Encourager-In-Chief Weekly Blog

How to Lose a Client In 9 Months

Tue, 11 Mar 2025 12:45:00 GMT

(or 9 days… or 9 seconds)

Avoiding the Doctor at All Costs

I hate going to the doctor. I haven’t seen my regular doctor in 16 years. In fact, unless I’m facing something close to amputation, I’d rather just tough it out. However, recently, I needed to see my dermatologist because the medication I had been using since 2013 was starting to run out, and I couldn’t get a prescription refill without making an appointment.

The Long Wait for an Appointment

I called in February and was given an appointment for November 12. (This is not a typo.) The day of my appointment, my doctor’s office called to say that he had to cancel because he wasn’t in that day. They wanted to schedule me two days later, which was the day before my biggest and final seminar. I decided to wait until the following week; however, my doctor could not see me that day, so they assigned me to someone else. He turned out to be a much better doctor who solved my problem and had a good sense of humor. By the way, when I go back to the dermatologist again in another 12 years, I’m going to ask for him.

Delayed Care for a Painful Problem

I recently had a flare-up of gout in my right foot. I waited six days before I called my podiatrist to schedule an appointment. By that time, it felt like my foot was on fire. The scheduler made my appointment for nine days later. By the time I saw my foot doctor, my pain threshold was only at level 2. She prescribed a steroid, and by the next day, I was all better. The next time I have an issue, I’ll find someone who can see me a lot sooner.

The Appointment-Only Policy

Not long ago, I accompanied my wife to see her dermatologist. When she was done taking care of my wife, she asked if we had any questions. I wanted to ask her about a small white spot on my neck to find out if I needed to schedule an appointment to have it looked at. Before I could even get the words out of my mouth, she stopped me and said, “I’m sorry, if you’re going to ask me anything about yourself, you’re going to have to schedule an appointment.” She said it was the law. (So much for the Hippocratic oath.) I politely declined and went home and used some rubbing alcohol to open the whitehead on my neck, which went away in a couple of days.

A Lesson for Business Owners

I know some of you think I might be wrong, but my experiences with the medical profession have not been very positive. My point in sharing them with you is this: Perhaps doctors can get away with dismissing people and delaying them for unreasonable periods of time, but it’s unlikely that you can do the same in your business. If you want to gain customers instead of losing them; if you want to delight customers instead of aggravating them; and if you want to give customers a reason to praise you rather than leave nasty reviews about you, make their priority your priority.

Final Thoughts

“Responsibility finds a way. Irresponsibility makes excuses.” – Gene Bedley

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar video Legendary Customer Service IV: Soothing the Savage Customer.) I encourage you to watch this video at www.courses.romeonetwork.com .

Are You a “Go-To” Reference to Your Clients?

Tue, 04 Mar 2025 13:45:00 GMT

If Not, Why Not? - Subtitle

Maximizing Your Network for Success

Many people don’t realize how to exploit their networks. I’m using the word “exploit” in the positive meaning of the word. In other words, you want to get the most out of your network whenever it can work to your advantage. The reason I stressed this is because some people approach mixers with an air of arrogance or snobbery. For example, I’ve heard financial planners say that they only look for high-earning income prospects with whom to do business. While there’s nothing wrong with searching for your ideal clients, it is a gross mistake to think that people who may never be your clients cannot introduce you to the people for whom you’re looking.

A Costly DIY Mistake

Not being a very handy individual, I attempted to change the UV light bulb in my water softener — a system, I might add, that I’ve had in place for the past 14 years. Unfortunately, I not only broke the crystal tube in which the lightbulb sat, but I also managed to get water all over my basement wall. Sadly, it’s not the first time this has happened to me. Naturally, this occurred on a Saturday morning when the company that services this type of problem was closed. Still, it didn’t stop me from searching for a solution, using the resources at my disposal (in other words, my networking contacts).

The Power of a Well-Connected Network

The first person I called was Dan Luckenbaugh of Advanced Air Quality Services. In addition to being an expert in his field, Dan is also a master networker. He spends a great deal of time getting to know other people and finding resources to solve problems. He instantly recommended a YouTube video that showed me what I did wrong and how to solve the problem. Had I watched it before I attempted to change that lightbulb, that program would’ve saved me about $500.

Leveraging Your Network Beyond Business

The point is that Dan is an excellent resource to me even when I’m not actively using his services because of who he knows and what he knows. I encourage you to make sure that you take the time to get to know the people in your network so that you don’t overlook simple

solutions to problems you face in the future.

“You need to network to get work.” – Pam Witwer

Let Me Hear From You

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar series Networking Marketing Mastery III: Turning Contacts into Contracts .) I encourage you to watch this video here .

Special thanks to Dan Luckenbaugh, Owner of Advances Air Quality Services, for making today's blog possible!

You Don’t Need a Job to Have a Purpose

Tue, 25 Feb 2025 13:45:00 GMT

Finding Purpose Beyond Employment

When I think back to the days that I spent working as a staffing recruiter, I encountered many people who felt as if they’d lost their identity if they had lost their job. One of the things that I spent much time doing when I became a business coach was building people up and getting them refocused on recognizing their true value. In reality, you don’t need a job to have a purpose. We all have one. It may not be obvious to us what it is—especially if we have just been fired—but that’s what taking stock and regrouping is all about.

A Lesson in Purpose from a Friend

I had a friend who came over to my house one day because he noticed that my garage door opener was not functioning properly. Please note that I did not ask him to look at it. He heard the sound it made when it was operating and felt something was wrong. As it turned out, he was right.

He came over one Saturday and spent several hours with me in my garage. First, he fixed my garage door opener. Next, he fixed the frayed pull cord on my snowblower before showing me how to change the oil. Then he brought over some industrial-strength oil remover to get some of the stains off my garage floor. Did I mention that he didn’t charge me to do any of these things?

Discovering Purpose Through Service

What he did say to me that day was that there were many things he did not know how to do. But he had made his living for more than 20 years working as a truck mechanic. He knew how to solve problems with his hands, especially mechanical ones. He felt that God had put him on this earth to help other people solve the kind of problems I had that day. That was his purpose, and that’s what he wanted to do with his time.

Purpose is Not Limited to a Paycheck

His commitment inspired me to find ways to use my gifts in retirement, even though I no longer needed to charge anyone for them. My point is that we all have a purpose. Don’t ever let your job get in the way of recognizing what yours is and using it to its fullest degree.

“It’s never too late to be what you might have been. ” – George Eliot

Let Me Hear From You

(This excerpt is taken from Dave Romeo’s book The Next Chapter .) I encourage you to order this book or e-book at www.RomeoNetwork.com.

Work-Life Balance in a Fast-Paced World

Tue, 18 Feb 2025 13:45:00 GMT

Strategies for Thriving Personally and Professionally.

In today’s high-demand business environment, the line between work and personal life has become increasingly blurred. With constant emails, notifications, and the expectation to always be available, many professionals find themselves struggling to keep up. What starts as a dedication to a thriving career can quickly lead to stress, overwhelm, and eventually burnout. For many, success has come at a steep cost, long hours, missed family moments, declining health, and the pressure to always perform. Rather than experiencing the fulfillment of their hard work, they find themselves exhausted, disconnected, and questioning if the sacrifices are truly worth it.

But Does Success Have To Mean Sacrificing Balance?

The reality is, that without intentional boundaries and sustainable routines, burnout, strained relationships, and even financial instability become inevitable. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. That’s why I will be speaking on Work-Life Balance in a Fast-Paced World, a seminar designed to help professionals reclaim their time, set boundaries, and develop a balanced approach to success—without sacrificing well-being. This isn’t just about theory; it’s about practical action steps you can implement immediately.

Join Me: Work Life Balance In A Fast Paced World

Lancaster, PA, May 8th, 8:30 am to 12 pm

What You’ll Learn in This Seminar:

The Hidden Impact of Constant Connectivity Technology has made it easier than ever to stay connected—but at what cost? This session will uncover how digital overload affects productivity, mental health, and relationships, and what you can do to regain control of your time.
Setting Healthy Boundaries Without Guilt Whether it’s defining work hours, limiting notifications, or creating tech-free spaces, setting boundaries is essential. You’ll learn strategies to confidently enforce boundaries that protect your well-being while maintaining professional excellence.
Designing Your Personal Mission, Vision & Value Statement Without clear direction, it’s easy to drift through life reacting to demands instead of making purpose-driven choices. You’ll craft a personal mission, vision, and value statement that aligns with your goals and future aspirations.
Building a Roadmap for Work-Life Success Once your mission and values are clear, you can design a structure that supports both personal and professional fulfillment. This session will help you develop routines and habits that promote success, stability, and balance.
Reducing Distractions & Increasing Focus Multitasking, frequent interruptions, and digital distractions steal time and energy. Learn how to eliminate distractions, create focused work sessions, and accomplish more in less time—giving you more freedom to enjoy life.
The Power of Rest & Self-Care Many high achievers view rest as a luxury, but in reality, it’s a non-negotiable for long-term success. Discover how sleep, movement, and mental breaks can enhance productivity, creativity, and overall well-being.
Taking Action: Practical Steps to Implement Today Knowledge without action won’t change your life, applying what you learn will. You’ll walk away with a personalized balance plan, designed to fit your lifestyle, career, and aspirations so you can start making changes immediately

Finding Balance.

For years, I was caught in the cycle of overwork, stress, and neglecting personal priorities. After leaving my corporate role and relocating, I set out to intentionally rebuild my life with balance at the center. Through tested strategies, mindset shifts, and planning, I created a life that aligns with my values, supports my success, and prioritizes what truly matters.

Now, I help other professionals do the same. In this workshop, I’ll be sharing the techniques that helped me achieve a sustainable work-life balance without compromising success.

I want to inspire you to explore your deepest goals, clarify your values, and create a life that reflects your true purpose. This journey isn’t just about your career, it’s about designing a life that serves both you and the people who matter most.

Are you ready to take control of your time, energy, and future?

Join me for this transformational session and start creating a life that aligns with your values, honors your priorities, and brings you lasting fulfillment.

Seminars have a new home! Click below to register at Create Socially.

Don't Look A Goldmine in the Mouth

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 13:45:00 GMT

Make The Most of Your Networking Opportunities.

The Cost of Wasted Opportunities in Networking

There’s a saying I picked up many years ago. It goes, “Having books and not reading in the information age is like having seeds and not planting in the agricultural age.” If that statement is true, then it also follows that joining and paying for a networking organization, and not attending, is just like throwing money down the drain. Unfortunately, that’s what I see so many entrepreneurs do when they start getting busy.

Why Entrepreneurs Stop Networking – And Why It’s a Mistake

Most entrepreneurs will join a Chamber of Commerce or a networking affiliation early on and will be more inclined to attend those mixers until they get to the point where they feel they are too busy to network. This is a colossal mistake! The busier you are, the more you should be networking so that you can tell everybody how busy you are!

Discovering a Goldmine: The Power of NRG Networking

About a year and a half ago, I stumbled onto what I considered a goldmine. Several of my clients mentioned NRG to me. NRG stands for National Referral Group, and its founder, Mike Weiner, really impressed me the first time we met. I watched him conduct one of his many weekly Zoom networking sessions and rattle off referral after referral — not only to his paid members but also to his invited guests who were prospective customers interested in finding out more about his business.

Don’t Pay for a Network You Never Use

When I spread the word about Mike’s business to my client base, many of them signed up as members. However, I was shocked to learn that some of them rarely or never attended any of the networking sessions. The value of any system or service is only as good as the amount of time you spend using it. Networking is the most reliable and cost-effective way for you to grow your business.

The Key to Business Growth: Consistent Networking

As long as you’re in business, you’re never going to get to the point where you can afford to stop networking. I made this mistake once when I was running my business and stopped networking for about five years. It almost put me out of business. The key to my turnaround was that I started networking consistently and regularly until I got to the point where virtually my entire client base was coming to me as a result of my networking efforts.

Make the Most of Your Networking Investment

If you’re serious about growing your business, make a commitment to get the most out of your networking investment. If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for all of those prospects going to networking events hoping to find someone like you who can solve their problems.

“You're either networking or not working." – Dave Romeo

Let me hear from you.

For more on this topic, please check out our course, Survive and Thrive V: Ramping up Referrals.

More Referrals, Please!

Who doesn't love referrals? If you love networking, but prefer to connect from the comfort of your home or office, definitely check out NRG, and tell Mike we sent you his way! Your first meeting is completely free, and you even get three guaranteed referrals on the spot just for giving it a try. Give Mike a call, or shoot him a text, at (443) 756-9656 .

Mastering Confidence Under Pressure: The Secret to Presenting Like a Pro

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 21:34:17 GMT

The Secret To Presenting Like A Pro

Let’s be honest—public speaking can be downright terrifying. Whether it's pitching your brilliant idea to investors, leading a team meeting, or introducing yourself at a networking event, the pressure to present yourself well can make even the most seasoned professionals break into a cold sweat. But here’s the thing: what if that fear isn’t fear at all?

Think about it. What are the symptoms of fear? Sweaty palms, a racing heartbeat, that jittery feeling in your stomach. Now, what about excitement? Same symptoms, right?

The only difference between fear and excitement is mindset. What if, instead of dreading a presentation, you could feel energized by it?

Imagine turning those butterflies into fuel that powers you through any situation. That shift in perspective could be the game-changer you need.

Simple Shifts for Powerful Confidence:

1. Reframe the Fear
Your body’s stress response doesn’t have to be your enemy. By consciously shifting your thoughts, you can turn nervous energy into enthusiasm. Walk into that room thinking, “I’m excited to share this” instead of “I hope I don’t mess up.” It’s a small change with massive impact.

2. Manage Stress Like a Pro
Simple techniques like box breathing can help clear your mind and calm your body. And creating a personalized pre-presentation routine—whether it’s striking a power pose or blasting your favorite song—can help you walk in ready to own the moment.

3. Own the Room
Your body language often speaks louder than your words. Stand tall, make confident eye contact, and use your voice to command attention. And don’t underestimate the power of storytelling—a well-told story connects you to your audience and makes your message memorable.

4. Handle Tough Audiences with Ease
What if someone throws a curveball question your way? No problem. Staying composed and steering conversations back on track is a skill anyone can develop with a few simple strategies.

Why This Matters for You

You don’t have to be a keynote speaker to benefit from these skills. Strong communication and presentation abilities are critical whether you're selling a product, leading a team, or just networking.

And let’s be real—you’re already handling tough challenges daily as a business owner or entrepreneur. This is just the next step in leveling up your game.

Ready to Ditch the Nerves and Show Up Like a Pro?

Want to dive deeper into these strategies and more? Join me for Confidence Under Pressure: Present Like a Pro in Any Situation , and let’s turn those butterflies into fuel for success. It’s time to step up, speak out, and own every room you walk into.

When:

2/20/25 8:30 am - 12 pm, Lunch $15

Where?

Lancaster Bible College, Oewline Dining Commons Private Dining Room

Speaker: Rachel Bechard, All Trades Creative

Are You Your Customer's Favorite Vendor?

Tue, 21 Jan 2025 14:57:33 GMT

What are you Doing To Become So?

A Legendary Pond From A Legendary Business

It’s no secret that my bass pond which was installed on my property four years ago is my pride and joy. I can’t tell you how much time is spent maintaining it and improving it so that I can spend more time enjoying it. However, that doesn’t mean it is not without its challenges. It can be affected by weather, animals, and imbalances in aquatic plants — especially algae.

For the first three years that I had the pond, I had some minor issues that were addressed. My life became infinitely easier when I hired Ryan Schwarz of Schwarz Ponds to maintain my bass pond. Although Ryan is a young man, he takes such great pride in his work that it’s almost like he’s working on his own pond.

During the third year that I had the pond, I experienced some floating algae that would not go away no matter what I did. Desperate, I asked Ryan for his help. He worked methodically throughout the entire summer to eliminate the problem. He brought over his own equipment, including a high-powered aerating pump to prevent the algae from taking hold, and treated the water with every algae-preventative method under the sun. I almost felt like this was Ryan’s pond and he was just letting me enjoy it.

Legendary Problem Solving + Legendary Desire To Serve

It really impressed me how committed he was to solving my problems — especially since my home is not even technically in his service area. It was obvious that it was a point of pride for him to figure out how to solve my problem. It should be obvious to you by now that Ryan is my favorite vendor.

A Question Every Business Owner Should Ask

So, here’s the most important question: Are you your customers' favorite vendor? What are you doing to make them feel like you are? If you take a page out of the Schwarz Ponds playbook, you can start by treating your customers' problems as if they were your own. Be sure to stay committed to solving your customers' problems until they are solved. Naturally, you want to overcommunicate exactly what’s happening and why to your customers. And don’t forget to let them know what you’re doing to solve their problem. I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to recommend Schwarz Ponds to anyone who can benefit from their service. Make sure your customers feel the same way about recommending you.

“Satisfied customers aren’t enough. You need to create raving fans.” – Ken Blanchard

Let me hear from you .

For more on this topic, please check out our course, In Search of Legendary Customer Service .

More Legendary Customer Service From Ryan

In case you don't have a pond, but want to still try out Ryan's Legendary Customer Service, check out Lancaster Lead Testing. They offer a quick and simple way to ensure your home is lead safe from lead-based paints. Click the logo below to schedule service today; if you know any realtors or property managers - send them Ryan's way, too!

What Do You Instill When You Install Your Service?

Tue, 21 Jan 2025 14:00:00 GMT

It Should Be Confidence In Your Service

The Importance of Ease of Execution in Business

When was the last time you looked into your ease of execution? I’m talking about how easy it is for you to deliver your products and services to your customers and how easy it is for them to get them from you — which also includes ease of delivery.

A Real-Life Example: Carpet Installation Gone Wrong

After 27 years, I finally broke down to get some new carpet for my family room/exercise area/office area. Although I had never bought any products from this company before, they were an exceptionally well-known and well-established brand-name carpet and flooring company.

Setting Expectations: Employees vs. Subcontractors

I specifically asked if they would only send installers who were their employees, as opposed to
subcontractors. This was because we had a bad experience with another flooring company about three years ago. This company assured me they would send their own employees, although it would probably take a little longer to schedule them.

Delivery Delays and Mismanagement: Day One

The two installers showed up ½ an hour late on the first day. Keep in mind that all they were doing was one room and a flight of stairs. After about two hours, they left saying they were going to get the carpet. Their store was about an hour away round-trip from our home. Why they didn’t bring the carpet with them in one of the two vans they parked in our driveway, I’ll never know.

Poor Communication and Inefficiency: Day Two

The next day, the same two installers showed up on time. I asked them if they even had enough carpeting to do the stairs. They said yes, they had picked it up that morning from the store. Apparently, they were never going to get the job done in one day, since they didn’t even have all the carpeting with them when they initially arrived at our home.

The Customer Experience Matters

Before I could even get downstairs, they had moved my treadmill and elliptical machine back into the room. Unfortunately, I’d measured where they went so that I could line up everything else in the room. That meant everything had to be removed, measured, and moved back.

Key Takeaway: Instilling Value and Peace of Mind

The point of the story — besides allowing me the opportunity to get paid for venting — is to point out that when you install your service in a customer’s house, your goal should be to instill a sense of value and peace of mind in your customer, so that he or she feels like they got his or her money’s worth.

Credibility comes from results. Everything else is just marketing . – Richie Norton

Watch the Full Seminar for More Insights

Let me hear from you .

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar video 12 Easy Ways to Improve Any Business .) I encourage you to watch this video at RomeoNetwork Online Learning.

Credibility By Association

Tue, 14 Jan 2025 14:00:02 GMT

Your Network Speaks Volumes

Where you do business and who you do business with says an awful lot about you, whether you realize it or not. Your friends, family, customers, and prospects will evaluate you based on the company you keep.

A Chance Encounter That Proved a Point

Last year, a misdirected package brought me to the home of a woman I had never met. She turned out to be a widow of only 10 days and was recovering from knee replacement surgery. At 69 years old, she faced numerous challenges, including retrieving her car from an unreliable repairperson. Despite being strangers, she listened as I suggested businesses that might assist her. Since we lived in the same town, I asked if she was familiar with Carl & Scott’s Automotive. She immediately recognized the name and shared that she and her late husband had trusted them for service.

Credibility Through Trusted Associations

When I mentioned that Carl & Scott’s Automotive was one of my sponsors, her comfort level with me rose significantly. Their excellent reputation for fairness and reliable repairs translated to trust in me. With her guard down, I was able to guide her toward much-needed assistance with banking, estate planning, and real estate issues.

The Lesson: Reputability is Contagious

This interaction illustrates a critical truth: when you associate with reputable people and businesses, their credibility reflects on you. Customers and prospects are more likely to trust you if you use trustworthy tools, products, and services in your business. Make sure they know about these connections.

Build Your Ironclad Credibility

“ Tell me who you hang out with, and I’ll tell you who you are. ” – Burke Hedges's mother

Your network and partnerships play a significant role in how others perceive you. Align yourself with reputable associates, and their credibility will strengthen your own reputation.

Watch the Full Seminar

This excerpt is taken from the seminar video " How to Build Ironclad Credibility. " To dive deeper into strategies for strengthening your reputation, watch the full video at courses.romeonetwork.com.

Succession Planning Starts Now!

Tue, 07 Jan 2025 13:45:00 GMT

It’s Never Too Soon

Often, sole proprietors long for the company of others in their business. One reason is that it can get very lonely when you’re running your own business all by yourself. Second, you can delegate tasks to someone else if there’s no one else working with you. Third, if you don’t want to work for the rest of your life, you eventually have to have someone else to whom you can pass along what you’ve learned.

When Should You Start Succession Planning?

What’s wrong with today? If you have anyone else in your organization, are you evaluating their potential? Of course, not everyone is cut out to be a leader. Plus, you also have to make sure that the person isn’t as entrepreneurially oriented as you are, or that person may just go out on his or her own. You must find somebody who shares your work ethic and has a strong desire to grow and become more than they already are.

A Success Story: George Garrett of Garrett Electric

A few years ago, I met George Garrett of Garrett Electric. Even though he only had one employee at the time, the first thing he told me was that he wanted to scale his business. George did several things right. First, he made sure that he was setting an example by giving excellent customer service to his clients. He always gives more than is expected. Next, he instilled in his employees the same work ethic so that he could duplicate his brand. In addition, he made sure that he not only invested in his own education but made sure to provide similar business training to his future successors.

Assessing and Developing Talent

Early on, George could tell that different employees had different levels and desires to grow and learn. This makes it easy to decide where he should be investing most of his time in creating succession plans for his business. You’ll want to make sure that you’re doing the same thing in your business.

Take a talent inventory of your staff. If you do not have a staff, you should be constantly looking around for potential future employees. Most likely it’s going to be from those future employees that you cultivate a succession plan for your future. Even if you’re not ready to hire today, you can still be on the lookout today. As the saying goes, the worst time to start looking for a dentist is after you already have a toothache.

“No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get
all the credit for doing it.” — Andrew Carnegie

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from the Leadership Academy.) I encourage you to click here to register for the Leadership Academy 5-part series running on five consecutive Tuesday mornings beginning March 18, 2025, through April 15, 2025, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time. This course alternates between in-room classes and live streaming each week.

AI for Business Professionals

Tue, 31 Dec 2024 14:15:10 GMT

Showcasing Your Skills with Chat GPT & Similar Tools

AI for Business Professionals: Tools and Tactics for Showcasing Your Skills with Chat GPT

In today's fast-paced professional world, staying competitive means adopting tools that enhance productivity while showcasing your unique skills. Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a powerful ally in this mission, and tools like Chat GPT are leading the way in revolutionizing how professionals approach their work. As Elon Musk aptly said, “AI will be the best or worst thing ever for humanity.” For business professionals, leveraging AI like Chat GPT can undoubtedly be one of the best tools to enhance capabilities, save time, and focus on what truly matters.

Amplify Your Expertise with AI

Artificial intelligence is not about replacing human capabilities; it’s about enhancing them. Chat GPT acts as a dynamic assistant that complements your expertise in various ways. It allows you to streamline research by quickly gathering and synthesizing information, enabling you to craft reports and presentations with accuracy and depth. Additionally, Chat GPT serves as a brainstorming partner, generating fresh ideas for creative projects, marketing campaigns, or innovative solutions to complex problems. When it comes to communication, this tool ensures your emails, proposals, and speeches are polished and professional, leaving a lasting impression. These advantages free you to focus on strategic, high-impact activities that drive results in your career.

Showcase Your Unique Skills

Using Chat GPT doesn’t just save you time—it allows your strengths to shine. For instance, you can showcase your problem-solving abilities by leveraging AI to analyze scenarios and suggest thoughtful solutions. This demonstrates your capability to handle complex challenges with clarity and confidence. Similarly, Chat GPT can serve as a creative catalyst, sparking ideas that you refine and present as innovative strategies, showcasing your visionary thinking. Finally, by streamlining repetitive tasks, you demonstrate efficiency and organizational prowess, showing others that you can deliver on time without sacrificing quality.

Ready to elevate your skills and take your business to the next level? Learn actionable insights at the "Experts In Business: AI - Leveraging Technology to Grow Your Business" forum. Don’t miss this opportunity! Click here to reserve your seat to one of Lancaster County's most sought after AI Summits .

Practical Applications and Recommended Tools

In addition to Chat GPT, several AI tools can help enhance your productivity and skillset in specific domains. For managing tasks and automating workflows, try Zapier or Microsoft Power Automate, which integrate with popular apps to streamline repetitive processes. For creating stunning visuals or presentations, explore Canva's Magic Write or Beautiful.ai, which leverage AI to simplify design and storytelling. Professionals in sales and marketing can use HubSpot's AI-powered tools for lead generation and customer engagement or Jasper.ai for creating persuasive ad copy and blog posts.

A powerful example of AI in action is using Chat GPT alongside Grammarly for crafting error-free, impactful emails or reports. Imagine drafting a client pitch: Chat GPT helps brainstorm creative hooks and organize key points, while Grammarly ensures your tone, clarity, and grammar are pitch-perfect. For more comprehensive project management, tools like Trello with AI plugins or Notion AI can assist in organizing ideas and collaborating effectively with teams. Exploring and combining these tools allows you to tailor AI to meet your unique professional needs, saving time while delivering exceptional results.

Want to explore how AI can improve operational efficiency and drive innovation? Join industry leaders on September 25, 2025, in Lancaster, PA, for a transformative AI-focused business forum. In person seating is limited - click here to reserve your spot now .

Try These AI Prompts!

Here are a few prompts and real-life examples you can try with Chat GPT:

Drafting an Email:

Prompt: " Write a concise and professional email inviting a client to a meeting to discuss partnership opportunities. Include three proposed times and emphasize the benefits of the partnership."

Brainstorming Marketing Ideas:

Prompt: "Suggest five creative ways to market a new online learning course for professionals."

Content Creation:

Prompt: " Write a 300-word blog post on the benefits of time management for business leaders."

Problem-Solving:

Prompt: "I’m struggling to prioritize tasks for a big project with a tight deadline. Provide a step-by-step guide to manage my time efficiently."

Creating a Presentation Slide:

Prompt: "Summarize key points about how AI improves customer experience for inclusion in a slide deck."

Try these out, and see how Chat GPT can transform your day-to-day professional tasks! Let us know how you like your results and tell us if you have any tips of your own, too!

Focusing on Results

One of the most significant benefits of adopting Chat GPT is the ability to shift your focus from mundane tasks to result-producing activities. By automating routine processes like drafting, editing, and research, you gain the freedom to dedicate more time to building relationships, closing deals, and devising strategic plans. With AI working efficiently behind the scenes, you can prioritize the tasks that matter most, ensuring your efforts are aligned with your goals and producing measurable outcomes.

An opportunity to plug into a networking lunch is included at the "Experts In Business" forum—gain invaluable insights while networking with like-minded professionals. Save your seat now!

Share Your Experience

Have you tried Chat GPT or other AI tools for any of these tasks? Share your experience in the comments below! We’d love to hear about the prompts you used and the results you achieved. If you have questions about leveraging AI in your business, submit them in the comments, and we’ll address them in future posts or at the upcoming forum. Your feedback and curiosity help shape the conversation around the future of AI in business.

Join us at Lancaster Bible College on September 25, 2025, to learn from experts and harness the power of AI to grow your business. Tickets are $125—reserve yours today!

Learning From Loss: A Christmas Miracle

Tue, 17 Dec 2024 19:36:42 GMT

A Christmas Miracle

Legacy and Impact

Over the last few weeks, I have been made aware of many great lives that have now passed on into eternity with Jesus. In particular, there are two that stand out as I write - Larry Katz, and Mike Shaffer. I did not Larry at all, but many people who I know knew him well and were spiritually impacted by him. After he passed suddenly in a car accident, I saw at least ten posts on social media from people impacted by his legacy of faith. The other, Mike Shaffer, was the loving father of childhood friends from church. He too left a legacy of life, faith, and love. He worked hard to provide for his family and was passionate about teaching the Word Of God.

The legacy of both of these men reminds me of the greatest love of all - the love of Jesus, which we all can share equally, not just in December, but all year long!

Grief During the Holidays

For many, the Christmas season is a time of joy, family, and celebration. Yet, for those who are grieving, it can feel like a stark reminder of what has been lost. Whether it's the absence of a loved one, a significant life change, or a personal hardship, the holidays can amplify feelings of sorrow. However, the true meaning of Christmas offers a powerful lens through which to navigate grief—a lens of hope, renewal, and unconditional love. This connection between loss and the transformative spirit of Christmas is a key focus of our seminar, Learning From Loss.

Letting Go of Guilt and Embracing Forgiveness

Grief often comes with a heavy burden of guilt—guilt over things left unsaid, actions left undone. One of the core teachings of Learning From Loss is the importance of letting go of guilt and embracing self-forgiveness; or possibly forgiving the loss of a damaged relationship. In the context of Christmas, this message resonates deeply. The season invites us to reflect on forgiveness and grace, themes central to the Christmas story itself. As we let go of guilt, we create space for the peace and love that Christmas embodies.

Staying Present and Finding New Beginnings

Another profound insight from the seminar is the importance of staying present while coming to terms with the past. The Christmas story is one of new beginnings, of light breaking into darkness. It encourages us to focus on the moments we have now and the future we can build together. By anchoring ourselves in the present, we honor our loved ones and experiences not by dwelling in pain but by living in ways that reflect their positive influence on us.

The photo above are of a “Thank You” card from my grandmother Evelyn.

It reads, "Dear John, Many thanks for serving as a pallbearer for Grandpa. It was a blessing to him to have you there and your kindness means a lot to me." Love, Grandma D.

She wrote me this note after I had been a pallbearer at my grandfather “Bud” Dittenhafer’s funeral. That was 20 years ago, in 2002. Four years later, she too passed on after a life well lived. I came across the note while getting out Christmas decorations… The handwriting is the spitting image of my mom Peggy’s handwriting. Between the topic of the note, the author, and the immediate connection between multiple generations of family, a flood of emotion washed over me. Grief. Loss. Legacy. Gratitude. Joy...

Gratitude and Respect, Anchors and Bouys

My grandfather was a man I grew up wanting to be like. Even though he was somewhat distant in my younger years, as I became a young adult I took notice to the legacy of service to others he (and my grandmother) were leaving - and to the worthy pursuit of the same in my own life. I took notice of how special it was to benefit from my own loving parents, both of which were working overtime to ensure I grew up in a loving home surrounded by sound morals to learn and grow from. Sure, things sometimes went awry, but nothing unexpected; certainly nothing less valuable than the example of love and care I had the privilege of experiencing. My grandfather was an anchor, and my mother and father were life buoys of support and connection to the same (this remains true today). Regardless of relation, we all have anchors and buoys in our lives. Who are yours? Tell us about in the comments, or on our social media channels.

Becoming a Beacon of Positivity and Hope

Finally, Christmas reminds us of the power of positivity and inspiration. Just as the seminar teaches us to grow stronger and inspire others through our resilience, the Christmas season calls us to be a light for those around us. By embodying hope and love, even in the face of loss, we heal ourselves and uplift those who share in our journey. Grief and Christmas may seem like unlikely companions, but together they remind us of the profound strength in embracing loss, finding meaning, and creating a legacy of hope.

If you've been touched by loss and are seeking insights into how what you are going through can benefit you and others, be sure to check out "Learning From Loss," with Dave Romeo, at Romeo Network Online Learning.

"Grief is the price we pay for love." - Queen Elizabeth II

Let me hear from you .

This excerpt is taken from the seminar, “Personal Growth III: Learning from Loss.” I encourage you to click here to view this topic on demand .

Crafting A Compelling Sales Presentation

Tue, 03 Dec 2024 13:45:00 GMT

Setting The Stage For Success

In the high-stakes world of sales, mastering the art of a killer presentation can set you apart. Whether you're pitching a groundbreaking idea, a must-have product, or an essential service, how you present is often more important than what you present. In the fourth installment of the Anyone Can Sell series, we explore strategies to increase your confidence around new people, captivate your prospects, and boost your career accordingly.

Increase Your Confidence Around New People

Confidence is your superpower in sales. Start by mastering your introduction. A firm handshake, genuine smile, and direct eye contact create an instant connection. Know your material inside out—confidence blooms from preparation. Practice delivering your pitch until it feels second nature. Remember, people buy into you before they buy into your product, so believe in yourself and your product or service, and customers will follow suit.

Captivate Your Prospects

A memorable presentation engages the senses. Open with a story or compelling statistic that grabs attention. Use visuals to simplify complex ideas and maintain focus. Keep your tone dynamic and conversational—monotony is the enemy of engagement. Tailor your message to your audience’s pain points and aspirations. Make them see themselves benefitting from your solution. Finally, never underestimate the power of a pause—it adds emphasis and keeps your audience hanging on your words.

Give Your Career a Big Boost

A killer presentation doesn’t just close deals; it opens doors. Exceptional presentation skills showcase your expertise and elevate your professional image. Every successful pitch builds your reputation, expands your network, and solidifies your role as a trusted advisor in your field. The confidence and skill you gain from selling effectively translates into broader career opportunities, from leadership roles to speaking engagements.

Trust... It's Priceless!

Making a killer sales presentation is not about being pushy or using flashy gimmicks—it’s about building trust, delivering value, and connecting on a human level. When you exude confidence, captivate your prospects, and consistently deliver results, your career trajectory will soar to new heights. Take these principles to heart, and you’ll not only sell more—you’ll position yourself as a leader in your industry.

“Leaders must get across the “why,” as well as the “what.”
- John Doerr

Let me hear from you .

This excerpt is taken from the seminar A nyone Can Sell IV: How to Make a Killer Sales Presentation . I encourage you to click here to register for our upcoming seminar, held on April 17th, 2025. Don’t want to wait? View this topic on demand right now, at Romeo Network Online Learning.

Mastering Your Self-Esteem and Unlocking Your Destiny

Tue, 26 Nov 2024 14:16:18 GMT

Eight Simple Tools For Success

Poor self-esteem often acts like an invisible weight, holding us back from reaching our full potential. It impacts how we approach challenges, build relationships, and seize opportunities. However, self-esteem isn’t a fixed trait—it’s a skill that can be developed with intentional practice. By using the right tools and tactics, you can master your self-esteem and take charge of your destiny.

Challenge Negative Self-Talk

The way we speak to ourselves shapes our perception of who we are and what we’re capable of achieving. If your inner dialogue is filled with phrases like, “I’m not good enough,” it’s time to rewrite the script. Replace those thoughts with empowering affirmations such as, “I am capable of handling this challenge.” Keeping a journal to identify patterns of self-doubt and practice flipping them into positive statements can be incredibly effective.

Set and Celebrate Small Wins

Building self-esteem requires setting and celebrating small wins. Big achievements are built on a foundation of consistent, small victories. Break larger goals into manageable tasks, like improving a skill or networking for career advancement, and celebrate each accomplishment along the way. These small celebrations reinforce your belief in your abilities and create momentum for larger successes.

Practice Self-Compassion

It’s easy to be hard on ourselves when we make mistakes, but resilience and self-acceptance are far more productive. Spend a few minutes each day in quiet reflection, repeating affirmations like, “I am human, and I am enough,” or “Mistakes are part of growth.” When things don’t go as planned, treat yourself with the same kindness you’d offer a friend.

Surround Yourself with Positivity

The people and environments you engage with significantly influence your self-perception. Take stock of your support network by identifying those who uplift you versus those who drain your energy. Prioritize time with people who encourage your growth and declutter your physical and digital spaces to remove negativity and distractions.

Take Ownership of Your Decisions

To truly master your destiny, it’s essential to take ownership of your decisions. Commit to making at least one proactive choice each day that aligns with your values and long-term goals. A simple decision-making framework can help you evaluate options based on their impact on your future, keeping you on track toward success.

Invest in Personal Development

Lifelong learning is a cornerstone of self-esteem and destiny-building. Commit to personal growth by dedicating 15 minutes each day to reading, listening to a podcast, or acquiring a new skill that boosts your confidence. Attending seminars like Designing Your Destiny IV: Mastering Your Self-Esteem and Your Destiny can provide valuable insights and connect you with like-minded individuals on similar journeys.

Visualize Your Best Self

Visualization is a powerful tool for aligning your actions with your aspirations. Spend time each morning imagining what success looks and feels like to you. Picture yourself achieving your goals and thriving in the life you’ve designed. To keep this vision alive, create a vision board with inspiring images and quotes that remind you of your aspirations.

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged...”

– Joshua 1:9a

Take the First Step Toward Your Destiny

Mastering self-esteem isn’t just about feeling better; it’s about living better. By integrating these tools and tactics into your daily routine, you can overcome barriers, unlock opportunities, and design a life filled with purpose and fulfillment.

Your destiny isn’t something that happens to you—it’s something you create. Start today and take the first steps toward the future you deserve. If you’re ready to take your growth to the next level, join us at Designing Your Destiny IV and discover the blueprint for unlocking your true potential!

Let me hear from you.

Join us for, " Designing Your Destiny IV: Mastering Your Self Esteem & Your Destiny. " I encourage you to click here to register for this seminar, held January 23rd, 2025 at Lancaster Bible College, from 9am- 12 noon. This event will also be live streamed.

This topic is also available on demand, at Romeo Network Online Learning. View the entire "Designing Your Destiny," category, streaming online now .

Finish Strong: How Much Do You Have Left?

Tue, 19 Nov 2024 13:45:00 GMT

Why Finishing What You Start Is ALWAYS The Best Option

The Best Intentions....

Have you ever started something with great excitement and big dreams, only to lose steam midway? If so, you’re not alone. Many people begin with the best intentions but fail to see their goals through to completion. The difference between dreaming about success and achieving it often lies in your ability to finish what you start.

This is the central idea behind the book “Crossing The Finish Line,” which inspires our seminar designed to help you break through barriers and achieve your destiny.

Why Finishing Matters

Starting a project or goal is exhilarating. There’s vision, energy, and hope. But the middle of the journey can get messy. Challenges arise, distractions pull us away, and sometimes the finish line feels out of reach. When you don’t finish, you not only miss out on the tangible rewards, but you also rob yourself of the personal growth and confidence that come from completing what you start.

What’s Holding You Back?

Procrastination, fear of failure, lack of direction, or simply losing interest—sound familiar? These roadblocks are common, but they don’t have to define your journey. With the right tools and mindset, you can learn to push past these hurdles and see your goals through to completion.

A Proven Formula for Success

In our “Crossing The Finish Line,” seminar and book; we provide a step-by-step formula for ensuring your success.

You’ll learn how to:

- Set goals that align with your true purpose.

- Stay motivated and focused, even when the going gets tough.

- Develop habits and systems that lead to consistent progress.

- Embrace a finisher’s mindset, turning obstacles into opportunities.

This isn’t just about achieving one goal—it’s about becoming someone who finishes what they start.

How Much Do You Have Left?

Take a moment to reflect: How much do you have left in you to give? Finishing strong doesn’t mean sprinting to the end—it means finding the determination to keep moving forward, one step at a time, until you cross that line.

Let's Make This A Habit

Let’s make finishing a habit, not a rare occurrence. Join us for the "Crossing The Finish Line" seminar and learn how to complete your goals, accomplish your mission, and achieve your destiny.

“Without commitment, you’ll never start, without consistency, you’ll never finish ”
– Denzel Washington

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar Designing Your Destiny VI: Crossing The Finish Line. I encourage you to click here to watch Crossing The Finish Line, or click here to order the book on which this seminar is based.

You Miss 100% of the Shots You Never Take!

Tue, 12 Nov 2024 13:45:00 GMT

The Reward Is In The Risk

Surviving and Thriving in Small Business: A Spotlight on Kelly Johnson Photography

When Kelly Johnson, the talented photographer behind Kelly Johnson Photography, opened the doors of her new studio in Manheim, PA, in spring of 2022, we were thrilled to be her first clients on that very first morning her studio was open in the new space.

Carefully designed to reflect her warm, artistic spirit, Kelly instantly set the stage for a unique experience with a personalized message she had prepared at her studio entrance as we entered.

Kelly's skill and eye for detail were immediately evident, especially in the stunning portrait she captured of my wife, Sarah, and me—a photo we’re honored to share with you in this article.

Opening a new studio is a bold move in any economy, but doing so amid current economic uncertainty showed incredible courage and foresight on Kelly's part.

A Harsh Reality: Is The Risk Worth The Cost?

The reality is daunting: half of all new businesses fail within their first five years, and of those that survive, another fifty percent close in the next five. Kelly’s decision to expand her studio was a testament not only to her confidence and talent but also to her willingness to forge her own path in a challenging business landscape.

In our online course, “ Survive and Thrive In Your Own Business ,” we highlight essential takeaways for entrepreneurs who want to break free from common pitfalls:

1. Dispelling the Myths of Ownership:

Many aspiring business owners hold onto outdated ideas about “doing it all themselves” or “flying solo” to achieve success. Kelly’s journey shows the power of calculated risk and delegation, traits of true entrepreneurship.

2. Pay Yourself First!

Kelly’s studio embodies the idea that investing in oneself and one’s brand is vital. Too many entrepreneurs put themselves last, reinvesting endlessly without personal reward. By opening her studio, Kelly has demonstrated a commitment to long-term growth that doesn’t come at the cost of her own well-being.

3. Understanding Passive/Diversified Income:

Owning a photography business can be labor-intensive, but savvy business owners diversify revenue streams, such as by selling prints or offering virtual consultations. Kelly’s expanded studio gives her room to do more than ever before, creating potential opportunities for passive income that will support her growth.

"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

Let me hear from you.

A New Breed Of Entrepreneurship:

Kelly Johnson Photography exemplifies a new generation of businesses where creativity, resilience, and smart strategy intersect. Kelly’s success story is an inspiring reminder that, despite the odds, those who adapt, invest wisely, and build purposefully can thrive in their own business! Thank you, Kelly, for all you do to inspire us and countless other entrepreneurs just like Sarah and I.

This excerpt is taken from the seminar Survive and Thrive In Your Own Business. We encourage you to click here to watch the seminar, available on demand at Romeo Network Online Learning.

Don't be Everything; Just be the Best

Tue, 05 Nov 2024 13:45:00 GMT

"Stick To The Knitting"

The Warning Signs of Over-Diversification

We once worked with a large accounting firm in the south-central Pennsylvania area. For a long time, the service was incredible, the people were friendly, and the work was always done properly. But over time, things began to change. The higher-ups decided that the firm needed to diversify. They targeted large companies — which was understandable. They targeted nonprofits — which made sense too. But then they decided to phase out services for small businesses, and that’s where the issues began.

The Consequences of Losing Focus

Soon enough, the personalized service we valued disappeared. It reached the point where, after we finally decided it was time to move on, it took nearly a year just to get our CPA on the phone to inform them that we wouldn’t be continuing with their services. That kind of disconnection is a problem for both the client and the service provider.

The Reluctance to Change Providers

When it comes to essential services like accounting, bookkeeping, website support, or any other function that keeps a company operational, clients don’t relish the idea of changing providers. Most of the time, they delay the switch far longer than they should, simply because they know it’s going to be a complicated process.

The Power of Sticking to Your Strengths

What we appreciate about Bertz Hess accounting services (where we ultimately moved our business) is that they “stick to the knitting.” This phrase, made famous by Tom Peters in his best-selling book *In Search of Excellence*, stands as one of his core principles for success. It means, “Concentrate on what you do best and don’t try to be everything to everyone.”

Why Specialization Wins

Working with Tom Wobber at Bertz Hess, we never have to wait long for a response. His expertise with small businesses is evident, and we always get the answers we need when seeking assistance.

The Key to Long-Term Success

The key takeaway here is that achieving success doesn’t require being everything to all clients. Instead, finding a niche, specializing in it, and excelling for many clients within that space can be the path to sustainable growth. If your business offerings seem scattered or unfocused, it might be time to consider a reset.

