I came across a very interesting concept today, reading over a book my coach shared with me earlier in the week. Talking about customer satisfaction, the author pointed out that we are much more likely to focus on the dissatisfied customer than we are on the satisfied ones. Say you get feedback that 94% of your customers are pretty happy with their experience with your company (or you, or me, for us one-person operations!) and 6% are not so happy.

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I had an interesting email this morning from someone I’ve known, worked with and coached over the last five years or so. He’s a businessman with a lot of heart – just a genuinely good guy.

He was asking me for input because he’s frustrated with his forward progress – not as fast as he would like, and sometimes not as steady. He was telling me a bit about what he’s doing and how he’s marketing and how he’s feeling about it all.

What struck me – and I know this subject intimately, because baby, I’ve been there (!) is that he’s feeling one thing and saying another. My rock solid belief is that what you’re feeling permeates whatever you’re saying, no matter what words you choose.

Somehow, especially if you’re talking to other people in the business context – prospects, clients, business partners, customers, you name it – you have to get your head and heart aligned. If you don’t, no matter what you say, what comes through is what’s in your head.

It’s why I’ve never cared for the fake it ‘til you make it concept. People know when you’re faking it and who wants to do business with a fake? If you’ll lie to me about you, you’ll sure lie to me about me!

That doesn’t mean you can’t get work done and be effective unless you’re feeling beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt great. You just have to learn how to work effectively with your own mind. No small feat, I know – believe me!

I teach people to get a new story and release your emotional charge around the old one. The story is as much for you as the rest of the world. Let me use ‘aforementioned guy’ to illustrate what I’m talking about. He does several things – one of them is that he’s a network marketer. He’s frustrated that his business isn’t growing as fast as he’d like. It’s hit a plateau. My advice to him was to stop talking to people through the filter of the anxiety he feels about how fast it ISN’T going. Instead, focus on something he feels really good about – the company, the products, the potential and talk with that in mind.

Suppose someone asks him how it’s going for him – the new story can be along the lines of: It’s been going OK, but last week I decided to take it to another level – I’m very excited about that and I’m looking for some strong partners that I can help be successful and really increase my business in 2010. Nothing more. It’s a new story. Or the story might be: It’s going well, and I’ve decided to really ramp it up this year – I’m putting more focus and attention on building this income stream and I’m excited about that. Here’s how you might fit in….

We often think telling the truth (and we Americans are known for often telling too much of what we’re feeling anyway…) means revealing what we’re feeling at the core of our being. We think unless we do that, we’re being inauthentic. No. You’re telling the truth – but you don’t need to show your fears and insecurities. Be real, tell the truth and make your truth the story you see and visualize and want to embrace. If you can master that, your life, your business and your paycheck will inevitably follow suit.

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Funny how things change. Around Thanksgiving I was thinking about February and spending a week in Mexico or Hawaii and how lovely and relaxing that would be. Now it’s the end of January and a day at home with no outside obligations sounds way better than a week in Mexico did a few months ago.

And, it’s a mental state and I know it. I’m working hard on my mental state these days and the many years of study and practice and teaching really pays off. Funny how often the right thing pops into my life at jut the right time. This morning it was a reminder that you can’t be responsible for anyone else’s happiness and that we’re all here to write our own story – sure, our stories intersect, but ultimately we all make our own choices. Even when we think they’re not choices…

I was thinking today about an incident about 5 years ago. I was at a marketing conference in Louisville KY. I got to the airport for my return flight plenty early, despite the fact that I was up in the early hours trying to pack a Louisville slugger – a gift I received for excellence in leadership at a dinner the night before. They don’t fit in a suitcase and don’t think about carrying a baseball bat on a flight…I didn’t want to leave it behind – it’s pretty cool and still sits here in my office…

I went to the airport with two colleagues who were headed to Florida – -their plane was later and they were going to grab lunch at the airport. I got to my gate only to learn the flight was delayed 2 hours or more – the plane hadn’t arrived yet. I asked them if I had time to join some people in the restaurant – would the flight be announced – would I be able to hear the announcement in the restaurant? They assured me it would be at least two hours, and that everything was announced all over the airport, including the restaurant. I asked if it was a good idea to check back in an hour or so. They said, not necessary, but if you want to….

