Self-confidence is the food that feeds our personal growth. It is an indispensable part of achievement. Self-confidence stems from the self-awareness of our intrinsic worth as individuals. We are blessed with an incredible amount of potential, most of which is untapped. George Santayana once wrote, “Man is as full of potentiality as he is of […]

Do you have a mobile phone… is the provider any good? Mine wasn’t so I changed, I went elsewhere.
What surprised me the most was that there was no contact from the original provider as to why I had left. If they had called me I would have TOLD them about their many failings. It’s the […]

As someone once advised, “Grow antennae, not horns.” If you prejudge someone as shallow, crazy, or ill informed, you automatically cease paying attention to what they say. So a basic rule of listening is to judge only after you have heard and evaluated what they say. Do not jump to conclusions based on how they […]

Many new business owners ask me, “Should I offer a money-back guarantee? I know it will help sales, but the risk really scares me.” I offer guarantees on everything I sell, but that doesn’t mean you should too. Here are some factors to consider and some ideas to get you started.
The Pros:
A guarantee puts your […]

“The reason you don’t understand me, Edith, is because I’m talkin’ to you in English and you’re listenin’ to me in dingbat!” - Archie Bunker
Archie was right about finding a common language or wavelength, but it takes two to communicate– the speaker and the listener. Both need to make the effort to understand each other. […]

From past years of experience in selling information products online, I knew that December sales are generally always slow. So this year I decided to try something different - have a sale.
I was always nervous in the past about having a sale. Would it diminish the value on my information in people’s minds? Would it […]

A friend described to me today how his 23 year old son ‘turned a corner’ just recently when working in a computer shop. Alistair was bursting with technical knowledge yet really lacked confidence. This all changed after he gave some advice to a customer whose daughter was starting uni.
“She’ll need this, and this. This is optional, but […]

After my third attempt to de-code the phone number from my voice mail … I gave up. Seems Frank Janson … Johnson …  Jorson or something like that from some company in Mauzoula or Missouri wants me to call him back. His number is 269-6 something, four, 36 or maybe it’s 3 zero then 6, […]

It would be lovely to think we only ever attracted dream clients to our businesses, but unfortunately we also get the occasional stinker.
Examples include those who ask us to undertake work that’s beyond (or beneath) our expertise. In these cases we have to weigh up ‘income versus annoyance’ and ensure we are mindful of the potential risk […]

Choosing a professional speaker or corporate trainer can be a daunting and risky task.  There are thousands of speakers all over the world so how do you choose?  My advice  is to engage a bureau. The reason for this is that we know who the best speakers are and have existing relationships with them.  Many bureaus have […]

Every week I publish my ezine, I get almost instantaneous feedback. Most of the time it’s wonderful comments like “Thank you for all you do, Ali!” and “I really appreciated this article. It gave me tips I could really use on that subject.” Or “Great teleseminar you’re offering - it’s just what I need to […]

A client of mine, whom I’ll call “Mary,” is a financial planner. She’d had a Web site for a few years that pretty much served as an online brochure for her. When Mary came to me, she was looking for other ways to generate income besides working directly with clients.
During our first conversation I introduced […]

“More sales are lost by sales people who fail to get to the “real objection” than for any other reason!”
Wayne Berry

As I was saying…
A company […]

So I’m on a tight deadline and I get this guy’s voicemail and he says, “Hi. I’m either on the phone or away from my desk. Leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.” I’m thinking, “Well that’s just brilliant Einstein. Now tell me something I don’t know, such […]

“If you ask the right questions, your prospects will become so dissatisfied with their current situation, they will want to buy from you more than you want to sell to them!”

Prospects will not buy if they are totally satisfied with their current situation.
The fact is that no matter how good a product or service is, […]

Corporate training is an investment, not an expense, but how do you choose an appropriate trainer? Firstly, establish what skills are lacking in the company.
Choosing the right type of training programme can be a daunting task. If you haven’t researched the needs of your people, don’t waste your budget on training; make sure it is […]

I remember when I first launched my first business as a copywriter seven years ago, I had no clue what to charge. Without putting hard thought into what type of results my work gave my clients, I started out with an hourly rate that didn’t scare ME! I would still even stutter when I said […]

“To succeed, your business must not focus on selling, but on providing solutions to your customers. When you focus on providing solutions, something awesome happens: your business product offerings will never become obsolete. Instead, they’ll thrive toward meeting customer needs–no matter the era.”
Inspired by Theodore Levitt
The challenge is knowing what they need, on knowing that […]

