Business growth tips for SMB from author Eric Gilboord

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Eric Gilboord, A2E

Yes I’ll Do It, No I Won’t and Then Nothing Happens
by Eric Gilboord

Promises Made to You
Has this thought crossed your mind lately? “But they said they would do it.” Ever sit in a meeting, have a customer, supplier or co-worker agree to do something, you say thank you and then days or weeks go by, the deadline is missed and nothing happens? Weeks turn into months and all you’ve heard are excuses and more promises. I’m busy, something came up, I’ll get right on it, give me a few more days and the excuse list just keeps growing. If only they put as much energy into just doing it in the first place, you wouldn’t have a problem.

It’s a universal truth (with the odd exception), if someone says yes they’ll do it and the first deadline is missed, find someone else to get it done. Most likely they will never do it. Inaction on their part becomes disappointment on yours. This usually leads to anger, mild or strong it doesn’t really matter - your relationship is soured.

This can happen to you and a customer, employee, supplier, family member or friend. We’ve all had negative experiences with high and not so high expectations that fall short. What can you do about it? Remember you are totally in control of how you feel about the situation. You can let it eat you up or accept it for what it is – a hiccup in your plan and move on.

So what happens, why did they promise and not take action? Are they lazy, a liar or is it really just something they don’t want to do, never intended on doing or are afraid to do? Ask why they didn’t do it and if you don’t get an honest answer move on. Don’t waste another moment on it.

Next time you make a request and the same person says yes, throw a consequence at them. If you don’t deliver by … you will pay a fine, lose my business, blow the next promotion, lose my trust etc. Now are you sure you want this assignment? Most importantly follow through. Let it slide and you deserve to have it happen over and over again.

Life is too short and too busy to be disappointed by someone else’s craziness. Am I saying don’t have empathy, no of course not. But you can’t fix or help everyone. Ultimately they have to own up to the responsibility to fix themselves.

I usually test people with a simple task. If they say yes and then don’t do it when they said they would, a red flag goes up. This is a sign of future trouble. Give the task to someone else and save yourself hours of frustration and disappointment.

Promises Made to Yourself
Or are you the one, saying yes I’ll do it to a customer, co-worker, your boss, a family member or to yourself. One day becomes two, and then a week and now its months later and you still haven’t started. You know the customer needs the work done. The team member requires your piece before they can start on theirs. Or even worse you’re doing it for you and have convinced yourself this is going to change your life. You need to ask yourself, why you’re procrastinating.

Why are you spending more time worrying about not doing it than just getting it done? Maybe you’re afraid you can’t do it or do it great. Or you just don’t want it enough. Look inside, cut away the excuses and level with yourself. The realization of truth is worth the pain of getting there. Accept the truth, release the anguish and move on.

And that’s According 2 Eric
Eric Gilboord is an author, columnist/blogger and speaker. To book Eric for your group or event call 416-270-2466.

It seems that much of the advice, government programs and general interest with small business is about start-ups. But what about Owners of established businesses getting ready to Start-Down. Ready to SELL their business and move on to the next exciting challenge in their life. Remember, 60 is the new 40 and you have many new adventures ahead of you.

Often we find boomer age business owners lack the team to SELL their business successfully. To better assist my Clients and Prospects I'm organizing a Silver Mastermind Group specifically for owners of established businesses thinking about or already at some stage in the process of selling their company.

If you're interested contact me directly at eric@warrenbdc.com
 
This week's email is on Start-Down the Opposite of Start-Up 

Go on give it a read you have everything to gain. As well, you might like to pass this email along to someone you know who fits the Start-Down profile. A2E

Thank you, 
Eric Gilboord, CEO
416-270-2466

Bonus Posts
Sell Or Don't Sell -The New Retirement Question
Reap The Best of Both Generations
7 Essentials to Sell Your Company at a Premium

Video Transcript

Does your daily battle with your competition resemble a David and Goliath fight, with you being the David in the story? Our marketing guru Eric Gilboord says it doesn't need to seem that way and has 7 sure fire ways to beat large business competitors.

1. Outmanoeuvre Them. A small business is like a speedboat that can manoeuvre quickly, slow down or speed up as needed, and turn around completely in a much smaller space than a battleship (a larger business) can. A new strategy may take a large business three months to develop and implement. You could execute it in three days.

2. Offer Genuine Personal Attention. Small businesses can offer real personal attention, greeting customers by name and having a brief conversation with them when they enter their establishments. Customer service is more than screaming, ''Hello!'' indiscriminately when someone walks into a store. I find this particular activity, conducted mostly by the larger U.S.- based chain stores, to be somewhat unsettling and in many cases, quite insincere.

3. Choose Between Help And Help Yourself. I prefer to buy from small businesses because they're usually more ready, willing, and able to help me. It seems that customers must choose between getting help and helping themselves. The staffs at some larger organizations tend to be busy stocking shelves. They may point out where something is but they don't always have the time or the expertise to help customers make a purchase.

4. Educate Yourself. Education can be an important part of the purchasing process. When many products deliver the same benefits, it is not always easy to make the right choice. In order to select the best product or service for your needs, you may require education. Small businesses tend to be better suited at offering assistance and are the best choice for one-time requests or requests for unusual or rare products and services.

5. Tailor Your Products. A small business has the ability to tailor its product or service selection to its specific customers. The most popular products your specific customer desires can be stocked in depth. This feature can be a disadvantage to large businesses as they carry a wide range of products offering little choice within a specific product group. Don't forget to promote this advantage. Your business may represent one section of one aisle in a big box store. You don't need to worry about the rest as you are not in those businesses.

6. Train Your Staff. Make sure you don't make the same mistakes that some large businesses make. Don't fall into the trap of being too busy to provide good service. Unfortunately, several large businesses seem to have staff to stock shelves but not to help customers and in some cases, not even to take your money. I can't imagine any small business allowing a customer to stand in the middle of the floor with his or her money and no one to give it to.

This unfortunate experience happened to me in one of the well-established department stores. I couldn't even pay for the one item that I came in to buy. But small businesses don't always have good service. You must train your staff. 

Your larger competitors probably have training programs. Your advantage is the ability to have an informal, on the spot training session for your staff. Augment any formal group training with small amounts of input when needed. If you notice something wrong or there's a situation where you can improve your service, the changes can be made almost immediately, unlike your larger competitors, who may have to take months to develop a more formal, structured training program.

7. Don't Compete On Price Alone. Some small businesses charge a little more than a larger competitor but that's OK. Some segments of your target group are willing to pay a little more in order to receive better service. It's up to you to provide it and to make sure that customers know they are receiving added value. Some customers will always look for the lowest price. They will shop around, use your time and expertise, then go to your larger competitors to make the purchase. 

It's your job to recognize these people and to educate them about the advantages of doing business with you. Customers are not mind readers. These ideas apply to many business categories such as retail, manufacturing, and industrial or professional services. No matter what business you are in, act like a speedboat and outmanoeuvre the battleship. Go out and run circles around big businesses.

This post is about fighting for who and what you want. If you really want something you don't fight occasionally or when it's convenient, you fight everyday. It doesn't matter whether it's business or personal you fight and you don't ever give up.
   Several years ago I made a list of a dozen or so things I needed to accomplish that dealt with family, business, relationships and personal development. Since then I have been fighting daily to achieve these goals. Some days (weeks/months/years) are more successful than others. What I have learned is it's the long term commitment that gets you there.
   To date I've checked off most of the items. Success came from not quitting more so than hard work. Having a goal and the belief in yourself gets you the little victories. And it's all the small successes that add up to make the big one. Cherish the small wins, A2E

List by MarcandAngel.com

Because everything in life worth having is worth fighting for…

1.  Personal greatness. Easy goals don’t exist.  A goal is a point of achievement that requires effort and sacrifice.  There are no esteemed ventures worth participating in that don’t require some level of effort and struggle.

Decades from now when you’re resting on your deathbed, you will not remember the days that were easy, you will cherish the moments when you rose above your difficulties and conquered goals of magnitude.  You will dream of the strength you found within yourself that allowed you to achieve what once seemed impossible.

Don’t do what’s easy, do what you’re capable of.  Astound yourself with your own greatness.

2.  Honesty and truth. Personal transformation and growth can be remarkably rewarding, but only when the process of change is based on honesty and truth.  When you’re not being authentic somewhere in your life or with someone in your life, any attempt at transformation eventually leads to anger and frustration.  The truth always creeps back up on you; it does not cease to exist when you ignore it.

Being fake about any aspect of your existence slowly digs a dark void in your soul.  Life will simply not work for you if you don’t show up as YOU.  The truthmay not be easy to deal with, but it will always set you free in the end.  Read The Four Agreements.

3.  A mind free of envy and jealously. Envy and jealousy are costly diseases; you simply can’t be yourself within their confines.  When you give in to them, the price you pay is steep – a bad mood, an unproductive mind, an inferiority complex, and a chronic migraine headache.

Being envious of what someone else has is like drinking poison and waiting for it to somehow improve your situation.  Likewise, tearing someone else down in your jealous mind only tears you down in real life.  Rather than devastating yourself with contemplations of things you don’t have or don’t want to happen, think for a second about what you do have, what you do want going forward, and what you can do right now to make progress with realities you face.

4.  Positive change. When you’re in a situation you don’t want to be in, the prospect of making any change at all can be very appealing.  Yet, unfocused change for the sake of change won’t necessarily bring you forward.  When you use your time and energy to make a change, be sure it’s a change that will not only move you away from where you are, but will also move you to a better place.

Realizing that you need to make a change can be a great source of motivation, but in order for this motivation to create positive change, you must apply it toward creating things of value.  Don’t fight against what you don’t want; create what you do want.  Don’t punish those who have caused you pain; let go and focus on something new that soothes your pain.  Don’t focus on what you are running away from; give your attention to the great things you want to create in your life.

5.   A willingness to learn from mistakes. One mistake does not have to rule your entire life, and it can’t unless you let it.  This hour is a brand new hour with no faults in it yet.  Think about your mistakes and learn from them, but don’t attempt to carry their weight around with you.

The road to success is littered with mistakes.  Avoiding them is impossible.  The thing that will ultimately define your success or failure will not be how many mistakes you make, but how you handle them all.  The bottom line is that all mistakes die quickly, but you can’t live beyond what you know today if you aren’t willing to make mistakes and forgive yourself for them.  Read The Untethered Soul.

6.  Persistence and patience. Before you give up, think about how unfortunate it would be if the results you have worked to achieve required just a tiny dose of additional effort.  How disheartening would it be if the train you’ve been waiting for arrived five minutes after you walked out of the station?  Not only does success require diligent effort, it requires persistence and patience.

Rest when you are tired, but don’t quit.  You never know what’s just around the corner.  It could be everything you’ve been working for, or it might be just another mile marker on your journey.  Either way, when you keep putting one foot in front of the other, one day the next step you take will be the one that carries you to your goal.

7.  True love. There is no soul mate out there who will solve all your problems.  There is no love at first sight that lasts without work and commitment.  But there is someone out there worth fighting for.  Not because they’re perfect, but because they’re imperfect in all the ways that are right for you.  You compliment each other’s flaws in a way that allows your two spirits to unite and operate more efficiently as one.

You will know when you meet this person, when through them you meet the very best in yourself.  Read 1,000 Little Things.

8.  Goodwill. There is no greatness or peace of mind where there is betrayal of your own goodwill.  Always aim at complete sincerity of your thoughts, words and deeds.  If it is wrong, don’t do it.  If it is untrue, don’t repeat it.

Do what you do because you believe it’s the right thing to do.  Do the right thing even when nobody is looking.  Be one of the people who make a true difference in the world by leaving it a little better and more wholesome than you found it.

No this post is not about Star Trek or Captain Kirk directly. Although I'm sure he lived his life with a certain style that would have included all these thoughts. To me Kirk personifies this list. The following are 9 things you can EASILY (and I mean really easily with almost no effort) do in your normal day to day reality to improve your life and the lives of others. So take a few minutes and read the post, then begin integrating the ideas one at a time or more if you like. My guess is you'll see the benefits almost immediately. Remember Kirk traveled the galaxy to positively impact the lives of others. You can stay home and do the same thing.
Eric Gilboord, A2E

9 Unconventional Habits of Extraordinary Success by MarcandAngel.com

1.  Help at least one person a day. The best part of life is not just surviving, but thriving with passion, compassion, humor, generosity, and kindness, and using these tools to make the world a better place.

Smile, and help others smile too.  If you don’t have the power or strength to write someone’s happiness, then try to help them remove their sadness instead.  And don’t let the numbers overwhelm you.  You can’t help everyone at once.  Focus on assisting one person at a time, and always start with the person closest to you.

If you can lie down at night knowing in your heart that you made someone’s day just a little brighter, you had a successful day.

2.  When you feel like giving up, ask yourself, “Can I give more?” The honest answer is almost always, “Yes.”  And once your mind realizes it can, it usually does.

One of the unique things about the human mind is that it can do only what it thinks it can do.  The minute you say, “I don’t have the energy” or “I’m not capable of that,” you are actually training your brain to live up to your diminished expectations.

Low expectations mean low results.  So watch how you speak to yourself.  And when you reach that point of struggle in your mind where most people would give in and give up, do the opposite and give it another shot.

3.  Respect everyone. When you respect people it gives you a special kind of access to them.  No, you don’t automatically get the key to their hearts.  What you do get is an increased understanding and rapport, and that can be priceless.

If you’re a business owner, respecting your prospective customers will bring you more of their business.  If you’re a teacher, respecting your students will add increased effectiveness to your teaching.  If you’re an athlete, respecting the other team will help you build an effective strategy to win the game.

In all walks of life, respect opens the doors of opportunity.

4.  Accept exactly where you are, wherever you are. One of the great secrets to being happy and successful is accepting where you are in life and making the most of it.  You won’t always know where you are going, but as long as you keep moving forward the journey will be rewarding.

One step at a time, one foot in front of the other, time has a way of gradually showing you the way to what truly matters.  Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes in the middle of nowhere you find yourself. Read The Untethered Soul.

5.  Seek lots of new life experiences. The people with the greatest wisdom are the ones who have been through the most.  So start strong, stay strong, and finish strong by always remembering why you’re doing it in the first place.  It’s all about learning and growing along the way.

The most valuable lessons in life cannot be taught, they must be experienced.  When you reflect on your life, you will likely see some pain, mistakes, and heartache.  But when you look in the mirror, you will see the strength, growth, and wisdom that made it all worthwhile.

6.  Maintain a diehard belief in yourself. A strong positive mental attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug.  Your individual thoughts and beliefs are similar to chapters in a book.  When you put them together, you have the belief system that becomes your life story.

If you are going to be successful in creating the life you dream of, you have to believe that you are capable of doing so.  You have to believe that you have the resources, talents, and skills necessary to create your desired results.

7.  Walk your own path. A good life is not living the life everyone else intended for you.  Be true to yourself.  Stand firmly by your core values.  Your life is your spiritual path.  It’s what’s right in front of you.

You can’t live anyone else’s life.  The task is to live yours and stop trying to copy the ones you think are more acceptable.  Because if you water yourself down to please everyone else, to fit in, or to not step on anyone’s toes, you will lose the passion, freedom, and joy of being who you really are.

8.  Find an opportunity in every outcome, positive or negative. Sometimes things happen exactly as you had expected, and then there are other times when nothing goes as planned.  In either situation, there is a way to respond triumphantly.

Your victories bring happiness and feelings of self-achievement.  Your defeats bring wisdom, strength, and determination.  Both outcomes bring new opportunities.  In this way, life moves continually forward.

In each moment, you can build upon whatever has come before.  Right now, you are exactly where you are supposed to be.  Because right now, you are in the only time and place where you can actually make a difference.  Read The Happiness Project.

9.  Need less. Instead of focusing so intently on what you want to get, consider the things you can let go of.  Eliminate some excess baggage, lighten your load, and feel a weight lifted.  So many of the things you think you need, you do not need at all, you simply want them.  And as your wants diminish, your freedom and abundance grow.

Because long-term fulfillment in life is not about getting all that you need; fulfillment is knowing the freedom to be all that you are without the excess.  It’s about wanting what you have at any given moment, and making the best of it.

Bottom line:  Ambition, intention, and disciplined effort will bring you great things in this world, but there is more to success than acquiring the commonly celebrated milestones of success that society confers.  In the long run, less is often more.