Please follow me over to http://sadlerbusinesscoaching.wordpress.com/ I have a new year system coming online with my use of the internet for my business. This last year has taught me a lot. This year I will get serious about what I have learned. I will tie together my main site, http://scottsadlercoach.com/ FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn, my debut of the Coaching Perspective Newsletter, and my blog posts are going to be more random thoughts than a formal message. On top of it all I am getting certified as a coach beginning this month.
structuring your organization as a whole. Remember the old adage: It takes 21 days to become a habit. Changing daily task/time management habits will be important to propel you toward your ideal life.
ased, for the most part, on trust and results. I have many strategic partnerships which enhance my practice and allows me to be more far reaching into the market instead of just sticking to my specialty in the industry.
n article on Ron and his company talking about his move into a burned building near Bush Park and restoring it to its historical status. On a whim, I cut out the article and mailed it to him along with a business card and a cheesy letter about Clean Sweep, our company. I never gave it another thought until a week later I get the article mailed back to me with a handwritten note on the article that said “I appreciate clever marketing, call me for an appointment, and let’s talk.” Clever? Ok, I called and made an appointment. What has come from that is a relationship from which I learned how to be in business, deal with people, how to dress, where to market, how to network, community service, how to handle a business lunch, he introduced me to people, and on and on. 
ould we ever learn to run? Failure likes to pretend it is out of our control and there is nothing we can do about it. These are the times we must look to what our own accountability in the situation is or was. For me I can go through the list above and accept my part in the events and the lesson in all of my failures. It is the only way to truly move on from it and experience the success in waiting. Success cannot live simultaneously with failure. In order for us to get back on track and start creating success again we must nullify failures (fear) effects. I have listed six steps below to guide you through the process. It takes some work and time in most cases to work through some failure, so be prepared but keep moving to your next success.
he steps, or something similar to the ones above. You can start training yourself now by practicing these on small failures that happen organically everyday in your life. Car won’t start, meeting starts late, deals do not get closed, etc. How do you react to these things? However you react is an indicator on how you will deal with a major failure in your life. Apply the six principles above and feel the difference when you do not give failure power. As leaders it is critical to set the tone when failures occur. How will people react to your reaction? It always comes down to you. At the end of the day it is our action or inaction that defines who we are. 
What is the proper way to market your business? I hear that several times a week, though my work as a Business Coach, Consultant and Instructor. We all want more customers! By now you know I am about keeping it simple. There is no magic bullet, contrary to what some marketing sales people will tell you. Personal contact is the number one way people get to know you and then they are more willing to do business with you. The problem
is that if no business comes from that initial meeting than we do not understand why. I recently was reminded about the difference in the average sales person, and the best sales person. The average sales person makes one or maybe two contacts with a potential customer. The top ten percent of the best sales people make at least five contacts up to twelve! Years ago I was the owner of a small but slowly growing janitorial firm. Once I figured out our system of contacts, and frequency and systemized it, we grew from a hundred thousand per year in sales to over one million in ten years!
Let's say you meet someone at networking event and chat (1). You get his/her business card and follow up with a note saying how nice it was to meet them (2). Maybe you follow that up with a phone call and ask to get together to learn more about their business (3). After that email them an article they may appreciate (4). See them at the networking event again, light chat (5). Include them in your social networking system, Face book, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. (6). If you do this you have just added more four touches than your competitors will do! Overtime this winning formula will pay off big time. You are not average! Think Big!
Here are some examples of people I have met over the last few weeks who are working this system to success. Little did they know they would be a part of this experiment!
Bob Cegon, State Farm Insurance (S. Commercial) Kelsey Fuentes, Pre-Paid Legal, Suzie Bjork, Life Coach, Rosemary Morrison, IRIS International, Danielle Hamilton, Wealth Builders University, Jennifer Hoffman, Inspired Home Office, and Toni Dassance CTFA, ToDo Money Management. Each of these folks have called me, sent a note, or made an effort to come up to me when they see me and thank me for that initial meeting. You can bet when I have a need for any one of their services, they will be on my short list to call.
This is a learned skill, and must be systematic, and become automatic. If you would like more information on how to implement this in a winning six step system, customized to your business give me a call for a Complimentary Coaching Consultation. A few things you will learn.
1) How to use time to focus on what makes you money.
2) How to plan your days to have IMPACT!
3) How to get your business to serve you, instead of you serving your business।
The first three who sign up (sorry, current clients excluded) will get a bonus. Guerrilla Marketing: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business. This is a no nonsense book for growing your business now, from me to you.
Always Keep Moving Toward Your Dreams,
I have always known about having a good attitude, positive thinking, creating your own happiness etc. It is abundantly clear however that whatever we focus on grows and grows. Just look around at the people you know. We all know people who complain about everything from the weather to the person in the car next to them out of habit more than anything. What about the people who always focus on the good around them? They are the ones who seem to glide effortlessly through life, experiencing things that come along as a wonder of life. It is amazing when you see the difference from focusing on the negative to the positive, I am living proof. When I was a teenager, and into my early twenties, I saw the world as a place that did things to me. Anytime anything happened I saw it as a problem, another issue to overcome, or someone being stupid, but never my fault. I got very tired of always being tired, drained by my outlook on life. I came to the conclusion; on my own I really did not like me. I did not like the people I was hanging around, my co-workers, or my neighbors. For the first time in my life I saw a pattern. I was focused on the attitudes that brought me to those, or brought those to me that mirrored my life outlook! I had to change.
