This is it folks, the holy grail… Total Customer Satisfaction… TCS for short. Notice its not total customer excellence or any other nonesuch just plain old SATISFACTION.
It’s a part of the Six Sigma quality stuff and it makes sense, after all why would you want total customer DISsatiasfaction? does not compute right….
So making this work […]

When it comes to leadership, business operators are given the reigns often by default rather than as a planned part of the process. So here’s a framework you can use as a starting point. At any time you can refer back to it and ask yorself, “How am I doing in each of these areas?” […]

“I don’t have enough time”, “I have to work late tonight”, “I have to pick up the kids”, “I have to go to the supermarket”, “I’m too tired to get out of bed that early”, “I’m too exhausted after work”, “I think I need another rest day”, “I don’t have time to take a lunch […]

Can I suggest you read the ‘E’ Myth by Michael Gerber. The book mentions creating an effective system of operation in your business, doing so can give your business a distinct edge over others who may be  throwing caution to the wind without a system of operation. Here’s the link to find the book…
E-Myth-Revisited
Think […]

You run the business, you worked your fingers to the bone to get it up from zero to hero, you finally leveraged your way to add in some employees, and after all that you are starting to make the whole thing pay for itself handsomely. Well done.
So what’s your job now… In the begining you […]

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 […]

We have a new student from overseas in our house, we have two students we host from a local school and have done it for years, we love it. Each time one leaves or completes yr 12 to go to uni we get a new one. This year was no different and the new one […]

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 […]

Have you ever wondered how really high achievers manage to get so much done in a business day? Then manage to take so much time off with their family and friends.
Well in my experience it’s because they have learned how to “work like a maniac” when they work, but when they take time off […]

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 […]

I belong to an exclusive club called “those of us left behind after a suicide’.  It’s not a nice club to be a member of.  You have a double grieving going on, you grieve for their sad life and their death.  Unless you have experienced losing someone to suicide you can never understand what it’s like.  […]

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 […]

Tom Peters Business Author and world wide management ‘Guru’ says,“Excellent firms don’t believe in excellence - only in constant improvement and constant change.”
-Tom Peters
An interesting thought. Why label an organisation as excellent and or set a ‘benchmark’ to a certain level of operation or standard. Why not consider the benefits of a constantly developing workforce […]

This isn’t just for CEOs. It’s for everyone. Score yourself with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ for each of these and see how many you get out of 11. Be honest: no-one else will know but you.
1. Arrogance. You’re right. Everyone else is wrong.
2. Melodrama. You always grab the centre of attention.
3. Volatility. Your mood shifts […]

“If you do it right, you should be able to make 10 calls and get 5 appointments”

Most sales people hate prospecting.
Why is that? If prospecting is such an important skill, why do so few […]

Fear stops many of us from truly expressing who we are and achieving our dreams. Some of us are risk takers, all of us make mistakes and I would say all of us have experienced fear at some stage or another. In this article I am talking about the type of fear that stops us from moving […]

Time is crucial to your business success, or any success for that matter. Imagine not getting to work on time and finding five customers waiting… What would you do about it? Or if your business is service related and you are constantly late for appointments, what now… Too many businesses people are getting caught up […]

A number of the world’s all-time great geniuses were at first thought to be anything but gifted.
Einstein, we know, left school in Germany because of poor grades in history and the language arts. The problem wasn’t Einstein, of course, but the type of learning he was forced to do, which required a lot of rote […]

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 […]

I love working with businesses as they are made up of people as the main part of the mechanism to make the organisation work, but all too often companies run into negative people issues and that can mean things may not go quite as planned some times. I developed this list in response to a […]

Could non religious spirituality have an intrinsic and or extrinsic value to your organisation? And what would it take to foster this in your organisation? Would the team “buy in” easily or would things have to be disguised in some way to make it seem like a secondary thing…
Consider this, Non religious spirituality essentially could […]

Don’t we just have it all at our fingertips these days? Mobile telephony, satellite monitoring, wireless go anywhere internet connection, SMS and ‘always on’ email straight to our palm devices.As soloists, there’s no excuse for failing to stay in touch with our work (and our clients) regardless of where we are or when. The marketers […]

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 […]

Motivate to Activate Your Staff
Love your job or hate it? If you asked your employees the above question how many would say “love it”? For those that answer “hate it” is it because they really are in the wrong job or is it due to environmental factors?
There are strategies that employers can create to foster […]

There are so many average businesses, so why are the excellent ones few and far between?
If you start out to do something, do you start with excellence in mind or mediocrity? I guess the answer is excellence, after all why would you want to create an average thing, where is the logic in that?
So go […]

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 […]

Disconnected? Get involved!
Ironically for a number of novice soloists the very thing that appeals - the vision of working alone - becomes a major reason to quit.
Working solo doesn’t suit everyone. Without planned habits and behaviours, isolation and loneliness is extremely destructive.
The trick is to engage in ‘purposeful participation’.
If you’re running a business, you’re clearly […]

Meetings are not supposed to be, as one office critic said, “a practical alternative to working.” In fact, if you plan the time and space, meetings can be productive as well as a means of promoting relationships.
Time. Meetings have been described as “a place where you keep the minutes and lose the hours.” To avoid […]

Judging by a recent poll, credibility is a big issue for solo businesses. Over two-thirds of respondents were concerned that their business was not being taken seriously by others.There’s no doubt cynical attitudes abound in the wider business community.
When you think about it, those who view soloism using a traditional work paradigm are bound to […]