Set Your Goals and Aim High

I once managed a pop band, composed of musically gifted people. We thought we already have all the perfect ingredients to succeed, and yet everything went down the drain. I found out the reason of our demise; we did not aim high enough.

Aiming high is something we hear too often but never got around to doing it; one good reason why we end up on the losing end. I hope we have the spirit of children, who aim high and will not settle on doing things halfway. I have a son who exactly aims for as high as he could imagine. It does not matter what kind of pursuit he is after, as long as in everything that he does, he does it with a lofty goal in mind. I wish I was like my son when I managed that pop band. I wish I did not settle for less or climbed the ladder halfway. The other band members I guess were of the same mind; though they are highly talented people, they do not just have the strategy of goal setting which is basically to aim high.

What we did that time was we concerned ourselves too much on the temporal part of the business. We were only after the petty things which do not last. We got so comfortable from where we were that we forgot to extend our reach beyond the horizon. We did settle in our comfort zone and never made our way into the far reaches of success. We wasted so much time and resources being half-baked artists. I often wonder if things could have gone differently if we set our goals properly. I believe yes, we could have been way better if only we did things the right way, if only that we aimed high enough to push us to become better.

Success is a gradual process borne out of a conscious decision. You should be able to decide what your goals are. After that, you need to set your goals way higher than you thought possible, the idea is to allow yourself to extend beyond your current capacity. It is so you could craft the needed ability to shatter the existing boundaries. Your capability has no end. It only ends when you decide that it ends. You have the power to become what you have envisioned yourself to become.

Did you aim high enough? If you have any comments and feedbacks, please feel free to say it all.

Tell Customers If You Can’t

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In the digital age of communications, business owners scramble to cover all data information highways just to ensure that the target market finds their product or service immediately and if the need to purchase it arises, the avenues to contact, inquire and seal the deal is present. Speed and availability is the name of the game. Sadly though, the abundance of these so-called avenues often does not match the time and focus business owners must allocate to keep everything going all at the same time. More than helping, too much glass balls over a juggler’s head may end in disaster especially for serious consumers who expect to basic customer service: attention.

Take this multinational cosmetic production company, for instance. With all their paid advertisements and collaterals plastered with their official website and fan pages, one blogger shared that she once tried to write them a straightforward note via the contact form available on their website for something about their product to be further clarified. Upon hitting the ‘send’ button, a computer-generated reply promptly appeared in her inbox thanking her for her very important query with a smart assurance of “We will get back in touch soon.”

Unfortunately, several months have passed and yet, no “getting back in touch soon” happened. To most clients, this is a sign that that company clearly does not feel that that effort poured into contacting them did not merit any kind of reaction so they will simply bring their business elsewhere. This is a glass ball falling to the ground in pieces.

Remember that no matter what the size your business is or how wide your distribution network covers, you are not only responsible for managing customer expectations by letting your customer know how to contact you but also to actually pay attention to your customers by ensuring all these contact information centers are manned and attended to.

Review where your target market is and what avenues are easily available to them. Is it landline voice calls, facsimile, short messaging services or email through your company website? Depending on your capabilities to handle these lines, prioritize which ones you will adopt and ensure sustained interaction in them once you make them available and known to the public. Beware of falling into what others call the “Always Available” trap by giving customers every option available just because you can take advantage of it but not really be capable of sustaining it in the long run. A phone line that goes unanswered can be more detrimental to your business than an unpublished number.

Your customers are sensible enough to understand that you are not going to be available 24/7 (unless you are in the business of saving lives) but when you say “Thank you for your inquiry. We will get back in touch soon,” mean it.

Vision Board

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There is no better opportunity of having a clear vision than grabbing an instantaneous moment of forming your resolve. You have to have focus in everything, and focus is nowhere to be found without vision, so create one now, and post it in a board.

