Successful Blog

Who Are You to Do Something Like That?

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how to happiness

Who Are You to Do Something Like That?

cooltext443809437_relationships

I leave Wednesday for Portland and SOBCon NW 2012. It’s our 10th event since the first. I’ve been thinking about that first event.

The week before the first SOBCon in 2007. I was filled with the excitement and doubts that come from taking on a huge endeavor such as I’d never taken on before.

It wasn’t like doing something for school or for the place where I worked. Doing things for them always had certain people who defined what we would do. Papers were written to the standards of the teachers. Reports and projects fit the expectation of the manager assigning them.

This was something we — our team — were doing ourselves for the people who would come.

Whose approval and applause was I looking for now? I was comfortable with what we had built and still, I had this doubt. It took a while for me to identify what was lingering there to hold me back.

It was the kids in my 3rd grade class saying something like “Who are you to do something like that?”

Why was a bunch of 8-year-olds from my past still getting real estate in my head?
Why should I care about their approval now? It didn’t make sense.

I’m the One Doing It!

Once I admitted a bunch of kids were the doubters I feared, I could let them know that I’d outgrown their shouting. They couldn’t knock me over with their disapproval now. I have more skills than I did when I knew them at 8 years old. Their power isn’t nearly so big now that I’m grown. So I moved those doubters and shouters out of my head. I’m not sure why they had power then.

I was afraid of childhood events. They doubters and shouters were barely memories at best.
So the next time I thought, “Who are you to do something like that?”
I said out loud, “I’m the one doing it!” and I got on with doing it.

Half the battle is knowing who are the doubters and shouters you’re letting undermine success.
The other half is telling them they don’t count.

Being big enough to tell the doubters and shouters to go doubt themselves is irresistible.

Be irresistible.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

A Peek Behind the Scenes at Dreamforce 2012

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Dreamforce

cooltext443809437_relationships

If you had a doubt that customer relationships are the heart of the new social business economy, the biggest Dreamforce event ever — 70,000 attendees — might persuade of the influence of relationships on business.

This year’s Dreamforce event is the biggest ever with 70,000 registered attendees, 750 breakout sessions and keynote speeches from General Colin Powell, Sir Richard Branson and others. The event started September 18th and continued through the week until September 21st. CRMSoftware.TV recently published a video preview of the event, which features industry insiders Brent Leary and Denis Pombriant. In this second edition of #CRMShopTalk, Brent and Denis share predictions about the event, including:

Salesforce approach towards the small- and medium-sized business (SMB) market;
News about the company’s new Marketing Cloud;
And, a new service that’s like Dropbox.

To find out more about how these predictions came true, see these three articles from around the web. …
Salesforce SMB plans: Small Business Plans from Dreamforce
The new Marketing Cloud: Salesforce Launches Social Marketing Cloud.
The new file sharing service, similar to Dropbox, Chatterbox

And of course, go visit CRMSoftware.TV

Be irresistible.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

Pay Attention to the Questions

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by
Rosemary O’Neill

Answer Questions, Build Relationships with your Prospects

In the classic movie Diner, Eddie subjects his fiancee to a 140-question quiz on Baltimore Colts football trivia in order to go through with the wedding. He loves Elyse, but is compelled to make sure she shares his passion for the Colts before getting hitched.

Have you noticed that your customers are constantly quizzing you, prodding, poking, trying to determine if you are a correct “fit” with their needs and mission? That you share their passion?

Pay attention to the questions


Flickr: Questions count

We’ve started using a gadget that allows visitors to ask questions via live chat on our corporate website. The results have been startling.

By offering a conduit for communication before the sale is made, we have learned what prospects are wondering, what content is missing from our website, how people are finding us, and where they might be confused about the product. In the live chat, they can quiz us with buying questions as well as relationship questions.

We save the transcripts from the chats and use them for sales training, content planning, website updates, and even technical support.