Hi everyone,
If you are here to check out the web site GREAT! If you are a business professional and write articles, blogs etc, or want to, then this is where your opportunity rocks!
We want to build this web resource to be world class, with great depth and a multitude of solutions for all people in […]

Has the world changed so drastically that manners are no longer considered necessary? Is a thank you or a quick acknolwedgement of an email too hard to do in our busy and stressed out working lives?
How can we change this poor culture and start treating each other with some common courtesy and respect again?   
Here are […]

What’s so hard about branding?
I think it’s the little things that are hard sometimes. Well, at least it seems to me the little things can be the easiest to get wrong.

I hate to admit this, but I’ve ordered more than one gadget or doohickey from TV infomercials. It’s usually been when I’m back East visiting my parents around the holidays, snowed in and bored to tears, and watching TV I’d never dream of watching in my “real life”.
For example, last year I bought the “Hair […]

Have you ever had that sinking feeling, when the day simply slides in to a black hole, and sometimes it happens within moments! I have, but in particular I had it a few years back on walking into a business I was invited to evaluate and advise.
The sinking feeling came pretty quickly as I looked […]

Allan and Barbara Pease are the internationally renowned experts on human relations and body language. 20 million book sales worldwide have turned them into household name internationally.
Did you know that according to Allan Pease…

Being ‘perceptive’ means being able to spot the contradictions between someone’s words and their body language.
And that overall women are […]

Back in the early 70’s, recently accredited with my MBA and happily engaged in my first college teaching position, a friend asked me what my long-term career goal was. When I answered that I would like to eventually become the president of a large university, my friend chuckled and replied, “Tony, there’s no way!” I […]

I walked in the door, no sales person. I called out, no answer. I stood and checked out the display before calling out again, No answer. Finally a person came out and stretched with a wide yawn, “Ehr g’day, I didn’t know you were there… I was taking a snooze out the back. Must have […]

So there we were ready to eat, looking at what’s on offer in a semi fast food joint… The good lady wife asks about the “Indonesian pork dish” the girl says, “She likes it” and smiles, good enough for my wife who after looking at a bunch of food joints is now salivating and wants […]

I hadn’t come unglued for quite some time and, I suppose, I was due. Cause when the guy in the TV ad said, “Satisfaction guaranteed. Or your money back!” … I lost it.
“If my satisfaction is guaranteed,” I shouted, “then what’s with the “or” part. A guarantee is supposed to be an absolute. It’s supposed […]

When I first got into selling I was told that to be successful I would have to learn how to CLOSE the sale. Indeed in that company, there was an elite group called “THE CLOSERS”.
This was a small band of highly experienced, highly regarded sales people, whom I was told, knew the “secrets” of closing […]

I once worked as a store manager for a fast food chicken chain, (WOW, I was young then).
I learned lots of fantastic rules for good business there, but probably the most important was to always walk in the front

Try this quick quiz, and ask yourself how you fair in the customer focus stakes.

Do you have a clear understanding about your customer’s wants and needs?
Does your staff share this understanding?
Do you have clear service standards that are written and easy to implement?
Do you know what your competitors are offering your customers?
Do you have a […]

I care that’s who! Far too often I am called in to work with an organisation that manages to get itself into a spot of trouble, in time the analysis often shows they were asking for trouble by not fostering effective communication among the staff at all levels.
Flatten it out.
There are books that explain the […]

No they don’t smell that way, they are simply revolting due to the poor service they receive in many businesses, not all, just some.
They vote with their feet with only a small percentage actually complaining about the level of service received. These people walk out due to a range of annoying things that happen while […]

Studies have shown that the top two issues affecting customer’s decisions to return to a store are personal recognition and then service. What this reinforces is the fact that all of us, regard ourselves as the most important person in the world, and rightfully so.
Service Awards Results.
This was clearly shown at recent Customer Service Awards […]

The story…
Imagine a business that is booming, the staff are happy, their jobs are interesting and rewarding. The products they produce are in high demand and every core area of their business is running smoothly. Before long they are looking at how best to manage their expansion into new products and maximising the staff they […]

If your business is like most, it only truly finds out what the market place thinks of them when they receive a complaint.
Customer complaints often cause business people to become defensive, which can sometimes lead to customers becoming argumentative and disgruntled. Instead, the business owner should regard the complaint as a gift, why? Because complaints […]