Personal Touch Your Way to Success

Personal Touch Your Way to Success:

No matter what position or role you play in a company, personal touch matters. How are you putting a personal touch on things with your co-workers? Your suppliers? Your customers? Sure people all send out those chocolate boxes or a fruit basket this time of year. What about next month in January? Adding a personal touch is something you need to do each day, week and month. It doesn’t have to be big things. Here are ideas you can use no matter what time of year or what position you are in:

1. Personalized notes – attach a little handwritten note of thanks whenever you send papers out.
2. Personalized cards – send a card out saying thank you, great job or sharing some admiration. You appear more human than an email ever will.
3. Bring Food – send cookies to a client and watch the reaction. Bring donuts to the Monday meetings and show someone you thought of the team.
4. Send Kudos to the Boss – send a message to the boss letting him/her know what a great job was done by them (they’re people too).
5. Magazine subscription – get a client a magazine subscription they will love. It’s a gift that gives for 12 months!
6. Inspirational Sayings – put some inspirational message in the kitchen or the boardroom for people to read and appreciate
7. Wrap it Up – next time you send a report, a book, a part – wrap it up like a gift. Amazon does it with books and people love it.
8. Gift cards – send someone a gift card every week with a note telling them how they impact you.
9. Take Someone for Lunch – who never seems to leave the office? Take them out for lunch on you and get to know them.

Use little extras like this to make a big impact on people … during this festive season but also in all of 2010.

Plan B

With many of our coaching clients at the ownership and management levels we talk about Plan B. What is your plan to generate income that doesn't rely on your current job or your current company? If you assumed no one else was going to cover your retirement or long term well-being, what plan do you need in place? Now some people think this is about being a financial planner. It's not. It is about business strategy for you as an individual and as a company. It is critical to know that you have a second income stream, second opportunity and cushion if things ever finished up quickly with your primary role/job.

Where are your interests? What things do you love? Real estate? Stocks? Makeup? Organic Products? Find your interests and see where Plan B can fit around those. If you had to spend 3-4 hours a week working on your future then you have the makings for a Plan B. Do it with your spouse. Know that getting rich and being independent isn't based on what your financial advisor tells you - he or she has hundreds of clients and isn't watching your money every minute of the day. It is based on you taking time to find a hobby called Plan B that will continue to grow your knowledge in business and your wealth outside of your first role/career.

Money is the Result.

So many people are focused on making money in their companies and in their careers that I thought it was important to write about how they can do this. The fundamental problem most people have is that they don't recognize that more cash, bonuses, sales, commissions and salary are results. They are an output and not an input. Therefore, by just focusing on the result of things (I need some more money personally, we want more sales this quarter) we are missing the critical focus - the inputs that create money for us.


In your job you should know exactly why you get paid what you do. What is expected of you in order to earn your salary? My experience is many people aren't quite sure. Well, you need to know in order to be able to increase your inputs to get more output (money). Talk to your boss and your co-workers, AND your clients and see what generated results for them. Then you have a sense of what you need to produce more of in order to get more money. A raise doesn't show up without more effort and results. You don't get a bonus at the start of the quarter, it's at the end when your results can be measured. So start today in knowing what you need to do to serve more people and to create more results worthy of more cash.


As a business owner or manager, how can your organization serve more clients and better serve the clients you have? So often companies think that clients deal with them because of their base product or service. Well, your clients can get your product or service from probably 50 different suppliers (or at least 5). So why are they dealing with you? You need to know in order to create more value. As you create more value for clients you create more buzz, strengthen your reputation, advance your product offering and generate more results for clients. It is a cycle. So figure out fast what you offer. Then set some new goals based on how many people and companies you will help this quarter. That is the input you control and revenue is the result.

Business Plan Tips

I had a good friend ask me about doing up a business plan for a new business idea he has. He had gotten all sorts of answers and templates from the bank and friends. I thought, they really don't know what people often look for so based on my experience of launching 11 companies, I'd throw in my two sense ...

