Having a business website is a given. Your business website replaced the phone book and yellow pages. People search for you online and use their smart phones to find you and it is open 24/7. A business website is a necessity.

What about social media? You have heard that social media is big for business and specifically Facebook and Twitter. If you visit your competition you may see they use Facebook and Twitter.

If you use Twitter or Facebook, somebody has to do it.

2012 was a watershed year for social media. Facebook went public and needs to significantly increase revenue for its watchful stockholders and is offering more business marketing services and Twitter is booming, growing twice as fast as Facebook this year!

2013 means that if you are not using these you should look at both and if you are already using these you better review how much you did for 2012 and prepare to do much more for 2013. See what your completion is doing.

Twitter is used to direct traffic to your Facebook and your website, offer sales and product information, and connect with customers. You get customer attention by growing Twitter followers who are encouraged to share and spread your tweets. There are many things you can do with Twitter!  I will focus on discussing Twitter however most of the following applies to Facebook. Somebody has to do it!

As we end this year the heavy social media business users are evaluating this 2012 as they look toward 2013.  There are some important leanings and results being reported and shared about Twitter.

“A tweet-a-week is a weak tweeter!”

Twitter requires doing more than one tweet a week

If you are using Twitter someone has to be tweeting and responding to tweets daily. Unfortunately most small businesses post tweets (as well as update their Facebook) much too infrequently. That’s what happened during 2012, with many posting once per MONTH!

If your last Twitter post was a month ago, you are not getting measurable benefits. Let’s make a reasonable comparison. Assume that you advertise your business on a local radio station and you buy a single ad this month. You can be guaranteed that the radio station advertising salesperson will tell you that you would be crazy to do this. One radio spot will deliver very little. You must buy a schedule and advertise with a higher frequency. Placing an ad every day OR MORE is much better. You probably understand this intuitively! It takes frequency of getting your message seen or heard to be effective. Repetition and frequency of communication is important. This is proven by a significant amount of industry research, testing and results.

Positing three or more times each day offers more effective posting frequency and better results when using Twitter. While Twitter is free it takes time, about 10 to 20 minutes to prepare a good post. If you include a link shorter to drive some of the Twitter followers to your links as well this work may add a little more time to set it up. Your time it takes to post daily at an effective daily frequency is not free!

Because someone has to do it…

As a result most small business, we estimate 9 in 10; do not have someone at hand that can spend this amount of time to post daily. The proof is that the majority of small business users post infrequently, because they don’t have someone to do it. When we talk with business owners that post once a month or less they tell us it’s not working. Of course, they are right!

There are thousands of people that offer Twitter/Facebook posting and updating support. The majority work from home and freelance the work. You may find people by advertising on Craig’s list and among a number of websites that offer these services. A simple Google search will deliver pages of Twitter and Facebook services. This is competitive and the market serving small business is now well developed.

Some advice; if you decided to turn this work over to a relative, friend or student or if you find that you have an employee, please make certain that you evaluate them the same way you would if you hired an outside person.

Don’t use relative or friend that says, “I believe that I can learn to do this.”  If your relative or friend has been posting blogs and tweets successfully for a business, they may be qualified. But likely they are not qualified. We do not recommend that business owners to become their own bloggers. This is one of the areas in which it is often better to hire a professional because your time is too valuable.

Speaking from experience, the least expensive and “low-ballers” may not have a good track record or references. Many work from home and do blogs part time. If they get a job or better offer they may disappear and not answer your email or your calls. The low end providers tend to be less reliable especially for this business service. It is best to get recommendations and references and pay the market rate.

We have a network of trustworthy and reliable people and can help you find SOMEBODY TO DO IT for your social media needs.

Tips for handling “too many e-mails” fall into two broad areas:

1. Eliminating unwanted spam and junk mail and reducing mail related “risks”

2. Improving email efficiency – using automated processes

The following covers the elimination of unwanted  - spam/junk mail and reducing mail related risks.

