Excellerate Associates Archives - Page 59 of 61

How to Overcome Circumstances in Your Business

September 14, 2017 by Lisa Mininni Leave a Comment

Recently, I attended the Second Annual Gala for Team Fox Detroit’s Parkinson’s Research. One of the speakers was Jimmy Choi. You might recognize his name from the television show, American Ninja Warrior.

I was touched by his inspiring story. Jimmy shared the moment when he was struck with a circumstance. At only 27 years old, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. Admittedly, he shares, his diagnosis lead to a period of depression. His health continued a downward spiral.

However, in 2012, something changed. He heard that exercise could help manage his condition. So, he took one step and then another, and then another. Since that time, he has competed in more than 13 marathons , 100-mile bike rides, and triathlons. He also raised over $100,000 for the Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

He has been quoted as saying, “My goal is to go out there and show everybody out there, no matter what they’re faced with, the hardest step is that first step. Once you take that first step, the rest of it comes easy.”

I could relate to Jimmy’s story in more ways than one. As a business leader, some mountains seem impossible to climb. When we launched our integrated giving program, Charity of Choice, six years ago at my Wake Up Profitable Boot Camp for Business Owners, I could not have imagined the ripple effect it would have. My clients are starting their own foundations, communities are being transformed, and they took the first step to realize their bigger contribution in the world. It took one step and then another, and then another. Each step built on the one before.

Overcome any circumstance by taking an action. What’s one step you can take today to overcome a circumstance in your business?

Business Owners – Explore These 2 Elements to Increase Your Sales

September 7, 2017 by Lisa Mininni Leave a Comment

According to a study by the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), small business owners identified poor sales as one of the top four problems they face today. The others included taxes, government regulations and requirements, and quality of labor.

As a business owner, you have good reason to identify poor sales as a problem. Without sales, you don’t have a business. Increasing your sales might be a lot easier than you might think.

To increase your sales, explore these two elements:

1. Your Process

Sometimes increasing sales is as simple as looking at your sales process, specifically your lead follow up. According to a study by Harvard Business Review, companies that called on leads within 1 hour or less were 7 times more likely to have a conversation with a decision maker.

At the Wake Up Profitable Boot Camp for Business Owners, we reverse engineer the sales process. Start by outlining your best practice sale. Write down each step. Look for ways to improve the customer experience, insert automation, or streamline the process.

2. Your People

If you’re in business, you need people. People to be clients or people to be on your team. You are also selling something whether it is an idea, a product, or a service.

When you’re selling, hearing a no in sales can stop some people in their tracks or motivate others. As a business owner, it’s important to know what kind of sales people you need for the type of sales you need to make.

Let’s face it, nobody likes rejection. However, there is a biological reaction that occurs when you hear the word no. If your biological wiring measures higher in autonomy, the more the word no motivates you to get more sales. The lower the autonomy the more no discourages you. It is just what is happening in the background but has a significant affect on sales performance.

Couple that biological dynamic with how no’s take on many forms from a lead’s perspective. An outright verbal or written no is easy to recognize. More often, it shows up when your calls aren’t returned, they unsubscribe, or they’ll “do it later.” Sometimes these no’s are disguised as no but are no’s for now. Sometimes these no’s require consistency on your part and sometimes something is missing. More likely they are related to your customer’s wiring.

When you understand human wiring you build work teams maximizing each team member’s wiring. When team members understand each other, they work together better and are more productive.

What’s even more important is when your sales team begins to understand their lead’s hardwiring, and delivers information the way the lead wants to receive it, they will also increase their sales performance.

In summary, if you want to increase your sales look at two elements. Explore your process and invest in your people.

To learn more about your hardwiring and systematize your business, join us for the Wake Up Profitable Boot Camp for Business Owners on October 5-6, 2017. Register by Sept 29, http://www.wakeupprofitable.com

Business Owners – How to Hire the Right Fit Employee

August 31, 2017 by Lisa Mininni Leave a Comment

Hiring the right fit employees can make or break your company. While you might want to duplicate yourself, think again. You might not be the best fit for the job at hand.

