Its all about business.

Archive for category Chill out!

Bitter, grumpy annoyed… get over it!

Jun 24

Posted by Steve Gray in Chill out!, Excellence!, People!, Personal Development, The Customer Service Dept | 2 Comments

I have been on about good customer service for years now, and while I recognise it can take a lot to make it happen, it’s a thing, which needs to happen.

In my more recent travels I have noticed bitter, grumpy and annoyed people operating businesses. It’s one thing to have grumpy staff, but quite another to see the operator of the business in this “state”. Seriously if you want to be in business and be a grouch stay out of site of the customers…

I guess it’s in part due to the Global Financial Crisis or at least compounded by it, to the point where people are wondering about where the next customer and cash is going to come from. Okay so you may not be able to do much about that, (especially if you have spent all your marketing budget already!) So you have to sit and wait… BUT if that can’t change, what about you?

To alter being a “grump” you may have to take a stance and force yourself to be happy. try a few of these.

  • Write a sign for yourself “Be Happy!” and put it where it can be seen by you and not the customer, make a bunch of them, put them up and act on them.
  • Make a list of things that make you happy and each day “do” something on that list somehow… and DON”T give me the line of “Oh I don’t have time…”
  • Get or make a CD of a bunch of funny things, jokes etc by comedians you really like and laugh at even though you have heard them a zillion times, play it on the way to the office, and LAUGH heartily!
  • Look up, yes it’s that simple, look up and try to not feel good, hard to do eh? Note how glum people tend to look down a lot, makes sense right…
  • Tell  your staff to tell you to smarten up… Go on I dare you to.
  • Make a list of the things getting you down, now write a bunch of ways to fix them, then act on it… go on do that now! Keep adding to the solutions list.
  • Take a five minute stroll, go out of the office or store, walk briskly and get the blood pumping.
  • De stress, mediate or do whatever thing helps you to de stress (without hurting others or things…)
  • Get an unreasonable friend, one who can hold you to your promises, and chat to them about ways to work around your challenges, share a few jokes etc.
  • Kick a footy, It won’t de stress everyone, but It might work for you, heck even going to a sports shop and buying one might break your routine enough, no cash? Borrow one off a kid in your street… hey imagine going door to do and asking “Does your kid have a footy I can borrow for an hour?” Heck that kid has probably been looking for a kick to kick friend for ages.
  • Go to an Art Gallery or five for a few minutes, I used to do this when driving around in a van all over the city, I would drop in to see contemporary art, (no cost!) and I knew where heaps of them where so I could get to one fast for a break in routine. Oh and turn your mobile off for the few minutes you are there. ;) Seeing other people’s “views” on and about the “human condition” can be useful.
  • Put a picture of yourself up on the fridge at home and yell at yourself… Did you like that? Now think about the last time you yelled at someone, did that feel good? Perhaps for you, how about them? Get the point, it’s not good.
So make yourself a “grump free zone” and get out amongst the customers with a happy disposition and see if that impacts well on sales or even just staff morale.

Tags: , , , , , ,

A few good ads… or a few good men?

Nov 18

Posted by Steve Gray in Chill out!, The Marketing Dept | No Comments

In though times the tough get going!

The sprung leader…

Sep 12

Posted by Steve Gray in Chill out!, Excellence!, Growth, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

Following on from the spring cleaning theme… is your leader leading the charge? did they “twig” to the change of season? did they come in the door with a renewed spring in their step? Well if the answer is no, maybe you should take the lead and remind them.

Get them focused – ask them to be flexible – give them support and watch them flourish (if not just run the show yourself and do your bit to make the Biz better.)

You see, often it’s the small stuff which happens that makes a difference, and people notice. In a retail setting, pull things off shelves and give the place a great wipe down. In the office, get in a tad earlier and clear out the “crusty” bits from around your area, in the lunch room, in the client areas… make a difference, do it for you and of course you are doing it for “them” the customers.

Reframing, renewing, refreshing it’s all good, so make the most of it.

It’s spring…

Sep 11

Posted by Steve Gray in Chill out!, Excellence!, Growth, Innovation and Creativity, Personal Development, Planning | 1 Comment

With spring just 11 days young, it’s time to clear out, clean out, seek out, innovate, create, get nasty with “stuff” and make way for fresh ideas, colours, thoughts and so on. Explore the ether, the space, the things I know little about (well to some degree).

It’s fine for me to feel this way but what about you? Does the onslaught of “Spring” give you that edge to want to do things, do more, be more, have more and so on? If so where do you start, is there a system you follow, or is it more of a I know the goal and to hell with how you get there?