It wasn’t very far to the restaurant – I found my colleagues and had lunch with them. After about an hour or so, I decided to wander back to the gate. I did – only to find see the plane – my flight – pulling away from the gate – just rolling back from the ramp. I was PISSED. Getting from Louisville to Seattle was going to take 9-10 hours with a layover as it was. The airport people were less than helpful. The Northwest employees were mostly rude and treated me like an idiot – not at all like a valued customer. (I’ve never flown them since)….after almost two hours of going around the airport talking to various people, the best they could do was get me on a flight about 5 hours later – which would mean getting to Seattle about 3 in the morning. I was already tired – I never sleep at conferences – I love staying up until all hours and talking to people – it’s when you get the best information and really get to know people.

I walked around pissed off for about an hour and then I thought: well, this is stupid – I can run around angry and waste my time, or I can change my mood and make the best of it. I got to thinking – what if I missed that plane and it crashed? How would I feel then? Really fortunate. Shocked. Grateful. I could feel what all those emotions felt like and realized I could turn them on and off at will. Why not feel like that anyway? It felt much better than being angry and righteous.

I spent the rest of the hours at the airport playing with those ideas and when I arrived at Seatac in the wee hours I was still feeling really good. I felt like I had slipped through the wormhole – I wasn’t another tired, pissed-off passenger – I was someone who leads a charmed life where everything falls perfectly into place. Is it always that easy? Maybe. Does it always work like for me? Not always – but more and more. And the more it does, the better it goes. And like, everything else, it gets better with practice.

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I had great end-of-the-year holidays planned, lots of visiting with friends and family, Christmas and Hanukah celebrations, 7 new business books to read and a brand-spankin’ new 2010 notebook, all sectioned off for my various projects.

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Perceived Value?

I had an interesting experience with pricing and perceived value today and I’d love your opinion. I’ve just significantly lowered the prices at leadslab.com – I’m offering the exact same quality, and mostly the exact same leads (I’ve added some things, taken away others).

I did some studying on pricing this summer and I heard the same thing over and over: Perceived Value Rules. People don’t always trust something they pay less for. I know that’s true – it is for me anyway. I expect to get what I pay for, and that doesn’t always mean paying less.

As soon as I re-launched the site with the new lower prices, I got inquiries from people wanting to know if the quality would still be as good, and how did we fit in with competitors? They’re more expensive, so are their leads better?

Here’s the thing – it’s the same product, just a lower price. My reasoning for this was that it’s been a tough year for so many people financially, and the price matters – maybe now more than it has before. When I run sales, people jump all over the lower priced offers, so I thought maybe having lower prices all the time would be meaningful.

I’d love your feedback on this.

What about your business? I think in networking, the perceived value is often us. Not the price of getting started, or even the ongoing costs. Sure, some people will be able to afford to start a business, and others won’t, and some will be able to spend a few hundred dollars, and not a few thousand, but I think people often make a decision because of who introduces them to a concept.

I don’t think what they’re looking at is how successful you are – but more likely WHO you are – how you treat them, how you talk to them, what you offer in terms of support, what’s your energy and enthusiasm level.

I remember years ago when I was building my first (of two) networking businesses and I got an appointment to meet with a wealthy developer who was very open-minded and entrepreneurial. He was a friend of people I knew, so he agreed to sit down and hear about my business and see if he was interested. I was really nervous. I was worried about what to wear, so I consulted my mom, whose fashion sense is impeccable – she looks better sitting around the house than most of do when we’re going out for an occasion!

