Business-Building Action From Terry Brock

I’ve been writing these columns for quite a while. I remember 10 years ago this month the world was in a frenetic tizzy (technical term!) about the Y2K or Year 2000 problems. Many thought the world was going to (literally) come to an end. Many thought all computers would crash, stoplights would cease operating and pandemonium would reign over the planet.

I remember writing a column where I said, “Don’t worry. If we made it through disco in the 70’s, we’ll make it through this.” Well, we got through disco (and Nixon, Ford and Carter!) in the 70’s and survived. We also made it through the Y2K scare as many of the “chicken littles” shamelessly stole away to hide under the reality of the Earth still here with hardly any noticeable change.

Of course, many said it was because they made the necessary adjustments that we survived. Well, I’m not an IT expert so I can’t speculate with any certainty about what would have happened. What I can say as a marketer is that many people needlessly worried about something that didn’t happen.

The past 10 years have seen tragedies and calamities that we could not have imagined in 1999. From the economic recession in the early 2000’s to today’s Great Recession we have gone through a lot. We still remember the tragic events of September 11, 2001 and are still paying the price for that.

So what is the message to you and me as small business owners today? What lessons can we learn that will help us as we face the 2nd decade of the 21st Century?

Here are a few lessons that come to mind for me. See if you can relate:

Don’t Be Alarmed. Be Prepared. The wise approach to Y2K was to take necessary precautions and reasonable steps to make sure you didn’t have a loss of all data. In addition to that the more-important advice was to remain calm. Those who were extreme alarmists had to hang their head in shame because things really didn’t get that bad. For the future, we are going to face uncertain times. Duh! We always have through history! However, by being prepared for whatever is going to happen — and remaining calm — you are in a much better position to face the future.

Focus On Customers. This is truer today than ever. Help customers and prospects with their pain and you’ll help yourself. Focus on how you can help others relieve their pain and you’ll have a great opportunity to address your own.

Become More Skeptical. Yes, I believe we should question authority and be skeptical of all the “claims of disaster” of the moment. By being skeptical, not cynical, we force our brains to search for better alternatives and answers. It is the American way to question authority and demand straight talking and straight thinking. In times like these we need that more than ever! One of my heroes, H.L. Mencken said it well when he reminded us, “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

Live Your Life To The Fullest. No matter what happens in the big picture, the successful are those who have the best skills, the right kind of knowledge and can apply it in ways that are valuable to others. Constantly upgrade your market-valuable skills. Learn how to serve others and you’ll live your life to the fullest.

Today we have a host of new problems. I guarantee you (yes, I can make this kind of claim) that there will be problems in the future. However, I can also point to history that certain people survived and prospered when they applied the right principles for living.

These principles of character, discipline, genuine care for others, keeping your word, going the extra mile and others will serve you not only for the next 10 years but for the rest of our lives.

Special: Be sure to listen to the accompanying audio file below!  5:33 in length it is a great way to get more information and listen on your MP3 player of choice.  You can listen to it in streaming audio or download as MP3 to listen on your favorite player.

Copyright © 2009, Terry Brock and Achievement Systems, Inc. Terry Brock is an international marketing coach and professional speaker who helps businesses generate profitable results. He can be reached by e-mail at terry@terrybrock.com or through his website at www.terrybrock.com. Join the Twitter adventure with Terry through his Twitter address: TerryBrock

If you’re facing a problem of way too much business (work with me here) then I’ve got just the solution for you!  I’ve noticed many businesses doing these steps below and it is a sure-fire way to get prospects annoyed and drive them away.

It must be something some companies want because they do it so often.  Maybe you can relate from being on the receiving end of some of these tactics.

Five Ways You Can Annoy The Daylights Out Of Your Prospects:

1. Bother Prospects Incessantly With Notices Selling Your Stuff. Don’t worry about listening to the needs of potential buyers.  Hey, you know it all after all, don’t you?  Just approach someone when you see them initially and start talking all about you, your stuff and how you have what they need (even if you haven’t listened to them).  Besides, you know more about what they need than they do, right?
2. Blare Loud Music When They Visit Your Website.  You should automatically play blaring loud music when people come to your website.  They should think of nothing but your stuff.  Don’t they know that you have really cool audio and want to blare it at them?  Why else would they come to your site?  After all, they probably don’t have any other websites to visit.
3. Drive Them Crazy With Fancy Technology.  You should automatically start a video when they arrive at your page with someone yelling at them about how cool your stuff is.  Don’t worry that they might be in a situation where they don’t want to hear sound from their computer just yet.  Besides, your message is so much more important than anything they are doing, right?  Have someone appear to walk on the screen from thin air and start yakking away.  Oh, and here’s another good thing— do it each time they visit so they get the same annoying message every time!  That will surely drive them crazy!
4. Always Ask For Their Name And Email Just To See Something.  Don’t give away anything for free which could build your reputation and credibility.  Instead, force them to put in a name and email just to get your silly little report (which is a sales report anyway, right?). Besides, your prospects are too dumb to put in a fake name and bogus email address, right?
5. Annoy Them In Person. Be annoying when you meet people in person by always forcing your card on them.  And you should never ask them what they do. After all, they’re more interested in YOU than they are in their own stuff, right?

Yep!  These are sure-fire ways to destroy a good customer experience before it even starts.  You have more business than you can handle today anyway, right?  And besides, YOU know more about what to do and can’t afford to listen to anyone, right?

Of course, if you might need more business, maybe you should do the exact opposite of what I listed above in these five steps!

PDF Converter Professional From Nuance: Great Tool For PDF Files

PDF (Portable Document Format) files are a mainstay of business today.  You could spend a lot for some programs to create one or you could go with one of the best alternatives.  PDF Converter 6 is now available from Nuance.

This software allows you to scan directly to PDF from your scanner. This is something we’ve had before with other tools and it is nice to have it from Nuance.

You can also create a PDF from Excel, Word and PowerPoint files.  Then you can change them back into those formats as needed.

I find that I use it to read PDF files and use the yellow highlighter and built-in pencil to circle important words and concepts.  I also use the Notepad to add notes of my own.

This is a good tool for salespeople and others who need to reference a magazine article or web page with personal annotations.

You can see a video interview I had with Michael Angelo, the product manager of PDF Convertor 6, at http://tinyurl.com/ygq994b.  This is one you’ll enjoy.  It is right here on this Blog so click on the link and you’ll see it.

The product sells for $99.00 and there is an enterprise version which is available for $149.00.  For more information visit www.nuance.com or www.BetterPDF.com

Copyright © 2009, Terry Brock and Achievement Systems, Inc.  Terry Brock is an international marketing coach and professional speaker who helps businesses generate profitable results.  He can be reached by e-mail at terry@terrybrock.com or through his website at www.terrybrock.com.  Join the Twitter adventure with Terry through his Twitter address: TerryBrock

“Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment.”  Baltasar Gracian

We live in a world that wants everything now — or yesterday.  We have little patience and seem to be constantly in a hurry.  Just look at “rush” hour traffic and listen to the horns blaring away.

[Bonus!  Listen to the podcast for an expanded version of this article.  Just click on the "Play" button below!]