There are simple practices to effectively eliminate spam and junk email and reduce risks. This begins by creating and having more than one email account for you; separating your business and personal/family email. You should have more than one business email in-box: business private and business public

This is not an option! If you use a single email account for business and personal email you will have all sorts of avoidable problems. Let’s focus on your business email.

Set up minimally two business emails:

Private Business email

Public Business Email

•  Your private business email should not appear on the business website. Use either a general inbox such as info@emailhost on the website or your Public business email.
• Never publicize your private business email to media, such as giving it to a newspaper or say it on the radio. This is what your public email is for.
• Never use private business email when soliciting or hiring people, especially if using employment websites like Monster, CareerBuilder or Craig’s list. Job wanted sites are posted to by millions of businesses. All email on job sites as scanned by spammers.  Again only use the “info” email or the anonymous reply features on all job sites.
• Never use your private business email for social media, Facebook, Linked-In, Twitter, and such. Use your company’s general mailbox or your public email.*
• Never give your private your email to people that are not trusted.
• Advise staff as policy not to share your private business email to anyone without approval.
• Your private business email should not appear on your business card. Use the public email.
• Do not use “unsubscribe” to unwanted junk mail, if it asks for your email!**
• When you choose your private business email name, do not use your full first and last name. It won’t remain private long! It is better to use your partial name. Using your full first and last name and adding a number after it is equally bad, for private email.
• Have the mindset that your private business email is like a password. Be protective with it.
• If you subscribe to any e-news/newsletters; NEVER use your private business email to subscribe. The advice is to look to see if they offer an RSS feed or news feeder service. Get your news/newsletters from feeds or news aggregator services…not through your email, private or public, unless this is the only way some are delivered…and use your public email for these.

*If it is too late because you already set up your social media and get too many notifications impacting your email, there are ways to repair this for each social media service. A simple way to is going to www.notifymenot.com  This service is easy and self-explanatory taking you to the current management tools for each social service. Furthermore, because these social networks continuously change what you fix today, the social media may break and put you back on notification lists.  Expect it!  You need to return not less than quarterly to revisit each social network administrator tools settings.   For example, if you find that suddenly you are getting a lot of notifications from Facebook or Linked-In, go to Notify Me Not to fix this again. This is a real time saver!

**Use sender spam blocks and email domain blocks in your email set up and options. Some email like Outlook have a simple drop down! This much better and take less time. Using “unsubscribe” increases your spam . . . if it asks for your email.

The critical element is making this information actionable. We have experience being involved rolling out scanning among multiple retail locations. The information provided by many POS systems and in-store traffic monitoring systems is awesome. The problem is that when you know everything about everything you end up knowing nothing! Information overload is common among retailers and more so with smaller retailers who do not have the people resources to mine the data. Traffic analytics is critical for proper staffing and inventory levels but having the information in an actionable way is the key. Simple exception reporting tools are vital because without action there is no ROI.

As an example, a small retailer that owns or manages more than one store will often find inconsistent and even contradictory traffic data, store by store, from the POS monitoring system. An initial conclusion may be that something could be wrong with the data monitoring! In fact, when traffic monitoring shows contradictory information this offers the best opportunity to get to the true root cause, because there will ALWAYS be important variables that have been overlooked. Data monitoring does not lie. Inconsistencies could be the result of a nearby direct competitor that is running a major promotion and it is just as likely that something else is going on. The data is the tip off; better look at this more closely and find the cause!

For instance, it may be assumed that shelf stocking and facings are nearly identical store by store, when it is possible that one store may not have replaced and faced a high traffic SKU…a shelf or display is empty. Inventory shown to be at the store remains boxed in the overstock bins in the back room. This shows up as poor sales and results in significantly lowering ROI. Exception reporting will identify this issue immediately and tells the small owner/manager that restocking is not being done properly.

POS Monitoring systems are invaluable and necessary. Whenever monitoring shows up an inconsistency there is always a reason! Exception reporting is a valuable tool and tips off the small retailer to look closely into the store to identify the cause.