She helped me pick out clothes and then I wanted to run my approach by her. I did, she thought it was good, but she looked at me and said: Kiddo, your pitch is good, but they’re buying you. It doesn’t matter what you’re offering, be yourself, be confident and show ‘em your stuff. If they don’t like you, what you’ve got is irrelevant.

I thought of that again SO many times over the years. It’s really true. Sure, you need to be offering something of real value (at least I do!), but as long as that’s solid, who you are is the first thing someone sees or hears. You can probably get around that in the beginning, but surely not long term. In the networking business a lot of the perceived value is YOU.

You’ve probably heard the cliché: You can’t say the right thing to the wrong person, or the wrong thing to the right person. It’s really true, and it should be a comfort, because it means you won’t blow it – so don’t worry…

I’d love to know what you think about this – so, TELL ME! Thanks….

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Money's Blowing Your Way!

So many people get started in this industry with huge financial goals in mind. Almost inevitably if you ask someone how much they want to make, they’ll give you a big dollar amount per month. Often more than they’ve made previously. So many people say ten thousand dollars/month. I don’t know why? Because it’s a round number?

I remember a woman way down in my organization that someone brought to me for training. She was so excited and ready to set the world on fire. She told me that she’d had a dream that she would be making $250,000 her first year and she was ready to do whatever it took to make that a reality. I encouraged her, taught her some basics, helped her formulate a plan. The next week when we had our follow up call she told me she was quitting. When I asked her why she said, ‘well, my sister-in-law really thinks this isn’t going to work and I’m just not interested anymore’. I suspect the number was too big and the whole thing just wasn’t real to her.

Ten thousand/month is $120,000 per year. Less than 2% of the U.S. population earns that kind of income, so it’s a big number to strive for. I was talking to a chiropractor one time, who was also a network marketer. He loves the industry, and has built various network businesses over the years.

Our conversation was about this very phenomenon. I thought his insight was particularly interesting. He said he spent 4 years in undergrad and then 4 years getting his advanced degree. He started by working in someone else’s practice, and eventually felt confident enough and had enough capital to open his own practice. He did and it took time to get into profit and build up his practice. And chiropractors have somewhat of a revolving door – some patients who come in for regular ‘tune-ups’, but many of their patients come in after accidents or injuries and once they get well, or insurance is no longer covering their visits, they don’t come back, at least not with any regularity.

This particular chiropractor, in addition to his overhead – employees, rent, utilities, insurance, etc. was spending money on marketing to keep his practice flourishing. He had paid back his student loans –an expensive investment in his career– fulfilling that old adage: you have to spend money to make money….

After about ten years he was earning a personal income just over $100 thousand/year. It took 8 years of school, some time working in another practice, and then years of building his own practice to earn that income. That’s a lot of time, a lot of commitment, a lot of learning.

He had a long term vision when he started and never expected to be earning huge money immediately. His point was how much time, effort and resources went into building his income over time.

He loves the residual and leverage that his networking business provided him, but we were scratching our heads at why people don’t expect to put in the kind of time and effort that one would expect to put into any profession with such high income earning potential. The beauty here of course, is that you can build a significant business part-time without it costing the proverbial arm and a leg, but it still takes effort!

Even on a new job – even if it’s a lateral move – the same job in a different company for example, there’s a learning curve. A new career? Often you need to go back to school, study, pass exams, really get a solid grounding in your new profession.

Why wouldn’t you put the same kind of effort into building your own business? Why wouldn’t you assume that there were skills to master, concepts to learn, and that it would take some time to make that happen? Yes, here you can do it on your own time schedule, and the courses and resources might not be laid out for you the way they might be in a college program. But, all the resources are available and it’s up to each individual to take that responsibility.

So, the big money comes, but it takes commitment, it takes perseverance and building a knowledge base and skill set. All positive things that benefit you in the long run. It’s good to know, I think that it doesn’t have to necessarily be easy, it just has to be worth it. If you go into it with that attitude, I really think you’ll get more out of it, personally and financially. It really IS do-able!

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