Find ways to bond in case you fail the quiz
Some buyers approach you with a detailed checklist of questions, often prepared by a committee. Many times these checklists include everything from “pie in the sky” dreams to absolute must-have items. It’s your job to help them sort out what’s important, and along the way, start building trust (Steven Covey on trust building: http://www.leadershipnow.com/CoveyOnTrust.html).

Along the path of sorting out the customer’s true needs, find nuggets of common ground to start building on. Train your mind to actively seek out points of connection. It could be with humor, common experiences, or commiserating over something. That’s the foundation of a real human relationship, which is essential for long-term customer retention.

Key takeaways for today:

  • Start building trust with prospects from the first impression
  • Provide a way to listen to and engage with questions
  • Be honest about what you can or can’t do
  • Share lessons-learned and common questions across your business
  • Build a strong enough human relationship that you can survive the “checklist”

Oh, and Elyse did fail the sports quiz by two points. He married her anyway.

Are you building relationships with your prospects so that they’ll marry you anyway?

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Thank you, Rosemary!

You’re irresistible!

ME “Liz” Strauss

Is Success on Your Mental Playlist?

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by Sean Glaze

cooltext443809602_strategy

You Control the iPod in Your Head

Your self-talk has a huge impact on your performance, and inside your mind is a mental playlist of phrases and thoughts that will either help ensure your success or sabotage your every effort.

Each of us has an internal iPod, and it is the mental playlist that we choose to replay to ourselves over and over throughout each day that influences our actions and ultimately the outcomes and results we experience. Many of us have simply carried around these sayings, assumptions, and phrases since early childhood. This self-talk has a tremendous power over our performance.

The truth is that people walk around listening to negative messages that keep them from achieving the success they desire.
Sometimes it is parents who shared criticism or negative comment.
Sometimes it is peers.

But the criticism and comments keep replaying on our mental playlists. If you think defeat and expect failure, if you are constantly reminding yourself of past mistakes, your mental playlist may actually be more responsible for your poor performance than your opponent or circumstances.

As Norman Vincent Peale writes, “Change your thoughts, and you change your world.”

Recognize that YOU control what gets added, what gets deleted, and what gets played when you listen to the voices and ideas inside your mind. By replacing those negative messages with positive affirmations and reminders of your successes, you greatly increase your chances of future success!

One of the best examples of how self talk has influenced performance can be found in the Hall of Fame career of pitcher Gaylord Perry.

Gaylord Perry began his Major League career in 1962, and soon became successful 9and famous) for his “spitball.” He was a five-time all-star, and played a total of 22 years – recording over 3500 strike outs over that time period and finished with a lifetime era of 3.11. But as strong as his pitching performances were, he was often dejected about his hitting.

Just over a year into his career, in 1963, he reportedly told a teammate “They’ll put a man on the moon before I hit a home run.” Not surprisingly, in 1969 he had compiled a horrible .141 career batting average. And his self talk proved to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

On the evening of July 20, 1969, a few hours after Neil Armstrong first stepped foot onto the surface of the moon, Gaylord Perry hit the first home run of his career.

He finished with six before he retired, but the impact of his self talk – the story he told himself internally and the mental playlist of assumptions about his own abilities – cannot be over emphasized. What he said is what happened.

What you say to yourself — and what you say to others — has a profound influence on their perceptions and performances.

Is Success On Your Mental Playlist?

Team development begins with individual improvement … and the most important conversations you have in life are with yourself. Are you talking to yourself about failure or success? Confidence cannot be bought. It is built – by replaying your past performances and filling up your mental playlist with positive affirmations.

So, what is on your mental playlist? Is your self talk positive and contributing to your success. Or are you allowing negative thoughts and expectations of failure sabotaging your attempts?

To be a better team builder, replace those negative messages on your mental playlist with positive thoughts and reminders of past success. Build and improve your own and your team’s confidence, self-perception, and performance by changing how you think.

Take a moment to review what you have on your mental playlist – and consider replacing those negative messages and thoughts with the positive videos and affirmations that will help everyone perform at their best!

