By Ed Rigsbee, CSP

Like the boomerang, getting customers to return, takes skill and practice. Today, your customers want more than just service. They want to be satisfied that they received a great total value package from you. This idea applies to all levels of the distribution channel from procuring raw materials to purchases by consumers and end-users. Do this, and you’ll earn their sustained loyalty. By employing my P.A.R.T.N.E.R.S. model, you too can create customer satisfaction at such distinguished levels that loyalty will be the natural outcropping of your efforts. Essentially, you want to become your customer’s partner. This is because vendors are merely a dime-a-dozen, while partners are precious.

P is for Performance Standards; this is the underpinning of the model. You must identify, describe and express to your staff exactly what you expect of them. You must not just communicate by word that which you want from your employees, but also in deed. You must first model the high level of customer service by living the performance standards you demand of your team. Along with the need to establish performance standards, there is the need to measure the level of service rendered to your customers is equally important. If you measure it, you most likely will manage it.

A is for Anticipating Customer Needs. This is crucial to delivering the kind of service and value that keeps customers returning regularly. To create customer satisfaction, you must know what your customers want before they themselves know they want it. You can do this through customer focus groups, attending trade shows, and reading those trade journals that are piling up in your office. This is also the area where your superior product knowledge will serve you well. Additionally, spend the time to train your staff well in the features and benefits of that which you sell. Great salespeople are those that do an unsurpassed job of assisting their customers to obtain all the goods and services that their customers need, want, and desire. These salespeople are also the ones that are so appreciated by their customers that they are rewarded with repeat business.

R is for your Rules to Distinguished Customer Service. First, always give value-added service. The idea of giving more than is expected or always giving a little extra at no charge has proven successful to many over the ages. In fact, the baker’s dozen, 13 rather than 12-giving one free, when a customer purchases a dozen is the result of this idea and is an excellent customer retention method. Second, everyone in your business must understand and subscribe to the belief that a customer has earned the right to your respect simply by virtue of walking in your front door, calling on the telephone or e-mailing an order. Third, everything you do has a stone-in-the-water effect. All your actions as an owner, manager, or executive will have an effect on your customers. This applies to actions toward customers and employees alike-if you treat employees poorly, they will similarly treat your customers poorly. Additionally, remember that happy customers tell a friend or two, conversely, unhappy customers tell anybody that will listen just how poorly you deliver value, or the lack there of. Fourth, Never promise that which you know you or your company cannot deliver. Over-promising is the surest way to anger and lose a loyal customer.

T is for Transitioning Your Angry Customers into Happy Campers. You can generally accomplish this through a simple four-step model: First, you must intently listen to the customer’s complaint or gripe without getting defensive. Listen completely; take care not to be like the one-minute doctor who offers a prescription before doing some sort of diagnoses. You do not want to be guilty of customer service malpractice. Second, you defuse their anger through the process of asking open-ended questions. These are the questions where your customer must talk rather than grunt an angry yes or no. Get them explaining the situation rather than just complaining. Third, clarify the problem through responses. Feed back to the customer what you understand is the problem. If you did not understand or they did not explain it well, this is an opportunity to better understand. Fourth, offer a solution only after you are completely clear on what the real problem happens to be. If you do not clearly understand your customer’s problem you will most likely offer an incorrect solution and further anger your valued customer.

N is for the Need to learn about Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). This is today’s forefront science in serving and selling to others. Whether you like it or not, selling is part of customer service. NLP is the science of how your brain learns. Everybody has a basic preferred learning strategy: Visual (seeing), Auditory (hearing), or Kinesthetic (feeling). Each learning strategy is used in various situations yet; most people do in fact favor one strategy. Detect your customers preferred strategy by listening to the kind of words they use. Do they use seeing, hearing or feeling type words? Communicate with them in their favored strategy. As an example, the customer who says things like, “I wonder how this will look on me?” Might this person be a visual? The key word is look. Talk to that person in visual or seeing terms. Say something like, “Just picture yourself . . . ” This method of communication is called direct or matched communication. You are mirroring the other person’s learning style. Had you said, “Feel this fabric . . . ” You would have had a mismatch.