Once I started refocusing my energy to find the good in everything, no matter what, guess what happened? Bad stuff still found me! The difference was I found the lesson, the goodness, in almost each and everything that happened. My "friends" at the time started to distance themselves from me because I had "changed". I was no longer one of them. A few of those friends however noticed the transition and started refocusing at the same time I did. We are all best of friends today.
We did the complaint free world exercise at work last year. This is where you get the rubber bracelet from http://www.acomplaintfreeworld.org/ and attempt to get through three weeks without complaining. It was not easy but I finally did it! Every time you complain you must move the bracelet to the other wrist and your clock starts over. If you want to humble yourself, or just test yourself I highly recommend this. It is a lot of fun when you do it in a group, or in your family.
There is a lot of negativity in our world. I choose not to participate. This does not mean I am not aware of all that is going on, I just adjust my filter when it reaches me and keep what I choose is good for me and those around me. Reverend Mary, a mentor and insightful person said to me recently, "When people complain about everything going wrong, the economy, their health, the boss etc. They are right." You are right too. What are you expanding in your life?
Sign up a free 30 minute coaching session! I will be giving away a ninety day coaching package to one lucky winner after you sign up. I can only take on 10 people so sign up right away! Send me an email with coaching in the subject line and I will respond first come first serve to schedule your free session.
We are all surrounded daily by people. How do feel at the end of the day? Do you dread going to work or going home or do you look forward to it? Sometimes we get so much into our habit and routines we do not see that one or two people who are close to us can drain us of our passion for life. This is assuming of course you are not one of those people! For the most part you get to pick and choose your circle. Why not then surround yourself with the most supportive, positive people you can? Although it may seem daunting on the surface to remove yourself from a person's influence it is really quite simple, and very empowering. You deserve it, and so do those you support as part of their circle on influence. It truly is what goes around comes around. This is nothing new to some of you.
Stephen Covey, one of the early influences in people and business on my life, talked about this in his book "The Seven Habits for Highly Effective People". In it he states "Proactive people focus their efforts on the circle of influence. The nature of their energy is positive, enlarging, and magnifying, causing their Circle of Influence to increase. Reactive people on the other hand, focus their efforts on the Circle of Concern. They focus on the weakness of other people, the problems in the environment, and circumstance over which they have no control."
It goes on from there on page 83 if you want to read the rest. It is a good time to revisit the old classic.
Here is what I ask my clients to look at.
If you answer to any of those questions is less than your highest expectations than you will need to address those issues with yourself first before you can deal with the others you want to attract or remove from your circle. This took a long time for me personally. I did not want to let down the "friends" who were actually very bad for me and my outlook on life. Once I transitioned the last negative person out of my circle, the kind of people I wanted to know started coming to me right away. We only have some much time to spend with the people we truly care about and want to associate with. Don't you want it to be an uplifting experience? I know I did and do. I have had to disassociate, break up with, and limit my time with business associates, childhood friends, girlfriends, family members, and neighbors. My circle of friends is as big, in fact bigger, so I am not short on relationships or friendships.
"Let's assume for a minute, we are in this to make money."
Ok look, the economy sucks we all get it. But that does not mean you get to use that as an excuse. Get out there and sell your product or service!
But wait…let's look at our plan first, not a 200 page marketing plan that collects dust on a shelf, but a real world, simple plan that works. I have been asked to speak about this twice over the last week, met with four clients who have asked for assistance with this over the last two weeks so I decided to address the topic here to help answer some of those questions. I want to make this as simple as possible but have maximum impact for your efforts. These are guidelines only and may need to be adjusted based on your business model. I have also listed some resources that I know and trust to help you along with the different aspects. Ok, enough of that let's begin.
Sounds simple doesn't it? It may be the toughest thing a business owner can ask themselves. It has so many determining factors. Income, no income, lifestyle, no life, freedom, no freedom, employees, customers, etc. etc. I would take a few days to really think on this one. If you can answer this question to your satisfaction, and the answer is to keep moving in your business, then you are ready to put everything you've got into marketing. If not then maybe selling, closing, or implementing your exit strategy is in order. It is not a bad thing if it means moving on to a better life as you see it. Having recently gone through this process myself I feel more than qualified to speak on this topic, but that story remains as a subject for another entry.
Your strategies and approach to customers is crucial
Social networking and web presence:
It is time to get with the program. If you are not on the internet you will not be as successful! Now you may be successful, but without the partner of the web working 24/7 you will be behind your competitors. I am no expert, but I watch trends and keep my finger on the pulse of business. For expertise in this area visit my friend and colleague Tim Fandrich at his company's website http://www.thethirdriver.com/members/thirdriver to see more details than I can go into here. Give him a call and he can talk about your particular business and how to maximize your return. I will tell you I use Plaxo, LinkedIn, Facebook and the Salem Chamber face2face. I am currently building my website http://www.scottsadlercoach.com/ and this is all enough for me right now. I am open to increasing my presence as I grow. Right now these, along with this blog are enough for me to manage myself.