Nature has a way of achieving greatness over time.  The myth of the “overnight success” is told often with how it often takes 10 years to become that “overnight success.  This is something that successful people know — and the unsuccessful attribute to a mysterious thing they call “luck.”

This applies directly in Relationship Marketing.  To build quality, value-for-value relationships in business requires consistent performance over time.  You build trust in a relationship by seeing performance over time.  A relationship which takes years to build can be damaged or destroyed with one terrible misstep.

The same principle is true in knowledge acquisition.  To master a new skill requires time, money and effort (TME).  Most people give up too easily.  They aren’t willing to pay the price to achieve their goals.  If you ask average people if they want to be rich, you’ll usually get an enthusiastic, positive response.  However, if you detail what is needed to accomplish riches, average people back off and are not willing to pay the price.

Last night I was talking with a friend of mine who is physician working in emergency care rooms.  He told me that to become a medical doctor who is board certified requires not only four years of undergraduate school and four years of medical school but internship and an additional four years of residency.  Oh, and by the way, when you’re in residency, you get paid barely minimum wage.  Not many people would be willing to work for minimum wage for four years after going through medical school.  Yet, this is part of the price emergency room physicians have to pay to achieve their goals.

In business and in your personal life success requires persistence and doing the right thing in the right way over time.  Don’t try to do everything at once.  It takes practice.  It takes a lot of patience.

In Relationship Marketing this means being willing to be “pleasantly persistent” in what you want.  Start in small, meaningful ways to establish and build value-for-value relationships and then proceed forward.  Remember that not all people will embrace value-for-value principles.  Many people only see the short term and try to take all they can.  Ultimately these people hurt themselves.  Behaving in short-term mode causes more and more people to distance themselves from the takers.

Taking the long-term view pays off.  This means we have to keep the goal in mind and constantly aim for it.  Don’t be surprised when setbacks happen. Hey, that’s just the way things work.  When those inevitable disappointments and setbacks happen, you can gain control of the situation with an attitude of, “Oh, so this is a current setback?  What can I learn from this?”  See each setback as an excellent learning experience to become an even better person.

George Leonard wrote a marvelous book years ago called “Mastery.”  In that book he talked about the importance of continuing forward and enjoying the plateaus of life.  Sometimes you’ll try hard and just can’t seem to break through to accomplish what you want.  In those moments, don’t allow the frustrations to overwhelm you.  Instead, step back and see the big picture.  Know your goals and what you ultimately want to accomplish.  Be willing to pay the price in terms of time, money and effort.  Celebrate the small incremental successes as they materialize.

And here’s your challenge for today:  Do something specific today which will help you towards those long-term goals in Relationship Marketing.  It might be to write a note (yes, handwritten!) to that important customer or prospect.  It might be to make a quick “How’s it Going” call that is devoid of any sales talk and just connects with the person.  Do something today to establish, build and maintain quality relationships.  This is what matters in business and in life.

It is in the gradual, step-by-step methodology that we grow and accomplish meaningful success.  Use time as your partner to continue forward — unstoppable in your goals and success.

Copyright © 2009, Terry Brock and Achievement Systems, Inc.  Terry Brock is an international marketing coach and professional speaker who helps businesses generate profitable results.  He can be reached by e-mail at terry@terrybrock.com or through his website at www.terrybrock.com.  Join the Twitter adventure with Terry through his Twitter address: TerryBrock

Business-Building Ideas From Terry L. Brock

We’re hearing about the economy, job losses, etc., etc. on a daily basis. One day the stock market is up, the next day we hear the pundits tell us things are dismal. This roller-coaster ride of economic news can be quite depressing and make us distraught — if we let it.

You can’t take the ostrich approach. Funny, I don’t hear people spouting that trite “We’ve heard there is a recession but we’re not going to be part of it” any more today. I’ve never believed that taking the ostrich approach is the way to success. I also firmly believe that being depressed is not the answer.

So what is the solution?

Well, I gained some wisdom and insight from a great book I read again yesterday. You might have read it also. If you haven’t, write this down immediately to buy it today. It is called, “The Way to Wealth,” by that sage philosopher and wise man Benjamin Franklin. Yep! That Founding Father of the US had a lot of wisdom. His words are truer today than ever. I think ole Ben has some profoundly accurate advice in this “Twitter-Facebook-YouTube and all-things-social-media” obsessed world which can help us.

Ben Franklin created a character he called “Father Abraham” who listened to a crowd and then dispensed wisdom.

The crowd asked, “Pray, Father Abraham, what think you of the times? Won’t these heavy taxes quite ruin the country? How shall we be ever able to pay them? What would you advise us to [do]?”

“Father Abraham” agreed that the taxes were high. However, he said we have many others, and much more grievous to some of us. “We are taxed twice as much by our idleness, three times as much by our pride and four times as much by our folly.” In other words, yes the taxes were then, and are today, onerous and should be abated. However, as bad as the taxes — and the economy — we inflict ourselves with even greater pain by our own idleness, pride and folly.

You’ve got to read (or re-read) this very short book by Ben Franklin. He goes on to have “Father Abraham” tell us that most of our problems are our own doing. We have to work hard and not engage in being idle. We have to avoid laziness and embrace leisure (read the book for his definition of the important difference).

When I read that, I was taken aback by the wisdom of this great Founding Father. It was as if he were speaking to me directly — and smiling with that charming, legendary Ben Franklin grin.

Yes, times are tough. Yes, we recognize — and are aware of – what is going on. We don’t take the ostrich approach. However, in the midst of that, we know that our success is largely up to us. Yes, taxes are high and should be lower. Yes, there are specific steps that should be taken in the broad macroeconomic and political picture.

But all of these are insignificant compared to what you and I can do today in our own businesses and our personal lives. Pick up the phone (remember that?) and call that client you haven’t chatted with for a while. Just say hello and don’t try to sell anything. Be there and reconnect with them. This is what Relationship Marketing is all about. Find out the problems they are going through and help them.

I’ve seen smart, well-meaning businesspeople become obsessed with the nightly cable news and politics. If that same amount of time, money and effort had been devoted to reading good books (like Ben Franklin’s!!) perhaps they would have generated more income regardless of the crisis of the moment.

Take charge of your life and your business during tough times. Don’t be obsessed with the news of the moment. Don’t shut it all out either. Focus on what matters — building quality, profitable business relationships. Focus on Relationship Marketing.

Find the pain your prospects and clients are going through and come up with unique, creative ways to help them. This will be the way to get out of any problem. To paraphrase Jim Ziegler, a noted sales trainer in the auto industry whom I recently interviewed, “There is no problem in business you can’t sell your way out of.” Focus on doing what you can, with what you’ve got, right where you are (as Teddy Roosevelt advised us long ago).

This is a best way to take matters into your own hands.

And for starters, bounce over to your favorite online bookstore and purchase The Way of Wealth by Benjamin Franklin. It is a very short read and one that can change your life as it has millions of others through the years.

Sure, times are more challenging. But that will actually help us become better if we handle it right.

Somehow I can see Ben Franklin, beaming with a big toothy grin and giving us a “thumbs-up” signal!