Take Action: Review Your Business Plan

We encourage taking the time to sit down with a business coach and revisiting your business plan. Ensure that what you initially set out to do aligns with what you’re doing now, or at the very least, verify that your primary focus remains on your core offering.

“To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business, and your business in your

heart.” – Sir Thomas Watson

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar Networking and Marketing Mastery II: Making Marketing Profitable. ) I encourage you to click here to watch the seminar Networking and Marketing Mastery II: Making Marketing Profitable seminar video available at Romeo Network Online Learning.

Turning a Weakness Into a Strength

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 12:45:00 GMT

Take Off The Shackles

An Introduction to Rich Pavlik

The best thing about working as a coach is that you meet the most remarkable people. In 2018, one of my season pass holders told me about an associate of hers by the name of Rich Pavlik who had been running his own carpet cleaning business for over 25 years. Ironically, he had been blind since just before he got married. I invited him to come to one of my seminars, and he became a season pass holder as well. In fact, over the next seven years, he took all 101 of my seminars at least once.

Embracing Challenges as Opportunities

As Rich and I got better acquainted, I learned a lot about him and his philosophy. First of all, Rich doesn’t know he’s blind — or at least he doesn’t act like he is. He does many things most sighted people do and probably a lot of other things that sighted people don’t bother to do. He doesn’t let anything hold him back, especially his blindness. But Rich wasn’t satisfied to just run one business, so he decided to start up another one called Blind Bean Roasters. He did this because he has a passion for great coffee and was dissatisfied with the convenience and quality of the coffee he had found on his own.

Using Adversity as a Conversation Starter

But the main lesson I want to impart to you about Rich Pavlik is that he never uses his blindness as a weakness. Instead, it’s a strength. It’s a conversation piece, in a way. People are drawn to him because of his outgoing and engaging personality. Rich is a walking entrepreneurial, underdog success story. You can’t help but be impressed by him and what he’s not afraid to do.

Your Turn to Rise Above

So, what about you? Are you letting any perceived weakness hold you back from being all you can be? I’m challenging you to take off the shackles and explore the possibilities of things you always wanted to do but somehow never got around to finishing. And when you discover that you’ve actually been able to achieve a goal that you’ve been procrastinating over in the past, why not give Rich Pavlik a call and discuss it with him over a good cup of coffee? I’m sure he’d love to hear all about it.

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar Designing Your Destiny .) I encourage you to click here to watch the Designing Your Destiny seminar video available at Romeo Network Online Learning.

Stop Running Scared

Tue, 22 Oct 2024 12:45:00 GMT

Find Your Courage

Stop Running Scared: Confronting Fear Head-On

Recently in my coaching sessions, I keep hearing people who say they are living in fear, working in fear, or being paralyzed by fear. I’ve also heard that the vast majority of people feel undervalued, insecure, or lost.

The Power of Faith Over Fear

Remember that the antidote for fear is faith. If you grow in your faith, you will vanquish your fears. Also, the more you focus on serving others, the less time you’ll have to think about your fears.

Why Intimidation Holds You Back

Many people are fearful because someone is intimidating them. It could be someone in a personal relationship, a family member, a boss, or negative friends who don’t understand your vision or share your passion.

When micromanagers or toxic people try to break your spirit, just keep saying silently to yourself these 8 words: “I don’t care, what you think, about anything.”

Taking Back Control: Your Mindset Matters

You’ll be amazed at how liberated you feel when you take away somebody else’s power to make you feel small. As Tom Peters said, “If you’re not pushing hard enough to get fired, you’re not pushing hard enough.” I’m not saying I want you to lose your job. I’m just saying that you probably haven’t tapped into your full potential yet because of fear. I don’t ever remember taking a risk in business that I regret — even if there were negative consequences because at least I learned something.

Embrace Risk: Unlock Your Full Potential

So, I challenge you not to be afraid to push the envelope, and to release your inner-maverick. It’s high time you become a leader worth following by focusing on becoming a master problem solver. So, stop running scared and start lifting others up and help them lose their fear as well. That’s how you become an ultimate entrepreneur.

“Courage is knowing what not to fear.” – Plato

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar Designing Your Destiny VI: Crossing the Finish Line .) I encourage you to click here to watch the Designing Your Destiny VI: Crossing the Finish Line seminar video available at Romeo Network Online Learning.

Don't miss our 2024 Hall Of Fame Ceremony, scheduled for November 14th, at Lancaster Bible College (Olewine Private Dining Room). Click here for details .

"Wowing" Never Goes Out Of Style

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 12:45:04 GMT

Unleashing the Power of Remarkable Experiences

As a seminar presenter, I always enjoyed using real stories to illustrate my points. However, some of them are so unbelievable that I’m sure there were some seminar attendees who must’ve thought that they were made up.

For example, there was a story about a man who drove all the way down from New York to come to Lancaster County for his friend’s seminar. He made it the entire 4 ½ hours trip without incident, only to arrive at his destination and learn that his brakes were failing. Naturally this occurred at 6 PM at night. Now what is he supposed to do? He’s going to be at a seminar that starts at 9 AM the next morning and he was supposed to drive back home that afternoon so that he could be at work the next day to open up his godfather’s delicatessen on Long Island.

To make matters worse, even after the two friends left repeated messages for the local automotive shop right down the street, all they got was an answering machine for a few hours. Finally, as time was getting critical, the pair once again called the repair shop. This time, a woman answered and explained that there was a serious problem with the car, but that the head mechanic was doing everything he could to get the parts to make sure the car would be roadworthy for the drive home. The mechanic even agreed to stay after hours to make sure that the car was done properly. He also took the driver underneath the car to show him exactly what was wrong so that when he got back to Long Island, he could show it to his own mechanic.

I know it sounds far-fetched that an auto mechanic would go through such lengths for a customer he might never ever see again in his life; however, this story did in fact take place in August of 2023 when my best friend, Peter drove down from Long Island for my 65th Birthday Bash seminar. Fortunately, Carl & Scott’s Automotive in Elizabethtown, PA is only about a mile from my house, and they have never let me down. They also didn’t let my best friend down when he needed them most. The moral of the story is this: If you’re going to “wow” customers to the point where people may not even believe the stories are real, you might want to get a written testimonial from your customers so that people will believe you. If you can’t get that, at least see if you can get them to write a blog about it.

“To ‘wow’ a client is to win a client.” – Richie Norton

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Legendary Customer Services III: How to Wow. ) I encourage you to click here to register for the Legendary Customer Services III: How to Wow , Hall of Fame seminar on Thursday, November 14, 2024, at Lancaster Bible College in Lancaster, PA from 8:30 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time. This seminar is also available for live streaming.

What Does Wow Look Like?

Tue, 08 Oct 2024 12:45:00 GMT

Don’t make it longer. Make it clearer.

When Words Match Actions

When it comes to “wowing” your customers, everybody agrees it’s important, but not everybody knows exactly how to do it. While there may not be a one-size-fits-one answer, there are many different ways that you can set out to really impress your clients.

For years, I’ve maintained that one of the best definitions of “How to Wow” is demonstrating that you are more concerned that your customers have a great experience doing business with you than they are. I believe this is still accurate today, however it’s admittedly a bit too conceptual if you’re trying to write it into a procedure manual.

One Size Fits One

Sometimes it’s easier to understand what something is when you see it. For example, in 2023, I went to a networking mixer and met a woman by the name of Lorianna Sprague from Upfront Marketing. As it turned out, Lorianna had just started her own business that month. She made an impressive first impression because of her great eye contact. In addition, she was engaging, open, personal, and professional.

When I looked at her website, I was even more impressed by the content. She explained that the name, “Upfront Marketing” meant that her business would be upfront with customers and let them know exactly what to expect from her services, and her efforts to introduce her clients to customers who seek out their services.

But what really clinched it for me is when I asked Lorianna if she could help out with a project for my website. In just over a month, she completely finished the project that nine people who had been working on it over the past five years had not come close to completing. You could tell that it was a point of pride that she finished what she started and honored the deadline to which she had committed. This is how you create your own credibility and “wow” your clients.

How much does credibility cost?

If you’re trying to do the same thing in your business, start with establishing credibility. That means that people know if you say you’re going to do something, it means you’re going to do it. And when you demonstrate that you’ve done what you said you would do, then your customers will say, “Wow!”

“Don’t confuse visibility with credibility.” – Harvey Mackay

Let me hear from you .

Attend This Seminar

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Legendary Customer Services III: How to Wow ) I encourage you to click here to register for the Legendary Customer Services III: How to Wow live Hall of Fame seminar on Thursday, November 14, 2024, at Lancaster Bible College in Lancaster, PA from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time. This seminar is also available for live streaming.

Clarify the Complicated

Tue, 01 Oct 2024 12:45:00 GMT

Don’t make it longer. Make it clearer.

The Right Words Matter

Many of my coaching clients who sought to improve their sales complained vigorously about not having the right words to entice their prospects. It reminds me of something that the sales manager of a large manufacturing corporation once said to me. He said, “Often, my salespeople show up and throw up.” In other words, they don’t know when to stop talking. There’s a great quote that I heard once that says, “If you can sell them with blah, don’t say blah blah.”

Talk Less, Listen More

Salespeople, especially when they’re new and perhaps nervous, tend to talk themselves past the sale. This happens when they keep speaking in hopes of saying something that the prospect wants to hear and never realize that the prospect has probably tuned them out long ago and is waiting for them to leave. Don’t let this happen to you.

Simplifying the Complex: A Lesson from Dan Luckenbaugh

One of the things that I admire most about my Hall of Fame client Dan Luckenbaugh of Advanced Air Quality Services is that he simplifies the complicated when sharing his message. Being a specialist in mold remediation and improving the quality of indoor air, Dan frequently speaks to people who do not have his level of understanding about his technical field. To make them feel more comfortable, he speaks in the language of the listener. In other words, he breaks down his message into simple and understandable examples and metaphors. By doing so, he answers his prospects’ questions in a way they can easily comprehend.

The Language of the Listener

If you work in a technical field, you may have the same dilemma. I urge you to learn to speak in the language of the listener. Eliminate all jargon or technical abbreviations from your sales conversations. Don’t make your potential customers feel put off because they don’t understand what is familiar to you. If you’re planning to use the same technical terms more than once, at least have the courtesy to explain what they mean the first time. You may even have to repeat them once in a while until they sink in with your prospects. It’s not a bad idea to practice your sales pitch on a 10-year-old child. If he or she can follow what you’re talking about, there’s a good chance you won’t be speaking over your prospects’ heads.

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo da Vinci

Let me hear from you .

Join the Seminar

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Anyone Can Sell V: Asking for and Getting the Sale. ) I encourage you to click here to register for the Anyone Can Sell V: Asking for and Getting the Sale exclusive live Zoom seminar on Thursday, October 31, 2024, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time.

Breaking A Negative Cycle

john@createsocially.com (Dave Romeo) — Tue, 24 Sep 2024 12:45:00 GMT

Take Back Control Of Your Future

Breaking a negative cycle

Frequently, when I am presenting the Sales Academy, I learned some of my most impactful lessons from participants. One such lesson occurred during my final presentation of the Sales Academy in 2023. Sarah Ellis, of Birth Babes was explaining the value of her service. As a nurse, doula, and business owner, Sarah wears many hats. But in her primary role of serving her clients — women about to have babies — she is predominantly an advocate for them.

The Role Of A Doula

As I learned, often in the delivery room, the expectant mothers’ requests or preferences may be ignored by the doctors and hospital staff who often put protocol ahead of the mother’s personal desires. As a doula, Sarah speaks out for the mother’s specific requests such as if they don’t want any medical interventions, if they would like to be able to walk during labor, different delivering positions, or even the overall setting of the environment including music choices, lighting levels, and the number of people in the room. Sarah makes sure that these requests are respected and granted. This description did not bear the slightest resemblance to what I imagined a doula’s role to be.

Are You A Client Advocate?

Having a clearer picture allowed me to better understand how a doula should sell her service. It’s a matter of communicating that she is there to make sure that her client, the mother, gets exactly what she wants during the most intense and intimate experience of her life. It’s ironic that a woman would even need an advocate to speak up for her when she’s trying to deliver a baby. But that brings me to the point of this blog: People often give up what they want and settle for what a vendor is offering. Do you do that? And much more importantly, are you making your customers do that?

Sell Them What They Want...

There is great value in offering exactly what your customers want and not making them settle for what’s convenient for you to deliver. Remember that people will pay more to get a premium product or service when it’s done properly, conveniently, and enjoyably. I’m challenging you to stand up for your customers’ rights to get exactly what they want and to make sure that they can get it from you.

“A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

Let me hear from you .

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar Organizational Excellence II: Combatting Complacency .) I encourage you to click here to register for the Organizational Excellence II: Combatting Complacency seminar on Thursday, October 17, 2024, at Bellomo & Associates in York, PA from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time. This seminar is also available for live streaming.

This content is also available on demand, at Romeo Network Online Learning. Click here to learn more about our complete Organizational Excellence series.

How to Responsibly Use AI to Streamline Your Business

Tue, 17 Sep 2024 12:45:00 GMT

Tools & Tips For Success

In today’s digital world, businesses have to evolve to stay competitive. One of the most effective ways to do that is by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) responsibly, behind the scenes to streamline operations, boost productivity, and make decision-making easier. Whether you’re a small business or large company, AI can be a game-changer by automating tasks, providing valuable insights, and freeing up time for creative or strategic work, aka working ON your business rather than IN your business. Here’s how AI can help streamline your business:

1. Automating Repetitive Tasks

AI can take over routine, time-consuming tasks like scheduling, note-taking, and even some customer service. Chatbots, for instance, can handle customer inquiries in real-time, answering questions, processing orders, and even solving common issues without human intervention. This allows your team to focus on more complex, value-driven tasks. Tools like AI-powered calendars and assistants can also help with appointment scheduling, email filtering, and reminders, keeping everything running smoothly without micromanagement. I know, I’m guilty of it too.

2. Enhancing Data Analysis

Data is one of the most valuable resources for businesses today, but manually sifting through it requires a lot of time that you don’t have. AI-driven analytics tools can help you analyze large sets of data in real-time, providing insights that can impact your business strategy and help you make more informed business decisions. These tools can track patterns, predict consumer behavior, and optimize processes, giving you a competitive edge. Whether it’s analyzing sales trends or monitoring web traffic, AI can give you deeper insights that help you make smarter, data-driven decisions.

3. Streamlining Content Creation

Content creation, from blogs (like this one!?) and social media posts to email newsletters, can be a real challenge for businesses. AI tools can help you automate parts of the process, allowing you to generate content faster without sacrificing quality. For instance, AI can assist in generating blog post outlines and headlines. While we absolutely still recommend humans for more complex video editing tasks, software powered by AI can streamline the editing process by automating tasks like caption generating, transcription, and even clip selection.

4. Optimizing Marketing and Sales

Marketing and sales teams can benefit from AI’s ability to personalize customer experiences and target the right audiences. AI-powered algorithms analyze consumer behavior, allowing businesses to create tailored marketing campaigns that resonate with individual customers. From email marketing tools that segment and target the right audience to recommendation engines that suggest relevant products, AI makes it easier to reach the right people at the right time. You can even have AI run your social media ads! Predictive analytics can even forecast which leads are most likely to convert, optimizing sales strategies and improving efficiency.

5. Improving Operations

AI can also help improve overall operational efficiency by optimizing workflows. For example, AI can automate inventory management by predicting stock needs based on historical data, ensuring you have the right amount of product at the right time. In manufacturing, AI-powered robots or systems can increase production speed and reduce errors, cutting costs and increasing output. Even HR departments are using AI to screen resumes and match candidates with open positions, reducing time-to-hire and improving the quality of new hires.

Conclusion

AI is transforming the way businesses operate by automating tasks, improving decision-making, and enhancing customer engagement. We encourage businesses to use AI-powered strategies behind the scenes so you can focus on what you do best, creating your final product or offering. At the end of the day, your customers are doing business with YOU. Don’t let AI produce your final product. By integrating AI into your operations, you can save time, reduce costs, and focus on what matters most—creatively driving growth and innovation.

Join us for "Experts in Business: Tools & Tactics For Streamlining Your Business"

. Learn more about an enlightening seminar featuring a distinguished panel of experts at the

forefront of speaking, leadership, and artificial intelligence (AI). This dynamic event will delve

into the intersection of these three pivotal domains, offering attendees invaluable insights,

strategies, and inspiration to navigate the evolving landscape of communication, influence,

and technological innovation.

I encourage you to click here to register for the Experts in Business: Tools & Tactics For

Streamlining Your Business on October 3, 2024, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern

Standard Time at Bellomo & Associates in York, PA.

Enjoy learning at your pace, 24-7, on Romeo Network Online Learning .

Turning Networking Into Net Earning

Tue, 10 Sep 2024 16:09:31 GMT

10 Tips To Success

In our digital world, the grounding of networking has become a crucial part of business growth. The phrase "It's not what you know, but who you know," continues to be a relevant part of business culture.
But how do you transform those connections into tangible financial benefits? In this blog post, we'll explore practical strategies to " turn networking into net earning ," helping you maximize the value of your professional relationships.

1. Understand the Value of Networking

Networking is more than just exchanging business cards or adding connections on LinkedIn. It's about building meaningful relationships that can lead to mutual growth and opportunities. The key is to understand that networking is a long-term investment. The relationships you cultivate today can become valuable assets in the future. Contacts and connections may take years to come to fruition, but those fostered relationships may be the key to future success.

2. Be Genuine and Authentic

People can quickly sense when someone is networking solely for personal gain. Instead, approach networking with a genuine interest in others. Ask questions, listen actively, and show that you care about their success as much as your own. Authenticity fosters trust, which is the foundation of any fruitful relationship with the well known saying that people do business with people they know, like and trust. To be known, you must be present. To be liked, you must be authentic. To be trusted, you must be a person of integrity.

3. Identify and Target Key Contacts

To turn networking into net earning , you need to be strategic about whom you connect with. Identify key individuals in your industry or related fields who can provide valuable insights, opportunities, or referrals. This could include industry leaders, potential clients, mentors, or collaborators. While at networking events, make sure to connect with one or two people intentionally.

4. Leverage Social Media

Social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and even Instagram can be powerful tools for networking. Share insightful content, engage with others' posts, and join relevant groups or discussions. By establishing an online presence, you can expand your network and reach individuals you may not encounter in your day-to-day life. There are posts on posts that could be written about LinkedIn and maximizing it to a networking benefit.

5. Attend Industry Events and Conferences

In-person events remain one of the most effective ways to build relationships. Attend chamber events, a solid networking group, and industry meetups to meet potential contacts face-to-face. Be prepared with a concise and compelling elevator pitch about what problems you solve, and don't forget to follow up afterward to keep the connection alive. Also, be strategic at these event. The goal is not to say hello to everyone, but have meaningful connections with the people you do interact with.

6. Provide Value First

One of the best ways to turn networking into net earning is by providing value to your contacts without expecting immediate returns. While balancing not working for free, offer expertise, share helpful resources, but specifically make meaningful introductions to other professionals. By being a valuable resource, you'll naturally attract opportunities and build a reputation as someone worth knowing. A great example is this blog post- my contact information is below and this article provides advice that is helpful to a target demographic that would also be ideal clients for me.

7. Follow Up and Maintain Relationships

Networking doesn't end after the first meeting. Follow up with your contacts to keep the relationship going. Send a thank-you email, make that email referral, or invite them to a coffee meeting. Regularly check in with your network and find ways to stay connected, whether through social media, email, or in-person events.

8. Turn Conversations into Opportunities

Be on the lookout for ways to turn conversations into concrete opportunities. If you notice a potential business deal, partnership, or job opening, don't hesitate to schedule the meeting right there. Propose ideas or solutions that highlight your skills and how you can add value. Being proactive can turn a casual conversation into a lucrative opportunity.

9. Track Your Networking Efforts

Keep track of your networking activities and the outcomes they generate. This could include the number of new connections made, follow-up actions taken, and any opportunities that arose from those connections. By monitoring your efforts, you can identify what works best and refine your strategy over time. You can be both strategic and authentic at the same time. Over time, you will see which types of events resulted in eventual sales and can best allocate your time and finances accordingly. I also keep a book of all prospects that I meet at an event, mark the day we meet, and then highlight when that conversion occurs.

10. Stay Patient and Persistent

Turning networking into net earning doesn't happen overnight. It requires patience and persistence. Stay committed to building and nurturing your relationships, and over time, you'll see the fruits of your labor. Remember, networking is about creating a solid foundation for long-term success. I have groups that I have attended for a year before I started seeing fruits of that relationship. My current job was the result of a three year networking building exercise as well.

Conclusion

Networking is a powerful tool that, when used effectively, can lead to significant financial and professional gains. By being genuine, strategic, and proactive, you can transform your network into a valuable source of opportunities and revenue. Start implementing these strategies today, and watch as your professional relationships blossom into net earning potential.

Authored by Jacquelynne Hess, of Unfair Advantage Marketing

Next Steps

To hear more more on this subject from Jacquelynne, I encourage you to click here to register for Go From Networking to NetEARNING on October 19, 2024, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time at Bellomo & Associates in York, PA.

Finding Financial Freedom

Tue, 03 Sep 2024 17:39:44 GMT

Achieving Financial Freedom: A Realistic Approach

For many people, financial freedom seems like an elusive goal. With inflation, stagnating wages, and other obstacles, it's easy to believe that barely surviving is the best one can hope for. However, financial freedom isn’t as hard to obtain as it may seem. The key is understanding that your definition of financial freedom is unique to you.

What is Financial Freedom?

According to an article from NASDAQ.com , “Financial freedom is a state where you have complete control over your finances, allowing you to make choices based on your desires and goals rather than being limited by how much things cost. It means having enough income or savings to cover your expenses, giving you the freedom to live life on your terms.”

Taking Control of Your Finances

The first step towards financial freedom is gaining control over your finances. Too many people manage their money like riding a bicycle with their eyes closed – they’ll get somewhere, but it won’t be where they want to go, and they may end up injured along the way.

Being in control means having a plan for your money, which involves:

Creating a Monthly Budget: Write down your budget to hold yourself accountable.
Setting Goals: Establish clear goals for how you want to live your life and write them down.

Reducing and Eliminating Debt

Debt can rob you of opportunities and freedom by taking money from your future due to interest payments. Here’s how to tackle debt:

Reduce and Eliminate Debt: Focus on paying off debts to free up future income.
Build an Emergency Fund: Save 3-6 months’ worth of expenses to handle emergencies, which will inevitably arise.

Working as a Team

If you have a spouse, working together can amplify your efforts. Think of draft horses like Clydesdales: one horse can pull around 8,000 pounds, but two working together can pull 24,000 pounds.

Additional Tips for Financial Freedom

Consider these strategies to further your financial freedom:

Make Wise Purchases
Save and Give Regularly: Aim to save and donate at least 10% of your income.
Limit Expenses on Vices
Continually Educate Yourself: Learn good money management practices.
Surround Yourself with Like-minded People: Build a network of those who share your financial goals.
Protect Your Assets: Ensure you have appropriate insurance, a Will, Power of Attorney, and Medical Directive.

The Role of a Financial Advisor or Coach

Working with a financial advisor or coach can significantly boost your chances of achieving financial freedom. These professionals offer expert guidance, help you create a comprehensive financial plan, and keep you accountable. They can provide personalized advice tailored to your unique situation, ensuring you make informed decisions that align with your goals.

According to studies, people who work with financial advisors tend to have better savings habits, higher levels of confidence in their financial future, and greater overall financial well-being. By leveraging their expertise, you can navigate complex financial landscapes more effectively and reach your objectives faster.

Accountability is Key

Having an accountability partner can significantly increase your chances of success. According to the American Society of Training and Development, you have a 25% chance of achieving a goal you set for yourself. However, this success rate jumps to 95% when you have someone to hold you accountable.

Conclusion

By implementing these steps and maintaining a strong determination to achieve financial freedom, you will be well on your way to enjoying the benefits of financial independence. Start today, take control, and watch as your financial future transforms.

Let me hear from you.

I encourage you to click here to register for Finding Financial Freedom , on October 10, 2024, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time at Bellomo & Associates in York, PA.

Before The Rebrand

Tue, 27 Aug 2024 12:45:03 GMT

The Importance of Discovery in Holistic Branding

Laying the Foundation: The Critical First Step in Branding

Before you build anything of lasting value, you need to lay a strong foundation. In branding, this means starting with a deep understanding of who you are, what you stand for, and where you fit in the market. This foundation isn’t just about gut feelings or creative whims—it’s grounded in rigorous analysis, the kind that only a holistic approach can provide. In this post we'll cover the benefits of a holistic approach to branding and even provide examples you can start using today to improve your brand's position in the market.

The Why: Digging Deep to Find Your Core Purpose

Before anything else, it’s crucial to understand the "Why" behind your brand. - And no, your "Why" can't be about making money—that's a given for any business. The "Why" is the driving force that gets you up in the morning, the reason your brand exists beyond profit. A creative consultant will push you to explore questions like:

Why did you start this business?
What are the core values that guide your decisions?
What problem are you solving for your customers?
How do you want to impact your industry or community?

Example Response:

“We started this business to empower small business owners by providing them with the tools and knowledge they need to succeed. Our core values are integrity, innovation, and community support. We solve the problem of accessibility to high-quality business tools at affordable prices. We want to be the go-to resource for entrepreneurs, helping them turn their dreams into reality.”

Discovering Your Brand Narrative: Crafting the Story

Once you’ve uncovered your "Why," the next step is to craft your brand narrative. This is the story that ties everything together—the reason people should care about your brand. It’s not just about what you sell; it’s about the journey, the challenges you’ve overcome, and the vision you have for the future. Your narrative should resonate with your audience on an emotional level, making them feel like they’re part of your story.

Key Questions to Explore:

What’s the origin story of your brand?
What challenges have you faced, and how have you overcome them?
How does your brand promise align with your audience’s values and needs?
What’s the vision you have for your brand’s future?

Example Response:

“Our brand was born out of a frustration with the lack of affordable, high-quality tools for small business owners. We faced challenges like limited resources and fierce competition, but we stayed true to our vision of empowering entrepreneurs. Our brand promise is to always prioritize quality and accessibility, aligning with our audience’s need for reliable and affordable solutions.”

The Importance of Expert Analysis

Before diving into the heart of your brand strategy and formulating an action plan, it's crucial to understand the landscape in which you operate and the unique attributes that set your brand apart. This is where a Holistic Creative Consultant comes into play. These professionals are naturally curious—driven by a passion for uncovering the nuances that make your brand tick and the dynamics that shape your industry.

A Holistic Creative Consultant doesn’t just scratch the surface; they dig deep into both your brand’s internal strengths and weaknesses, and the external market conditions that could either propel you forward or hold you back. Through comprehensive Competitive Market Analysis (CMA) and SWOT analysis, they provide you with a clear, well-rounded picture of where your brand stands today—and where it could go tomorrow.

These reports aren’t just a collection of data points. They are insightful roadmaps that reveal your brand’s true potential, spotlighting areas ripe for innovation and highlighting risks that need to be managed. The beauty of working with a Holistic Creative Consultant lies in their ability to synthesize this information into actionable strategies that are perfectly aligned with your brand’s mission and vision.

Competitive Market Analysis (CMA): Seeing the Bigger Picture

Think of CMA as your brand’s panoramic lens. It’s a comprehensive review of the marketplace, giving you a clear view of the competitive landscape. A thorough CMA examines your direct competitors, industry trends, customer behaviors, and market gaps. It answers key questions like:

Who are your main competitors, and what are they doing well?
What market trends are emerging, and how can your brand capitalize on them?
Where are there unmet needs or gaps in the market that your brand could fill?
How do customers perceive your competitors compared to your brand?

By understanding these dynamics, you can pinpoint where your brand stands—and more importantly, where it can stand out. CMA helps you identify opportunities to differentiate yourself, positioning your brand in a way that resonates with your target audience and sets you apart from the competition.

SWOT Analysis: Understanding Your Brand’s Core

While CMA provides a broad view of the market, SWOT analysis turns the focus inward. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, and it’s a tool used to evaluate your brand’s internal and external environment. Here’s how it breaks down:

Strengths: What does your brand do well? These are your unique assets, resources, or capabilities that give you a competitive edge.
Weaknesses: Where does your brand fall short? Identifying these areas is crucial for understanding what might be holding your brand back.
Opportunities: What external factors could your brand leverage? These could be market trends, gaps identified in the CMA, or emerging customer needs.
Threats: What external factors could challenge your brand’s success? This includes anything from new competitors entering the market to changing regulations or economic downturns.

SWOT analysis is about balance—understanding not just where your brand excels, but where it needs to improve, and how external factors might impact your success. It’s an honest assessment that informs your brand’s positioning, helping you leverage your strengths, address your weaknesses, seize opportunities, and mitigate threats.

Why This Matters Before Establishing a Brand Position

In today’s fast-paced market, staying ahead of the competition requires more than just good instincts—it requires a deep understanding of both your internal capabilities and the external forces at play. That’s why conducting a thorough CMA and SWOT analysis is essential before establishing or re-establishing your brand position. These tools provide the clarity and direction needed to build a brand that not only resonates with your audience but stands strong against competitors and adapts to market changes.

But here’s the best part: you don’t have to navigate this complex process alone. Holistic Creative Consultants are born curious, and we thrive on learning new things—especially when it comes to helping brands like yours reach their full potential. Whether you’re just starting out or looking for a brand tune-up, a discovery session with a Holistic Creative Consultant could be the game-changer you need.

So, don’t hesitate to reach out. Let’s explore the possibilities together, dive deep into your brand’s unique story, and craft a strategy that ensures your brand not only survives but thrives in the ever-changing market landscape. Book a discovery session today and take the first step toward unlocking your brand’s true potential.

Let me hear from you.

Join us for "Experts in Business: Tools & Tactics For Streamlining Your Business"

. Learn more about an enlightening seminar featuring a distinguished panel of experts at the

forefront of speaking, leadership, and artificial intelligence (AI). This dynamic event will delve

into the intersection of these three pivotal domains, offering attendees invaluable insights,

strategies, and inspiration to navigate the evolving landscape of communication, influence,

and technological innovation.

I encourage you to click here to register f or the Experts in Business: Tools & Tactics For

Streamlining Your Business on October 3, 2024, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern

Standard Time at Bellomo & Associates in York, PA.

Enjoy learning at your pace, 24-7, on Romeo Network Online Learning .

I Want to Work For You!

Tue, 20 Aug 2024 12:45:02 GMT

Become An Employer Of Choice

The Problem Of "Too Little Talent"

As both a coach and a seminar presenter, one of the most frequent frustrations I hear from employers is that they cannot find good employees. While it is true that in the last few years, the quality and quantity of employable talent seems to have diminished, that is not to say that there aren’t any. But what’s more important than ever before is that if you’re looking to hire top talent, you must become an employer of choice.

The Importance Of Values

While most employers are quick to complain about the shortage of quality employees, very few of them offer a place of employment that attracts the best people. This is partially because it’s expensive to offer the best benefit package and amenities to keep employees loyal and inspired. But it’s more than that. Most employers fail to establish a set of high values that jobseekers long to embrace.

Not What, But How

Still, for every rule there is an exception. If you are familiar with my Hall of Fame client Jeff Bellomo of Bellomo & Associates, then you’ll notice something quite different when it comes to hiring talent. There is a long line of the best people who yearn to work for Jeff’s business. Is it because they all long to work in the legal field, or in East York, or for a company that writes wills and helps plan and settle estates? No. The answer is not in what the company does, but in how it does it.

Jeff treats his employees like gold because he knows by doing so, they will, in turn, treat his clients like gold. Jeff is as selfless a person as I’ve ever met. I’ve never met a lawyer with more compassion. As a result, people go out of their way to apply for employment with his company.

One day, my wife said that she was watching a video that the Bellomo & Associates employees made to praise their leader on Bosses Day. She said that she didn’t watch the whole video because it went on for about ½ an hour. My point is this; you can complain about the current employment situation, or you can take steps to draw people to you because they identify with your vision and mission. You do this by treating people like gold, creating an intriguing and compelling vision, and becoming a connoisseur of talent and an employer of choice.

“The story of someone who has succeeded in spite of difficulty can stir our emotions.” – Jim Rohn

Let me hear from you .

Learn more, with our Inspired Leadership Series

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Inspired Leadership II: How to Retain and Inspire Employees. ) I encourage you to click here to register for the Inspired Leadership II: How to Retain and Inspire Employees exclusive live Zoom seminar on Thursday, September 26, 2024, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time.

Enjoy access on demand, 24-7, when you view this content in our content library at Romeo Network Online Learning.

Using Reserve Power

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 14:45:00 GMT

Dale Carnegie Was Right!

When I made the transition from printing industry headhunter to full-time seminar presenter and trainer, I read everything I could get my hands on to improve my skills. Not surprisingly, I spent a lot of time reading every single book Dale Carnegie has ever written. That time was well spent.

One of the most important lessons I learned from Carnegie was something he called, “reserve power.” His point was that you need to know 10 times more about your business, products, and services than you’ll ever need to tell your customers. In other words, you prepare to know your business inside and out, even if you never have to share all of it with a prospect. By doing so, you’ll be able to effortlessly answer any questions your customers have and do so with remarkable credibility. Not only that, the more confident you are in what you know about your business, the more confidence you will exude when speaking to a prospect. In case you didn’t know this, prospects love to do business with people they feel are confident because the prospects believe they will get what they want.

One of my Hall of Fame clients, Dan Luckenbaugh of Advanced Air Quality Products, practices reserve power on a regular basis. Perhaps because he’s been in business for more than 24 years, he knows his business inside and out. I’ve never met anyone who could explain every component of mold remediation and air purification better than Dan. The best part about it is he never struggles to come up with an answer. He knows them inherently because he not only knows his craft, but he’s mastered the art of crystal-clear communication. In addition, he uses a lot of metaphors to simplify the complicated.

Whether you work in a very technical field like Dan or not, the better you get at acquiring reserve power, the more equipped you will be to answer any question your prospects have about doing business with you. Not only that, but it will actually become a deterrent to your competitors, once they realized how thorough your knowledge is. I encourage you to invest heavily in understanding your business and niche better than anyone else.

“Improving yourself is a lot more profitable than trying to improve others.” – Dale Carnegie

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from The Sales Academy . ) I encourage you to click here to register for The Sales Academy 5-part series running on five consecutive Friday mornings beginning on October 4, 2024, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time at Bellomo & Associates in York, PA.

The Best Teams Have The Best Leaders

Tue, 06 Aug 2024 12:45:01 GMT

What's Your Leadership Level?

One of the most valuable lessons I’ve ever learned from John Maxwell is from his best-selling book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. In it, he discusses The Law of the Lid. Its basic premise is that no leader can ever grow people beyond their own level of leadership. For example, let’s say that on a scale of 1 to 10, your leadership level is seven. That means that you are never going to be able to raise people to be eights, nines, or tens. Naturally, it follows that unless you grow your skills, you’ll never be able to grow the skills of the people you serve.

In coaching my Hall of Fame client, John Ellis of Create Socially, I tried to instill this lesson in him, since he is the successor for my own business. John has an awesome responsibility not only to grow his own business but also to expand Romeo Network. As we discussed, in order for him to grow his network, he needs to grow all the associate members of it. That’s why it’s so important for him to continuously grow as a leader for him to inspire growth in others.

So, what is your current level of leadership? It’s not only important that you know it, but that you are constantly looking to elevate it. In addition, you need to make sure that the other business owners that you work with know the leadership levels of their staff as well.

As you are evaluating the people in your organization, consider this: When one of them leaves, what level of leadership is leaving your organization? My point is this, if you have somebody who is a 10 and the person leaves your employ, are you replacing that person with a 10 or with a five? You have to be careful not to drain out all of the superior leadership qualities and talent from your organization or the level of service and leadership will diminish.

There is a saying that an average goaltender can make a great team average and a great goaltender can make an average team great. This premise holds true with leaders. The more committed you are to growing your leadership skills, the stronger you will be able to build your team.

“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” – Jack Welch

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from the Inspired Leadership III: The Ultimate Team Building and Empowerment Workshop . ) I encourage you to click here to register for the Inspired Leadership III: The Ultimate Team Building and Empowerment Workshop. on Thursday, September 12, 2024, at Bellomo & Associates in York, PA from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time. This seminar is also available for live streaming.

Start With The Rocks

Tue, 30 Jul 2024 12:45:00 GMT

Systemize Your Priorities

A few years ago, one of my colleagues, by the name of Bill Stratton of EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating Systems) was presenting a seminar as a guest speaker. His topic was an area that he knew extremely well – leadership. While I was familiar with much of his content (because I had read an excellent book called Traction by Gino Wickman), Bill reminded me of a point that I had never truly grasped before his presentation. He was talking about the importance of addressing the rocks.

Picture a college professor with a large jar filled with rocks up to the top of the container. The professor asks his students if the jar is full. They all agree that it is. He then proceeds to pour in gravel that fills in much of the space in between the rocks. Next, he pours in the sand that fills an additional space in between the rocks and gravel. Finally, he adds water right up to the brim of the jar. Obviously, the jar of rocks wasn’t full because there was so much more that could be added. The point that he was making for this experiment was this: If you don’t start by putting in the rocks — your most important priorities — they’ll never fit in later. All of the sand and gravel — the smaller nuisance projects that we face every day — will take up all of your time and space.

Bill Stratton specializes in helping businesses recognize what’s fundamentally most important to them. He makes sure that they place these priorities at the beginning of their business plans. Now, let’s think about your priorities. Are you making sure that your biggest projects are getting the most attention? Are you leaving enough time and resources to give them the focus they deserve?

Many times, we start out with the best of intentions and write down our goals, but we fail to organize them in the proper sequence. That means we may spend the majority of our time focusing on the unimportant and non-urgent tasks. If you make it your mission to focus primarily on the urgent and important first, and give your priorities the attention they require, you’ll find yourself accomplishing much more of what really matters.

“Plans are useless, but planning is essential.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from The Leadership Academy. I encourage you to click here to register for The Leadership Academy 5-part series which runs on five consecutive Tuesday mornings beginning on Tuesday, October 1, 2024, at Bellomo & Associates in York, PA from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time. Classes 2 and 4 will be presented exclusively on Zoom.

Here's What I Want!

Tue, 23 Jul 2024 12:45:00 GMT

Communicate With Clarity

One thing I’ve learned as a job coach is that when jobseekers are trying to impress an employer, they tend to pad their resumes with a lot of information that is not necessary. It usually leads to a longer resume than needed. I always offered the same advice: “Don’t make it longer, make it clearer.”

The same recommendation is true when you’re working with a new vendor for the first time. While everybody wants to have things done the way they want them, not everyone communicates clearly enough to get the results they seek. For years, I worked with a pest control service that did not understand what I wanted, which was a house free of bugs and mice. I believe what they thought I wanted was an annual pest control service agreement, with regularly scheduled treatment dates.

It wasn’t until I discovered Sam Peters of Peters Pest Control that I found someone who truly understood what I was looking for. The first thing that Sam did was come over and assess my entire house. He let me know every place where mice could be getting into our house, and then I contracted with a separate handyman service to plug all the holes. As a result of Sam’s advice and the handyman’s follow-through, our home has been “mice-free” for six years. The point is; Sam understood what we wanted — no pests!

If hiring a vendor to provide a service, make your needs and expectations crystal clear. Don’t leave any room for ambiguity. Remember, the more clear your message, the greater the likelihood is you’ll wind up getting what you want out of the agreement.

“Learn to communicate in the language of the listener.” – Dave Romeo

Let me hear from you .

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled The Psychology of Selling V: Selling What People Really Want . ) I encourage you to click here to register for The Psychology of Selling V: Selling What People Really Want exclusive, live Zoom-only seminar on Thursday, August 22, 2024, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time.

This program is also available on demand 24-7 at Romeo Network Online Learning. Click here to learn more and try it FREE!

Install Your Service

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 20:56:28 GMT

Become One With Your Customer

When people start up a business, they usually want two things; customers, and repeat customers.

Naturally, we want people to start patronizing us, but even more importantly, we want them to like

their experience with us and to keep coming back for more. So, how does a new business differentiate

itself from its competition to the point where customers remain loyal and lifelong? One of the best ways

to do this is to find a way to “install your service.” In other words, make it a part of your customers’ life.

I was recently having lunch with EpitomeFit owner Neo DaVinci who is one of my Sales Academy grads and we were brainstorming about his business. As he was describing how many of his customers are over 40 and are interested in sports and athleticism, I noticed something about his choice of words. He said most of them are running around chasing their grandchildren, running their own companies, and trying to keep up with life in general. As we talk further, I suggested that Neo become even more integral to his customers by reinforcing their personal and professional lives and their workouts.

In my own case, I work out all the time, but I don’t enjoy it. Most of the time I’m working out, I’m

thinking about my own interests. I suggested that Neo might want to install customers’ interests

throughout the workout. For example, if you have someone working on a treadmill, encourage them

that the longer they run on that machine, the easier it will be to run after the grandchildren. Business

owners should remember that if they can run a company, there’s no reason they can’t run another

quarter of a mile past the previous record. Anyone who works with weights should remember that

lifting up people is just as important as lifting iron.

There is definitely a link between physical conditioning and mental conditioning. Business owners face

countless different issues, problems, strategies, and challenges every single day. By helping Neo's

customers during their workout, not only can he help them better condition themselves physically and

improve their stamina, but also mentally equip them to better solve the issues they face when they

leave his fitness club.

If you provide a service to your customers, such as coaching, therapeutic massage, physical therapy or

Pilates, I’m challenging you to find ways to install your services so that what you offered to them during

their time with you, will be just as valuable after your session as it is during.

“A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be

embarrassingly large.” – Henry Ford

Let me hear from you .

(This excerpt is taken from The Sales Academy.) I encourage you to click here to register for The Sales

Academy 5-part series running on five consecutive Friday mornings at Bellomo & Associates in York, PA, beginning on October 4, 2024, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time.

This program is also available through live streaming, and available on demand 24-7 at Romeo Network Online Learning. Click here to learn more and try it FREE!

Proactively Eliminate Complaints

Tue, 09 Jul 2024 12:30:00 GMT

How To Avoid Savage Customers

Let’s face it, no one likes to get savage customers, but that doesn’t mean they won’t show up occasionally. If you think about the last time you got really upset with poor service, identify what triggered it. In my case, it’s usually because the person I’m speaking with is not taking me seriously or dismissing my problem as unimportant. This can be very frustrating and lead many customers to either erupt or leave and never come back. Sometimes, they do both.

One of the things I like best about Linda Rouleau of ABTS Accounting Services is that she proactively became an enrolled agent. Unlike a CPA, and enrolled agent can actually communicate more thoroughly with the IRS and resolve issues for clients in a much more thorough fashion. Becoming an enrolled agent was a proactive decision that Linda Rouleau made when she began her business.

The key quality we’re talking about here is being proactive. You have many decisions to consider when you’re starting up your own business. Depending upon your specialty, you may consider building a customer service de-escalation plan in the event that somebody is very upset with your service. Of course, not every business thinks this far ahead.

There should be a sequence of what to do when a customer complains — and you’ll want to make sure that everyone in your business knows exactly what those steps are and the sequence in which they are to be followed. First of all, listen intently to the client who had the problem. Go out of your way to make sure that you get the details and avoid being defensive. Next, thank the customer for alerting you to the problem. Even though you haven’t solved anything, the customer will tend to be less emotional if he or she feels like you are taking him or her seriously. Next, propose a solution to solve the problem. Many clients will be happy that you’ve taken these steps to address the issue. Still, you may have to go further, such as replacing or substituting something the customer wants instead. If this doesn’t work, you may even have to give them their money back. This is usually a last resort, but the good thing is, most customers just want you to address their issue. If it does come to giving money back, do it graciously and cheerfully and wish them well. You’ll probably never see that customer again, but at least you’ve disarmed him or her from having ammunition to badmouth you to everyone they know — including your competition.

When it comes time to deal with a highly-volatile customer, you’ll be glad that you proactively took the time to put in plan in place to calm the person down. And, if you do this well, the irate customer will know that you did so, and respect you for your foresight.

“No one can make you serve customers well. That’s because great service is a choice.” – Ken Blanchard

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Legendary Customer Services IV: Soothing the Savage Customer ) I encourage you to click here to register for the Legendary Customer Services IV: Soothing the Savage Customer live Super Summer Bash seminar on August 8, 2024, at Lancaster Bible College in Lancaster, PA from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time. This seminar is also available for live streaming.

Prefer to learn on demand, access this content whenever you like, at Romeo Network Online Learning. Click here to get started.

Stay Liquid!