Don’t wait. Start now.
Think one positive thought about yourself or your team’s performance.
Write it in the comment box right now.

Author’s Bio:
Sean Glaze is a Team Building Speaker who writes about teamwork and leadership at his Team Building Blog. He is also author of Fistitude. You can find him on Twitter as @leadyourteam.

How to Stop Common Workplace Accidents

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by
Jay Acker

Starting a small business is a huge undertaking. Not only do you have to worry about start-up capital, acquiring adequate space, creating a viable business model, and recruiting reliable employees, once the company is up and running, you also have to deal with the safety of your employees, customers, and clients. Although certain lines of work pose inherent workplace hazards, small business owners in every industry should take precautions to minimize the risk of accidents and injuries.

Drafting a thorough employment manual is a great place to start in an effort to create a safe working environment. Research suggests that careful planning can drastically reduce the incidence of workplace accidents. Therefore, before you launch your next business venture, consider these common injuries and the various ways a safety manual can help you address them.

1. Vehicle Accidents

If any employees drive during working hours for company business, or if any employees use company cars, a very specific policy concerning the operation of motor vehicles is imperative. First, prudent employers should scrutinize job applicants’ driving records before entrusting them with access to company vehicles. Company car policies should also emphasize the dangers of using cell phones and texting behind the wheel.

In addition, an effective safety manual will clearly outline the protocol for dealing with any sort of vehicle accident. That protocol should involve calling 911, gathering information from other individuals at the scene of the accident, and notifying the appropriate members of company management immediately after the accident occurs.

2. Workplace Violence

Employee-on-employee violence accounts for a staggering number of serious workplace injuries. Therefore, the employee manual for any reputable small business must stress the company’s zero tolerance policy on workplace violence. To prevent on-the-job physical altercations, some companies implement dispute resolution procedures. Under such policies, employees who are not getting along can try to settle their differences with the assistance of an impartial mediator. Safety manuals should also require staff members report incidents of violence or suspicious circumstances that suggest a dispute may be brewing.

3. Injuries from Overexertion

It’s no surprise that employees charged with regular heavy lifting are prone to various physical ailments, often focused on the lower back. However, even sedentary office workers can suffer injuries from overexerting themselves if they lift, carry, or pull an object in an unsafe manner. Because the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has not outlined definitive restrictions on the maximum weight an employee can safely lift, small businesses should encourage their employees to use good judgment when faced with moving items in the workplace. Companies should also have tools, such as hand trucks or dollies, on-site to aid the staff in moving heavy objects.

Safety manuals typically require employees who strain a muscle at work to immediately report the incident to a supervisor. Thereafter, management should assess the situation and direct the employee to consult medical attention if appropriate. Permitting injured employees to continue working only risks exacerbating the situation.

4. Repetitive Motion Disorders

When an employee repeats the same motions daily, whether it be typing at a computer or grabbing items on an assembly line, they are at risk for repetitive motion injuries such as tendonitis, bursitis, and carpal tunnel syndrome. A good safety manual will require these at-risk employees to take adequate breaks to give their muscles time to rest periodically throughout the day.

5. Slip and Fall Accidents

Accidents involving falling, slipping and tripping are a part of life. They happen everywhere, so creating a fall-free workplace would likely be a fruitless effort. However, taking precautions to reduce the incidence of injuries resulting from such accidents is a viable and important goal. Company safety policies include a hazard assessment process to identify loose cords, footing and poorly lit areas and take steps to correct them. Wet floors and untethered cords or wires, for example, deserve immediate attention, and employees must be encouraged to report unsafe conditions to manaegment.

6. Machine Related Injuries

Use of industrial machinery has led to some of the most gruesome and deadly workplace injuries around the globe. Therefore, companies must provide extensive formal training to employees before allowing them to operate dangerous equipment. If you use machinery requiring specialized training, include in the manual that employees without documented training are not allowed to operate it.