Copyright © 2009, Terry Brock and Achievement Systems, Inc. Terry Brock is an international marketing coach and professional speaker who helps businesses generate profitable results. He can be reached by e-mail at terry@terrybrock.com or through his website at www.terrybrock.com. Join the Twitter adventure with Terry through his Twitter address: TerryBrock

Business-Building Thoughts From Terry Brock

I often work with businesses who are interested in the fast rise of Social Media and how it is making an impact on their businesses. They don’t want to spend too much time on these new forms of Social Media, but they also don’t want to be left in the dark.

Recently I shared concepts from the late, great Peter Drucker that can act as a filter for decision-making. If you filter your use of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or any other business activity through this you will be on the right track.

Drucker’s advice here?

The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer.

That simple phrase sums it up. If what you’re doing doesn’t accomplish either or both of these, it is not worthwhile. Remember the emphasis has to be on “customers” — this means those who are actually paying you money. If they aren’t paying you money, they are not customers. If they have a strong probability of becoming customers that is good. But remember, the emphasis has to be on those paying the bills.

This morning I was talking with a friend who has her MBA from Harvard. We were discussing the fact that she has been on Twitter for about six months now. I asked her what specific business results she has seen from that. She indicated that she had a lot of “followers” (people on Twitter who subscribe to her posts). However, she couldn’t point to any specific business that has come through — yet!

This doesn’t mean that time spent on Twitter is a waste. Far from it. Usually it is like advertising. You don’t always see a direct result immediately. If you’re not there regularly, you could lose business as people don’t know about you. People don’t usually buy on their first exposure to new ideas. It takes time.

I suggested that a business needs to develop a set of “measurable deliverables.” This is where the hard thinking comes into play.

A good tool can be one that was very popular years ago and is still valid today. Management By Objectives, or MBO for short. It was used and taught by people like George Odiorne, George Morrisey and initially introduced by Peter Drucker in 1954. Managing your business (and your life) by objectives has a lot of advantages.

This is a great way to know if Twitter, Facebook, etc. are accomplishing their goals. You, as a leader of yourself and your people, have to think through what deliverables you can measure. In a squishy world of “need to be seen” we have to think hard about what will help to attract and retain customers. You might measure the number of “tweets” sent, the number of followers, the number who visited a site you referenced, the number who purchased an offer, etc. Work with your people to determine realistic goals. This practice eliminates a lot of confusion and bonds everyone to accomplishing the same goals.

Measure what is important. Evaluate by performance within those goals. This will help clarify the business purposes of Twitter and other Social Media sites. Hey, it’s an important way to evaluate any business activity.

Important Point: One of the criticisms of MBO (by people like J. Edwards Deming) was that it failed to take into account a changing environment. This is a reasonable and understandable objection. Of course, the way around this is to build into any MBO system regular, periodic evaluations that allow for changing external circumstances. In other words, “Hey, things are different now and we need to adjust.” Make sure the adjustments are based on real, unchangeable external factors and not just a lazy way to justify missing the goals. Again, this is where wise leadership and judgment are needed.

Twitter is a great tool for communicating. However, it can also be a great time-waster. Do the hard work — the thinking — first. Determine how you’re going to measure success. Filter results through Drucker’s “attract and retain a customer” prism. Use the methodology of MBO to set realistic, stretch goals that help you and your team achieve results.

This system will work in this economy and any economy in the future. MBO is a great way to plan and live your life. MBO is a great way to run your business. Remember to temper it with reviews adapted for changing circumstances and you have a winning combination.

Copyright © 2009, Terry Brock and Achievement Systems, Inc. Terry Brock is an international marketing coach and professional speaker who helps businesses generate profitable results.  He can be reached by e-mail at terry@terrybrock.com or through his website at www.terrybrock.com. Join the Twitter adventure with Terry through his Twitter address: TerryBrock.

In this interview, Michael interviewed me over Skype from his home in England while I was at my home in Orlando, Florida.  In this interview you’ll discover:

* The Mindset necessary to use technology

* Specific tools to get you organized and jump-start your productivity quickly

* The Three Essential Elements you need in your life every day (!) for maximum effectiveness

* How to think about making technology work for you and your business.

This interview is packed with loads of tips.  The 42:30 that you’ll spend will be a good investment of your time to learn and discover great things you can do.

Let me know if you have questions or would like more information on how to implement this with your group or in your own life. I regularly speak to business groups around the world to help them move to the next level of productivity and profitability.  Discover the latest in technology tools which can help you and your people.

Listen to the interview then drop a note at the bottom of this Blog so others can benefit from your insights.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Now, on with the interview!

The concepts that Roxanne discusses in her book, are just what I’ve been talking about with Relationship Marketing. Connecting with customers, employees and other stakeholders is a huge part of Relationship Marketing. Listen to what Roxanne discusses in the interview about working with banks and how they are seeing bottom-line and top-line growth by applying these principles of Relationship Marketing.

This book is a fun read and a reall business-building tome.  You want to see the interview I recently had with Roxanne.  She’s a friend I’ve known for years and now this book is #14 on the best-seller business list and growing.  She expresses he enthusiasm on video even better so you want to see this interview.

Pick up your copy today and get your own bottom line boosted!

[Note: Here's the article I just wrote for my papers around the country. It is for the serious business person who wants to know why they would use Twitter for business.  If you're just getting into Twitter --- or wondering about its applications in business --- this is for you!  Enjoy!]

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you have heard about Twitter.  It is huge.  It is not a fad.  It is here to stay and will be a big part of business.  It already is and is growing more.

In my speeches I give and the coaching I do I find two types of reactions to Twitter.  One group embraces it and is growing their network and their business.  Another has a standard, pat answer they give for why they don’t use it.  If you’re in the later category — get with the program!  The same types of arguments were used a decade ago when people told me why they were not on the Internet.

If you’re not on Twitter, get there.  This is for you bottom-line-oriented, business-focused readers.  This is not something you want to miss.  Dispense with your standard pat answers about why you aren’t there.  Instead, wade into it with a focus on how to generate results.

Here are just a few of the ways serious business-minded people are using Twitter now:
•    Linking with prospects
•    Linking with existing customers
•    Finding resources
•    Finding the right subcontractors for a specific job
•    Getting information on suppliers and their reputation with your trusted peers
•    Announcing upcoming events
•    Finding out about upcoming events
•    Staying current with trends
•    Linking to great websites for information
•    And thousands more uses!

Recently I was meeting with a friend and colleague who is not on Twitter (yet). She is already very successful in her business as an image consultant.  She told me she’s not on Twitter because, “No one cares that I’m at Starbucks right now with Terry Brock.”  Well, I had to agree with her but told her that someone might be interested in a great image consultant to help for an upcoming job interview tomorrow.  If her profile contained valuable information about that, she could get business.

Yes, there are a lot of people using Twitter for non-business purposes and that’s fine.  There are a lot of Blogs, Podcasts, Websites, Videos, Audios and more that aren’t relevant to you.  However, that doesn’t mean all of them are irrelevant.  Your job is to find the relevant, profit-producing sources for you and your business and embrace those.  Don’t worry about those that aren’t helpful to you.

I also told my friend that she might have need of a good business resource.  This can be a quick, “Hey, does anyone know about a good plumber who can.….” This could be just what you need in a bind!   Your network can help you.  And this is the flip side of networking.  As you want people to hire you, when you have a need and contact a range of trusted people, you can find the resources you need quickly.