Like the construction company digging a tunnel from both sides of the mountain-If their communication between the two crews were poor, instead of digging one tunnel, they would most likely dig two! Rather than building two different tunnels, or levels of communication, you want to build a communication bridge with your customers. If you do this, your customer’s brain will simply say, “This person is like me-I like me-I like this person.” Now you are on the way to building the kind of high-level rapport that keeps your customers coming back. Two great books on NLP for business are: NPL At Work by Sue Knight and The Power of Business Rapport by Dr. Michael Brooks.

E - Empower Your Staff to deliver on the expectations of your customers. Cutting a special deal, resolving conflict, and smoothing ruffled customer feathers should be among the powers your employees should have. Customer expectations must be understood, and delivered upon for your business to survive. The behavior in your employees that you chose to reward is the behavior that they will likely repeat. If you tell your team, “You are now empowered!” but then rip their head off for making a decision you didn’t like, they will surely not take that risk again. My grandfather was an electrician in the 1950s and 1960s, working at a shipyard in San Pedro, CA. He would repeatedly say this about life at the shipyard, “There’s the right way to do things, there’s the wrong way to do things, and there’s the Navy’s way. We do things the Navy’s way!” Take caution not to play “Navy” with your employees. If you would like more information about rewarding your team for taking risks, please visit http://www.rigsbee.com/ma9.htm.

R is for Reward Customer Loyalty. Loyalty is a double-edged sword. If you want your customers to be loyal to you, then you must be loyal to them first. Giving deals to new customers only, and not to established ones, can easily offend. Actually, this mocks your valuable customers who have been loyal to you. I’m sure you would agree that it costs much less to keep a customer than to bring a new one in the door. If you are experiencing the “Turnstile” effect in customer loyalty, take a close look at your customer retention policies and practices. Don’t be lured by the erroneous belief of unlimited customers. In reality, competition today is more brutal than ever before in our history and getting more so daily. Your customers have more choice than ever before. Today, the secret to success is to retain every customer and serve them so well that they truly become your best advertisements. Frequent consumer programs are a much better strategy for sustained success than are new customer introduction offers.

S - is for the Satisfied and Blissful state in which you want your customers when they think or talk about you, your staff, and your company. Your customers must believe that value and satisfaction is always Job One at your company. Customer service is the means, not the goal. You must stay focused, like a laser, on your necessary goal of customer satisfaction through perceived value. Just because a customer is served, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are satisfied. Have you found yourself in a similar situation lately where you were served, but not to the level of your expectations? You may very well have left the situation dissatisfied. Keep in mind that more customers will just simply walk away with their expectations, realistic or otherwise, not met and will never say a word to you. What they will do is become the squeaky wheel and voice their complaints only to their friends and colleagues-the kiss of death to any business.

Now you have all the pieces of the P.A.R.T.N.E.R.S. model-quite easy to understand it at an intellectually level, but at the crucial emotionally level-that’s another story. Like learning the necessary skills to make the boomerang return, you too must use the pieces of the above model to help your customers become loyal and always return. The challenge here is for you and your team to emotionally own the ideas and live them daily. Your actions are speaking so loudly that your customers cannot hear a word that you are saying. Let your actions show that you truly desire to become a precious partner to your customer.

Ed Rigsbee, CSP is the author of PartnerShift, Developing Strategic Alliances and The Art of Partnering. Rigsbee has over 1,000 published articles to his credit and is a regular keynote presenter at corporate and association conferences across North America. He can be reached at 800-839-1520 or EdRigsbee@aol.com. For a treasure trove of additional information and ideas, visit his Partnering University Web Site .