If you find yourself in the middle of deep contemplation, but without the single idea what exactly to do, or you have hundred other things that need attention but you have no hint where to start and what to prioritize, it only means you lack vision and you needed one, so badly. Your plans will only make sense if you know exactly where you are going. I do not even think it is possible to craft sensible plans without a sensible vision.

About 30 years ago, I learned about making up ‘vision board’ from recycled materials of used magazines. It is quite simple. You secure for yourself some magazines (this should not be hard, there could be plenty in recycle bins) with pictures of the things that you want. The pictures could depict cars, jewelry, town houses, universities and top rated vacation destinations. Cut out anything that appeals to your senses, anything that you envision of possessing, make small cut outs of them and then paste it on some board. To make the objective somehow worthwhile, the board has to be ideally large and have it hung on a wall on an area that can easily and readily be seen.

All those things that you place and pasted must be consisted of the projections of your life, current and future. It has to give off an idea of the life you wish to live: successful, happy and full. The images have to be powerful to convey a strong message of self determination on your part. It has to make a statement; statement of success and happiness.

Just recently, I uncovered my own vision board that I made a couple of years ago. It contains images of people and things that project the life that I have now. Most of the projections I placed there indeed became a reality. The people I wanted to work with then indeed exactly became the people I work with now. The success I wished to have is now progressively becoming a reality.

Make your own vision board, and make things happen. Have the life you wish to have. Project the life you wish to live .And in time, it will be yours.

Withholding Information is a Selling Strategy Gone Wrong

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It is understandable if you exert great amount of effort to protect your knowledge about your industry. It is however another matter to employ a selling strategy by withholding information from your clients both potential and current.

I once worked as a marketing manager for an insurance company. It was my job to oversee people who make a living in selling insurance policies. I would say it was a great learning experience for me, as this was the time when agents are pushed to their limits in coming up with workable strategies to effectively sell insurance policies. I remember that we used to have a strategy before that most agents know by heart. They must withhold relevant further information about the business until they were able to secure a personal meeting with the potential client, and will have to disclose additional facts only when necessary. This was years before, and I just had a recent experience that exactly replicates this untoward principle. I browsed the web searching for a travel agency to help me out with my planned holiday abroad. I found one that really got my attention because of its impeccable website arrangement and presentation. At first glance it may seem to posses all the necessary essentials of a great travel agency except for one important fact; it seems to withhold key information that could have fully convinced me to avail of its services. I sent a message inquiry via email but received no reply. The next thing I did was call the business owner. It was then that I found out that though she is willing to supply seemingly less important details, she will not go any further without first receiving a deposit fee for the itinerary. I had this impression that while their business is selling their services, they are also selling their information. She made it a point that she will not discuss any further without me paying first. That really got me upset and made me decide not to pursue any possible negotiation. I really would have loved to avail of their services because they seem very good in what they do, but I do not feel comfortable paying for something that I could readily get for free.

We are now in an information age. Facts abound in the web. If you are withholding information from your prospects, there’s a good chance you will lose them to your competitors who are freely providing them vital information.

Maybe it’s now time to change your selling strategy, start sharing information to your prospective clients and gain their loyalty.

6 simple steps of setting up an effective Communications Toolkit

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An effective communications toolkit is very useful especially for small businesses. It is a collection of all your essential business communications components.

The effectiveness of your communications kit is dependent upon how well you put into actions every statement that you release.

Follow these simple steps to work out your communications kit

Step 1
Clearly state a brief summary of your business’ strengths. Simplify your words and be truthful with your claims. Emphasize your edge over the other business in your industry. Believe in your own capacity and let them know that. Be bold in stating the facts without coming out as arrogant.

Step 2
Revisit your mission and your vision and craft a very smart statement representing those ideals. This will help you deliver your message in a professional and extraordinary fashion.

Step 3
Rehearse your standard brief statements that you could embed during a casual conversation. Make it brief, something that can be delivered in as short as 2 minutes. Make every word count because time is of the essence. So include your values and goals in those statements. Make sure to never cease practicing on your delivery to make it sound spontaneous and genuine. The goal here is to deliver a clear message with enough contexts to attract your prospect to meet with you for further details.

