Maximizing Your Potential!

Let’s face it, all of us would like to make more money. Perhaps we’d like to buy a new car, or purchase an investment property, or maybe, take a nice vacation. It’s possible that what you really want is a ton of referrals.

If you really take a hard look at the above list, you will note that all of these things are an Inflow, they will somehow benefit you. One of the things I ask my clients to do when I cover this specific topic in my seminars is the write the word, ‘Desire’ in parentheses above the word, ‘Inflow’ in the above equation and the word, ‘Interest’ above ‘Outflow.’

In case you didn’t know it, genuine interest in your client or prospect is the cheapest form of outflow you can make.

What is wild about this is that if you are dealing with a client and all you are thinking about is the commission you will earn when you close the deal, no matter what you say, the client will instinctively know that all you really care about is that darn commission and they will fight you every step of the way.

However, if you really care about the client, and do NOT look at them as a big dollar sign, they will feel this and be much more willing to work with you to overcome any objections they may have.

The next time you meet with a client, be very certain that you like them and can be interested in helping them achieve their goals. Be willing to walk away if this is not possible.

You will both be happy that you did!

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One of the biggest misconceptions that most people have is that marketing costs a LOT of money. No doubt, McDonald’s spends a LOT of money on marketing and advertising. And, not just money for radio, TV and newspaper/print advertising but all the costs associated with that. Mind you that is spread around to all the franchisee’s, but still…

So, let’s say you do not have millions of dollars to invest in your marketing. How can you have a BIG impact with a SMALL budget?

I’d like to take an excerpt from one of my favorite books, “The MILLIONAIRE Real Estate Agent,” by Gary Keller with the help of Dave Jenks and Jay Papasan.

This is from the Chapter, “Earn a Million – Stage 2,” specifically the section titled, “Playing the Numbers Game.”

He says, “Interestingly, many agents are seduced by the search for the perfect marketing image and invest large amounts of time and money in this pursuit.” He later goes on to state, “Our experience working with top agets has taught us that even as important as your look and message are, there is a much stronger correlation between sales leads generated and the consistency and frequency of your message than between sales and the creativity of the message. No matter how you slice it, lead generation will almost always come down to a game of numbers.”

As a coach I have observed this so many times that it is a ‘no-brainer’ for me. I just push my clients to get out a higher volume of information, whether it is more calls, more doors knocked, more open houses participated in or a mailing going out every month.

And now, with the proliferation of internet marketing opportunities available, it is incumbent upon all of us to get up to speed if we want to capitalize on this emerging market place.

I encourage you to come up with a plan, keep it simple and stick with it.

Technorati Tags: Brainer, Correlation, Dave Jenks, Emerging Market, Favorite Books, Franchisee, Gary Keller, Jay Papasan, Marketing Image, Marketing Opportunities, Misconceptions, No Doubt, Numbers Game, Open Houses, Perfect Marketing, Print Advertising, Proliferation, Radio Tv, Real Estate Agent, Stage 2, Time And Money

Insanity is doing the same thing that already wasn’t working over and over.

So you could say sanity is doing things that work over and over.

When you go to implement something to make your business grow you run into certain barriers that make it difficult:

Real slow at first

Confusion

Distractions

Feeling awkward

Feeling stupid.

Doubts about whether it is going to do any good or not

Forgetfulness

You have to realize that you are going to bump into these things whenever you try to implement something new.

This is probably why people keep doing the same things over and over that never really worked anyway.

How to implement a new tool or system

1. Evaluate the system or tool or skill and decide before hand whether it is worth implementing. Is it going to give you a good ROI for the time, money and effort that you put into it?

2. Realize that when trying to implement it you are going to run into the barriers we just talked about.

3. Decide to work on it every single day until it is in.

4. Continue to review what you are doing and refer back to anything you studied to learn it and continually tweak what you are doing.

5. Schedule a time every day for the next 21 – 28 days to implement it.

Implement Only One New Thing at a Time

It is too easy to get sidetracked and go off onto other things that are constantly coming across your plate in these days of information overload.