Safety-related education in this context should emphasize the importance of refraining from wearing loose closing and jewelry while operating machinery. Similarly, hair must always be restrained. Those items can easily get caught in the machinery, which often leads to devastating injuries.

A company safety manual is not only a legal requirement to provide to employees, it’s a tool for a business owner to understand the risks and potential hazards they might encounter on the job. By considering these early in the process of setting up your company, some hazards can even be mitigated. Do the best for your business. Keep it safe.

Author’s Bio:
Jay Acker runs safetyservicescompany.com the teams who make safety manuals, videos, posters, training kits and other items for safety training.

How to Get the Best People to Support Your Cause, Project, or Idea

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Help Me!!


BigStock: What’s the Best Way
to Say “Help Me, Please”?

Ever wonder why some folks seem to have a slew of people ready to help them achieve their goals? Is their cause, idea, or project really better? Do they really know better people? Or is it the way they ask?

On September 22-23, I’m speaking at Pitch Refinery. Check out the agenda for the interactive event that proves

“Every business has a story…

how you tell it makes all the

difference.”

If you get a chance to be there, you’ll find the power of story to move people to action faster, easier, and more meaningfully.

How to Convince the Best People to Support Your Cause, Project, or Idea

In my role at the Pitch Refinery event, I’ll be outlining How to Leading Passionate Employees and Clients — How to get everyone who helps your business involved in sharing your best true story so that your business thrives. In that context, I’ll be talking about five steps to enlisting help on any cause project or idea.

In the spirit if a sneak preview, I’m sharing them here.

  1. Build your network before you need it. We might be on a team or leading one. We might be new to the industry. Maybe we’ve been working alone on a stealth project. Whatever our situation, success means we’ll need the help of others getting to know our story and sharing it. We’re better together than we are alone. As early as you can, share what you’re doing. Vvalue the people who take interest and invite the best them to get close so that they become part of the story too.
  2. Talk about them, not you. Every writer, teacher and storyteller knows that the opening of of a story is more than just information, it’s the moment that establishes a connection with the audience — the people we want to reach. Get to know what moves the people who love you. Get to know what wastes their tiem. Then when you reach out to ask for help you can start with them, not you. That will turn your offer from

    “We are a ___ that is trying to [stop world hunger] by ___. Akimi is a child parses out her rice each night so that it will last longer. You can help make those meals last longer.
    into
    “We’ve all had that horrible, deep pit in the stomach feeling of working on an empty stomach. It changes how we see the world. It’s hard to imagine what it would be like to live with that empty feeling for months, but some do. Imagine how that sets their world view.

  3. Come out from behind the curtain. A true collaboration, an invitation to participate in building something great, cannot occur if we stay in our office, hold our territory, or hide behind our website expecting others to show up while we tell them what to do for us. Come out when you reach out. Show your “face.” Say hello before you ask and get to know who you’re asking. Build a relationship so that people understand that you want their participation not just their money or their time. And so that they see that participation goes both ways.
  4. Turn the pitch into an invitation. The reason most requests offers, and asks, are requested is because the size of the “ask” is far greater than the foundation of trust we’ve built. Trust is built through proof that I’m safe to have faith in you. To establish trust most quickly, show the people you want to help you that you see, hear, and understand them by building an invitation that is easy to accept because it fits seamlessly into their lives, saves them time, and offers and outcome that has meaning to them.
  5. Celebrate your heroes. Allow for mutation. Leave room for ideas that are bigger, better, easier, and more meaningful than your own. Listen to those who start to participate. Invite the best to be hands-on and minds-on with what you’re doing. It’s not if you build it they will come. It’s if they build it they will bring their friends.

People whose offers always get great participation have figured something out. They focus on how to make supporting their cause, project, or idea easier, faster, and more meaningful for the best people to participate. Do the same by concentrating on the people, not the brilliance of the idea or cause. It’s not a pitch or promotion. It’s leadership — building something we can’t build alone.

What are you doing to invite people to support your cause, project or idea?

Be irresistible.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!