10 SUGGESTIONS FOR A GREAT 2012:

STAY POSITIVE

Feed your mind with a consistently positive diet…buy uplifting, motivational and educational CDs for your drive time…create a University on Wheels. Go to www.Nightingale.com for some great CDs and select areas you would like to focus on.  Also, go on a TV News diet…consume less news on a daily basis.  Most of it is negative, sensational, and meant to prey off your fears. Stay positive.

KEEP AND EXPAND WHAT YOU HAVE

Visit with the Top 20% of your clients in January to see how they are doing, how you could better serve them, what their 2012 goals are, and what other unmet service needs they may have.  Focus on client retention and expansion.

MAINTAIN A MARKETING MINDSET

Never forget the business you are really in…the business of MARKETING.  Don’t think like a technician, think and act like a Marketer.  If you are going to be an expert in anything, make it marketing.  Marketing should be the highest priority for any owner and business.  It’s your lifeblood and it’s simply educating others on why it’s in their best interest to do or continue to do business with you. Make your marketing an on-going, systematic, educational process.

REMEMBER IT’S A CONTACT SPORT

Business is all about building trust, establishing relationships and empowering clients to discover their own solutions and seize their own opportunities.  You can’t fully achieve that dynamic without sufficient marketing and face-to-face interaction. Consider focusing 60% of your time on marketing, sales and promotion; 35% on client fulfillment; and only 5% on administration.  Get out of the home/office and go see your clients, prospects and referral sources.  Set a goal to meet with 10 people a week.  Go make contact!

FACE YOUR MENTAL DEMONS

Be totally honest with yourself and determine the Top 3 Limiting Beliefs/Excuses holding you back from greater success, happiness and fulfillment …and then share those with someone (Coach, peer, partner, etc.) to help you slay them.  To achieve your desired outcomes, you must first win the inner game (proper mindset, supporting daily thoughts, empowering beliefs, positive stories, etc.).  You must conquer self and conquer your mental demons.

BELIEVE TO ACHIEVE

Believe in yourself as a worthy business owner/business person.  Belief fuels results!

ADD MORE ACCOUNTABILITY

Put more accountability in your life and business…work with a coach or accountability partner who will give you honest, tough-love, and objective feedback and accountability.  Surround yourself with a few highly positive influencers who will challenge you and keep you accountable.  They will not allow you to make excuses or succumb to your limiting beliefs.

OWN YOUR RESULTS

Take full responsibility for ALL your results…no excuses or blaming.  Own your results so you don’t give your power away to others or to circumstances, chose to be a victor, not a victim.

Jim and I recently returned from a trip to Las Vegas and as the saying goes “what goes on in Vegas stays in Vegas.”  But what the slogan doesn’t tell you is that your money stays in Vegas too! Vegas doesn’t leave business to chance.  Everything in Vegas is designed to lure you into spending money from the casinos, the shops, the timeshare presentations, the entertainment—everything.  Opportunities to spend money exist everywhere on the strip and that’s by design!

Does your business generate money by design?  Are you set up to capture all possible opportunities?  Are you using your time wisely to focus on opportunities or are you frittering away time on non-productive, non-energizing busy work that yields minimal results?

So how do you design your business to capture all the opportunities?  Here are four tips to get you started.

1.    Identify your target market.  Get crystal clear about your ideal client and determine the best venues to meet those people.  Don’t waste your time fishing in the wrong ponds or worrying that you might miss an obscure opportunity.
2.    Determine what makes you unique.  Don’t be a commodity!  People will do business with you because of perceived value.  What value do you provide to your clients?  If you don’t know, ask your existing clients what benefits they gain from doing business with you.
3.    Ask your current clients for referrals.  Delighted clients will happily refer business to you if you ask.  Getting referrals is the easiest way to secure new business and one business owners and professionals often overlook.  Imagine how quickly your business would grow if all your clients referred a new prospective relationship to you!
4.    Identify your “A” prospects.   Set up a process to communicate with them frequently.  Find ways, in your communication, to add value rather than solely focusing on “getting their business.”  Use the frequent communication to build relationships because ultimately, the revenue is in the relationships.  Prospective clients will appreciate that you care and when they are ready to do business, they will more likely choose to do business with you.

