.

A simple way to understand paradigms is to see them as maps – mental maps. Our paradigms are the source of our attitudes and behaviors.

A paradigm shift is actually a break from traditional thinking.  All major breakthroughs almost always occur due to a paradigm shift.

Ptolemy convinced everyone that the earth was the center of our universe; then Copernicus came along and “broke the traditional way of thinking” by showing that actually the earth revolved around the sun instead.  Suddenly the map was different and everything took on a different interpretation.

As soon as germ theory was developed, a lot of needless deaths were averted. Up until that paradigm shift we had more men dying from small wounds and diseases than were dying on the battle field.

The United States is another example of the fruits of a paradigm shift. Up until our Founding Fathers created us as a republic, the traditional form of government was a monarchy. The 200 years after creating our Constitution saw the unleashing of the greatest nation the earth has ever witnessed.

“If you want to make minor, incremental changes and improvements, work on practices, behavior or attitudes.  But if you want to make significant, quantum improvement, work on paradigms.”    – Stephen Covey

If you start with a wrong assumption you will come to a wrong conclusion.

People are motivated by two things:
Pain – Fear of Loss or the Valley of Despair
Gain – Deep, Deep Desire

Learn more

Sell Anything Anywhere Anytime
All breakthrough, quantum improvements come about only after a major paradigm shift.

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The Pain – The Problem – The Solution

As I was writing this message – “The Pain – The Problem – The Solution”, I was reminded of just how much pain there is in our world today:

“I have no life.”

“Our month-to-month cash flow is always inconsistent.”

“I’m angry, I’m scared. I can’t afford to…..(fill in the blanks)”

“I can’t change things.”

“I’m worthless.”

“I’m too old.”

“I am so constantly overwhelmed with day-to-day problems of running my business that I can no longer take the time to be innovative or learn new things.”

The best way to eliminate the Pain in your life and find a lasting Solution, is to first understand the fundamental root Problem causing the pain.

Being honest about current reality is the critical first step.

Author John Gardner said, “Most ailing organizations have developed a functional blindness to their own defects. They are not suffering because they cannot resolve their problems, but because they cannot see their problems.”

Why can’t most business owners see their problems?

Well, for many, it’s because nothing fails faster than success.

We get comfortable and all too often we succeed in spite of ourselves.

The talents, passion and need that were there in the beginning when you started your business are no longer there or adequate for the new challenges facing you now or are right around the bend.

All too often, we don’t even know we have a problem until it’s too late.  Then instead of responding in a proactive way we are forced to react in an urgent manner.

As I have previously pointed out, there are four common problems every business owner seems to have in common:

  1. Lack of time – both personal and business.
  2. Uncertain or inconsistent cash flow.
  3. Not enough of the “right” customers.
  4. Not enough of the “right” employees.

When I first became a Chrysler dealer, my wife and I were awarded a cruise on the QE II, chartered just for the top performing Chrysler dealers in America.

Lee Iacocca was also on the cruise and one night he spoke about the three things that make up any business, he said it was product, profit and people and people are the most important asset.

That is a principle of life, not just business.

People are your most valuable asset.

Having the right people, in the right positions trumps everything else.

You can have the best systems, but if you have the wrong people in those systems, those systems will eventually fail.

When asked why he wrote his book -”The 8th Habit” ,  Stephen Covey said  “It is NOT about adding one more habit that somehow got forgotten, but rather it is about helping you to find your Voice and to help others find theirs.
It’s about helping people realize they are unique and significant in this world and finding your passion, your special talent that allows you to fill a need, and your conscience so that you can feel confident of what is the right action to take and prompts you to actually take it.”

 “If you want to make minor, incremental changes and improvements, work on practices, behaviors or attitudes.  If you want to make significant, quantum improvement – work on paradigms, change the way you think.” – Stephen Covey

The pain, the problem and the solution are easily discovered by asking smart questions centered on our six Essential Elements.

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When Trust is High…

When Trust is High, so are your profits.