Tue, 02 Jul 2024 12:45:00 GMT

Expect The Unexpected!

On one of my favorite action shows, SWAT, the team often finds itself in extremely dangerous situations. Because their circumstances are so volatile, they usually repeat this saying before they engage: “Stay liquid.” What that means is that you have to be ready for anything. It also means you have to be adaptable and expect that your conditions are going to be in flux and will continuously change around you. Your mindset has to be one of flexibility and fluidity as you negotiate every new twist and turn. So, what does this have to do with your business?

Considering I ran my business for 25 years without ever having one employee, I learned that I had to depend on business alliances and strategic partners to accomplish most of my larger projects. One of my key strategic partners was my seminar sponsor, Mick Owens of Mick's All-American Pub in Mount Joy, PA. Since I would frequently bring my seminar attendees to Mick’s All-American Pub for lunch, it was crucial to communicate how many people would be coming over. This was information I often only received about 30 minutes before we arrived.

However, for my final seminar, we anticipated that there would be a much higher number of attendees than usual going to lunch. Our initial plan was to have a table set up for 20 people. However, our count was seriously underestimated. We wound up with 38 people. Fortunately, Sam and Tony in the Mount Joy location, scrambled continuously to solve problems and accommodate all of the guests — many of whom never even knew that any of our plans had changed.

You only get this level of responsiveness by equipping your people in advance to anticipate the unexpected and to be flexible as each situation plays out. Thanks to their quick thinking, all 38 guests were accommodated and enjoyed a pleasant lunch and participated in a valuable focus group that day. This is the value of working with strategic alliances who value your business and who proactively plan for unexpected outcomes. I highly encourage you to begin this practice in your own business today, if you have not already done so. I guarantee that once you get into this habit, you’ll reduce the level of stress in your own life, and also please even more of your most demanding customers.

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”

– Colin Powell

Let me hear from you .

(This excerpt is taken from The Leadership Academy . I encourage you to click here to register for The Leadership Academy 5-part series which runs on five consecutive Tuesday mornings beginning on Tuesday, October 1, 2024, at Bellomo & Associates in York, PA from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time. Classes 2 and 4 will be presented exclusively on Zoom.

Prefer to learn on demand, access this content whenever you like, at Romeo Network Online Learning. Click here to get started.

You Set The Leadership Standard

Tue, 25 Jun 2024 12:30:00 GMT

Don't Supervise, Super Lead!

One of the toughest challenges any business owner faces is getting his or her staff to serve customers at the same level that made that business successful in the first place. Naturally, leadership starts at the top. However, if you don’t make sure that it trickles down to all levels of your staff, you are bound to disappoint your customers.

In the beginning, if it’s only you who are dealing with customers, you know exactly what level of service they are getting. But for most business owners, the goal is to grow large enough that you have other people serving your customers. So, how do you make sure that your customers are still taking care of, once somebody else is responsible for dealing with them? It all comes down to setting the correct leadership standard.

What that means is, everyone needs to know what to do and how to do it. You’ll need to set written down guidelines. I stress the word, “guidelines,” and not, “rules,” because leadership is fluid and changes all the time depending upon the circumstances and the people involved. You show people how to do it by equipping them during training — not on real customers. Make sure that you are satisfied with their responses. If not, instruct them on what to do differently until they can do it consistently without direction.

In talking with my Hall of Fame client Jeff Bellomo of Bellomo & Associates, we both agreed that it’s not enough for the leader of an organization to do things right and serve customers properly. Part of the leader’s responsibility is to make sure that every person who touches a customer is authorized, empowered, and equipped to take whatever steps are necessary to solve a client’s problem. One of the things that Jeff has done to ensure this happens in his business is to recruit and hire the top people he can find. Of course, that in itself is not enough. You also have to train them and give them the ability to solve the problems without your involvement or interference.

If you want to build an organization that is going to consistently deliver great performance to all of your customers — regardless of who they interact with — you need to become a leader worth following and give your people all the direction, tools, time, and encouragement they need to perform exactly the way you expect them to when they are serving customers in your absence.

“A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others.” – Douglas MacArthur

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled How to Deliver Inspired Leadership . ) I encourage you to click here to register for the How to Deliver Inspired Leadership exclusive live Zoom seminar on Thursday, July 25, 2024, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time.

How To Find A Needle In A Haystack

Tue, 18 Jun 2024 12:45:00 GMT

Geo-Targeting For Results

John Wanamaker once famously said, “Half the money you spend on marketing is wasted. The trouble is, I don’t know which half.” There’s a lot of truth in that statement. It’s not unlike using chum to fish. You throw out a lot of unwanted bait that’s never going to catch you any fish, in hopes that as a result, you will catch something. Marketing is a very tricky field because it’s not an exact science. As you know from being a customer, you might see something today that you absolutely love and purchase it instantly. On any other given day, it might not even catch your notice. Also, you may not be in a position to financially afford it on one day, but the next time you see that same ad, you might be holding a big commission check in your hand. Timing plays a big part in whether or not somebody purchases anything. But that’s not the only factor.

Marketing also has to do with fishing with the right bait in the right pond. For example, one of my Hall of Fame clients, Ray Fitzgerald of Greatest Hits Websites was working with a dental practice who only wanted to identify potential patients who were close by their location, but may not be happy with their current dentist. As a result of his geo-targeting efforts — in other words, specifically sending notifications only to potential customers in the precise geographic area — Ray was able to get incredible results for his client. In fact, he got 40 new patients for his client in just two months!

Since that approach worked so well, Ray decided to use the “success leaves clues” strategy from the Sales Academy to really narrow down his target audience for some of his clients. Ray was also able to get four new clients based on the results of the first one. While geo-targeting has been around for a little while, it is only now starting to gain greater traction and awareness from smaller businesses. The great thing about it is it’s an inexpensive way to level the playing field and help you find exactly who you’re looking for.

If you haven’t already explored geo-targeting, you might want to consider it for your business. It’s ideally suited for anybody who is physically located in one location and feels he or she is overlooking customers that are right under his or her nose. Remember, the more specific you can be about who you’re looking for and where they are, the more effective this marketing technique will be when you use it in your own business.

“Become the person who would attract the results you seek.” – Jim Cathcart

Let me hear from you.

Access The Psychology of Selling V: Selling What People Really Want on Demand, 24-7, at Romeo Network Online Learning. Click here to view the entire learning category.

Mastering Networking

Tue, 11 Jun 2024 12:45:00 GMT

It's An Every Day Journey!

I realized quite a few years ago the value of networking but, like most things in my life, the way I network today isn’t typical. I am a working mom who still homeschools 6 of our 8 children while launching a non-profit. In my past business endeavors, networking looked very different than it does now, but it is still equally as crucial and beneficial. Perhaps, you want to master networking, but you are under the false impression it needs to look a particular way. Rest assured it doesn’t and chances are you are already doing more networking than you think. Below are some tips on how you can ensure you are incorporating networking into your everyday lifestyle. So, get ready to fill your “ N . E.T.,” with new contacts and prospects when you, “ N ever Forget to E levate Others and T ake Risks.”

1. Never Forget

Never forget the value of networking, because it is arguably the most valuable tool in your toolbox! It is the necessary fuel to get you where you are going. In most cases it doesn’t cost a penny and when it’s done well, your profit margins skyrocket, you will reach your goals, and your overall success will be multiplied. You’re probably familiar with the following quotes: “Together, we’re better,” “Two are better than one,” and “United we Stand. Divided we fall.” There’s even song lyrics to back up the sentiment - “One is the Loneliest Number...” Any one of these quotes could be the slogan for networking.

The point is, if you aren’t networking, you can’t function at your highest capacity. Like a car with no gas or a person with no food, a lack of networking will leave you feeling sluggish or stuck professionally. So why struggle when you don’t have to?! Remember you have a priceless tool at your fingertips. When we forget we slack. Never forget to network!

2. Elevate Others

I’ve never met someone who has mastered networking that doesn’t lift others up. When you put others first and elevate their needs above yours it's crazy how your network will grow naturally. Show a genuine interest in people and they will show a genuine interest in you. Be kind, honest, real, vulnerable, and authentic. Listen with no hidden agenda. These traits will leave an impression on people that will last - and trust me you will get referrals simply because of your character.

3. Take a Risk

For some of you, follow-up feels risky. Like the thousands of pictures in your camera roll that never got developed, you have thousands of contacts you’ve never reached out to. Don’t overthink it. Make the calls. What if it’s a, “No?” No isn’t a four-letter word! Like Mel Robbins says in her book “The 5 Second Rule” once the thought hits to follow up, count backward… 5,4,3,2,1 go! Counting backward from 5 ensures your brain can’t think of all the excuses. You just need to do it! The truth is following up or reaching out for that big ask isn’t risky. It just feels that way and feelings are lousy leaders. There are times when following up is scary; not because you are afraid of, “No,” but because you are afraid of a “Yes.”

“Yes,” means you’re doing this and doing this is risky! Take the risk!

I hope to see you at Proven Success Skills From Business Women: Networking Mastery Forum , on June 27th,2024, where you can learn more about Mastering Networking.

About the Author:

Julie Godwin is a busy homeschooling mom. She and her husband live in York City with 6 of their 8 children where she actively serves the people in their community. She is the former Women’s Ministry Coordinator for a large church. Julie is the President and Founder of Authentic Pursuit Ministries, a non-profit ministry committed to helping people pursue an Authentic Relationship with Jesus. She is a sought-after speaker and life coach. Her first Video based Bible Study workbook will be released this month. Known for keeping things real, she has a gift of connecting with people of all ages and in all stages of life. In her free time, she loves to read, and you will rarely see her without a cup of coffee in her hand. Spending time with her children and Grandson is one of her favorite things to. Weather permitting, you may see her riding solo or on the back of a motorcycle with her husband.

I hope you to see you at Success Skills From Business Women: Networking Mastery Forum on June 27th,2024.

Maximizing Your Networking Potential

Tue, 04 Jun 2024 20:34:58 GMT

Tips for Organizing Business Cards and Time Management

Three years ago, I stumbled into the world of networking. Before that, I had run a successful direct sales business solely based on cold calling and texting. Wow, what a difference networking makes! Over time, I have developed systems to stay organized and maximize my time while building relationships and working. This blog post will provide some tips on how to handle all the business cards you receive and optimize your networking efforts.

While some argue that business cards are outdated and suggest using QR codes instead, I believe that relying solely on digital means expecting someone who has never met you to remember your name or business to find you in their phone’s contacts. A physical business card can jog a memory. There have been instances when I received a call after a year because a card was left on a desk or in a drawer until the contact needed my services. Business cards can be a powerful tool in maintaining connections over time.

At most networking events, I use a pocket system. I keep cards from people I want to connect with and potential clients in one pocket and cards from less relevant contacts in another pocket.

This system allows me to easily sort cards after the event and begin appropriate follow-up emails and calls. As you network, you will build relationships with people. The essence of networking is that you will do business with people you know, like, and trust, and vice versa. To keep track of these connections, I carry a portable business card book. This way, when I am in conversation, I can refer business to others. Over time, I have become known as the person who "knows people," and my network often reaches out to me before looking elsewhere. This also creates opportunities for my own business when they need my services.

Let’s dive into the specifics of my business card organization. I keep a portable card holder in my bag with the companies I refer the most. Some are from networking groups I regularly attend, and others are from various networking events around town. I often jot a tiny note on the cards to remind me where I met them. I also keep two copies of each business card—one to give out and one to remind me to reconnect with the business. My second business card holder is for prospective future clients. If I meet a company that needs my services immediately, I use this holder for easy follow-up. The third card holder is a box on my desk, organized alphabetically, for cards that don’t fit into my portable book but might be useful later.

Maximizing your networking time also involves batching your time effectively. I often meet at coffee shops for one-on-one chats. Once I book one appointment at a location, I try to fill the rest of the day with meetings at the same location. For instance, if I’m meeting a client from Mechanicsburg, I choose Rise Bake Shoppe in Mount Joy and schedule subsequent meetings there. This strategy reduces driving time and dead time between appointments.

To further optimize your time, use a free booking app like Calendly. Including the link in your email signature allows you to easily schedule meetings via text or email and offers the option for virtual meetings. I use the paid version to manage multiple calendars, enabling me to set up in-person meetings in different locations on specific days. This ensures efficient time management and maximizes my networking efforts.

Networking is a powerful tool for growing your business. By staying organized and managing your time effectively, you can build strong relationships and become a go-to person in your network. Happy networking!

Discover more from Proven Success Skills From Business Women at Romeo Network’s " Proven Success Skills From Business Women: Networking Mastery Forum ," on June 27th. This event will be an invaluable opportunity to discover more networking and business tactics from experienced business women and expand your own professional network.

About the Author

Jacquelynne Hess serves as the Director of Development at Unfair Advantage Marketing Company, where she specializes in creating and managing magazines tailored for high-end, influential neighborhoods nationwide. With a keen focus on fostering strong community ties and cultivating meaningful partnerships with advertisers and residents, Jacquelynne has successfully grown her business. Her expertise lies in understanding the unique needs of these affluent communities and delivering exceptional content that resonates with their lifestyles and interests. Learn more.

Building Success Through Genuine Connections

Tue, 28 May 2024 14:06:06 GMT

My Networking Journey

Over the last year, I have learned first-hand that networking is a vital skill for any business professional, especially in today's oversaturated online and offline marketing environment. As the Founder & CEO of UPFRONT MKTG, LLC, I’ve seen how effective networking can propel a business - my business! - to new heights. At launch I was a solopreneur, and I had two clients my first month, May 2023. By December of 2023 I had grown to 6 clients, and two part-time contractors to support the business. By February of 2024, I was bringing on two more contractors to shoulder the workload. Today I have 17 clients (and growing) and a team of 7 to support the work. How did I do it? Through networking, and word of mouth referrals. As a marketing agency, I feel somewhat hesitant to admit that I didn’t grow through my own services - but it’s the truth. Yes, I launched a website with SEO in mind, and I did some advertising that got me leads and repeat customers, but the majority of our growth came through referrals.

With our company growing 90% through local networking and word-of-mouth referrals since its launch, I want to share three key tips to help you master the art of networking.

1. Be Genuine and Authentic

The most effective networking occurs when you build genuine connections. People can sense when you’re being authentic and when you’re not. Approach networking with a mindset of curiosity and a genuine desire to learn about others. Listen more than you talk, ask open-ended questions, and show interest in their stories and experiences. Authentic connections often lead to long-term professional relationships that are mutually beneficial.

2. Follow Up and Stay Connected

Networking doesn’t end when you leave an event. Follow-up is crucial to maintaining and nurturing the connections you make. Send a personalized message within 24-48 hours, referencing something specific you discussed to jog their memory. Use LinkedIn to stay connected and engage with their posts. Regularly check in with your network, share relevant information, and offer your help when possible. Consistency in your follow-up will set you apart and keep you top of mind. Ironically, and any of you who know me can probably attest to this, I am not the best at following up. I have done so with intention, but as my business has grown, and I have become busy with the internal needs of staff, and maintaining client relationships, these steps have fallen to the wayside. Shame on me! HA! Just kidding - if you don’t execute perfectly, give yourself grace.

3. Provide Value Before Asking for Help

This is a big one. I never approach someone at a networking event with the thought, belief, or expectation that THEY will be a future client. I expect that they may stumble on someone at some point who needs me, and I want to make sure that I have built a relationship, left a good impression, and treated them with the same level of importance that I will treat the future leads they send my way. Everyone is important, and should be valued in my book. Before you ask for favors or assistance, think about what value you can offer to your connections. Whether it’s sharing an interesting article, providing a useful contact, or offering your expertise, giving first creates a foundation of goodwill.

When you provide value without expecting anything in return, people are more likely to want to help you when you do need something. This approach builds stronger, more collaborative relationships. Sometimes this has even looked like giving my time, attention, and a listening ear. Running a business is hard, and many individuals at networking events are trying to start a business while still working, or juggling family and health issues. Showing compassion in those moments shows your character, and the quality of your character has a great deal of impact on whether someone may be willing to recommend you to someone else in the future.

These tips are just the beginning. To dive deeper into mastering the art of networking, I invite you to join us at the Romeo Network’s " Proven Success Skills From Business Women: Networking Mastery Forum " on June 27th. This event will be an invaluable opportunity to learn practical strategies from experienced business women and expand your own professional network.

---

About the Author

Lorianna Sprague is the Founder & CEO of UPFRONT MKTG, LLC, a marketing agency launched on May 1, 2023. Under her leadership, UPFRONT MKTG, LLC has grown significantly through local networking and word-of-mouth referrals. Lorianna is passionate about helping businesses thrive through effective marketing and networking strategies. Learn more about Lorianna on LinkedIn and her marketing agency website.

Join us at the Networking Mastery Forum to gain more insights and connect with like-minded professionals. Visit romeonetwork.com for more details.

A Fundraiser Worth Singing About

Tue, 21 May 2024 12:45:00 GMT

Reviving Nonprofit Fundraising

In the midst of a tumultuous world, the post-COVID era presents an urgent need for fundraising. Nonprofit entities find themselves grappling with scant resources and depleted staff, even as demand for their services escalates. The challenges are palpable for both the organizations and the communities they serve.

Within the realm of nonprofit operations, myriad fundraising strategies beckon consideration, adding to the weight of decision-making. How does one navigate the delicate balance between generating revenue and addressing heightened needs, all while contending with diminished resources and personnel? This is the conundrum they face.

Fortunately, there exists a beacon of assistance amid these turbulent waters. Assistance is at hand, poised to offer guidance and support in navigating the complexities of fundraising in this demanding landscape.

Norman Wasserman, the esteemed founder of Friend Entertainment USA, boasts a remarkable legacy spanning over three decades in fundraising for nonprofit causes. With an unwavering dedication to making a positive impact, Wasserman established Friend Entertainment USA with the vision of offering top-tier entertainment to nonprofit organizations. His journey began with a profound realization of the significant need to effect change in the world, catalyzed by his involvement in charitable endeavors from the outset.

Recognized affectionately as "The Music Man," Wasserman's affinity for music as the "Universal Language" is palpable in his diverse repertoire, spanning genres from Disco to Motown. His multifaceted linguistic prowess in the realm of music reflects his commitment to delivering unparalleled experiences. However, beyond his musical acumen, Wasserman's reputation as a meticulous perfectionist underscores his commitment to excellence. His stringent standards ensure that every tribute band or performer aligns with the ethos of Friend Entertainment USA, promising nothing short of stellar performances brimming with showmanship.

Under Wasserman's guidance, Friend Entertainment USA has pioneered a transformative fundraising strategy dubbed "The Fundraising Cure." Through the power of professionally curated concerts, nonprofits have reaped the rewards, garnering substantial financial support totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars. Wasserman's holistic approach encompasses every facet of event management, from artist bookings to venue arrangements, program printing, and comprehensive publicity efforts. With Friend Entertainment USA, nonprofits find a reliable partner in achieving their fundraising goals while fostering a community united by the spirit of giving and enjoyment.

“Fundraising is the gentle art of teaching the joy of giving.” Hank Rosso

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Designing Your Destiny V: Winning with Integrity . )

I encourage you to click here to register for the Designing Your Destiny V: Winning with Integrity exclusive live Zoom seminar on Thursday, June 13, 2024, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time.

Reserve your seat, or view the entire series at Romeo Network Online Learning!

Treat Your Customer's Priorities Like Your Own

Tue, 14 May 2024 12:45:00 GMT

Perform With Pride

Have you ever watched someone performing the task that you paid them to do? Were you able to do it without them knowing that you were watching them? If you watch carefully, you’ll be able to tell if they’re just going through the motions or if they’re actually taking pride in their work.

I’ve had contractors over the years who were more focused on how quickly they could get home than making sure the job I asked them to do was done correctly and thoroughly. That’s a problem for both the customer and for the contractor. For the customer because he’s dissatisfied with the work; and for the contractor because he probably won’t be invited back for future jobs.

One of the things I’ve learned by watching Ryan Schwarz of Schwartz Ponds take care of my ornamental bass pond and waterfall is that when he’s working, you would think he was working on his own property. I don’t have to be around Ryan to know the type of personal pride he takes in the job he does. He’s using the right philosophy, realizing that people who work with pride get asked back and get referred to other customers. I frequently refer Ryan to others. Ironically, even people who don’t own ponds are impressed with the way he presents himself as a serious professional even in his conversation. As a result, he gets referrals by talking with people who don’t even have ponds!

This approach can work for you as well if you take pride in what you do, and you let people see how you work. Encourage your customers to share their reflections on the jobs you’ve done for them with others. You’ll find that people refer business to you, even if they themselves don’t need your service. I’m challenging you to perform work for others as if you are doing it for yourself.

“Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of intelligent effort.” – John Ruskin

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Designing Your Destiny V: Winning with Integrity . )

Reserve your seat, or view the entire series at Romeo Network Online Learning!

Become A Category Of One

Tue, 07 May 2024 12:45:00 GMT

You Are Uniquely YOU!

Discovering the keys to successful networking and marketing can truly revolutionize your career, no matter what field you're in. That's where Romeo Network's Networking & Marketing Mastery series steps in, offering a friendly guide through the common hurdles many encounter when seeking to excel in these areas. Whether you're struggling to tap into your network effectively or find it tricky to explain what makes you stand out - this series is here to lend a helping hand!

Delving into crucial topics, this series addresses the everyday challenges faced by professionals when networking and marketing their product or service. From uncovering strategies to attract businesses to you, to the magic of narrowing down your niche, you'll gain priceless insights at our upcoming mega mixer event! Work with others to craft a memorable message that truly showcases your strengths and sets you apart from the competition in your field of expertise. With these tools in your arsenal, you can take charge of your niche and soar to new heights in your career!

Ready to take your networking and marketing skills to the next level? Don't miss out on our two-part series, "Crafting Your Memorable Message" and "Effective Networking," happening on May 16th at Lancaster Bible College from 9 am to 12 pm Eastern. It's time to embrace the journey and unlock the full potential of your network. Secure your spot today and embark on a journey that promises to reshape how you approach networking and marketing, all in a warm and welcoming environment.

Remember, every business person brings their unique twist to solving problems for their customers. This

event will help you harness your individual strengths, setting you apart in any industry.

“Growth and comfort do not coexist.” – Ginni Rometty

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from Networking & Marketing Mastery I; Crafting Your Memorable Message (Part I) & Effective Networking (Part II) . Looking to set yourself apart without the need to reinvent yourself? If you answered, "Yes;" then this event is not to be missed! See you there! Reserve your seat , or view the entire series at Romeo Network Online Learning!

Unleash Your Sales Potential: Defeating the 2000-Pound Telephone

Tue, 30 Apr 2024 12:45:00 GMT

Pre-Plan Your Sales Calls.

It’s ironic that the first place most salespeople procrastinate is in making sales calls. I could spend most of this blog trying to make my case, but I believe most of you already agree with me. You may even see it in yourself. One client once asked me, “How do you pick up the telephone when it weighs 2000 pounds?” What he meant was that he had a fear of picking up the phone and making sales calls because he felt he was going to receive a lot of rejection. While that may be true, it doesn’t mean that you don’t pick up the phone — no matter how much you visualize it weighing. The better solution is, start now and don’t ever stop.

One of the best ways to make sure that your phone calls are going to be made is the pre-plan your phone calls. That means that you create a list of the people you want to speak with and include all the information you’re going to need before you call. That includes the person’s name, the phone number, and the reason for your call. You may also want to include the name of the business your client contact works for, especially if you’ve never spoken to this person before.

If you don’t already know this, for every minute of preplanning you take, you will save five minutes of execution. I strongly urge you to have at least one days’ worth of sales calls ready to go before you pick up the phone. Also, plan your calls the day before you’re going to make them. You never want to use valuable sales time to do administrative prep work.

Another key to success is to make sure that you don’t put your phone down in between calls. Keep it in your hand and once you’ve disconnected with your last call, start dialing the next number. You’ll be amazed at how many more sales calls you can make in a day when you incorporate this strategy into your daily routine. Not only will you start getting more sales, but you’ll notice that your phone is rapidly getting lighter.

“Growth and comfort do not coexist.” – Ginni Rometty

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from The Sales Academy. ) I encourage you to click here to register for The Sales Academy 5-part series running on five consecutive Friday mornings beginning on October 4, 2024, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time offered in person at Bellomo & Associates.

Create Greater Ease of Use

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 12:45:00 GMT

Focus on Convenience.

I’ve spent a lot of time listening to customers complain about how hard it is to make a sale — especially if what they sell is more expensive than their competition. But the reality is that salesmanship is not about being the lowest-priced bidder. It has far more to do with being the most valuable service in your customers’ perception.

One of my top coaching clients, Chris Judy of Total Merchant Services taught me his unique perspective on how and why he is so successful at providing merchant accounts for his customers. Chris doesn’t look for startup businesses that only have an occasional need for credit card transactions. He focuses on established businesses that are raking in a lot of money and are focused on providing convenience to their customers and their service providers. These customers understand that no one wants to have to wait to spend money on something they want. By providing a superior service to his merchant account clients, Chris enables them to reach more customers faster, and in a much more efficient and convenient way.

Today, more and more purchases are being made online and without the direct involvement of a human being. Because some of the behemoths (and you know who they are) have mastered this process so well, it’s only natural that your customers will compare your infrastructure and ease of use with other similar online services. Therefore, it is in your best interest to make purchasing from you as convenient as possible for your customers.

I’ve heard it said that if you’re not taking credit cards, you’re just pretending to be in business. I urge you to heed this warning: Your customers will make your competitors rich if you don’t make their lives easier when purchasing from you. Although this is not the only place where you want to make your customers’ experience more convenient, it’s a perfect place to start if you have not already done so.

“The customer experience is the next competitive battleground.” – Jerry Gregoire

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled 12 Easy Ways to Improve Any Business . ) I encourage you to click here to register for the 12 Easy Ways to Improve Any Business exclusive live Zoom only seminar on Thursday, May 23, 2024, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time.

This seminar is part of our Business Skills series. Feel free to browse the entire category for other similar topics.

Who Are You To Your Customers?

Tue, 16 Apr 2024 12:45:00 GMT

Make Sure You Know The Answer.

Have you ever listened to how salespeople and business owners explain what they do at a mixer or a networking event? People practice their “elevator speeches” for years trying to perfect them. But as a coach, I can tell you that most people don’t have a clue as to what they are in their customers’ eyes. Furthermore, most of them have no idea why their customers are buying from them.

Perhaps you have a product that is so superior that you sell more than you can handle, and you never have to worry about why your customers are buying it. But, more than likely, you don’t sell as many as you would like, and you’d like to know how you could increase your sales. The secret lies in understanding why your clients buy from you in the first place.

This usually means asking the customers why they love what they get from you. Don’t be afraid to ask them yourself. The more customers you ask, the more you’ll understand the value of what you sell. Having worked with Lou Leyes of Stages Planning Group since 2006, I can tell you very clearly what we get from his service: Lou guards our financial future and provides us with financial peace of mind. In good times or bad, Lou keeps us constantly informed of what’s happening in the market and its impact on our financial future. We may not always like the outcome, but there’s never a question that we are in good hands and that he is well-informed on what’s going on and what we should be doing.

So, what are you giving your clients? What are you to them? Be proactive and ask them before they question it themselves and before your competitors ask them. The sooner you understand what you provide to your customers, the sooner you’ll know what to say the next time somebody asks, “So, what exactly do you do?”

“It doesn’t matter what you think you sell. It only matters what the customer thinks they are buying.”

– Dave Romeo

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Networking and Marketing Mastery I: Crafting Your Memorable Message. ) I encourage you to click here to register for the Networking and Marketing Mastery I: Crafting Your Memorable Message live seminar mega-mixer on Thursday, May 16, 2024, at Lancaster Bible College in Lancaster, PA from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time. This seminar is also available for live streaming.

This seminar is part of our Networking and Marketing Mastery series. Feel free to browse the entire category for other similar topics.

Customizing a Commodity

Tue, 09 Apr 2024 12:45:00 GMT

Know What Makes You Different.

One of the common complaints salespeople and business owners share that they don’t know how to differentiate what they sell. This is especially true if what they sell is considered a “commodity.” A commodity is something that is easily available through many different resources and is hard to differentiate its value from one source or another. Some people might consider table salt, gasoline, or water to be commodities. However, whether something is a commodity or not is usually in the eye of the beholder.

For example, most people agree that water is water is water. However, bottled water is the highest-selling commercial beverage in the United States, claiming 25% of the market. In 2017, sales were over $24 billion. It’s important to note that it’s not the water that has changed. It is the convenience, portability, the availability, the size, and variety of the containers that has transformed it from a commodity to a best-selling soft drink.

With this in mind, Rich Pavlik of Blind Bean Roasters set out to prove that coffee need not be a commodity either. While Starbucks may have had a head start on Rich, he’s taken the concept one step further. Although his own personal love of fine-tasting coffee motivated him to start his business, he also realized that there were upscale restaurants and eateries that would also like to feature a coffee that could differentiate itself from commoditized coffee. By grinding the beans himself and immersing himself in the process of the coffee business, Rich now has clients from coast-to-coast who are paying a premium price for his superior brand of coffee.

When it comes to customizing a commodity, you don’t need to change the actual product. You can change the delivery method, the convenience of receiving it, the packaging, and the accessibility. You can also make sure that it is consistently better than your competitors. In this case, it might be determined by personal taste or shelf life. The point is that when it comes to customizing a commodity, you have only your creativity and imagination to limit you. However, you’ll want to pick something that you are completely passionate about. This is not something that can be faked. If you’re an end user of the product, you will know what makes it better and worth paying more for to consumers.

“I never cared much about fitting in. I always preferred standing out.” – Eartha Kitt

Let me hear from you.

This seminar is part of our Business Skills series. Feel free to browse the entire category for other similar topics.

Level The Playing field

Tue, 02 Apr 2024 17:38:56 GMT

Clari fy Your Specialty

Usually, when people start their own business, they want to get as many customers as possible. Often, they make the rookie mistake of trying to be all things to everyone. This doesn’t work. At best, you’ll disappoint many sincere prospects who wish to give you a try. At worst, you’ll fall prey to price shoppers and scam artists who will take advantage of your naïveté (and mourn your failure to all who will listen).

On the contrary, the key to successful business is having a clear message that you offer something that a great number of people like and want, and that you can provide it in a convenient and problem-free method, at a price that most people feel is worth the exchange for the value they receive. While this might be simple to understand, it usually takes much trial and error to perfect this formula.

I witnessed the transformation in one of my Hall of Fame clients, Ray Fitzgerald of Greatest Hits Websites the second time he took my Sales Academy training program. It was as if all the lessons Ray had heard the first time started to crystallize in his mind and form a simple strategy for success. I had known Ray for five years when he took the Sales Academy the second time. I knew his business and I’ve referred numerous clients to him — virtually all of whom have hired him to build their websites. But what Ray demonstrated during his second round in the Sales Academy showed that he had clearly identified his niche. He repeatedly explained how his goal was to level the playing field for smaller and new entrepreneurs against their behemoth competitors by offering his clients affordably-priced websites that looked great and are completed within 30 days.

Of course, part of the success of this formula is to make sure that you can keep your promise and that is something Ray has done by systematizing his work and providing easy instructions for his customers to have everything ready to go, so that he can deliver on his word.

You too can level the playing field for your customers if you provide them with a simple way of competing against “the big guys” and offer their customers similar products and services while delivering superior, personalized attention. Once you’ve perfected this formula, create a message that clarifies your value in seven words or less. The simpler you make it, the faster your prospects will get it.

“If you want to increase your sales, narrow your niche.” – Laura Clampett Douglas

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Networking and Marketing Mastery I: Crafting Your Memorable Message . ) I encourage you to click here to register for the Networking and Marketing Mastery I: Crafting Your Memorable Message live Super Seminar Mega-Mixer on Thursday, May 16, 2024, at Lancaster Bible College in Lancaster, PA from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time. This seminar is also available for live streaming.

This seminar is part of our Networking and Marketing Mastery series. Feel free to browse the entire category for other similar topics.

Prospects Abound!

Tue, 26 Mar 2024 12:45:00 GMT

Don’t Keep Them Waiting

As I was wrapping up my seminar career of 25 years, I had the opportunity to compare notes with my role model, friend and sponsor, Jeff Bellomo of Bellomo & Associates Elder Law and Estate Planning. Anyone who knows Jeff knows him to be an astute attorney and an incredibly nice person. I’ve rarely met anyone who invests more heavily in the development and growth of his employees.

As we were discussing the value of seminars, I mentioned to him that sometimes employers send their employees to seminars, but they don’t take full advantage of the opportunity. It’s one thing to go to a seminar for the content in hopes of learning new information. It’s another to invest time spent with other people who also wish to grow. It is in these interactions that some of the longest lasting customer relationships are cultivated. In addition, they can also lead to future employees who hear about your company’s culture and what it would be like to be part of your team.

While there is no shortage of great networking organizations around these days, one should not overlook the contacts made at training seminars — especially those open to the general public. I’ve always been impressed to see bank presidents sitting next to hotel cleaning staff at the same seminar and bonding over learning something new and useful. It levels the playing field and allows each person to be valued — not for the role they currently hold, but for their shared desire to learn and grow personally and professionally.

If you start with the mindset that virtually anyone you meet at a networking mixer, an open house, or a general public seminar could become a future customer or coworker, you’ll realize that prospects abound virtually everywhere you go. If you train the reticular activating system in your brain to look for opportunities to build new relationships or deepen existing ones, you will be amazed at how great the results can be by investing yourself in learning about others.

“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years trying to get them interested in you.” – Dale Carnegie

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Networking and Marketing Mastery I: Crafting Your Memorable Message . ) I encourage you to click here to register for the Networking and Marketing Mastery I: Crafting Your Memorable Message live Super Seminar Mega-Mixer on Thursday, May 16, 2024, at Lancaster Bible College in Lancaster, PA from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time. This seminar is also available for live streaming.

This seminar is part of our Networking and Marketing Mastery series. Feel free to browse the entire category for other similar topics.

Create Confident Connections!

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 12:45:00 GMT

It's The Best Way To Grow Your Business

One thing I’ve learned as a business owner is that you never turn down an opportunity to visit a networking association’s meeting. As a coach, the more I know about an association, the better able I’ll be to refer clients to the right one.

One day, one of my Hall of Fame clients introduced me to Mike Weiner of NRG (Network Referral Group). NRG is a national, Zoom-based association that currently holds about 27 1-hour on-line networking sessions every week. What I knew before the introduction was that two of my best customers had already joined NRG. After speaking briefly with Mike, he invited me as his guest to attend one of the networking sessions. He also promised me that I would get three referrals just for taking part in it.

While it wasn’t my intent to join NRG (I was only four months away from retirement at the time this took place) I was very anxious to learn more about the organization. As it turned out, Mike Weiner is a master of creating confident connections. There were about 10 people on during the session I participated in and he rattled off referrals to each one of the members off the top of his head — also providing phone numbers and additional contact information as appropriate. Because I was retiring, I said I didn’t need any referrals, still I wound up getting six new customers as a result of my participation in that one meeting.

Since, like Mike, I also like to make connections, I made about a dozen introductions to the people in that group the same day and more subsequently as I thought of them. I also made about 15 referrals to Mike Weiner and several of them joined NRG on the spot! What I learned from this experience is that Mike created a very effective business model that produces immediate results. All customers want big and quick returns on their investment. One lady on the initial call said that she’d only been in the organization for several months and had already received a 35-time return on investment for her membership fee.

If you’re going to take the time to create confident connections for other people, they will stop seeing you as a networking contact and view you more as a revenue source. This is an excellent way for you to build your business indirectly while focusing directly on helping others build their businesses.

“Succeeding in business is all about making connections.” – Richard Branson

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Networking and Marketing Mastery I: Crafting Your Memorable Message .) I encourage you to click here to register for the Networking and Marketing Mastery I: Crafting Your Memorable Message live Super Seminar Mega-Mixer on Thursday, May 16, 2024, at Lancaster Bible College in Lancaster, PA from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time. This seminar is also available for live streaming.

You Don't Need a Team to be a Leader

Tue, 12 Mar 2024 12:45:00 GMT

As Long as You're a Leader Worth Following

As the excellent speaker and author Mark Sandborn said, “You don’t need a title to be a leader.”

While I completely agree with that quote, it’s also true that you don’t need a team to be a leader. I saw the

statement play out about a year ago in the Leadership Academy. Dan Luckenbaugh of Advanced Air

Quality Services was taking the program. During those five weeks, I got to know him very well. Dan is a

sole proprietor, but you probably wouldn’t think it to hear how much he gets done. He has the ability to

influence and persuade people to lend a hand when needed.

Dan shared how he can sometimes get public officials to go above and beyond to solve problems for

customers. This is because he’s developed a greater level of credibility with the officials they know of

him, his work, and is reputation. This didn’t happen because he was in a higher position than them. It

happened because he leads with integrity and sets an example that others wish to emulate.

All this is good news to anyone who was an entrepreneur, especially if you are sole proprietor. There’s

always more work to get done than one person can handle. That’s why it’s so important to develop

exceptional leadership skills that other people can recognize.

When I was getting ready to start work on the Focused on Success television series, the executive

producer said to me, “This will be a great forum for you to show off your leadership.” I was somewhat

taken by surprise by that statement. After all, I had no employees so I didn’t know who I would lead. I

asked her to clarify her statement and she explained that the way I could attract people to attend my

seminars, to sign up for coaching, and to take actions to improve their lives demonstrated my

leadership. In other words, I didn’t need a team to be a leader. Neither do you.

People are going to look at how you handle yourself and others. That’s what will determine if they want

to follow you. If you ever want to test your leadership skills, try leading a group of volunteers. That is the

true test of a natural leader. People only follow you if they believe in you and want to join your cause. In

the end, it all comes down to people skills. Once you develop the ability to influence and inspire others

to grow, you’ll watch a team assemble before your very eyes.

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” – John Maxwell

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from The Leadership Academy . I encourage you to click here to register for The

Leadership Academy 5-part series which runs on five consecutive Tuesday mornings beginning on

Tuesday, October 1, 2024 at Bellomo & Associates in York, PA from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern

Standard Time.

Please note that classes two and four will be presented exclusively through live

streaming.

This Course is also avaialble on demand 24-7, at Romeo Network Online Learning. Click here to enroll today!

Adaptability Quotient: Is Your Team Ready for Massive Change?

Tue, 05 Mar 2024 13:45:00 GMT

Is Your Team Ready For Massive Change?

Artificial Intelligence is not writing this blog—but maybe it should be. The future is here. Change is upon us. Am I going to be able to adapt enough by the end of the year? By the end of the decade? We made it through Covid. We’re battling another recession. I think I know what our biggest threats are this year—but by 2025? Who knows? How long can we hold on?

Perhaps you’ve had thoughts like these recently.

In their Workplace Learning Report published in 2021, a LinkedIn survey of over 5000 hiring professionals showed that Adaptability had dethroned Creativity as the #1 most in-demand skill. Around the same time, The World Economic Forum released a study indicating that 40% of current jobs would not exist within ten years’ time. Whether your team is ever going to need to use Artificial Intelligence or not, changes will come. Some will surprise you, others won’t, but all of these changes will require an ever-increasingly adaptable workforce. Job descriptions will change. Old ways of doing things will go the way of the buffalo.

The good news is, adaptability is a skill. Just as learning to play the piano or catch a baseball is a skill, some time and energy may need to be invested to hone that skill. What’s even more exciting is that the Adaptability Quotient can now be assessed and measured, so that one can get a true picture of an individual or a team’s improvement!

An assessment gives us a picture of which aspects of a person or team’s adaptability might need work—and specific interventions can be developed. A second measurement, six months down the road, gives empirical evidence of growth and change.

There’s a bright new future ahead for those who embrace the challenge of building their abilities, transforming their character, and constructing environments and cultures which promote and celebrate change.

To whet your appetite, here are just a few of the 17 facets of Adaptability that the AQ measures:

GRIT

UNLEARNING

MENTAL FLEXIBILITY

THINKING STYLE

HOPE …

A few years ago I was visiting the main office of the local public high school when a teacher wandered in. I overheard her sharing with someone that she had finally turned in her laptop to the tech team for an upgrade. She was the last instructor in the entire school to do so. She had made it through all the threats, resisting the changes that would no doubt throw her for a loop until she could resist no more or face disciplinary action. And she seemed proud of the fact that she was the last holdout! I thought to myself, Well, here’s one of the least adaptable teachers in the school system, at least in terms of technology. I’m terrified of changes to my computer, too, but this is blatant!

I’m sure by now you’re already wondering to yourself, Could we help that certain person on our team become less resistant to change and more adaptable?

And the answer is … When it comes to change in the world, yes, change is imminent. When it comes to change in humans, it’s possible to learn to adapt.

By Adam G. Fleming, PCC

Let me hear from you .

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Adaptability Quotient: is Your Team Ready for Massive Change? ) I encourage you to click here to register . for this event. Adam Fleming's seminar takes place on Thursday, April 4th, 2024, at Bellomo & Associates, in York, PA from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time.

This seminar is also available for live streaming. Livestream details provided after registration.

For content from a similar topic, check out, " The Fine Art Of Pivoting ," available exclusively at Romeo Network Online Learning.

3 Keys for Keeping a Dissatisfied Customer

Tue, 27 Feb 2024 13:45:00 GMT

Listening, Sincerity, and Problem Solving

If you own your own business, getting customer complaints is not so much a matter of “if,” as it is of “when.” The reality is that when you’re trying to take care of your customers, remember that one size fits one. Every customer is going to have a unique expectation of what he or she gets from you. Your job is to do your best to make sure that you live up to those expectations. But realistically, sooner or later, somebody is going to be dissatisfied.

So, what do you do when that happens? Here’s a three-pronged approach that is sure to help make the situation better. First of all, start with intentional listening. Pay great attention to exactly what is bothering your customer. It goes without saying that you do not want to interrupt the customer when he or she is talking with you. However, it is appropriate to ask for clarification and more details when there is a pause. For example, “Can you tell me when this incident happened?” or, “Do you happen to remember the name of the employee you spoke with about this?” By digging a little deeper, it will make it easier for you to piece together what went wrong.

Next, be sure to approach your customer with sincerity. For the past six years, I worked very closely with John Ellis of Create Socially. Not only has he been my customer, I’ve also been his. In fact, he even bought my business. One of the qualities I like best about John is that if there is a problem, he wants to know about it and he wants to fix it. He doesn’t look for blame, he looks for solutions. Having someone who genuinely wants to understand what happened so that he can solve the problem makes me want to do business with him because I feel that I’m being taken seriously.

Finally, you must solve the problem. Problem-solving is not something you develop after a problem occurs. It should be a mindset that you cultivate the day you decide to go into business. This is a two-part process. First you solve the immediate problem that the customer is experiencing. Once you have done this to the customer’s satisfaction, go back and identify the reason that the problem occurred in the first place. If you can eliminate the possibility of this problem reoccurring, you will be turning your customer service and problem-solving skills into a proactive marketing plan for your business.

Although each customer service issue will be as unique as each customer, using this three-step formula will make it substantially easier for you to find common ground and keep a dissatisfied customer from leaving.

“Customer service is the new marketing.” – Derek Sivers

Let me hear from you .

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Legendary Customer Services IV: Soothing the Savage Customer ) I encourage you to click here to register for the Legendary Customer Services IV: Soothing the Savage Customer live Summer Bash seminar on Thursday, August 8, 2024, at Lancaster Bible College in Lancaster, PA from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time. This seminar is also available for live streaming.

This seminar may also be accessed on demand before and after the event, at Romeo Network Online Learning. Click here for instant access !

Use the Power of Personal Warmth, Likability, and Patience

Tue, 20 Feb 2024 13:30:00 GMT

It's A Winning Formula

I frequently meet young salespeople just starting out in business who think that they have to be pushy, aggressive, and overbearing in order to sell. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. There is a natural tendency when one is just beginning on his or her sales journey to want to get things moving as soon as possible. That’s a natural tendency and a good one to keep. Staying hungry often keeps you financially set. However, there’s a difference between being hungry and enthusiastic and being pushy and overbearing.

There’s a story I’ve heard over the years about two salesmen who go to a networking mixer. One is a senior sales professional and the other one is just starting out. The young salesman looks at the crowd and says, “Wow! Look at all the prospects in there! Let’s run in and get one.” The senior sales professional responds, “I’ve got a better idea. Why don’t we walk in and get them all?”

This approach reminds me of one of my Ultimate Service Providers, Wendell Hoover of Iron Valley Real Estate. For as long as I’ve known him, he’s been networking with the intent of adding value to others. He does this by allowing his personal warmth and natural likability to shine through. Wendell is patient, not pushy. He’s approachable, not overbearing. There’s a natural comfort around somebody we find likable yet confident in their work.