As you enter Twitter, don’t go in blabbering about your business and trying to sell your stuff. Think of Twitter as a social networking party — which is what it is online.  You wouldn’t think highly of a person you meet at a social networking cocktail party who only wanted to sell you his stuff, hand you his card and blabbered on and on about his ideas.  Instead, think of how you can appeal to the other person and find out what is important to him or her.  Get to know them.  Build a business relationship.  This is where Twitter sparkles!

You build relationships on Twitter much like you do in the offline world.  Be pleasant.  Focus on helping others and have a quality introduction to help people know what you do in business and what you offer.

Start with a strong profile that concisely states how people benefit from working with you.  Don’t tell me you’re an accountant who has been in business for 25 years and you have 15 partners, etc. etc.  I don’t care.  However, tell me how you can help me eliminate the hassle of tax filing so I can do it on time, in full compliance and with minimal aggravation.  Oh, and then, mention how you have your accounting degree and have the credentials to back it up. Then show me your website link for more information.

In addition to that, offer “tweets” —- that’s Twitter speak for the short 140 character max messages you send — which provide value.  One of the best strategies is to offer a terse benefit statement followed by a link to a website.  Use a tool like Tiny URL (www.tinyurl.com) or Snip (www.snipurl.com) to shorten a long URL to something more manageable or descriptive.

Bounce over to www.Twitter.com/TerryBrock and see what I’m doing.  I would love to have you follow me.  I follow a lot of people now and the list is growing.  We create a better network and support system by helping each other.

In the age of digital marketing, important trends come fast.  Those who embrace those trends and think of how to use them in business do well.  Let me know how Twitter is helping you in business.  I look forward to sharing your experiences with other serious, business professionals.

Copyright © 2009, Terry Brock and Achievement Systems, Inc.  Terry Brock is an international marketing coach and professional speaker who helps businesses generate profitable results.  He can be reached by e-mail at terry@terrybrock.com or through his website at www.terrybrock.com.  Join the Twitter adventure with Terry through his Twitter address: TerryBrock.

Relationship Marketing is much like keeping a water bucket filled.  The bucket has holes in it and it is your job to keep the water at the “full” mark. That requires three kinds of activities: 1) Putting water in the bucket. 2) Keeping the holes patched, and 3) Preventing new holes from appearing.  As a Relationship Farmer, it is your job to tend to these never-ending tasks.

You want to keep your business relationships fresh and current.  Stay in touch with important people.  This also means that you have to prioritize among those who are important and others who deter you from your goals.  Those who are a drain on your time, money and effort (TME) should be avoided.  Those who don’t embrace a value-for-value interchange should be avoided.   Spend your TME on establishing, building and maintaining profitable, mutually beneficial relationships.

One way you can do this is with the right tools around you.  One I recently tested is the new Fujitsu S1500 scanner.  WOW!  Installation was fast.  At my office, we installed it on two older Windows machines and it works very well.  Total time for installation was just a few minutes and the scanner was chomping away at massive amounts of paper in a few minutes.

In one test we ran, I grabbed an older copy of the Harvard Business Review which had 106 pages in that issue.  I had my assistant, Natalya, cut out the pages with an exacto knife so that each page was separate.  Then she took the pages about 50 at a time and in 60 seconds (yes, we timed it) the first 50 were scanned — both sides and in color.  The second batch (we did the remaining pages, even though the Fujitsu manual says it only allows 50 each time) and it worked fairly well. We had a little jam on the second batch only because we didn’t put the pages in just right.  However, once it was corrected, everything went well.  Further tests showed that once we lined up the pages evenly the scans were rapid and accurate.

This is a “WOW!” customer experience.  When you find a product that helps you accomplish critical tasks quickly, easily and at low cost, it is a winner.  The Fujitsu S1500 scanner is such a winner.

Now don’t tell the people at Fujitsu I said this, but their new scanner really isn’t a scanner.  Oh yes, it processes paper of all kinds from business cards to hand-written notes to magazine articles with aplomb.  But it really isn’t a scanner.  It is a Relationship Marketing builder.  You can use this tool when you read a great article, see a picture or some other item that can help one of your clients or important contacts.  You can quickly scan it and then attach it as a PDF to an email for someone else.

Also, you can use this to scan copies of hand-written notes taken during important telephone conversations.  That way you can quickly see a collection of all past conversations with important people on important topics. Just keep those PDF documents related to, say, client Jane Jones, in one folder.  Review that folder’s documents quickly before a call or meeting with Jane Jones and you’ll be far ahead of the competition.

This is another way to keep your relationship “bucket” filled.  You’re plugging holes and you’re adding more “water” to the “bucket.”  Think of the water as the feelings and disposition prospects and clients have towards you.  Think of the bucket as the overall relationship you have with them.  You facilitate Relationship Marketing by leveraging technology.  Stay “front of mind” with that important client or prospect in a favorable way and you have a much better chance to do more and better business.

Here’s another suggestion which can help you keep your Relationship Marketing bucket filled.  Plan to send about 5 post card messages a day to important contacts.  I have some postcards that I had printed with my picture and a brief mention of what I do as a professional speaker and marketing coach.  Usually the cards have messages just saying hello and meant to stay in touch with important people in my life.  No, this doesn’t make the sale come through.  However, it keeps the relationship active in the mind of the client or prospect.  It helps to patch holes and fill the Relationship Marketing bucket with the life-giving water of business growth. Since few people do it today, it helps me stand out in a favorable way. See more examples of Relationship Marketing in video and audio, on my blog at www.TerryBrock.com.  You’ll find a lot of information that can help you and your people to build solid, profitable business relationships

By the way, in an era of way too much email, Twitter messages, Facebook postings, LinkedIn and other digital messages, a nice, analog, hand-written note on a letter or postcard can stand out in a very favorable way.  A personal phone call or better yet, personal visit packs a powerful punch to enhance relationships.

Keep your Relationship Marketing bucket filled.  Use key principles and practical technologies to favorably impress important people.  This will not only keep the “water” in your business but it will taste very sweet on a hot day when you’re thirsty.

(Fujitsu S1500 Scanner, US$495.00, http://tinyurl.com/chpgr9
for Windows and Mac)

Copyright © 2009, Terry Brock and Achievement Systems, Inc.  Terry Brock is an international marketing coach and professional speaker who helps businesses generate profitable results.  He can be reached by e-mail at terry@terrybrock.com or through his website at www.terrybrock.com.  Join the Twitter adventure with Terry through his Twitter address: TerryBrock.

Just because you had a particular experience doesn’t mean that everyone is going to have the same experience.  This is very important to remember anytime, but particularly in more challenging economic times.  Be very careful when someone stands up and claims they deployed a certain marketing technique and it succeeded (or failed) for them.  That is interesting.  However, the scientific approach is to be disciplined and examine a wider range of results.  Real discipline requires seeing a bigger picture.  Be leery of the 1 person who is either overly optimistic or overly pessimistic because of his or her own personal experience.

For instance, some have claimed voraciously that raising prices will sell more.  They look to Mercedes and have said in the past that raising prices always generates more sales.  Sometimes that does work as consumers have a greater perceived value from higher-priced items.  However, today, things have changed.  Even luxury goods have seen a decline in purchases.  Wal-Mart makes more money than Neiman-Marcus.

