Spend the Money

One of the biggest reasons small businesses fail is undercapitilization. If you're self-employed or compensated mostly on commission, you own your own business - like it or not.

Make sure you have sufficient funds to invest in the most valuable asset you have - YOU. Better clothes, better marketing materials, even an assistant - one that will allow you to utilize your wonderful strengths and not force you to do things you hate doing and frankly, are not good at.

Don't have the funds? Then why did you take this career path to begin with? Beg, borrow and steal to give yourself the needed resources to fulfill your potential. If that scares you a little, too bad. No one said this was going to be easy. Enjoy it and embrace the challange.

Living = taking some risk and believing in your ability.

Best tip I can give you - take UCLA or Louisville in your office pool. Have a great Wednesday!!!

Written versus Verbal

A customer verbally tells you that they "must have" 4 things in order to consumate a transaction. Are they telling you the truth or exagerating? Did they even give it much thought? Are they realistic?

If possible, try this - ask them to confirm, via e-mail, what they told you verbally. "Susan, can you please confirm what you must have in order to move forward with this purchase? Sorry to ask again, but I want to make sure that nothing is missed. Thanks."

You can say this a million different ways depending upon the situation and what you're selling. The bottom line - was the message consistent? Did their needs list increase or decrease? Did they not even respond, confirming that they may not be as serious as you initially thought?

Get it in writing and you will be that much closer to either making the sale or cutting them loose. Either way, you benefit.

Past, Present, Future

A big reason people never fulfill their potential is because they live in the past or the future. I know you've heard this before, and I'm not here to lecture you. But the fact remains, I work with sales people and entrepreneurs everyday, and this is one of the biggest factors in limiting their success.

"What could I have done?" Learn from the past but don't let it be the anchor that "sinks" you. There is still "time" to accomplish things in life. Reflection is good, obsession is not. Learn and move on.

"What should we do?" Look too far forward and you will miss the great things that happen every day. Also, you will spend way too much time in "planning" mode versus "doing" mode. Put a plan together for the future, and then get all of the little things that need to be done today, to make those BIG things happen tomorrow.

Don't let them miss the message

I am sometimes (ok, maybe often) a little louder than the average person. You may be thinking that I shouldn't care, as long as I don't offend anyone and stay true to who I am - and I agree. One problem, my MESSAGE may get lost as some people get distracted by my tone and pace.

Since it is very important to me that people don't miss the message being deliver, I do my best to tell them what to expect, up front, when seeing me for the first time.

You should do the same with your customers. It may not be that you speak loud and fast, but soft and slow, which can be just as irritating for some. The bottom line is that when first impressions are being formed, it is critical that the "right" connection is made. If you have a delivery that you think may "frustrate" or "intimidate" the other individual, just give them a heads up as what to expect so your message is not lost. Or, you always have the option to adapt and adjust to the other person's preferrred style of communication - just don't lose your "it" factor along the way.

You have choices

How you handle each situation. Condition yourself to have a positive mental outlook, and attitude, and I guarantee that your customer will follow suit.

Remember, you just don't become what you think about all day long, but also who you associate with. Be miserable and half-empty and those are the customers you will attract. Doesn't make for a very fun transaction, does it?

Valentine's Day Special

We are only as good as the people we surround ourselves with. This includes our loved ones and friends.

Positive energy, support and encouragement, and lots of hugs and kisses go a long way in motivating us to succeed and fulfill our potential. Thus, make sure they (whomever "they" may be - spouse, friend, roommate, mom, etc.) know that you need their love.

This is the most "hokey" you will ever see me get. Sorry, but the hug my 3 year old gave me today did wonders for my energy levels.

Listen much?

When someone is speaking with you, what are you doing? Like most, you are probably preparing a response while that person is still speaking - inevitably missing most of their message. A big NO-NO.

Why do you do this? Who or what is creating the need for such rapid fire banter? You, that's who. You are directly responsible for creating most of this chaos.

Slow down!!! Listen to the other peron closely. Stay present in the conversation so you can figure out what buttons to push in order to move the conversation in a positive direction. A good little tip to find extra seconds to formulate a response is to simply repeat back what the other person just said. For example - "John, I just want to confirm what you just said. You expect to find a 2 bedroom, 2 bath with a minimum of 1100 square feet, in downtown Manhattan for under 1,200,000 in the next 30 days. You also expect to utilize a down payment of approximately 20%. Is that correct?"

Repeat things to ensure that there was no misunderstanding and to give you some extra time to formulate a sound response. Do this, and you will be more successful today than yesterday. EBL's definition of true success.