Before you hastily recruit someone on your team, first take a moment to determine just how much your hiring process costs you. Consider interviewing time, advertisement costs, and salary. It’s no wonder business owners want to be more diligent in evaluating their new hires. If that person turns out to be a mismatch for the position, you’ll eat through any return on investment through your costs in training and coaching them.

Take a moment right now to calculate the following costs:

1. Advertisements/Postings. Calculate the amount spent on an advertisement or posting.

2. Your Time. Calculate the amount of time you spend on those tasks you are currently doing that could be delegated. The more you procrastinate on hiring someone, the more this cost adds up.

3. Interviewing. Calculate the amount of time for just the three top candidates multiplied by your hourly rate. If your other team is involved in interviewing, calculate their time, too.

4. Onboarding. Calculate the amount of time spent training a new team member.

Once you add up all of costs, you can see how much you spend on the hiring process. My Profitability Lab Clients are always surprised at their findings. The costs to hire fell between $5,500 to $15,000. Those costs to hire can be a major hit to your bottom line. When you consider these costs, you want to make sure your selection process is well defined.

There are ways to improve the odds of a good fit for your new team member. It is possible to consistently hire the best person for the job, regardless if you’re hiring a new graduate, seasoned employee or an independent contractor.

Attracting and hiring the best fit is a matter of understanding the work requirements for the position.

Right?

Well, no. Hiring involves more than understanding the work requirements for the position. You can try different people in a particular job until you find one that is the perfect fit but that is a costly endeavor.

To have a distinct advantage in hiring the best fit, develop a hiring process that includes:

1. Identifying the key tasks performed by the position.

If there are multiple people involved in the hiring, it is helpful to define the key tasks so it’s clear on the skill set that would best fit the position.

2. Identifying 3-5 performance metrics.

One of the first things you will do is evaluate how that person is performing in the first 30 days. In order to provide relevant feedback, it’s necessary to know how the person will be evaluated when that time comes. Identify objective measurable items. Your new employee will want to know what’s expected of them, too!

3. Identifying How You Need the Position to Be Executed

The “right job” cannot be defined simply in terms of the education, training, knowledge or work experience required. For many jobs those are important considerations, but not the only ones.

What makes a particular position the “right fit” is when you match the individual’s innate wiring with the drivers which the job itself demands for effective performance.

For example, a sales manager who had the requisite experience, education and training was transferred from an existing business line where he cultivated long-term relationships with vendors to a new division where everything needed to be developed from the ground floor.

The nature of the job was to grow this brand new division from scratch. The sales manager was naturally wired to improve existing systems. Despite him trying really hard, he was heart attack waiting to happen.

In this example, he brought the right experience and knowledge to do the job, but something was missing.

The job required someone to react and quickly adjust to changing conditions and develop practical ideas. The job also required a decision-maker to quickly build an organization and apply pressure for results and in a more selling than telling way.

The sales manager executed the tasks methodically and depended on the structure, which didn’t yet exist. The way he innately wanted to execute the requirements of the job to get the results were completely opposite of what the job required.

Regardless of how much money he was paid or how great a job seemed relative to his experience, he wanted out! The business was suffering from missed deadlines, too.

For business owners, matching the environment of the position with the candidate’s natural wiring before making the offer can mean the difference between success or failure in the job. Natural wiring tells us the environment in which someone thrives.

Confirming how the position needs to be executed and matching the position with the candidate’s natural wiring (i.e., communication preferences, most productive work style, thinking processes, and how they are best engaged in decision making) enables employers to custom fit a candidate to a job that naturally motivates them to succeed.

Learn more about your and your team’s wiring by attending our Wired to Win Workshop on September 21-22, 2017 at Excellerate Associates in Canton, MI.

More http://www.excellerateassociates.com/wired-to-win.

How to Add a Personal Touch When Automating or Systematizing Your Business

August 10, 2017 by Lisa Mininni Leave a Comment

Information technology has changed the way the world conducts business. A letter that once took weeks to get from Point A to Point B is now delivered instantly with a mere push of a button.