In his book “The Speed of Trust”, Stephen M.R. Covey said there is an economics to Trust.

Low trust = low speed and high cost

High trust = high speed and low cost

Low trust causes friction whether it is caused by low Character or low Competence or both.

Low trust causes hidden agendas, politics, personal conflicts, win-lose thinking, defensive and protective communication.

Low trust slows everything down – every decision, communication and every relationship.

High Trust on the other hand, produces speed.

There is one thing that is common to every individual, relationship, team, organization, nation, economy and civilization – the one thing that if removed, will destroy the most powerful government, the most successful business, the most thriving economy, the most influential leadership, the greatest friendship, the strongest character, the deepest love.  Trust.

Not long ago I shot a quick video, simply using my iPhone to explain to some of my Real Estate partners why I felt I was so successful in that industry.  (Not to digress, but this simple and inexpensive method of video marketing is a potential gold mine for you. We will teach you and implement it for you.)

Because trust is based off of principles, my message works regardless of the industry, location or time.

Learn more here:

When_Trust_is_High...

Here’s my definition of TRUST

Trust = Competence + Character demonstrated over Time.

When trust is high:

  • Communication is easy and effortless.
  • The emotional bank account with everyone in your Circle of Concern is high so mistakes are more easily forgiven.
  • When mistakes are made, meaning is still understood.
  • Everything in your life goes smoother and momentum is always in a positive direction.

Conversely, when trust is low:

  • Communication is ineffective, time-consuming and difficult.
  • Every little mistake is taken personally by the offended.

In my experience, I have found that people instinctively trust someone whose communication and personality is based on accurate Principles –those founded on God’s Natural Laws.

People recognize when they are being manipulated for the benefit of the manipulator.

15 Habits to cultivate within yourself and your business that will help you build strong meaningful relations – both personal and business:

1. Be Honest & Authentic. Always be straight with people.

2. Act with Kindness & Courtesy. Be Respectful of everyone; even those who might be “in-your-face”. You may have to “fire” a customer one day, but be respectful about it and then move on.

3. Be Transparent – An Educated Customer is the Best Customer. Consistently tell the world what you offer, why you offer it and how it will benefit them.
Tell the complete story about what makes you and your product or service unique. You don’t have to just tell the good, tell some bad as well. Every product or service will not be the right fit for everyone. Admit it right up front. Stating what you can’t do builds trust and alleviates unpleasant problems down the road. I’d rather lose the sale right up front and build a reputation of integrity than lose a client after the sale due to disappointment.

4. Apologize When Wrong. When you screw up, take responsibility, apologize and make some sort of meaningful restitution.

5. Be Loyal – especially to the Absent (never talk badly about anyone behind their back)

6. Deliver Results – One of the best habits you can cultivate in order to accomplish the results your clients/customers/patients expect is to adhere to clarify expectations, the next habit.

7. Clarify Expectations – Make sure everyone fully understands including yourself). Almost all conflicts are a result of violated expectations. Even though most of my business is done with a simple handshake, it is still imperative that the expectations of effort, responsibilities and results are clarified in writing.

8. Be a Student of your Business – Constantly Improve by exposing yourself to new ideas, techniques and people.

9. Be Honest about Reality. Being self-aware is one of the foundations of ever achieving greatness. You have to know what motivates and de-motivates you. What you strengths and weaknesses are.

10. Be Proactive – Take responsibility and hold yourself and others accountable. Learn to “Think Win-Win or No Deal.” Never blame someone else.

11. Listen with the Intent to Understand Rather than Simply to Respond. Ask Smart Questions and listen.

12. Keep your Promises. One of the best ways to accomplish this is under-promise, over-deliver.

13. Extend Trust -Give trust and expect it in return.

14. Actively Seek Complaints – Be open to feedback; That means proactively seek out complaints as an opportunity to build trust.

15. Have an Attitude of Gratitude.

There is a positive velocity to your life that occurs when trust is high that can’t be compensated for in any other way.

 

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