Whatever way you decide to do things, make sure it’s going to work for you. Think big, explore and enjoy the results.

Wisdom comes in many forms…

Aug 28

Posted by Steve Gray in Chill out!, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, Negotiation, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Board Room | No Comments

Fast thinking and wisdom can work wonders, I saw this today and thought it’s well worth reproducing here, enjoy!

A wealthy old lady decides to go on a photo safari in Africa, taking her faithful aged poodle named Cuddles, along for the company.

One day the poodle starts chasing butterflies and before long, Cuddles discovers that he’s lost. Wandering about, he notices a leopard heading rapidly in his direction with the intention of having lunch.

The old poodle thinks, ‘Oh, oh! I’m in deep doo-doo now!’ Noticing some bones on the ground close by, he immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat. Just as the leopard is about to leap the old poodle exclaims loudly, ‘Boy, that was one delicious leopard! I wonder if there are any more around here?’

Hearing this, the young leopard halts his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he slinks away into the trees. ‘Whew!’ says the leopard, ‘That was close! That old poodle nearly had me!’

Meanwhile, a monkey who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the leopard. So off he goes, but the old poodle sees him heading after the leopard with great speed, and figures that something must be up. The monkey soon catches up with the leopard, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the leopard.

The young leopard is furious at being made a fool of and says, ‘Here, monkey, hop on my back and see what’s going to happen to that conniving canine!

Now, the old poodle sees the leopard coming with the monkey on his back and thinks, ‘What am I going to do now?’, but instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn’t seen them yet, and just when they get close enough to hear, the old poodle says ‘Where’s that damn monkey? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another leopard!

The moral of this story….

Don’t mess with the old .. age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill! Knowledge and wisdom only come with age and experience.

I am in no way insinuating that any of you are old, perhaps some are just youthfully challenged!

Over time I have come to respect the wisdom of the more “mature” around us, and as I get older I hope I  can benefit more from my own wisdom and have the good sense to draw more on the wisdom of others.

In business it can seem like we know it all, (or we think we do) but the reality can be different. I guess the point being to know the difference and profit from it.

Don’t yell at me lets chat first…

Aug 3

Posted by Steve Gray in Chill out!, Negotiation, People!, Risk Management | No Comments

Many of you know I have a business seminars listing service on another site, I have a bunch of events put in there as a service to the wider business community so people can find events in a “one stop shop” approach for aussie businesses.

I list only publicly available events and have done for about 6-12 months now.

This weekend I got a nasty note “take down our events off your website or we will take legal action”… whoa lets not get too pushy now. So I sent back a note, apologies for not asking permission but hey can we now have permission?

Short answer no… Okay so I pull the events off and send back an apology for creating hassles.

1. There is no need to shout (offering legal action straight up is a bit much in my view) I hear you okay…

2. If the guy had said, “Hey Steve, thanks but no thanks, please remove within 24 hrs as it upsets our measurement systems etc, hope you understand…” I would have been more than happy to do so. Now it just gives me a chance to write another blog entry on communicating.

Ok… so it’s not a big deal but why should he “shout”, when a “chat” would do it just as elegantly and effectively.

When it gets quiet… you???

Jun 25

Posted by Steve Gray in Chill out!, Excellence!, Franchisees, Planning, Risk Management | No Comments

So what do you do when things get quiet in the business?

Do you…

- Wonder why?
- Start to do all the little things that you mean to do when you are busy?
- Start marketing?
- Sack some staff!?
- Sit and wait…
- Check how things were this time last year?
- Ask what’s happening?
- PANIC!
- Change things?
- Go back to the business plan?

Or a combo of the above…

Whatever you do when things go quiet make sure you do SOMETHING other than panic, as that usually leads nowhere fast.

Carnival of Australia – February 27, 2008

Feb 27

Posted by Bren Ryan in Chill out!, Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Starting out in business, The Board Room, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept, The Operations Dept, The Sales Dept, Uncategorized | 8 Comments

carnival of australia

archives | submit post

Welcome to the February 27, 2008 edition of Carnival of Australia.

 Thanks to all the contributors, some great stuff there, enjoy your reading! 

Elias presents The day we said “sorry”! posted at Ramblings of an Australian teacher, saying, “I hope I can still squeeze in the current carnival.” – Yes and No Elias! I think you wanted to be in last fornight’s carnival, but you are welcome in ours :-)

John Crenshaw presents The Biggest Scam Your Bank Gets Away With Everyday posted at Truthful Lending dot Com, saying, “This little known scam accounts for a huge portion of fees paid to banks every year and is going on right under your nose. The worst part is, it’s completely legal.”