Here are some things that I think are critical to a good plan:

1) A summary that makes simple sense. It amazes me after reading people's summary of their idea and business that I still don't get it. Because they drink their own kool-aid, they think its clear but to most outsiders it is clear as mud. So be able to explain the idea in 1-2 sentences. Like I say for Evolve - we are like personal trainers for your business - working business parts to make them stronger, leaner and more profitable. People see to register with that better than some long winded explanation with big words.
If you have a story then tell it too. You survived a fire and in that moment you knew that making people's skin clear was your life's work and calling ... (well, something like that).

2) If you are looking for investment have a summary of what you want, how you are going to spend it, how I get my money back and also what return I get. This should be a one pager. It is a page that most people don't include and then investors get frustrated trying to figure it out on their own. Most money people are impatient and will not read pages to figure out their role - they'll just decline.

3) If there is a business you are modelling anywhere in the world then get stats, pictures and stories of it. This tells people that you aren't a pioneer and that the idea works (even if its in Europe). Include photos just because people seem to love photos - seriously, I have had people look at photos for long periods of time of just concepts. Way more effective to get the ideas across.

4) Include a section on operations (how its going to run), marketing (how we are going to promote it), opportunity (why it is different and why you believe it will work), bios on the key players (people buy people), Threats and how you have already addressed them.

5) Finances is a key section. People want to see you have done your homework so include substantial projections and numbers. Most people show they are going to make $500K the first year or sell 1000 memberships the first month. It never happens. Bankers and investors presume that you are overstating your projections unless you can explain your assumptions (a key separate sheet with the numbers for reference). I would expect to be able to show a small loss or breakeven in the first year and then some good growth in year two. That's the typical business path. It takes 6 months before things start to roll. I would include cash projections, sales projections and even a balance sheet (although it will be really simple). It shows you understand the numbers which is a key.

6) The projections and numbers have to demonstrate that a payback of the loans or investors is possible. Sometimes I have seen plans where the business makes $60K a year profit and somehow the business is paying back investors 100K on some other page. Seems obvious but its not.

7) If things go sideways, can you outline the worst case scenario. For example, at the restaurant we say we would liquidate the equipment as the worst case (.20 cents on the dollar) but would list the restaurant for sales before that because as an on-going concern we can get approximately .70 on the dollar. This is the reasonable downside. People like to know the worst case.

8) Make it pretty. Glossy, professional, photos, logos and brand, all of that gets people emotionally and has an impact.

I think those are some of the key items that most business plan templates miss. Often your answers verbally when people sit down with you are the most important. If I can talk with you and you seem to know every figure, detail and component then I think, wow, this guy knows and that has more impact than anything on paper. I have had people invest and buy after talking without ever opening the business plan. They are buying you.

Sales Tip: Master the Mental Battle

Going out and selling each day is a tough job. You face adversity and challenge that most people don’t know. One of the keys to selling is the commitment to winning deals. This commitment starts in your head. Many sales are won or lost based on your commitment and will to get a sale. When you enter a sales situation you need to be more committed to working with the client than they are about not working with you. If they are wishy-washy and you are committed, who do you think wins? You do.

If you approach each sale driven with hope instead of commitment – then you are as wishy-washy as your prospective client and that will never aid you in getting deals.

Get up each day and know that you are going to win some new clients. Remind yourself as you walk into each meeting and see how your mastery of mind wins people over.

Leadership Tip: Make a List of All the Things You Hated

What are the things you have hated about every job you ever had? What things did your old boss or manager do that drove you wild or made you feel bad? Often realizing what didn’t empower you gives insight into what you need to avoid as a leader.

Although we like to work in the positive of “do these things”, we also can formulate those by recognizing what didn’t work with us and making sure we don’t do it to others.

Sales Tip: Give Me Something For FREE

People love FREE. It’s usually something they want or can use, sometimes not, but people always respond to free. When you are selling into a new account or company you need to provide some value without asking for anything. Free is a great way to do that. I don’t know you. I don’t trust you. But when you offer me something for free I start to think I can trust you and you are looking out for me – which builds trust fast. Make it a free trial, a free demo, a free sample, a free whitepaper, a free study, a free assessment (a real assessment not a sale wrapped as an assessment).

Find something to give away and people will open their doors to you for more sales.