What about you? Are you presenting yourself as somebody who is warm, likable, and patient? This is not a difficult formula to learn and practice. If you’re getting most of your new customers through your networking efforts, you will do well to put this combination into regular use whenever you are meeting potential prospects and customers.

“How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” – Ancient African proverb

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from Networking and Marketing Mastery III: Turning Contacts into Contracts.) I encourage you to click here to register for the Networking and Marketing Mastery III: Turning Contacts into Contracts seminar on Thursday, March 21, 2024 at Bellomo & Associates in York, PA from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time.

This seminar is also available for live streaming.

For your convenience, this same content is also available on demand, at Romeo Network Online Learning. Click here to watch on demand.

Understand Your Customers' Wants

Tue, 13 Feb 2024 13:45:00 GMT

If You Don't Know, Ask Them

In 25 years of coaching clients, one thing has become clear; most customers have no idea what their customers want. It’s usually only after they take the time to ask each customer what he or she wants that they even get an inkling as to what their customers value and expect from them.

For example; one of my long-standing clients is Stages Planning Group . For many years, I’ve had the privilege of coaching the owner of the business, Lou Leyes. Lou is an exceptional leader and an outstanding financial planner. In our case, he was my client, and I was his. The advantage of having your coach as a client is that he can give you the perspective of what it feels like to be a customer in a way that’s easy for you to understand.

As a customer, I don’t expect a financial planner to control the market. I don’t expect a financial planner to make sure that my investments never lose any money. What I do expect is that my financial planner can explain to me — at a level I can easily comprehend — exactly what’s happening in the market and what I should expect going forward. I expect guidance during tough times and recommendations when the market takes an upswing.

In your business, do you clearly understand what your customers want from you? If not, I challenge you to immediately start calling them and asking them what role they see you in. And remember, "one size fits one."

That means you need to call multiple customers in order to make sure you understand exactly what they’re looking for from you.

“Harley-Davidson sells a 43-year-old accountant the ability to dress up in black leather, to ride around in a small town, and to have people be afraid of him.” – Former CEO of Harley-Davidson

Let me hear from you .

(This excerpt is taken from The Sales Academy 5-part series). I encourage you to click here to register for The Sales Academy running on five consecutive Friday mornings beginning on April 5, 2024, at Bellomo & Associates in York, PA from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time. This seminar is also available for live streaming.

For your convenience, this same content is also available on demand, at Romeo Network Online Learning. Click here to secure your spot!

Start Planning Now for Future Hires

Mon, 05 Feb 2024 04:24:16 GMT

It will really pay off.

It never fails that when I run into one of my entrepreneurial coaching clients, they always want to know where they can find good employees. One thing that has always remained the same since I started in the staffing industry in 1990 is that there are plenty of great employees. The only question is, “How do you get them to want to work for you?”

The first thing to understand is that everyone is motivated to do something. The problem is what motivates you may not be what motivates them. With that being said, what you want to do is identify what perks you offer that would be valuable to potential employees. One of the most obvious ones would be opportunities for growth.

While not every employee is looking to grow as a human being, the ones that aren’t, are not the employees you want to have in the first place. That’s why it’s so important to ask potential new hires what their top three values are. That one question will fill you in on what you need to know about the person’s disposition and suitability for your opening.

It’s unrealistic to think that you will fill your company with people who will be there until the day they retire, but that’s not important. What is important is that you take the time to understand what drives them. Once you do this, it’s your responsibility — as a leader — to give them an understanding of how working with you will help them achieve their goals.

It’s also never too soon to start establishing for your talent pool. I highly recommend that you do this from amongst your friends’ children. They’re going to be the next generation of employees. Find out if they have any interest in sports or extracurricular school activities. That’s a good way to learn if they are growth oriented. Start getting to know them and develop a rapport. It might turn out to be a good place for you to start planning your future recruiting efforts.

“Never tell me the sky is the limit when there are footprints
on the moon.” – Anonymous

Let me hear from you .

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled How to Hire Winners! ) I encourage you to click here to register for the How to Hire Winners! live seminar on Thursday, March 7, 2024, at Bellomo & Associates in York, PA from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time. This seminar is also available for live streaming.

For your convenience, this seminar is also available on demand at Romeo Network Online Learning, under the Business Skills collection. Click here to take this course.

Unleash the Power of Inbound Marketing: A Path to Success for Small and Local Businesses

Tue, 30 Jan 2024 13:45:00 GMT

A Path to Success for Small and Local Businesses

In today's fast-paced digital world, traditional marketing methods alone won't cut it. Small and local businesses need to adapt and embrace inbound marketing to thrive in the online landscape. But what exactly is inbound marketing, and why does it matter? Let's dive into the world of inbound marketing and explore how it can revolutionize your business.

What is Inbound Marketing?

Inbound marketing is a customer-centric approach that focuses on attracting, engaging, and delighting your target audience. Unlike traditional outbound marketing, which interrupts potential customers, inbound marketing aims to provide valuable content and solutions that align with their needs and interests. It's about building meaningful relationships and guiding prospects through their buying journey.

Why Does it Matter for Small and Local Businesses?

Cost-Effective: Inbound marketing typically costs less than traditional advertising methods like print or TV ads. Small and local businesses can make the most of their limited budgets by investing in digital strategies.
Targeted Reach: Inbound marketing allows you to target specific demographics, ensuring that your efforts reach the right people at the right time. This is especially crucial for local businesses looking to connect with their community.
Builds Credibility: By consistently delivering valuable content and solutions, inbound marketing establishes your business as an authority in your industry. Trust is a valuable asset for local businesses.

Aspects of Inbound Marketing:

Content Creation: Producing relevant, high-quality content is at the heart of inbound marketing. Blogs, videos, social media posts, and eBooks are all tools to engage and educate your audience.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Optimizing your website and content for search engines ensures that your business appears in relevant search results, increasing visibility and traffic.
Social Media Marketing: Engaging with your audience on social platforms helps build relationships and encourages sharing, expanding your reach.
Email Marketing: Personalized email campaigns nurture leads and keep your audience informed about your products or services.
Analytics and Data: Inbound marketing relies on data analysis to measure results, identify areas for improvement, and refine strategies.

Ready to Dive Deeper?

If you're intrigued by the potential of inbound marketing and eager to learn more, join us for " The Inbound Marketing Workshop [Click here to register] , " on February 22, 2024, at Bellomo & Associates (York PA), and streaming online!

Founder of UPFRONT MKTG, Lorianna Sprague will guide you through the essentials of small business marketing, share real-world success stories, and provide hands-on guidance to help you implement these strategies for your business.

Don't miss this chance to take your business to new heights in the digital age. See you there!

Make Super-Responsiveness Your Superpower

Tue, 23 Jan 2024 13:45:00 GMT

Set Yourself Apart From Your Competition

I’ve often heard it said that it’s better to be first than to be the best. When you have an urgent need, you don’t waste time shopping around for the best price. You go with the first service who can solve your problem — especially if you have a clogged toilet in your restroom or you’re standing knee-deep in a basement full of water.

I experienced the most extreme differences between two people who worked on my ornamental bass pond. The gentleman who built it was an exquisite craftsman. However, he disappeared after it was done and probably couldn’t be found even with the assistance of the FBI when it came to maintaining the pond after was built. Fortunately, I looked up Schwarz Ponds online and was immediately impressed that the young owner Ryan Schwarz answered the phone even though he didn’t know who I was. Not only that, but he instantly made arrangements to come out to my house — which was not even located in his territory — and got my pond ready to open.

In fact, at every opportunity when I needed assistance or a question answered, Ryan immediately took the call or followed up with me in an extremely short period of time. It appeared that being super-responsive is one of his superpowers. As a pond owner, I love and enjoy spending time near my pond. Unfortunately, I’m not an expert on maintaining it. That’s why it’s so important to me to have a specialist who treats my sense of urgency like his own.

If you are going to provide an ongoing service to a client, understand that the client is evaluating you based on how seriously you treat his or her sense of urgency. The better you get at honing this skill, the more satisfied customers you will have and the more referrals they will be providing to you.

“Anyone can do my job, but nobody else can be me.” – Jeff Umberger

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar Stop Procrastinating Now!) I encourage you to click here to register for the Stop Procrastinating Now! live seminar on Thursday, February 15, 2024 at Bellomo & Associates in York, PA from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time. This seminar is also available for live streaming.

Capitalize on the Simple

Tue, 16 Jan 2024 13:45:00 GMT

Specialize in What Others Skip

Often, when we start a business, we tend to make things harder than they need to be, because we want to be better than the competition. However, in reality, the simpler you make your business, the easier it will be to provide value, and the easier it will be for your customers to see its value.

Ask anyone running a business today how hard it is to stay in touch with your customers and prospects. Regardless of the multiple communication methods available to us, the simple and necessary task eludes most businesspeople. Naturally, they wonder why they get cancellation notices from their clients or learn that customers have decided to go elsewhere to receive the same service. This happens because we allow it to happen. We simply do not stay in contact with our clients — or if we do, it’s not in a personal manner that keeps them loyal to us.

Understanding this difficulty, Susan Chinault of Calling All Customers was inspired to start her business. Unlike most sales call services, Susan doesn’t specialize in making cold calls. Instead, she specializes in making warm, professional, and personal calls to existing customers of her clients. She bridges the gap between her clients and her clients’ customers. This way, the connection stays strong even when her customers cannot directly speak to a client. Of course, whenever Susan realizes that a client needs some attention, she relays the information to her customer.

In addition, she can keep moving the sales process along for prospects who may be interested in working with her client companies. We all know how often it takes multiple attempts to reach a prospect once the sales cycle actually begins. By focusing on the simple and often overlooked step of following up, Susan is able to keep momentum in the sales process until a prospect is ready to get serious. Once this occurs, she either closes the deal or hands it back over to her client company.

Regardless of how you stay in touch with your clients and prospects, make sure that you are doing this more seriously than your competition does. It would be a shame to lose a valued client or a future one by skipping such a simple step like following up and following through.

“Genius is the art of seeing what everyone else has missed.” – P.T. Barnum

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar Communication Excellence V: Focus, Follow up, and Follow Through.) I encourage you to click here to register for the Communication Excellence V: Focus, Follow up, and Follow Through live seminar on February 8, 2024, at Bellomo & Associates in York, PA from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time.

This seminar is also available for live streaming, and on demand at Romeo Network Online Learning.

SmallBiz HR Mastery

Tue, 09 Jan 2024 13:45:00 GMT

Got Employees?

If you answered yes to the question, chances are you need some form of HR. While you may not need a full-time HR professional, there are many challenges employers are facing today. Attracting top talent, retaining good talent, complying with labor and employment laws, maintaining proper documentation throughout the employee life cycle, and navigating unemployment compensation benefits, are a few that immediately come to mind.

Attracting the right talent goes far beyond company culture. Ironically, while the intention behind seeking culture fit is to attract the perfect employee, it ultimately fails to attract and retain top talent. Placing excessive emphasis on culture fit causes teams to overlook highly qualified candidates who possess valuable skills and capabilities. Moreover, it can make employees feel the need to conform or suppress their authentic selves.

As an employer, did you know that the termination reason you put on an unemployment claim may automatically guarantee unemployment compensation benefits to the employee? I have seen numerous unemployment compensation claims that say, “poor performance”. Without the ability to prove the act of poor performance was intentional, employers are on the hook to pay these benefits.

With most states being at-will, it has become best practice (and I would argue a necessity) for employers to document employee behaviors such as poor performance, frequent absences, and policy violations. Without proper documentation, employees may have a case for wrongful termination.

Many states have specific labor and employment laws, coupled with specific pay practices that must be followed. If you employ individuals, know your rights and responsibilities to reduce unnecessary fines, and even worse, the potential to be shut down!

HR is full of myths and employee issues. You do not know what you do not know! If you would like to learn more about the world of HR as it is seen today, join me on January 25, 2024 for a seminar packed full of practical strategies that will elevate your business to new heights.

Come Prepared or Stay Home

john@createsocially.com (Dave Romeo) — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 14:00:00 GMT

Come Prepared Or Stay Home

Don’t waste your customers’ time!

Our home is strategically located in Elizabethtown — about halfway between Harrisburg and Lancaster. That means that when we have contractors come to our house, they may have to make a journey back to their home base in order to get all the supplies and items needed to complete their assigned task. After living in this house for the past 26 years, we understand that that comes with the territory. However, since we have been working with some of our vendors that entire time, one would think that they would make arrangements to anticipate what they need and bring those items with them.

In the past, we had a contractor drive out to assess the job, leave for 1 to 2 hours, and then return to finish the task. Mind you, we do try to be as thorough as possible, when explaining what the task is over the phone. To add insult to injury, we often get charged for the additional travel time back and forth to pick up the items that were not packed on the truck before the contractor originally left to come to our location.

Sometimes, we get complacent and assume that is the way things are, the way things should be. However, sometimes you get someone who breaks the rules and redefines what is acceptable. That happened when we started working with George Garrett of Garrett Electric .

One of the things I learned early on with George is that he anticipates what a job might require and proactively stocks extra inventory on his company van in order to make sure that he’s equipped to solve the problem when he arrives and that he is not wasting his customers — or his own — time running all over creation, looking for parts at the last minute.

Once a customer encounters a superior level of service, it makes it much more difficult for mediocre contractors to continue to get away with average service. So, you have a choice. You can either play catch-up after your customers notify you that they are no longer willing to accept poor performance, or you could become a trendsetter and provide that exceptional level of service that customers love to share with others. It all starts with commitment; followed up with discipline and focus. So, what will you do?

“You’re allowed to be surprised once. After that, you’re unprepared.” – John Maxwell

Let me hear from you.

I encourage you to click here to register for the Organizational Excellence IV: Get Organized Now! live seminar on Thursday, January 18, 2024, at Bellomo & Associates in York, PA from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time.

This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Organizational Excellence IV: Get Organized Now!. If you re unable to attend the live event, review it 24-7 online, at Romeo Network Online Learning .

Introduce, Refer, and Sign

Tue, 26 Dec 2023 13:45:00 GMT

How to close new prospects.

More and more people are using networking as their primary way of meeting new customers. That is an excellent practice. For more than 25 years, I’ve found that virtually all my best customers have come as a result of networking efforts. However, I realize that not everyone who networks get the same results. Ideally, the plan is to have some of the people you encounter become your customers, or at least refer you to other people who will.

If you are new to networking, here’s a good strategy for you to follow: Introduce yourself to others. Do not wait to be introduced to people you don’t already know. Many of my best clients are introverts. We have an excellent relationship; however, it’s usually me that made the first move when we met for the first time. Introverts will not mind you doing this. It’s not a trait that comes naturally to them. You will be making it easier for them to interact with others.

Another thing to remember is that “one size fits one.” Everyone’s different and has different preferences. Invest the time to develop a relationship so that you can understand what the person you are meeting really values. You do this by listening — not by monopolizing the conversation. It’s a good idea to ask questions and listen to the replies.

If you want to get somebody’s attention, make introductions to other people whom they should know or introduce them to people you know. In this way, you serve almost as an ambassador of goodwill. Your new contact will naturally be appreciative of your help. As you build up a positive balance in your “relationship bank account,” it’s okay for you to inquire as to whether or not your new contact may be interested in doing business with you. Just remember to do the appropriate legwork and make sure that what you have will benefit your prospect.

And one last piece of advice about mixers: Don’t judge them by how many people attend them. As long as you are there and one other person is there, you have the potential to either turn that person into a customer or a referral source. Just make sure that you focus on to the other person’s needs first.

“Your mission is the vehicle that drives you to fulfilling your purpose and vision.” – Bob Choat

L et me hear from you .

This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Networking and Marketing Mastery III: Turning Contacts into Contracts. I encourage you to click here to register for John Ellis’s exclusive live in person presentation of Networking and Marketing Mastery III: Turning Contacts into Contracts on Thursday, March 21, 2024 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at Bellomo and Associates in York, PA. This seminar will also be available through live streaming.

Put Off Procrastination.

Tue, 19 Dec 2023 13:45:00 GMT

Do it now!

When I first became a motivational speaker, I was so charged up when I’d see people writing down high- impact phrases that they’d pulled from my presentation. As they’d leave the room, you could see the enthusiasm in their eyes and they looked as if they could take on the world. Little did I know back then that most of the motivation and encouragement that they carried out of the room would evaporate by the time they got back to their offices.

Numerous distractions, unexpected phone calls, endless junk mail, and countless interruptions would destroy all of that enthusiasm before they had a chance to act on any of it. And while this didn’t happen to everyone, the fact that it happened to any of them at all was a tragedy.

As my mentor Brian Tracy said, “Procrastination is the thief of time.” It’s very easy for us to be distracted by life’s little surprises and not focus on what we really want to do. I’m telling you that it does not have to be this way for you. You can make the decision to change the course of your life simply by making a commitment to do what you say you will do — and do it immediately.

When you find yourself with a great idea for a project you want to pursue, write it down and put your start date next to it. Then do everything you can to envision that start date. Start removing all of the distractions that could trespass upon your predetermined onset. If you know you’re going to be faced with interruptions, do something about them now. Don’t bring your phone with you. Stay off your computer. Put up a “Do not disturb” sign if necessary. Put yourself in a place where you can give all of your focus and energy to achieving your goal.

You may think that this sounds too easy to be true. The truth is, it takes no more effort to follow through on your goals than it does to address all of the interruptions and distractions that are currently preventing you from doing so. Remember, knowledge is not power. Knowledge, plus action, plus disciplined follow-through, is power.

“Don’t let procrastination take over your life. Be brave and take risks. Your life is happening right now.” – Roy Bennett

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Stop Procrastinating Now! I encourage you to click here to register for John Ellis’s exclusive live in person presentation of Stop Procrastinating Now! on Thursday, February 15, 2024 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at Bellomo and Associates in York, PA. The seminar will also be available through live streaming.

Are You a Talent Scout?

Tue, 12 Dec 2023 13:45:00 GMT

Be on the lookout for great hires!

Recently, my team found itself in a predicament. We were in the process of loading numerous videos to populate Dave Romeo Online University. In the middle of the project, the main producer had to exit unexpectedly. In the meantime, the leaders were left holding the bag and felt stumped as to what the next step should be.

I mentioned that Romeo Network could solve this problem. After having spoken with the two gentlemen who originally built the site, I contacted both of their sons who are now grown man. One of them was very eager to work on this project. In addition, I contacted one of my best customers whose son was serendipitously in between jobs. While he was in the midst of regrouping after an unfortunate circumstance, he also expressed an interest in helping out. This all took place within 24 hours.

The point of the lesson I want to impart on you is that you always need to be a talent scout — ever searching for the key people who can help you either now or in the future. Are you sizing up potential hires that you may need down the line?

In my very first full-time job, I worked as a bank teller. I’m not sure how much of a future that position held, but within six months of taking the job, I was offered a better position and received a significant pay increase that led to several upward promotions. How did this come about? At my graduation party, my future employer happen to be an invited guest of my cousin. We met only briefly during the occasion but he remembered me and sought me out when an opportunity arose.

Even if you are not currently in need of good help, that doesn’t mean you should not be constantly on the search for top talent. And one more very important point, make sure that your first impression on your potential future hires are positive ones. That’s what they’ll remember about you when you approach them about coming on board with you.

“Time spent hiring is time well spent.” – Robert Half

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled How to Hire Winners. I encourage you to click here to register for John Ellis’s exclusive live Zoom presentation of How to Hire Winners on Thursday, March 7, 2024 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

Give the Client 100% of Your Attention.

Tue, 05 Dec 2023 13:45:00 GMT

Focus on the customer.

How responsive are you to your customers? I ask you this for a specific reason: Ever since my parents passed away, I had been responsible for my foster brother’s well-being. This includes taking care of his life insurance premiums. For years, this had gone smoothly. However, starting in 2022, the company started sending me emails about making the premium payments. When I called to inquire about how much the amount was, I was told that the company couldn’t tell me. I explained that the company emailed me to ask me to make a payment — wouldn’t it make sense that they would want me to know how much the payment is? Believe it or not, it took three levels of employees before I could get somebody who would cooperate with me and give me the information.

The company also said that if I had my brother sign a permission slip, the company would have no trouble working with me in the future. After two months of waiting, I discovered that the group home where my brother resides never got the permission slip from the insurance company.

When I called the insurance company back to explain what had happened, they said (and I’m not making this stuff up), they couldn’t send my brother’s permission slip for him to sign until he gave them permission to send it to them. Keep in mind that it took me 37 minutes to even get this reply after spending about 30 minutes on hold waiting for somebody to answer the phone.

When I explained that I wanted to speak with someone who was capable of solving a problem, I was told that there was no one there at that level who could help me, but they would have a supervisor call me back. It’s now been over five hours and I still haven’t heard back from anyone there.

By the way, I had agreed to take an automated survey at the end of my phone call. They asked me to rate the service from 1-5. At first, I rated it minus 100 but it didn’t understand my reply. I tried to rate it a zero and again, it didn’t understand my reply so it hung up on me. I guess this is how they keep their ratings high.

I’ve also had a similar problem with my own merchant account vendor. He’s only returned one of my phone calls in the last two years. I contrast that against Chris Judy of Total Merchant Services. Not only is he super-responsive to my phone calls, but he’s always quick to follow up with any leads I give him. And all of my leads for clients in need of a merchant account go to Chris because he demonstrates how much he prizes his customer relationships.

If you don’t focus on your customers, soon you won’t have any customers on whom to focus. Customer service is supposed to be designed to serve customers. If all you’re doing is following policies that your own company set up, you’re doing your employer and your customers a disservice. Remember, there’s a big difference between lip service and legendary customer service.

“Ignore the problem and the customer goes away.” – Dave Romeo

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Communication Excellence I: Connecting With Customers. I encourage you to click here to register for John Ellis’ exclusive live Zoom presentation of Communication Excellence I: Connecting With Customers on Thursday, February 8, 2024 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

Are You an Overcomer?

Tue, 28 Nov 2023 13:45:00 GMT

How to manage a marathon.

Have you ever seen the movie Overcomer by the Kendrick Brothers? It’s an incredible story of a teenage girl with asthma who is raised by her grandmother and goes on to become a champion, long distance runner. As she progresses through her rigorous training routine, you see her grow in strength and in competence. This is exactly what an entrepreneur needs to do in order to become successful.

Just that word in itself — overcomer — means that you already know that you’re going to be facing obstacles but that you are not going to be defeated by them. The best thing about getting past an obstacle is learning that while it can slow you down, it doesn’t have to stop you completely.

Running a marathon requires you to think both in the present and in the future. You have to keep your eye on what is happening right now, but you also have to realize that there is a distance between where you are and where you want to finish. As Stephen Covey said, “The long view sharpens the short view.” That means that you can’t expend all of your energy right now or you’ll never get to your destination. You have to learn how to conserve some of it now and also when to pour it on later.

Overcomers don’t fear adversity; they expect it and they plan for it. Are you preplanning for the next downturn in the economy? Are you keeping your eye out for potential, great new employees in the future? Are you paying attention to requests that your customers are making about new items or services they’d like to see you offer? Overcomers don’t get to the finish line because they avoid hardship. They get there because they are mentally prepared for it and have learned to harness the rush that comes from moving past it.

“Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out that they have a second.” – Anonymous

Let me hear from you .

This excerpt is taken from my all-new seminar entitled Designing Your Destiny VI: Crossing the Finish Line. I encourage you to click here to watch the Designing Your Destiny VI: Crossing the Finish Line seminar video at Dave Romeo Online University or purchase my brand-new book Crossing the Finish Line at www.romeonetwork.com.

Stay the Course!

Tue, 21 Nov 2023 13:45:00 GMT

Plan for the long haul.

I’ve said many times that the biggest turning point in your life occurs when you decide not to give up on a dream or goal just because it becomes difficult. This is true in every aspect of your life. Did you ever fail an aptitude test and give up on your career? I did. I was planning to go to college as a music major, but I failed my audition. I didn’t mind and I didn’t give up. I just changed my plans and became an English major. That decision has allowed me to write blogs, books, television episodes, and seminar lesson plans for the past quarter of a century.

Just because you begin on one path doesn’t mean you have to stay on it. The key is to make sure that you’re on the right path to begin with. As I learned, my musical interests change drastically from the time I picked up my first guitar until the time I donated my last one to a charity fundraiser. However, my interest in writing has never waned. It’s only grown stronger over the years and has helped make a living and a career for the past 25 years.

Once you begin on the right path, you understand that it will take commitment, hard work, and discipline not to give up when the road gets rough. No one goes from 0 to 100 without hitting a few speed bumps. The key is to mentally set your mind on finishing what you start. That means that you have to anticipate tough times and setbacks. That means you understand that — like in marriage — you have to keep on going in sickness and in health. You can’t turn off momentum. You seek it when it is absent and you seize it when it returns. Then, you ride it as long as you can.

The long haul is just that…long. It means that you can get worn out and tired out. It means you will be tempted to give up and give in. But the key to long distance success is stepping up and digging in. So, put on a pair of comfortable, quality running shoes and be willing to go the distance because you’re not running away from your competitors. You’re running away from mediocrity.

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” - T.S. Eliot

Let me hear from you.

Don't Finish Alone.

Tue, 14 Nov 2023 13:45:00 GMT

Remember your teammates.

As it turns out, sometimes we accomplish our greatest feats in isolation. There may be nobody there at the finish line with us to cheer us on. When that happens, it can feel like a hollow victory. The reality is, we never really accomplish much on our own. Even if there is nobody else with us at the very end, we know in our heart of hearts that the only reason we crossed the threshold is because others believed in us, encouraged us, and contributed to our goal.

The best way to get somebody else to be enthusiastic about your goal is to include them in it. Stop using the word, “I,” and substitute the word, “we,” and you’ll notice how much more eager people are to get involved with your project.

A great, two-pronged approach to gaining the support of others is to take the blame and give away the credit. People love to be part of a winning operation — even if it’s a small part and even if it’s behind the scenes. Introverts especially don’t need a lot of glory but it never hurts to make sure you acknowledge and recognize them for what they’ve done for the benefit of others.

I remember hearing how Steven Spielberg was the first director to list all of the people involved with a motion picture in the credits when he created the movie, Jaws. Nowadays, it’s a common practice. People love recognition for their accomplishments and deservedly so. Whenever it’s time for you to take your next bow, I encourage you to remember, recognize, and call attention to those people without whom you would have never been able to complete your journey.

“Teamwork gives you the best opportunity to turn vision into reality.” - John Maxwell

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from my all-new seminar entitled Designing Your Destiny VI: Crossing the Finish Line. I encourage you to click here to register for my live in person Designing Your Destiny VI: Crossing the Finish Line seminar on Thursday, November 16, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at Melhorn Manor in Mount Joy, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Handling the Hurdles.

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 13:45:00 GMT

Take them one at a time.

As I was preparing to write this blog, I got word that one of my dearest friends, clients, and role models passed away as he was about to embark on a very intensive battle against cancer. I had spoken to him just two days before he died. I couldn’t believe he answered the phone. He said he was getting ready to go into surgery that afternoon. It was the last time we ever spoke. His name is John Gill.

I don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone quite like John. His whole life was dedicated to serving others — especially those less fortunate. He opened up his home to people after they were getting out of jail and needed a place to stay at least 14 times. I still remember when he was inducted into the Dave Romeo Seminars Hall of Fame and I didn’t find out until afterward that he had recently been robbed by one of the people he’d helped. It happened more than once. Yet, that wasn’t the last time he opened up his heart and his home to others.

John understood that we all have hurdles we need to handle. Paying your debt to society doesn’t mean that you stop paying when you get back on the outside. You have new challenges that you must face. He always believed in giving people a chance to redeem themselves — and most amazingly of all, he never stopped believing in the good in others.

One of the most profound things I ever heard John say was that, “You need to find someone who you can pour yourself into and mentor them.” He also said, “At some point, you need to be willing to let them go.” That perspective has helped me in so many situations — both as a coach and a mentor.

Perhaps the most important lesson I learned from John was that he hated his last job. He often called me in frustration, saying that he wanted to leave, but he never did. He stayed with it until he was too sick to do it anymore. The lesson I’d like you to take away from his life is that if you don’t like what you’re doing right now, take a good long look in the mirror and decide how much more of your life are you going to pour into something that doesn’t fulfill you.

John had 65 years on this Earth. Not everyone will have that much. Wherever you are right now in life, make sure you’re handling the hurdles in front of you and more importantly, make sure they’re the hurdles you should be handling.

“You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore to decide to be happy.”

– Jane Marczewski (a.k.a. Nightbirde)

Let me hear from you.

How to Stumble Onto Success.

Thu, 02 Nov 2023 21:00:00 GMT

Capitalize on your competitors mistakes.

In 2021, I had one of my coaching clients build a bass pond in my backyard. It had always been a lifelong dream of mine to have my own pond. Unfortunately, the builder was not a good communicator. After the pond was built, it became nearly impossible to reach him by phone and he rarely ever answered an email. This not only affected me but also several other clients to whom I had referred him.

It got to the point in 2022 that I needed some help and I could no longer wait to get a hold of him. I made one call to Ryan Schwarz of Schwarz Ponds in Bird-In-Hand, PA, whom I’d found online. He answered his phone on my first call. He gave me confident and valuable feedback and made arrangements to come out and take a look at my pond. He instantly advised me on how to fix an aquatic vegetation problem I had and so I switched over to his company to handle all of my pond maintenance.

In the winter of 2022, when my pond froze over, Ryan recommended that I use a small, electric heater that would always leave one spot unfrozen to allow gases to escape and my fish to survive through the winter. This was a much more convenient solution than the one I got from the original pond builder: Take a pot of boiling water from the kitchen stove, carry it down two flights of stairs on my ice-covered deck, and wait in the freezing cold while the pot sat on the pond’s service and eventually melted through the ice. (After all, what could go wrong with that plan!)

Not long after I started working with Ryan, another client (whom I’d introduced to the original pond builder) called me to find out if I had heard from the builder. Apparently, my other client couldn’t find him either. I put him in touch with Ryan Schwarz and the next thing I knew, Ryan was taking care of that property as well.

The point I’m trying to make is this: Your competitors are going to drop the ball. Whether or not you stumble onto success is up to you. When you see an opportunity to help someone in a bind, be super- responsive and make sure that you put your best foot forward. You never know who the person you’re helping knows and how much additional business you could be gaining by making a great, first impression and then following it up with great service every single time.

“Success is about taking advantage of opportunity.” – Mike Ditka

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from my 5-part series entitled The Sales Academy. I encourage you to click here to register for my exclusive live Zoom presentation of The Sales Academy program, which will be held on five consecutive Friday mornings on October 6, October 13, October 20, October 27, and November 3, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

Collaborate on Your Goals.

Thu, 02 Nov 2023 21:00:00 GMT

Be open to opportunities.

One of the most interesting things I’ve learned in 25 years of running a seminar and coaching business is that if you concentrate on what you do best and give the best of yourself to others, you will undoubtedly cross paths with others who have the same vision. And, if you’re fortunate enough, your paths will cross and complement one another. And every once in a while, when you sharpen your focus, you’ll find that your goals overlap.

That’s exactly what happened when I met John Ellis of Create Socially at a networking event in Lancaster County in 2019. We instantly got along great and I thought that John might enjoy coming to my seminars occasionally. But our interaction grew much bigger and more significantly than that.

As the pandemic interrupted my “in person” seminar schedule, John contacted me with a proposition. If I wanted to continue doing my seminars remotely, he could set up live presentations on Zoom so that people could continue going to the rest of the seminars as scheduled. Not only did it save my business from massive delays and the potential loss of customers — many of whom had already prepaid for their seminars — John’s idea introduced me to a nationwide audience that I had previously not been able to serve. My seminar revenue has doubled since implementing John’s idea.

That interaction taught me that you must always be focused on your core business and open to ideas that may result in your massive growth. It’s easy to get distracted when the world around you is constantly changing. Customer preferences can also change as their priorities shift and their interests wane. As smart entrepreneurs, we need to be business savvy and read the trends. It doesn’t mean that we have to follow them, but it does mean we need to figure out how to make our business more visible — especially where our customers and prospects are looking.

Because John Ellis had a vision — for not only his business, but mine as well—both of our organizations have benefited and he, along with his wife Sarah, will be carrying my vision forward in the future. This is what happens when you look for collaboration among like-minded entrepreneurs.

In your business, you need to keep looking straight ahead while using your peripheral vision to notice the incredible possibilities and opportunities that are all around you. Not all of them are going to help you scale your business but picking one or two can make all the difference in the world to your company’s future. Most entrepreneurs do not experience a straight line from their starting point to massive success. It’s the ones who are focused and are open to minor tweaks that seem to outdistance and outlast their competition. I challenge you to make exploring collaborations one of your goals.

“Don’t be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dream in your heart.” – Anonymous

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from my most popular seminar of all-time entitled Designing Your Destiny. I encourage you to click here to register for my live in person Designing Your Destiny seminar on Thursday, October 12, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Get Goaling!

Thu, 02 Nov 2023 21:00:00 GMT

Set a date with destiny.

So there I was, sitting in a performance review with the supervisor that I did not respect. I was looking forward to getting it over with so that I could get on to more important things. However, she did say one thing to me that really stayed with me. She happened to mention that a motivational speaker by the name of Tony Robbins was doing a special event called Date with Destiny. For some reason, that phrase just resonated in my mind. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. When was my date with destiny? When was I really going to begin doing something that mattered?

About a year later, I left that staffing company. Although I was working as an owner in another staffing company I wasn’t doing any staffing. But one day, I filled in for one of our recruiters who happen to be out. She scheduled an appointment with a gentleman who was a salesperson in a large printing company. We developed a great rapport and before he left, he pulled out an index card from his wallet and showed it to me. It happened to be a handwritten goal list for the previous year. He’d written it in pencil and he also had the results for every goal he’d set. Frankly, it blew my mind and my life has never been the same since that day. Looking back, I realize that that was my date with destiny.

I began writing goals down in the year 2000. Since 2023, I’ve completed every goal I’ve set which now total 5,800. Goalsetting became prevalent in every aspect of my life from weight loss, to sales, to travel, to writing books, and to marking special days with special people. I could not have accomplished any of this had I not started to write my goals down.

So, how about you? Are you writing your goals down? If you did, you are in the minority, but bravo! If not, I’m challenging you to start writing them down and checking them off. There is nothing like the thrill of seeing what you thought you could not do become a reality. That’s what I want for you. The time is now; the day is here. I’m challenging you to seize your date with destiny!

“A goal, perfectly set, is halfway reached.” - Zig Ziglar

Let me hear from you.

Follow-up on Negative Feedback.

Thu, 02 Nov 2023 21:00:00 GMT

Listen for your customers' cries for help.

I recently stopped buying from a pizza parlor that my wife and I have been patronizing since 1997. The owner couldn’t be nicer. Even his family was very pleasant and I knew most of them by name. The location is very convenient for us. Not only is it nearby, I’m constantly shopping at the supermarket, the gas station, the drugstore, and the Chinese restaurant which surround it. It’s also ½ a block from our ATM and our bank.

As the new management took over the restaurant, I sat down with the owners to help them with their pricing — which was lower than it should have been for their industry. I also discussed their sauce which became so spicy my wife can no longer stand it. So, why would we give up doing business with this establishment which was our staple virtually every Friday night and many weekday and Saturday nights as well?

Part of the problem stemmed from making numerous attempts to place an order and not being able to get through. At times, I wondered if the place was even still open. But the straw that broke the camel’s back was that, despite repeated requests for them not to overcook our food, week after week, the pizza was burnt to a crisp and most of their other food looked like it had been cremated.

If you ask any one coaching a restaurant business, they will tell you there are three things you have to get right in order to be successful. The food needs to be tasty, the pricing needs to be profitable, and the service needs to be good. If you get these three things right, most of your customers will allow you to get away with other mistakes. However, if you have poor food and your service suffers, you are in big-time trouble.

Is the same thing happening in your business? Are customers trying to tell you that they have a problem (which really means that you have a problem) and are their attempts falling on deaf ears? Remember that a customer that complains is doing you a service. He is letting you know that something is wrong and giving you the opportunity to fix it — and not just for him. When you fix one customer’s problem, you fix it for your other customers as well and you prevent new customers from ever knowing it was a problem to begin with.

Your customers are not responsible for telling you when something is wrong but when one does, you have the responsibility to act on it quickly and fix it permanently. And when your customers see that you do, they can become your best, long-term customers.

“Customer service is the new marketing.” – Derek Sivers

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Turning Complaints into Compliments. I encourage you to click here to register for the exclusive live Zoom presentation of Turning Complaints into Compliments on Thursday, October 19, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

Customers Always Love Appreciation.

Thu, 02 Nov 2023 21:00:00 GMT

It's still true!

When was the last time someone made a special effort to make you feel important and special when you were buying from them? Can you remember? I often ask that question in my seminars and sadly, many people cannot remember the last time it happened. So, here’s a more important question: If I asked your customers when was the last time you made them feel important and special, would they be able to remember?

In the mid-90s, I was working for a staffing company in Lancaster County, PA. My specialty was the printing industry, but the office in which I worked also handled temporary administrative positions as well. One Friday afternoon at about 4:30 PM, a woman with whom I’d never spoken before called in and said that she was on her way to the office to pick up her paycheck, but she wasn’t sure if she would be able to get there before 5 PM when we closed. I assured her that I would wait until she got there to make sure that she got her paycheck that day.

Many other temporary employees came in that same day to pick up their checks. I didn’t know most of them and many of them were very gruff and unfriendly. But all of a sudden, a pleasant, young woman came into the office. She was well-dressed and looked as if she had been working in an office all day. She said that she was the one who called about her paycheck. While I would have stayed for any of those employees if they needed me to, I could tell that this woman truly appreciated that I waited for her.

A year later, she came into my office at a new location and mentioned that she was working on opening a school. Unfortunately, the school never opened because the person for whom she was working turned out to be a fraud. Naturally, she was disillusioned and looking for another job. I asked her if she’d ever consider working with me in staffing. Fortunately, she agreed. To this day, she has become the finest recruiter I’ve ever met. She is also gone on to run two businesses of her own and she is also one of my most successful coaching clients and dearest friends.

If you make a customer feel important and special, I can’t guarantee that you will get the same results. I can guarantee you that if you ignore your customers’ need for appreciation, they will soon become someone else’s customers. I had no idea that waiting an extra 15 minutes that Friday afternoon could turn into such an extraordinary relationship for more than 25 years. The point is, if you do it all the time, eventually you’re going to be rewarded for treating your customers like gold.

“Here’s a powerful yet simple rule. Always give people more than they expect to get.” – Nelson Boswell

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled The Psychology of Selling I: Think like a Customer. I encourage you to click here to register for my live in person The Psychology of Selling I: Think like a Customer seminar on Thurs day, November 2, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

When I Really Learned How to Sell.

Tue, 26 Sep 2023 12:45:00 GMT

Kyle Slaymaker tells his story.

What you are about to read is a story about how sales changed my life. No, this is not some hokey story that is filled with tired, old clichés that you have undoubtedly heard time and time again. This is a real and raw account of the single-biggest moment in my professional life and one of the biggest moments in my life in general.

I got into sales at the urging of my girlfriend because I was in a job that I absolutely hated after being out of the military for a few years. I was making ridiculously, good money for what I was doing but I was lost, seriously miserable, and a borderline alcoholic. Seeing a “Now Hiring” sign outside of a dealership, the woman I was with pulled in and told me to apply for a sales position because she couldn’t be with me one more day in the job I was in. I went in and applied and was hired on the spot. Little did I know that about 2 or so months later, I would experience the biggest, pivotal moment of my career; a moment that set me down the path to where I am at right now.

So, where am I? I’m a two-time bestselling author, have been featured in Selling Power magazine, labeled a disruptor in my industry by Authority magazine, and rubbed elbows with the Cubans (Yes, the Shark Tank Cubans). I’m also in the process of putting on the biggest business summit that Central PA has ever seen and am a sought-after speaker around the world.

What could have possibly happened to this kid in Amish country at a local car dealership to set him on this trajectory? What could have happened that led to him devoting all of his efforts to ensuring that those he worked with succeeded in business beyond their wildest dreams? The answer is simple. I stopped being selfish and I started being selfless. Listen, I’m not going to tell the entire story here, just the message. I have told this story on many stages, on YouTube, during seminars, in my first book, and in Selling Power, so you can find the story anywhere. But what you can’t find just anywhere is the value that I am about to drop in this blog for my dear friend, Dave Romeo. Here is a very little-known fact: Dave heard me tell this story at a networking event and asked me to come to speak at one of his events. I happily obliged and I have been proud and honored to call Dave a friend ever since. So, when he asked me to run an entire seminar for him and for people who take their business seriously enough to attend his events, I was happy to do so.

You see, I wasn’t joking when I said I stopped being selfish. I realized after this event that every, single person who makes a purchase is motivated by an emotional need. Even if they think they are purchasing a very extrinsically, satisfying need, they are doing so to fulfill an underlying need or problem. With this mindset shift, I started to see a drastic shift in more than just my closing rate. I saw that my customer satisfaction was skyrocketing over the status quo salespeople at the car dealership. I saw that these transitional employees were not providing a “rockstar” customer experience and were getting less referrals. When you completely focus on the customers’ needs over your own paycheck and when you put your clients before your commission, you are going to see an astronomical increase in the things I listed above.

I will be going into much more detail about this and more in my upcoming seminar, so I look forward to seeing you there!

“Selling is not something you do to someone. It’s something you do for someone.” – Zig Ziglar

Let me hear from you.

Kyle Slaymaker of The Slaymaker Method will be my guest speaker for the Selling With Integrity seminar. I encourage you to click here to register for the Selling With Integrity seminar on Thursday, October 5, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Focus on the Future.

Tue, 19 Sep 2023 17:09:46 GMT

Keep an eye out for hiring opportunities.

As employers today continuously complain that they cannot locate great employees, one question must be answered: “Have I created a place where people want to work?” There are many ways to accomplish this. Naturally, a good wage is a given, but quality employees seek much more than this. They may want the chance to take the lead and demonstrate their talents. They may want to grow in their abilities so that they can become more valuable to you or another employer in the future. They may be looking for a proving ground so that someday they may be able to set out on their own entrepreneurial journey.

But if we talk about what keeps employees loyal, a great part of that is the sense that their employer is looking out for their well-being. George Garrett of Garrett Electric makes it his mission to find and mentor people who want to be hands-on, electrical contractors. His plan is to grow his organization by identifying potential new participants who pride themselves on their craftsmanship. If you think about it, it’s almost like being a talent scout for your business. So, are you a talent scout for your business?

When I was sponsored by fishing tackle companies and working their trade shows, I learned of an industry rep group that represented several of my sponsoring companies. The most interesting thing I remember about that experience was that the owner of that company was looking for loyalty from his employees. He put together a package so attractive that the sales rep that told me about it said he would be the first person to retire from that company with $1 million.

If you’re worrying about losing quality employees, start thinking about how you can incentivize them to stay with you long term. I encourage you to look into a long-term plan that will let them know that you care about their financial needs when they’re ready to retire. It won’t work for everyone and it’s not supposed to. Not everyone you bring on board will stay with you until they retire, but it will help you to identify those like-minded individuals who want to go the distance with you.

“To get rich, you have to make money while you’re asleep.” – David Bailey

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from my 5-part series entitled The Leadership Academy. I encourage you to click here to register for The Leadership Academy program, which will be held on five consecutive Tuesday mornings on October 3, October 10, October 17, October 24, and October 31, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time. This program will be presented partially in person at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA (classes 1, 3, and 5) and on Zoom for the other classes. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Who's Next?

Tue, 12 Sep 2023 12:45:00 GMT

Do you have a leadership succession plan?

When most entrepreneurs are getting started, their only thought is how are they going to get people to buy from them. They don’t give much thought as to what will happen when they finally decide they no longer wish to run their own business. More and more of my coaching clients mention that they cannot find someone to take over their business. Most of the time, their employees are not interested in those responsibilities or do not take it seriously enough to be considered. In addition, many of the employees who work for you do so because they have no interest in being an entrepreneur. And, if they do, they usually want to run their own business — just like you did.

There is nothing wrong with any of the examples in the previous paragraph. Some people just have an entrepreneurial bent and that’s all they want to do. Others prefer to be employees with 9-to-5 jobs and be able to go home and leave their work concerns behind. Sometimes, entrepreneurs just want to work for somebody else to learn more about business before they decide to break out on their own and run their own enterprise. That’s actually a wise thing to do. So, where are you supposed to find someone to take over your business when you’re ready to retire?

Naturally, you can sell your business — provided that you have created systems and structures that are easily duplicated and that you’ve made it possible for others to run profitably without your involvement. But that still doesn’t answer the question as to who is going to do it.