Automation has also made it possible for small businesses to streamline their processes, get a handle on their overhead, and improve their profitability.

While automation can be a time saver and convenience maker, don’t forget one important thing: The power of a personal touch. Isn’t it nice to know there is a real human being behind the email or recorded phone message?

My Profitability Lab mentoring clients discover the productivity and profitability benefits of automating and systematizing their business. They have also found that the human touch is the secret ingredient to growing your client and customer base.

To balance my client’s experience, I combine automation, systematization, and the human touch. There are many ways I practice this approach and it has a distinct advantage.

One way I’ve combined automation, systematization and the personal touch is through my monthly random calls. I don’t have a fancy name for it – I just call it my random client calls.

Here’s how it works and how it would work for your business, too:

1. Automate

When someone engages my company’s services, whether it is registering for our live Wake Up Profitable Boot Camp for Business Owners, requesting a customized team building session, or enrolling in one of our Profitability Labs, they will often interact with one of our automated systems at some point.

They receive instant access to a program they just enrolled in and receive a personalized message that welcomes them. Even though some messages are automated, this is a great way to instantly connect with your new client by adding your own special touch to your message, perhaps even asking a question to get a conversation started.

2. Systematize

Each month, I have an assigned appointment time to randomly call on any new clients who enrolled in one of our programs. With a recurring appointment set on my calendar, it ensures that this important connection point with my clients happens consistently. As you may know, consistency creates trust and people do business with people they know, like, and trust.

3. Add A Personal Touch

Whether I leave a message, have a five-minute chat on their experience with a workshop they recently attended, or answer a pressing question, these calls have made a world of difference. I find out about their registration experience, how the curriculum is working, and answer questions that better serve them. It’s easy and fun, too, because I get to work with business owners who are implementing big ideas in the world.

The distinct advantage to this 3-step approach is that we have built in a personal touch point. Now, when we interact through email, they know there’s a real person reading their responses.

What’s the other benefit to adding a personal touch? You get to hear firsthand how your systems, processes and programs are working (or not). If not, then you know exactly what needs to be improved.

Let’s face it. As a business owner, you’re wearing many hats. Automation allows you wear one less hat. Look for opportunities where automation and systematization enhance your customers’ experience.

When done right, automation helps to provide a higher level of customer service, especially when you’re already at capacity. Additionally, add a personal touch to your existing automation which makes a real difference. It could simply mean making a quick phone call.

There’s always room for improvement. In your business, where could you automate, systematize, and add a personal touch?

Leadership: How to Be Infinitely More Effective in Your Communication

August 3, 2017 by Lisa Mininni Leave a Comment

Several years ago, I had just finished my Next Level Networking Keynote at a business conference when a woman approached me. She shook my hand and said four words that left me speechless. For a professional speaker, that’s not an easy thing to do.

“You saved my marriage,” She said. After I registered the magnitude of her words, I mustered up a fumbled response. “What did I say?”

During an experiential exercise, she resonated with being wired as an external thinker. She verbalizes to crystallize her ideas and thoughts. However, she noticed that her spouse was an internal thinker. Her spouse gives her a blank processing stare when she speaks to him.

Admittedly, she made his blank stare mean that he wasn’t listening and a list of other assumptions. When I explained the dynamic between these two hardwiring distinctions, she realized that he was just processing internally.

She realized that all she had to do was wait for him to process or ask him if he needed a minute to think about it. Just because he didn’t verbalize that he heard her didn’t mean he wasn’t listening. It also didn’t mean he was ignoring her.

Imagine being in business together. Whether you’re talking to a significant other, business partner, co-worker, or team member, recognizing the way you and others crystallize thought can make a real difference in team performance.

Isn’t it interesting that we know each person has a different style of communicating and doing things, but many people never really realize why that is? Yet, when you create awareness on how you and others are wired, you will be infinitely more effective in communicating, problem solving, and leading.

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