How do you define success? And more importantly, who doesn’t want to be viewed as successful? Let’s talk about a process that will help you to better frame success in terms of your business. Most retailers think that getting more sales is the answer…but success starts way before that. Or they think that their location or their brand is the answer…but I’m here to tell you that success starts even before that.

Let’s begin with how you determine what success is for you. What does it look like for you? Can you describe it? What does success feel like for you?  Unfortunately, many of my clients, when we first start working together, can’t define their success. Most clients describe it in money terms and while money is an extremely important and critical measurement, having a crystal clear vision of what success looks like for you is fundamental to achieving profitability in your business.

One of the first actions I take my clients through is an exercise that defines who they are and what they do. If you do not know who you are as a business, then guess what? Neither will your customers! I ask my clients to answer the following question: “Why am I in business?” Most of them answer that it is to serve a particular customer group or to provide a service or solve a problem for their customers. I have them define what they are famous for and why their customers choose to buy from them and their answers to these two questions become key in defining their success.

Here’s a simple exercise that takes only a minute but will have lasting impact on helping you define success. Fill in the missing pieces in the following sentence and once you do, I guarantee you will begin to form a clear idea of what success might look like for you.

I help __________ (Fill in the blank. Let’s insert here who your ideal customer is, or the target market that you want to go after).

For example, in my company, I help retail business owners and manufacturers…

Ok, do you have that? Now let’s fill in the next part of the sentence:

Do, or be, or get, or achieve __________ (Insert here the result that you can get for them.)

Using my earlier example, I help retail business owners and manufacturers get more customers and sales…

And now we’ll insert into this sentence another word that defines your differentiator: __________ (for example, are you faster, does it take less effort to use your product, or do you offer a more streamlined process, or make things easier for your customers, etc.)

Using my earlier example, the sentence reads like this, “I help retail business owners and manufacturers get more customers and sales faster and easier.”

Do you see how this sentence is beginning to define who I am and what my business model is?

Are you ready to fill in the final part of the sentence in this exercise?

Even if __________ (and here I want you to insert the biggest objection your customers can have about your business or service).

So here is the complete sentence using my example: “I help retail business owners and manufacturers get more customers and sales faster and easier than they ever thought possible.”

The sentence you create should begin the process of clarifying for you a crystal clear understanding of yourself and your business model. How your business is different from you competition and how you communicate that is the critically important first step that will lead you to success!

The key concept for small businesses is to focus on your communications is that customers do not buy products, they buy solutions and they buy benefits. They also buy value, which is more than just the price you are charging.

Believing that you have to communicate price all the time is a mistake. People want value and it is up to you to communicate the value, the solutions, and the benefits you provide to increase sales.

There are two important marketing communications that are on point with this concept.

1. Customers want the best; they want the #1 rated and the best-selling items. Why is that? Customers want to be winners and winners buy the top rated, the best in class whenever possible. It is up to you to communicate how customers are winners when they buy your products.
2. When communicating value, try using a slightly different communication tactic. Communicate the savings rather than just the price. Do the math for them! When you communicate the savings you communicate the winnings. Saving customers’ money is providing value, and by establishing the offerings on a value base vs. cheapest price you come out the sales winner!

Every sign, card, flyer or written communications should emphasis this special value equation. Promote the value, which includes the biggest benefit or solution you provide.

If you are the fastest, then say it! Your message then supports the solution or benefit of speed of service.

If product availability is a solution or benefit your customers are looking for, then communicate 100% in stock every day!

Communicate your strongest benefit or solution first and frame it as part of the value equation. Competing on price alone is a tough road.

Let me share another communication strategy around transaction building. It will have a different look and feel than gaining market share.

Always communicate how you are different or better than your competition. Focus on telling customers why they should buy from you and strive to do it in 10 seconds or less before you lose their attention!

Identify your ideal customer and learn to talk to them directly through networking, direct mail, customer loyalty programs and through on-line and social media. Talk with them by every means possible and talk to them often!