Don’t gamble on your business!  Stay strategic, focused and build your business by design!

This blog was posted on The Growth Coach corporate blog and I thought it was worth sharing on my blog.

Keeping a positive outlook can be the key to success in all your business ventures. Have you been living with a negative mindset? It affects more than just your business; the wrong mindset can be detrimental to all areas of your life. Why do we allow ourselves to fall into a negative mindset and what can you do to change yours today?

Studies have shown that people who are positive in their outlook tend to have more sustained energy, are healthier, when ill tend to heal quicker, enjoy life more and live longer.So why is it that so many of us struggle to be positive? We understand the benefits but we struggle when we try to internalize and implement it. Why? One reason for many is their lack of confidence in themselves. The feeling of inadequacy, the lack of competence, the thought that what we offer might not be of value to others.

We want to believe but we doubt ourselves. As a result, we are often unable to face our own fears, we succumb to the pressure and before we know it we’re making excuses. We place the blame everywhere but where it should be – on ourselves. We lose focus, we lose objectivity and most importantly we have surrendered accountability. We let our own limiting beliefs stop us in our tracks. On the other hand, if we maintain a “can do” attitude, it becomes easier to take action. And as we all know, it is impossible to achieve any measure of success or happiness without taking action. Challenge yourself, will you see the ‘glass” as half empty or half full?

Running a business in our current economic climate can drain every ounce of your strength.

You’re expected to perform at the highest level, but there may be several limiting factors: a reduction in your work force, customers who cut their purchasing budget or have closed their doors.

So how can you be successful?

Ask yourself if you’re working “in” your business or “on” your business. Those two words are the difference between success and failure.

When you work “in” your business, you’re working and crossing items off your list, but are you accomplishing anything? Are you focused on the priorities that will drive results rather than a glorified “to do” list?

When you replace the “i” with an “o”, you’ve begun to change your business and yourself. Change happens when you switch your focus to “on”.

For example, your role in business development would benefit greatly from attending networking events or hosting seminars that help you build trusted relationships – creating sales collateral or scheduling appointments should be someone else’s priority.

Take a moment to examine your business. Chances are, you’ll quickly find your “on” switch.

As I reflect back on three years of owning my own business, I am amazed at how I have built a business from nothing.  I left corporate life after almost 30 years to start my own venture.  It was a dream I’d had off and on for years and it finally became a reality in 2008.

I remember sitting down with a blank computer screen and knowing less than a handful of people in Baltimore.  I had no idea how I would build a network of colleagues and a client list. I had no idea if I would be successful or if I would eventually be able to pay my bills.  I had no idea how coaching would be received or how much competition I would face.

What I did know  was that I was passionate about coaching. I knew that I’d successfully networked around the globe and successfully built businesses within large organizations. I knew that if I remained focused, passionate, consistent and dedicated to delivering value that I would eventually experience success.  And I quickly realized that success is defined by far more than money.

For me success meant being able to work with who I wanted, when I wanted and how I wanted.  Success was about setting my own goals.  Success was about being delighted to get up in the morning to engage in activities that were energizing and exciting.  Success was about learning and figuring out what I did well and where I needed to improve.  Success was about spending my days steeped in my strengths rather than forcing myself to engage in activities that drained my energy. Success was having clients and prospects tell me how much I’d helped them overcome obstacles that led to their success.  And success was overcoming my own limiting beliefs (something that is an ongoing journey).

It’s exciting to look back and think about the many people I’ve helped and encouraged on the way.  It is because of the trust that people have placed in me that I’ve been able to build a successful business that is so rewarding. I’ve seen clients experience exceptional results such as 42% revenue growth in one year or gain the confidence that propelled them into staying in or growing their business.  I’ve seen clients become more strategically focused and go on vacations for the first time in a LONG time.

I’ve been fortunate to work with my own coach who has kept me focused and has held me accountable to the goals I set for myself. He – along with all of my colleagues and clients who have given me the opportunity to be who I am – share credit for any awards and public recognition that I’ve received. I’m grateful to you all.

We will soon have exciting new things to share with our current and future clients. Stay tuned!