Micellaneous Mum presents Project book – introducing my Illustrator! posted at Miscellaneous Adventures of an Aussie Mum, saying, “The next installment in the series on how I’m going to publish my book this year.”

Business

D Robinson presents Diana Williams and Fernwood Women’s Health Clubs | Australian Women Online posted at Australian Women Online, saying, “This interview with Diana Williams is just one in a series of articles on successful women in business featured on Australian Women Online.”

Kathie Thomas presents Being Ready To Receive posted at soho-life.com, saying, “Helping clients to receive information.”

Leela Cosgrove presents How to Write a Professional Bio posted at Leela Cosgrove.

Leela Cosgrove presents The Seven Step Book Leveraging Program posted at Leela Cosgrove.

Michael Crooks presents Promotional Marketing Articles posted at Crooks Advertising Alliance, saying, “This article explains how salespeople can prevent children from sabotoging a sale.”

Martin Russell presents 5 Keys To Word of Mouth Marketing posted at Word of Mouth Marketing.

Dr. Gavin R. Putland presents Can you stop paying the mortgage and keep the house? posted at /etc/cron.whenever/, saying, “In America, thanks to reselling and repackaging of mortgage loans, the answer is often “Yes” because nobody can prove to whom you owe the money.”

Culture

bryce presents Tropfest Tumblings posted at a strangled duck, saying, “Tropfest was a great night with some great movies.”

Suzie Cheel presents There is a Fork In The Road: Which Path Will I Take? posted at The Abundance Highway, saying, “One morning walking on the beach I was fascinated how a tree branch thrown up by the tide was so beautifully positioned on the beach. For me, it was a fabulous image for a fork in the road. I knew then that one day I would find a saying or the words that would be just perfect to go with the picture.”

Michelle Sweeney presents My How Times Have Changes posted at Tonic Gifts.

Current Affairs

Dr. Gavin R. Putland presents Rationalizing stamp duty posted at Putland Uncensored.

Environment

Carole Fogarty presents Your Wealth Location for 2008: posted at THE HEALTHY LIVING LOUNGE, saying, “Locate your prosperity and wealth energy for 2008 and then elementally enhance and energetically uplift to bring new opportunities into your life. This is a potent energy that given the right conditions will surprise you.”

jen presents Semantically driven: blogging about blogging, parenting and living in Australia. » True blue posted at Semantically driven, saying, “This is a bit about what I do to save and reuse water.”

Family

Carole Fogarty presents The ultimate guide for a calmer driving experience: posted at THE HEALTHY LIVING LOUNGE, saying, “Ten practical and simple ways to ensure your car is not a metal container full of adult and children stress. Turn the calm dial up in your car now.”

Megan Bayliss presents Alleged sex predator masquerades as parent blogger posted at Imaginif…, saying, “What’s the time Mr Wolf? Time to take care because I have seen the avatar of an alleged child sexual abuser on many of your sites. Posing as a family blogger and all round decent human being is an easy thing to do…particularly when you want something. Be aware of who you are letting in the front door of your virtual home. Child protection is serious business. An investment in it nets returns beyond any current financial investment.”

PlanningQueen presents Ten things we should never say to kids. posted at Planning with Kids, saying, “A reminder to me as a parent about how I can impact my child through what I say to them.”

Food

Lightening presents Zucchini Lovefest posted at Lightening Online, saying, “Need some help using up those zucchini’s. Here’s a recipe or two for you to try.”

Gillian Polack presents Food History at the Royal Canberra Show – #1 posted at Gillian Polack, saying, “There’s a second article on bush foods, too. http://www.foodpast.com/food-history-at-the-royal-canberra-show-1-2/”

History

Romeo Vitelli presents Constance Kent posted at Providentia, saying, “Either a tragic victim or a brutal murderer (and maybe even Jack the Ripper). You make the call.”

Music

Duncan Macleod presents The Presets produce My People posted at Duncan’s Music Videos, saying, “Music video for My People, by Sydney electro pop duo The Presets, directed by Kris Moyes, younger brother of Kim Moyes. “I’m here with all of my people, locked up with all of my people. So let me hear you scream if you’re with me”"

Travel

Raymond presents Airline Credit Cards That Offer Free Miles posted at Money Blue Book.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of australia using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Tags: ,

Are you a point scorer?