By Sharlyn Lauby

I read in this morning’s newspaper that the US national unemployment rate hit 7%. As such, it only makes sense that we will all be asked to do more…with less. But, doesn’t it also imply that we will need to do more…faster and with fewer errors?

Seth Godin nailed it in a recent post about price pressure. It’s not about price…it’s about value. Just because you have less staff, it doesn’t mean you can deliver less service.

Now is not the time to lower your standards. Consumers have less money to spend so they are being much more careful and educated about who they give it to. If anything, it’s time to set higher standards. That’s the way to set yourself apart from your competition. And, the only way you are going to do that is by engaging your employees to be the best they can.

If you want to keep your employees motivated and engaged, consider the following:

1. Set expectations.Tell your employees how they contribute to the company’s success. Employees don’t learn by osmosis.

2. Reward positive behavior. When employees do something great, tell them!

3. Coach your employees for success. If you ignore poor performance, it doesn’t go away. It just means that you provided tacit approval for the undesired behavior.

In 2006, Gallup released their famous Employee Engagement Study. Part of the study says that disengaged employees account for a loss of $350 million in productivity. Wouldn’t you like even a small piece of that right now?

This article was contributed by Sharlyn Lauby, SPHR, CPLP who is the HR Bartender, and her blog is a friendly place to discuss workplace issues. When she’s not bartending, Sharlyn is president of Internal Talent Management (ITM) which specializes in employee training and human resources consulting. Her off-hours are spent searching for the best hamburger on the planet, fabulous wine that cost less than $10 bottle, and exotic martinis.

By Nancy Adler

Allow me to rephrase the question if I may. Can you afford not to invest in a coach and mentor? My guess is that if things were going absolutely wonderfully for you in your professional and personal life, you would probably not be reading this article. Consider the fact that almost all highly successful people have a Coach and Mentor from which to garner guidance and support in so many different ways. Below is a list of just a few of those highly valuable assets that a Coach and Mentor can offer.

It is of immeasurable value to have someone that allows you to learn from their mistakes. We can learn one of two ways; from our own mistakes or from the mistakes of others. Having a Coach and Mentor that has been there and done that and who is willing to share their errors so they do not have to be repeated is worth the investment in a Coach and Mentor in and of itself.

The polar opposite of learning from a Coach and Mentor’s mistakes, of course, is learning from their successes. Shortening up the learning curve and learning from their expertise saves time. And time is money. Save yourself some effort by not having to reinvent the wheel.

A Coach and Mentor serves as a strong accountability partner. Like a good friend that will tell you what you need to hear which is not always what you may want to hear. Ultimately, the goal is to hold ourselves accountable. Taking responsibility for one’s own success is most important to long term achievement of our goals and aspirations. A Coach and Mentor is a strong leader and will let you know what their expectations are of you.

A strong Coach and Mentor assists in setting realistic and achievable goals based on your desires. At the same time, a Coach and Mentor will build on existing strengths, unwrap hidden potential and ask that you stretch to reach your full potential. Stretching and changing can cause some short term pain and your Coach and Mentor will be the first to let you know that. The expression no pain, no gain certainly applies here.

It is a valuable asset to have someone in your corner to share your vision and validate your goals. There is value also in having a Coach and Mentor by your side to offer another way of looking at things. Another point of view can be valuable to remove one from their entrenched thinking.

The best investment anyone can ever make is an investment in oneself. Ultimately, the investment decision is yours alone to make.

This article was contributed by dear friend who is a real source of inspiration.Nancy Adler is an Author, Inspired Coach and Mentor, and Business Owner in the Arenas of Personal Development and Business Development.Nancy is changing lives worldwide with her Gambling On Life message. For a FREE copy of Nancy’s latest e book - click here

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Social Media and Social Networking are two very popular buzz words these days. Almost everybody has heard of them. You must be saying “Yeah so what?” or maybe “that’s for teenagers” . According to a survey conducted by e-marketer 58% of adults still don’t know what Social Networking is.