The key is in knowing your market.  You can’t say that lowering prices will always result in more profit (not just sales).   Today, most people are more price-conscious.  You have to find a price point that satisfies your costs (at least your marginal costs) and provides serious value for the consumer to remain profitable in the long-term.

Often add-on packaging and pricing — according to the value perceived by buyers — results in more sales.  If someone sees a combination of air, lodging and rental car all together as a “package deal” then it becomes more compelling than breaking the components into individual pieces.

Dangers of inductive thinking mean that you see one or two examples of something and determine (often erroneously) that it will apply to everything.  I had a friend recently tell me that she felt nothing made in China was good.  Her reason?  She and her husband had two nails that broke when they were doing some repair at home. Her husband checked the box and found they were made in China.  Their conclusion? All products made in China are poor quality.

When I submitted that Lenovo, Chinese cars and other products are good quality, she balked.  When I cited many of the high-quality, breakthrough technologies I’ve personally seen from Chinese manufacturers at the Consumer Electronics Show she dismissed it out of hand.  She “knew” that Chinese products were inferior because she and her husband had experienced two nails that broke and were made in China.

Be Careful.

You can run into problems in business when you embrace inductive thinking.  You see one or two examples and then project that onto all.  A better way of thinking is deductive.  Study the group and then decide from there how individuals will act.  However, even that can be wrong.  Most Americans speak English.  To conclude that all Americans speak English would be wrong.  There are some who do not.

This is important for our thinking when we hear bad news.  I was listening to National Public Radio the other day and they gave a vivid example of ill-founded inductive thinking.  You must know that I enjoy listening to many of the programs on NPR.  All Things Considered, Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me, and Morning Edition remain some of my favorites.  However, when All Things Considered focused on two people who had lost their jobs and followed them around citing how bad things were, they were guilty of inductive thinking.  Not only would our philosophy and logic professors but also psychologists would rail at my dearly-loved NPR for citing only negative cases.  Now, perhaps NPR has offered stories about people who are doing very well (there are many even in today’s marketplace).  I haven’t heard those stories in my personal experience.  But NPR erred on that judgment to talk only about the negative and not give the full picture.

Good marketers today shield their mind by learning about inductive and deductive thinking.  When we see flawed logic, we realize that we have to be cautious before accepting everything at face value.

Yes, close to 10% of the workforce is out of work.  Well, I grabbed a calculator the other day.  If 10% are out of work that would mean that 90% ARE employed!  Yes, times are tough.  But we are not ready to throw in the towel.

And that’s the whole point for you and me.  Succeeding today means that you embrace deductive thinking to be disciplined and see the full picture.  You focus on more than your own personal experience.  Put on an extra layer of “Be Careful” when someone only talks about their own experience.  If you hear the words, “I,” “Me,” or “My” more than is healthy coming from their mouths, let a warning light go off inside your head.

I think we have to be “realistically optimistic.”  We see what is happening.  Yes, we recognize the two people who are out of work cited by my dearly-loved friends at NPR.  However, we also need to recognize others who are doing well.  A doggedly-determined optimist is hard to beat.  This approach works psychologically.  It works in business Most importantly, it works in life.

For you and me, it not only works, but is essential for success in today’s economy.

Copyright © 2009, Terry Brock and Achievement Systems, Inc.  Terry Brock is an international marketing coach and professional speaker who helps businesses generate profitable results.  He can be reached at 407-363-0505, by e-mail at terry@terrybrock.com or through his website at www.terrybrock.com.  Join the Twitter adventure with Terry through his Twitter address: TerryBrock.

Dr. Rebecca Staton-Reinstein has written a book where she, as a lover of history and devoted student of the American Revolutionary period, draws lessons for today’s leaders. Not only does she teach us some valuable lessons, that I haven’t heard cited by other authors previously, but she interviewed several current CEOs and leaders to find out what they are doing right.

I read her book and it was a real inspiration to me. I interviewed her (see video below) via Skype video and she had some powerfully educational lessons for us. Invest about 10 minutes of your time and learn some powerful lessons that are both motivational and educational. Not only that, Rebecca, is a fun person who delivers her content with wit and wisdom for an entertaining presentation.

This is one you’re going to love and want to watch a few times. In fact, share it with your staff so they can benefit from it as well.

Terry
www.TerryBrock.com
Terry@TerryBrock.com

To Reach Dr. Staton-Reinstein — www.ConventionalWisdomCenter.com, www.AdvantageLeadership.com

You have to think like an entrepreneur even if you (still) have a job with a large company.  Think Lehman Brothers.  Think GM,  Think State of California.  Ugh!  No job is permanent.  Those who plead and beg for this strange animal called “job security” need a good welcome to the 21st Century.

Today we are all entrepreneurs.  Well, we all have been for quite a while, but many didn’t realize it till they got the pink slip from their (former) employer informing them of the wonderful new opportunities that await them as an entrepreneur.

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Listen to a supplemental audio of this article!  Get even more as I talk with you about this important concept of thinking like an entrepreneur.  You can listen to it streaming or download as MP3 and listen on your favorite MP3 player.  Choice is good!

Leave a comment (at bottom of this page) and let me and others know what you think. I really look forward to hearing from you.  Thanx!  Terry

Right-Click to Download Audio Supplement for We Are All Entrepreneurs Now

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There is no security in any job.  There is only security in your ability to embrace and deploy market-valuable skills so that you solve problems others have.  The more you can solve problems others have and satisfy their wants and needs, the more “security” you’ll have.

This is the way nature works.   The only way you get ahead is by providing value for others to meet their needs.  Always think in terms of what you can do for the other person.

This means that we all need to think like entrepreneurs.  If this type of thinking begins to take place with more and more people I believe our world will be a better place.

An entrepreneur will change practices quickly.  Success is realized when you can adapt to the ever-changing needs of the marketplace.  No job is secure because the marketplace keeps adjusting.  If you try to continue making buggy whips when the horseless carriage comes along your “job security” will fade quickly.

Yet, in the midst of that change, you can do better by thinking of your skills and strengths.  Let’s go back to my mythical buggy whip manufacturer.  If you made buggy whips at the dawn of the horseless carriage era you knew leather.  You knew how to mold that leather and make solid, long-lasting whips to motivate horses.

In an age of cars, that buggy whip won’t be as necessary.  However, you’ve learned how to work with leather and they use even more leather in cars (seats, steering wheels, dashboards, etc.).  By thinking of yourself as a professional in leather, and more than just a “buggy whip maker” you expand your market and would have an ample amount of work head.  Provide different leather products.  Don’t think of yourself in the “buggy whip” industry but in the “providing leather in many ways for customers” industry.

Think like an entrepreneur.  Be on the lookout for new trends.  We are in a decisive shift today.  The world is not like it was — even last year.  This is creating a lot of opportunities for those who can change their thinking, adapt and come up with market-valuable skills.

Yes, you will have to learn some new skills.  You’ll have to go back to “school” to improve.  It might not be a formal education (although I’m a huge fan of that) but it will require more reading, online courses, audio training, hiring coaches, etc. etc.  Do whatever it takes to learn new skills and then provide value in the marketplace.

Remember that an entrepreneur also has to develop “rhinoceros skin.”  I guarantee you will be turned down by potential customers.  I guarantee you will have set-backs.  Learn from these disappointments.  Write down your lessons in your personal journal.  Then adapt, change and get back in the game.

This is how successful people through the centuries overcame problems and the changes they faced.  You can do it also.  In fact, many people say they became much better and got a much better job after a disappointment or temporary setback.

As you learn to think like an entrepreneur, you will grab those skills needed and adjust.  Remember, there is no “job security” today. Actually, there never has been.  You have to create value each day for the marketplace to keep your job.  This means learning new skills continually, helping others and serving them and becoming more business-astute all the time.  Relationship Marketing is all about connecting with others and providing value.

Now is the time to aggressively embrace new opportunities and offers.  This is what being an entrepreneur is about.

Copyright © 2009, Terry Brock and Achievement Systems, Inc.  Terry Brock is an international marketing coach and professional speaker who helps businesses generate profitable results.  He can be reached at 407-363-0505, by e-mail at terry@terrybrock.com or through his website at www.terrybrock.com.  Join the Twitter adventure with Terry through his Twitter address: TerryBrock.

Here we go!  It is a great time for learning and discovering things that we never thought possible.  With these unconventional times we have to be willing to do things in unconventional ways.  This means a big shift in what we were doing, the skills we bring to the marketplace and even how we think.  These unconventional times call for unconventional tactics.

The good news is that we will be better in the long run for having “cleaned up” our style.  However, it won’t be easy.  Some will choose to give up rather than adapt.  However, Darwin was right that we have to adapt and change in order to survive.

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Here’s an audio enhancement of this article (below). This is NOT just reading the text (you can do that) but enhancing and amplifying it as only audio can.  You can listen to it streaming or download as an MP3 file and listen on your own MP3 player.  Listen and Enjoy!  – Terry

Total Time: 7:58

Download File as MP3 Audio Here

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You know, times like these can be exhilarating as it brings out the best in us.  It forces us to draw from resources deep within.  We have to become better people and change.  You know that person you really wanted to become and the things you wanted to accomplish?  Now is a great time to begin anew and make it happen.

Here are some time-honored steps that can help you make real-world, practical change.

1.    Become Different And Better. Become the person that you really want to be and who the market is asking for.  Come on!  You know there are things you should do and you just never made it happen.  Be willing to pay the price now to make it work.  These are “cold water splashed in your face” times.  How you deal with it makes all the difference.  Take matters into your own hands to become the better person you know you really want to be and can become.  Make it happen.

2.    Crave Education. Think about it.  You are not going to get better unless you learn and acquire the skills to be the person you want to be.  This requires work.  It requires a craving, a longing for education and learning like never before.  Devour books.  Absorb educational audio and video.  Take the classes and seminars necessary.  Hire the coaches who can help you acquire new skills.  Pay whatever price is required to become a better, more fully-educated person.  I don’t necessarily mean formal education, although I’m a huge fan of that.  Get to know what is required and get to know your local library.  Getting the right education is no longer optional.  You have to go where the food is!

3.    Stop It Already! In order to bring the good into your life you have to eliminate those activities, habits and people which are holding you back. Turn off the TV!  Unplug your video games.  These mindless activities don’t contribute ultimately to you becoming a better person.  Replace that time with education and being around quality, life-enhancing people.  Think about what you can eliminate from your life that is holding you back. You only have 24 hours each day so you have to eliminate something to replace it with positive, income-enhancing possibilities. Think about those activities that aren’t helping you and put then into your own “Stop doing that!” category.

4.    Be Creative With Your Re-Creation. You shouldn’t eliminate recreation but you must carefully choose how you invest that time.  Instead of mindless TV, bathe your mind with quality, life-enhancing and uplifting quality music.  Spend quality time with wonderful people instead of watching silly actors on TV or emotionally wrenching news coverage.   Read classics.  There is a reason they are considered “classics” and that means it is worthy of the time to read them.  The best part is that this healthy recreation can be dirt-cheap.  A Sunday afternoon with the family by the lake, playing outside or other activity can cost next to nothing.  Yet, the results and benefits can be priceless.  Raise priceless to the power of “WOW!” when you do it with loved ones.

5.    Develop Persistent Optimism. I hear the cynics wailing about this now.  They think that optimism is merely a charade covering reality.  True optimism has a dogged-determination to find the good in whatever situation happens.  It is how things are accomplished.  How many cynics do you see who are really successful anyway?  Make it your purpose and commitment to face life as a “realistic optimist.”  Know what is happening and find a way to improve and make it better.

These steps will help you personally, which is the core for growing financially.  We are in unconventional times.  They call for doing things unconventionally.  Yet, we will prosper in business and personally when we embrace the time-honored principles of learning, growing, serving others and being persistently, pragmatically optimistic.  Look for ways to serve others and help them solve their pain and you will do very well yourself.  This is how our ancestors made it through their tough times.  It is how we will make it through whatever happens to us.

Copyright © 2009, Terry Brock and Achievement Systems, Inc.  Terry Brock is an international marketing coach and professional speaker who helps businesses generate profitable results.  He can be reached at 407-363-0505, by e-mail at terry@terrybrock.com or through his website at www.terrybrock.com.  Join the Twitter adventure with Terry through his Twitter address: TerryBrock.

I was both surprised and delighted to see the feature today on the world’s best newsletter for Health, Wealth and Personal Development, EarlyToRise.com. In that article, the Editor, Suzanne Richardson, discussed the interview I had with her.

Here’s the link so you can read exactly what she said in today’s feature:

Suzanne Richardson on Terry Brock and Video

—or—

http://tinyurl.com/8e5xzr (same link but shorter version)

And here’s a bonus for you as a reader of Achievement Update from me— something the readers of EarlyToRise.com don’t have in their article but just for you— the original video link. I think Suzanne did a very good job but we’ll let you see the full thing.

Original Interview with Suzanne

We had a wonderful time sharing about how they have built their list to over 430,000 subscribers with a 7-day-a-week publication (!). If you want to build your own list, this is a great video to watch. The few minutes you’ll invest will be well worth it and help you build you own list.

Let me know whatcha’ think. I look forward to hearing from you.

Terry
Terry@TerryBrock.
www.TerryBrock.com

2009 will probably be your toughest year in business.

This sounds like a negative way to start but it is very positive.  Stay with me on this one and you’ll find ways you can take your business — and your personal life —- to some new levels you’ve wanted for a long time.

We are in a different world today than even a year ago.  The economy is front and center on the minds of many in business.  We see what is happening and government forces make their repeated feeble attempts to “try this new thing” that they tell us is going to work. Unfortunately, we seldom hear what has already worked in history and what hasn’t.  A lack of historical knowledge leads to lots of problems.  Think George Santyana and repeating the problems of history.

Yet, what is new really is from what is old.  The principles of success from long ago work today.  Sure, we need to add today’s new twist of technology (think Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and more) but the principles are the same.

2009 can be your toughest year and it can be your best — at the same time.  Think about it.  Haven’t you been your personal best when you have to stretch, grow, discipline yourself and become more of the person you want to be?  Sure, it is hard going through.  Ouch!  You have to do things that are unpleasant.  You can fall down and skin your knees (or worse).  Yet, it is that dogged determination to keep going no matter what that keeps us moving forward.  Think Cool Hand Luke and Rocky Balboa here from the movies.  Those lessons work in real life.

*************  Listen to the Podcast on This Article!  **************************

To hear this article (with enhancements and my personal embellishments!) you can listen to it streaming or via download.

Right-Click here to download and save onto your computer for later listening.

Here are some specific, real-world action steps that have already helped many businesses and can help you as we encounter challenges and opportunities today:

# 1 – Laser-Beam Focus Outside; Avoid “Navel Gazing”

All business is about getting and retaining profitable customers.  It is really that simple.  Sales is most important in business.  Too often we focus on the “delightfully intriguing” minutiae of administrivia in business to the neglect of customers and generating sales.  Don’t just study your navel — look at what others are dealing with and help them.

Everyone in business is in sales.  From the CEO to janitors, focus has to be riveted on generating more profitable sales and bottom line results.  If you doubt that, just look at those laid off recently.  Those who are generating huge profits for a business are retained.  Those who are not carrying their weight, or who can be replaced by other systems, are discarded.  Think of your business like a ship at sea in a violent storm.  Anything not absolutely critical to the ship’s survival has to be thrown overboard.

Focus your efforts on generating more profitable customers as never before.  Discipline yourself to avoid the “delightfully intriguing” small tasks and activities that really don’t bring in money.  Avoid “navel gazing.” This is the core principle of Relationship Marketing.

#2 – Watch The Numbers

Get a system and pay very careful attention to the important numbers in your business.  How many sales calls have you made?  How many marketing brochures have you produced and sent, and how many generated inquiries?  How many visit your website and particularly which pages?

There are a host of numbers to watch in business and your business will be different.  Make that list of what you have to watch — those numbers that relate to helping customers —- and focus on them with laser-beam intensity.

#3 – Expect Some Setbacks

This is not negative. This is what I like to call “realistically positive.”  You know that on this planet stuff happens.  Plan for it.  Think about what are some likely scenarios.

This is part of being realistic and being prepared for whatever might happen.

However, expecting setbacks is tightly coupled to…

#4 – Plan How To Overcome Setbacks

Lay out scenarios of how you can overcome setbacks that are likely to occur. Football coach Bear Bryant of the University of Alabama was famous for his contingency plans.  He knew the opposing team’s strengths and weaknesses.  He had hundreds of plans written to handle hundreds of possibilities.  Did he use them all?  Of course not.  But the mental discipline helped him to prepare how to overcome whatever might hit.

In your business you have to have those plans of what could happen and how you will deal with potential problems.  More than anything this exercise helps you to think critically about how to move ahead.

#5 – Celebrate Regularly

In tough times we have to have our full mental and physical abilities fine-tuned and ready for anything.  By celebrating regularly (I recommend at least weekly) for even tiny achievements, we create a stronger desire to achieve.

Make those celebrations frequent and directly related to objective, customer-benefiting, profit-generating activities.

Doing these activities will help you get ahead no matter what.  This is a great time.  Yes, it will be a tough year.  And like the old saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”  Make it work for you with the right skills and fortitude to blast through any barrier.  Embrace the old principles that have worked and couple them with new technologies.  You’ll have a winning combination!

Write me and let me know so I can share this with others.  Terry@TerryBrock.com. I look forward to hearing of your success.

Copyright © 2009, Terry Brock and Achievement Systems, Inc.  Terry Brock is an international marketing coach and professional speaker who helps businesses generate profitable results.  He can be reached at 407-363-0505, by e-mail at terry@terrybrock.com or through his website at www.terrybrock.com.

It’s that time of year when we hear about the importance of New Year’s Resolutions. We all know and have heard about a million times the importance of goal setting.

But, hey, can we get real here? Entrepreneur to entrepreneur. Salesperson to salesperon. You KNOW that you probably won’t reach all those ultra-lofty goals no matter how enthusiastic you are on New Year’s Eve (depending on how many adult beverages you’ve consumed!). So, then we often swing to the other extreme and don’t set any goals. And you know that won’t bring out the best in you either.

So what’s a salesperson (and aren’t we all today?) to do? How are you going to manage this business called “You, Inc.” that you are running?

I propose that this year you don’t set New Year’s Resolutions. Now, wait a minute. I can already feel the crush of email coming to me about how you should set goals, etc. etc. Hey! I am with you. I set rigid goals for myself on a weekly and daily basis. What I’m proposing this year is that you don’t just set New Year’s Resolutions but put a plan in place that can seriously change your life and your business for the better. Make 2009 the year you see some specific, bottom-line-boosting changes.

Here’s a trick that will help. Set your yearly goals first, and then back them up with quarterly and monthly goals to achieve them. Suppose you want to lose, say, 50 pounds. It would not be medically sound to try and do that in one week — even if you could! Instead, you get the assistance of a trained professional. You put together a realistic plan for diet, rest, exercise and the system that works best for you according to your health care provider. Then you have to stay with it (discipline, my friend!) and make incremental progress.

This is the key to success with any goal program. You put teeth into your goals when you measure what you’re doing and you set small, bite-sized goals that you can obtain. Going back to our example of weight loss, losing 1 lb. in 1 week is usually realistic. This is something most people can do. If you do that for each week of the year, you’ve lost 50 lbs. easily.

This coming year is going to be quite different from anything we’ve experienced before. Party now and do your resting during these Holidays because when January gets here, it is time for all of us to roll up our sleeves and get into some serious work! These times call for extra effort to achieve our goals. Financial times are going to bring out the best — and worst — in many people. Prepare now for hitting your goals.

Make it a point to put together Quarterly Goals that you can refer to. Then break down those Quarterly Goals into monthly goals. Leave the flexibility to deal with the unknown. We don’t know all that is going to happen but we do know that there are going to be challenges. Get ready now mentally, physically and financially to handle whatever is coming down the pike.

Put teeth into your resolutions in other ways. Yes, I strongly recommend making goals, but put teeth into them. Build in your own private rewards — and penalties to hold your feet to the fire. If you achieve January’s goals, give yourself a treat of an extra movie, an extra day off, a special chocolate treat —whatever is reasonable and motivating for you. But then, here’s the kicker – find a way to “discipline” yourself if you don’t make it. If you don’t hit that important goal, tell yourself you have to do something that is rather unpleasant. You have to go without a valued treat. Find a way that, within reason, makes you regret not getting your goal for that month and work that much harder for the next month’s goals.

I’m a big fan of monthly goals. Yearly goals are good too but they have to build from the smaller, more doable goals. I remember when I was fresh out of high school, working to earn money for college at various odd jobs that I had a job selling vacuum cleaners (really!). It wasn’t my cup of tea but I did learn one important lesson there. I remember our sales manager telling us that sometimes we might have a bad day. We might even have a bad week. But we’d never have a bad month. A month is a more manageable period of time. We all have good and bad days. This is normal. Sometimes you’ll even have a week that doesn’t go as well. But, within a month, you have it within your ability to correct the error, get the right resources to help you and make things better. If things are still bad after a month, it is not a matter of just “trying harder” but time to question if something more fundamental is awry.