Personalize your communication. Is your picture on the website? It is more impactful if they buy from Dave, rather than Direct Distributing! Many people fail to put a face on their business. Think of Dave at Wendy’s or Orville at you know where!

Make sure your on-line messaging and personality is the same as the physical store. They should be connected in look and feel, and also in personality. Don’t be afraid to connect in an authentic way and show your customers the personality of your company! If your customers know and like you, that is difficult to beat!

Let’s talk about communicating your call to action clearly. Most businesses fail at this because they just don’t ask for the sale! How many retailers sell vs. how many allow their customer to shop and self-select? Helping a customer find and select the product that best fits their solution, benefit, or problem will result in a more satisfying transaction. Whenever possible, help the customer select, rather than allowing them to self-select.

Lastly, direct the focus of your communication on the customer. It is great that you have been in business since 1927, but is that the most important thing you want your customers to know about your business? Today’s consumers care more about themselves and less about you as the retailer. Communicate your strongest benefit or solution first and then frame it as part of the value equation. Do that and you will increase sales and your customers will come out winners!

The 5 Week Makeover: C-Store Edition

Massive improvement in your c-store (Convenience Store) in 5 Weeks? NO WAY!
The real need for you, as a C-Store (owner, is YOU being in control of your business rather than your business being in control of you and this can change VERY, VERY quickly.
You see, having a thriving C-Store is not about the location or the Plan-O-Gram or your gas price or the demographics of your business. A thriving C-Store is dependent on the one thing that a thriving chiropractic office, a thriving restaurant, a thriving coffee shop or a thriving Jet engine parts manufacturer need. And amazingly, all of these businesses that I just mentioned need the same thing to thrive.
Peter Drucker, a world renowned management consultant, commented, “Since an organization has one and only one function – to attract and retain a customer, an organization only has two assets. Marketing and Innovation. Everything else is an expense.”
Are you in need of innovation or marketing? Most C-Store owners think they are not. And you may not really think you are in need of additional cash. What you really want is what the additional cash gives you –
• Peace of mind
• Financial stability in a world of instability
• A way to pay for your children’s education
• A way to pay for refurbishing your store with upgraded or new equipment
• A way to hire better quality workers as you have the cash flow to his them
• A way to fund that fun vacation you have been dreaming about
• A way to work less while making more
Hi, my name is Ted Leithart. For several years, I worked in retail management for a Global 10 petroleum company that owned many retail outlets. During those years, I worked crazy hours. At times I worked up to 35 hours from the time I left for work until the time I returned home (as one tired manager!). I regularly worked 15-17-19 hours at a time when an employee called in, call in and noted they would be there (but never showed), and so on.
I’m sure you can identify with this.
And through it all, I substantially increased my inside sales even though two major competitors built new stores within one mile of me. What was my secret? Well, here’s what you will learn:
There are dozens of strategies and hundreds if not thousands of iterations of strategies that can be used to build a business fast. But of all these, there are 5 or 6 that top all of the others…
These are not the strategies that I picked out – these are the strategies that I have gleaned from 15 years of studying. While many were out enjoying their evenings at a concert, a ball game, at the bar with their friends or at a family cookout, I was reading, studying and applying these strategies to see which ones worked the best – and the quickest.
In other words, by attending this seminar, you will have saved countless evenings and weekends of learning what to apply to your C-Store to make it thrive and make it flourish.
You will have saved fifteen years of headaches of what doesn’t work and what does. And this is all backed to protect YOU with a money back guarantee. If you are not convinced that the insights and applications are well beyond the investment in your business that this teleseminar series is, you’ll not pay a cent.
For additional details – and to register, go to www.cstoregrowthprofessor.com Click the Get Instant Access button and fill out your first name and email address (I already have most of yours). Then you can watch the videos if you haven’t already.
If you have watched the videos and want to learn more details about the teleseminar series, just click the I Want More NOW button and it will take you to the page that gives you additional details.
The teleseminar series begins on October 10. Stay tuned for details.