Jan 30

Posted by Steve Gray in Chill out!, Finance, Personal Development, Risk Management | 2 Comments

I learn things from many sources (hey don’t we all?) but today I was listening to a business owner talking on an issue that reminded me of a useful story that fitted to the situation, here it is…

Pete had been investing in shares for many years, and had weathered many ‘storms’ and made and lost lots of $$ along the way. One thing he said that made the difference for him in building a successful share portfolio was using points instead of $$…

“What I realised was I was having an issue about money, if I lost some I would say oh $#*%! then when I made $$ I would say the same but with a positive inflection and think I had made a fortune… On average I maintained a healthy bank balance and it certainly grew well, on average… but the roller coaster highs and lows took their toll on me emotionally… until.. Until I decided to think of the $$ as points. Basically I would say ok, I made x No: of points or lost X No: of points… It meant I was not adding the pressure my mind had created about $$, Simple really and it made the world of difference, it was as if I was using monopoly money in a sense.”

Back to the initial chat I was having… it involved $$ he was stressing out about the amount of $$ he had to earn to break even on a daily basis… no work meant no $$, or low work meant low $$… when the $$ were above his set level he was okay, but the stress the low level caused him could probably become unhealthy quite fast. If your stress is negative you may not perform as well and make a mistake that could cost you dearly.

The real lesson here is changing things that cause our ‘thresholds’ of understanding (in this case $$) so that we can reframe them so they take the pressure off.

Note if you had to earn $1,000 per day to break even in our business and that caused you grief, then altering your mindset to 1,000 points a day might just be the way to reset how you handle your threshold thoughts on amounts to be earned.

In short re framing how we look at and experience things can make a huge difference to your results.

A moment or three to reflect…

Dec 19

Posted by Steve Gray in Chill out!, Innovation and Creativity | No Comments

I was out and about today, the roads getting busy with Christmas shoppers, the car radio warbling with the odd Xmas song (yes I mean XMAS!) and I had to make two trips to the one location to collect some gear for a client, as well as two trips to another spot out much further than I would usually venture, but such was the task at hand.

It meant I had to negotiate my way around the back of a disused reception centre, it has a fairly leafy fernery out the back, out the back of that is what appears to have once been a nursery, overgrown and messy.

It took about nine trips to my vehicle loading up the various ‘bits’, I went from full sun and the noise of a busy road to the cool shade a muted tones of the traffic in the background. Tall ferns and deep green lattice under the cover of a huge roofed in pergola created a “solid slice of serenity” in my busy day.

Not long after I started I noticed a sound I had not heard for a very long time, a bull frog. The deep “Breebit” sound it made was short and deep, very resonant. At about trip seven back from the car I wanted to find the frog amongst the ferns and watch it. I got close and found a pond with lots of growth, green froth I guess it was tadpole eggs and slowly as I peered into the water emerged a few gold fish, very light, almost translucent white, slowly they moved gracefully amongst the ideal green growth.

I crouched down and waited, I was just a few feet back from the edge, finally after about a minute “Breebit” I honed my senses a bit more and moved closer I was sure I had located the area where the frog would be, I waited again.

The background muted traffic faded even more as I waited for signs of movement, signs of ‘frog life’ and I waited… “Breeeebit” I now had a better idea of where it was located and I watched, intrigued, deep in thought. I recalled watching and catching frogs and tadpoles as a kid… muddy farm dams with long reeds the frogs would easily hide in… I was transfixed on one spot… nothing.

My hustle and bustle day had folded in on itself, I was not concerned about what I had to do next, I was not hassled by the thought of the phone ringing… none of it mattered, I looked around (conscious that if you stand in one spot and it happens to have an ants nest nearby you can become a painful snack…) No ants.

I breathed easy enjoying the serene scene before me, wait where did that fish go? How come this pond has survived so well without any tending by people to top up the water? Oh yeah it’s in a shaded area of a fernery… very nice too. No frog, not a sign of it.

Standing up I noticed that the area was well protected against any predators so the frog had a great chance to thrive, the environment was fairly ideal really… I took a few steps in another direction to see if I could get a better view of the frog, no luck not a sign, not a peep.

For a while as I finished off my tasks I was more relaxed, breathing with ease, noting how my thoughts were strongly tinged with green lush foliage and a calm smooth pond that formed a trigger in my mind for quieter reflection.

I never got to see the frog, I managed to hear it once more as I left, I felt as if it was toying with me. The rest of my day was guilt free, not a rushed moment, not a hassle not a care really for the tasks ahead, just a sense of knowing I had stopped to reflect, to make time to “stop and smell the roses” as they say. I had a good day and was thankful the client had given me a nice little task.

In our busy business lives we often get too bogged down in the daily grind… now ask yourself, what can I do to take a moment or three to reflect? Guilt free, openly almost in defiance of the hustle and bustle we might have in front of us. What’s your story, your point of reflection, your time to connect deeper and relax, even if it is for just a fleeting moment…

  • You are currently browsing the archives for the Chill out! category.