Well my friends, in a single statement I would say that this is the evolutionary stage of the newest and most successful form of communication and marketing. Let’s have a look. I will try to explain it as simple as possible.

I will start off by first explaining to you the terminologies and then we can take it from there.

Every business needs customers and also needs to know their likes, dislikes and buying trends. It is also important to get feedback from the customers to find out how the product or service is and how it can be improved. In the past this information was gathered by using forms and conducting surveys. This consumed a lot of time and money.

It was also vital to develop and build a relationship with the customer .O.K. now the word relationship is the key word here and its where all the fun begins.

Now you don’t want to limit this special relationship with just one customer. You want to have many and you want this number to constantly grow as it will benefit you personally as well as professionally. Now this group of special people/customers/clients will form your network. Ok now that is the second key word.

So this will become your social network with whom you will socialize and get personal and professional benefits. When I say personal benefits, please keep in mind I am mentioning only ethical practices. For example if a client is very close to you and is in real estate and you are planning to buy or sell some, then this contact may go out of the way and provide you with some service or give you extra advice that may benefit you. It will basically be that he is repaying the kindness and prompt service that you deliver to him when he comes to you.

The above example is a real world scenario. Now take the same example and apply it to your internet friends and connections. That will be your online social network.

It is defined by whatis.com as

“Social networking is the practice of expanding the number of one’s business and/or social contacts by making connections through individuals. While social networking has gone on almost as long as societies themselves have existed, the unparalleled potential of the Internet to promote such connections is only now being fully recognized and exploited, through Web-based groups established for that purpose. Social networking establishes interconnected Internet communities (sometimes known as personal networks) that help people make contacts that would be good for them to know, but that they would be unlikely to have met otherwise. In general, here’s how it works: you join one of the sites and invite people you know to join as well. Those people invite their contacts to join, who in turn invite their contacts to join, and the process repeats for each person. In theory, any individual can make contact through anyone they have a connection to; to any of the people that person has a connection to, and so on.”

I found a great video that explain this concept in a very very simple manner. It was made by Lee LeFever and his video series is one of the best I have ever seen. Judge for your self. Here is the one on Social Networking:

Now Social Networking is an end and the Social Media and its tools are a means to that end. It’s the different tools that provide a platform for communicating and sharing information with one another.

Some of the most popular ones are

I have identified a few of the more popular tools, but keep in mind this list is not exhaustive.

Blogs: This is one of the most popular and useful means of getting the latest information on a certain topic. A blog is like a newspaper that gives you the latest information, tips and trends. The best part is that the information is coming from a person with his experiences and opinions and that gives the reader a better and clearer picture. People don’t want to read the manipulative stories by corporations. They want the latest information from PEOPLE, and that’s why people like to read blogs more than corporate newsletters. The comments on the posted articles also help to give the writer direct feedback in very little time. Blogs can be personal as well as of companies.

It’s a prediction that the companies that don’t have blogs by the end of 2009 will lose competitive advantage over those that do.

Podcasts: These are basically audio blogs. It can be considered synonymous with having your own radio station. Podcasts are very popular with busy executives who like the efficiency of being able to learn when they can’t read. They can simple listen while doing other things or while travelling because you don’t have to listen to them live. You can record them and play it back when ever you like.

Imagine the possibilities of reaching thousands of people world wide and spreading your information through your very own personal radio station. Now that’s called power! And the best part is that it’s almost free! You don’t need any fancy or costly equipment, just a mic, computer and internet connection and VOILA! You can start broadcasting.

Video podcasts: Now this is again one step further. It’s both audio and video communication and is synonymous with having your own TV station.

Is all this great? Your own newspaper, radio station and TV station, if combined with proper planning…you could do wonders for your business! And it’s all free. It needs nothing more than what you already have. Isn’t the internet and technology wonderful!

Microblogs (for example, Twitter and a host of others): Very fast, targeted and responsive, they’re a great way to ask questions and get quick answers or to promote a timely idea or service. Interactivity is excellent, but content is limited to short messages and it’s difficult to integrate multimedia.

Virtual worlds (for example, Second Life and others): These venues may be good for real-time events, but the software is still too complicated for most people to use. Its good for events with a strong visual component.

Well after this article I hope that you have at least some idea as to what this all is. The best way to get more information on it is to actually join a few sites and get networking!!

By Kimberly Englot

I believe that everyone deserves to live an extraordinary life. These are some strategies and attitudes that have truly transformed my life, and I wish to share them with you. Use them and live your best life.

1. Be a class act and conduct yourself with integrity. Give others the benefit of the doubt, especially in an argument. It doesn’t cost you a thing you just have to remember: you can be right, or you can be happy.

• Be honest– people can usually tell when you’re lying.
• Don’t let petty things upset you; it’s not worth your energy.
• Don’t whine or complain because negativity robs you of energy, and it’s just not worth it!
• Be consistent with your morals and values. Hypocrites do not lead extraordinary lives.

2. Choose to be around people you admire. Eliminate negative people and those that don’t support you. You don’t need the constant reminder of “how much life sucks,” because that simply isn’t true.
Although your friends don’t define who you are as a person, we tend to strive to be like our friends. Therefore, if you want to be successful, hang around successful people!

3. Always act with intention. Be authentic in your interactions with people; actively listen, sustain judgment until after the person has finished, say what you mean and mean what you say. People can tell when you’re lying or being insincere, so don’t insult them by being fake during your interaction with them.

4. Act as if this is “it.” Don’t wait to be happy or satisfied in life until (insert goal, possession, experience here). Act as if you already love your life, since this moment right now, is all you have! If you wait until success, marriage, children, or money to be happy, you may never be happy and you miss out on life. Don’t wait for a special occasion to light those expensive candles. Don’t wait until you have your dream house to create a home that reflects you. Do it now because THIS is it! Smile, laugh and be grateful for what you already have.

5. Put yourself back on your list. Remind yourself that you’re worth the time and effort. Make yourself a priority: exercise, eat well, get enough sleep, and spend some “me” time. Take pleasure in doing things you really enjoy and take pride in your appearance, your home, your car. You’re worth it!! You’ll feel better and amazing things will start to happen for you when you remember how great you are.

6. Strive for success and all that success brings, but don’t get too caught up in it. It’s okay to want nice things. Just remember that things don’t make you happy. Happiness comes from inside so don’t buy into the illusions that a nicer car will mean you’re happier. Set goals and aim high but don’t get so caught up in reaching those goals that you forget about now. Remember to still live like this is “it!”

7. Listen to your intuition and don’t second-guess your decisions. You know what’s best for you. If you want to be successful: believe you can and do what it takes to succeed. Take note of that negative mind chatter and remind yourself that you are a very successful, talented and intelligent woman who can make decisions for herself!

This article was contributed by Kimberly Englot, who is an Authentic Life coach. She is the owner of Authentic Self a business dedicated to helping people uncover their true selves. She is currently working on her new mastermind project: The 2009 Life Cleanse. Check out her website or email her at kimberlyenglot@gmail.com.

By Jeffrie Story and Debbie Allen

“If you don’t’ toot your own horn, you can’t enjoy the music.” - Debbie Allen

Shamelessly Effective Self-Promotion by Debbie Allen

When a friend of mine, Larry James, first stated, “I’m a shameless self-promoter,” I laughed. Then I thought for a moment, and I realized that I’m a shameless self-promoter, too. I had never thought of my marketing approach as being shameless before. I would have described myself more like the Energizer Bunny. I just keep on marketing and marketing and doing whatever it takes to make it happen. I had never thought of this as shameful, unless it’s shameful to believe in something so much that you want to tell everyone you meet. I call it good marketing!

Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs, I learned early that you must self-promote on a daily basis if you want your business to succeed. Since my family had many different businesses, we were always promoting something new. Most of our businesses started out with little or no investment; therefore self-promotion was essential to getting those businesses from idea to success.

My father taught me that the first step in marketing success is to have a strong belief in yourself and your ideas. No matter how crazy other people may think your ideas are, you must believe strongly enough to never give up.

How can you be successful if you don’t believe in yourself and what you have to offer to your customers? You can’t. Therefore the first step in shameless self-promotion is to have a strong belief system.

After writing my award winning book, Confessions of Shameless Self Promoters, I began to survey my audiences to see how many believe in promoting themselves. It amazed me to discover that 87% or more do not feel comfortable nor believe in the concept of self-promotion. Now this goes against the grain of all sales and marketing success!

Here is why effective self-promotion works and why you believe in it:
The Science of Self Promotion by Jeffrie Story

Excerpt from “Confessions of Shameless Self Promoters”

Studies have found that self-promotion is directly related to success. All successful people are self-promoters, from Madonna, to Dennis Rodman, to Howard Stern, to Jimmy Carter, to Bill Clinton. Some do it with more political acumen or integrity than others, but we all must self-promote to succeed. In fact, we were self-promoting in grade school, when we raised our hands in fervor to show the teacher we knew the answer

Undeniably, there is unethical self-promotion. We’ve all witnessed it, and maybe even lost business to it. But that’s not what we’re discussing. You can do shameless self-promoting with class, ethics and truth. As Will Rogers said, “If you done it, it ain’t braggin’.”

Natural self-promoters are those people who don’t hesitate to show the world what they can do and have done, and for which they receive recognition in the form of money, fame or service to others-their rewards for many sales. We can emulate what works for them, regardless of our goals.

The first is Position. They position themselves frequently with people who can make a difference in their goals. They automatically wake up each morning asking themselves, “Who can I meet today who will make a difference in my success?” Then they get themselves in front of those people.

Ask yourself the same questions: Who can help me meet my goals? Is it a prospective customer? Is it a colleague who has contacts? Is it an association with key members who may be prospects?

Too frequently we settle for working with the people who are the easiest to reach, not the most effective. Work on meeting the one person who can have impact on your life, versus the 25 who cannot.

The second behavior of natural self-promoters is Style. In marketing, we call this “differentiation.” Ask yourself what is it about you that’s different, and what makes you memorable to your customers or potential clients?

How do people remember you? Are you distinctive in some way, and do you point it out? If you meet a lot of people and they seem to forget meeting you, you have a problem, but also an opportunity-an opportunity to present yourself in a more memorable way.

It might be your message, your picture, your business card, your words, your hairstyle. Maybe it’s the uniqueness of what you offer, or how you relate your experience to their particular issue, or how you know what their issues are in the first place, or even your personality on the phone. Best of all, it might be your obvious caring about them and how you demonstrate that caring.

The third attribute of natural self-promoters is Repetition. Natural self-promoters don’t say it once; they say it many times. If you had seen a wonderful commercial once, would you remember it? Probably not. Advertisers know this principle, which is why they design multiple ‘impressions’ for their target market, and why we get to see those commercials over and over and over. We, too, have to make multiple impressions in order to achieve “brand awareness.” Repetition also applies to positioning. Once you’ve found people who can make a difference in your success-find hundreds more.

Bios:

Jeffrie Story, CSE, has 25 years of successful leadership experience as a director in sales and marketing at a Fortune 500 company. She currently works with corporate sales groups, increasing sales through better use of self-promotion, prospecting, account management, and market penetration.

Debbie Allen is one of the world’s leading authorities on sales and marketing. She is the author of five books including Confessions of Shameless Self Promoters and Skyrocketing Sales. Debbie has helped thousands of people around the world attract customers like crazy with her innovative, no-cost marketing strategies and secrets to sales success. Her expertise has been featured in Entrepreneur, Selling Power and Sales & Marketing Excellence.