Step 4
Make a portfolio of your past projects and pick the best of them. Include a few relevant details about those projects for the clients’ perusal. Be concise and business-like with your statements.

Step 5
With the portfolio of your best projects from the past, make sure to include visual presentations of its important phases. With the technology we have now, you could readily make vivid and lively presentations of your documentations.

Step 6
Bring all these things together and place it in any of your filing method. You have already one of the best tools available for small businesses. You may now start getting ready for any proposal that you will be performing to any prospective clients. You can now easily package your business and deliver the entirety of your business’ mission, vision and goals in to brief and concise statements. Use your communications toolkit to its optimum benefits. You can have it as the basis of how your website might look, or how your printed materials should be arranged.

You know your business well more than anybody else; only you could tell how it should be presented in a way that you want it to be presented. Start putting things into action. Use your communications toolkit to project the image of your business.

Start Your Business, Be Confident About It

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In every venture, either personal or professional, confidence is an effective yardstick for success. The performance of your business is directly proportional to your expectations and your confidence on meeting those expectations. I believe it is worth your while and mine to discuss a few of pointers about the importance of confidence in starting a small business.

The first thing that comes to mind when starting a business comes up is whether you have the capacity to run it, or even start one. You could be overwhelmed by the tremendous pressures even way before you had your first day of business. It is the tendency of the human instinct to formulate ungrounded fears based solely on unfounded facts. When you fear even way before you move, you lose. Your analysis of what happens in the future keeps you from making bold moves in the present; which is definitely detrimental to your fledgling business.

Before I had my own copy write business, I took a tremendous amount of time deciding whether I am really good enough for it. For days, I kept seeing reasons why other writers are better than me. I was hopelessly on the edge of giving up my aspirations merely because of my own imagined fears. Thankfully, there was one person who told me to get hold of myself and start gaining confidence in my own abilities. He said I should start out by being clear with my goals, vision and capacity. I need to be clear on what specific fields do I really want to flourish. Once things are already clear then I already began building up my confidence, which is a lot easier because I already have a strong foothold about issues at hand. My confidence started to climb unprecedented heights until I realized that people flock to me to hire me to write for their websites. That was just quite amazing for someone who started out without strong self confidence.

I became very good with what I do which probably the reason why people trust my ability to do their work for them. When potential clients approach me, they see a clear terms of what they expect from me as much as they are also crystal clear of their obligations to me as being my clients.

When you have clarity on your skills and your abilities, people get the sense that you could do a certain job seriously wonderful and worthy of their spent resources.

Be Always On Track

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When running a business, you need to keep yourself on track. There could be many distractions when you are already in the actual field. Some even looks very good at the surface but will later sidetrack you and will keep you from achieving your goals in accordance to your vision. So while you go ahead achieving your lofty goals, never take your eyes off your original destination. This will keep you grounded.

I understand if there are times that you feel the impulse of fast tracking things, accelerating procedures and expedite the process. There is nothing wrong with that. Some people like it slow, and some do it with speed. However, if you always do things in rush right from the start, you are in the danger of going off the track and could not be good for your own and your business’ sake. I believe that what makes us all the more to push the harder to resort to expediency is when we see our contemporaries speeding us by. We have the tendency to look down on ourselves and think that we have been left behind. But that should not be the case, do not envy those who seem to be skyrocketing because they have their own downtimes. Focus on your own stake. Do not look somewhere else but on your own track. Follow these 5 simple steps to keep you on track:

If you feel like your colleagues are speeding you by, just let them be. You will have your own time and chance at your own pace.
Always be guided by your principles. Do not let your business activities compromise your belief on what is right and on what is wrong. As you grow professionally, your character shall become stronger and finer as well.
Take time to rest from time to time. Do not succumb to burnt-out, treat yourself somewhere to relax and reenergize. When you are faced with an overwhelming task, all the more that you should look for an opportunity to rest and relax. Bring yourself in an environment of peace and serenity.
Never sever any meaningful relationships even as you chase after business pursuits. Spend quality time with people who matter to you, people who love for who you are and not for what you do.
Associate with people. Share your interest and your expertise to others. When you move out of your comfort zone to offer sincere help to other people in need, you bless them and you grow personally and professionally as a result.

