July 2010
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From The Editor Welcome to our Magazine! Dear Reader, Is it just me or is anyone else a little freaked out that it’s half way through the year already! I still remember being home for last Christmas like it was yesterday and gearing up for a big year of events. Now, we have the magazine and our events calendar is getting fuller by the minute. I won’t however complain to you about how busy it is, because I know we are all in the same boat. But it’s important to remember to take time out for ourselves. at’s why just last week I enjoyed four days at home with my family and friends for my birthday. It was so nice to have a little time out and spend time with those that are important to me. But it is straight back into it this week, as we have our next Business Blueprint conference this week! is month in the magazine we feature power couple Andrew and Angela Smith. ey are a fantastic duo who have built an extremely successful business - together. Have a read of their top tips for working with your better half. Also as we all know, Marketing should be at the forefront of all our minds when it comes to business. On page 8 and 9 we have asked our mentors how they market their businesses - on a shoe-string budget. Make sure you set aside some time to check out their tips as you might be able to apply them directly to your business. We would love your feedback, so if you have something to say, please email me at Editor@BusinessBlueprint.com.au and I look forward to hearing from you. Until next time, have a wonderful month.
Contact Us For any enquires please call 1300 782 734 or email editor@BusinessBlueprint.com.au
In this month’s magazine … Check out our latest iPhone and Blackberry tips... Page 5 Read about Andrew and Angela Smith’s business success and how they make working together simple and effective... Page 6 Learn from our experts when it comes to marketing your business on a shoe-string budget... Page 8 Taki Moore Sharon Tieman Tony Gattari Read what Dale has been up to lately and view the photos from our Business Blueprint Summer Conference... Page 10 We chat with Michelle Bowden who is Australia’s Public Speaking and Influence Expert ... Page 13 We sit down with Ari Galper and quiz him about Sales ... Page 14 Claim your free audio, e-book and video... Page 15 Read our feature article which shows you how to take giant leaps in your performance... Page 16
NEWS IN BRIEF
S S E N I BUS S F E I R B Culling Resume’s - The Easy Way When it comes time in your business to hire a new staff member, it can become a stressful process that you don't look forward to. It's oen very hard to determine whether a candidate is right for your business and will fit in with your systems and processes. However there are a few things you can do to make the screening process simple and effective. Assuming you have put your advert in the right places with a thorough job description, you will have a pile of resume's to go through. Here are a few tips to help you go through these applicants and make the right choice: 1. Have A Yes, No And Maybe Pile - As you go through the resumes for the first time, file them in a Yes, No or Maybe folder. is way, once you have gone through your pile, you might find that you have 40 Yes's, which means you don't need your maybe pile at all. is is a fast way to get the process moving.
Get The ‘Big Shots’ To Notice You... Sometimes in business, you need to get the attention of a 'big shot'. Whether that be a television network, celebrity, CEO etc, it can be tricky to pitch to that person as you get stuck with their assistant or in their inbox. It's important to remember that these people get approached oen daily from people wanting to engage them with some type of proposal or opportunity. So in order to make sure that your email gets to the top of their list, there are a few things you can do: 1. Open with a compelling subject line - don’t have your subject line as ‘Proposal’ or something like that. Instead maybe ‘Paid Speaking Engagement - Deadline Approaching’. 2. Introduce yourself in one sentence - they don’t have time to hear your life story, so keep it simple and just outline the important things. 3. Do your homework and know what the 'big shot' is interested in - make sure you are pitching to the right audience and do your research. 4. Keep it short - these people are usually very busy so the longer your proposal, the less likely they are to read it. 5. Be bold so that you engage the person straight away - act as if they are your peer, not your idol.