My friend and colleague Bill Stratton of EOS (which stands for Entrepreneurial Operating Systems) specializes in helping businesses plan for their future and identify and equip tomorrow’s leaders. His approach is to help a company’s leaders solve their own problems and carve their own path forward. The time to start thinking about a succession plan isn’t when you’re ready to retire. It’s right now. As you look over your employees, gauge whether or not any of them has the inclination and interest to follow in your footsteps. If not, you may want to look at some of your best customers. They have certainly been invested in your business already. Perhaps you may find one who likes what you do so much that they’d like to do it themselves, but lack the capital needed. I’ve seen a number of my clients get some of their best people this way. It’s called sweat equity. A person buys into the company by investing themselves — if not their money — into your operation.

There are always investors who are looking for great places in which to get involved. Make yours as attractive as possible by finding the pillars who will keep your operation running smoothly, with or without you.

“The great use of life is to spend it for something will outlast it.” – William James

Let me hear from you.

Is Your Value Worth Your Price?

Tue, 05 Sep 2023 12:45:00 GMT

That is the question!

One of the most common mistakes new entrepreneurs make is not charging enough for what they sell. The root of this problem lies in a fear of rejection and an insecurity as to whether or not the market believes that what the seller is selling is worth the price.

There are two problems that derive from this fear. First, price shoppers can “smell” inexperienced salespeople who do not know how to price their offerings appropriately. They will sniff them out and take advantage of their naïveté. They’re usually very flattering as they scoop in and devour what you are practically giving away. Then, after you go out of business, they will start nosing around for the next inexperienced victim.

The second problem is that you cannot stay in business and be competitive if you’re pricing yourself so far below your value. Remember that a business can survive longer with sales than it can with unprofitable sales. One of the biggest problems you face in this situation is that if you are underpricing yourself, your customers may not tell you since it means they will be spending more money. This is something you either have to figure out on your own or get help from someone more experienced than you. This could be a mentor, a friendly competitor – perhaps in a different city, or a business coach.

Don’t fall into a common mistake of basing your price on your costs. Aunt Anne’s Pretzels sell for about $2.50 to $4.50, depending upon what toppings you want. Aunt Anne’s Pretzels only cost about $0.26 to make. The company does not worry about having high profit margins because they put out a great product that many people like and continuously buy. They’ve sold over a billion of them!

As you look to price your products, figure out what the value is. People are paying for the value you provide, not to cover your costs. Start with how much profit you need to make in order for you to earn the living you want and then work backwards to set your price based on the perceived value of your customers. If you’re still unsure how to do this, you can hold a focus group. Get a bunch of potential customers and demonstrate the value of your offering. After you’re done, ask them, independently, to write down their perception of what the price should be. Ultimately, the decision is yours to make but gaining greater insights from your potential buyers will help you validate when your pricing is reflective of their perceived value.

“Only a fool thinks price and value for the same thing.” – Antonio Machado

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Anyone Can Sell I: Preventing the Top 10 Sales Mistakes. I encourage you to click here to register for the exclusive live Zoom presentation of Anyone Can Sell I: Preventing the Top 10 Sales Mistakes on Thursday, September 28, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

Not Making a Decision is Still a Decision.

Tue, 29 Aug 2023 12:45:00 GMT

(But it's usually not a good one)

When I first became a results coach, I went into a printing company to speak with the account reps and the salespeople. One of the first things I remember hearing was a statement from one of the account reps complaining about the leadership of that company. She said, “Management views not making the decision as winning.” She went on to explain that the longer the president could go without making a decision, the better he liked it. Whether or not that woman’s statement was true, the company went out of business.

The higher up you go in a leadership role, the more important it is for you to make decisions. And we’re not even talking about making good decisions yet. The fact is, many of the decisions you make may not be that great. The important thing is that you do something. Otherwise, you risk the perception that you are ineffective in your role.

As a new leader, you crave wisdom, experience, and insights from more seasoned leaders. However, if you are an entrepreneur, you may not have that luxury. If this is the case, you should be looking into getting a mentor and/or a business coach.

Now, as far as making good decisions go, you may have to rely on your intuition at the beginning. It never hurts to get information from those who have more experience than you — even if they are subordinates. I encourage you to use the ready, fire, aim method. In other words, give it your best shot right now, evaluate your results, and adjust accordingly as needed. The more decisions you make, the better it will get making them. Also, remember that, in business, most mistakes are not fatal. If you find yourself having difficulty making decisions, practice making a lot of small decisions with little or no consequences.

As you find yourself learning from the results of your small decisions, you’ll be able to gauge how good your decision-making judgment really is. And the more decisions you make, good or bad, the quicker you will gain more experience, wisdom, and better judgment. Best of all, years from now, you’ll be better equipped to serve as somebody else’s mentor when he or she is starting out.

“The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridges to cross and which to burn.” – David Russell

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Inspired Leadership IV: Delegation & Decision Making for Leaders. I encourage you to click here to register for the exclusive live Zoom presentation of Inspired Leadership IV: Delegation & Decision Making for Leaders on Thursday, September 21, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

Fun Time Versus Downtime.

Tue, 22 Aug 2023 12:45:00 GMT

Do more of what you love.

Years ago, I was speaking with a gentleman who worked for a landscaping company. He asked me one of the most valuable questions I’ve ever been asked by a salesperson. He said, “How you feel about your lawn?” At the time, I explained that I divided time into two categories: Fishing time and downtime. Taking care of the lawn fell into the latter category.

The reason that question was so important is because it determined how I would look at his service. If he was trying to sell me the world’s greatest lawnmower with the most silent engine and the greatest fuel efficiency, equipped with surround sound headphones, and state-of-the-art air conditioning, he still wouldn’t be able to sell me one because that’s not how I like to spend my time.

On the other hand, if he said “How would you like to be able to go fishing anytime you want and never have to worry about your yardwork or your wife complaining about how bad it looks or getting dirty looks from your neighbor because you haven’t kept it up? What if we do the work while you’re out enjoying your fishing trips so that your lawn will always look like the nicest one on the block?” I would instantly say, “Sign me up,” because this person has appealed to what matters most to me. Instead of trying to determine how I spend my downtime, he was working on increasing my fun time.

Are you doing this for your customers? Are you providing them with the convenience and peace of mind that allows them to enjoy more of what they love to do while you remove some of the work that falls into their downtime category? I’ve known Tim Quade of Heaven on Earth Lawn Care for about 25 years. I’ve rarely ever met anyone who is more dedicated toward serving his customers. He’s created a symbiotic relationship with them; he tends to the beautifying of their property, thus allowing them to spend more time enjoying their property.

This is what you want to do for your customers. Show them that, by working with you, you will remove more of their downtime and replace it with more of their fun time.

“The way we spend our time defines who we are.” – Jonathan Estrin

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Time Mastery. I encourage you to click here to register for my live in person Time Mastery seminar on Thursday, September 7, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Let's Get Real!

Tue, 15 Aug 2023 12:45:00 GMT

Success comes from being real.

Over the last few years, real estate sales have been booming. There is a greater demand for people to leave the big cities and move out into more rural settings. As I speak to clients who have recently worked with realtors, they usually fall into two categories: Really good or really bad.

In my own experience with a realtor, I noticed that he was very attentive until he no longer needed anything from my wife and me. Once that happened, he was virtually impossible to get on the phone. I can still remember the night before we were about to go to our closing and I had a quick question - I needed to ask him about whether or not our title insurer needed to be at the meeting the following day. Try as I did, I couldn’t get him on the phone. Finally, I called his office and told them that if he didn’t call me back that night, we would not be at the closing. He finally did call me back and answered a simple yes or no question in five seconds. My point is that five seconds can determine whether or not your customers love you or hate you.

It’s interesting to remember that he gave us a Longaberger basket as a housewarming gift with his name plate affixed to it. When my wife liked the basket, she still keeps it with his nameplate facing the wall because it’s a negative reminder of what he put us through because he couldn’t bother giving me an answer when we needed one.

By contrast, Wendell Hoover of Iron Valley Real Estate has been a consistent customer since 2005. I can always count on Wendell to return a phone call or take it directly if he’s available. The other thing that always impressed me about Wendell is that he took great pride in fixing up decrepit properties in his community to beautify them and increase their value. It’s his passion. Neighborhood building is a real way to demonstrate how you care about where you live. It’s not just improving your own station but also those of the people around you.

If you are a realtor, be real with people. Demonstrate who you truly are. There are some outstanding realtors in the area. I know I can count on the ones I know to take phone calls or return them. That’s an easy place to start when you want your prospects to know they can believe in you and count on you being there when they need you.

“The starting point of all achievement is desire.” – Napoleon Hill

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Stumbling Onto Success. I encourage you to click here to register for the exclusive live Zoom presentation of Stumbling Onto Success on Thursday, August 24, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

Time Versus Value.

Tue, 08 Aug 2023 12:45:00 GMT

Is your time well spent?

For a very long time, I did not need to see a chiropractor. Fortunately for me, my health has long been good. However, in the last two years, I started developing excruciating lower back pain. It got so bad that it was difficult to make it through an entire three-hour seminar presentation.

At the same time, I had been introduced to Dr. Sonja Powers of Lifestyle Chiropractic & Wellness. Multiple different people recommended Dr. Sonja to me, although I wasn’t looking for a chiropractor at the time. In addition, her office was in East Petersburg and I live in Elizabethtown. It seemed like a long way to go for a chiropractor, especially since there are so many located in between these two towns. To make matters worse, Dr. Sonja moved her practice to Willow Street — an even further distance from my home.

It got to the point where I just couldn’t take it anymore and so I decided to go to Dr. Sonja. Why would I make the trip so far away? I wasn’t going there for just a chiropractor. I wanted to go to someone who shared my values, who unapologetically brings her spiritual beliefs into the equation, and who understood and appreciates what I do. The fact that she was a chiropractor was almost a secondary consideration.

I tell you this because customers value their time and their money. In most cases, they could probably buy what they get from you from someone else. So, why do they buy from you? What are you providing to your customers that makes it a unique and valued experience that they would not trade off for someone closer or more convenient to them?

Yes, my drive to Dr. Sonja is longer, but it’s never wasted. It allows me at least 45 minutes to make phone calls and catch up with clients, prospects and business contacts. The healing that takes place in her office is not just physical, but emotional and psychological as well. I cannot imagine experiencing the same immersion session with another chiropractor. As the saying goes, “You get what you pay for.” Make sure that you are spending your time wisely and make doubly sure that your customers feel the same way when they buy from you.

“Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.” – Jim Rohn

Let me hear from you.

Appreciation is Timeless.

Tue, 01 Aug 2023 12:45:00 GMT

Show them you care.

The first business I ever ran was called Dave Romeo Bass Tournaments. One of the lessons I quickly learned was that no matter how many people entered the tournaments, only one person was going to win — or two in the team competitions. In the first year, people who did poorly during the tournament often packed up early and went home. That led to a very bare winners circle. It was anticlimactic and the few people who remained could feel the emptiness. I had to figure out how to entice people to stay.

Since I always asked my sponsors for more items than I needed, I was able to offer 15 draw prizes per tournament, which included fishing reels, embroidered jackets, and an electric trolling motor. Even if someone caught nothing all day, they could still leave with a really nice gift. This led to nearly everyone staying until all of the festivities were over.

I also needed to find a way to keep my contestants coming back each year. This was especially important in my adult/minor competitions when many of the teenagers aged out and got interested in dating or getting a part-time job. The solution to this problem came from creating a Hall of Fame. There were all different categories and even people who’d never won a tournament could win in categories such as perseverance or teamwork. As a result of adding recognition, many people left feeling like winners. I haven’t done these fishing tournaments in 29 years and yet, I still hear from some of my contestants who still display their prizes and trophies in their homes.

When I started doing my seminars, I also created a Hall of Fame. I asked a local trophy company to build my Hall of Fame legacy trophy so that I could recognize people for their outstanding accomplishments and to create my Ultimate Service Provider of the Year Award to spotlight people who truly go above and beyond. Ever since then, I’ve been able to find new ways to recognize people who have now been coming to my seminars for the past quarter of a century.

I’m still inundated to this day by clients who are looking for employees. One of the biggest steps you can take to keeping people employed with you is rewarding and recognizing them for their accomplishments. It’s even better if you can do this in front of their peers, their supervisors, and even their families. As Napoleon Bonaparte said, “Men will die for a ribbon.” Make sure the people you count on know just how much you appreciate them. And remember that even when you can’t reward someone financially, you could always recognize them publicly.

“Everyone wants to be appreciated, so if you appreciate someone, don’t keep it a secret.” – Mary Kay Ash

Let me hear from you.

What's Your Backup Plan?

Tue, 25 Jul 2023 12:45:00 GMT

Do you have an audible?

I remember reading a great book that was cowritten by the late Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula and Ken Blanchard. It was called Everyone’s a Coach. Hockey has always been my sport, but many of the references in the book referred to football and were adaptable for business life. One of the strategies the co-authors encouraged was to be “audible-ready.” At first glance, I didn’t really understand what it meant. However, as I did my research, I realized why it was so important.

In football, when the offense of a team is huddling up to plan their next play, they decide on what it’s going to be and everyone on that line is prepared to execute it. However, if the quarterback looks around and feels that the other team has figured out their play, he can call an audible. An audible is a plan B. It’s a backup plan that all team members know and are ready to execute in the event it’s needed. The important thing I gleaned from this research was that they didn’t just make up something else on the fly. They already had plan B ready to go, if needed.

So, what about you? Are you audible ready? What is your backup plan in case your current business goes belly up, experiences a major slow down, is affected by supply chain delays, or is impacted by a completely different kind of competition? Any of those things could happen and do happen, just about every day in business.

I always encourage my entrepreneurial clients to have at least five backup plans. What that means is that as soon as you use one of your backup plans, you start identifying a replacement plan so that you never have less than five. You don’t wait until you are on your fifth backup plan to come up with number six.

The second thing to remember is make sure that anyone who was affected by the audible knows what the backup plan is before you need to use it. As Brian Tracy said, “A lack of planning is the cause of every failure.” Stop waiting for the next rainy day and start formulating your backup plans today.

“You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.” – Zig Ziglar

Let me hear from you.

What is Eating Your Customers?

Tue, 18 Jul 2023 12:45:00 GMT

Is it your process?

I recently noticed that not only do some businesses offer incredibly poor processes when it comes to taking care of their customers but, what’s worse is, they are not even aware of the impact they have on their own good name and whether or not that the customer will ever come back to them.

When I last tried to buy a couple of men’s suits, it was an ordeal. It took 14 trips to that men’s clothing store in order to get my suits — plus a 15 ^th trip to have one of them repaired when all of the lining unraveled in my suit jacket while I was at a mixer and just before I was to do an evening presentation. Needless to say, I was cautious about shopping again for more suits.

I got to the point where I couldn’t hold out any longer and so, with my wife’s help, I located a new men’s clothing store. I called ahead of time to make sure that they could help me. And although the suits were considerably more expensive than the ones I’d purchased in the past, the owner assured me that he could help me find two wool suits in my size. I made sure to tell the owner of my previously bad experiences trying to buy suits. When I got to his store, he did not have a navy blue or a solid light gray suit in my size. He said he could order them. He called me the next day to said he found the blue suit and that I could come in for measuring. I said I wanted to wait until he located the light gray suit, so that I only had one make one trip for measuring.

Having not heard back from him in over a month, I called to follow up. He fumbled through his records and could not find my information. Eventually, he located his notes and said he had the light gray suit was in the store. When he went to look for the navy blue suit, he discovered that it was no longer in his shop. Apparently, he was waiting for me to come in for measurements and figured I didn’t want it. I reminded him that he was to call me when both suits were in so that I could come down and get measured for both suits at the same time. In the best-case scenario, I should have had both of the suits I ordered after a two-month wait. I guess the upside is I should only have to make three trips to get my suits.

My point is that he’s telling me I can get both of the men suits I ordered and I’ll have them within 60 days. That’s the outcome I want. However, poor communication, ridiculously long wait times, and reordering items that had already been received is a terrible process through which to put your customers.

Please learn from this example that more customers will leave your business because of the process they encounter, than because of the outcome they receive.

“Service and quality pays is the best kept secret in American business.” – Tom Peters

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Legendary Customer Service VI: Mastering the Process and the Outcome. I encourage you to click here to register for the exclusive live Zoom presentation of Legendary Customer Service VI: Mastering the Process and the Outcome on Thursday, August 17, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

Celebrate Everything!

Tue, 11 Jul 2023 12:45:00 GMT

Let's get started.

I was recently at a networking event in Lancaster, PA. While I was there, one of my long-term customers came over to let me know that he had just met a woman at the mixer who had just started her own business. He told her about me and wanted me to come over so that I could meet her. As we caught up, I learned that she had embarked on a similar business as mine. She was helping customers to make their businesses scalable and more profitable. She also invested heavily into a parent company and so the pressure was on for her to produce.

After she explained her business model to me, I asked her if she had any clients yet. She said, no but that she was very hopeful that one of the prospects she’d recently spoken to would be signing a contract when he returned from out of town.

I completely understood her eagerness and anticipation. It reminded me of when I started my very first business in 1985 called Dave Romeo Bass Tournaments. I was only 25 years old and I had never run a business before in my life. I knew next to nothing. I also had a full-time job at the time, which was located not too far away from my home. I remember coming home on my lunch hour to check the mailbox to see if anyone had signed up for my tournaments. The first time I opened the mailbox and found several envelopes with people’s checks and registration forms filled out, I was in ecstasy!

It certainly wasn’t because of the money. I was only charging a nominal fee. But what really mattered most was that the registrations were coming from people whom I’d never met nor spoken to in my life. They were people who heard about what I was doing — from press releases in local fishing periodicals — and decided that they would give me a chance. It was like they were saying, “This sounds like fun. I want to be part of it, and I believe in you.” It was the best feeling in the world.

Luckily for me, what I didn’t know was forgiven by my tournaments contestants because they had a great time and they kept coming back for more. They also told more people about my fishing tournaments and allowed me the privilege of running the business for 10 years without having any competition.

It’s important to measure your milestones when you’re getting started. This way you can celebrate the small victories and turn them into greater successes.

“How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” – Famous sales axiom

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from my all-new seminar entitled How to Measure Your Milestones. I encourage you to click here to register for my live in person How to Measure Your Milestones seminar on Thursday, August 10, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at Melhorn Manor in Mount Joy, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Where Did All the Customers Go?

Tue, 04 Jul 2023 12:45:00 GMT

Check your process.

A couple of years ago, we planned some major renovations to our home. This included building a deck. I knew someone who goes to our church who specializes in this type of work. I asked him if he could come over and give us an estimate. Unfortunately, when he was scheduled to arrive, he notified us that he was sick and would have to reschedule. No problem. After another four weeks went by without having heard from him, I called him to ask if he could schedule another time to give us an estimate on our deck. After another three weeks, he came over and quoted the job a week later.

There was one problem with his estimate. It was $15,000 higher than the budget I quoted him when he first asked me how much we were going to allocate for this project. It was only after I had already spoken to several other contractors — each of which was equally poor in follow up — that the first vendor came back and provided a workable estimate.

The job was finished about three weeks later than we were led to believe. I guess that should not have been a surprise. We knew that the wood had to be stained; however, our contractor said that it would have to be done the following year. When the original contractor called to ask if we wanted him to do an estimate on the staining work, I told him that we were not interested. Instead, I found another contractor who specialized in this type of work and hired him to do the job even though his original scheduling time was 18 weeks out. The reason I picked him was because he came over the first day he said he would, which was only three days after we spoke about this job.

What most people don’t understand is that even if a customer is happy with the outcome they get from you, that’s not enough to ensure that they are coming back to do business with you again. Far more important to most customers is that the process you put them through does not drive them up the wall or take substantially longer than you promise. If you are losing customers and you don’t know why, I challenge you to think about how it feels for your customers to do business with you.

Regardless of your business, but especially if you’re a contractor, you need to learn how to give your word, keep your word, and provide reliable deadlines. The next time you give an estimate, see yourself the same way your customers see you and decide if you like what you see.

“Excellent customer service, just like true love should not be celebrated in practice on a certain day!”

– Michael Virardi

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Legendary Customer Service VI: Mastering The Process and The Outcome. I encourage you to c lick here to register for the exclusive live Zoom presentation of Legendary Customer Service VI: Mastering The Process and The Outcome on Thursday, August 17, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

Significance is in the Eye of the Beholder.

Tue, 27 Jun 2023 12:45:00 GMT

What matters most to you?

I mentioned to my business associate that one of my new seminars was entitled How To Measure Your Milestones. He was a little puzzled by the topic and asked me if I could elaborate. I explained that, in life, very few of our accomplishments are completed in one leap. We need to take stock of each positive step forward in order to have the courage, the resourcefulness, and the intestinal fortitude to keep moving ahead.

Sometimes, it seems silly to make a big deal about things we take for granted. They may not be considered milestones to others but that’s what I mean when I say significance is in the eye of the beholder. So are the milestones. For example, when my wife was recovering from a two-month hospital stay in which holding a sandwich and the ability to walk all had to be relearned, every seemingly insignificant first was a milestone. The first time that she could take a step was a milestone. The first time she could hold a pen was a milestone. The first time she could take a shower standing up was a milestone. The first time she could walk without the use of a wheelchair, then a walker, and then a cane were all milestones.

Try telling a couple that their firstborn child’s first step is not a milestone. Try telling the Egyptian immigrant who waited two years before his wife can join him in America and eight years for him to become an American citizen that that freedom is not a milestone. Try telling the 37-year-old woman who finally conceives a child that it wasn’t a milestone.

Sarah Ellis, one of my business associates, is a doula and the owner of Birth Babes. Women choose to work with her to enjoy a natural and conscious experience because giving birth is a milestone unto itself and an experience not to be missed. We can choose to bring our customers positive, once-in-a-lifetime memories by doing what we do to the best of our ability.

Your life is made up of milestones and when you make a commitment to create an unforgettable positive experience for the people you serve on a consistent basis, recognize that, that moment itself is a turning point moment in your own personal and professional growth.

“One of life’s greatest milestones is when a person can look back and be almost as thankful for the setbacks as for the victories.” – Bob Dole

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from my all-new seminar entitled How to Master Your Milestones. I encourage you to click here to register for my live in person How to Master Your Milestones seminar on Thursday, August 10, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at Melhorn Manor in Mount Joy, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

What Did You Say?

Tue, 20 Jun 2023 12:45:00 GMT

Make your listening count.

No offense to the late, master entrepreneur Ray Croc, but the odds of somebody spotting me in the drive through of a golden arches location are mighty slim. However, on one particular day recently, my wife had a hankering for their breakfast specialty. When we got to the first checkpoint where you place your order, I asked for two Egg McMuffins. We were instructed to drive around to pay for our order which came to I believe $5.05. When we got to the window, the cashier said she had two bacon egg and cheese sandwiches for us. My wife corrected her and said, “No, it was supposed to be two Egg McMuffins.”

You could tell that the cashier was very annoyed. She called to her staff to correct the order and then she turned back to us to say, “I’m sorry. They need to listen better.” In the meantime, I attempted to pay for our meal with a $10 bill while my wife rifled through her purse for the change. I said that we have the change. Meanwhile, after I handed the $10 bill to the cashier, she immediately opened her door to give me back the change for the 10. It took a few tries before we got her attention, but she finally stopped picking up coins and singles and realized we had the exact change for her.

The point is, all of us could be better listeners if we just took the time to do so. Is this true in your business? How well are you really paying attention to what your customers are saying? In case you are unfamiliar with the practice of active listening, it’s simple to do and quite effective. All it requires is for you to make notes — preferably written — and summarize what your customer has just told you in your own words to make sure that what you heard is what they meant.

Almost without exception, our Friday night meal is a medium-sized pizza, half with extra cheese and the other half with double mushrooms. Invariably, depending upon who is working the phones that night, the order taker will repeat back the order as a medium-sized pizza, half with extra cheese and half with extra mushrooms. It’s not the same thing. Although the difference in the actual number of mushrooms is negligent, as a coach, it’s just another opportunity to demonstrate if somebody is really paying attention to what a customer is saying.

It doesn’t matter if you sell Egg McMuffins, pizza, websites, or tires - customers all want their orders done properly. The only way this happens is when you invest in the needed amount of time, discipline, and attention to make sure you understand what they’re expecting from you. The good news is, the better you get listening to your customers and delivering what they want, the greater you will distance yourself from your competition.

“The difference between hearing and listening is paying attention.” – Ruth Messinger

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled The Fine Art of Listening. I encourage you to click here to register for the exclusive live Zoom presentation of The Fine Art of Listening on Thursday, July 27, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

Listening Versus Hearing.

Tue, 13 Jun 2023 12:45:00 GMT

You must do both.

I must admit, as a married man, I never knew how poor my listening skills were until my wife pointed this out to me. Ironically, it’s one of the areas in which I received the most compliments from my coaching clients. So, what does that mean?

As most married men will commiserate, we don’t always listen when our wives are speaking. Why is that? I have no doubt that 500 years ago, husbands and wives were also wondering about that same question. While I can’t speak for my entire sex, I do believe that, in my case, my mind is usually already on business when my wife starts talking with me. Frequently, she will ask, “Why did it take you so long to answer me?” When I answer the question honestly, the reason is that I was already in the middle of another thought when she started speaking and I had to resolve the thought in my head first and then think about what she asked me to formulate an answer. Do you find yourself doing the same thing?

While most married couples will agree this is a problem, more important is what to do about it. One of the things we tried to implement in our home is that when my wife starts speaking, I start listening. So, what exactly is the difference between hearing and listening? If you hear an airplane flying overhead, or an ambulance race past your house, you’ve heard both of these but they didn’t require you to listen for any more information. When you are in a conversation with someone, hearing requires more than just listening to the words. It also requires you to listen for the inflections and tone, plus reading the facial expressions and body language that accompany the verbal message.

As with most skills, the more you practice this, the more adept you will become. I highly recommend that you begin working on this with your spouse. Not only will you have the most opportunities to hone your listening skills and improve your hearing, it will also go a long way to improving the quality of your personal relationship. And one thing I’ve learned after 33 years of marriage, even making a sincere and genuine attempt to listen to your wife will be music to her ears.

“Hearing is listening to what is said. Listening is hearing what is said.” – Simon Sinek

Let me hear from you.

Protect Your Portfolio!

Tue, 06 Jun 2023 12:45:01 GMT

How secure are your clients?

Over a quarter of a century ago, I found myself in a perplexing situation. After having worked for years to build up a large clientele of printing industry staffing clients, my employer was sold to another business. The new owners made it extremely difficult for me to operate in my particular specialty. Their message was something to the effect of, “We still want you to make printing placements, but we don’t want to advertise it because printing isn’t ‘sexy enough’ for the stockholders.”

With that in mind, I left that employer and went to work for a competitor. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that my previous noncompete agreement was enforceable. I left the second staffing company after only a few months and went to work for a third staffing company — albeit, not in a recruiting role. This is when I became a seminar presenter and coach.

Ironically, even though I was not in a recruiting capacity, within two years all of my previous customers from the first staffing company were doing business with my employer at the time. What the original staffing company failed to understand was that the customers were not loyal to the organization but to the individuals providing the service. Within two years, both of my previous staffing employers notified their clients (now, my clients) that they would no longer be placing people in the printing industry.

There are several lessons worth learning from this story. First, clients go where they feel appreciated and important. Would you like to be told you’re not “sexy enough?” Second, even after all the customers came to my new employer, I still didn’t do any placements for them. Some of them came out of loyalty but most of them came because they understood the level of service they could expect from a company in which I was a partial owner. Third, and most important, remember to protect your portfolio of clients. How do they feel about you? Do they know they are important and valued by you? Are you providing a service that would make them withstand your competitors’ attempts to steal them away?

One of the lessons I teach in the Sales Academy is that who you are employed by and who you work for are not the same thing. You should always be working for your customers. Your employer will benefit as much as your clients when you do.

“Competition is always a good thing. It forces us to do our best. A monopoly renders people complacent and satisfied with mediocrity.” – Nancy Pearcy

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled, The Psychology of Selling IV: How to Capture 100% of Your Market. I encourage you to click here to register for my live in person The Psychology of Selling IV: How to Capture 100% of Your Market seminar on Thursday, July 13, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

The Greatest Source of Courage.

Tue, 30 May 2023 12:45:00 GMT

It's universal!

Last year, when I was selecting my panel for this year’s Proven Success Skills for Business Women: Building Courage And Confidence Forum, I asked them all the same question: “Where did your courage come from?” From their replies, I noticed something very interesting that these women all had in common.

Even though the three of them had never met, they all cited that it was their faith in God that got them through some of the most difficult times in their lives. One had been in the medical field for over seven years. When it came time for her to choose between getting a mandatory vaccine or sticking to her religious convictions, she walked away from her job and started up her own business. I’m sure she was trembling every step of the way because it was the last thing she ever expected to do. Yet, she was surprisingly successful at it.

Another one went overseas and witnessed some terrible atrocities against babies that were desperately in need of rescuing. Despite her outrage over the situation, she found it in her heart to adopt eight of them to raise alongside her own natural child. And even though most of them have disabilities, she noted that her faith in Jesus Christ gave her all the strength she needed to travel the long road ahead — for them and for her.

Still another one answered my question immediately and said, “It was when I found myself pregnant at 15 years of age.” Not only did she raise a beautiful daughter, but she walked away from a very lucrative career — also in the medical field — and dedicated her life to becoming a third-generation manager of a farm geared toward helping veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, deal with their trauma, and learn some useful skills in a field that is valuable and necessary.

Their faith in God turned out to be their universal common denominator for building courage and confidence. I must admit, their personal stories humbled and inspired me, witnessing how much can be done once you start off with such a strong foundation. I can’t wait for you to hear them reveal the rest of their stories.

“Courage is not having the strength to go on. It’s going on when you don’t have strength.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt was taken from my upcoming Proven Success Skills for Business Women: Building Courage and Confidence Forum. I encourage you to click here to register for the Proven Success Skills for Business Women: Building Courage and Confidence Forum on Thursday, June 22, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Mount Joy, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Where I Found My Courage.

Tue, 23 May 2023 13:11:22 GMT

Aimee Morris shares her story.

When asked to write a blog about “Where I Found my Courage,” I struggled with the topic…I questioned, “Do I even have courage?” While in the midst of a trial over the last few weeks, it dawned on me where I find my courage. Joshua 1:9 says, “Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid; for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” If I have courage at all, it is because of our Father in Heaven, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. When I reflect on the moments in life that have challenged me, the times when I’ve struggled, and the accounts of pain and breaking, my courage and hope came from His strength.

Like many people, I’ve endured trials in my life. When I think about how I overcame those trials, the answer points to Jesus. My courage comes from having faith that Jesus’ plan is perfect, His ways are greater than mine, and not to rely on my own ability to reason but to rely on the revelation of God’s will for my life. Having the assurance that God reigns over my life is powerful and has given me an indescribable courage along the way.

I became a mother at fifteen years old. I was so full of shame, fear, and uncertainty for the future. I felt so discouraged and hopeless. Then God intervened. Through His strength, I found the courage to be a mother to my daughter, to graduate high school, and to join the United States Marine Corps. I went onto college and earned a bachelor’s degree in Nursing, then a Master’s in Kinesiology. I later founded a nonprofit, Glenn Hope Care Farm, which serves the veterans of this community. None of these achievements were without obstacles, challenges, and moments that I thought would break me. But God’s strength gave me the courage to keeping going, to keep pushing, and to never give up, even when I wanted to and there were many, many times when I almost did.

My courage has come from knowing God intimately and living a life of purpose and with intention. Most days are a battle, some days I feel discouraged, deprived, or lacking in courage, hope and confidence, but then I remember my Father in Heaven. First, I kneel to pray and then — through His grace and strength — I muster up the courage to stand and fight. So, in conclusion, my courage comes from the greatest source: His name is Jesus Christ.

“If you have the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed.” – Anonymous

Let me hear from you.

Aimee Morris of Glenn Hope Care Farm will be one of my guest panelists for the Proven Success Skills for Busin ess Women: Building Courage and Confidence Forum. I encourage you to click here to register for the Proven Success Skills for Business Women: Building Courage and Confidence Forum on Thursday, June 22, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Mount Joy, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Catch Me if You Can.

Tue, 16 May 2023 13:00:00 GMT

Outdistance yourself from the pack.

In 1985, I opened my first business. It was Dave Romeo Bass Tournaments. It seemed like the logical thing to do. After all, I was 25 years old, I had never run a business before, and try as I might, I couldn’t find a copy of How to Run a Bass Fishing Tournament Business on Long Island with No Experience at the local Borders bookstore — which as you know, are not any easier to locate these days.

Surprisingly though, despite my naïveté, my business was a success. Not only was it popular, it was profitable, and I ran for it 10 years without having any competition. That’s almost unheard of. Naturally, it piqued my curiosity to figure out how somebody as inexperienced as I was could stumble onto such early success. I finally concluded that it came down to a great bit of luck and making sure that every person who attended felt important and special.

For example, I created a check-in system which allowed me to greet each pair of boaters as they waited anxiously in their cars to unload and launch their boats. Not only did it keep them occupied and less impatient, it gave me a chance to get to know them and bond with them.

Another strategy that worked quite well was offering only merchandise prizes. That was unusual because most other tournaments collected entry fees and then gave back most of the money in prizes. By having 14 national sponsors provide everything an angler could ask, for including tackle boxes, embroidered vests, fishing lures, rods, reels, and inflatable boats, winners felt like they had hit the jackpot when they won and I also made sure that there were 15 draw prizes at every event so that even if you didn’t win, you might still come home with an electric trolling motor.

One of the biggest complaints I heard about from the local bass club members was that they couldn’t fish in their own boat or fish with their friends. It was supposed to be a random pairing to prevent cheating. I went on the assumption that most people just want to go out and have a good time fishing. By letting people fish in their own boats with their friends, it virtually eliminated my competition.

The best part about that experience was that so much of what I learned from running bass fishing tournaments translated into running seminars and other business ventures. Everyone wants to feel important and special when they do business with you — including your customers. If you don’t believe me, just ask them.

“Competition is always a good thing. It forces us to do our best. A monopoly renders people complacent and satisfied with mediocrity.” – Nancy Pearcy

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from my seminar The Psychology of Selling IV: How to Capture 100% of Your Market. I encourage you to click here to register for my live in person The Psychology of Selling IV: How to Capture 100% of Your Market seminar on Thursday, July 13, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

How I Found My Confidence.

Tue, 09 May 2023 13:00:02 GMT

Susan Chinault shares her story.

Growing up, confidence was something that I oftentimes heard people talk about, but really never gave it any thought about until I got to be in high school. That was when you instinctively knew who had it and who didn't. I knew the cheerleaders, athletes, and the “cool kids” did, and that I didn't. That was about the extent of it as far as I was concerned. I knew that there were some things that I excelled in, like my ability to be able to talk with pretty much anyone, but I thought that was only because I wasn't “shy” as my parents always said. But that wasn't something that I could use in real life…or so I thought.

My confidence bloomed when I started working as a certified medical assistant (CMA) in 2013 at a very prestigious, well-known medical institution in Baltimore, MD (yes, you probably guessed the right one). I was praised by the physicians and patients alike for my efficiency and ''bedside manner” or should I say, “exam table side manner.” I was able to do my job and still put the patient at ease, no matter how uncomfortable or embarrassing the procedure may have been, and for that I was grateful to be able to help.

When I retired in January 2022, I felt like I was lost, and my confidence definitely took a nosedive. How would I use my “table side manner” in the non-medical world? You can imagine my surprise when Dave Romeo asked if I would like to be on his 2023 panel for Building Courage and Confidence!

I started making sales calls for Dave and that was exactly where I have rediscovered it! When I talked to Dave's clients, I could see why he calls them friends. I felt like they were my friends too. Yes, it's about the seminars, but it's also about sincerely listening and getting people to open up with me when we talk. I feel like I've found that very same bond that I used to share with my patients, but on a different level.

Dave even helped me create my own business called, Calling All Customers, so that I could help other customers besides him. Not surprisingly, many of my first customers were customers I’d first spoken with when making sales calls for Dave.

I want to encourage you to remember that it's never too late to learn and use your God-given gifts — whatever they may be — to try something new. I will share with you some things I've learned along my journey. Always try to listen more than you speak, and be kind, courteous, and professional at all times. Remember, you may have caught someone on the worst day of their life; it's not always about you. Follow through as promised, be empathetic, trust-worthy, and lastly, don’t forget that a smile goes a long, long way.

“Confidence is a symbol of courage and faith. It is a life skill that can help you stay one step ahead of your fears.” – Anonymous

Let me hear from you.

Susan Chinault of Calling All Customers will be one of my guest panelists for the Proven Success Skills for Business Women: Building Courage and Confidence Forum. I encourage you to click here to register for the Proven Success Skills for Business Women: Building Courage and Confidence Forum on Thursday, June 22, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Count Your Blessings.

Tue, 02 May 2023 13:00:06 GMT

Don't take them for granted.

How often do you dwell on your problems? Of course, it’s normal to do, but what does it get you? No one needs extra frown lines, wrinkles, or gray hair (I’m speaking from experience on the last one). The problem with worry is that it’s like flooring your gas pedal while your car is neutral; it doesn’t get you anywhere.

One of the techniques I recommend to my clients who are going through a difficult time is to count your blessings. We all have them, but sometimes we take them for granted. Are you guilty of doing this? Do you realize that if you can read this blog, you have access to international information at your fingertips; you have a firm grasp on the English language; and you made a decision to improve yourself through engaging in a personal and professional growth activity.

Often, many of the people in our lives who mean the most to us don’t ever hear it because we do not take the time to express our appreciation of how important they are. Think of one person you would miss if he or she was no longer here. When is the last time you spoke with that person? The reality is, someday that person really will not be here. Why not take the time right now to place a call and let that person know how much he or she means to you?

And since I wouldn’t ask you to do anything I wouldn’t do, let me just say to all of the loyal, long-term readers, first-time readers, and sponsors who have courageously stood beside me for eight years, I personally want to thank you for your support, friendship, and encouragement as I continue to attempt to recognize how big an impact you can have on your world.

“Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress into a positive one.” – Hans Selye

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled How to Reduce Stress and Increase Your Confidence. I encourage you to click here to register for my live in person How to Reduce Stress and Increase Your Confidence seminar on Thursday, May 11, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Trump Your Prospects.

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 13:00:11 GMT

Go the extra mile.

One of my earliest coaching clients called me one day and he said that he had a problem. He’d made a sales proposal to a nonprofit organization, met with the committee, reviewed the proposal, and answered their questions. He said he’d run out of reasons to follow up with them while he was waiting to hear their decision. He asked me if there was any other reason I could think of to contact them. I said, “Yes. Trump your prospect.” He didn’t understand what I meant and so I explained it to him.

I said that right now, the committee only saw him as a vendor. But he could change their relationship by becoming a revenue source. I told him to go find somebody who is interested in joining their association and ask his contact if he would be willing to call the prospect. By doing so, he would be putting himself in a different category — that of a revenue source. People treat you differently when you are a revenue source than they do when you are only a vendor. It’s because you’ve earned the right to be seen that way. It comes from going the extra mile, even when you don’t have to.

A few years ago, it became necessary to put locks on the door of all the houses of worship in the area. This is a sad state for our society, but most would agree, a necessary one. When our small church put a combination lock on the back door for its congregants to gather, they neglected to install one on the front door as well. Since the front door is more handicap accessible, it only made sense to have that one done also. I offered to pay for it myself and I called one of my seminar clients who has been with me since 2001. I asked him to install a similar keypad on the front door and never asked him about the price. I didn’t have to. I knew he would do a good job for me.

After he visited the chapel, he emailed me to let me know that because of the way the wiring had been set up, it was going to be an extremely difficult project. However, he said that he would only charge me for the actual keypad because he knew I was doing this as a donation to my church. The important thing to understand here is that my clients routinely go above and beyond for me. I don’t use their services expecting to get a deal. They give me a deal because I refer them. I only refer people who are good. That’s why they almost always take my phone calls. Yes, I do call on them when I have something I think they would like to buy. However, I frequently also have a referral or information they want and so, they usually look forward to my calls.

When was the last time you went the extra mile for one of your customers? If someone called and asked him or her, would that person remember? It requires extra work to go the extra mile, but when you do it often enough, you tend to wind up with a lot of extra-satisfied customers.

“There are no traffic jams on the extra mile.” – Zig Ziglar

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from the Sales Academy. I encourage you to register for my live in person Sales Academy program beginning on Friday, April 21 and running for five consecutive Friday mornings until May 19, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Clear Communication is Gold!

Tue, 18 Apr 2023 13:00:06 GMT

Do your customers understand you?

Did you ever wonder why is it that after you spoke to a prospect who you knew needed what you sold, they didn’t buy from you? Chances are that the person did not understand you or did not understand the value of what you were offering as clearly as you did. This happens more often than you realize. As I’ve tried to explain over the last quarter of a century, all sales is communication. Your ability to sell is in direct proportion to your ability to effectively communicate how what you sell will help your customers either gain pleasure or avoid pain.

The reason this doesn’t happen all the time is because we usually know far more about what we sell than our prospects do. Sometimes, we take it for granted that they will understand or readily see how valuable our offerings are. But we cannot do that if we want to be successful in our own business.

There are several things that you can do to improve your communication with customers. First, avoid using any abbreviations. Just because they’re familiar to you does not mean your prospect will understand them. I know, as a coach, any time one of my clients starts using abbreviations, I instantly stop them and ask them to explain what they mean. About 50% of the time, the person can’t even tell me what they mean because they use the abbreviations so frequently that the actual meaning has been lost. For example, do you know what HTML means? (I had to look it up to be sure, but it stands for hypertext markup language.) Computer programmers use this term all the time. Test yours the next time you’re speaking with him or her and see if they can give you the answer.

Another thing you can do is avoid using jargon. There are terms that are quite familiar to specified fields but may be unfamiliar to prospects and customers. Never talk over your customers’ heads. If you’re talking about something complicated, it’s always a good idea to explain it in a simpler format. For example, one of my clients does air purification for homes. One of the questions he gets asked frequently is if he uses a filter. As he explained it, he said, “No, because that’s dependent on the impurity finding its way to the filter. Have you ever seen a leaf in a pool that never makes it to the pool’s filter? It never gets removed. That’s why I go to the impurities to make sure they’re gone.”

Finally, you can talk in terms of the only four benefits people buy, which are 1) to save time, 2) save or make money, 3) receive convenience, or 4) to experience peace of mind. If you use these simple guidelines when speaking to your prospects and customers, there’s a good chance that more of your prospects will become customers and more of your customers will become lifetime customers.

“The only thing that separates us is the English language.” – Steve Kaftanuk

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Communication Excellence I: Connecting with Customers. I encourage you to register for the exclusive live Zoom presentation of Communication Excellence I: Connecting with Customers on Thursday, June 15, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

How Many Managers?

Tue, 11 Apr 2023 13:00:02 GMT

Pivot away from policies.

(No Marathon gas station employees were harmed during the making of this rant.)

In February 2023, I stopped at a Marathon gas station in Mount Joy, PA to get gas. As I was paying, there was another customer named Donna who had also tried to get gas from a different pump with her credit card. She couldn’t get gas and the readout on her pump said, “See attendant.” Lenny, the attendant, asked me to let him know if I had any trouble getting gas since I was paying with cash. A minute later, I came back into the store to let him know that I could not get gas, nor could three other customers who were also attempting to do so. Lenny gave me my cash back, but I didn’t leave. I wanted to see what was going to happen to Donna. This was a woman who was about a year away from retirement from Lancaster General Hospital, and who also worked at Stauffer’s of Kissel Hill, which was only about two blocks away from the gas station.

Lenny was explaining that since Donna had paid with her credit card, he wasn’t authorized to give her cash back even though she did not have any more money and was very low on gas. He did offer to call his supervisor, Betty. Betty also explained that it was “their policy” not to give back cash when somebody pays by credit card. Lenny was nice enough to lend me his phone so that I could speak with Betty. I explained the situation from a customer’s perspective. I said that I had had the same problem, but Lenny instantly solved my problem because I paid cash. However, Donna was in a different predicament even though she went there to pre-pay for her gas with the credit card, “in good faith.” I understood that there was a problem, but the company had to be aware that customers should not be held responsible when the Marathon systems fail.

Betty agreed to get her manager, Carrie, on the phone to listen to the problem. She also stated that it was Marathon’s policy not to give back cash when someone pay by credit card. I explained to Carrie that the problem did not call for somebody to merely recite policy, but rather to step up and be a problem solver. Carrie said that she would call her higher up, the district supervisor, to see what could be done.