By Debbie Allen

Today’s low unemployment rate is making retailers feel the pressure to keep quailed, motivated and happy employees.

The shrinking pool of available help for retail is taking its toll. Retailers of all sizes are struggling to find and hold enough sales staff to get the job done successfully. Think about finding more part-time staff, creating a job share program or adding creative work schedules to entice more quality applicants.

The impact of this vacuum in the labor market is that there are substantially fewer people available to work. With 280 million people in the US alone, why is there such a problem? There are a few major reasons, including a higher grown in retail chains and technology and other jobs offering higher pay.

In addition, with smaller Gen X population is needed to service and sell to a largely populated Baby Boomer generation and the ever-increasing Gen Y population. The Gen Y generation (ages 1-20) is expected to meet or exceed the huge Boomer generation of over 73 million in the U.S. Bottom line: a growing number of people to service and sell to, with the result being that consumers have had to learn how to service and sell themselves to save time.

If you want to offer great 21st Century Service, you’ve just got to work harder to find quality members of your team today. Here are some helpful strategies that should help you find those winners for your organization.

Hiring Strategies for Creative Recruiting In The New Economy

* Post a sign highlighting your company benefits
* Post a sign offering a free $50 gift certificate for anyone that helps find the next winning member of your team
* Create a brochure about you business and employee benefits
* Post information on the back of your business card about hiring
* Develop a bonus program for your staff to find new employees
* Post help wanted information on your Web site
* Post help wanted information at local colleges and/or high schools
* Ask your customers if they know of anyone
* Inform everyone you are looking: business associates, UPS driver, accountant, business associates - everyone

Questions to prepare before the job interview.

* Why would you like to work here?
* What is your perception of the business?
* How would you handle an irate customer?
* What would be your initial customer greeting?
* Why do you feel you would be a good sales person?
* What would help you to improve your skills?
* How would you go about creating excellent customer service?
* Why have you chosen sales as the career of choice?

How to get the most out of a job interview:
Once you find a good candidate, the job interview is where you’ll get the information you need to decide weather or not to hire him or her. Here are some ways to make the most of each interview:

* Allow adequate time for the interview
* Ask open-ended questions
* Hire attitudes and teach skills
* Get information before you give it -listen more and talk less
* Don’t over promise job benefits, hours or pay
* Don’t try to make it work if it doesn’t feel right
* Always hire on a 30- to 60-day trial period
* Picture them in your business - that new employee represents your image

The purpose of the interview is to gain deeper insight into the applicant’s skills, interests, values and beliefs. And, of course, to evaluate how these skills apply to selling and servicing customers in your business. Remember to ask challenging questions - avoid yes or no responses. Get the applicant to talk to you and sell themselves on the position. How else can you expect them to sell your store to customers?

This article was contributed by Debbie Allen, CSP “The Shameless Success Expert”  who is one of the world’s leading authorities on sales, marketing and effective self-promotion. Her expertise is in retail business, business image, marketing, customer service & sales.As an international business speaker for 13 years, Debbie Allen, CSP has presented to thousands of people in 11 countries around the world. She is one of less than 10% of professional speakers worldwide to have achieved the honor of Certified Speaking Professional by the National Speakers Association and International Speakers Federation.

Good Morning All!

I found this wonderful presentation on a very interesting topic and would like to share it with all of you. Please do tell me what you think!

“I am Not My Car” - Getting Over Environmental Attachments

By Kimberly Englot

In these current economic times, I feel that it is particularly important for people to remember that their possessions do not reflect who they are as human beings. This is a story to help us all remember who we really are inside.