And here’s a high-tech bonus that can really help: Schedule several email messages to go to yourself on the 1st of April, July and October. Those are the beginnings of the 2nd. 3rd and 4th Quarters. Remind yourself in the future of your plans at the beginning of the year. Then give yourself that much-needed, motivational pep talk — customized for your own needs. Take time — even a few moments — at the end of each quarter to evaluate how you’ve done thus far on your major yearly goals. Major businesses always evaluate how they’ve done on a quarterly basis. You should do this for “You, Inc.” as well. This is critical for success.

By putting teeth into your New Year’s Resolutions, you’ll get better results. And be sure to have fun as you do it. Remember life is meant to be lived and enjoyed. Make money. Have fun. These are two of my goals for the New Year (and yes, I make them more specific!) and I hope you are able to make 2009 the very best year of your life!

Terry Brock is an international marketing coach and professional speaker who helps businesses market more effectively, leveraging technology. He shows busy professionals how to squeeze more out of their days using time-honored rules and practical technology tools. He can be reached at 407-363-0505, by e-mail at terry@terrybrock.com or through his website at www.terrybrock.com.

I would say we have a LOT to be thankful for…. and in this audio I said it. You want to hear what is said on this short (5:24) audio message. I share with you some of the reasons to be thankful. I also get a chance to share about some of the history of Thanxgiving and how it came about with the Pilgrims and William Bradford. You’ll love this!

So, sit back and enjoy. You’re gonna’ love this audio and I look forward to hearing from you.

In fact, please leave your comments and ideas that you’d like to share with others in the Comments section (below). This will be a great way to thank others and to let others know what you are thankful for this year. What a great way for a lot of people to help each other —- all at no cost!

I look forward to hearing from you. Listen to the audio. I put it together in two ways to give you a choice in listening. You can download it as a single file to your MP3 player of choice or listen to it streaming. Either way, I want you to enjoy.

Thank YOU for being part of this Blog. I look forward to hearing from you.

Happy Thanxgiving!

Terry

Terry Brock, CEO
Achievement Systems, Inc.
November 2008

You can also download the MP3 file here by right-clicking and selecting “Save Target As..” (or other similar command from your browser.)

Terry’s Special Thanxgiving 2008 Message

First, watch this video with MaryEllen Tribby.  She is the Group Publisher for Early To Rise.  She took sales from $8 million when she came in to over $26 million in 15 months!  WOW!  When I went to Business School, we called that doing “rather well.”  Well, in this video interview, MaryEllen shows her business expertise and her uncompromising graciousness by sharing some specific techniques that can help you acheive the goals you want.

Yes, I know you’re busy.  Aren’t we all? However, the few moments (less than 6 minutes) you invest of your time to watch this video can pay rich dividends for you in your business and personal life.  Enjoy.  And thank you, MaryEllen!  You’re terrific!

Next, you get a real treat from that marketing genius and copywriter extraordinaire, Charlie Byrne.  Charlie is the Senior Editor for Early To Rise and continues to pump our powerful, compelling copy day after day.  The two points he shares in this video interview can change your business direction.  It can add lots of serious profits to your bottom line.

Check out www.EarlyToRise.com and see what all the excitement is about there.  This is the kind of investment you need to make in these times to keep your business strong and moving.  If you’re serious about growing and thriving in any market, these two marketing geniuses can help you.

All right! Enough already! We’ve heard it over and over about the tough times and how the economy is on a roller coaster. Is this a new era? Are we facing another Great Depression? What is going to happen to the credit and financial markets?

Well, I’d be happy to tell you what is going to happen but my crystal ball is broken. However, I can see what works with human nature and how people overcome challenges and we can learn from that and grow.

When times get tough — as they have and will again and again — they provide a wonderful opportunity to begin anew. As human beings we achieve more and become our very best when we overcome serious obstacles and challenges.

Don’t fear the hard times — embrace them. “Comfort does not produce greatness” is a wonderful Buddhist saying a friend of mine shared with me recently. Be honest with yourself and you might find a few times when you focused more on comfort than producing the greatness for yourself and for others. This is human nature.

You could sit in a bathtub of warm water all day. But it won’t make you strong. It will only give you wrinkles! Get out of that warm water, dry off, get dressed and get ready to charge into the real world. Face what is out there. Yes, there will be tough times. Yes, there will be some setbacks. Welcome to my planet. It works that way here. However, as you embrace the challenges, overcome obstacles and gain more skills you become a better person.

Jim Rohn said it very well when he said that you should strive to earn a million dollars. You don’t have to do it for what you can buy with the million dollars. You could choose to give it all away. However, make it a goal to earn the million dollars because of who you’ll become in the process. Do it for the skills you’ll master along the journey.

Tough times bring out the best — and worst — in people. Tough times have a way of cutting out the dross, the nonsense (and a few other color metaphors). Think of it like a ship tossed at sea. Cargo which doesn’t contribute to sustaining the ship is thrown overboard during violent storms. That which does not contribute to the sustenance of the ship is discarded as it has to be. Be proactive in eliminating the dross from your own business and life.

Take this opportunity to become more of the better person you want to be. Learn new skills. Study revenue-generating ideas in books, magazines, Blogs, podcasts, seminars and elsewhere. Study diligently how to improve critical, revenue-generating areas of your business operation.

Build new relationships and nurture existing, profitable relationships. Now is also a good time to eliminate those areas of your life that aren’t serving you. Now is an excellent time to examine your Relationship Marketing efforts. What is working? What is not? Tough times have a way of helping show who is really with you and who was merely saying nice things during the good times.

This would be a great time to meet with your team of top coaches, employees, consultants and other trusted advisors. Have frank and candid meetings with them to explain where you are, what is going on now and the opportunities for the future. The old WOTS analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Threats and Opportunities) strategy is perfect for this.

This is a particularly pungent time for us as a nation. We’re facing a major election. Politicians, as they are inclined by nature, see the solution as political. I see it differently. Whoever is elected and whichever party controls the reins of government, your success is ultimately up to you. The solution is not political. It is in personal achievement. Your success is up to you, not the politicians who are elected. You have to take matters into your own hands to get better, achieve your own goals and help others.

Focus on doing Relationship Marketing right. That is one of the best skills you can master. Find out ways to serve others and help them in this time of challenges. As you serve others and help them meet their needs, you’ll be able to meet your own needs.

Now is not the time to focus on comfort. Get out of that warm bathtub water, for crying out loud! Take decisive, results-oriented steps to build your Relationship Marketing. Become the better person that you really know you can be and want to be. Today is a perfect opportunity to do it.

When you succeed and achieve your goals you’ll become someone you can be proud of and then comfort will be even sweeter. Hey, you might even treat yourself to a warm bath — for a short time!

Terry Brock is an international marketing coach and columnist who helps businesses market more effectively, leveraging technology. He shows busy professionals how to squeeze more out of their days using time-honored rules and practical technology tools. He can be reached at 407-363-0505, by e-mail at terry@terrybrock.com or through his website at www.terrybrock.com.

Watch this video to see what is available and how you can use it as a competitive advantage in your business. Leave your comments below and I’ll look forward to hearing from you.