When you’ve got that skill down, or that system or tool fully working give your self a pat on the back and KEEP ON DOING IT.

Then decide on the next skill, tool, ability or system to put in that will give you a good ROI for the time, effort and money you invest in it.

Technorati Tags: 28 Days, Confusion, Distractions, Doubts, Forgetfulness, Information Overload, Insanity, Invest, New Thing, New Tools, Pat On The Back, Sanity, Single Day, Time Effort, Time Money, Tool, Tweak

If you get stuck on an item… Ask yourself:
1. What’s the next action?
2. How long will it take?
3. Can it be delegated?

If you are the type of person who gets lots of filing in your area you can handle it by setting an additional basket in your area labeled filing then be sure to schedule time, say on Friday afternoon at 2 PM to actually get everything filed.

Hire a secretary or assistant and have them perform the following tasks for you (this may only require a part-time person at first):
1. Sort the ‘In’ basket into categories
2. Follow-up on all assignments which were delegated the previous week
3. Screen calls and visitors according to the executive’s wishes so that important tasks are NOT interrupted
4. Require that, wherever possible, communications are put in writing
5. Keep track of future projects using a tickler system

Question: What do you do when a person interrupts you???
Answer: Request that they put it in writing

How to supervise juniors quickly and efficiently???
Have them bring you all their pending folders with a summary in each. Review the lists and help them sort out the vital actions needed to complete the task in a timely manner.

Problem: A big project sticks in ‘Pending’
Solution: Break it down in to smaller projects and focus on one at a time, to completion

For a Boss: Don’t hesitate to delegate! It has been found that the heaviest workload is always at the top. You will be amazed at how excited a junior staff member will become when responsibility is delegated to him/her.

How to save time in Meetings:

1. DON’T have them (Put it in writing!)
2. If the meeting is absolutely necessary:
a) Write down exactly what you want to accomplish in the meeting
b) Gather the facts and figures you will need to accomplish the above
c) Insist that the other people in attendance do the same
3. Stick to the subject of the meeting

Good Luck!

Technorati Tags: Attendance, Boss, Focus, Folders, Friday Afternoon, Good Luck, Junior Staff Member, Juniors, Part Time, People, Tickler System, Time Management, Time Person, Timely Manner, Workload

Probably the single greatest frustration for people is the pending basket. It never seems to get emptied!

We all love a clean work area and empty baskets but that is not always possible.

Here are a few suggestions on how to make it more manageable.

One thing you can do is sort every thing in your pending basket into different areas or zones. Let’s say you have ‘office maintenance’, ’sales’, ‘finance’, ‘marketing’, within your zone of responsibility.

You would get out 4 manila folders and label each one with one of the zones above. then place thos actions in the folder to be reviewed daily to see what actions can be taken each day to move these items out of pending and into the ‘out’ basket.

You most look in your pending baskets or folders every day and see what can be done. I recommend that you do this every morning, first thing so that you can get as much off your plate as possible before things get really busy.

You also MUST put everything in writing. Many people are guilty of having lots of things in their head that they are remembering to do but which they may forget. This is very bad because that ties up those attention units you have which may be needed in a crisis.

Take a minute to list out all the things you are remembering in each category. Place these in their specific folders and block time in your schedule to actually get them done.

When you are focused on these tasks be sure to have a do not disturb sign on your door or let every one know that when the door is closed not to interrupt unless it is absolutely an emergency.

I was able to do this very effectively at Advanced Polymer Systems and about 11:30 each day I would pop my head out of my office; find out when and where my buddies were going for lunch and then go in and hunker down for another 15-20 minutes worth of calls before we left.

I was very productive and very focused.

You can be, too. Remember, if you are having trouble doing this on your own that you may need to hire a professional to help you form these ‘habits!’

Technorati Tags: Advanced Polymer Systems, Block Time, Buddies, Empty Baskets, Few Suggestions, Finance, Frustration, Love, Lunch, Manila Folders, Many People, Marketing, Office Maintenance, One Thing, Ties