About a year ago, my husband and I were grocery shopping. We pulled into the lot, and parked near a very interesting vehicle. It was a beat-up, black, sub-compact car (similar to an old VW Rabbit, but I don’t know what the make actually was) that had writing all over it! In white (paint or marker, I’m not sure) it had things like, “I am not my car,” “Over 300,000 km and still going strong,” and “My possessions do not define me!” I looked at the rusty, dented car as I walked by and laughed thinking, “They must have a lot of courage to drive that thing around town,” and completely missing the point.

This beat-up little car started to really get to me; I started to think about my own car. It was getting old, a little rusty and I was often embarrassed to drive it - especially when I knew I’d be parking it beside some of my friends’ shiny brand new cars. I had a good job, it’s not like I couldn’t afford a better car, but my husband and I thought that we’d pay down some other debt and built up our savings before we would get something newer. Telling myself that I was “responsible and pragmatic” about my car-situation didn’t always make me feel better parking beside a brand-new SUV but I pretended that I was okay with it.

After seeing this car everything hit home! “That’s right! I am NOT my car,” I said firmly to myself a couple days later when I was feeling embarrassed about the state of my car. I began to ponder this further in my mind and apply it to other area’s of my life. I am not my car, my job, my spouse, my family, my house, my neighborhood, my level of education, the clothes I wear, the friends I keep, the food I eat. So if those things are not me, then who am I?

Who I am can be defined more by what I am not, than by what I am. My identity lies in my authentic self; the self that is there even after I sell my car, or move to another country. The point I am trying to make is this: if I were to lose my possessions, or change them, would I still exist? And my answer to this is, yes. That is why I don’t entangle my identity with my physical environment. I drive a nicer car now, yes, but I’m still the same woman who drove the old car. I own a wonderful home in the suburbs, but this hasn’t changed me from who I was when I lived in an apartment in the city. And if I had to sell my home, or downgrade my car, I would still be the same person.

Not to say that people don’t change throughout their lives, but I am saying that people should not change because of their things. Possessions don’t make people. Life makes people. So let go of the idea that your designer handbag makes you a better you than if you had a cheap one. Do not fool yourself that driving a BMW means you’re happier than if you were driving a Chevy. Do not let these things define you!

This article was contributed by Kimberly Englot, who is an Authentic Life coach. She is the owner of Authentic Self a business dedicated to helping people uncover their true selves. She is currently working on her new mastermind project: The 2009 Life Cleanse. Check out her website or email her at kimberlyenglot@gmail.com.

Many years ago in a small Indian village, a farmer had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to a village moneylender.The moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the farmer’s beautiful daughter. So he proposed a bargain.

He said he would forgo the farmer’s debt if he could marry his daughter. Both the farmer and his daughter were horrified by the proposal. So the cunning money-lender suggested that they let providence decide the matter. He told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty money bag.

Then the girl would have to pick one pebble from the bag.
1) If she picked the black pebble, she would become his wife and her father’s debt would be forgiven.
2) If she picked the white pebble she need not marry him and her father’s debt would still be forgiven.
3) But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail.

They were standing on a pebble strewn path in the farmer’s field. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. As he picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag.

He then asked the girl to pick a pebble from the bag. Now, imagine that you were standing in the field.
What would you have done if you were the girl? If you had to advise her, what would you have told her?

Careful analysis would produce three possibilities:
1. The girl should refuse to take a pebble.
2. The girl should show that there were two black pebbles in the bag and expose the money-lender as a cheat.
3. The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to save her father from his debt and imprisonment. Take a moment to ponder over the story.

The above story is used with the hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral and logical thinking. The girl’s dilemma cannot be solved with traditional logical thinking.
Think of the consequences if she chooses the above logical answers. What would you recommend to the Girl to do? Well, here is what she did ….

The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles. “Oh, how clumsy of me,” she said. “But never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.” Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed that she had picked the white one.

And since the money-lender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Most complex problems do have a solution.It is only that we don’t attempt to think. Start your day with this thought provoking story and have a nice day!