Service Culture: Key to Establishing a Business Entreprise

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In my spare time I make it a point to drive through the local mall and stroll within its hallways just looking at the endless lines of well instituted pubs and shops. I cannot help but read through most of their labels and brands. One thing I have continually noticed on countless occasions: their business logos which would bear the words “Established in ___ or Since ___.” Looking back at it now, I can only ask myself, how do they do that? Just how do they manage to put up a business then keep it through the years even through the centuries?

In the world of competitive trades and economics it is not a brilliant idea for a budding businessman to slash prices in half every time business opens. This is what one of our internet bloggers recently realized. He concluded, that it is impractical to lower your prices to assume a leverage of some sort from other business ventures as this will surely bring an untimely demise on your business endeavor. Instead, he insisted on keeping one trade secret: encouragement of service culture.

What is service culture all about? It is simply the expounded idea of the age-old rule: give and take. That is, a transaction is considered complete if the services your customers received are enough to motivate them to return. This is encouraging customer loyalty. Customers need to feel valuable. Once they are made to feel that they are needed and that they are important they will come back for more. That is human nature. Besides, loyal customers are the best publicity. As the saying goes:

“ Not only do loyal customers spend more, they also help your business to grow by bringing in more new customers. ”

Creating customer awareness, channeling your principal message and crafting customer loyalty takes time and effort. However with the help of service culture, these can be made effortless. It is best to keep in mind three important steps: first, determine a shared goal between the business and its customers. Second, maintain rapport. That is, keep an open communication. And third, generate positive feelings. Use compliments, and personalized messages to convey gratitude and appreciation. Don’t get me wrong, service culture is not present within the transaction level. It is seen during the time when customers are not with the business men and they are not well within the business area.

Looking back, I have reached a level of understanding about how brilliantly these established businesses created a group of customers and kept them loyal all these years. I can only imagine how intricately they have managed to weave three important factors: the establishment of a common goal, the introduction of an open communication and the building of rapport which are truly exquisite they have kept the business going. Trust, in its most fundamental sense of the word, is a indeed a product of loyalty. Customer loyalty is the key to win the ruthless competition in the alternate universe of a traders’ world.

12 Ways for Great Media Interviews

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A media interview is an avenue for you to talk and advertise your business. However, common apprehensions might be hindering you from committing to an interview out of some ungrounded fears. There are ways to handle those fears and make your interview a success.

Fears are normal under any circumstance. The only thing you need is to find the corresponding motivation to help you get through the frightening stage so you may start to enjoy its advantages.

1. Good preparation

Even the best and the most experienced speakers need regular practice. The interview might run without any second chances, but you may have all the time to rehearse your lines. Ask help from a friend to do a mock interview armed with all the possible and perceived questions. This will help you sound spontaneous when the actual interview comes. Make sure to prepare also even the slightest detail. Consider your words carefully and phrase them in your most entertaining way.

2. Always be on track

Achieve your goals and purpose during the interview. Keep always in mind your objective. It is a lot easier to talk when you know your stand and you purpose. Therefore, when you answer questions, never forget to mention the product or service that you are trying to promote.

3. be prudent when you answer

Keep your calm demeanour and do not rush to answer when you are asked spontaneously. Whenever a journalist catches you off-guard, do not hesitate to ask for a pause to think your answers over. You have to realize that your answer will have a long term effect over your business. It is better to tell the journalist to get back to him on the particular issue rather than giving a response that you will soon regret.

4. Do not play it safe

Make a stand on critical issues. It will do you no good if you play safe all the time. Study what the issue is all about. Learn about its details, and then make a bold statement as to where your opinions lean.

5. Make the whole thing informative and lively

Your statements during an interview must really be interesting and informative for the audience. Make your examples realistic and practical. You should talk in a way that ultimately makes a connection with someone. When your interview is lively and informative, the audience will most likely retain most of what you said.

6. Look amiable

Be confident with your stance in an interview. Make your body language sends off a message that you are in control of your circumstances. Maintain eye contact with the interviewer and keep yourself relaxed and amiable. Moreover, be cordial every time you answer a question.

7. Act with enthusiasm

If you want to come out as interesting then you need to think and act with enthusiastic energy. You have to keep in mind that media is designed for entertainment and you might as well be entertaining when you do your interview. Make your conversation lively and buoyant. If both you and the interviewer are enjoying the show, then most likely it will emanate in your respective aura that will also be perceived readily by your audience.

8. Choose your words

Talk in a way that your words are understandable by people from all walks of life. There is no point speaking in office slang when your audience cannot relate to what you are saying.

9. Be brief with your answers

Brevity works best in interviews. You need to compress your whole idea and deliver it in a few catchy words and phrases. An interview does not last long, so make all your answers brief, yet relevant.

10. Make yourself available for an up-close interview

A one-on-one, face to face interview is way better than just speaking through today’s communications gadgets. If you are busy, then at least mark a special time in your calendar for the said interview to visit the studio.

11. Practice your voice

Your voice helps you sound more professional and create an image of authority. So take time to warm it up before the interview starts for better results.

12. Finish the interview with an impact

Have an impact during the interview, and then finish it off with a greater impact when the interview closes. Encourage people to act on your suggestions. Deliver a thoughtful call to action.

Bad Customer Service Can Take a Toll on Your Business

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Ever wondered why companies left and right spend millions of advertising dollars just to come up with loyalty cards and programs for their business? It is simple: it is because they have realized that loyalty leaders in business who more often than not design their whole business systems around customer loyalty rise up to be winners in the end. If you start wishing your business to harness this intangible trait of allegiance with your existing customers and take steps towards its realization, you and your business should be bound for success as well.

Client loyalty is the act with which happy customers adopt making them come back to patronize a chosen product or service. It is a self-imposed system wherein a company strives to deliver high impeccable quality in all their products or services all the time making high-quality and able customers stay with them for the long haul. In some successful cases, even company employees turn into these happy customers that customer loyalty transcends market place walls.

Owing to the fact that the rate of return for high customer loyalty is measurable, businesses today are jumping into the celebration wagon. When a business owner consistently produces products or services of value and win customer loyalty, market share, bottom lines and top lines all rise while the cost to acquire new customers goes down. How so? Loyal customers do a business much service through word of mouth advertising and referrals without the company having to spend any advertising dollars further!

Various ways are available today for companies to capture customer loyalty among their current client base. Programs in the form of incentives or risk-free trial periods for a product or service are some of the ways a business can introduce this scheme. Cash outlay at the onset may appear big and daunting but in the long run, the high yield these programs deliver drive up profits and expenditures essential to attract new patrons.

Despite these new ways of attracting and keeping your target market to patronize your excellent product or service line, remember that there is still no excuse from delivering excellent customer service at each and every transaction, be it pre- or post-sales, to support the thrust you are introducing to your clients. After all, “nothing is harder to regain than lost trust” and to earn customer loyalty, consistency is a vital key.

A blogger mentioned before that “People do business with people they trust.” That much is true. A client will only bring their business to people they perceive to be trustworthy not only in business dealings but also, those who they perceive to be knowledgeable – an expert in their area – whose high dependability to deliver what they promise is without doubt.

Today is the age of being critical – when customer trust is hard to win unless you successfully settle all the doubts in their head. Keep in mind that building trust is a slow process but once won, you reap the benefits for your business in the end.