2. Know Your Position Description Inside Out - You will struggle to go through the resumes if you are not crystal clear on what you are looking for. Have a list next to you of the things you are looking for in a staff member and as you go through each person you can mentally tick off if they have the attributes and skills you are aer. 3. Sort rough e Resumes At A Convenient Time For You - is is a big process and one that shouldn't be taken lightly, so make sure you set aside a good amount of time to really pay attention to it. If you are doing a million things at once, you can miss really important information that could lead you to make the wrong decision. 4. Don't Concentrate On e Cover Letter And Don't Read Every Line - At this initial screening stage, don't get hung up on the little things. Cover letters are important but can oen mis-represent the candidate. Just concentrate on the attributes you are looking for and you can go into more details when you get to the interview process. 4 Business Blueprint Magazine July 2010 www.BusinessBlueprint.com.au/Mag
NEWS IN BRIEF
Put It In Your Backpack When it comes to setting up systems in your business, there is something new that we have discovered which has saved us a mountain of time. Its a program called Backpack and you can find it at www.backpackit.com.
Hints and Tips for your iPhone and Blackberry...
Backpack is an easy to use intranet for your business which allows you to share information with your team and update your systems at any time. In your backpack you will have a range of different pages and each page contains information about processes and procedures in your business. en you can assign who you want to be able to see that page, so that some documents can be kept confidential and some can be seen by all. e great thing about Backpack is that it is so simple to use! It can be a long process, getting all of your systems and procedures documented. However once it is all done, then you can start to become more efficient and your staff certainly will have more of an understanding of how you want your business run. en once you have everything documented in Backpack, the next step is to use a project management system called Basecamp. You can find it at www.basecamphq.com. Basecamp is an easy to use system that allows you to assign To Do’s and Milestones to different staff members. en when it is time for that To Do to be done, an email is sent to the person notifying them that it is time. For example, if you need to send out a confirmation email before your event, you can assign that to one of your staff members and once they have completed it, they can tick it off so you know it has been taken care of.
Every 23 seconds, a Tupperware party starts somewhere in the world
iPHONE Application of the month: Join the Nike Training Club and you’ll get psyched from the minute you log on. Start by creating an avatar, then customise your workouts, learn new training drills and even invite your friends for a little healthy competition. iPhone Tips With some applications, you can play your music while you work out. Just make sure to launch your iPod application before tapping on your second app. BLACKBERRY Application of the month: Trapster - Beat the fuzz with your BlackBerry. Hook the app into your handset's GPS radio or just enter locations manually, and Trapster will let you in on all the nearby speed traps, including police with live radar guns, known hiding places, and red light cameras. You can also rate traps to let other users know if they're accurate, or report new traps right from your handset. e interface isn't pretty, but who cares if it saves you from coughing up for a pricey ticket. Tips supplied by Audrey Rodda-Frack from Phonelink www.phonelink.com.au
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BATTLE OF THE SEXES 7 Tips For Doing Business With Your Better Half Majority of people, if asked if they could work with their partner, would respond with a very definite ‘No!’. Andrew and Angela Smith are one couple that prove that some partnerships not only work but flourish. ey claim their like-minded Aussie ‘can do’ attitude, sheer dedication and focused direction have been the answer to their success. “Having travelled around Australia for 13 months and working a ski season in Canada for 12 months together certainly helped us form a solid foundation” explains Angela, “No better way to reveal ones true character, warts and all” they share with us. ey whole-heartedly align with the cliché “what doesn’t break us makes us stronger’. Andrew’s career began at 21 and today, still owns and operates one of the leading maintenance plumbing companies in Sydney, Dr.DRiP Pty Ltd. Having begun as a one man business in a small second bedroom in a flat below his parent’s home in 2000, he has taken it, with the assistance of wife Angela, to a thriving multi-million dollar business that operates from a warehouse in the central location of Artarmon. Andrew’s first admission is that there’s truth in the saying ‘Behind every successful businessman is a strong, loving and supportive female’. It was a big ask to expect Angela to turn her back on her own marketing career working with multi-national companies to join the growing Dr.DRiP business back in 2004.
World’s collided when Angela’s corporate background and Andrew’s trade background were brought together and some adjustment was required. “I came from managing millions of dollars and a team of people and hence was use to making my own decisions. Andrew was use to having total control and had to learn to let go a little”, laughs Angela. ey have admitted that the early days of working together day in, day out, was challenging. “We had to constantly work on our ‘professional relationship’ to ensure the lines weren’t blurred between home and work” shares Angela, “a challenge we continue to face on a daily basis”. e birth of their first child Hannah was the tipping point to stop working the 80 hour weeks and basically ‘get a life!’. Aer an unsuccessful search for a mentor in the trades arena to help them get their life back, they ended up taking the advice of a number of mentors who where masters in their
Andrew says with a cheeky grin, “happy wife happy life!”. profession. Together they restructured Dr.DRiP to result in a ‘lifestyle business’, one that removed Angela from the business and works with as little as one day a week of Andrew’s personal time. is new found knowledge and skill-set won Andrew the title of Australian Small Business Champion Entrepreneur for NSW/ACT (2008).
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One extraordinary outcome of this freedom was the birth of their second business Tradesman Inner Circle Pty Ltd. Australia’s #1 mentor & coaching business offering membership to tradesmen. “We share our proven profit driving marketing and business techniques to work less, earn more money and live a better lifestyle” explains Andrew. is business has fulfilled Andrew’s dream to educate and mentor others to succeed as he has done. It is this business that consumes both Andrew and Angela’s time, in addition to balancing their two children, Hannah (4) and Isaac (8months) and a home on the northern beaches of Sydney. “ankfully Andy is really hands on” Angela shares, “he is more oen than not the chef in our house and enjoys daddy day-care days with Hannah. ey love their time together!”. “We are lucky that, depending on what’s happening, we can juggle our responsibilities” Andrew comments, “because everyone with their own business knows, 9-5pm doesn’t exist, especially when there are kids swimming lessons to attend!”. So when asked what their 7 business survival tips are when working with your partner, they had this to share: “No one person is better than the other especially when you equally bring value to the table” says Angela. “Particularly when your strengths are so completely different” adds Andrew. ey both agree the number 1 overall tip to survive working with your
FEATURE ARTICLE | BATTLE OF THE SEXES
partner would be the use of tactful and effective communication. Let’s take a look at Andrew & Angela’s top 7 survival tips: 1. Complete a life plan and business plan together - “We have always had a business plan and ‘smashed it out of the park” says Andrew, “we knew it was imperative to have a clear direction for the business but realised we needed this in our life too. We could see that 5, 10 years could easily go by and we would say to ourselves “what have we done in the past 5 years?”. “To have a shared vision for your future is critical to your combined and individual happiness in both your life and
business” says Angela. 2. Defined & separate work space – separate desks or even offices “Working in a very small single bedroom with no windows together was a huge challenge at first. We had to add an extra desk to isolate a specific and dedicated work area. It wasn’t working to share a desk – we needed to be there at the same time!” laughs Angela. “Our move to Artarmon was a dream resulting in a clear defined work space”. 3. Clear lines of responsibility that relate to your strengths - “is was an interesting one when I first came to work with Andrew. He had a tough time ‘letting go’ of some jobs he once had control over. Lines had to be drawn in the sand about who was responsible for what so that it was VERY clear” shares Angela. Everyone should know what their true strengths are. If not, have your work colleagues and family tell you what they think they are. You might be pleasantly surprised. 4. Agree on a daily/weekly meeting for allocated ‘work discussion’ to eliminate daily distractions - You need to agree on when/how to discuss work. In the beginning a morning meeting for a strict halfan-hour to discuss our priorities worked well. is made our working time more productive with less daily distractions. Today we work with a web-based project management tool to track our daily priorities, in addition to share a common web-based calendar to collectively see our weekly commitments. is of course is rounded out with our weekly team meeting – nothing goes past a face to face.
your business” says
5. Keep your cool! – don’t raise your voice - “We are faced with challenges with the business every day, so keeping a level head to make quick decisions is important. Flying off the handle doesn’t do anyone any favours!” says Andrew. “I hear so many stories about other bosses yelling and screaming at their team – to what end? Certainly doesn’t help staff morale and more importantly doesn’t make for a happy home when the victim has been your partner!”. 6. Listen to each others point of view – no interruptions - “I am always interested to hear Andrew’s opinion and point of view with regard to a situation as more oen than not he has a view that I had not considered and at times, can change my thinking” shares Angela. “It is important to let your partner have their say with no interruptions. A rule we know is critical to productive collaboration. I still have to tell myself to zip it!”. 7. Don’t make it personal, keep it professional – “Remember: When the business closes for the night, you have to go home to that person!” says Angela with a smirk. “Keep your comments strictly about the work, even if you are angry about something that happened at home. Remember the line in the sand is drawn – work is work and home is home. Don’t cross the two over. Ever” shares Angela. “If you wouldn’t say it to an employee, then don’t say it to your partner”. “In all honesty, we are blessed to have the relationship we have” Andrew comments and Angela agrees, “not only do we work well together, we are best mates”. “And you know what they say” Andrew says with a cheeky grin, “happy wife happy life!”.
For more information about Andrew and Angela Smith, visit: www.drdrip.com.au or www.tradesmaninnercircle.com.au
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MONTHLY MENTORS | MARKET YOUR BUSINESS
HOW TO MARKET YOUR BUSINESS ON A SHOE STRING BUDGET We all know that marketing is one of the most important aspects of business. In fact, I remember someone saying ‘you are not in the business of “the thing”, your in the business of marketing “the thing”’. So thats ultimately your job as a business owner – it’s creating activities that are going to generate more opportunities which should lead to further revenue and growth in your business. When it comes to actual marketing tactics, the possibilities are almost endless. at’s why you must be discerning and choose the methods that are going to give you the biggest bang for your buck. is month our experts were asked how someone could market their business on a shoestring budget.
Taki Moore
Sharon Tieman
Create a money magnet - If you already have a list or database, not everybody on that list is ready to buy something from you right now. Most marketing pieces give out an incentive to buy which is great for the ones that are ready, but not so great for the ones that aren't.
Make no mistake:- The MARKETING MONEY is in THE LIST!
So instead of saying to your list "Here's a create deal for you on our products etc", it's better to write a money magnet. This would be something like a free report or useful guide for your list. It doesn't have to be massive, 3 - 4 pages. You ask your list to email you back if they want it, which will then give you a hot list which basically cost nothing and you can now spend your time, energy and money on just that list. The benefit is that your response rate goes up between 2 - 100 times and you have a concentrated list to market to. For info: www.MoreClients.com.au
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Let me explain: you see it’s 5 times more effective to sell to the customers you already have. That means if you put an ad in the paper to attract new customers or you spend that same amount of money and mail, email, phone, text or fax a great offer to the customers you already have, your strike rate will be 5 times more effective. If you can’t get an instant “SALE” from the advertising you are doing now - get a “NAME”. The offer to your list should be measurable and profitable for you, yet sexy enough for your client to pick up the phone and grab the offer...then everyone wins. Keep a record of the offers to your client list that get great responses and don’t be afraid to repeat them For more info call 1800 247 835 www.MadameMarketing.com
MONTHLY MENTORS | MARKET YOUR BUSINESS
Tony Gattari – Founder of Achievers Group
"We generate conversations and all our campaigns are supported by print and online." 2. Social networking
Businesses all over the world are trying to do more with less as marketing budgets are slashed in these tougher economic times. But with a nose for a bargain and a little knowhow , it is possible to extract good value from a shrinking budget. 1. Word-of-mouth Get people talking about your business by hiring a ‘word-ofmouth' expert to start a conversation on your behalf. A Word of Mouth Company operates and starts 500 conversations a day. Its team of 50 conversation starters are invited to speak at established community groups like mother's groups about up to seven brands an hour. It costs from $1.30 per person and all feedback is tracked online.
Companies need more than just a website to be truly part of the digital age. We recommend Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), which uses key words to make sure your business features prominently in search engines. Beyond that, consider social networking. Advertising on blogs or social networking sites is also increasing popular. It allows you to place your brand near industry thought leaders and remains relatively inexpensive. 3. Customer Relationship Marketing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems have long been the preserve of larger companies, but they are a great tool for smaller businesses too. The systems capture customer information and can be used to create targetted marketing campaigns. For example, if you decide to send an offer to lapsed customers, a CRM allows you do this quickly and effectively. Lots of companies seem to think CRM is the same thing as direct marketing, but it most certainly is not.
Most businesses can have an immense amount of dormant information on their computer systems that can be used to create more effective marketing campaigns. 4. Experiential marketing Whether its bubble wrapping lamp posts, creating pavement art or paying actors to argue in cinemas, experiential marketing (also known as ambient marketing) is on the increase as companies try to reach time-poor consumers. A great example of an experiential marketing campaign involved a campaign for the promotion of a new Ikea store. One night, the company put 50,000 Ikea swing tags on public furniture, and also drove around old Volvos loaded with Ikea furniture. These engaging brand experience moments will capture the attention, hearts and minds of consumers and present a clear call to action. If experiential is used as part of an overall campaign, then it works brilliantly. For more info call 02 9025 3716 www.AchieversGroup.com.au
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Diary Dates The Business Blueprint Winter Conference is being held from Friday 16th July - Sunday 18th July Power Hour Class Wednesday 21st July Hot Seat Interview Wednesday 4th August
Business Blueprint Members Area Hi Everyone, Well July is shaping up to be a massive month for myself and my family. Hopefully our second baby will be born towards the end of the month, so fingers crossed I can show you a picture of our new addition by the August issue of Business Blueprint! My wife Katherine and I are so excited and can’t wait to meet the new member of our family (and Finn is pretty pumped to be getting a golf buddy). Also during July we are holding our next Blueprint Conference. We have some amazing speakers lined up which is really exciting and also I'm looking forward to catching up with our members again and seeing the progress that I know they have been making in their businesses.
Power Hour Class Wednesday 18th August Hot Seat Interview Wednesday 1st September
Over the next couple of pages, your going to see some photos of our experts and members. Our members are all at different stages of their growth but the one thing they all have in common is their desire to expand and to ensure that their products and services change lives and reach even great numbers of people.
Power Hour Class Wednesday 15th September Hot Seat Interview Wednesday 6th October Power Hour Class Wednesday 20th October The Business Blueprint Spring Conference is being held from Friday 28th October - Sunday 31st October
If you are someone who is running your own business right now and looking to access the best mentoring and mastermind program in Australia, then Business Blueprint might be just right for you and your business. To find out more, go to:
www.BusinessBlueprint.com.au/Apply Talk again soon,
Hot Seat Interview Wednesday 3rd November The Annual Business Blueprint Overseas Conference will be held in Fiji from Friday 4th February - Sunday 6th February
eat ideas, then minars and got some gr se r he ot of lot a ne it and I have “I have do AT to do, not HOW to do WH me ld to d ha ey that, and discovered th ess Blueprint is not like sin Bu lf. se my r fo t ou had to work this the additional e training videos and th of l al d ha I at th knowing .” coaching was fantastic signer De e ap sc nd Lisa Ginns - La
MEMBERS AREA | FROM THE GALLERY
BusinessBlueprint Conference
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Blueprint Members Dinner
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HOT SEAT | MICHELLE BOWDEN
HOT SEAT
Michelle Bowden
Michelle Bowden is Australia's Public Speaking and Influence expert. She has facilitated her Influential Presentation Skills program over 550 times for many thousands of people and is known for her ability to transform everyone into confident, engaging and persuasive presenters so they get more of what they want in their life. Why did you feel the need to help corporate employees with presentation skills? I have specialised in presentation, influencing skills training and mentoring since 1999 because it’s what I am most passionate about and it’s where I feel I can add the most value to businesspeople. I think of presenting as any communication between people, from one-on- one conversations through to massive groups – it’s not just formal occasions with large groups. I think we are presenting in our emails, proposals, phone calls and meetings. Presenting is something corporate employees do all day. Being able to articulate your message with confidence and clarity is, in my opinion, one of the most important skills to develop in the corporate world. If you can’t say what you mean in a way that influences your audience to understand and take the desired action then it’s going to be very hard to achieve personal satisfaction. It will also be very hard to rise up the corporate ladder, no matter how technically skilled you are. I believe it is wise to integrate presentation and influencing models into our everyday communications.
In your experience, what effect does learning and mastering presentation skills have on business success? Edward Gibbon said, ‘Our work is the presentation of our capabilities’. When you can articulate your perspective in an influential way you can directly influence business success. I have seen the increased sales results achieved by salespeople who learn to present and influence effectively. e technical people I work with find it’s
easier to influence others and achieve their desired outcome. Employees find it easier to influence their managers, and managers find it easier to influence their staff. It’s an allround win for everyone in a company when the culture focuses on the ability to present, influence and communicate with excellence.
What are your top tips for influencing others in a positive and empowering way? Rapport, rapport, rapport! Before you can influence others you must build rapport with them. My advice is to: • Understand the person’s personality filters – the way they experience, respond to and manage their environment. • Make a plan – what do you want to achieve? • Rehearse - it's critical that you practice what you are going to say in a variety of different rooms and places until it doesn't sound rehearsed. • Use pacing and leading – pacing involves being like your audience in your dress, body language, eye contact, vocal variety, style, language, interests and attitudes. Some people call this matching or mirroring. Leading is taking the audience where you want them to go. Your audience won’t follow you or give you permission to lead them unless they feel an affiliation with you. You really can’t ask for anything until you have first built rapport. • Show them what’s in it for them to change – we know this as the WIIFM or ‘what’s in it for me’.
• Use language persuasively. ere are over 13 different advanced language patterns that should be in every presentation when you are keen to influence your audience to change their thinking or behaviour. For more information, I outline each of these in my new book Don't Picture me Naked available at www.michellebowden.com.au.
What role does understanding personality types play in operating and growing a business? Organisations with healthy results and happily engaged people are made up of people who are great at what they do. Each role in a company requires certain abilities. We mostly develop ability through the repetition of tasks we enjoy. Depending on our personality filters we will each enjoy different tasks. As obvious as this is, many business owners recruit people who are similar to themselves and so end up with finance, marketing, administration and legal experts all with similar preferences. No wonder nothing gets done! It is wise to think about the style of person you need in order for excellence to be achieved. So instead of cloning yourself – take a risk and employ the right person, not the nice person!
To find out more about Michelle Bowden, visit www.michellebowden.com.au
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HOT SEAT
Ari Galper
Ari Galper is the creator of Unlock The Game, a new sales approach that completely removes the pain and rejection out of the sales process. With a new sales mindset and trust-based languaging you can dramatically increase your sales success. Why is the beginning of a sales call far more important than the close? e beginning of a sales call is the most important part of the process because it is the moment when you are judged by the prospect as being a salesperson or a trusted advisor. We are taught so many techniques for closing a sale, but think about how many sales are lost at ‘hello’. e ability to start a conversation with a total stranger from scratch, without a sales pitch, is vitally important and something that is learnt from the Unlock e Game approach.
You disagree with traditional sales training that teaches salespeople to use scripts when prospecting and selling. How do you deliver a sales message without using a script? You let go of the linear step-by-step sales process, where your job is to move people down a pre-determined path. Nobody likes to feel like they are being ‘sold’ to and a pre-determined linear process only makes a prospect feel as if they have to follow your steps to work with you. Having a linear script can actually prevent you from truly listening, because you’re always thinking about the next step and how to get people to follow your path toward the sale. Plus, scripts can also make you sound robotic – no matter how good you are. e more natural you can be in a conversation with a prospect, without worrying about what’s going to happen next, the faster your prospect will feel that you are truly listening.
Do you believe that salespeople should be careful with the words they use in the sales process?
ere are many common sales lines that have become so ‘salesy’ that they can lose a sale at the very beginning of the process. ey sound innocent enough, but because prospects are so tired of feeling manipulated by salespeople, they hear these tired old phrases and run the other way. ings like, ‘Would you be interested’ or ‘Explore possibilities’ or ‘Follow up’ have now become pressure triggers for prospects. Regardless of your intentions, these words portray you as the negative ‘salesperson’ stereotype, even if you truly want to help the prospect. is is why I teach a whole new sales mind-set with natural language, so that trust can be built with prospects instead of pressure.
Do you think that fear of rejection is simply a natural reaction? It’s a very natural reaction, but it doesn’t have to be that way. What most of us don’t realise is that we are actually triggering the rejection in the first place. What’s really unnatural is that we’re taught to put our sales persona on top of who we really are, but when we get rejected we take it personally. e truth is, you’re not the problem, your approach is. And if you can change your approach to a natural one, you’ll never experience rejection again.
How can salespeople change from being perceived as the ‘dreaded salesperson’ to the ‘trusted advisor’? is is an important question because so many sales programs today tell you to become a trusted advisor, but then don’t give you a framework to actually become one. ere is one core difference between a trusted advisor and a typical salesperson – agenda. Most people view salespeople as
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having only one agenda: to make the sale. However, the trusted advisor only has one true agenda: to help solve their prospect’s problem. To become a trusted advisor, you’ll need to completely let go of trying to make the sale and learn how to get to the truth of whether a win-win situation can be achieved.
What is the most important thing you have learned about succeeding in sales? Don’t focus on making the sale! How can you be in sales if you are not focusing on it? Well, to be truly successful you have to make this shi in mindset. Why? Because when you let go of your own agenda (of trying to make money from someone else), you can truly be present with them. If you can do this, then you can talk with them without your mind racing ahead in an effort to move them in a direction they may not want to go. When you are present with them, they trust and believe you more. It’s not about your ability to make the sale, it’s about your ability to create authentic trust; and authentic trust equals more sales.
Take a Free Test Drive of Ari’s Unlock The Game sales approach at www.UnlockTheGame.com or call 1300 763 654 for a Free Sales Coaching Consultation or more information.
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In this audio book summary you will discover: • e key principles mayor Giuliani exemplified of leadership in the face of total disaster • Why surrounding yourself with great people is the key to any great leadership position • How a leader can develop and communicate strong beliefs to their team members • How loyalty raises trust, boosts an organisations morale and creates tighter leadership
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Tony Gattari - Recipe For Success
Take advantage of the power of the Web to propel ideas, brands and organisations from seemingly obscurity to instant fame and fortune – for free. International author, online thought leader and viral marketing strategist, David Merriman Scott, delivers to you a no-nonsense guide to viral marketing success. Through powerful ‘word-of-mouse’ success stories, David challenges you to ignore the old and expensive attitudes and discover the new rules to viral marketing.
When Tony Gattari took the helm of the computer division at Harvey Norman, he was doing a respectable $12 million a year in sales. However through a series of events, Tony discovered a formula that had the potential to skyrocket these results. Nine years later, through a lot of hard work and dedication and support from a great team, Tony’s division hit $565 million in sales. If you want to discover how he did it, then watch this short and inspiring video.
In this ebook you will discover: • A formula for viral marketing success • How viral marketing spreads your ideas for free • How to help your eBook get shared via word-of-mouse • Nothing is guaranteed to go viral • Your need to think like a venture capitalist • Nine tips for using YouTube for viral marketing • Why you must ignore the old rules and the new way to spread ideas
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In this video presentation you will discover... • What were the major challenges facing his business in the early days • How and where he discovered the secret that would revolutionise computer retailing in Australia • How he was able to get other retailers to open up and share their hard-won lessons with him • Why it pays to follow a proven formula as opposed to trying to figure it all out of your own To Access This Free Video, Visit:
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ARTICLE | FROG POWER
How To Take GIANT Leaps In Your Performance BookRapper.com rewrites and re-designs important business books so they can be read in 30 minutes. This is a summary of Book Rapper’s version of Steve Zaffron and Dave Logan’s The Three Laws of Performance. Despite our best intentions most of our efforts to improve our performance fail miserably.
Unless we change these factors and approach the issue from a fresh context, very little will change.
All we end up doing is a little better and we produce marginally better results.
As Albert Einstein suggested ‘No problem can be solved at the same level at which it was created’. Shiing the context allows the problem to be transformed. We can then live into a new future.
e problem with most efforts to improve performance is that we try to fix the problem. is would be really easy if the problem was the broken leg of a chair. In this case it’s simple to identify the source of the problem and find an exact replacement. In contrast, if we want a giant leap forward in our performance this rarely works. We need to transform our performance, not fix it. Problem solving doesn’t work because it’s like building a sand castle on the beach. Sooner or later the tide’s going to come in and wash it all away. Most change management efforts fail because they are washed away in the tide of further change and factors unforeseen at the time of planning. Shiing Context e reason problems persist is because they occur within the same context. erefore we repeat them in different forms over and over. Our assumptions, hopes, fears, resignations, cynicisms and experience stay the same and we’re forced to repeat ourselves.
us the metaphor of ‘Frog Power’: A frog is not a bigger or better tadpole. When a frog stops being a tadpole a whole different world is available. And with it’s new hind legs it truly is able to take a great leap forward! e Reality Illusion How many times have you shaken your head and asked: Why do people do what they do? e problem is that common sense is not common. And, that’s because the reality we think we share is just an illusion. We don’t have a common understanding of situations.
“The most powerful influence on our performance is how we see the future” Consider, when we do something, it always makes complete sense to us. To another person watching us, it may make no sense at all. For instance, suicide is a serious affair. To the living it makes no sense. To the person
16 Business Blueprint Magazine July 2010 www.BusinessBlueprint.com.au/Mag
taking their own life they see it as a viable solution to ending their pain. e First Law of Performance says: Our Performance directly correlates to how situations occur to us. How situations ‘occur’ goes beyond perception and subjective experience. Your perspective is part of the way the situation occurs. Your Default Future e most powerful influence on our performance is how we see the future. Our futures call us into action today. For instance, if you were going on holiday next week to an exotic location you might already be excited even though you’re stuck in the office slogging away. Likewise, on your last day of holiday, your body might still be on the beach in Hawaii but your mind has already le and started thinking about all the things to do when you get back home. Our Default Future is the future we’re having that’s coloured by our past. It feels like Groundhog Day because we’re repeating the same patterns of our past just played out in a new day. We repeat the past because we fail to notice what’s driving us. And we fail to notice because they’re not obvious like the broken leg of a chair. ey live in the things that go ‘unsaid’. is includes our assumptions, expectations, disappointments, resentments, regrets, interpretations and concerns.
ARTICLE | FROG POWER
And this highlights the second law of performance: how situations occur is inseparable from language. ‘My Manager is a Jerk’ Consider, in a work situation your manager may tell you to do something in a new way. However, if you’re operating out of the context ‘My manager is a jerk’, then it’s likely you’ll disregard their suggestion. Multiply this across a workforce and the ‘unsaid’ can hijack the future of an entire organisation. Imagine if everyone thought ‘My manager is a jerk’. How do you think this would this impact the performance of the organisation? e key to freedom from this hijacking is to distinguish the Background Conversation. In particular, it’s to unlock the interpretations you’ve made in the past that are cluttering up your future. For instance, go back to the time you decided ‘My manager is a jerk’ and look at what really happened. It will follow this basic pattern: an actual situation occurred and you made it mean something. You may have seen your boss do something. It’s likely to be something you wouldn’t have done. And, in that moment you labelled him/her a ‘jerk’. Later, you forgot you made up this interpretation and now you’re acting as if it’s the truth. Whilst we may have the best of intentions, unless we expose the ‘unsaid’ we’ll continue to operate out of the world we created. Your Invented Future Once we’ve identified and completed the things from our past that have been clogging up our future view, we can start to create an Invented Future. It guides you in the present and calls you forward into the future.
If, how a situation occurs lives in language, then it figures we need to change our language to invent a future. e ird Law of Performance suggests ‘Futurebased language transforms how situations occur to people’. Your Default Future is a projection of what’s previously happened. And, it lives in your description of it. It will include expectations, hopes, fears, predictions, judgements, assessments and assertions. It may also include spin and attempts to motivate you. It’s value is in accurately describing what’s so - e here and now. For example, the bottle is round, blue and about this high. It loses its value when we try to create with it. For that we need to switch to Generative Language. Generative Language Judges create the future when they announce a criminal’s sentence. A marriage celebrant declares a united future of husband and wife. Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech presented a new vision for blacks and whites in America.
Generative Language is not an attempt to fix the current situation. Instead, it transforms how the current situation occurs to us in the moment of speaking it. “I now pronounce you husband and...” Your first step is to make a declaration for your future to displace your Default Future. en you need to make promises and commitments to bring your spoken future into reality. Summary Lots of business and self-help books allow you to shuffle the deck chairs and don’t get to the heart of your sinking life/organisation. e key to a breakthrough in your performance lies in seeing how your current situation is occurring to you. Change the context you are operating from to transform your performance.
To get the complete Frog Power visit www.BookRapper.com
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