While this was going on, Lenny, Donna, and I went outside and repeatedly tried to get Donna some gas from different pumps, but it was all in vain. Meanwhile, Lenny had to put bags on all of the other gas nozzles to prevent additional customers from going through the same frustrations. He was very stressed out because he was about to finish his shift and Summer, his shift reliever, was still in training.

When he called Betty back, she said that they had checked with the district manager and there was nothing they could do to solve the problem. At that point, I asked for the phone, and I explained to Betty that, since four different levels of managers were unable to solve Donna’s $25 problem in under half an hour, that I would just give her the money, so that she can go and get gas and this problem would be solved. I also explained that I would be sharing this story with my blog readers.

I’m not here to embarrass companies. Lenny had no recourse because he had not been equipped, nor authorized, to solve a $25 problem for the customer right in front of him. Sadly, Betty was also not authorized to solve a $25 problem. As it turned out, neither was Carrie. I didn’t get the name of the district manager, but at that point, it wasn’t needed. The reason I share the story with you is to ask you this: How many managers does it take in your company to solve a $25 problem? The answer should be zero. All you need is one, problem-solving leader to step up and do the right thing.

I’m encouraging you to take a lesson from Marathon Gas — a multimillion dollar organization that has now been in business for more than 136 years: throw out your useless policies if they’re preventing you from taking care of your customers and make sure that you solve your customers problems to the customer’s satisfaction — not yours.

“What fools these mortals be." - William Shakespeare”

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt was taken from my The Fine Art of Pivoting seminar. I encourage you to register for The Fine Art of Pivoting seminar on Thursday, May 4, 2023 at Melhorn Manor in Mount Joy, PA from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern standard Time. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Are You Surprised or Just Unprepared?

Tue, 04 Apr 2023 13:00:05 GMT

Learn from your mistakes.

For years, I was tied to the same pest control service because I was also using the same company for their landscaping service. Unfortunately, the former specialty was not as effective as the latter. Once we started having mice in the house, I knew it was time to make a change. We switched to another pest control service and, after the first few treatments, I was beginning to wonder if they were actually bringing the mice with them in their van. We went from having three mice in the house over 13 years to having five mice in the house in one year. It was time to pivot again.

Finally, I sought out another pest control service and spoke with the owner. Sam Peters of Peters Pest Control did a walk around my house and showed me how to mouse-proof it. He instantly demonstrated his expertise and built credibility by showing me what to look for in all the areas I didn’t realize made it easy for mice to enter our home. With a little fine-tuning and some help from our trusted handyman service, we plugged all the holes and the house has now been mouse free for the past three years.

Many times in business, we get surprised because something is not working as effectively as we expected. We can either choose to accept it the way it is or take steps to get better results. If your vendors are not providing you with the level of service you expect and you keep accepting it, you have no right to be surprised. As John Maxwell once said, you’re allowed to be surprised once. After that, you’re just unprepared.

When it comes to delivering service your customers, that same lesson is true. If a customer complains about a problem they have with your service that you didn’t know of, you’re allowed to be surprised once. After that, you need to take immediate steps to fix that customers problem and then follow up to make sure that the root of the problem is addressed so that it does not affect any future customers. I’m challenging you to be proactive in designing out the flaws in your system so that you never have to feel the embarrassment of being unprepared in front of a customer.

“The most essential quality for leadership is not perfection but credibility. People must be able to trust you.” – Rick Warren

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled How to Build Iron Clad Credibility. I encourage you to click here to register for my live in person How to Build Iron Clad Credibility seminar on Thursday, May 18, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Do You Thrive on Chaos?

Tue, 28 Mar 2023 13:00:01 GMT

Learning from your mistakes.

As I was preparing to finish a lesson plan for an upcoming seminar, one of the quotes that kept going through my head came from the motto of the United States Marines: Improvise, adapt, and overcome. What a great mantra that is for every business owner!

Let’s face it, no business need exists unless it solves a problem for its customers. When we decide to set out on our own and live based on our successes and failures, we know full well that we will be facing problems and challenges. Some will be easy, some will be more difficult, and some will make us question our sanity and why we started our own business in the first place! But take heart because once we learn to thrive on the chaos, we will earn a place in our clients’ hearts.

As a business coach, I often have the luxury of sitting at arm’s length from my clients’ problems. While they are usually overwhelmed by them, I can objectively look at the situation and offer a logical strategy. Most of the time, their problems don’t require a major overhaul — just a little finesse. It’s amazing just how many problems can be solved through clearer communication, a different perspective, and a little emotional distance from the issue.

In the Proven Success Skills for Businesswomen seminar, I joke that men like simple solutions to problems and that most of their issues can be resolved with either a tape gun or WD 40. For example, if something moves and it’s not supposed to, you use the tape gun. If something is supposed to move and it doesn’t, you just use WD 40. Of course, not every problem in life and business is that simple, but the point I’m trying to make is that we often get overwhelmed by the enormity of a problem. Yet, many times, all it takes is a little bit of tweaking to get our problem-solving instincts flowing again.

“Adaptability is being able to adjust to any situation at any given time.” – John Wooden

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from my all-new seminar entitled The Fine Art of Pivoting. I encourage you to click here to register for my live in person The Fine Art of Pivoting seminar on Thursday, May 4, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at Melhorn Manor in Mount Joy, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Meeting Your Clients' Unexpected Needs.

Tue, 21 Mar 2023 13:00:00 GMT

It’s easy to do if you pay attention.

Depending upon what you do for a living, it may take a while before your potential customers decide to give you a try. It has nothing to do with you. It has everything to do with timing. So many of my Sales Academy grads wait in frustration as prospects decide whether to give them a try or not. The reality is that people make buying decisions on their timetable and for their reasons. It doesn’t matter that you know you can help them. It only matters that they know you can help them.

Years ago, one of my best clients decided to leave her customer service role in website development company and completely change industries to become a massage therapist. I knew little about that field at the time, but I wished her well, knowing that she would be successful at anything she pursued. Little did I know then how grateful I would be today that she had a change of heart — and careers.

Selfishly, I missed her being my point of contact when it came to my website because she was my benchmark for legendary customer service. However, as time has shown, she is taken that same approach of exceeding her customers’ expectations and applied it in her new trade.

About a year ago, I experienced such excruciating back pain that I feared that it might prevent me from accomplishing all of the many projects I have in progress and on deck. As much as it pains me to say (no pun intended), I didn’t want to admit that I needed help. But finally, I broke down and asked Melissa Lineaweaver — now owner of her own Mending Method Massage business if I would benefit from using her services.

I had two concerns to contend with. The first was, would it actually help and second was, being a very private person, it was difficult to place myself in such a vulnerable position. However, because of having such a well-established relationship with Melissa in her previous role, my comfort and trust level with her was top level. Was I ever glad that she was available!

If you’re waiting for customers to realize that what you do will help them, be patient. But while you’re waiting, it’s a good idea to occasionally send them testimonials from satisfied customers who have already used your service. It just might be the push they need to give you a try.

“The first step to healing is recognizing that there is a wound.” – Anonymous

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled In Search of Legendary Customer Service. I encourage you to click here to register for the exclusive live Zoom presentation of In Search of Legendary Customer Service on Thursday, April 20, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

Don't Start Marketing Until You Have a Proof of Concept.

Tue, 14 Mar 2023 13:00:05 GMT

That’s how you inspire a buyer.

Recently, I was speaking with one of my protégés who was embarking on a brand-new business. She was trying to assist a potential customer who wanted to attract people to hear about his presentation on how using state-of-the-art data could help business owners reach more new customers.

She originally said that she thought it might be a good idea to hold an outdoor event in the summer at a local fire station and offer free hot dogs and beer for people who wanted to attend the presentation. She asked me if I thought the event would be successful. I replied that I thought the event would be very successful…for attracting people who like hot dogs and beer. However, I felt that the client might be skipping a step. What is crucial when launching a start-up venture is that you have a proof of concept.

Most people start on a new business because they have an idea about a product or service they believe a great number of people will want to use and can benefit from. Remember, at this point, it’s still just an idea. A proof of concept means that you create the product, test it with potential buyers, gauge the reaction, and proceed accordingly. If the reaction is positive, you determine the selling price and the means of delivering what you sell to your customers. Once you’ve created awareness for your product and made it easy for people to purchase it from you, you can now gauge your proof of concept. If many more people are buying from you than you expected, that’s a great outcome. Now you’re ready to tell people about what you do — but not before this.

For example, a man won a free hour of coaching at one of my seminars. I spent one hour with him and we discussed the advantages of itemizing his proposals and always putting them in writing. I also reviewed his pricing and found that he was not competitive. In fact, he was leaving a lot of money on the table. The following day, he called me to say that he had just used the technique I recommended and landed a $9,000 job. In the past, he said he would have only charged $3,500 for it. For only a one-hour investment, he received a $5,500 return on investment in 24 hours. This is what I mean by a proof of concept.

Before you embark on an expensive promotion or pay for an excessive spread of food and beverages, take the time to collect a number of testimonials from actual users and let that become your marketing campaign — based on your proven track record.

“A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is — it is what consumers tell each other it is.” – Scott Cook

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Networking and Marketing Mastery IV: Inspire the Buyer. I encourage you to click here to register for the exclusive live presentation of Networking and Marketing Mastery IV: Inspire the Buyer on Thursday, April 6, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

You're an Entrepreneur If......

Tue, 07 Mar 2023 14:00:02 GMT

The acid test.

I was recently networking at a local event and met two young women who had both started their brand-new businesses in the last five months. You could tell by the look in their eyes that they were both very idealistic and optimistic. I asked the two of them if they knew what the acid test for an entrepreneur is. They said, “No.” I told them that you know you’re an entrepreneur if you wake up each morning and feel simultaneously exhilarated and terrified. Both of them laughed but agreed that I was right.

When you take on a new business, it means that you are working without a safety net. All the decisions that you used to make while working for somebody else gave you a cushion. Chances are that your previous employer had to bear the costs of any mistakes you made. But now, that responsibility falls on your shoulders. And rest assured, you will be making mistakes — just about every day.

But none of this should dissuade you from becoming an entrepreneur. There is no more liberating feeling in the world than knowing that your success will be the result of your own decisions and judgment. The mistakes you make at the beginning will eventually lead to better decision-making, superior judgment, and greater wisdom. These are all valuable tools that will come back to benefit you the longer you stay in business. Naturally, the key is to do enough things right (while you’re still making daily mistakes) so that you can stay in business long enough to benefit from them.

So, what do you do at the beginning when everything is so scary? Recognize that you are in good company. Every day, thousands of new entrepreneurs take the plunge. You’re embarking on a journey that will test your mettle and show you what you are truly made of. As soon as you get that first customer to pay you what you asked, you’ll experience the thrill of knowing that someone else believes in your vision.

I challenge you to see your sleepless nights and chewed fingernails as a badge of honor. We’ve all been there. Consider them a rite of entrepreneurial passage. And just remember, you don’t become a successful entrepreneur by not making mistakes but, rather, by learning from them.

“Opportunists seek for a chance. Entrepreneurs make new chances.”– Toba Beta

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Survive and Thrive in Your Own Business. I encourage you to click here to register for the exclusive live Zoom presentation of Survive and Thrive in Your Own Business on Thursday, May 23, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

Failure Leaves Clues, Too!

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 14:00:01 GMT

Are you paying attention?

Recently, I invited David Leedom to review and address one of my Sales Academy graduating classes. David has been coming to my seminars since 2002 and has taken every single one of them at least once. I thought he would be an ideal choice to speak to the graduates about success. But he surprised me with his opening statement.

David began by saying, “Dave always reminds us of that Tony Robbins quote, ‘Success leaves clues.’” But it’s also important to remember that failure leaves clues, too.” Although I’d never verbalized that thought before, I realized that David was absolutely right; failure does indeed leave clues — and often, they can be quite valuable to us.

As I reflect back on some of the failures I’ve made in life and in business (and that’s a mighty long list), I realize that many of the failures we face are responsible for our eventual successes. If you’ve ever been late to an important meeting, or worse, forgotten it altogether (I’m speaking from experience in both instances), you will probably never forget the embarrassment and cost of making such a mistake. That’s good! You don’t want to forget; you want to learn from it.

Mel Gibson once said, “Pain is the precursor to change.” What that means is, until we experience enough pain, we often don’t change something that we should in order to avoid similar failures in the future. We know that we are imperfect and that we are all going to repeatedly fail. The important lesson is to take the clues from our failures and transform them into the means for improving ourselves. In business, this could be improving our communication with our clients, creating a reliable scheduling system, or clarifying the words in our contracts and policies.

But let’s not forget that we fail our loved ones too. Those are often much more painful lessons to admit. Still, recognizing that we do not want to let down the people around us who matter most, we have to take it to heart and resolve to do better in the future. Remember, as the saying goes, “Every stumble keeps you humble.”

“Learning from success is important but learning from failure is vital to succeeding” – Anonymous

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from my Sales Academy program. I encourage you to click here to register for the Spring 2023 Sales Academy beginning on Friday, April 21, 2023 and running for five consecutive Fridays from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

It's Time to Get Going.

Tue, 21 Feb 2023 14:00:24 GMT

What are you waiting for?

I find that many entrepreneurs and salespeople have a great difficulty getting started whenever they embark on a new business venture or position. Sometimes, it’s just hard to know what to do first. There is often a lot of newness and many questions that have to be answered. However, more important than where to start is when to start. And the answer, most assuredly, is almost always now!

I once heard my mentor, Brian Tracy, say, “The average number of attempts a person makes before they give up on a dream is less than one.” How can that be? Imagine that it’s New Year’s Eve and you are sharing one of your New Year’s resolutions with friends and family members. “I’m going to get into shape and start working out next year.” Let’s give you New Year’s Day off to recuperate from the previous evening’s festivities. Like most people, you set your alarm to get up early and begin your new workout regimen. But what happens when your alarm goes off?

Do you jump up and immediately put on your workout gear and get cracking? Or, like most people, do you just hit the snooze button and go back to sleep for another hour? Remember that the biggest turning point in your life occurs when you decide not to give up on a dream or goal just because it becomes difficult.

The key to any success — in life or business — is getting started. Commit to your commitments and don’t allow yourself to settle for mediocrity when you can be magnificent. And a word of advice; that first step is going to be a tough one. If you’re working out, your muscles will be screaming by the time you are done because your body didn’t know you were actually going to go through with it this time. But don’t give up. The good news is, after the second day, you’ll feel so much better and start gaining some much-needed momentum. That momentum converts to discipline as you start to see results and develop a positive and healthy routine.

By the way, we’re not just talking about working out. We are talking about pursuing any new venture, be it business or leisure. So, what are you waiting for? Go set your starting clock so that you can be a benefit to your family and your customers, and an inspiration to others as well.

“A good swift kick can carry you a long way.” – Madeline Podgorski

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Executing Your Great Ideas. I encourage you to click here to register for my live in person Executing Your Great Ideas seminar on Thursday, March 9, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Customize Your Vision.

Tue, 14 Feb 2023 14:00:01 GMT

See your future success now.

Do you realize just how powerful you are? One of the most blessed things about living in the United States is that, with a little bit of ingenuity, honed communication skills, and a dream, you can accomplish just about anything. Many of the greatest entrepreneurs and inventors throughout history have become successful without unlimited wealth and resources — at least at first. So, how did they do it? They had a vision.

Alexander Graham Bell believed that he could create a means of communicating with people from enormous distances away by simply inventing the telephone. Henry Ford had a vision that you could create a combustible engine that would propel a vehicle without the aid of horses. Charles Lindbergh had a vision that man could fly cross the Atlantic in an airplane. Walt Disney believed that he could tear down some orange groves and build something so grand that people would come from all over the world to be entertained.

When these men started out, they didn’t have enormous amounts of money. In fact, Walt Disney went bankrupt twice before he opened his first theme park. But what they all did have was a vision; they had the ability to see into the future and visualize what their respective idea would look like. And they had one more thing: The drive to keep going and never give up, no matter how difficult the path to success seemed.

As you hone your vision for what your contribution to the world will look like, customize it in such a way that not only will people want what you offer, but that it will be nearly impossible for them to get anything as great from anyone else. You do this by making what you do 10% new. Often, the best ideas are not something completely different, but just slightly more innovative, practical, or convenient.

A good place for you to start is to imagine people and what they are currently complaining about. Why is their current method not working as well as it could? When you can find the answer to that question and provide a better solution to solve their problems, then you too may be seen as a visionary.

“Why do anything unless it is going to be great?” – Peter Block

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Organizational Excellence V: Tracking Your Way to Success. I encourage you to click here to register for the exclusive live Zoom presentation of Organizational Excellence V: Tracking Your Way to Success on Thursday, March 2, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

Organize Your Mind

Tue, 07 Feb 2023 14:00:07 GMT

Map out a winning strategy.

Entrepreneurs often get overwhelmed with the many tasks that they face in running a business. “Should I hire employees?” “Should I invest money in a marketing campaign before I have sufficient cash flow?” “Am I clarifying my message so that people will know that they need what I have?” “How am I going to get everything done?” “Did I bite off more than I can chew?”

If you find yourself asking these kinds of questions on a regular basis, relax. This is normal when you become an entrepreneur. It’s very easy to be overwhelmed and feel like you can’t see straight. The key is to have a winning strategy. This will require you to get some help. You can look for a mentor, a business coach, or a more established entrepreneur in your field (believe it or not, you can contact somebody who works in another city and is not competing head-to-head with you and find an ally who can provide experience, wisdom, and help you to avoid some of the pitfalls that you might otherwise have to tackle alone.)

The first step is to understand that there will always be more tasks than you can handle yourself. What that means is that you can start by organizing your mind. The best way to do this is to start writing down a list of all the tasks you can think of that have to get done. Once you can look at all of your tasks at once, you’ll start to notice that there is a priority to them. If this is still too hard for you to organize, get somebody else’s input on it so that you can identify your starting point.

If you haven’t already done so, make sure you have a written business plan. This will include your vision, values, and the purpose for your organization’s existence. Identify who your target audience is, what you’re going to offer them, why they want it, and, most importantly, why they should get it from you. Don’t forget to include your pricing which should be based on providing you with a hefty profit so that all of this organization and planning will pay off.

As with most tasks in life, there’re always seem most daunting before you begin them. However, once you start breaking down the bigger tasks into little tasks and just tackling them one at a time, you’ll find that most of your fears were unfounded, and you may even enjoy the thrill of solving new problems and grow in your own self-confidence. And if you still need help, then don’t be afraid to ask for it.

“A good system shortens the road to a good goal.” – Orison Swett Marden

Let me hear from you.

Sometimes, Sorry Seems to Be the Easiest Word.

Tue, 31 Jan 2023 14:00:03 GMT

How much is too much?

Before I became a results coach, I worked as a printing industry recruiter. One thing I found in common to both of these occupations is that many of the people that I serve suffer from low self-esteem. As a coach, it’s very easy to tell when someone has poor self-esteem. One of the most common giveaways is that they are constantly saying, “I’m sorry.” Many times, they are apologizing for things that are not their fault and even if they have not done anything wrong. It becomes a reflex and — if it’s done too often — can be a very negative habit, especially during a job interview or in a personal relationship.

There is nothing wrong with saying that you are sorry if you have wronged someone or done something wrong. However, it isn’t good for your own self-esteem or how others perceive you to constantly be apologizing for no reason. If you are in business, people base a great deal of their decision to buy from you or hire you on how much confidence they have in your credibility. Repeatedly saying, “I’m sorry,” when there is no cause undermines your credibility.

So how does one go about ridding oneself of this habit? No doubt, it’s been ingrained for a long time. First, you need to consciously be aware that you are doing it. You can ask a friend, a mentor, or a confidant if they notice this habit in you. If you find that you are habitually apologizing, the next thing to do is to consciously think about it before you speak.

Low self-esteem can prevent you from becoming the incredible person you were meant to be or empower you to accomplish many great feats. This is a choice — your choice. As with most of life’s most important lessons, this will take time for you to make a noticeable change. But I encourage you to find out if this is something you are doing so subconsciously and, if that is the case, practice reserving your apologies for when they are justified. It will go a great way to improving your own self-confidence and self-esteem, and also improve your self-image with others.

“Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Anyone Can Sell II: Prospecting for Gold! I encourage you to click here to register for the exclusive live Zoom presentation of Anyone Can Sell II: Prospecting for Gold! on Thursday, February 9, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

To Whom Am I Speaking?

Tue, 24 Jan 2023 14:00:05 GMT

Remember their names.

Early in my career, I spent much time earning the right to speak to decision-makers in companies by investing the time to get to know the receptionists — at least by their names. While I hear many salespeople say that the receptionist is the gatekeeper, what I’ve discovered is that the receptionist is also the gate opener.

After many years of calling on an accounting firm client of mine, I finally asked the friendly and pleasant receptionist why she never gave her name out when she answered the phone. She said it was because most of the people who called her were nasty and self-centered. If they didn’t get the information they wanted from her, they wouldn’t give her the time of day.

What many new salespeople fail to realize is that receptionists have a very difficult and busy job. They take numerous calls, all day long, that are rarely for them. Perhaps that’s why they appreciate when someone takes the time to be pleasant and polite when they call in and treat them with respect.

This shouldn’t require any extraordinary efforts to do; it’s just common decency. Isn’t that the way you want to be treated? I believe it’s fair to say that I wouldn’t have half of the clients I have today had I not been respectful, polite, and professional when dealing with the receptionist, spouse, or first point of contact when introducing myself to a new prospect.

If you don’t already know this, receptionists remember when someone treats them disrespectfully. Fortunately, the reverse is also true. If you demonstrate courtesy and kindness when speaking to the person answering the phone at a new company, you just might help yourself to reach your intended decision-maker by creating an ally at the front desk.

“The sweetest sound to anyone’s ears is the sound of his own name.” – Robert C. Lee

Let me hear from you.

How Long is This Going to Take?

Tue, 17 Jan 2023 14:00:00 GMT

Perfect your promises

Over the last few years, my wife and I have dealt with many different contractors. One of the observations that became quite interesting during this process was their ability to estimate how long the jobs would take for completion.

This seems to be one of the most difficult feats for any contractor to master. Depending upon the type of work one does, you might be affected by the weather, supply chain shortages, scheduling errors, or lack of adequate personnel to complete the job. These are givens; however, if you have competitors that are doing a better job of honoring their commitments than you are, you’re not going to be able to fall back on these excuses for missing your deadlines.

In some cases, the actual time needed for job completions were more than twice as long as the original estimate. If you are doing inside work, this could mean that your customers house is going to be in a state of disarray for quite a long period of time. If you are doing a particular part of the job — let’s say painting — that means that flooring and carpeting cannot be completed until after you finish your task. This can create a snowball effect if you are holding up other contractors working on the same project who will then have to reschedule their contributions.

So, what is the answer? For one, build in a cushion of time that will allow you to make up for unexpected delays. Second, lead your customers. Many entrepreneurs are afraid to let a customer know that if they want a specific product, item, or color, they will have to order it far in advance to make sure it is available when needed to complete the jobs on time.

Third, use your experience. Unless you are brand new in this field, you should have a sense as to how long a particular task is going to take. Go through your records and see how long past projects have taken and how they compared to the original estimates. The more you do this, the more accurate you should become. This is what I referred to as the, “ready, fire, aim” method. You give it your best shot, you stand back and look to see how close you actually came, and then you adjust accordingly.

When you become known for your reliable time estimates, you will become the vendor of choice in your field. And remember, very few people will complain if you finish up a job sooner than you said you would.

“Be congruent in your words and your actions.” – Dave Romeo

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled 8 Qualities That Will Make You a Star. I encourage you to click here to register for the exclusive live Zoom presentation of 8 Qualities That Will Make You a Star on Thursday, February 2, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

Turn Bad News Into Good News

Tue, 10 Jan 2023 14:00:00 GMT

It only takes minutes to do!

It’s happened to all of us. We get started in business or a new job and we want everything to go perfectly, but there’s always that mistake that happens at the worst, possible time. Maybe it’s a customer you’ve been trying to win over for a very long time or someone who was referred to you. It doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is something went wrong, and this is going to affect his or her first impression of you.

But fear not. This does not have to ruin a relationship. In fact, it could have just the opposite effect. The reality that most business owners don’t want to face is this: Most new customers expect to have a problem with your service — especially the first time they work with you. What they really want to find out, though, is how much aggravation, frustration, or inconvenience they will experience when they do have a problem with you and how you handle the situation when something goes wrong.

Many years ago, I was invited to host my seminars in Reading for the very first time. I didn’t have a big following in that area. Ironically, most of my attendees drove from York and Lancaster to attend the seminars in Reading. But I specifically remember how I got my first customer in that area. There was a large fitness club on the same street where the seminar was being presented. I stopped in and left a seminar schedule for the owner, whom I didn’t get to meet when I stopped in. I called him to follow up and he asked me to fax over the seminar flyer.

As luck would have it, the fax would not go through. I kept getting an error message. I called him back and told him what was going on. Instead of being upset, he asked me if I could let him know what the error message read. As it turned out, he was also having problems receiving faxes from his customers. By taking a little time to help him solve that problem, he became grateful enough to listen to what I had to say and started sending his employees to my seminars.

When you are faced with a problem, turn it into an opportunity to demonstrate how you rise to the occasion to make things right and convenient for your customers. Remember, people love to tell and listen to underdog, customer service, success stories. And here’s another secret: If you make the solution fun, they will tell even more people about what you did and how you did it.

Susan Chinault of Calling All Customers has turned listening into an art form. Besides consistently getting great results in sales and appointments for her customers, she’s made communicating with professionalism, manners, and credibility her unique selling proposition. As a result, she’s created a niche where she gets better results for her customers than they do on their own — and the clients love it! All it takes is a willingness to develop a good system and provide customers with a valuable service that you are passionate about delivering.

“Customers that have a problem and then receive an eloquent solution to that problem are more loyal than customers that never had a problem with your business.” – Tom Connellan

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Legendary Customer Service II: How to Make Customer Service Fun. I encourage you to click here to register for my live in person Legendary Customer Service II: How to Make Customer Service Fun seminar on Thursday, January 26, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

How to Master Networking

john@createsocially.com (Dave Romeo) — Tue, 03 Jan 2023 14:00:05 GMT

Measure your referrals.

There is hardly an entrepreneur these days that can’t afford not to be networking — especially in your first year. But when you are getting started and every new sale is so critical, it usually takes a while for people to give you a chance. However, there are some steps you can take to speed up the process and start signing customers.

First, track your referrals. If you’re going to mixers and networking events with the sole purpose of getting new clients, the process will take much longer than you want. A better approach is to go out of your way to start referring the people you meet to other people you meet or already know. Think about it like this. You can’t control how many customers you get from networking, but you can control how many referrals you give out from networking.

As a rule of thumb, I find that for every four referrals I make, I end up with at least one new customer. The reason for this is partially the ratios. It stands to reason that the more referrals you give, the more referrals you will get. But in addition to that, people look at you very differently when they see you as a revenue source than they do when they see you as someone they met at a networking function.

Another major factor in converting your networking contacts into clients is how effective your networking really is. I know many “Master Networkers.” These are people who make networking an art form. They are constantly looking to make connections and refer people they meet to other people that they already know. They don’t expect anything from your efforts, although they almost certainly get business from their networking members.

A big part of becoming a master networker is attend numerous networking events. While you’re there, practice your listening skills and become interested in what other people have to say about themselves and their businesses. The more questions you ask, the more informed you will be, and the easier it will be for you to refer your new contacts to people they should know. Remember, it’s not always about you. When you put others first, they will remember you sooner — especially when it comes to returning the favor.

“It is more blessed something to give, rather than to receive.” – The Acts of the Apostles 20:35

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Become a Master Networker. I encourage you to click here to register for my live in person Become a Master Networker seminar on Thursday, January 19, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at Melhorn Manor in Mount Joy, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Customer Service Can Be Great Fun!

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 13:00:00 GMT

Customer Service Can Be Great Fun!

For you and your customers.

I’m usually amazed when I’m called in to do an in-house training session on customer service by people who seem to dread the task. That’s a foreign concept to me because I love serving customers. I thought everyone did. Obviously, that’s not the case. However, choosing to love serving customers is a decision you should consider before taking a position in the hospitality field.

When I think of customers, I think of people who are saying, “I believe in you and am willing to put my money where my mouth is to demonstrate it.”

When I was 25 years old, I started my own bass fishing tournament business. I had never run a business before and I knew next to nothing about running bass tournaments. I depended on free press releases appearing in local fishing periodicals as my only source of advertising. (They matched my advertising budget perfectly.)

I can still remember the thrill of coming home from my full-time job at lunchtime and running to my mailbox. There would be a handful of envelopes addressed to me from people I didn’t know mailing me checks to enter my fishing tournaments. It was the most uplifting, confidence-building feeling I can ever remember. It was as if these people were saying, “I don’t know who you are, but what you’re offering has great appeal to me and I’m demonstrating that by sending you my money even though we’ve never met. I believe in you.”

Customers do not have to choose us with whom to do business. But when they do, see it as the highest form of complement you can receive from a stranger. It means that they believe in you and your vision. Make them feel like I felt when I opened that mailbox. Let them know how much you truly appreciate that they picked you to buy from and if possible…do it in a memorable and fun way.

“Providing great customer service is the most natural activity in the world. It’s fun to help others because it feels good.” – Kevin Stirtz

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Legendary Customer Service II: How to Make Customer Service Fun! Seminar) I encourage you to click here to register for my Legendary Customer Service II: How to Make Customer Service Fun! seminar on Thursday, January 26, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This seminar will also be available through live streaming.

Friends Versus Customers.

Tue, 13 Dec 2022 13:00:24 GMT

Friends Versus Customers.

There is a difference.

I once unintentionally offended one of my seminar attendees by introducing him as one of my clients. After I had done this and the two of us were speaking alone, he said, “You introduced me as your client but I thought we were friends.” While that was true, I don’t think he understood the real distinction of friends versus customers.

I’ve often thought of friends as people who know your faults but choose to be around you anyway. In my mind, clients are people who know your faults but pay to be around you anyway. That means that I elevate clients to the level of friends who like me enough to allow me to earn a living as a result of our relationship. There is a reverence about clients — especially the ones with whom you go through personal experiences — that almost transcends a friendship.

One of the best ways I know for evaluating the level of intimacy and rapport you have with your customers is to count how many of them you’ve invited into your home. When I think of my best clients, with very few exceptions, almost all of them have been in my house. I enjoy their company and I welcome them in with open arms.

Friendships are one of the greatest rewards in our earthly lives. They help make the challenges and adversities of this world more bearable. But clients who become our friends not only go through difficult times with us but also patronize us so that we can enjoy our livelihood as well as their company.

I challenge you to choose your clients as carefully as you choose your friends.

“Start finding future clients before you have anything to sell them. Get to know these people as friends, not potential customers.” – Keith Ferrazzi

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Become a Master Networker.)
I encourage you to click here to register for my Become a Master Networker seminar on Thursday, January 19, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at Melhorn Manor in Mount Joy, PA. This seminar will also be available through live streaming.

Start Off The New Year Shining!

Tue, 06 Dec 2022 15:58:03 GMT

Start Off The New Year Shining!

Use your star qualities.

I don’t normally make a practice of seeking people out to be coaching clients. This is usually a personal decision that people make on their own. Just like doctors don’t seek out patients but wait for the patients to decide to make an appointment, I always preferred to have my coaching clients let me know when they were interested and ready for that commitment.

However, I recently asked to coach a young man who went into business with one of my existing coaching clients. As luck would have it, he was also looking for coaching at the same time because he wanted to make a good impression on his business partner.

During our first session, which happened to be through Zoom, I asked him if his wife was home. When he told me she was, I asked if she could join us for a few minutes in his session because I wanted her to hear why I wanted to coach him. After she joined him, I said that I didn’t want to coach him because I thought he was going to be a future star. I wanted to coach him because I thought he was going to become a future superstar. I couldn’t tell which one of the two of them was beaming more as I described his good qualities.

First of all, he was an excellent listener. He paid attention, make good eye contact, took plenty of notes, and added to the conversation. Second, he was very personable and approachable. Third, he was very likable and I knew he would make friends easily having such good instant rapport skills. Fourth, he was humble and eager to be a valuable member of his new team.

But what I liked about him most is that he was open. He wanted to learn. He wanted to be better than he was. He was anxiously seeking insights and lessons that would help him to grow personally and professionally. As I said, he had all the makings of a superstar. Chances are you do too. All you have to do is compare your list to the qualities I mentioned above. How are your listening skills? Are you personable and approachable? Do people like you when they meet you? Are you humble? And most importantly, are you open to personal and profession growth? Remember, if you want to have more, you must become more. And that’s how you become a star.

“Being a star just means that you just find your own special place and that you shine where you are.”

– Dolly Parton

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled 8 Qualities That Will Make You a Star) I encourage you to click here to register for my exclusive live Zoom seminar, 8 Qualities That Will Make You a Star on Thursday, February 2, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

Know Your Network.

Tue, 06 Dec 2022 13:19:21 GMT

Know Your Network.

Having been actively networking for many years, there is one thing I’ve learned from going to social mixers: There are networkers and then there are “master networkers.” There are also many people who go to networking events and socialize with the other attendees. For the most part, they tend to be content just saying hello to people who they probably already know, enjoying some cheese and crackers, and perhaps having a glass of wine. This is not really networking. This is called socializing.

Networking is the practice of meeting new people in the hopes of creating business connections either between you and someone you meet or between people you introduce to one another. You may also be connected to someone previously only known to the person you met at the networking function. Now, this is really what networking is all about. But, then there are those “master networkers” I mentioned earlier.

A master networker not only knows more people than the other mixer participants but connects more people as well. Master networkers don’t worry about getting business for themselves. They are so good at networking and introducing others to one another that they get more than their share of business through serendipity. People seek out master networkers because “they seem to know everyone.” If you meet a master networker at a mixer, you will probably get more referrals and introductions from the master networker that all of the other people you meet at the mixer combined. That is because it’s a point of pride for a master networker to build value for other people.

If you want to become a master networker yourself, here are some easy steps to follow. First, get comfortable remembering people’s names. If it doesn’t come naturally to you, you can practice. Use and repeat a person’s name when introducing him or her to someone new. It will make it easier for you. Next, make a point of introducing new contacts to the people you already know. No one likes to feel like an outsider at a mixer. Help the person feel included and he or she will remember you as a rescuer. Third, send a personalized thank-you note to each person you meet at a mixer for the very first time. It’s a great way to stay at the top of someone’s mind even after the mixer is over. This will also put you in a category of one. And fourth, follow up with each person you met for the very first time a couple of days later and ask, “How will I know when I am speaking with someone who would be a good referral for you?” This is a great icebreaker question and will help you continue to network for that new contact even after the mixer is over. The more you do this, the more of your networking contacts will become your clients.

“The richest people in the world look for and build networks, everyone else looks for work.”

– Robert Kiyosaki

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Become a Master Networker.) I encourage you to click here to register for my Become a Master Networker seminar on Thursday, January 19, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at Melhorn Manor in Mount Joy, PA. This seminar will also be available through live streaming.

Set Your Goals And Focus.

Tue, 29 Nov 2022 13:00:09 GMT

Set Your Goals And Focus.

Get ready to soar!

With a brand-new year looming just over a month away, it seems like the perfect time to proactively get a head start on your goals for 2023. If you’ve already been writing your goals down in the past, this is going to be a piece of cake. Let me give you a few pointers that will ensure that you are pleased with your goal-setting results at the end of next year.

Tip number 1: It’s not any harder to do 25 goals than it is to do 10 goals. The first year I started writing my goals down, I only wrote down five. By the end of that year, four of the five goals were done. The second year I wrote down my goals, I started out with 100. By the end of that year, 84 of the goals were completed. Ever since 2006, I’ve consistently set 300 goals every year and completed all of them. If you start out with more goals, and you’re serious about completing them, you will have more of them done by the end of the year than if you only wrote down a few. Be bold and go for the gusto!

Tip number 2: Vary your goals. All of your goals should not be limited to one area — like sales. As the saying goes, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” Why not have some relationship goals, financial goals, spiritual growth goals, and travel goals? Remember, we work to live but we don’t live to work. It’s okay to have some fun too.

Tip number 3: Include a compelling reason. I’ve never found weeding the hill five times to be a fun goal. It’s more about a necessary one. However, my compelling reason has remained the same on every goal list I’ve ever made: My wife deserves better. Weeding the hill is something I can do that she appreciates. It’s good to have a compelling reason that will keep you motivated even if the task itself does not.

Tip number 4: Check your goals off as you complete them. As you see more and more of your goals getting completed, it will create momentum that motivates you to complete the other goals on your list. It also instills a confidence in you that you knowing that you follow through on what you start.

Over the past 20 years, I’ve written down 5,500 goals and I’ve completed 5,500 goals. Goal setting has changed my life in so many positive ways. Now is your chance to do the same with your life. Goal setting is free. All it takes is the knowledge to do it, putting it into action, and following through to completion. There are very few greater gifts you can do for yourself than making a commitment to goal setting.

“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” – Anthony Robbins

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Designing Your Destiny.) I encourage you to click here to watch my Designing Your Destiny seminar video available at Dave Romeo Online University.

You Set The Standard.

Tue, 22 Nov 2022 13:00:07 GMT

You Set The Standard.

Make sure it’s high enough.

When I first started doing seminars, nearly 25 years ago, I made a fascinating observation. Often, after a seminar had run, one of the participants would call me approximately two weeks later full of enthusiasm. They would talk about the incredible breakthroughs they had as a result of taking the seminar and share the successes they’d enjoyed by applying what they learned.

Naturally, I was thrilled to get this feedback. Originally, my thought was, “Wow! I can’t wait to hear how the rest of the participants did.” I was expecting another 20 phone calls detailing similar breakthroughs from the other people who took the same seminar. But sadly, what I realized is that not everyone who gets the information to change their lives is going to act on the information and follow through.

That was a disappointing revelation but it helped me to understand why some people succeed beyond their wildest dreams while others go on to lead lives of mediocrity. The difference comes down to staying power, commitment, and disciplined follow-through.

We all have standards. It’s the level of acceptance for what we will do and be. Naturally, the higher you set your standards, the more you should expect from yourself. That’s not a bad thing. In fact, it can mean all the difference in the levels of success and enjoyment you experience in life. It’s going to affect every relationship you have.

When you are considering someone with whom to spend your life, you want high standards for you and the other person in the areas of honesty, trust, and reliability. You should expect the same thing from your place of employment. Your employer is going to have high standards for you. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t expect high work standards as well.

The most important thing about your own personal standards is that once you set them, live by them. Don’t reduce your standards to settle. That always ends in disappointment. Instead, set them high and seek to exceed them. You will be pleased with yourself and magnify your appeal to others.

“The quality of the leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.” – Ray Kroc

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Survive and Thrive VI: Staying Power .) I encourage you to click here to register for my all new Survive and Thrive VI: Staying Power seminar on Thursday, November 17, 2022 from 8:30 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at Melhorn Manor in Mount Joy, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Who Is Your Boss?

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 13:00:07 GMT

Who Is Your Boss?

Everyone!

While I was going to college, I worked a part-time job at a Chicken Delight franchise location in Westbury, New York on Long Island. I’ve often said that that the education I received while working for that franchise owner was more valuable than the education I received at Nassau Community College. That’s because the lessons I learned from the entrepreneur who owned the franchise taught me about real life business and how to treat customers.

I still remember one of the first lessons Vincent Madonna taught me when I was naïve and very ignorant as to the responsibilities of owning your own business. In a private moment, I asked Vincent, “How does it feel not to have a boss?” I’ll never forget his priceless response. He said, “The dirtiest, smelliest wino who stumbles in here with $0.50 in his pocket and asks to buy a bag of French fries is my boss.”

As a teenager, this was an enlightening moment that clearly helped me to understand that everyone is accountable to someone. Ever since then, I’ve tried to instill that same message into my coaching clients and attendees of my customer service seminars.

As an entrepreneur, you must make sure that you never forget how important it is to treat every customer you serve like your boss. It doesn’t matter how big your organization becomes. Even if you rise to the level of CEO, that doesn’t mean that you stop reporting to anyone to whom you have the privilege of serving. Moving that high up in the ranks doesn’t mean that you are exempt from caring about your customers. It simply means that you have a greater responsibility to more of them than you did when you first started out in business. As the saying goes, “No man stands so tall as when he stoops to help a child.” Don’t forget that leadership is not a perk, but, rather, a privilege and an opportunity to serve others.

“Sometimes one can become lost in a big company and lose sight of how what one does truly helps or impacts the end customer. If you are one of those, think of a fire brigade, a line of people passing buckets of water from one to the other from a source of water to the site of the fire. An individual in the brigade may not be able to see the end result, i.e., the work being thrown on the fire to put it out, but the contribution of the individual is indispensable to the final outcome.” – Grant Bright

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Survive and Thrive in Your Own Business .) I encourage you to click here to watch my Survive and Thrive in Your Own Business seminar video available at Romeo Network Online Learning.

Is Your Private Room Private?

Tue, 08 Nov 2022 13:00:02 GMT

Is Your Private Room Private?

Know your rights!

While visiting my wife in the Lancaster Rehabilitation Hospital, I experienced a showdown with some of the staff. As it turned out, they were under the impression that it was their hospital and that they could just order loved ones around as they pleased. I had a different understanding. After one too many intrusions into my wife’s room, not to provide medical care, but rather, to enforce the hospital’s mask- wearing requirement, I asked the hall monitor a question. “Are you paying for this room?” She said, “No.” I said, “Well, that’s what I thought. In fact, I checked and our insurance company, Aetna, is paying for a private room for my wife. It was my understanding that a private room is supposed to ensure us some privacy.”

The hall monitor didn’t know what to say so she said she would have me speak with someone else. I spoke with the hospital’s CEO Amy Teal. She said that her hospital had the right to discharge my wife or ban me from the hospital. So, I asked her a question. “If I barged into your private bedroom and ordered you to wear a mask, would you put on a mask or would you just be calling the police?”

I’ve often found that when confronted with a “shoe-on-the-other-foot” example, most business owners have a hard time defending their position. What we need to remember is that authority is to be used sparingly and tactfully — and not abused for the benefit of our ego.

In doing research with several other hospitals including Johns Hopkins, what I discovered is most CEOs are very anxious to solve problems; however, a few allow power to go to their heads. As Lord Acton famously said, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

I wonder what the American Civil Liberties Union would have to say about someone barging into a private bedroom and ordering around the participants. It made me imagine what it would be like if some of these hall monitors were working in a prison which allowed conjugal visits. Would they also be running in the cells demanding that the participants wear masks?

Naturally, in society, we have to make sacrifices for the good of the whole. But it’s important to be aware of who’s deciding what’s good for all of us. As Robin Zander once said, “Surrender, but don’t give yourself away.”

“I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” – James Madison

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Survive and Thrive VI: Staying Power. ) I encourage you to click here to register for my all new Survive and Thrive VI: Staying Power seminar on Thursday, November 17, 2022 from 8:30 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at Melhorn Manor in Mount Joy, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Leadership Impacts Every Level.

Tue, 01 Nov 2022 12:00:07 GMT

Leadership Impacts Every Level.

Good or bad.

One of the aspects of being a results coach is occasionally working as a “secret shopper.” This is when you go undercover and pose as a customer to observe what kind of treatment you receive. I’ve always found it very informative and valuable — not only to the employer but also for my own understanding of human nature.

I was recently working with a medical institution where there was an obvious lack of training starting with the frontline employees. They didn’t understand manners, rapport building, problem-solving, or compassion. This can sometimes happen with entry level employees due to a lack of training or poor hiring. It’s crucial to instill your values at every level of your institution.

Unfortunately, in this case, the problem was not a training issue: It was a lack of leadership at the top level. From the frontline employee to the CEO of the organization, the lack of rapport building, problem-solving, and compassion was consistent. What that means is the frontline employee is not as guilty of failing the organization’s mission as the CEO who is condoning and reinforcing this behavior in the organization’s culture.

When you have employees, you have a responsibility to clearly share your vision with everyone in the organization. More than that, everyone must buy into the same set of values and core principles in order for you to deliver a positive experience to your customers. As a leader, this falls squarely on your shoulders. If you fail to do this throughout your organization, your customers, your employees, and your reputation will suffer.

Ironically, I also surveyed a similar medical institution where the level of care was stellar at all levels. I complemented the CEO of the organization for instilling such an incredibly consistent and high level of compassion and service throughout the entire hospital. This was a testament to the CEO’s ability to inspire his staff.

Remember, good or bad, your leadership style is going to permeate throughout your entire facility.

As the saying goes, to whom much is given, much is expected. As a leader, your role is to solve problems and instill in your entire organization what it means to be professional in all situations and at all levels.

“Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.” – Colin Powell

Let me hear from you.

Socialized Medicine Versus Socialist Medicine.

Tue, 25 Oct 2022 12:00:03 GMT

Socialized Medicine Versus Socialist Medicine.

Don’t give your freedoms away.

In recent years, we have been told that socialized medicine is a good thing, yet people — wealthy enough to do so — continue to flock to the United States from countries that offer socialized medicine. They do so because the quality of care is higher in a privatized society and, in many cases, they don’t qualify for the treatment they need in their own countries.

There are very few countries in the world, besides the United States, where people will risk their lives to hole up in the hull of a ship for weeks or even months at a time or risk capsizing into shark-infested waters on makeshift rafts for the chance of reaching American shores. That is because the quality of life in the United States is much higher than it is in many other countries. It is the land of opportunity and it offers many freedoms. Unfortunately, many of those freedoms are not only being taken away from us — some are being surrendered unconditionally by people who fear retribution from the government.

During my wife’s stay at the Lancaster Rehabilitation Hospital, I got into a heated argument with a bathroom attendant/hall monitor/respiratory nurse who was giving me a hard time about not wearing a mask in my wife’s private bedroom. I quoted the CDC secretary who said it was not required for me to wear a mask but the hall monitor said it was the hospital’s policy to have everyone wear a mask. She said that they were trying to protect my wife. I said, “So am I.” She asked me what I was protecting my wife from. I said, “Socialism.”

She was not alone when this exchange took place. There was another hospital employee in the room who was also wearing a mask. I asked them both, “If you are wearing masks and the masks really work, why do I need to wear one too? And if the masks don’t work, why do you need to wear them?” The hall monitor just replied, “It’s our policy and I’m just following my instructions.” By the way, ironically, my wife was not required to wear a mask in her private bedroom.

While this is a debate that will, no doubt, go on for quite some time, I’ve always dug in my heels when it comes to giving up freedoms that American patriots gave their lives to preserve for us today. As political historian Alexis de Tocqueville once said, “Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.” Remember that any country big enough to give you everything you want is also powerful enough to take away everything you have — including your freedom.

“The reason this country continues to drift toward socialism and big nanny government is because too many people vote in the expectation of getting something for nothing, not because they have a concern for what is good for the country.” – Lyn Nofzinger

Let me hear from you.

Do You Have Staying Power?

Tue, 18 Oct 2022 12:00:00 GMT

Do You Have Staying Power?

How to handle tough times.

One of the dilemmas that entrepreneurs struggle with is that they must be optimistic about their chances for success while, at the same time, be realistic enough to expect that there will be major hurdles and challenges along the way. The reason this is so important is because optimism gets knocked down very quickly when it meets with repeated adversity. Having a clear understanding that all successes come with their own sets of obstacles is an ideal way to have the staying power to withstand them.

I have now been running my seminar and coaching business for nearly ¼ of a century. In that time, I faced the loss of both parents, a potential lawsuit from a previous employer, a board member who absconded with $50,000 worth of donations for our church, a court battle with a delinquent customer, and a near-death experience of my wife. While these are my personal setbacks, all of us have faced the realities of 9/11 and an unforeseen pandemic.

The point is, we are all going to face many setbacks on our way to success. We need to be armed with strategies to face them. Whenever you are hit with a severe setback, I highly recommend that you allow yourself one day to feel bad. Take the full 24 hours to stew, complain, and reflect. You’ll probably want to avoid speaking with any clients because you will not come across at your best. Go for a jog, chop some wood, do some weeding. Find an activity that will allow you to just be alone with your thoughts and collect yourself. Tomorrow is another day. Once you allow yourself a little bit of distance from the setback, it will be a lot easier to get past.

If you’re dealing with an issue that is more severe — like the loss of a close loved one, you’re going to need more time to get over it. One of the best things you can do for yourself is lean on your network of contacts who may be able to help you through the difficult time.

When my wife was in the hospital for two solid months, I received numerous phone calls from friends, family, networking acquaintances, and clients all wanting to pitch in and do whatever they could to help. For the most part, I could handle most of the day-to-day activities on my own. However, there were a handful of people who were indispensable during that difficult time. This just drives home the importance of developing your networking in good times so that if you need them through a rough patch, you know where to turn.

Hardships will come. That’s certain. Building up your network and staying in good contact with them will insure that when you need to lean on someone else, there’ll be a shoulder waiting for you to lay your head.

“It’s not that I am so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” – Albert Einstein

Let me hear from you.

The Power To Keep Going.

Tue, 11 Oct 2022 12:00:00 GMT

The Power To Keep Going.

Harness your staying power.

Having run a seminar and coaching business for more than 20 years, I’m always so amazed by the people who have been with me from the beginning and continue to be my clients today. Yet, it’s interesting to see that I am no longer in contact with many of the people with whom I started out. I’ve always tried to figure out what separated the ones that came for a season from the ones that stayed the distance.

One observation is the people who keep going seem to be resilient. It’s not that they don’t get hit hard by life’s adversities. It’s just that they’ve learned how to better weather the storm. That often happens when you can be there for a person who is going through a rough patch of road. Resiliency, as it turns out, is a crucial component of staying power.

A second observation is that adversity tends to connect us to one another. When someone is going through a very serious time, the fact that you are willing to go through it with them creates an unbreakable bond that keeps you going after the crisis has passed. If you think of your closest friends, reflect back over some of the biggest adversities you’ve gone through and see if they have been the formation that has solidified your friendship.

A third observation about longevity in business seems to be that the line between client and friend gets erased. Your best clients are probably not going to be the who have never experienced a problem with you but, rather, the ones for whom you went to the mat with and rose above the adversity together.

Friendships and clients come in all different shapes and sizes. But the quality of your life is best reflected by the quality and longevity of your relationships. Bonding with these special people in your life is what increases your staying power.

“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” – Dale Carnegie

Let me hear from you.

Don’t Back Down From Bullies.

Tue, 04 Oct 2022 12:00:04 GMT

Don't Back Down From Bullies.

Don’t back down from bullies.

Live with courage!

If you’ve been reading my blogs regularly this year, then you’ve noticed that I’ve had a run in with a hospital in which I felt that the treatment I received was very disrespectful, intimidating, and unprofessional. One might think, “What can you do about it? You are an individual and you’re taking on an enormous, multimillion-dollar medical giant that probably doesn’t care at all what you think.” It’s important to learn that, in life, you will be facing your share of giants. They tend to be bigger than you and scarier than you. But that’s not a reason to back down.

When I was in elementary school, I had to stay after school for an hour every day for a year in order to avoid bullies who didn’t like that I reported the ringleader for taking a bite out of my sandwich when I left my seat in the cafeteria. What I learned from that experience was that while I had a right to do what I did, it also came with severe consequences. Ever since then, I’ve used that lesson to my advantage.

When I took on the medical hospital, I was already working with the CEO who had no interest in what I had to say. I felt as if I had nowhere else to turn to get satisfaction. However, one lesson I have learned in life is that everyone is accountable to someone. In looking over the hospital’s website, I learned who was on the hospital board. Two of the board members were known to me — including the chairman of the board. I wrote him a polite letter, again thanking him for the excellent service his own hospital had provided my wife and me. I also explained that I was in need of some direction. I told him that I had received zero cooperation from the CEO of the other hospital and asked if he had any suggestions on what to do next.

Within a few days, I received a call from a very polite and professional woman from the hospital in which I had had the dispute. She asked for clarification on what happened. I was thorough and meticulous — using references from numerous notes and research I had done to pursue this action. She was an excellent listener who patiently paid attention to everything I had to say and asked many additional questions.

When we were done, she personally apologized and validated my feelings, saying that I had every right to be upset with the way we were treated. She promised to review the situation with the CEO and the appropriate people and follow-up with me. She asked me what else I wanted. I explained that I had received what I wanted because she listened to me, heard what I had to say, and made me feel important and respected. I also said that had she and I spoke the first time there was an incident, that probably would’ve been the end of it.

By taking these actions, she prevented the hospital from receiving numerous additional consequences in the form of investigations, inspections, potential legal action, and enormous, negative publicity. When you take on a bully, remember that everyone has a vulnerability. You just have to discover what it is and have the courage to stand up for what’s right. And remember that everyone is accountable to someone.

“The bigger they come, the harder they fall.” – Classic proverb

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Survive and Thrive VI: Staying Power .) I encourage you to click here to register for my all new Survive and Thrive VI: Staying Power seminar on Thursday, November 17, 2022 from 8:30 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time an Melhorn Manor in Mount Joy, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

To Thine Own Self Be True.

Tue, 27 Sep 2022 12:00:18 GMT

To Thine Own Self Be True.

Live with integrity.

Never underestimate how important keeping your word is to a prospect or a customer. One thing that has come clear to me over the past 34 years is that when you are just starting out with an idea for writing a book, most publishers will not give you the time that day. In fact, most of them will not even take a manuscript submission unless you have a literary agent representing you. However, having now published more than 20 books, I get calls from publishers every week trying to sell me a marketing package.

I always try to be respectful when people call me because I appreciate it when I make my sales calls. But I have noticed that some people are better at this than others. During one recent week, I was in contact with three different publishers. The first one went through the normal steps, telling me that it’s a good idea for me to republish one of my older books because there’s a new audience online waiting to discover it. I explained that all of my books are already profitable. I’m not interested in investing heavily in a book that’s been out for 10 to 17 years — especially when I have new books coming out all the time. I also explained that most of my customers are buying seminars and pick up the books as an additional purchase to take home from the event. Between having a television series for five years and presenting seminars for the past 24, there’s very little additional marketing that I need to do in order to sell books.

This first publisher was very understanding of the circumstances and did not do a hard sell to change my mind. A second publisher called that was bound and determined to get me to sign up for his republishing marketing plan. I did explain that I was not interested in paying any additional money for my older books. He assured me that there would be no cost to me. I asked him a second time to clarify and he said there would be no charge. I then said to him, “Then how does your company make any money?” He said, “There’s no charge for step one. After we design your new book cover then there will be a marketing charge to promote your book.”

I wasn’t surprised about the charge however; I was disappointed in the deception. After having spoken with him for more than 25 minutes, I told him to please mark in his records to indicate that I am not interested today, tomorrow, next week, next year, or ever in his services and that he should not call me anymore.

Ironically, I received a second call that same day from another publisher who was very respectful and asked me a few questions about my business and book plans. I explained the same information to him that I did to the other publishers. He was polite and professional. I actually enjoyed speaking with him. Since I was pressed for time, I complimented him on his approach and invited him to call me again in the future if he had something that was in line with the specific guidelines I shared with him.

Prospects are skeptical; they evaluate everything — especially from a first-time interaction. When you’re calling on prospects, make sure that your word is your bond. Never deceive or try to trick a prospect into buying from you. The consequences will be severe and long-lasting. Say what you mean and mean what you say.

“Integrity is choosing your thoughts and actions based on values rather than personal gain.”

– Anonymous

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Winning with Integrity ) I encourage you to click here to watch my Winning with Integrity seminar video available at Romeo Network Online University.

How To Keep Customers Happy.

Tue, 20 Sep 2022 12:00:08 GMT

How To Keep Customers Happy.

Create customers for life.

In last week’s blog, I’m spoke to you about firing your customers. Now, let’s talk about keeping them for life. As you know, customers come with all different preferences and dispositions. What pleases one customer may not please another. That’s why it’s important to remember that when it comes to satisfying your patrons, one size fits one.

But what all customers do have in common is that they all enjoy being made to feel important and special when they are buying from someone. Granted, some online businesses have been able to get by without the benefit of any personal, human interaction. However, this is limited to companies who have invested wisely in making sure that they have designed out the flaws in their system so that their customers’ experience will be a positive one. This is an enormous and expensive undertaking. If you decide to go this route, be willing to invest heavily upfront to make sure that you are not going to be frustrating your customers because your system does not work as well as they expect it to.

For those of you that are dealing with customers in a person-to-person style, the classics will still apply. Smile when you greet your customers for the very first time. Ask them questions that will help you make sure that they get exactly what they want and are satisfied with the results. If appropriate and possible, ask them how they will be using your products. Not only will this improve your customers’ experience with you, but it will deepen the relationship so that your customers will want to continue to come back to you in the future, knowing that you are already familiar with their needs and wants.

If you think about your favorite restaurant, supermarket, or store where you enjoy shopping, you will probably recognize that the people who work there are following at least some of these recommendations. There’s no reason that you can’t offer them to your customers as well.

“Only happy customers come back.” – Stew Leonard

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled The Fine Art of Getting Lifelong Customers ) I encourage you to click here to register for my exclusive live The Fine Art of Getting Lifelong Customers seminar on Thursday, October 20, 2022 at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time. This seminar will also be available through live streaming.

Fire Your Customer!

Tue, 13 Sep 2022 12:00:00 GMT

Fire Your Customer!

Sometimes you should.

Recently, I was working with one of my coaching clients who runs his own website development business. He was facing a dilemma. He had a customer who was giving him a lot of grief. He had built the customer’s website as he was contracted to do but the customer wanted more. He always blamed the website developer for anything that went wrong. He was constantly asking for additional services that were not in their agreement. And he would continuously call the developer to get status updates — preventing the website developer from actually being able to work on the website.

In addition, the customer was a bit paranoid about the information on his website and so he locked out the website developer from being able to work on the entire site. It wasn’t a comfortable situation for either party.

After listening to his frustration, I explained to my coaching client that sometimes you need to fire your customer. The best way to do this is to apologize to the customer. You might want to say something like, “I personally apologize that I was not able to successfully provide you with the level of service you deserve. In fairness to you, I encourage you to find someone with whom you will have a greater level of satisfaction and who will deliver the work exactly the way you want it. Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to serve you and I wish you nothing but success in the future.”

I also recommend that if you are going to refer a customer to someone else, make sure that you provide him with more than one option. If you only suggest one vendor, he is surely to complain about that one as well and, naturally, it will be your fault for being the person who referred him to that vendor. If you give your client several options, it’s up to him to make the selection.

Just remember that when you say, “Good-bye,” to the wrong customers, it will allow you more time to say, “Hello,” to the right ones.

“You must fire bad customers just as you would fire a bad employee. If you do not get rid of your bad employees, the good employees will leave. If I do not fire bad customers, not only will my good customers leave but many of my good employees will leave as well.” – Robert Kiyosaki

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled The Fine Art of Saying, “No!” ) I encourage you to click here to register for my exclusive live Zoom The Fine Art of Saying, “No!” seminar on Thursday, October 13, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

Better Communication = More Sales.

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 12:00:01 GMT

Better Communication = More Sales.

All sales is communication.

One of the first lessons I try to impart to a new coaching client who is interested in improving sales is that all sales is communication. In other words, the better one gets at communicating information to a buyer, the more sales that he or she will close.

This is a fundamental principle that I teach in The Sales Academy. I always start out by explaining that there are two principles of human nature that drive all of us. They are the need to gain pleasure and the need to avoid pain. This is a simple lesson to understand; virtually everyone with whom I share it grasps this concept.

In The Sales Academy, I go on to say that, “Your ability to sell is in direct proportion to your ability to effectively communicate how what you sell will help your customers either gain pleasure or avoid pain.” There are two key words in this sentence that are crucial in order for it to be valid. For your convenience, I’ve underlined them in the statement above. They are in “direct” and “effectively.”

When I say direct proportion, it means that it is not a sometimes thing. It is guaranteed. If you are a poor communicator, then you will be a poor sales person. If you are a great communicator, you will be a great salesperson.

Similarly, when I say effectively communicate, I mean that you are getting your message across clearly to your prospect. Another way to say this is to communicate “in the language of the listener.” The best way to do this is to speak as if you are talking to an eight-year-old child. Avoid using jargon, technical terms, and unfamiliar acronyms. You don’t want to lose your prospects’ attention by having them drift off trying to understand what you just said. Don’t make your message longer. Just make it clearer.

Since prospects are, by nature, a bit skeptical of new salespeople, the more you hone your skills as a great communicator, the sooner you will be winning over new customers.

“Sellers who listen to buyers carefully and then give them the missing ingredients — those are the ones who stand out.” – Deb Calvert

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my 5-part series entitled The Sales Academy .) I encourage you to click here to register for my exclusive live Zoom The Sales Academy program which will be held on five consecutive Friday mornings, on October 7, October 14, October 21, October 28, and November 4, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

Committed To Leadership

Tue, 30 Aug 2022 12:00:00 GMT

Committed To Leadership.

Stay the course.

For a couple of years, I kept listening to one of my seminar attendees complaining about all of his employee issues. He would constantly be telling me about how hard it was to find good people and about how disappointed he was with the people who he decided to hire. Most of them came and went after only a short period of time and so he was also frustrated by having to repeatedly training new people to do the same job.

While none of his issues were unusual (just ask anyone who has employees), what was unusual was that he signed up to take The Leadership Academy in order to solve these problems and then missed virtually every class. When one is committed to leadership, it’s not something that you can turn on and off like a light switch. It’s a never-ending journey through which you will continuously be challenged and provided with opportunities to solve new problems.

It’s very important to remember that if you are rolling out a new company directive in your business, you will have to be committed to it before your employees are. When you decide to enter into a new program, you can’t stop halfway through. If you give up on it, you will lose all your credibility and anything you try after that will be viewed as just the latest “flavor of the month” by your employees.

The key is to check out what you’re considering in advance. If you’re considering a leadership program, go and visit some place where it’s already in use at another facility so that you can ask the end-users what they think of the process. These are usually very expensive undertakings so you owe it to yourself to do your due diligence before investing a dump truck full of money into a program.

Think of your leadership program as a diet. There are all kinds of diets but the one that works the best is the one to which you are the most committed. The same is true with leadership programs. Don’t start one if you don’t intend to see it through.

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” – John C. Maxwell

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my 5-part series entitled The Leadership Academy. ) I encourage you to click here to register for The Leadership Academy program which will be held on five consecutive Tuesday mornings, on October 4, October 11, October 18, October 25, and November 1, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time. This program will be presented partially in person at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA (for classes 1, 3, and 5) and on Zoom for the other classes.

Creating A Strategy For Success

Tue, 23 Aug 2022 12:00:01 GMT

Creating A Strategy For Success.

How to pick a plan.

The Leadership Academy program that I present has now been running for more than 10 years. A lot of the material was written before it started, although there have been some additional concepts added over the last decade. When you present any body of work that is over 10 years old, there’s a good likelihood that you will not remember everything that’s in it.

Recently, I was presenting The Leadership Academy once again when I noticed that one of the original lessons jumped out at me. It had been in there the entire length that the program has been offered, yet I didn’t realize the significance of it before.

The lesson was taken from a military leader who said that in every battle circumstance, there are two plans: A plan that won’t work and a plan that might work. The leader’s job is to take a plan that might work and make sure that it does work.

As I was preparing to present this lesson, I finally realized the brilliance of this statement. So often, business owners will waste all of their energy and time trying to make a plan that will work, work. Instead, they should be taking a plan that might work and figuring out a way to make sure that it will work. Have you been doing this in your business?

There are very few problems in life that cannot be solved. If you cannot solve a problem on your own, you can seek out the wisdom of a more experienced business associate in your field or a business coach. You can delve into books on the topic. You can research what other experts have to say on the Internet. There is no shortage of resources for a resourceful person who is serious about solving a problem. Learn to be open to the possibilities of what might work and you just might end up being the person other business owners turn to in order to help solve their problems.

“Plans are nothing; planning is everything.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

Let me hear from you.

How About Some Care For The Caregivers?

Tue, 16 Aug 2022 12:00:16 GMT

How About Some Care For The Caregivers?

Expert advice from medical specialist Doni Smith

A caregiver is someone who has provided care to an adult or a child with special needs for a few months or for several years. The aging population will force more adult children, spouses, relatives, and friends into caregiving roles.

According to Caregiving in the U.S. 2020 , a report from the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, 21.3 percent of U.S. adults are caregivers, the aging population will force more adult children, spouses, relatives, and friends into caregiving roles.

Most people become caregivers when a loved one needs help. So what can you do when you find you are spending more time assisting with daily activities and reminding your loved one of appointments and medications? You also notice that you are not as active as you had been. You are taking on more household and financial responsibilities, are employed, and have your own health concerns. It’s getting to be overwhelming. How you are going to manage all of your responsibilities and still keep your health?

First thing, recognize that you are not a super person, and that’s okay.

While it is great to be a caregiver, do not lose sight of the fact that you must take care of yourself first. If not, how well will you be able to care for another?

Do not be afraid to ask for help.

Seek out resources for caregiver support!

Being a caregiver can be very rewarding. Learning to care for yourself while being a caregiver puts you in a position to be the best that you can be while providing supportive care to a loved one.

“You really can change the world if you care enough.”

– Marian Wright Edelman

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from Doni Smith’s all seminar entitled Caring For The Care Givers. ) I encourage you to click here to register for Doni Smith’s live, in person Caring For The Care Givers seminar on Thursday, September 29,, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Are You Profitable?

Tue, 09 Aug 2022 12:00:00 GMT

Are You Profitable?

Do you even know?

It is interesting how often a salesperson will brag about how big a contract that they just sold is but never mention how much profit they make. Often, it’s because the sales number is bigger than the profit number and thus more impressive; but, more likely, the salesperson may not even know how much the profit was. Sadly, if you don’t know if you’ve made a profit, who’s to even say that you did?

Profit is like the applause one gets for successfully negotiating a sale. You’re supposed to have a profit and if you don’t have one, your business will not be around for long. Some people feel guilty about charging more than a job costs but the reality is that if you do not do this, you’re not in sales and you probably won’t be in business.

A successful employer has a responsibility to the stakeholders to make sure that sales are profitable and that the business can be sustained so that employees can enjoy a living from their contributions. If you don’t know how to calculate your profits, find someone who does. A business coach or someone who has been in your line of work for a long time should be able to give you some accurate guidelines.

Understand that a business can survive longer with no business that it can with unprofitable business. Unless you take steps to make sure that you are profitable, you will not have a business to run. Remember, in all industries you will have high-end companies that charge significantly more than the other competition (like Rolls-Royce, Harley-Davidson, Learjet, and the Ritz-Carlton.) These businesses pride themselves on high profitability and back it up with quality and service. There’s no reason that you can’t do the same in your industry.

“Sales are for vanity. Profits are for sanity.” – Source unknown

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Survive and Thrive III: Increasing Cash Flow, Sales, and Profits. ) I encourage you to click here to register for my exclusive live Zoom Survive and Thrive III: Increasing Cash Flow, Sales, and Profits seminar on Thursday, October 6, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

Unlock The Key To Great Public Speaking

Tue, 02 Aug 2022 13:00:03 GMT

Unlock The Key To Great Public Speaking

Expert advice from Diane Dayton of Dayton Communications

We present in everything that we do! When we record a presentation, a short video, or leave a voice message, does the presentation reflect who we are and what we are really trying to communicate? I know often in a recording it’s not easy to listen to yourself or to watch yourself, but it is key to understanding how you come across. The more you know about how you present, the better prepared you are for giving a more accurate and authentic presentation, one that more readily connects with your audience of one or many!

The volume, phrasing, emphasis, articulation, and tone of your voice all come into play when you leave a voice message and, in fact, they are everything! When you do a video or live presentation, your voice is a big part of your presentation, often setting the stage for a “tune in” or a “tune out.” Adding your gestures, posture, movement, and even your attire will help “color” your message. We draw conclusions based on all these factors and others will draw them about us as well. It’s important to understand how and why we draw certain conclusions and what will help us send the message we want to get across.

It sounds like a lot to think about and a lot of work, right? Well, it can be, but it can also be fun! It can be eye opening when you really delve into these “things” – your voice, your mannerisms, and your overall presentation. You have an opportunity to really get to know yourself better in the process and that is a really good thing. You become more self-aware. You can become a more authentic communicator and able to connect and build quality relationships in business and in life with family and friends.

We examine these areas of communication in my Public Speaking Academy with a focus on your individuals needs and goals. Perhaps you want to work on a video or podcast presentation, or maybe you need to leave voice messages on a regular basis. We work on getting to know your strengths as well as things you would like to work on in a safe and supportive environment. We will record and listen; then view and learn. The goal is to be comfortable with your communication skills and have these good skills become second nature! Your presentation and your voice can be two of your strongest assets!

“If I went back to college again, I’d concentrate on two areas: learning to write and to speak before an audience.”

– D. H. Lawrence

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from Diane Dayton’s extremely popular 4-part series entitled Public Speaking Academy. ) I encourage you to click here to register for Diane Dayton’s live, in person Public Speaking Academy on four consecutive Fridays (September 9, 16, 23, and 30, 2022) from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA.

Go Big Or Go Home

Tue, 26 Jul 2022 12:00:05 GMT

Go Big Or Go Home.

How to close when it counts.

One of my coaching clients mentioned yesterday that he was facing a dilemma. He knew that one of his prospects desperately needed his service but that the prospect was hesitant about working with him. My client said that he knew the prospect could afford his service but did not see the value. He asked me if I had any suggestions.

I suggested that he use “The Can’t Miss Close” to win his prospect over. He didn’t know exactly what this close was, but he agreed that it sounded like it was exactly what he needed. As I explained to him, The Can’t Miss Close is used when you have a lot riding on the outcome of the sale. You wouldn’t use it to sell a newspaper or a book. It works best when used sparingly and on big ticket items.

This close was developed to help convince undecided prospects of the value of the service. In order for it to work, it requires you to involve three of your clients who can act as raving fans for the same service when speaking to your prospect. Obviously, you wouldn’t tie up the time of three of your customers to sell a box of nails or a dozen donuts but you might use it if the prospect is interested in purchasing the same recreational vehicle, yacht, or coaching services.

The idea is to have enthusiastic customers talk directly to your prospect and tell him or her about the great experiences they’ve had from buying your product or service. The closer they are to having used what your prospect is considering, the more effective the close will be.

Naturally, there are a lot of nuances involved with this close but the bottom line is it works remarkably well — especially for closing undecided prospects who need a gentle nudge and a little bit of peace of mind in order to say, “Yes.”

“Closing in business is always opening relationships.” – John Di Lemme

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Anyone Can Sell VI: Mastering the ‘Can’t-Miss’ Close. ) I encourage you to click here to register for my exclusive live Anyone Can Sell VI: Mastering the ‘Can’t-Miss’ Close seminar on Thursday, September 8, 2022 at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time. This seminar will also be available through live streaming.

Invest In Others

Tue, 19 Jul 2022 12:00:04 GMT

Invest In Others.

Why you should coach.

Recently, I met a man at a networking event who became a very good customer in a short period of time. When I met him, he was at a crossroads in his life. His wife had just suffered from a life-threatening illness and fortunately survived. He was working at a job where he didn’t respect his new supervisor and was questioning what his next move should be.

We talked on several occasions and I offered him as much help as I could. Eventually, he decided to move on in his career and work somewhere else where he felt more appreciated. Since the move, most of his feedback has been very positive although his new job has come with several challenges. One day while the two of us were talking, he said that he felt funny calling me for advice and help when he couldn’t afford my coaching services. I explained to him that, when I got started, I had been befriended by a 70-year-old man who happened to be the chairman of the board of Sterling Publishing.

As a result of his kindness to me, I got my first book contract and he personally edited my first two books. He did this out of the goodness of his heart and made an enormous difference in my life by becoming a mentor and an encourager. Had it not been for his choice to go out of his way to help a 25-year-old nobody, I’d never have published over 20 books. This was my way of honoring his belief in me — by paying it forward to others.

I also mentioned that I had made many sacrifices and put up with a lot of unpleasantness over the course of my life in order to be in a situation where I could help someone just because I wanted to without having to ask anybody else’s permission to do so.

Coaching allows you the opportunity and privilege of touching others people’s lives and creating a positive impact in his or her future direction. Often, it’s just a few words or observations that get the person headed in the right direction and make all the difference in their success.

There are few things more rewarding than seeing someone you coached start believing in his or herself and achieving a goal – knowing that you played a small role in that success. Remember, you can’t help improve somebody else’s life without improving your own at the same time. And one thing I’ve learned from more than 24 years of coaching is that no one gets more from coaching than the coach.

“I absolutely believe that people, unless coached, never reach their maximum capabilities.”

– Bob Nardelli

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Inspired Leadership VI: Coaching and Mentoring Mastery. ) I encourage you to click here to register for my exclusive live Zoom Inspired Leadership VI: Coaching and Mentoring Mastery seminar on Thursday, August 25, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

How To Uncover Your Blind Spots

Tue, 12 Jul 2022 12:00:03 GMT

How To Uncover Your Blind Spots.

Know thyself!

The best professional athletes on the planet all have coaches. The coach’s job is not to be better than the athlete. The coach needs to be more aware than the athlete in order to be of service. What a coach does is observe objectively as to what the athlete or client is currently doing. The coach assesses what he or she sees and makes recommendations.

It often only takes a little observation to see how you can help the client improve. Frequently, the client only needs a little bit of tweaking or adjusting in order to get better results. The problem is that it’s very difficult for the client to know what to improve without having the observation of another party.

For example, when I started coaching, I was working with a salesman in the landscaping field. I watched him do his sales presentation and noticed that every time he came to mentioning the price, he would wince. It looked like he was winking as he was stating the price. When he was done with his presentation, I shared this observation with him. He was completely unaware that he was doing it.

The following week, the same salesperson came back for his next coaching session and did his sales presentation again. He did not wince once during his entire 90-minute coaching session. I asked him how he pulled that off. He said that after I had shared with him my observation, he went home and watched himself in a mirror while he did his sales presentation. He said that he saw what I was talking about and realized that it might be off-putting to a prospect and so he worked on eliminating it.

Within a year’s time, he became the first person in his company’s history to do over $1 million in sales in one year. The benefit of having someone else observe what he was already doing and calling his attention to it allowed him the opportunity to decide that he didn’t like what he saw and to do something differently. The result was a significant increase in his sales numbers.

If you’re not sure how you are coming across when interacting with prospects, coworkers, customers, or employees, you might want to get a business coach who can observe you and give you some objective feedback on how you are doing. Only after you know where your blind spots are, can you decide what to do to improve them.

“Self-awareness is how you decide what you can and want to change and what you should accept.”

– Source unknown

Let me hear from you.

Are You A Problem Solver Or Just A Problem?

Tue, 05 Jul 2022 12:00:02 GMT

Are You A Problem Solver Or Just A Problem?

Accountability counts.

One of the most important lessons that every leader needs to remember is that your number one activity is to solve problems. These will come in all different variations. You will need to repeatedly communicate your message in case people have a problem remembering it. You’ll need to remove obstacles that are preventing your people from carrying out your vision. You’ll need to address issues with your staff to prevent dissension and apathy from creeping into your ranks.

I once had a problem with a hall monitor at the Lancaster Rehabilitation Hospital in Lancaster, PA. It seems that there was a power-play going on and the hall monitor/bathroom attendant was insisting that I wear a mask in my wife’s private bedroom. I explained that the room was private and that she hadn’t been invited in to harass me. I know that sometimes power goes to people’s heads and so I said I would like to talk to the CEO Amy Teal — whose name I had seen in the hospital’s brochure. I thought for sure, anyone who had risen to the level of CEO would be a master problem solver.

The hall monitor got the CEO on the phone for me. I attempted to look for a solution with her but instead, I discovered that she was a source of the problem. She was also more interested in exercising her power and policy then in hearing me. Even though I read to her a quote from the CDC stating that I was not required to wear a mask, she decided to put her foot down and enforce her authority. Fearing that if I blatantly disregarded her rules, she might retaliate against my wife who was stuck there for another four weeks, I decided to go along with her demands — with one stipulation.

I explained to the CEO Teal that I teach people about leadership and customer service for a living. I am always looking for good examples of poor leadership and poor customer service to serve as some of the “before stories” in my seminars, books, and blogs. Ms. Teal seemed undeterred and said that I should just do whatever I feel I need to do. I don’t believe she understood the magnitude of her decision, but I did. Remember that we all must be accountable to someone and that our actions have consequences.

When you’re put in charge of an organization or a group of people, you are going to be held accountable for the actions of the entire group. If you fail to prepare them on how to solve the problem, you will become a problem that will affect your organization’s reputation and good name. If you are in the public eye, this is even more important advice to heed because the consequences will be much further reaching than if you just owned a private business. There are board members, donors, and inspectors who will also be interested in how you conduct yourself. When it comes to problem-solving, remember to focus on the solutions instead of being part of the problem.

“Life isn’t about living without problems. Life is about solving problems.” – Tom Krause

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled The Fine Art of Problem Solving ) I encourage you to click here to register for my all new, exclusive live The Fine Art of Problem Solving seminar on Thursday, August 4, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at Melhorn Manor in Mount Joy, PA. The seminar will also be available through live streaming.

Be Prepared To Close

Tue, 28 Jun 2022 12:00:07 GMT

Be Prepared To Close.

Always!

I recently went to a networking function where I was sitting very close to the host. He was talking to a man whom he was hoping to get to sponsor his television series. The man kept going back and forth on whether or not he was going to sponsor the show. He said that even though it wasn’t a lot of money, he was hoping to get his company to pay for it. He also said he wasn’t sure how much business he would get from the sponsorship even though he wanted to support the show. He thought that being brought on the show as an expert might help his career, but he didn’t know for sure.

As I sat there listening to this man who was on the verge of saying, “Yes,” go back and forth, a funny thing happened. The host never asked him for the sale. The conversation fizzled and the two of them just started talking with two different people. I couldn’t believe how close the host was to getting the sale when he just gave up.

What I learned from that experience is that many salespeople don’t realize how near they are to getting a “Yes,” when they give up on a prospect. There’s no sense in starting your sales pitch if you don’t intend to close. It’s the icing on the cake.

A good way to prevent making the same mistake is to make sure that you start with the end in mind. Ask yourself, “Am I interested in getting this person to be my customer or not?” If you’re serious about getting a new customer, then treat your sales presentation seriously. The way you do this is to ask a validation question before the close. You could say something such as, “It sounds like you agree that whether or not your company is going to pay for this, it’s still a worthwhile endeavor. You already said you have the money and that you would like to support the show. I’d like you to be part of it as well. Do you agree that you would enjoy being part of the show even if your company doesn’t pay for it?” If the prospect agrees, you could say, “Well, then can I please confirm you as a sponsor and if your company reimburses you, that will just be icing on the cake?”

When it comes to closing, the key is to finish what you start. It’s the only way to get the results you want. Now, why am I hungry for cake?

“Never confuse activity with accomplishment.” – Lori Richardson

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled The Psychology of Selling VI: Close Like a Master. ) I encourage you to click here to register for my exclusive live Zoom The Psychology of Selling VI: Close Like a Master seminar on Thursday, July 28, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

Are You Resilient?

Tue, 21 Jun 2022 12:00:02 GMT

Are You Resilient?

How to solve problems.

If there’s one thing that most entrepreneurs can agree on, it’s that owning your own business will give you plenty of opportunities to solve problems. Some people work great up until the point they reach a problem. For some, it derails them. For others, it frustrates them and for others, it just slows them down for a time. There are even some people for whom problems motivate them. They love looking for answers and solutions. In which one of these groups do you belong?

One of the most powerful qualities of successful problem solvers is resiliency. Resiliency is defined as the ability to recover from or adjust easily to adversity or change. A big part of using resiliency to your advantage is accepting the fact that things are not going to go your way in the first place. It seems that most people start out with idealistic optimism until they encounter a problem. Resilient people anticipate problems and expect them. When these people hit a bump in the road, they are ready for it, minimalize its impact, and keep right on rolling along.

If problems derail you when you experience them, ask yourself why you didn’t anticipate them in the first place. As John Maxwell says, “You’re allowed to be surprised once. After that, you’re just unprepared.”

You can train yourself to be resilient by practicing problem-solving. I once interviewed a young woman whose older brother would come home from school every day before her and plant a virus in her computer and then shut it off. Her job was to turn it on, figure out what he did, and then learn how to remove it. She became an excellent at troubleshooting computer problems.

You can do the same thing in your field of expertise. Have someone practice with you by throwing potential problems at you for you to solve. After you’ve come up with a solution, the two of you can brainstorm on how practical your solution was. As with any skill, the more time you spend honing it and developing it, the better you will become at it.

“A positive attitude may not solve every problem but it makes solving any problem a more pleasant experience.” – Grant Fairley

Let me hear from you.

Are You Business Savvy?

Tue, 14 Jun 2022 12:00:03 GMT

Are You Business Savvy?

Do your homework.

Many people decide to go out on their own and start a business either because they lost their job or because they’re tired of working for somebody else. Many people also go into business if they have been in a trade for a long time. For example, someone who mows lawns for a long time might decide to open his own landscaping business. There’s nothing wrong with any of these reasons. However, it’s one thing to start a business but it’s quite another to be successful at it.

While new businesses are opening up at a record pace, the ones that make it are still in the minority. That’s because many people lack business savvy — truly understanding what makes their business work. That’s not a reason to avoid going out on your own, but it does mean that you should plan on learning what you need to operate a successful business.

You’re going to need to understand about sales, profits, and cash flow. If you don’t have any sales, you won’t have any money. Sales don’t come to you. You have to go after them. If you don’t have any formal sales training, now’s the time to start developing those skills. You will be using it almost more than any other in your repertoire. Profits mean that you are actually making money off of what you sell. There is a natural tendency for people who go out on their own to try and undercut the competition to get business. If the competition has been in business longer than you, they’ve learned how to price their business so that they don’t go out of business. Don’t eliminate the profits from your price or your competition may eliminate you from the workplace.

Cash flow is the lifeblood of any business. It means that you have enough operating capital to keep your company afloat. It means you have the discipline not to spend as fast or faster than you earn. It requires long-term thinking and planning that you put into daily practice.

Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly… at least at the beginning. But if you’re serious about becoming a successful business owner, you owe it to yourself, your loved ones, your employees, and your patrons to learn everything you need to know to run a successful business so that you may enjoy the benefits for a long time to come.

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” – Colin Powell

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Survive and Thrive IV: Shark-Proof! ) I encourage you to click here to register for my exclusive live Survive and Thrive IV: Shark-Proof! Seminar on Thursday, July 14, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. The seminar will also be available through live streaming.

Facing The Giants

Tue, 07 Jun 2022 12:00:03 GMT

Facing The Giants.

Who says you can’t take on City Hall?

Did you ever find yourself in a David versus Goliath scenario? And more importantly, were you David? Sometimes in life, we find ourselves going up against a foe who is much more powerful, intimidating, and has more resources than we do. It can be very scary… but it doesn’t mean you won’t be victorious.

Every year, I watch the entire saga of the television miniseries Roots. Near the end of the story, the family of former slaves is trying to leave a plantation but is told they can’t because they owe money to the landowners. Chicken George - the patriarch of the family - makes a statement after pulling the wool over the property manager’s eyes. He says, “Now, suppose your enemy figures out your first plan. What are you going to do? Get yourself another plan!” That’s exactly what happens in the miniseries and that is how the family finally escapes to freedom - by getting themselves another plan!

Not too long ago, I was facing a giant myself in the form of the Lancaster Rehabilitation Hospital. The interim CEO, Amy Teal was not interested in helping me solve a problem that I was having with her personnel and policies. She offered me two options: Discharging my wife from the hospital prematurely or banning me from visiting her during her stay.

While neither of these options were in my favor, I mentioned that I had a third option: I would use the power of the written word to call her out and let everyone I could reach know how she treats loved ones of people who stay at her hospital and challenge her power. I told her I would do it with blogs, books, seminars, Google rating, the Better Business Bureau, and any other place where my voice could be heard.

To my surprise, Ms. Teal said, “If you feel that that’s what you have to do, then go ahead.” At that point, I thanked her for her permission to tell the world my story. Normally, I would have left out the names to prevent the guilty party. However, in this case, since it seemed to be of no consequence to acting CEO Teal, I’m revealing all so that you can warn your loved ones and verify the information for yourself.

In the age of social media, the pen (or keystroke) is truly mightier than the sword. It levels the playing field for the David’s of the world against the Goliaths who may see you as a bug. I also want to thank all the sponsors and readers for your support as I continue to make sure everyone knows that even giants can be vulnerable in the light of public scrutiny. Don’t ever let someone bully you into submission. Just make sure that you stay resourceful and always have at least 5 back-up plans.

“Life is never more fun than when you’re the underdog competing against the giants.” – Ross Perot

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Survive and Thrive VI: Staying Power. ) I encourage you to click here to register for my all new Survive and Thrive VI: Staying Power seminar on Thursday, November 17, 2022 from 8:30 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time Melhorn Manor in Mount Joy, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Prepare Before You Pitch.

Tue, 31 May 2022 12:00:05 GMT

Prepare Before You Pitch.

Prepare before you pitch.

Know your numbers.

Recently, my wife and I were watching an episode of the TV show Shark Tank. One of the hopeful entrepreneurs was in the middle of his pitch to the investors. I can’t remember exactly what product he was touting but he was doing fine until the sharks started asking him specific questions. They wanted to know how much he would make in profits at the end of the year. He didn’t know. They asked him how much lower he thought he could get his price down per item to if he scaled his business. Again, he didn’t know the answer.

This happened time after time until finally, the last of the investors “went out.” He left without the deal and he made himself look as if he really didn’t know how to run a business. While this might make for “good television,” it’s often hard to watch and even sadder if it happens to someone about whom you care. As a coach, I am often asking the same questions of entrepreneurs to find out if they really understand what it’s going to take to be successful in business.

If you, or someone you know, is in this situation, here’s a few questions you might want to ask. First of all, do you have a written business plan? If you think the one in your head will suffice, I guarantee you that it won’t because no one else can read it! If it is in your head, have the discipline to sit down and write it out. This helps to make it become real and you’ll be able to see what’s missing from it.

Second, know how much everything costs. I recently sat down with a father and son from Mexico who had just bought an Italian restaurant. I already knew that their prices were too low but I wanted to find out if they knew how to set their prices. I asked them to tell me how much their top three sellers cost to make. They didn’t know, but they figured it out. As it turned out, not only were their prices too low, their food costs were far higher than they should have been. They were spending too much money on what they were buying.

This could be happening to you as well. If you don’t know the crucial numbers in your business, it can put you out of business very quickly. If this is something you need help with, get a business coach or someone who has been in your business longer than you and who has been profitable at doing it. Although this might seem difficult to do, once you get down the formulas on how much you should be charging for your business, you will find yourself succeeding in the same field where many others fail.

"Success is the sum of small efforts — repeated day in and day out." - Robert Collier

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Survive And Thrive IV: Shark-Proof! ) I encourage you to click here to register for my exclusive live Survive And Thrive IV: Shark-Proof! Seminar on Thursday, July 14, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. The seminar will also be available through live streaming.

Manage Your Customers Stress!

Tue, 24 May 2022 12:00:01 GMT

Manage Your Customers Stress!

Expert advice from former physical therapist Laurie Hubler.

Managing stress looks different for each person. As a wife, mother, and business owner I have found some techniques that work for me. In my opinion, the first step in creating a stress-reduced life is to know yourself.

There are many ways to get to know yourself: Trial and error, personality tests, prayer, just to name a few. For me personally, I have taken many personality tests and spend a lot of time in prayer. I have discovered I am a connector and using external methods for stress release works best for me. I love to exercise and enjoy going to the gym. I can definitely tell when I’ve missed a few days of exercise because it affects how I feel and how I handle challenges.

Another technique I use is to prioritize my list of things to do daily. These are usually mental notes, but for many people writing them down is helpful. I start with the most important task for that day. This may change day to day. Staying flexible also decreases the amount of stress you feel when something doesn’t go as planned.

Lastly, learn to ask for help. This took me many years to try. I like to be in control. I also like things done a certain way. Delegating and allowing other people to help me with business-related tasks, household chores, or running the kids to their events certainly decreases my stress.

Stress management is different for everyone. Knowing yourself is a good first step to determining what techniques will work for you.

"It’s not the load that beats you down. It’s the way you carry it." - Lou Holtz

Let me hear from you.

(Laurie Hubler will be one of my guest panelists for the Proven Success Skills for Business Women: Managing Stress Forum. ) I encourage you to click here to register for the Proven Success Skills for Business Women: Managing Stress Forum on Thursday, June 23, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at Melhorn Manor in Mount Joy, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Manage Your Stress!

Tue, 17 May 2022 12:00:06 GMT

Manage Your Stress!

Expert advice from Sarah Ellis of Birth Babes

Imagine yourself in the most relaxing, calm, and serene moment of your life. Seriously, though, do it right now before you read any further. Close your eyes for a few seconds, take a deep breath, and picture the scene. Ready? Go!

Fantastic work! Great job.

Think about the image that came to mind. Were there certain sights, smells, or settings that emerged when you settled into the exercise? Taking time to focus on the core elements of life that emerged during your exercise are a great place to start minimizing stress.