Quantify: Make sure your tracking where you get results from each place on the internet. This can be a bit tricky sometimes but a guy like Tim can help you with this. I know for example I have picked up two clients in four weeks from facebook. I know because they contacted me directly through my page. Other times if someone sees your page or website they may call you later and you would need to ask them how they found you, and then write it on your tracking sheet.
Old school basics:
After the high tech internet talk, this is going to sound boring. Please trust me it works. I owned Clean Sweep a commercial cleaning company for 16 years. We struggled with how best to market our company. The first and best thing we did was join the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce, http://www.salemchamber.org/ , the second best thing we did was systemize the way we got in contact with potential new customers. Are you ready? From a sales list phone book or whatever,
1) Send a short introduction letter and testimonials.
2) One week later follow up with a phone call. Example below.
You: "Hello this is Scott Sadler and I sent you some information about our company, Clean Sweep last week and wanted to know if you had received that."
Ask me about creating a winning Value Proposition. Win the hearts and minds of your target market, stop wasting time and effort.
We have all heard of business plans, marketing plans, and mission statements. All of these are tools to help achieve a certain outcome at a certain time for your business. Have you ever considered writing one for yourself? I wrote one many years ago and it has hung on the walls of several of my offices. I recently updated mine to reflect the changes it needed. I use it to remind myself of why I am doing what I am doing every day. If you can get up and go to work to get aligned with your employer's vision then you certainly should be getting in line with your own!
Jack Canfield, author of the Chicken soup for the Soul books, and one of my personal favorites The Success Principles writes, "…"to be on purpose" means you are doing what you love to do, doing what you're good at and accomplishing what's important to you. When you are truly on purpose, the people, resources, and opportunities you need naturally gravitate toward you. The world benefits too, because when you act in alignment with your true life purpose, all of your actions automatically serve others. You see, without a purpose in life, it is easy to get sidetracked on life's journey. It's easy to wander and drift, accomplishing little.
Here is mine. I thought I would share it with you. Please feel free to comment or share yours with me.
Scott Sadler Life Purpose Statement:
I wake up every day ready to live Enthusiasm, Love and Joy. My greatest hope is to inspire, and support others to help them in any way I can. I live worry free knowing that there is only opportunity to be had. I am grateful for everything and everyone that has been in my life and yet to come into my life.
Some of you will know right away what your statement should say. Others may need to take some time to let it come to them. There is no right or wrong way to do this exercise. It is meant to be a useful reminder about why you live your life. Your reason, not your spouses, family's, employer's or other's. Sometimes you may want to ask a friend to help you by asking them to tell you how they see you. From there you may be able to put the right qualities together that can frame your statement.
In today's economy and all the bad news in the media, it is a good time to reflect on your path. Does it feel right? If you could make it perfect how would it look? If you are in alignment with your true purpose it will show through. People will notice and it will inspire others. So let's see some examples of Life Purpose Statements. If you need any help please let me know! I can give you some tools to make it fun, and simple. Here is but one of many templates available to you, just to get you started. http://www.synergyinstituteonline.com/forms_bank/1200771258.pdf
Remember what Aristotle said,
"Life is what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit."
"If you would like to discuss how I can help you develop habits of excellence, please contact me for a free consultation." scott@scottsadlercoach.com
Well here we go my first entry to my first blog. I am taking on coaching as my new profession. I have been coaching informally through many years of owning several businesses. I have coached my clients, employees, business partners, friends, family, community leaders, kids etc. I really enjoyed the "conversations" I would have and would feel honored when someone would comment on me being a good listener, or helping them find the answers they were seeking. I thought they were simple conversations between two people and that I was benefitting much more from them than they were from me. I now recognize this as being the synergy that moves us all along our paths. I now understand, looking back, that this is one of the most dynamic forces in the Universe. If understood and applied correctly, this talent alone could result in much less suffering in our lives.
I have always had mentors and now I know them to have been coaches along the way in my path of development. Sometimes it was life skills and sometimes it was business skills. Some of them know, and some of them do not know the influence they have had on my life. Most of them came into my life just as I needed them for a particular lesson! I now keep an eye out for my next coach or mentor as I move along in my life and career. I know life moves at the speed of sound, and sometimes as slow as a drunken sloth. I have given up trying to dictate the pace in my life, and instead decided to take it one day at a time. Some days will be really hectic and some will be uneventful. Either way it will still be approached with the same balance, joy or perspective that makes life so wonderful.
What kinds of coaches have you had in your life? What kind of coaching have you done for others in your life? Remember how you felt, helping others. Remember how you felt being helped by someone who cared? Do you feel balanced? Visit the assessment tool below and see how balanced your wheel is. I would love to hear your feedback. It has been around for awhile, but is a good one to revisit from time to time.
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_93.htm