A Secret that I want to share with small business owners is called Communication and I believe it is one of the most powerful Secrets there are for creating success in retail business. Each one of you already knows that communication is critically important in your business. The key concept that must be brought forward in all of your communications is that customers do not buy products, they buy solutions and benefits. They buy value, and that is a lot more important than mere price to increase sales.
The key to communicating in today’s world is being authentic, being real, and being you. Your message must reflect you, your values, and your personality. People want to hear you!! If people don’t know you or anything about you, they probably won’t buy from you. Conversely, the more customers know about you the more they like you. This is called the “Know, Like & Trust Factor.”
Few businesses excel at communication. Why is that?
Let’s take a few minutes and review why communication, both written and verbal, is so important and how, if you embrace and follow this Secret, you can accelerate your business to new levels and bring more money your way. Communication penetrates every aspect of your business. From the first moment you walk in the door in the morning and greet your employees to the last phone call you make before heading home at night. We communicate all day, every day, and we do it so effortlessly that not too many of us have given much thought as to why it is so critically important. Let me ask you a series of questions to make my point:

• How have you communicated your vision of success to your employees?
• If you have, how often have you communicated your vision of success to your team?
• How often do you communicate your thankfulness and appreciation to your employees and customers? Daily? Never? In writing? Verbally?
• How do you set the expectations of what you want from your employees that will help to excel your business? Do they have to guess? Are your SMART Goals posted for all to see?
• Is your customer–marketing funnel laid out clearly so every single employee knows what is expected?
• Do they have a complete roadmap for success because you have made the effort to communicate it clearly and in writing?
I’m hoping that this is the case, and if it isn’t, there’s still time. And with my help, you will soon be on the way to practicing frequent and effective communication for your business success. I hope that you are in the practice of communicating exactly what you want in your business. I hope that you are telling your employees and vendors what you want, and not making them guess. Put it in writing and make sure everyone on the team can see it.
Develop a simple document that articulates the three biggest benefits of doing business with you and also develop what makes you different from your competition. The three things that make you different and better help provide the key communication messages to your customers.
The other area of communication takes place outside of the store or business. Are you advertising, and if you are, then communicate the solutions or benefits you provide or the problem you solve for them. I could write an entire book on advertising, but I will save that for a later time. The important lesson here is, however you communicate about your business, make sure you can measure the effectiveness, the Return on Investment (ROI), and that you are saying the right things. Thinking that you have to communicate price all the time is a mistake. People want value and it is up to you to communicate your value, your solutions, and your benefits.
Here are two important marketing communications that must be present:
1. Customers want the best; they want the number one rated item, the best-selling item. Why is that? Customers want to be winners and winners buy the top-rated, the best in class, whenever possible. It is up to you to communicate how customers are winners when they buy your products.
2. When communicating value, and many times that involves price, use a different communication tactic. Communicate the savings rather than just the price; do the math for them. When you communicate the savings you communicate the winnings!! Saving customers money is providing value and be sure to establish that the offerings are based more on value versus being the cheapest price.

Every sign, card, flyer or written communication should emphasize your value equation. Promote the value, which includes the biggest benefit or solution you provide. If you are the fastest then say it; this message supports a solution or benefit of speedy service. If product availability is a solution or benefit your customers are looking for then communicate 100 percent in stock, every day and every way!! Communicate your strongest benefit or solution first and foremost and frame it as part of the value equation. Competing on price alone is a lonely road!!
There are also several other communication strategies to help support your goals. Transaction-building communication has a very different look than gaining market share. Communication is the vehicle to communicate how you are different or better than your competition. Telling customers why they should buy from you is always a good thing. You need to be able to tell customers what you are selling and why they need it in less than 10 seconds or you will lose the majority of folks.
Ideal customer: who is it? Where are they and how do you talk to them directly? There are many ways: from networking to direct mail to on-line to social media. Once you know your ideal customer, talk with them through every means possible. Do you talk to them often? Have you created a customer loyalty program? Are you making your communication personal? Is your picture on the Web site? Do you have a presence? It will be more impactful if they buy from Dave than Direct Distributing!! Put a face on your business!! Think of Dave from Wendy’s or Orville at you know where.
Web site and Social Media: have a plan and work the plan. It’s better to do nothing in this space if you do not have an action plan. Make sure your on-line message and personality are the same as the physical store; make sure they are connected not only in look and feel but also in personality. This isn’t a popularity contest. Just connect in a very authentic way and show your customers the personality of the company. If customers don’t know you, they won’t buy from you; if they know, like, and trust you that is very difficult to beat!!
Communicate your call to action very clearly. Many businesses miss this concept because it is so simple and basic. People just don’t ask their customers for the sale. How many retailers sell versus how many allow their customers to just shop and self-select? Helping customers find or select the product that best fits their solution, benefit, or problem will result in a more satisfying transaction. If at all possible, help the customer select as opposed to allowing them to self-select.
Communicate to the customer about how you solve his/her problem and provide him/her with solutions. Focus less about you or the retail business and more about the customer. It is great that you have been in business since 1927, but is that the most important thing? I would suggest to you that today’s consumers are more focused on themselves and less focused on you the retailer. It is all about them and not about you, the retailer. Create and focus your communication on the customer.
Communications is the activator for all the previous steps.
Social media and the Internet (Web site) are fast and ever-changing emerging forms of communication—again, an entire book could be written about the advancement of technology in retail business communications. There is a place for Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, and LinkedIn in your business, but develop a specific strategy and tactics and work the plan. Social media can be time consuming, confusing, and a waste of time and money if not planned carefully with a professional. Have a plan, work the plan; if not, you are better off staying away until you do have a plan.
How you do anything is how you do everything? Well, how you communicate anything is how you communicate everything! It is vitally important that you communicate and practice through examples this particular secret.
Another form of communication that I am going to encourage you to get in the habit of doing is communication around failures.
Openly admit and celebrate your failures with your employees. Teach them that if they aren’t experiencing failure, then they’re not stretching themselves. Remember, when you experience failure, you are that much closer to success.
Create a culture of “do.” Celebrate successes, talk about them, but don’t forget to talk about the failures, too. Get in the habit of saying, “We screwed up, but let’s move on.”
Don’t be ruled by fear. Talk with your employees about how they can embrace their failures and show them how failure is just success rushing at you so you can get better!
Now we need to talk about how the right communication around your business plans can become a powerful tool that will assist you in making more money and will lead you closer to your desired business success.
Communicate! Communicate! Communicate! Tell your employees about your vision for your business. Share with them what you see and where you want to go. Getting them on board with your vision will be a very important contributor to your success and their success as well. Don’t forget to communicate your customer sales and marketing funnel process to your employees.
The last, and maybe the most important key, in communication is to always have a call to action. Ask for the sale; ask for their information so you can follow up. A call to action is critical!!
Remember this powerful secret, The Secret of Communication. Do it well and do it often for your business success! Practice the old adage of, “Tell them, tell them what you told them, and then tell them again!” It is impossible to over-communicate.
Communications is the activator for all the previous Secrets.

How Important is Great Communications?

I want to share with you one very important aspect of successful businesses, it is simply called Communication, and I believe that it is the most powerful key there is for creating success in retail business. Each one of you already knows that communication is critically important in your business.
But few businesses excel at communication. Why is that?
Let’s take a few minutes and review why communication, both written and verbal, are so important and how, if you embrace and follow suggestions, you can accelerate your business to new levels and bring more money your way.
Communication penetrates every aspect of your business. From the first moment you walk in the door and greet your employees, to the last phone call you make before heading home at night. We communicate all day, every day, and we do it so effortlessly many of us have not given much thought around why it is so critically important.

Here are a series of questions to make my point:
• How have you communicated your vision of success to your employees?
• If you have, how effectively and frequently have you communicated your vision of success to your team?
• How often do you communicate your thankfulness and appreciation to your employees and customers?
• Daily? Never? In writing? Verbally?
• What process do you use to set the expectations of what you want from
your employees to excel your business? Do they have to guess?
• Or do they have a complete roadmap for success because you
have made the effort to communicate it clearly and in writing?
I hope that is the case, but if it isn’t, there’s still time. And with my help, you will
soon be on the way to practicing frequent and effective communication in your
business success.

I hope you are in the practice of communicating exactly what you want in your business. I hope that you are telling your employees and vendors what you want, and not making them guess.
Do you remember one of my earlier blogs? How you do anything is how you do everything?
Well, how you communicate anything is how you communicate everything!
It is vitally important that you preach and practice through examples.
Another form of communication that I encourage you to get in the habit of doing is communication around failures.
Openly admit and celebrate your failures with your employees. Teach your team that if they aren’t experiencing failure, then they’re not stretching themselves. Never forget that when you experience failure, you are that much closer to success.
Create a culture of “do.” Celebrate success, talk about them, but don’t forget to talk about the failures too. Get in the habit of saying, “We screwed up, but let’s move on.”
Don’t be ruled by fear. Talk with your employees about how they can embrace their failures and show them how failure is just success rushing at you so you can get better!
We all know about the importance of having a plan.

Now we need to talk about how the right communication around your business plans can become a powerful tool that will assist you in making money and will lead you closer to your desired business success.
Communicate! Communicate! Communicate!
Tell your employees about your vision for your business. Share with them what you see and where you want to go. Getting them on board with your vision will be a very important contributor to your success and their success as well.
Don’t ever forget this last and most powerful aspect of business, the Secret of Communication. Do it well and do it often for your business success!

“How you do anything is how you do everything!”
Let me repeat that one more time because this concept is so important to finding success in your business.
How you do anything is how you do everything!
Don’t you think this statement speaks for itself?
When you set the standard for excellence and when you set the expectation for greatness, your customers and employees will react and follow your lead.

It is very important for you to project a winning image as the leader in your business on a daily basis. You must see yourself as successful if you want others to see you in the same way.
• Who doesn’t love to be on a winning team?small
• Who doesn’t love to be around people who are inspirational?
• How you do anything is how you do everything!

When you set the expectation and then practice courtesy and kindness it comes back to you. Would you be surprised if I told you that one of the Laws of the Universe is that it will come back to you seven-fold?
The practice of courtesy and kindness is something that you must put into practice immediately! It is a foundational skill that every great leader possesses and practices daily. Think of Mother Teresa. Think of the Dalai Lama. Both of these individuals were and are inspirational leaders whose very names are synonymous with courtesy and kindness.
How you do anything is how you do everything!
Another way to look at this principal is to consider the time-honored saying, “you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” Now I know you are not in the business of catching flies, but I hope you are in the business of catching customers!

How we treat our customers, how we treat our employees and vendors, says more about who we are than anything else we might say. Remember that actions will always speak louder than words.
As the leader in your business, it is up to you to set the expectations and model the behavior you want for your employees. How you treat your employees is how they will treat your customers.
Set strong policy, but remember to be gentle in your interactions with your employees.
Please remember this concept and put it into practice daily. Practice courtesy and kindness, you will reap larger money rewards than you ever imagined.
When you expect and practice quality workmanship, it comes back to you. You can create the future that you want. It starts first in your thoughts and then in how you treat your employees. From your good example of courtesy and kindness, it will flow from you to your employees, and then onto your customers.
How you do anything is how you do everything!

When you expect and practice abundance, it comes back to you. Be sure that you are not guilty of being too cheap in your business. Ask yourself the question, “Are you squeezing the money hose too tightly?”
Instead of saying, “I can’t afford it”, turn the phrase around and say, “How can I afford it?”
One of the ways you will be able to afford it is to practice. Set the intention now to be the best that you can be, and don’t be afraid of the responsibilities when your intentions come true!
You will get more customers, more sales and more profits. And hopefully you will enjoy the journey as you pile up more profits than you ever imagined.

What you have in your life is what you believe and expect. What you put your focus on always multiplies. Be sure to do this every day!
If you want something, start acting as if you already have it because: How you do anything is how you do everything!
One final thought: It is not about luck. There is no such thing as luck! There is only hard work and taking full advantage of every opportunity that comes your way.
Replace the word luck with the word opportunity!

Once you set the expectation and practice whatever it is you want, the Universe will move because you made the commitment.
Be it courtesy, kindness, quality workmanship or abundance, it will always show up in your life in the form of an opportunity.
Your job will be to recognize the opportunities and not let them slip away.
Never forget …How you do anything is how you do everything!

“Your Special Ability” Regardless if you are a small business, CPA or attorney…no matter what you do…
I’d like to begin by asking you to honestly answer the following questions:
• How do you spend your time while you are at work?
• Do you spend the majority of it in your business and not on your business?
• Are you running your business or is it running you?
• What happens when you try and do everything without seeking any help?
You end up doing a bunch of “stuff”, but does any of this stuff get you more sales, customers or profits? Or is it all busy work that distracts you from being successful?
The secret of getting more sales and customers involves focusing and working on your strengths and letting others provide the support that you need to be successful. Sounds simple, doesn’t it?
Well if it was so simple, then why is it that most business owners have such a hard time doing it?
Believe me, I know, because I was once guilty of trying to do it all in my business before I found ways to delegate what was not my special ability.
My passion is helping retailers achieve success in their business. My special ability is not doing monthly client billings or updating my web site.
You have to be passionate about what you are doing, and if you are, that is your special ability. If you are too busy and distracted doing things you don’t enjoy, then your employees and customers will sense your frustration and in turn will not be passionate about you or your business.
The secret is simply doing what you do best, your special ability, and then finding ways to get the busy work done through different means.
Let me ask you one more question.
What is it that you would do every day, all day long for free?
The answer to this question is your special ability! Everyone has one, but most of us haven’t learned how to find it.
Special ability is who we are at our very best. Wouldn’t it be great if you could spend all of your time doing only the things you love, that you know are guaranteed to put money in your pocket?
We are going to discuss the fine art of delegation and then we will explore how to find the necessary resources that will free you up to actually run your business and not have it run you!
Let me share with you a story about a client who was getting bogged down in accounting paperwork and other administrative tasks and he hated every minute he spent doing it. When I asked my client what it was that he loved to do, he replied, “I love to sell and work with my customers.”
I suggested that if he spent his time selling and working with customers and hired a bookkeeper to do all the other tasks, he would be able to generate the additional sales needed to pay for the bookkeeper. He would then be a much happier owner.
At first he resisted and argued about why it wouldn’t work but finally agreed to give it a try. Now my client’s business is thriving because of this very small shift in his mindset. He is working in his special ability and has never been happier, and his business has never been more profitable!
Now, let’s roll up our sleeves and get started on finding the right resources to help you get the support you need for the things that you do not love to do.
• What can you delegate to others so you can spend more time with your special ability?
• Do you have trusted employees that could help you with the tasks that are not contributing to your special ability?
• Can you hire a part-time person?
• Can you hire an intern? The good news today is that many interns will work for no pay because they are grateful for the opportunity to gain work experience and have something that will add to their resume.
• Can you hire a Virtual Assistant?
We’ve only touched on a few, and there are many, many ways to delegate or shift responsibilities. You must first focus on what your special ability is and then maximize that strength by allowing others to support you.
You need to make a conscience effort to do what you love and be committed to finding resources for the all the other stuff!
In summary, everyone has a special ability. It’s vitally important that you discover what your special ability is. It’s whatever you would do all day, every day, for free.
Everyone has a special ability. Your goal is to find yours and then surround yourself with the support staff and employees who have their own special abilities that complement yours.
What is it that you love to do that will make you the most money, in the shortest time, with the least effort and have the biggest on-going impact?
Let me ask you that question again.
What is it that you love to do that will make you the most money, in the shortest time, with the least effort and have the biggest on-going impact?
When you find the answer to this question, then you are working in your special ability.