Speaking of stress, what exactly is it? Sure, we all experience stress for various reasons, but it’s helpful to know a bit more about the dynamics that go into what we experience. Stress is a normal human reaction and our bodies are designed to experience stress and react accordingly. When you experience unanticipated changes or challenges, your body produces physical and mental responses as a cue that “something is up!” That’s stress!

When managed properly, stress is not all bad. It can be used as a tool to indicate that your emotions or body needs help adjusting to something unexpected or unfamiliar. For instance, certain amounts of stress can be positive, helping us stay alert and motivated and ready to avoid danger. It can help us become aware of physical pain that can be addressed with medical assistance or lifestyle changes. It can also help us to maintain healthy relationships, provided we properly identify and communicate the stress we feel when around others. When stress continues without relief or periods of relaxation, it can quickly become a problem. Unmanaged stress can cause all sorts of complications, both physical, mental, and emotional. Physically, stress releases cortisol in the body which has been found to be one of the number one causes of accumulated belly fat.

To lessen the effects of stress, try three simple strategies to help you renew your outlook.

Time Management and Organization.

As much as some people love to manage their time and be organized, there are many who choose to have other priorities. When it comes to stress management, a more organized life (including time) can make a huge difference. A clean home, for instance, makes it easier to concentrate on the other things that life throws at us. One method is to take a single room in your home, such as your kitchen, choose one drawer and organize it. Doing small, reasonable tasks to start organizing your life is one of the first steps to managing stress.

Rest and Relaxation.

In this day and age, people seem to always be “on the go.” It is imperative to learn techniques of relaxation to destress the body and to find a balance. Our bodies are on a constant mission for homeostasis (balance within the body). We can help our bodies attain this goal more readily by getting adequate rest (8 hours of sleep at night), balanced nutrition, and finding activities that you love, like hiking, swimming, and gardening among many others. Keep yourself motivated with the activities that energize you and burn off unnecessary stress.

Change Your Perspective .

While two different people experience a similar situation, one may find the experience to be stressful; the other may find it to be motivational. Each person goes into a situation with a different perspective. Perspectives can be altered because neuroplasticity allows us to “re-wire” our brains with a better approach. This helps us to adopt new ideas and methods for accomplishing tasks. Altering your inner narrative can also help to reframe your perspective. Let your mind order your thoughts and how you choose to view the world.

"The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another." - William James

Let me hear from you .

( Sarah Ellis will be one of my guest panelists for the Proven Success Skills for Business Women: Managing Stress Forum. ) I encourage you to click here to register for the Proven Success Skills for Business Women: Managing Stress Forum on Thursday, June 23, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at Melhorn Manor in Mount Joy, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Get In The Mastery Zone.

Tue, 10 May 2022 12:00:45 GMT

Get In The Mastery Zone.

Find your greatness.

A year ago, my wife was in the hospital for an extended period of time. I must admit that as soon she went in, I felt lost. I had no direction and I wasn’t sure which way to turn. But after about a week, I realized that only God and the doctors in charge of her could do anything to improve her situation. I needed to redirect my focus on what I could do. I realized that meant taking care of my household and keep my business running.

The following week was the first time I had a seminar since my wife was admitted. It was a brand-new seminar and I knew that there was going to be a lot of people there. A funny thing happened the night before the seminar. I felt like I entered “the zone of mastery.” Because I couldn’t control anything else, my mind was completely focused on putting the final touches on the seminar. Ideas kept flowing — seemingly from nowhere — on surprises, new stories, better examples I could use and ways to make people say, “Wow!”

I kept writing up until just a few minutes before I left to present the seminar. Interestingly enough, the three most popular stories of the entire seminar were written within 24 hours of the presentation — and in some cases, just an hour before it began.

What I learned from that experience is that there is a level we reach when everything else in our life is removed from our concentration and we are left to focus exclusively on achieving mastery. In order to find it, you need to have uninterrupted work time. I’m sure that for people with small children, this is a challenge. However, if you can block out even a couple of hours to just focus on perfection, it can make all the difference in the quality of what you produce.

If you are responsible for creative work, such as writing a novel or an ad campaign, try to remove yourself from all the extraneous noise that interferes with your thought process. Find a quiet area — even if you have to leave your house or sit outside — where your mind is free to let your imagination take over. There is creativity already in you. It’s up to you to put yourself in the right frame of mind and location to set it free and discover the genius inside of you.

" To become a master at any skill, it takes the total effort of your heart, mind, and soul working together in tandem." - Maurice Young

Let me hear from you .

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Moving Towards Mastery. ) I encourage you to click here to register for my exclusive live Zoom Moving Towards Mastery seminar on Thursday, June 9, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

Attention Medical Professionals: Don’t Be A “HIPAA-crite!"

Tue, 03 May 2022 12:00:04 GMT

Attention Medical Professionals: Don’t Be A “HIPAA-crite!"

Compassion counts!

I recently needed to call the Aetna insurance company to let them know about suspected fraudulent activity being perpetrated on them by the Lancaster Rehabilitation Hospital. I called on behalf of my wife, who was stuck there for four weeks. In that time, both of us experienced multiple examples of the hospital trying to bilk the insurance company for unnecessary services and equipment.

When I called Aetna, I spoke with someone about the issues. I started off by saying that my wife had recently stayed at that hospital and I wanted to go into some of the abuses we experienced. At that point, the Aetna agent went on autopilot and started saying that she couldn’t answer any questions about my wife’s medical condition because of the HIPAA laws. For those of you who may not be familiar with this, it stands for the Health Insurance, Portability, and Accountability Act. It’s supposed to protect patient’s privacy; however, I find that it is often being misused by some medical personnel as a reason not to do their jobs or listen.

I could tell that the woman was not listening and so I needed to break her pattern. I explained that I didn’t need any of my wife’s medical records because she was already at home. I wasn’t calling to discuss any of them. I was calling to discuss the fact that the Lancaster Rehabilitation Hospital kept my wife there an extra two weeks longer than she needed to be because they delayed her physical therapy activities. For example, her occupational therapist was just showing my wife her pictures of her daughter on her phone instead of helping my wife regain mobility in her fingers. When Kim arrived, she couldn’t walk at all. The hospital didn’t order the equipment she needed to get results until the third week of her stay. Within three days of receiving the equipment, she was walking. I also explained to the Aetna rep that Lancaster Rehabilitation Hospital was tacking on unnecessary services by scheduling speech therapy for my wife even though there was nothing wrong with her speech. Even the speech therapist admitted that she did not know why it had been scheduled because my wife didn’t need it.

It took a while before the bureaucrat at Aetna could understand why I was calling. Fortunately, the call was recorded so that the appropriate people could investigate the fraud allegations.

When your customers demonstrate a concern or a problem, it’s important for you to pay attention to them and make sure you actually hear what they have to say. Demonstrating compassion when your customer has a problem is the best way for you to be aware of a flaw in your system and make sure the customer feels satisfied that you care about his or her well-being.

"The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others." - Albert Schweitzer

Let me hear from you .

This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Survive and Thrive VI: Staying Power . I encourage you to click here to register for my all new Survive and Thrive VI: Staying Power seminar on Thursday, November 17, 2022 from 8:30 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time Melhorn Manor in Mount Joy, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Does Anyone Remember Common Sense?

Tue, 26 Apr 2022 12:00:03 GMT

Does Anyone Remember Common Sense?

Put your customers’ ahead of your policies.

With an economy that is exploding, you would think that businesses would go out of their way to fine tune their customer service and ensure that people will continue to patronize their organizations for a long time to come. This seems to be common sense, yet I recently experienced a business where policies trumped people.

I was having some difficulty with the Lancaster Rehabilitation Hospital after my wife had been admitted for physical therapy. She was only allowed one visitor per day. I visited her every single day except the day when her aunt wanted to go instead. I also wanted to visit her the same day that the Bishop from our church wanted to see her. I spoke to interim CEO Amy Teal to see if I could visit my wife the same day as the Bishop. However, the hospital had very strict rules: Only one visitor per day. No exceptions!

Ironically, when my wife was in Lancaster General Hospital, I asked one of the nurses if the Bishop could visit my wife while she was in a coma. She was on a ventilator and unconscious for two weeks. The hospital had specific rules that did not allow for outside visitors. However, the woman I spoke with asked for more detail to find out if there was a specific reason that I wanted our Bishop to see my wife instead of their chaplain. I explained that our Bishop was not connected to the local diocese and that as a Traditional Roman Catholic, it was important for my wife to be able to be anointed by a Traditional Roman Catholic Priest or Bishop.

I could tell that she didn’t truly grasp what I was saying; however, she did promise to speak with the higher ups and explain the situation to them and follow-up with me. She was a woman of her word. She got back to me later that day and asked me for the Bishop’s phone number. She explained that the hospital would make the exception and that he would tell him what he needed to do in order to visit my wife and anoint her in the intensive care unit.

After the Bishop’s visit, he called me to let me know that the hospital accommodated him and allowed him to go in and perform his blessings on my wife. He also said that he was the only outside person they let in that unit. They did it because I asked them to do it and gave them specific reasons.

I challenge you not to hide behind your policies. Remember that when it comes to customers, one-size-fits-one. The more attention you pay to your customers’ needs, more customers will patronize you.

"There’s only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman of the board on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else." - Sam Walton

Let me hear from you .

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Survive and Thrive VI: Staying Power. ) I encourage you to click here to register for my all new Survive and Thrive VI: Staying Power seminar on Thursday, November 17, 2022 from 8:30 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time Melhorn Manor in Mount Joy, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Data Powered Profits

Tue, 19 Apr 2022 12:00:04 GMT

Data Powered Profits

Expert advice from Andrew Gaiennie of That Email Marketing Guy.

Data is a fun word. It is hard to sound smarter with fewer syllables than by tossing the word “data” somewhere into your conversations and with good reason! Our Internet reality both relies upon and generates in enormous quantities of information. Visiting websites create “cookies” that identify us to the browser, signing up for brand cards logs our visits to those stores and what we buy, walking through an automated door creates a foot traffic count, and of course every time we move, look at, or interact with our phones we create data that says something about ourselves. All of us participate in this sea of information and, with a little guidance, you can learn how to surf these waves.

Here is a bit of wisdom for all effective future marketers: “If you’re not measuring, you’re not marketing”. That’s good to know, but what is good to measure and what isn’t? Start with the end in mind. What is the thing you would want to see happen more? If you can measure that directly, then just do that. All the complexity that comes before that action is where people tend to get lost, so try to keep everything as simple as possible for as long as possible. When measuring this action, try to include the

What When Where

Sold a Stereo Friday, July 30th, 1030 123 Street Street, York

Here are some good tips for good data: 1) Notice how we have everything in a column; that the data is further separated (or delineated) but a consistent character (a comma) and we used military time instead of AM or PM; 2) Always be consistent! The information can be changed around, or formatted, at any time as long as it’s always created in a consistent way. This data has a combination of words and numbers that make sense to its author but may not to someone else; and 3) When it comes time to combine data sets to get a better picture, we’re going to need to convert everything into a single format. Always try to keep a note of “where” something happened. That will come in handy in surprising ways.

Nothing here is really that exciting yet. I know this isn’t going to get anyone dancing in their living rooms but this next part might. We talked about how to pick a thing to measure and how to make a record that we can keep and analyze over time, but what if we were actually generating a consistent record of data all the time? What if everyone was? And what if all that information and it’s breakdown by genius level doctorates was available freely to you right now? Are you excited? GOOD! Let’s look at a little billion-dollar company called ESRI.

ESRI is the big company running Big Data. And they have a tool anyone can use, for free. To start using this information, go to

Create account—ArcGIS Online Help | Documentation

And follow those instructions. If you get to the point of opening an account and making your first maps, go to ADD DATA and type in something you’d like to know. It exists, in some way, for you to see. My

favorite when I started was Household Income. As a business owner, being able to know who will buy from you depends a lot on lifestyle and location. With a map of how much the average household makes and where those groups are, you can get a good idea on where the people live that will want to buy from you. You can add in your own data as well and soon you’ll be able to see the pattern in the dots that show up on the map. If you are asking your audience for their address information, you can include that on the map too and see if what you think you know matches what’s there to see. The groups of points are “clusters”, which is creatively called a “cluster map”. You should be able to get an intuitive and analytical understanding about your marketplace that you didn’t have before. Congratulations! You are now a fledgling data-scientist!

There is a lot more to learn about how to get better, but with this as a starting point, you will begin to see improvements in whatever you’ve been measuring. For a quick review, let’s get some help from the graduates of North Eastern University

Know your mission (Measure an action)
Identify Your Data Sources (yourself, ESRI, other partners)
Clean and Organize Your Data (format and use a spreadsheet)
Perform Analysis (load the ESRI information along with your own on a map)
Draw Conclusions (look at it and think about what you knew, learned, and what’s missing)

Data-Driven Decision Making: A Primer for Beginners (northeastern.edu)

Data is powerful stuff. Knowing exactly who, on average, will do what action when and where is pretty much as close to using the Teacher Guide to answer test questions as we’re ever going to get. If you would like to know more about how I use data and what mysterious kinds of information an expert like me would have access to, I hope you will join me for my seminar on April 19, 2022 and find out what an expert can show you.

"I don’t want to do business with those who don’t make a profit because they can give the best service." - Richard Bach

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from Andrew Gaiennie’s all-new seminar entitled Data-Powered Profits. ) I encourage you to click here to register for Andrew Gaiennie’s live, in person Data-Powered Profits seminar on Thursday, May 19, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Finding Your Voice!

Tue, 12 Apr 2022 12:00:03 GMT

Finding Your Voice!

Expert advice from Diane Dayton of Dayton Communications.

We all have a story. Here is mine, at least as it pertains to my journey with voice, presentation, and performance. I can't remember a time I wasn't talking, presenting something, or performing somehow! My parents will attest to this. As a young child I would recreate commercials in front of the mirror all the time. In my room, I would read out loud and hold class with my stuffed animals and the dog. In the summer, I held various performances in our backyard as a part our neighborhood carnival.

In high school and college, I continued to perform. I was a high school cheerleader, sang in the choir and in a small group ensemble, and also performed in plays. In college I studied singing, all the while creating events to keep performing. I had the opportunity to perform and tour with a singing group while recording an album between my sophomore and junior years. I joined the college radio station when I returned, not because I wanted to be on radio, but because I wanted it to look good on my resume with my communications degree. Wouldn't you know my first job out of college was in radio! I was at WNOW and WQXA in York, PA. I was writing commercials and because there were so few women in radio at the time, I was recruited to voice some of them. This is where I really learned the impact of the spoken word and how persuasive the voice can be. I used the tools that I learned to hone my craft on stage and while studying singing. I funneled them into my voice on radio, which we call "theater of the mind." For many long hours each week, I worked in the sound studio, recording and re-recording, listening very intently to the subtleties of my voice, learning how to use the nuances to create images and feelings to evoke certain responses and portray messages.

This led to many voice over opportunities coming my way for radio and TV commercials, messages on hold, training pieces, on camera work, and emcee opportunities for both regional clients and national clients. Then I began to get requests from other people to help them with their voice and presentations. These people included business owners and managers, sales people, professors, other presenters, and more.

I started to teach what I had learned. First of all, I taught people how to hear your voice as others do. I introduced people to their speaking voices by recording the voice and listening back to it. Then working with them to discover the range in the voice, and the resonance, looking at how sound is produced, with the end goal to find the unique sound and authentic voice that best represents each person. I do believe that your voice can be one of your biggest assets when you learn how to use it properly. Awareness is key and so is practice. We learned to speak by crafting sounds and practicing those sounds. This is the same thing, only now you are listening with a keener ear and a desire to hone in on your own, unique voice.

You have been blessed with a voice and when you find your voice and embrace it, it can and will represent you well. We all have a story and stories when told with your best sound — your authentic voice — will enhance your conversations and presentations and more accurately and effectively allow you to communicate to others. This, I also believe, can lead to a better understanding and help build better relationships. We are all performing; what we say and how we say it matters. This communication connection can serve us well on life's journey, personally and professionally.

"You can speak well if your tongue can deliver the message of your heart." - Gerald Ford

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from Diane Dayton’s extremely popular seminar entitled Find Your Voice Workshop. ) I encourage you to click here to register for Diane Dayton’s live, in person Find Your Voice Workshop seminar on Thursday, May 12, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Bring People Together!

Thu, 31 Mar 2022 12:56:09 GMT

Bring People Together!

Great networking introduction tips.

Just about every month, I go to a minimum of two networking functions. These are regularly scheduled events where approximately half of the people go each time and the other half are new people coming and going. You would think that the regulars would be getting a steady stream of business from these networking functions. However, what I discovered is that while many people go to the same events that I do, few of them get the same number of customers or business. I believe I’ve discovered why.

When you leave the mixer, your work is just beginning. I recently sat down with an unemployed corporate efficiency expert. He was on a job search. He said that following the mixer at which the two of us had met a couple of days earlier, he sent out a bunch of thank-you cards to the people he met at the mixer. I was surprised and so I clarified if he actually sent out thank-you cards. He corrected himself and said, “Well, no. I sent out thank-you emails.”

This is one of the biggest reasons why people don’t get as much business as they could. They are simply not memorable. Think about how many emails you’ve gotten in the last week. How many of them can you remember? Now, think about how many handwritten, thank-you notes you received in the last three months. You can probably remember all of them — assuming you received any at all.

I make a point of sending a personally, handwritten, thank you note to every person I meet for the very first time at a networking mixer. When I get their business card, I always check to see if there is a mailing address. If there isn’t, I just say, “I’ve always make a point of sending a personal thank you note to everyone I meet for the first time at a mixer. May I please have yours?” They always give it to me.

Still, there’s another step that most people skip: Making introductions. If I know someone who the new person would benefit by knowing, I send an email introducing both of them. The format is very simple. The subject line says, for example, introductions of Ted Brown and John Fredericks. I explain how long I know each person and something they might have in common with the other person. I list their contact information and I make specific instructions on which one should call the other. I also ask the call receiver to make time for the caller and then I wish them both good luck.

When people see you as a connector, I guarantee you that your referrals and revenue from networking contacts will start to go up significantly.

"Networking is an investment in your business. It takes time and when done correctly can yield great results for years to come." - Diane Helbig

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Survive and Thrive V: Ramping Up Referrals . ) I encourage you to click here to register for my all new Survive and Thrive V: Ramping Up Referrals seminar. On Thursday, May 5, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time Melhorn Manor in Mount Joy, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Price Is Never The Issue

Tue, 29 Mar 2022 12:00:07 GMT

Price Is Never The Issue

Do you know what is?

As a coach, I’m constantly listening to sales people tell me that they’re having trouble selling because their price is too high. This usually happens when they work for someone else who sets the price. The reality is, price is never the issue when it comes to making a sale. I know some salespeople don’t like hearing this, so let me explain.

Most people will buy what they want before they buy what they need. In the television movie about The Temptations, the actor playing Berry Gordy — the founder of Motown records — wants to know if his focus group thinks The Temptations song they just heard would be a hit. A few of the hands go up. To further clarify their commitment, he asks the focus group, “If you only had a dollar, would you buy this record or would you buy a sandwich?” This was a great question because it determines how badly they want the record. Notice that price is not the issue; it's what will give them a greater return on investment and how soon will they get it.

In the example above, it’s easy to understand the return on investment of a sandwich. You can buy it now and eat it now. You can determine whether or not it’s worth the dollar and how quickly it will provide satisfaction. Not everything we sell has as quick of a return on investment as this example.

The other factor that determines whether or not somebody is going to buy is how big the return on investment will be. To a starving man, the sandwich will do the trick. That’s a big return on investment.

With this example in mind, I challenge you to look at what you sell and determine how big the return on investment is to your prospects and how quickly they get it after they buy from you. This is the essence of why customers buy anything.

Lottery tickets offer a big and quick return on investment. However, the return is not guaranteed. Yet, millions of people buy lottery tickets just for the possibility of getting a big and quick return on investment.

If you want your customers to buy from you, it’s your responsibility to explain how big the return on investment will be for them and how quickly they will enjoy it. The better you get at communicating this to your prospects, the more of them will become your customers.

"Price is what you pay. Value is what you get." - Warren Buffett

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from the 5-part series The Sales Academy . ) I encourage you to click here to register for the Spring 2022 Sales Academy running on five consecutive Friday mornings beginning on Friday, April 22, 2022 through May 20, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This program will also available through live streaming.

Your Customer Decides When Its Time To Buy

Tue, 22 Mar 2022 12:00:07 GMT

Your Customer Decides When Its Time To Buy

Timing is everything.

Salespeople often get frustrated waiting for prospects to make up their mind whether or not they are going to buy. However, that is the privilege of being a prospect. Prospects get to decide when they want to buy; if they want to buy; and from whom they wish to buy. As salespeople, our job is to respect their prerogative.

Did you ever have a customer whom you were sure needed exactly what you sell? Yet, he took his sweet-old time to finally decide to go with you. I know it happened to me more times than I care to remember. However, I remember one of my clients showing me a product which mildly intrigued me, but that I didn’t bother to rent until two years later.

It was designed to help me improve my blood circulation and my overall health. In my mind, it was expensive and I was unsure of its value. I knew I would not receive instantaneous results and I wasn’t sure if the price he wanted was justified.

However, two years later, I found myself with some digestive issues and some serious back problems. I decided to give it a try. I could tell how surprised the seller was that I had finally made the decision to rent his product. But the reality was, I was waiting for the right time for me to give it a shot.

One of the most important lessons any salesperson needs to remember is that customers buy for their reasons and on their timetables. Frequently, I’ve heard people say, “I know you wanted me to take the Sales Academy last year, but I know I just wasn’t ready to do it. Now, I can give it my full cooperation.” Trust that when it’s the right time for your customers to buy, it’s the right time for you to earn the sale.

"Good timing is invisible. Bad timing sticks out a mile." - Tony Corinda.

Let me hear from you .

(This excerpt is taken from the 5-part series The Sales Academy .) I encourage you to click here to register for the spring 2022 Sales Academy Running on five consecutive Friday mornings beginning on Friday, April 22, 2022 through May 20, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This program will also available through live streaming.

Stay Relevant!

Tue, 15 Mar 2022 12:00:08 GMT

Stay Relevant!

Don’t get left behind.

The longer you work in business, the greater the danger is that you can get set in your ways. This can work to your advantage if you’ve developed great systems that have stood the test of time. However, as we know today, technology and customer preferences have changed drastically over the past 20 years. It’s important that we keep up with the changes that are required in order for us to stay relevant in our role as service providers.

The medical field has always faced this challenge because new methods and procedures are always coming to light. The problem is, when you get stuck in a rut and are unwilling to change while the world changes around you, you can come across as incompetent and/or obsolete.

About a year ago, my wife suffered from Covid 19 and had to go to the hospital where she was put into a coma and remained on a ventilator for over two weeks. Once she was conscious and could have visitors, I saw her every single day in the intensive care unit.

Out of respect for the hospital, I reluctantly wore a facemask when entering the building and when I left. However, in the entire time I was with my wife in her hospital room, I never wore a mask. No aide, nurse, or doctor I encountered insisted that I had to wear a mask. None of them suggested that I wear a mask nor in the entire time I was there did I ever hear a person even mention the word, “mask.”

Unfortunately, when my wife left this hospital, she was sent to Lancaster Rehabilitation Hospital. Keep in mind that by this time, she was no longer in a coma, not on a ventilator, and was classified as Covid recovered. Not more than five minutes after I got into her room, I was assaulted by a mask Nazi from the front desk named Doreen who insisted that I wear a mask. I told her that according to the CDC, not only was I not required to wear a mask, but that I didn’t even have to give a reason why I wasn’t wearing a mask. Not to be outdone, Doreen searched for hall monitor to back her up.

As it turned out, the hospital was using an outdated mask policy that its sister hospital had already abandoned. Yet, the policy was more important than personal freedom, CDC guidelines, or guests’ preferences. Even after speaking with interim CEO Amy Teal, I discovered that the hospital’s own policy trumped even the right to privacy in my wife’s room. Ironically, my wife who had been suffering from Covid, was not required to wear a mask in her private room.

While the pandemic of 2019-2020 is something most of us would like to forget, we do have to remember that our customers (or patients) will compare how we treat customers compared to our competition. In a capitalistic society, customers decide which businesses survive and which ones fail.

"If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance a lot less." - General Eric K. Shinseki

Let me hear from you .

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Approaching Change with a Positive Attitude . ) I encourage you to click here to register for my exclusive live Zoom Approaching Change with a Positive Attitude seminar. On Thursday, April 21, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

4 Keys For Empowering Your Brand And Team

Tue, 08 Mar 2022 13:00:03 GMT

4 Keys For Empowering Your Brand And Team

Ensure Synergy Between Your Team Members and Your Brand.

Expert advice from John Ellis of Create Socially

We’ve all seen it before, or likely experienced it, when working on a team that delivers a product or service to the end consumer. A flaw or problem with a product or service leads either to a poor customer experience or worse, results in a canceled contract and a public review on Google or Facebook.

Regardless of if you’re a passionate team member working for a company you love or if you founded your company and serve as a C Level Executive, it’s safe to say that a review mentioning how pleased a customer is with the benefit and value of what you deliver to them is far better than a poor customer experience and review. Not to mention that even customers who don’t review you online are still guaranteed to share their thoughts and opinions offline, too.

Whether it’s an online review or word-of-mouth, we all want to “wow” our customers so they keep coming back and recommending us to those who can also benefit from our products and services. I’ve personally seen the importance of reviews skyrocket since the rise of social media giants like Facebook, B2B services like LinkedIn, and most recently the move from Google+ to the more mature big brother we call “Google Business.”

So, what does this have to do with an optimized brand and team? It literally means everything. In Jim Collins’ book Good to Great, he outlined several successful enterprises that stood out as superior. At the time it was published, Circuit City was among those included among the eleven featured. You likely know that the consumer (brick & mortar retail division) electronics company was liquidated in 2009 and eventually bought out by another company. Today, their website is run by Tiger Direct under a completely different model than what made their stock return worthy to be mentioned in the above book.

So, what exactly happened to Circuit City between 2001 and 2009? I propose several things, only a few of which I’ll note. First, a move away from fair compensation for their sales force. Second, a move away from the customer experience built around data. And third, failure to properly adapt to changes in their market.

At some point, those in charge of the heavy thinking at Circuit City started to miss the mark, and eventually, it led to a pattern of missteps from which it could not recover.

Meanwhile, others from the list in Good to Great continue to shine and grow like Wells Fargo, Walgreens, and Gillette. Yeah, you’ve heard of them and you know them. Wells Fargo focuses on banking, Walgreens concentrates on filling pharmacy prescriptions, and Gillette provides a good shave (but they better look out for their emerging Dollar Shave Club competitors who have a compelling subscription and pricing model).

To sum this all up, we’ve covered what a compelling team and message should look like more through what not to do, followed by a backdrop of a few nationwide companies who have (so far) stood the test of time for the last two decades. Success leaves clues. We can learn a lot from what makes these larger companies tick and from what gives them staying power in the marketplace. Take a look and you’ll find for similarities among them:

Organized teams and team structures

Clearly defined message and branding

Competitive pay for teams

Customer-centric pricing and products/services

These components, when properly combined, will give you an unfair advantage over your competition.

"If people believe they share values with a company, they will stay loyal to the brand." - Howard Schultz

Let me hear from you .

(This excerpt is taken from John Ellis’ all seminar entitled Optimize Your Brand & Energize Your Team. ) I encourage you to click here to register for John Ellis’ live, in-person Optimize Your Brand & Energize Your Team seminar. On Thursday, April 7, 2022, from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Is Your Attitude An Asset?

Tue, 01 Mar 2022 13:00:09 GMT

Is Your Attitude An Asset?

The power of positivity.

For many years, I worked as an unemployment insurance tax consultant. That’s a very complicated way of saying, “I made sure that my clients did not overpay their taxes.” The job required that I have contacts at every state in the union who could answer questions about unemployment insurance taxes.

For the most part, the people I spoke with were cooperative and knowledgeable. But I discovered that there were always a handful of people who went above and beyond to be friendly, memorable, and fun. One of those people was Linda Hassenplug. Even though I only spoke with her once on the phone, I remember her, partially because her name was so unique, but mostly because she had such a positive attitude.

I can’t remember the specific reason I called her, but it was no doubt to ask her a question about one of my clients in Pennsylvania. She gave me all the information I needed and I thanked her for it. When we were done, she surprised me by kidding around and saying, “Make sure that you file your client’s paperwork on time or we’ll break your kneecaps.”

Many government workers don’t like to demonstrate a sense of humor when they’re talking with people they don’t know. But I liked that Linda was not afraid to use a sense of humor to have fun with me even though we had never spoken before. That event took place about 35 years ago and it still stands out in my memory. It demonstrates just how long-lasting an effect we can make on someone by having a sense of fun.

You are the best judge of when it’s appropriate to have fun with your customers. It will depend on the circumstances and the person. Remember, one size fits one. However, it’s always appropriate to greet your customers and prospects with a positive attitude. If they are going to remember you at all, let it be for something good.

"Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude." - Zig Ziglar

Let me hear from you .

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Approaching Change with a Positive Attitude. ) I encourage you to click here to register for my exclusive live Zoom Approaching Change with a Positive Attitude seminar. On Thursday, April 21, 2022, from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

The High Cost Of Bad Hires.

Tue, 22 Feb 2022 13:00:07 GMT

The High Cost of Bad Hires

How not to make a perfect first impression.

How fast do people form a first impression of your business? Try 7 seconds. What will people notice about your business in the first seven seconds? They will probably look over the parking lot or your website. What will they see? What will they think of it? Will they be impressed?

I was meeting my wife at the Lancaster Rehabilitation Hospital (a name you will become very familiar with throughout my 2022 blogs) where she was being admitted.

The first thing I noticed when I got there was that they had the front door locked during the middle of the day. That seemed ironic considering there were hardly any patients even in the place. In fact, during several of my strolls through the corridor, it was rare that I found three other patients in that wing besides my wife.

A flunky named Doreen prevented me from entering by shielding herself in the doorway. I told her I was there to meet my wife, Kim Romeo. She said that my wife had not been admitted yet and that I would have to wait for her to arrive. Then Doreen went back to her desk and the doors closed behind her.

After my wife’s ambulance pulled up in front of the hospital, I was able to enter the hospital with her and a pair of EMTs.

Later, I realized that the hospital was not getting paid directly from my wife and me, but rather from Aetna, our insurance carrier. However, whenever you are striving to make a great first impression, you cannot limit your behavior to the person footing the bill. You have to remember every person affiliated with the paying party.

For example, if you are a wedding planner and you treat the mother of the bride poorly on her daughter’s wedding day, except that the bad PR will be following you around throughout the entire attendance. That’s why it’s so important to make sure that everyone with whom you connect is treated with respect, kindness, and dignity.

"People will forget what you said and people will forget what you did, but they will never forget the way you made them feel." -Maya Angelo

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled How To Make A Perfect First Impression. ) I encourage you to click here to register for my exclusive live Zoom register for my exclusive live Zoom How To Make A Perfect First Impression seminar on Thursday, January 27, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

Connect Your Customers!

Tue, 22 Feb 2022 13:00:06 GMT

Connect Your Customers!

How to make great connections.

When people first started going to networking events, like mixers, there is a natural tendency to think about how much business you are going to get for yourself. However, by seeking out business for others, you will accelerate the friendships you make with the other people you meet.

When I first started going to networking mixers in the early 90s, I came across a man who seemed introverted. He was all by himself and he struck me as being shy. I went up and introduced myself to him and found out that he was an engineer who had recently gone out on his own. He didn’t know anybody else at the mixer and so I offered to introduce him to other people I knew.

I called him a couple of days later to follow-up with him and make some referrals to him. He was very grateful and seemed a little surprised that I took an interest in him. Actually, he wasn’t that memorable but that didn’t matter. I would go out of my way to help anyone whom I met at a networking event if I thought I could be of service.

I stayed in touch with him for quite a while although I never saw him again. He did send me a very nice note which I’ve kept. It said “Dave, I’ve gone back to working for another employer even though I’m still finishing up some of my consulting jobs. I can tell from everything I’ve read that you continue to be successful. Congratulations on all your hard work.”

The point is that by connecting people you meet at mixers with other people whom you already know, you become more valuable to each party. The more effort you put into making positive introductions between two of the people in your sphere of influence, the more often your networking contacts will reward you by making introductions to you.

"The currency of real networking is not greed but generosity." - Keith Ferrazzi

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Networking and Marketing Mastery VI: Connecting the Dots. ) I encourage you to click here to register for my Connecting the Dots seminar on Thursday, March 10, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming

Do People Mind Your Manners?

Tue, 22 Feb 2022 13:00:06 GMT

Do People Mind Your Manners?

Courtesy counts.

Recently, my wife was recovering from Covid, a hospital induced coma, and a mini stroke. As she was being discharged from one hospital, she called me to say that she was being sent to another hospital in 45 minutes and asked me to meet her there. Naturally, I grabbed up some clothes for her to wear and got in my car to locate the new hospital. I had never been there before and after getting lost a little bit, I found the building.

My fear was that she was already inside so I went to the front door. I was surprised that it was locked. After all, how many hospitals lock the door in the middle of the day? However, as I quickly learned, Lancaster Rehabilitation Hospital is a little bit different from most other medical facilities.

I tried to get some help from the front door flunky, Doreen, but she body-blocked me from entering. I told her I was there to meet my wife, Kim Romeo. She said that my wife had been admitted yet and I would have to wait for her to arrive. Then, Doreen went back to her desk and closed the doors behind her.

I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do next. If I was at Red Lobster, they probably would’ve given me one of those pages that flash red to let you know your table is ready. But I didn’t get one of those. She could’ve taken down my phone number to call me when my wife arrived, but she didn’t do that. I checked and I saw that the hospital didn’t have a marquee reading, “Welcome Mrs. Romeo” to let me know when my wife arrived, so I was left on my own.

Ultimately, I called someone whose phone number was in the packet that my wife gave me at her previous hospital. Someone was nice enough to call me back and said to watch for an ambulance pulling up in the front of the hospital. Just as she said that the ambulance arrived.

My point is that we all have to be responsible for our manners. There were certainly many better options for leaving a better impression. Unfortunately, the key ingredient is that you have to want to make a good impression. I realize that Doreen was probably just a minimum wage high school student, yet somebody thought it was a good idea to leave her in charge of admitting patients.

I don’t know if training would’ve helped the situation, but it would have been the first place to start. Remember, you are your organization to your customers. Choose your words and actions wisely and professionally.

"You gotta wanna." - Jack Stack

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled The Fine Art of Tact and Diplomacy. ) I encourage you to click here to register for my exclusive Zoom presentation of The Fine Art of Tact and Diplomacy seminar on Thursday, February 10, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

Strategies = Results

Tue, 22 Feb 2022 13:00:06 GMT

Strategies = Results

Give yourself the edge.

Many times, when we are under the gun, we dive into a project without doing any preplanning. This is usually a big mistake which will wind up costing us more time — and probably more money in the end than it should. But this doesn’t have to be your modus operandi. If you are willing to invest the time to make a strategic plan, it will be much easier for you to execute it when the time comes.

What most people don’t realize is that a plan does not need to be complicated to be effective. It can consist of as little as two steps. For example, if you want to lose weight, all you need to do is follow Step 1: Diet, and Step 2: Exercise. Of course, this concept is easier to understand than it is to master.

You may be thinking, “If a plan is that simple, why write it down at all?” The answer is that if you don’t write it down, you’re not taking the first step to make sure that you follow through until you achieve your goal. Like most entrepreneurs, I frequently find myself starting far more tasks than I can handle in the time I have allotted to myself. Not all of the tasks are of equal magnitude or difficulty. It’s up to me to decide which ones I want to tackle first and which are the most important to complete.

By writing down a list of all the tasks in front of me, it gives a sense of control over all of them. I may not be able to check each one off the first day I try, but I can look at the results and measurement progress. That, in and of itself, makes it easier to take on the other tasks.

One tip that will save you a great amount of time is to combine different tasks that can be done in combination. For example, if I turn on the washing machine to wash bed sheets before I start my exercise routine, I can wrap up both tasks in the same amount of time. Often, I can get many mindless tasks — like filing — completed while I am taking a phone call from someone who will need some time to express himself. If you’re willing to take the time to write out your plan and to combine compatible tasks, you’ll find you accomplish much greater results in a shorter period of time.

"It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Organizational Excellence III: Strategic Planning and Execution. ) I encourage you to click here to register for my exclusive live Zoom Strategic Planning and Execution seminar on Thursday, March 24, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

Rapport Is Everything

Tue, 22 Feb 2022 13:00:06 GMT

Rapport Is Everything

A tale of two hospitals.

Last year, my wife spent a month in Lancaster General Hospital followed by a month at Lancaster Rehabilitation Hospital. While I’m certainly glad that my wife recovered and is now back at home, the difference between the two hospitals could not have been more striking.

At Lancaster General Hospital, I received a phone call from my wife’s doctors nearly every single night. Each doctor was slightly different, but what I remember most about each one of them was their excellent rapport skills. They took the time to explain what was happening, to update me on my wife’s condition, and to make sure that they answered all of my questions. They all demonstrated an unparalleled level of patience, helpfulness, and compassion.

Even though my wife was in a coma for the first two weeks of her stay, being able to speak with her doctors while I still couldn’t see her made me feel as if I was in the room watching her sleep. They kept me calm throughout a very difficult time and helped me keep a positive perspective.

When my wife left Lancaster General Hospital, I made a point of writing the new CEO a letter thanking him for the excellent treatment my wife received and praising his excellent staff — each of whom went out of their way to accommodate me and keep me in the loop while they cared for my wife.

Unfortunately, when Kim went to Lancaster Rehabilitation Hospital, I never once heard from her doctors. I only met her doctor one time — the day she was leaving the hospital for good. I did not receive any updates or reports and most of the staff with whom I came into contact — with a couple of excellent exceptions — were apathetic and, in many cases, rude, disrespectful, and nasty.

It’s hard to believe that both of these hospitals are part of Penn Medicine and yet, have such strikingly different cultures. The point is, you might have competition who do the exact same work as you. The way you treat your customers and the rapport you build with them will make all the difference as to whether or not your customers will want to continue to patronize you or go somewhere else. The more time you spend making your customers feel appreciated and valued, the more customers you’ll continue to have.

"Rapport is the ability to enter someone’s world; to make him feel that you understand him; that you have a strong, common bond." - Tony Robbins

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled The Fine Art of Instant Rapport I encourage you to click here to watch my seminar video click here to watch my seminar video click here to watch my seminar video The Fine Art of Instant Rapport available at Dave Romeo Online University.

What Now?

Tue, 22 Feb 2022 13:00:06 GMT

What Now?

Regrouping after retirement.

Expert advice from former occupational therapist Holly Dietz.

I have worked since I was 16 years old in the employ of others. I chose a college course that defined a job and a location as well as salary level. My expectations, dress code, goals objectives, and hours were set by another, and I was willing to meet them. Within this framework, I managed my continuing education, family life, and monetary expectations as well as my free time.

As an Occupational Therapist, my responsibilities included the ability to assess the strengths and weaknesses of a person and establish goals for the progress of that person within the framework of their medical and personal needs. These benchmarks were established to meet that specific individual’s needs.

The role of the therapist is to accompany the individual through the process and then facilitate the attainment of these goals through physical, environmental, medical, and emotional variables. The therapist assists the person in identifying short- and long-term goals, strengths, limitations, and future needs.

Occupational therapy gave me purpose. I was well respected in my field. I provided mentorship and education to peers and other groups. But, when I retired, I somehow lost my purpose. I no longer had others to establish my goals, set my hours, and expectations. It was suddenly up to me to find my own way and that became a struggle.

In order to reestablish a purposeful life, I needed to draw from my own experiences as a therapist. It came clear to me that I had to identify and set some meaningful, long-term goals. I knew it was important to establish a strength and weakness profile in order to incorporate effective changes and routines in my life. It was obvious that I also had to have some short-term, measurable goals as well as a plan for the future, in order to rebuild a fulfilling and fruitful life for myself.

I realized that I could use my experiences, both professional and personal, to help others with similar turning points in life and to help them meet their goals — and at the same time achieve my own — in whatever life has to offer. And thus, once again, my mission restored my purpose. Ironically, I recognized that I could manage the stress I was feeling by employing what I had spent a lifetime doing for others. Sometimes we find that the best helping hand is right at the end of our own arm.

"When you come to a fork in the road, take it." - Yogi Berra

Let me hear from you .

(Holly Dietz will be one of my guest panelists for the Proven Success Skills for Business Women: Managing Stress Forum.) I encourage you to click here to register for the Proven Success Skills for Business Women: Managing Stress Forum on Thursday, June 23, 2022, from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at Melhorn Manor in Mount Joy, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

Be The Star Of Your Next Meeting

Tue, 22 Feb 2022 13:00:06 GMT

Be The Star of Your Next Meeting

Present like a pro!

Do you have a fear of public speaking? I can still remember that day in my first year of community college. I had to stand up in front of the class and do a book report on Moby Dick. Unfortunately, I hadn’t read the book. I flubbed my way through and did a totally mediocre job. But at least it was over.

Then, a young woman got up and did a book report — also on Moby Dick. The only difference was, she had actually read it! After hearing her excellent book report, I wanted to crawl into my shoes and I promised myself that I would never do more public speaking again as long as I lived. Well, as you can tell, that didn’t happen.

In 1984, I had just gotten into the Guinness Book of World Records for bass fishing. A local television host asked me to be her guest on the show. I had no fear of doing it because I knew there would only be three people in the entire television studio. However, the host threw me a curveball. She asked me if I could speak to her fishing club the night before the TV taping. This was for the Lady Reelers — a group of 75 female saltwater anglers. I was 25 years old at the time this happened. What did I possibly have in common with them?

I knew I had to go through with it so I just bit the bullet and gave it my best shot. They treated me like a fish out of water (pun intended). I was 25 years old. Most of them were between 45 and 60 years of age. They were teasing me and flirting with me and we all had a great time.

What I learned from that experience was that I wasn’t afraid of public speaking. I was afraid of being unprepared for public speaking. I write out specific notes in an outline form that helps me to stay on track. I make lesson plans whenever I do a seminar. Now, I no longer fear public speaking but rather, look forward to every opportunity I have to present. They actually turn out to be fun experiences.

That evening turned out to be a turning point moment for me. It made me realize that the key to presenting like a pro is to know your facts and create an orderly outline to keep you on track. Naturally, the more you practice, the smoother your presentation will sound. I also encourage you to always end on a high note. That’s the way to make people want to come back for more.

"I set myself on fire and people come from miles around to watch me burn." - Actual source unknown

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Presentation Mastery .) I encourage you to click here to register for my exclusive live Zoom Presentation Mastery seminar on Thursday, February 17, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

It’s Closing Time!

Tue, 22 Feb 2022 13:00:05 GMT

It’s Closing Time!

Don’t miss it!

Having presented the Sales Academy for more than 20 years, one thing has become
clear: No matter how crucial it is to their success, salespeople often seem to avoid
closing.

There is a natural fear that most people share of avoiding rejection. However,
without the close, there can’t be a sale. And without asking for the close, you
probably won’t have one.

Another common problem I see is that, when it does come the closing, most
salespeople beat around the bush. This is disrespectful to your prospect. Either
you’re going to get the sale or you won’t. There is no need to drag it out. If you ask
your prospect if he or she is ready to close, you’ll get an answer. It may not be the
answer that you are looking for, but it will at least give you enough information to
find out where you stand and if you still have more work to do before earning the
right to get the sale.

Believe it or not, most closes should not take more than 10 minutes. The only time
they go longer is when there is more talking going on than there should be. It’s fine
to be thorough and to get all the facts, but that should be done before you get to
the close. Remember that when it comes to closing, always validate that the
customer has a clear picture of the benefits you offer. Once you get an
acknowledgment that that has taken place, it’s time for you to close.

It’s important to confirm with your prospect that your offer provides a valuable
benefit to him or her before you ask for the sale. If the prospect acknowledges the
benefit, that’s considered validation. Once your prospect acknowledges your
validation, it’s time for you to ask for the sale. If you’re providing something that
will make your prospects’ lives better, you owe it to them and to yourself to ask for
the sale.

“ABC = Always be closing.” – Sales axiom

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled How to Close a Sale in 10 Minutes or Less. ) I encourage you to click here to register for my live in person How to Close a Sale in 10 Minutes or Less seminar on Thursday, February 2, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim,, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.

INITIAL BLOG (DUPLICATE BEFORE EDITING!)

Mon, 22 Apr 2019 07:19:32 GMT

New Title

First Half of Post: